Editing Warhammer Army Project/Skaven (section)

====Generic Characters====
'''Note:''' While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

* '''[[Verminlord]]:''' 450pts. The Great [[Horned Rat]] looked at the Greater [[Daemons]] and thought 'Why should [[Chaos]] have all the fun?' At first blush, this guy is horrifying. M8, WS8, I10, 5 attacks, 6 wounds, S6, T6, 5+ ward, Level 4 Wizard with access to both Lore of Ruin and Plague like Grayseers in default form. Everything is slinky, right? Well, that's when the issues set in. He can't join units, he's got no extra protection from shooting, but at T6 he's resistant to high volume shoots but still at risk against consitrated warmachines fire despite the ward. oh and did we mention that he costs 450 FUCKING POINTS? Don't get us wrong, he's a beast if you get him into combat and he can be a nasty caster under a lot of circumstances (he can even, in theory, drop a Bloodthirster, though don't count on that). But his price of entry is inhumanly high and he's a really big and obvious target (a solid [[Ogre Kingdoms]] or [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarf]] list will have his ass dropped on turn 1), he's weak against getting tar pitted and he has a troubling lack of Always Strikes First. You can safely leave him out of a tournament list, but he'll make a big splash in casual games.
** '''Verminlord Deceiver:''' Clan Eshin themed Verminlord, not too strong in duels due to lack of Doomglaive with Multiple Wounds, but has a nasty ranged attack (number of shots is equal to number of models in target unit's front rank), is -1 to hit when shot at and can Skitterleap around, and so is a perfect Verminlord for Warmachine hunting, chaff killing and general dickery thanks to owning all the Stealth Lore. Although those roles can be performed better for 475 points. Fun tactic: skitterleap behind that huge horde of goblins, outside of their range and charge them next turn. If your terror doesn't make them flee, just skitterleap back again before combat, and try again next turn.
** '''Verminlord Warbringer:''' Has Doomglaive and a paired weapon with Killing Blow, and as such is the best duelist from all the Verminlords. Adept at casting Death Frenzy so he is perfect for leading a charge, slaughtering enemy characters in duels and buffing your hordes, so they slaughter rank and file. Maybe the best combat Verminlord.
** '''Verminlord Warpseer:''' Always knows Warp Lightning and cast re-roll the dice when casting it, and always scoring max hits makes it a powerful blaster, although a few Warlock Engineers can do the same thing for much, much cheaper (this beauty costs 500 points). Has a Doomglaive and 4++ Ward save (as opposed to regular 5++ of other Verminlords) which you want to bring into melee, although at the same time you want to keep back and shoot lightnings at your foes... Just take Warbringer and a few Warlock Engineers. You can also sacrifice your boosted Ward save, dropping down to just 5++, for a once-off small round template attack that kills anything that fails Initiative tests. But it's hardly worth it unless you're looking at high-value low Initiative foes, like the [[Glottkin]].
** '''Verminlord Corruptor:''' The cheapest of the ET Verminlords, only being 5 points over the base. Always knows Plague and can reroll dice when casting it. Not too brilliant in combat (trading Doomglaive for an additional attack and ASF), although that ASF may prove handy in challenges. Reliable Plague is more interesting, being a hilarious spell, allowing you to fuck up whole games with bouncing Plague every bloody turn. 
*** '''Note:''' Again remember, these guys will be shot to smithereens by a solid gun-line, making them very uncompetitive.

* '''Warlord:''' Point for point, a Warlord is one of the most effective heroes in the Skaven book. He drops in at 85 points for a solid statline, along with the precious LD7 that lets all units with 3 ranks in his General LD Bubble hit LD10. He can have some solid magic equipment and can actually be an unusually effective combat lord (don't expect him to go 10 rounds with most other Lords though). He's a good choice. He can also take mounts (below) which are generally not the best choice but can be fun and if you expect him to do some frontline fighting and want him to cause casualties there are worse ways to up his kill count. Also, one of the few Lords who can be taken in 500pts games and be effective in them with almost no magic items.
** '''Note:''' Although kitting out a Warlord for close combat is right and proper, don't try to make him a challenge Lord. There's a reason Skaven can run from Challenges without losing LD bonuses, and that's because a Skaven in a Challenge is a Skaven who's a corpse. Even Empire, Bretonnian and Wood Elf Lords will stand a good chance of stomping him, and if you're up against a real challenge monster (Ogres, VC, WoC, DE) you might as well remove him. No, kit your Warlord out to kill basic dudes to up your combat res, it's better for him. 
*** '''Counternote:''' If kitted out properly, a Warlord can easily reach a 2+ armor save. Stuck with an Amulet of Endurance and you could have a pretty damn tanky warlord, but...consider how many clanrats you could have bought for that protection.

* '''Chieftain:''' Your basic Hero choice, and a bloody good one at that. With a relatively good statline (as Skaven go, don't expect him to beat anything better than a Chaos Warrior unit champion. Hell, my Marauder Champion even bested one in a challenge) and access to some nifty magic items can turn him into a cheap wizard hunter in a unit of Night Runners. However, you really need him as your BSB. If you play Skaven, you MUST HAVE A BSB OR YOU DIE HORRIBLY. Srsly, if one of your Clanrat units is shot up a bit by war machines or spells, running away CANNOT BE AFFORDED. Not to worry, because they are easily cheap enough to take 2.

* '''Grey Seer:''' Your general Lord Level Wizard, with a crap statline (though he has T4, which is kinda awesome for a wizard - especially if you gonna make him a general) and a 220 points pricetag. Like the Vermin Lord, he can mix Ruin and Plague spells freely, though if you want skitterleap, grab an Eshin sorcerer. He's a good caster for his points and you'll probably get a lot of mileage out of him, so if you have the points free, he's a good investment. Note that he too has LD6, a bastion of Skaven bravery, but a bad Idea as General as your enemy is already going to be gunning for him, don't hand them more points for killing him.

*'''Master Mutator/Master Moulder:''' The Moulder Leaders for 80/30 points. Able to join Giant Rats or Rat Ogres as another handler or get up in front (to use that non-reach magic weapon), they also let all Moulder units within 12"/6" roll 3D6 (minus the highest die) on all Leadership checks. If you're fielding a bunch of unattended beasts, he could be useful if you're confident in your rolling. They are also ok fighters with S&T4 and armed with a Greatweapon, KB Things-Catcher, or the armor-ignoring Beast-Prods (still need to enchant their light armour).  

*'''Warlock Master/Warlock Engineer:''' Cheaper Lore of ruin casters with light armour at 160/65pts respectively. The Master caps off at Lvl3 but going past that is not what you want. they can also have other uses as they drew gear from magic and Skryer items: they can do shooting with  Warlock Optics and a pistol or Warpmusket, + a maybe a Doomrocket; They magic spam with Warp-Blades, Upgraded Warp-Energy Condenser, and Supercharged Warp-Power Accumulator; or go close range with a unit of Clanrats or Stormvermin armed with an Enchanted armour, a Warp-Blades, Warpforged Blade, a Brass or Death Orb for all that Armour negation and -1Ld Lore Attribute goodness.

* '''Master Assassin/Assassin:''' An Assassin is an expensive way of killing enemy Heroes, Wizards, and maybe War Machines or small shooting units. That's about it. With changes to the power of characters, his stats are good, but characters can't be trusted to kill anything above a character, and they dig into Hero points. There will be games where you take him, and he gets killed without accomplishing a thing. But hey, you played Skaven cuz you liked the randomness, and given to a unit of Scouting Gutter Runners, they'll excel at War Machine and the like, removal. They can still support other Eshin units like extra DPS, let them discage with Smoke Bombs, and area denial with an Infernal Bomb. The Master Assassin can also be a General, with the highest Skaven Ld of 8 (must not be hidden for others to use it)

*'''Eshin Sorcerer Lord/Eshin Sorcerer:''' Your source of Stealth magic. Only go up to Lvl3; only Verminlords can get max. They do a lot of stealthy things like teleporting characters, running fast and climbing over everything, arrow protection, and damage. They also do little melee with poison attacks, and attribute softens enemy armour for Eshin daggers.

* '''PlagueLord/Plague Priest:''' The Lord version can only get to wizard level 2, but can equip a Plague Censer and uses spells of plague. (go figure) Essentially mandatory for any Clan Pestilens themed armies due to how much they increase plague monks' effectiveness in battle. Other than that, their only use is to take Plague Furnace. If you just want plague magic, grab a Grey Seer.