Skaven Tactica Version 1.0

[Hive Fleet Hydra]

Document 13

Identification: Skaven Tactica
Version: 1.0
Crossref: Hive Fleet Hydra, Keithb

Contents
1. Introduction

2. Skaven Units
2.1 Warlord

Part 1: Introduction

Welcome to the Skaven Tactica. This is being worked on by myself, Hive Fleet Hydra (a.k.a HFH) and Keithb. Remember, this is still a work in progress and any advice is wanted.

Part 2: Skaven Units

To start, we'll go through all the units in the Skaven Army Book. Note that this doesn't cover the units in the back of the book, which concerns the 4 Greater Clans, or any model not in the Skaven Army Book or not in production. So there will be no tactica for: the Doomwheel, Stunty Shredder, Bomb Rats, Queek Head-Taker, Lord Skrolk, Ikit Claw, Deathmaster Snikch, Vermin Lord, ect.

2.1: Warlord
The Warlord is the toughest Skaven character in the Army Book by a mile. His high Weapon Skill will show that he will hit very often, but beware of his rather low for characters S4. His toughness is also rather low, so watch out when you attack elite units. He can also be outfitted by a myriad assortment of Skaven Magical Tools of Supremacy. It is recommended that you use him with of Stormvermin or a large unit of Clanrats to protect him from enemy fire, which will be very common.

Good Upgrades for Warlords

1. Bands of Power: Doubles the Strength of the Warlord to S8. Useful when fighting Tough creatures, Lords and Heroes, and elite units. Be careful, a bound spell can be dispelled by enemy wizards easily, even though its Power Level is 4, so use it only when the Warlord is in a decent Magic army.

2. Great Weapon: Four S6 Attacks at WS6. Not too shabby.

3. Additional Hand Weapon: A good option if you don't want to make your Warlord too expensive that lends an extra attack, bolstering his Attacks to 5.

4. Dwarf-Slayer: If you're playing against Dwarves, go for it! Otherwise, don't bother. Remember, you can make it look like an axe, and when you play against Dwarves, you say its a Dwarf-Slayer, and when you're not, count it as a Great Weapon.

PS: The Good Upgrades for a Warlord part is not finished.

2.2: Grey Seer

The Grey Seer is our most powerful caster and the only character that can access all of our spells, and we have very good spells. He is more expensive than the Warlord and he does not have quite the same leadership (though with 3 ranks most of your army will have a 9, same as the men of the empire). But he can affect the game far more than the warlord. For this reason he is worth protecting, because as a wizard, there are a lot of things in the game that can kill him. I’ve seen people equip him to be a fighting wizard…. This is a mistake! Better to protect him and keep him good at what he does.

Equipping the Grey Seer:

Warpstone Charm: A cheap, very affordable magic item that works well. Gives the Seer a once a game reroll of any die he rolls. Need to avoid a miscast? Rolled a one on one of your warp lighting hits? Missed a casting value by one on a critical spell? The question isn’t if you’ll use this item, its when and how much it will help. My seer never leaves home without it.

Tenebrous cloak: 3+ Ward save against all normal and magical missiles and rather cheap for its effects, a must if you plan on skitterleaping around the table or if you are on top of your Screaming Bell. People will gun for you with cannons and anything else they might have. As a side benefit you get your 3+ ward against warp lightning hits that hit you!

Warpstone tokens: This little token grants an extra die to cast on one spell. He comes with four, if you have extra points in your army and find four is not enough, great thing to spend it on.

Warp Scroll: Does a str 3 hit on an entire unit, if one wound is taken, causes a panic test on the unit, one use, power level 5. Great item. Love using it on turn one to try and run a unit off the table once my opponent is out of dice. Weaken a unit, possibly panic it, possibly run it off the table early, what is not to love?

Eye of the horned rat: Roll a die 6 at the start of every turn, on a 2+ gain a pool die, on a 1, lose a pool die. I would usually put this on an Engineer.

Warpstone Amulet: Grants the Seer a 4+ ward save item that forces you to roll a d6 at the end of a game, on a 1 you are dead and give the opposing player VP as such. Great item, I would never give it to my general.

Skalm: Use at the beginning of your turn, restores all wounds to the character. Definitely not bad as you can save him and get full points back on him if it is at the end of a game. Though it hurts to sink 50 points into this item.

There are other items you can equip your Seer with, but those are the main ones.

The Screaming Bell, the Grey Seer's Chariot

Where to start with this thing. Some people feel like it is cheesy to take at 2k points. I do not. If it were like the anvil where you can choose its result, I would agree. However the result is random, and many of the results are situational. So it can help a lot, or hardly at all. Let’s look at what you get automatically. First, it is a chariot, and thus has impact hits, this can make your block pushing it able to win certain fights it would not have been able to before. It gives your unit magic resist 2 and makes them immune to psychology. (Note: this means you cannot flee, be aware.). It also puts your Grey seer atop a large target, so he can see over units and has 360 line of sight. This helps a lot, but it does mean people can choose to shoot at the unit, or the bell itself. People shooting at the bell will randomize between the bell and the Seer on top. Always give him a ward save of some kind when he is up there! (Note: The seer cannot leave the bell during the game.) Last, and certainly not least, you get 2 extra power dice for your Grey Seer!

To the random aspect of the bell, I almost always throw three dice unless I know I have the game won, then I throw two. The most common results are doing a d3 wounds to anything tough 7 on the table and giving your army hatred for a turn. I rarely have enemy warmachines on the table at the end of a game. Sometimes ringing it does nothing, sometimes it wins you a game. Personally I love it, but it isn’t always the best use of points.

[Ratus]

4. Halberd: Why not? Does the same thing as the Great Weapon, except a +1 strength bonus, and counts as a Spear.

No, it doesn't.
P. 55 "Where a weapon can fight in two or more ranks, this is indicated in the weapons description, for example, 'spears fight in two ranks'.".

There is no such description on halberds. just two hands and +1 s.

[DavidWC09]

Ya, not a spear. But good work. I look forward to seeing it evolve. Maybe it'll help beating the skunks, I mean Skaven.

[Hive Fleet Hydra]

Woops, i lost my rulebook and was persuaded that the Halberds worked that way. Can anyone please PM the way halberds work so i can edit?


oh, and David? This is for Skaven to WIN, not be beat

[DavidWC09]

You already said it. +1 str and two hand weapons, though doesn't strike last. Just can't use a shield.

[Hive Fleet Hydra]

OMG, my heads up in the clouds... sorry for the bother. I wasn't paying attention. Again, im really sorry

[DavidWC09]

Pfft, don't apologize. We all have brainbumps now and then. I cited the rulebook about a week ago but didn't read the entire sentence. Felt really stupid overlooking the part that went straight to the point of the discussion.

So it looks like you've got your work cut out for you with this. Good luck. ;Y

[Vefador_the_cunning]

Hey Guys, i have been playing skaven for about 5 years now, and in my opinion been pritty succesful, i have particular knowledge in areas such as grey seers and clan skryre. if you need advice or a hand with anything i'm happy to help....as long as it has nothing to do with spelling;Y

[Keithb]

2.2: Grey Seer

The Grey Seer is our most powerful caster and the only character that can access all of our spells, and we have very good spells. He is more expensive than the Warlord and he does not have quite the same leadership (though with 3 ranks most of your army will have a 9, same as the men of the empire). But he can affect the game far more than the warlord. For this reason he is worth protecting, because as a wizard, there are a lot of things in the game that can kill him. I’ve seen people equip him to be a fighting wizard…. This is a mistake! Better to protect him and keep him good at what he does.

Equipping your Grey Seer:

Warpstone Charm. Gives the Seer a once a game reroll of any die he rolls. Need to avoid a miscast? Rolled a one on one of your warp lighting hits? Missed a casting value by one on a critical spell? The question isn’t if you’ll use this item, its when and how much it will help. My seer never leaves home without it.

Tenebrous cloak: 3+ Ward save against all normal and magical missiles, a must if you plan on skitterleaping around the table or if you are on top of your Screaming Bell. People will gun for you with cannons and anything else they might have. As a side benefit you get your 3+ ward against warp lightning hits that hit you!

Warpstone tokens: An extra die to cast on one spell. He comes with four, if you have extra points in your army and find four is not enough, great thing to spend it on.

Warp Scroll: Does a str 3 hit on an entire unit, if one wound is taken, causes a panic test on the unit, one use, power level 5. Great item. Love using it on turn one to try and run a unit off the table once my opponent is out of dice. Weaken a unit, possibly panic it, possibly run it off the table early, what is not to love?

Eye of the horned rat: Roll a die 6 at the start of every turn, on a 2+ gain a pool die, on a 1, lose a pool die. I would usually put this on an Engineer.

Storm deamon: 1d6 bound warp lightning. Power level 4. Burns out on a 1. Money in the bank, though I generally give it to an engineer.

?????: I forget the name of it offhand, but there is a 4+ ward save item that forces you to roll a d6 at the end of a game, on a 1 you are dead and give the opposing player VP as such. Great item, I would never give it to my general.

Skalm, use at the beginning of your turn, restores all wounds to the character. Definitely not bad as you can save him and get full points back on him if it is at the end of a game. Though it hurts to sink 50 points into this item.

There are other items you can equip your Seer with, but those are the main ones. Now we’ll cover his chariot, The Screaming Bell.

Where to start with this thing. Some people feel like it is cheesy to take at 2k points. I do not. If it were like the anvil where you can choose its result, I would agree. However the result is random, and many of the results are situational. So it can help a lot, or hardly at all. Let’s look at what you get automatically. First, it is a chariot, and thus has impact hits, this can make your block pushing it able to win certain fights it would not have been able to before. It gives your unit magic resist 2 and makes them immune to psychology. (Note: this means you cannot flee, be aware.). It also puts your Grey seer atop a large target, so he can see over units and has 360 line of sight. This helps a lot, but it does mean people can choose to shoot at the unit, or the bell itself. People shooting at the bell will randomize between the bell and the Seer on top. Always give him a ward save of some kind when he is up there! (Note: The seer cannot leave the bell during the game.) Last, and certainly not least, you get 2 extra power dice for your Grey Seer!

To the random aspect of the bell, I almost always throw three dice unless I know I have the game won, then I throw two. The most common results are doing a d3 wounds to anything tough 7 on the table and giving your army hatred for a turn. I rarely have enemy warmachines on the table at the end of a game. Sometimes ringing it does nothing, sometimes it wins you a game. Personally I love it, but it isn’t always the best use of points.

[Hive Fleet Hydra]

Hey, keithb! Thanks for working on the Grey Seer, Magic's not my thing. But i noticed that you added to the list of things to upgrade your seer with includes Storm Daemon. Storm Daemons are only for Warlock Engineers, says so right after the name. I'll put it on the Tactica Updated. Also, the thing you're looking for is the Warpstone Amulet. I also organized the things a little.

oh, and Vefador, you're help is very welcome.