What makes skaven so scary?

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I have never seen a skaven clanrat in my life, much less played an army, and a lot of people tell me skaven are the most ferocious and aggressive army. Is thhat true

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fraid so and is the sorce of the most heated debate fantasy has, 2 only 2 real weaknesses and that is if rank bonus is ever negated they are screwed and there guns have a reasonable chance of blowing them into itty bitty peices... unfortunately the damage they do before this happens more often then not makes up for this so you have to get the jobdone in combat.

nothing that strike last (blackguard are good) lotsa shooty and magic (while their magic is exceptional there magic defense is only average) lots of flank chargers (dark riders are best)
jus make sure you have enough shooting to thin their ranks (likely even with max casulties there numbers will still be in high teens when they reach ur lines) a good unit to except charge (spearmen are alright knights are better) and then flank em.

their characters are good so kill em asap if you can once there gone the ratsies tend to run a little easier, but thebest tac is when you see the first signs of a skaven invasion .... RUN run for all your life is worth (you didn't like the village anyway it smelt funky) and don't look back until the fair realm of nagaroth is soo far behind that your sorounded by the sheer disgusting beuty of the old world (and then run some more for good measure)

seriously though don't play em in anythin bigger than 1000 or 1500 as they will simply own in those games

Ok , ratling guns will your army like hell as you have low toughness and rubbish armour. They are strength 4 and -2 armour save, and don't roll to hit (they simply roll to see how many shots they get and whether they blow up or not). Every unit of clanrats can have one of these attached to it, they also can't be targeted when they are next to the main unit, despite being on a bigger base size. They have a relatively short range but will mow elf units if they get close enough. Stuff like black horror will take care of them as you can place the template where you like, but it is a bit of a waste as that spell could destroy units instead of pesky ratling guns.

Jezzails, smell bad bad bad. They have a silly range, high strength and good armour modifier. Although your average skaven will win no sharp shooting contests they can be deployed in such volume that they are lethal. Multiple shots from repeating bolt throwers should work nicely, although the little buggers get a 4+ save against shooting.

Warp lightning cannons are unpleasant, but I can't remember enough about them to be more specific.

As has been mentioned before, their magic is nasty. Warp lightning does strength 5 hits and can be cast by engineers as well as grey seers. Also the engineers generate lots of dice with warpstone generators etc. You will need a good magic protection, but when it comes to your turn you should get some really cool dark magic to fling back at them.

Use repeating crossbows as well, most of their units are only toughness 3 so you can do lots of damage with multiple shots.

In summary, don't get stuck into a fight with them, use lots of magic and lots of shooting. If you are forced into combat get rid of their ranks to reduce their leadership.