The battle for the fortress-city of Hel Crown is over, and there’s nothing left to do but count the cost. The fighting was unimaginably fierce, but the relentless mass of Skaven proved too much for the beleaguered defenders. The Stormcast Eternals have been defeated, and now an endless tide of ratmen pour across the Adamantine Chain, the landscape ruptured by new Gnawholes, and the city claimed in the unholy name of the Great Horned Rat.
The direst truth of all is this: the broken realmgate within the caldera has been secured, and the Skaven are working to reopen this route to the Realm of Chaos – which would leave them free to launch further attacks across all of the eight realms.
But what’s bad news for the denizens of the Mortal Realms is good news for us, because we get to see all the new Skaven miniatures to be released in the next 12 months. You can rewatch the show below – after which we’ve got detailed pictures of everything we revealed.
Vizzik Skour, Prophet of the Horned Rat
When Kragnos escaped from his mountain prison in Ghur, he unleashed a wave of primal energy that was felt even in Blight City. A protean daemon of ruin emerged from the heart of the Masterburrow, and only prayers to the Great Horned Rat could quell its rage. When the Vermindoom secured the Skaven god’s place in the pantheon of Chaos, he shaped this daemon into Vizzik Skour, Lord of the Gnaw and Prophet of the Horned Rat.
He rules from Hexeneste, the great cathedral at the centre of the Gnaw, and spreads the death frenzy to his vile congregation. These devout ratmen foam at the mouth and attack with a bloodthirsty zeal rarely seen in Skaven, while Vizzik himself uses his Gnawstaff to cleanse the realm of non-believers, be they enemies or fellow Skaven he deems wanting.
Krittok Foulblade
The infamous Krittok Foulblade stands apart from the other Clawlords by dint of his cold, calculating frugality. He will gladly dispatch Clanrats to their death en masse – as is his right – but he is of the opinion that those saved today may be more efficiently ordered to their deaths tomorrow, and that they will perhaps fight a little harder in appreciation of his munificence.
His apparent charity has cultivated a loyal following whom he can trust to enact his plans. He owes his unnatural longevity, and his vigour in combat, to the blade Doomfang, a twisted sword containing the soul of a Verminlord who sought to use Krittok to betray Vizzik. In moments of dire need, it almost seems as if Doomfang wields itself and sure enough, Krittok is forced to bargain with the Verminlord for each use, chipping a second, an hour, or even a day off its sentence of imprisonment.
Master Moulder
The hulking Brood Terror has already torn its way out of the containment cells in the Clans Moulder laboratories and into the battlefield, and now it is time to witness the twisted mind behind its creation. Master Moulders have had their own flesh malformed by years of exposure to warpstone and self-experimentation. They take to the field in control of packs of lumbering Rat Ogors, always on the lookout for new test subjects to snare with their cruel things-catchers.
Stormvermin
Skaven are known for their craven, backstabbing nature, but this label does not apply to the muscled and armoured Stormvermin. Marked at birth after ruthlessly devouring litter-mates, Stormvermin are subjected to a strict training regime that only reinforces their brutal mentality. Armed with vicious halberds, they are the mailed claw of the Clans Verminus, savagely carving through enemy ranks with a discipline unimaginable to most Skaven.
Arch-Warlock
The Clans Skryre are each ruled by an equal parts ingenious and dangerous Arch-Warlock. These experts in warp-science are the master inventors behind great death-spitting machines, from the Ratling Warpblasters to their own personal apparatus. These various gizmos grant the Arch-Warlocks crude control over magical energy, which they hoard in various aether-accumulators before unleashing it in destructive blasts.
Warlock Galvaneer
Obsessed with highly dangerous and barely controllable warp-lightning, the Warlock Galvaneers are some of the most deranged members of the Clans Skryre. In battle use their Warpvolt Obliterators to empower other, similar devices as well as directing fulminating fusillades at their enemies.
Acolyte Globadiers
Below the Warlocks of Clan Skryre are all sorts of flunkies and factotums, among them the Acolyte Globadiers. Ensconced in protective gear, they are armed with poisoned wind globes, swirling vessels of gaseous warpstone which dissolve those who inhale it. Each Acolyte is keen to prove their genius and will tinker with their suits endlessly, and the Warlocks carefully keep tabs on these bespoke improvements in case they can claim them for their own.
Warpspark Weapon Battery
Skaven are fond of ranged weapons due to their innate cowardice, and the Clans Skryre have provided manifold new weapons of destruction collectively known as Warpspark Weapon Batteries. Deployed alongside teeming swarms of Clanrats, these Ratling Guns, Warpfire Throwers, and Warpvolt Scourgers are effective tools of destruction, which have their handlers cackling with manic glee – often moments before the contraption blows up in their own face.
Warp-Grinder
Even their insatiable will to consume does not allow the burrowing Skaven to breach the walls of reality. The Clans Skryre are not willing to let such inconveniences stand in their way, so these unhinged boffins have developed Warp-Grinders, tools that focus the energy of warpstone into a beam that can bore through the skin of reality itself, and which make short work of trivialities such as Steam Tanks, Mega-Gargants, and charging Maw-Gruntas.
Doom-Flayers
Originally designed as mining devices, the whirling and unpredictable Doom-Flayers have been turned into military weapons. Any Skaven in control of these vulgar devices is likely to gun the engine for all its worth, carving great furrows in the ground as these bladed wrecking balls hurtle into enemy ranks to mulch them.
These will be contained within Battletome: Skaven, which is the ultimate guide to the Skaven in Warhammer Age of Sigmar. These books have undergone a mighty redesign in the new edition and we’ll be exploring what they look like soon.
Alongside the regular hardback edition of this book stuffed with lore and rules you’re used to, there will also be a limited number available in a new format. These are the Gamer’s Editions, designed for players who want all of their rules in one package. The Battletome is a smaller-format softback book that fits in a backpack, and comes with a complete set of reference cards and a cardboard envelope to pack all your essentials.
There will be a set of regular warscroll cards available to purchase separately, covering the Gnawfeast Clawpack Spearhead, and the 43 Skaven warscrolls. It wouldn’t be a faction release without a set of dice, and you’ll be able to call on the blessings of the Great Horned Rat with a set of 16 green dice with bright green ink.
On top of all that, certain miniatures will break free of the confines of the Skaventide box set alongside these releases, including the Clawlord on Gnaw-beast, Rat Ogors, Clanrats, and Ratling Warpblaster, alongside Thanquol on Bonreripper and the Plague Pack.
What news then of the Stormcast Eternals? Wounded and broken, they have retreated from Hel Crown, losing the battle but not the war. Sigmar has reinforcements ready to unleash – you’ll just have to keep a glowing blue eye on Warhammer Community.