Warhammer/Tactics/6th Edition/Skaven

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Why play Skaven?

Skaven

Army Special Rules

Lead from the back, life is cheap, he who runs away lives to fight another day.

Magic Items

Magic Weapons

• Fellblade: The most expensive magic weapon in the skaven arsenal, the Fellblade costs 85 points, and for that you get a character who hits at Strength 10 with each unsaved Wound turning in d6 Wounds. The drawback is that you have to roll a dice at the end of the wielder's turn, and on a 1-2, the wielder suffers 1 Wound with no armor save allowed. This weapon is best reserved for high points games, because essentially it requires you to take a Warlord or a Warlord-equivalent in a Great Clan Army (you could give it a Grey Seer, but their chance of actually hitting something with it ain't great) and turn him into a sacrificial cannon. Yes, he will absolutely fuck up anything he hits with it, but if it kills him, then you gotta take Rout tests and you know skaven Leadership ain't the best... In a Clan Pestilens Army, this might be more useful, because the fact all your Plague Monks are Frenzied means they don't care so much if your Plague Lord bites it.
• The Gouger: For 50 points, you gain the ability to ignore armor saves. Give this to an Assassin (or, better yet, a Master Assassin if you really want to see the bodies hit the floor) and you have a sacrificial Hero who is tailor-made to hunt down the most heavily armored mofos on the other side and shiv them.
• Blade of Black Fury: For 50 points, you gain +2 Attacks. Considering all your non-Wizard Heroes have 3 Attacks apiece, with Warlords and Master Assassins having 4 and Plague Lords having 5, with not-too-terrible Weapon Skills, it's worth considering, mybe.
• Warpstone Stars: Only Clan Eshin Characters (Assassins, Master Assassins and Eshin Sorcerers) can take these babies. For 50 points, you gain throwing stars that let you use your full Attacks score against a single target in 10" during the Shooting Phase, with each hit being S5 and doing d3 Wounds. Considering that Eshin Sorcerers only get to play with Skitterleap, taking one with these babies might come in handy.
• Weeping Blade: 45 points gives you +1 Strength and the D3 Unsaved Wounds ability.
• Cursed Blade of Delirium: For 45 points, your Weapon Skill is raised to. This is a very situational magic weapon; Warlords, Assassins and Plague Lords already have Weapon Skill 6, Chieftains, Plague Priests and Master Moulders have WS5, and Master Assassins have Weapon Skill 8.
• Headsplitter: This magic sling coss 40 points and both ignores armor and always wounds on a 2+ when aimed at targets with Toughness 5. Give it to an Assassin or a Chieftain and have them go hunting the biggest, toughest monsters and characters your enemy army has.
• Desolate Blade: For 40 points, gain +2 Strength. A bit more useful than the Cursed Blade of Delirium, since your Lords and Heroes universally have Strength 3-4.
• Dwarf-Slayer: Costs 35 points, inflicts a -3 penalty to Armor Saves and wounds all Dwarfs on a 2+. Whilst obviously most useful if you're fighting dwarfs, that penalty to armor saves means it's not a bad ace up your sleeve against heavily armored targets either.
• Blade of Corruption: Only Clan Pestilens Characters (Plague Priests, Plague Lords and Festering Chantors) can take this weapon. Costs 30 points. Mark an enemy that loses a Wound to this weapon; for the rest of the battle, that enemy must roll a dice at the beginning of each of his turns, and he suffers 1 Wound with no armor sve allowed on a roll of a 1-3.
• Languisher Sword: For 25 points, you gain the Always Strike First rule. COnsidering how high Initiative is with Skaven characters, probably not the best investment.
• Death Globes: Only Clan Skryre Characters (Warlock Engineers, Warlock Masters) can take this weapon. You can throw 1 Death Globe during each Shooting Phase; place the small round template within 8" and roll for Scatter like a Stone Thrower. On a Misfire, the template is centered on the bearer. Roll a dice for anything under the template; each model that rolls a 4+ suffers a wound with no armor save allowed.
• Blade of Nurglitch: Despite the name, actually not restricted to Clan Pestilens. Costs 20 points, each unsaved Wound also inflicts -1 Toughness for the rest of the fight, dropping a target to Toughness 1 minium.
• Things-Catcher: Clan Moulder (Master Moulder, Master Mutator, Harbinger of Mutation) only. For 20 points, gain a 2-Handed Weapon with Killing Blow.

Magic Armor

• Rust Armor: For 50 points, gain a 4+ armor save (stacks with other armor); if the wearer takes a Wound from a hit that would nullify the armor save completely (shot by a cannon, hit by a magic weapon with the Ignores Armor Saves rule, etc), that Wound is discounted, but the Rust Armor is permanently destroyed. If you're desperate to protect your General, this might be a decent investment.
• Warpstone Armor: For 35 points, gain a 4+ armor save (stacks with other armor) that also inflicts a Strength 4 Hit on any attacker for each successful armor save made.
• Cautious Shield: For 25 points, gain a 6+ armor save (stacks with other armor), and the bearer can choose to either force one enemy in base contact to lose 1 Attack whilst still being able to fight normally, or can give up all their attacks that turn to instead strip a targeted enemy of 2 Attacks.

Talismans

• Twisted Crown of the Horned Rat: For 50 points, gain Regeneration.
• Tenebrous Cloak: For 30 points, gain a 3+ Ward Save against regular and magical missiles.
• The Foul Pendant: For 30 points, gain a 5+ Ward Save.
• Warpstone Pendant: For 25 points, gain a 4+ Ward Save... but at the battle's end, roll a d6, and if you roll a 1, the bearer counts as Slain for the purpose of calculating victory points and contesting quarters, due to mutating into a Chaos Spawn.
• Ring of Darkness: Costs 25 points; gives the bearer and their unit Magic Resistance (1), and if the bearer is targeted by a "reveal magic items" effect, they only have to reveal the presence of this ring.

Arcane Items

• Warpstone Scroll: Costs 50 points. Has the Scroll and Bound Spell (Power Level 5) traits, One Use Only. When invoked, all flying units, flying monsters, flying characters, and characters riding on flying steeds take d6 Strength 6 Hits. Obviously, don't bother taking this unless you're going to be facing a lot of flying critters.
• Warp Scroll: Costs 30 points. Has the Scroll and Bound Spell (Power Level 4) traits, One Use Only. When invoked, every model in a designated unit within 24" takes one Strength 3 hit; if this causes any casualties, the unit must take a Panic test.
• Storm Daemon: Only Warlock Engineers (and presumably Warlock Masters) can take this Arcane Item, which costs 25 points and has the Bound Spell (Power Level 4) trait. Can be invoked once per Magic phase to cast Warp-Lightning at the 5+ casting value automatically, though you have to roll a dice after using it and on a 1 it runs out of power and can't be used for the rest of the game. If you take a Warlock Engineer, take this item, as it basically lets the bearer cast Warp-Lightning (one time guaranteed) twice per Magic Phase.
• Eye of the Horned Rat: Costs 25 points. The bearer can declare they are using the Eye in each Magic Phase; if they activate it, roll a d6. On a 1, the player's army loses 1 Power Dice, but on a 2-6, the player's army gains 1 Power Dice.
• Warpstone Token: For 10 points, gain 1 Warpstone Token. The bearer can eat as many Warpstone Tokens as they like before casting a spell, gaining 1 bonus Power Dice per token consumed, but each token-generated dice that rolls a 1 inflicts 1 Wound with no armor save allowed on the consumer.

Enchanted Iems

• Cloak of Shadows: Only Clan Eshin Characters (Assassins, Master Assassins and Eshin Sorcerers) can take this item. It costs 50 points, and enemies must roll a 5-6 on a d6 before they can attack this character with a spell or ranged attack; on a 1-4, they must choose another target instead. Has no effect if the bearer is inside a unit or in close combat.
• Skalm: Costs 50 points. Can be used once per battle to restore the bearer to full health
• Brass Orb: Costs 50 points. Can be used once per battle by being thrown in the same manner as a Death Globe, except that models hit must pass an Initiative check or be destroyed immediately, no saves other than "Look Out, Sir!" allowed. Give this to a Chieftain and use him as an expendable bomb delivery rat to wipe out your enemy's nastiest character or monster. Great if it works!
• Skavenbrew: Costs 50 point. The bearer may give the Skavenbrew to the unit they are with (but not to any other characters in it) at the beginning of the battle. If they do, roll a d6. On a 1, nothing happeens. On a 2-3, the bearer and their unit are Frenzied. On a 4-5, they Hate (Everything). On a 6, they gain both Frenzied and Hatred, but they suffer d3 Wounds that don't allow armor saves at the end of every Skaven turn (distribute as shooting).
• Liber Bubonicus: Costs 40 points. Only Clan Pestilens Characters (Plague Priests, Plague Lords and Festering Chantors) can take this item. The bearer becomes a level 1 Wizard that knows Pestilent Breath... so, if you're playing a Clan Pestilens Army, don't bother giving this to a Festering Chantor.
• Bands of Power: COsts 25 points, has the Bound Spell (Power Level 4) trait. Once per Magic phase, the bearer can evoke this Bound Spell to automatically (unless it's dispelled) double their base Strength value until the beginning of his side's following Magic phase.
• Warpstone Charm: For 25 points, the bearer can re-roll any single dice roll once during the game. This can explicitly prevent a Miscast or grant Irresistable Force.

Magic Standards

• Storm Banner: Costs 75 points. Can be activated once during the game; if this happens, no creature on the battlefield can Fly and missile attacks suffer a -2 to hit, whilst non-magical missiles that don't use Ballistic Skill must instead roll a 4+ before they can be used. Roll a d6 at the beginning of each of the following player's turns; on a 3+, the effect continues, but on a 1-2, the effect comes to an end.
• Sacred Standard of the Horned Rat: Costs 75 points and makes the bearer's unit Cause Fear.
• Umbranner: Costs 35 points and grants the bearer and his unit a 4+ Ward save against all normal and magical missiles of Strength 4 or less.
• Banner of the Four Black Winds: Costs 30 points, flying creatures must use their ground movement value if they want to charge the bearer.
• Banner of Burning Hatred: Costs 25 points, bearer and their unit Hates All Enemies (even if Frenzied), and must roll a d6 at the beginning of the Movement phase if not declaring a charge; on a 1-3, the unit has to move as fast as it can towards the closest enemy it can see.
• Banner of the Swarm: The bearer's unit boosts their Outnumbering Bonus from +1 to +2.

Units Analysis

Named Characters

• Deathmaster Snikch:
• Lord Skrolk:
• Grey Seer Thanquol:
• Throt the Unclean:
• Ghoritch:
• Ikit Claw:
• Morbus Sanguis:
• Klawmunkast:
• Queek Head-Taker:
• Nurglitch:

Lords & Heroes

• Warlord:
• Grey Seer:
• Vermin Lord:
• Chieftain:
• Warlock Engineer: Unlike in later editions, where they are a fully functional Hero-tier wizard with their own unique lore, in this iteration, Warlock Engineers are Level 1 wizards who can't cast spells by default. Instead, you need to spend +15 points to give them Warp Blades, which allow them to cast the spell Warp-Lightning in the usual manner - oh, and the blades also boost your Engineer's Strength by +1, from 3 to 4. A further +10 points for an Upgraded Warp-Energy Condensor, which lets them cast Warp-Lightning with 2 Power Dice instead of 1, is also practically mandatory, meaning that this 45 point unit basically has an actual cost of 70 points. You can also spend +10 points on a Warplock Pistol and +15 points on a Supercharged Warp-Power Accumultor, which gives your army +1 Power Dice during the Magic phase. They do come with a free Warpstone Token, though.

Thank you St Alessio. Did you know that 95 points gets you a pistol toting warp lightning spewing machine. Spend another 25pts to add a Storm Daemon on one, Now you can double your warp lightning. Seriously, this guy went onto write Kings of War and is considered one of the better game designers yet they let him get away with this shit, probably because he played skaven and 'volunteered' to write the book.

• Master Moulder:
• Assassin:
• Plague Priest: For 70 points, you get a Chieftain with -1 BS and -1 Initiative but +1 Toughness and Frenzy. Starts with a hand weapon, and can take either a 2nd hand weapon for +4 points, a flail for +4 points, or a Plague Censer for +16 points.

Core Units

• Clanrats: In this edition, these guys have a special rule called "Mainstay Unit", which basically means your other units (Core, Special and Rare) may only be equal to or less than the number of Clanrat units you have. You can't have 3 Clanrats and 6 Stormvermin, but you could have 6 Clanrats and 3 Stormvermin, basically.
• Stormvermin:
• Clanrat Slaves: Cannon fodder.
• Giant Rats:
• Night Runners:
• Poisoned Wind Globadiers:
• Rat Swarm:

Special Units

• Gutter Runners:
• Plague Monks:
• Rat Ogres:
• Warplock Jezzails:

Rare Units

• Doomwheel:
• Warp-Lightning Cannon:
• Plague Censer Bearers: These guys tweak the Mainstay Units rule in that they are capped by the number of Plague Monk units you have.

Alternative Army Lists

Because 6th edition was the height of when Games Workshop was actually a pretty cool bunch, the Skaven armybook of this iteration includes 4 variant army lists to represent the armies of the Great Clans. Each of these lists shuffles around the unit roster, adds a new Wizard Hero (except for Clan Skryre) and a new Lord, and also reworks which unit is your Mainstay Unit for the army - just to make that clearer, Clanrats lose the "Mainstay Units" special rule in these variant 6e Skaven armies! ...Except for in Clan Skryre, that is! And remember, these armies from the back of the Skaven book are not official! So using them requires full consent of the opponent. Clan Eshin army from the Storm of Chaos and The Bubonic Court from the Lustria book are official.

Clan Eshin (Storm of Chaos list)

Hilarious, but don't try it unless you really, really like ninjas. Basically the back of the book variant list with some shuffles and the new Eshin Triad, a useless unit if I ever saw one.

The Bubonic Court of Nurglitch

Debuting in the Lustria splatbook, the Bubonic Court represents both an "official" version of the Clan Pestilens army above, which mens a lot of the stuff here will basically be improved versions of the Clan Pestilens units, and a historical faction, representing the early days of Clan Pestilens as it fought to conquer Lustria. As such, you're not really supposed to use it outside of re-enacting those historical missions, but let's face it, this is so much better than the vanilla Clan Pestilens army your opponent will probably let you use at least some of these units in that army.

Bubonic Court Lords

RAW, Nurglitch is mandatory as your army's general when using this army list, but we're sure a reasonable opponent will let you drop him for home-games.

Plague Lord: As per Clan Pestilens.

Plague Pontifex: This is the Bubonic Court's counterpart to the Grey Seer, but way cheaper; 145 to the Greys Seer's 235. Statwise, he's +1 Weapon Skill, Toughness and Attacks at the -1 Initiative penalty that's standard for Bubonic characters compared to their armybook counterparts. He can take a 2nd hand weapon (+6 pts), flail (+6 pts) or plague censer (+24 pts) and up to 100 points of magic items, and is Frenzied. The biggest downside is that he's only a level 2 Wizard who only knows Pestilent Breath and Plague, though you can bump him up a level and add Death Frenzy and a third Warpstone Token for +60 points.

0-1 Cauldron of a Thousand Poxes: This is the Bubonic Court's version of the Screaming Bell, and as such you buy this as a "steed" for a Plague Pontifex. It functions like a Screaming Bell, save for three hanges. Firstly, it's always got to be pushed by a unit of Plague Monks, who will never lose their Frenzy so long as the Cauldron is intact. Secondly, the Cauldron obviously can't be rung, so you don't have to worry about saved S7+ hits ringing it involuntarily. Thirdly, what the Cauldron does instead of ringing is let you cast Plague as a Bound Spell once in each Skaven Magic Phase, with 1-3 Power Dice to fuel it; the result of those Power Dice is the spell's Power level, and a 13 will get you Irresistible Force... but a double or a treble has the same disastrous consequences as getting one with a Screaming Bell!

Bubonic Court Heroes

Plague Priest: The only change here is that these guys can be your Battle Standard Bearers.

Festering Chantor: Statistically identical to the Clan Pestilens version, but with one major quality of life improvement; now you can upgrade them to Level 2 Wizards, giving them a 2nd Warpstone Token and the Plague spell, for +45 points.

Stinking Thing: The Heroic counterpart to the Plague Lord, this is a Chieftain who has yet to be fully accepted into the new cult. Basically, take a Chieftain, give them +1 Toughness and -1 Initiative, and swap the ability to take a shield for the ability to take a flail (+4 pts).

Bubonic Court Core

Plague Monks: Noted as "1+" in the army list, but not explicitly a Mainstay Unit - it's unclear if this army even has that rule, but it's probably best to presume they do.

0-1 Plague Rat Swarms: Just like in the core army; 65 points per base for a Rat Swarm with Poisoned Attacks.

Rotten Rodents: Aspirant plague monks, these are basically Clanrats that cost 6 points apiece; they're Toughness 4 instead of Toughness 3 and lose their shields, Clan Skryre Weapon Team Attachments and option to take spears, but can take additional hand weapons for +2 points per model. The points to give them champions, standard bearers and musicians remain unchanged.

Pusbags: Skaveslaves that cost 3 points per model and can't take shields or spears, can take flails for +2 points each, and have the special rules Cloud of Flies (-1 to hit penalty against Pusbags when in close combat) and Dying (each Pusbag unit loses d6 models at the end of each Skaven Movement Phase) alongside expendable.

Bubonic Court Special

Plague Censer Bearers: Noted to no longer have the "Disciples" rule that meant you needed to have equal or greater numbers of Plague Monks.

Frothing Giant Rats: These are Giant Rats without Packmasters but with Frenzy. They cost 5 poins apiece for a unit size of 10+. Other than that, their stats are identical.

Bubonic Court Rare

Mad Rat Ogres: Rat Ogres that lose their Packmaster handlers but gain Frenzy. 50 points per model.

Rat Spawn: Fuel to the fire of the conspiracy theory that Clan Pestilens represents an attempt by Nurgle to corrupt the Skaven. Basically a Skaven Chaos Spawn: Movement 6, Weapon Skill 3, Ballistic Skill 0, Strength 4, Toughness 5, Wounds 3, Initiative 2, Attacks D6, Leadership 10, Unit Size 1, Unit Strength 3, special rules are Stubborn, Cause FEar, and POisoned Attacks.

Unofficial Army Lists

Clan Eshin

Glass Cannon time. You don't got the numbers compared to a typical skaven force, and your mainstay unit are skirmishers, so you want to outflank and hit-and-run as much as possible. Give your Gutter Runners Poisoned Attacks, because you need every advantage you can eke out with this bunch.

Clan Eshin Lords

• Grey Seer:
• Master Assassin: Though he costs 215 points base, this guy's a fucking mincing machine by skaven standards! 4 Attacks at Initiative 10 (no, that's not a misprint!) with Weapon Skill 8, and the Poisoned Attacks special rule on top? This guy will make enemy characters dead really quickly. He comes with Two Hand Weapons and Throwing Stars by default, can take Smoke Bombs for +20 points and up to 100 points of magical gear, and he has the special rules Poisoned Attacks, Scout, Hidden, and Hidden Leadership, which means he gives his Leadership 8 to all Night Runners and Gutter Runners within 12" even when Hidden.

Clan Eshin Heroes

• Chieftain:
• Assassin:
• Eshin Sorcerer: This guy's basically a 75 point Level 1 Wizard who only knows Skitterleap. He does have WS 4, BS 4, and I5, but he only gets 1 Attack. Can take Smoke Bombs for +20 points and 50 points of magical items. He has the Poisoned Attacks and Scout special rules, and is armed with 2 Hand Weapons and Throwing Stars.

Clan Eshin Core

• Night Runners: These are your Mainstay Unit.
• Clanrats:
• Clanrat Slaves:
• Stormvermin: These are a 0-1 unit in this army, meaning you can only have 1 unit of them, max.
• Rat Swarms: These are a 0-1 unit, and they count as a Special Choice if they're promoted to Plague Rats.

Clan Eshin Special

• Gutter Runners:
• Giant Rats:

Clan Eshin Rare

• Plague Monks:
• Plague Censer Bearers:
• Rat Ogres:
• Poisoned Wind Globadiers:
• Warp-Lightning Cannons:
• Warplock Jezzails:
• Dogs of War:

Clan Skryre

This is a Shooting Army. Your need for Clanrats as a Mainstay Unit gives you a solid melee block a the center of your army, but their job is to hold the enemy in place so your jezzails, globadiers and warp-lightning cannons can blow them away with one of the biggest barrages of firepower in 6e this side of a Dwarf army. Remember that, as a Skaven player, you have the unique ability to shoot into units that are engaged in melee combat, and take advantage!

Clan Skryre Lords

• Grey Seer:
• Warlock Master: For 180 points, this Lord equivalent to the Warlock Engineer comes with all the Warlock Engineer's magitek upgrades by default, including that Warplock Pistol, and can take 100 points of magical items on top of that. He counts as a Level 3 Wizard and has the unique ability to cast Warp-Lightning on an 11+, making it do 3d6 Strength 5 hits if you pull it off.

Clan Skryre Heroes

• Chieftain:
• Warlock Engineer:

Clan Skryre Core

• Clanrats: This is the only variant army to keep Clanrats as a Mainstay Unit
• Clanrat Slaves:
• Poisoned Wind Globadiers: You can take two units of Globadiers per unit of Clanrats in the army.
• Warplock Jezzails:
• Stormvermin: These are a 0-1 unit in this army, meaning you can only have 1 unit of them, max.
• Rat Swarms: These are a 0-1 unit, and they count as a Special Choice if they're promoted to Plague Rats.

Clan Skryre Special

• Night Runners:
• Giant Rats:
• Warp-Lightning Cannons:

Clan Skryre Rare

• Plague Monks:
• Plague Censer Bearers:
• Gutter Runners:
• Rat Ogres:
• Dogs of War:

Clan Pestilens

The big thing to take into account here is that the bulk of your units are Frenzied.

Clan Pestilens Lords

• Grey Seer:
• Plague Lord: BAsically a Warlord that trades -1 BS and -1 Initiative for +1 Toughness and +1 Attack. Costs 130 points and is armed with a Hand Weapon; can take a 2nd Hand Weapon for +6 points, taek a Flail for +6 points, or take a Plague Censer for +24 points. Is Frenzied and can take 100 points of magical gear.

Clan Pestilens Heroes

• Chieftain:
• Plague Priest:
• Festering Chantor: A Frenzied Level 1 Wizard who only knows the Pestilent Breath spell. Is armed with a single hand weapon; can take a 2nd hand weapon for +4 points or a Plague Censer for +16 points, as well as 50 points of magic.

Clan Pestilens Core

• Clanrats:
• Clanrat Slaves:
• Stormvermin: These are a 0-1 unit in this army, meaning you can only have 1 unit of them, max.
• Rat Swarms: These are a 0-1 unit, and they must be promoted to Plague Rats.
• Plague Monks: These are your Mainstay Unit.

Clan Pestilens Special

• Plague Censer Bearers:
• Night Runners:
• Giant Rats:

Clan Pestilens Rare

• Warplock Jezzails:
• Poisoned Wind Globadiers:
• Warp Lightning Cannons:
• Gutter Runners:
• Dogs of War:

Clan Moulder

You're going to rely really heavily on tying up enemies with expendable Giant Rat packs and then hammering them with packs of Rat Ogres.

Clan Moulder Lords

• Grey Seer:
• Master Mutator: Lord level Master Moulder equivalent. Costs 130 points, has the Beastmaster special rule.

Clan Moulder Heroes

• Chieftain:
• Master Moulder:
• Harbinger of Mutation:

Clan Moulder Core

• Clanrats:
• Clanrat Slaves:
• Stormvermin: These are a 0-1 unit in this army, meaning you can only have 1 unit of them, max.
• Rat Swarms: These are a 0-2 unit, and they count as a Special Choice if they're promoted to Plague Rats.
• Giant Rats: These are your Mainstay Unit.

Clan Moulder Special

• Night Runners:
• Rat Ogres:

Clan Moulder Rare

• Gutter Runners:
• Warplock Jezzails:
• Plague Monks:
• Plague Censer Bearers:
• Poisoned Wind Globadiers:
• Warp-Lightning Cannons:
• Dogs of War: