Warcry/Tactics/Skaven
Praise the Great Horned Rat. Rules writers allowed Skaven to descend upon the Eightpoints with lots of options for cheap chaff ready to die for your under-costed big hitters. Yes yes.
Faction Overview
Pros
- Extra Fast: While most quick warbands have 5" movement, Skaven have a extra 1" over them.
- Versatility: has cheap rats to big brutes to brute with machine guns.
- Strong Synergies: This warband gets a lot of its strength from unit combos.
Cons
- Many Squishy Units: If it's not a rat ogre, Storm Fiend, or a Stormvermin, it's going to die to anything your opponent dedicates to it. Some models might go down fighting, but try to kite things out to avoid on-kill ability triggers from snowballing your opponent.
- Obvious Targets: This warband has a few key models that will draw a lot of attention from opponents that have fallen victim to tricks like a 2x packmaster both popping Crack The Whip on a rat ogre or storm fiend in the turn it charges their leader...
Abilities Overview
- [Double] Scurry Away: (Agile Units: Clanrats, Plague Monks, Gutter Runners, Pack Masters, Giant Rats). A fighter can use this ability only if they are within 3" of an enemy fighter. Roll a dice. On a 4+, this fighter makes a bonus disengage action.
- Fighter Commentary -
- [Double] Crack the Whip: Pack Master only. Pick a visible friendly fighter with the Beast runemark within 4" of this fighter. That fighter makes a bonus attack action that has a Range characteristic of 3 or less.
- Fighter Commentary -
- [Double] Hired Bodyguard: Non-leader Stormvermin only. Until the end of the battle round, friendly fighters with the Leader runemark cannot be targeted while they are within 1" of this fighter.
- Fighter Commentary -
- [Triple] Crushing Charge: Rat Ogors and Stormfiends only. Until the end of this fighter's activation, the next time this fighter finishes a move action within 1" of an enemy fighter, pick a visible enemy fighter within 1" of this fighter. Allocate a number of damage points to that fighter equal to the value of this ability.
- Fighter Commentary -
- [Triple] Lead from the Back: Leader only. Until the end of the battle round, add half the value of this ability (rounding up) to the Attacks characteristic of attack actions that have a Range characteristic of 3 or less made by other friendly fighters while they are within 3" of this fighter.
- Fighter Commentary -
- [Quad] Recite from the Book of Woes: Bringer-of-the-Word only. Until the end of the battle round, enemy fighters cannot use abilities while they are within 3" of this fighter.
- Fighter Commentary -
Fighter's Overview
Leader
Clanrat Clawleader
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 16; 145 Pts.
- Rule: Leader, Agile
- Weapons:
- Dagger-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary- The cheapest of the leader options. For -5 points you lose the Quad Ability Recite from the Book of Woes, but otherwise have an identical stat line to the Bringer of the Word.
Bringer-of-the-Word
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 16; 150 Pts.
- Rule: Leader, Agile, Priest
- Weapons:
- Dagger-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary- The Standout utility option. For +5 points you gain the Quad Ability Recite from the Book of Woes. This adds some great flexibility with the potential for your leader to shut off key turns for an opponent, but don't rely on the chance of rolling a quad, or expect him to stick around for long without support on the turn you use that ability since the easiest way to negate the effects are to either walk away from him or if that isn't an option, to kill him outright.
Stormvermin Fangleader
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 20; 170 Pts.
- Rule: Leader
- Weapons:
- Dagger-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary- The standout leader for cost effective damage output and survivability. For +20 points you lose the Quad Ability Recite from the Book of Woes and the Double Ability Scurry Away, but gain 4w and 1 strength. Point for point, the Fangleader has the edge in offense and defense over the other two options against Toughness 3 and 4 enemies, but loses out on the utility of the Skaven specific abilities.
Fighter
Clan Rats
A defining aspect of Skaven, a base of 6" on a grunt is fast an even for other speed factions. 4 Toughness will let you hold objectives for a while but 8 Wounds get used up quickly.
Clanrat with Rusty Spear and Clanshield
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 8; 75 Pts.
- Rule: Agile
- Weapons:
- Spear-Range 2"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 1/4
- Fighter Commentary- Your standard 2" attack.
Clanrat with Rusty Blade and Clanshield
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 8; 75 Pts.
- Rule: Agile
- Weapons:
- Sword-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
- Fighter Commentary- Your standard 1" attack.
Plague Rats
For -5 Points you gain a 1 attack, gain 1 Damage on Crits and lose 1 Toughness compared to the equivalent clanrat. they are some of your cheapest offensive power. Mix at least one in for every clanrat if not going Beast spam.
Plague Monk with Woe-Stave and Foetid Blade
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 8; 70 Pts.
- Rule: Agile
- Weapons:
- club-Range 2"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/5
- Fighter Commentary-
Plague Monk with Pair of Foetid Blades
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 8; 70 Pts.
- Rule: Agile
- Weapons:
- Dagger-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 3; Damage 1/4
- Fighter Commentary-
Stormvermin
Elite rats, they could be good to protect any leader with [Double] Hired Bodyguard. They do inflict more damage then clan rats, but 2 more wounds is not that much more durable.
Stormvermin with Halberd
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 4; Wounds 10; 105 Pts.
- Rule: Elite
- Weapons:
- Spear-Range 2"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary- with only 10 wounds, both stormvermin varients go down in a couple activations meaning the extra attack outweighs the extra toughness 9 times out of 10.
Stormvermin with Halberd and Clanshield
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 5; Wounds 10; 115 Pts.
- Rule: Elite
- Weapons:
- Spear-Range 2"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 2/4
- Fighter Commentary-
Night Runner
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 8; 75 Pts.
- Rule: Agile
- Weapons:
- Sword-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
- Ranged-Range 8"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 1/2
- Fighter Commentary- For the same points as a clan rat you gain a low damage ranged 8" attack but lose 1 Toughness.
Packmaster
- Stats: Movement 6"; Toughness 3; Wounds 8; 65 Pts.
- Rule: Agile, Frenzied
- Weapons:
- Fangs-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
- Ranged-Range 3"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/2
- Fighter Commentary- For -10 Points compared to the equivalent clanrat you gain a 3" attack profile, gain the Double ability Crack the Whip and loose 1 Toughness. They pair very well with Beasts.
Giant Rat
- Stats: Movement 8"; Toughness 2; Wounds 4; 35 Pts.
- Rule: Agile, Beast
- Weapons:
- Sword-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/3
- Fighter Commentary- They are fast-moving beasts and the cheapest fighter in the game. You can steal the action economy by just spamming but their durability could hurt you, in the long run, depending on the mission. Can get a bonus attack from [Double] Crack the Whip but you should be saving those for your Rat Orgors when posable...
Rat Ogor
Rat Ogor with Tearing Claws
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 4; Wounds 30; 225 Pts.
- Rule: Beast, Brute
- Weapons:
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 4/8
- Fighter Commentary- +1 attack action within 3", when within 4" of a Packmaster on a Double...
Rat Ogor with Warpfire Gun
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 4; Wounds 30; 235 Pts.
- Rule: Beast, Brute
- Weapons:
- Ranged-Range 3-8"; Attacks 2; Strength 5; Damage 3/6
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 2; Strength 4; Damage 4/8
- Fighter Commentary- +10 points for +1 attack action within 3", when within 4" of a Packmaster on a Double... sacrifices 2 Attacks per action within 3" for an 3-8" attack Profile. Sadly the Crack the Whip ability only works on the 1" claw attacks and not the warp fire ranged attack.
Stormfiend
The biggest of Rats, Toughness 5 and 35 wounds with a lot of profiles. but the pricing of 265Pts will mean its only practical to take one. So think about your Warband's needs.
Stormfiend with Warpfire Projectors'
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 5; Wounds 35; 265 Pts.
- Rule: Brute
- Weapons:
- Ranged-Range 3-8"; Attacks 2; Strength 5; Damage 3/6
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 2; Strength 4; Damage 4/8
- Fighter Commentary- Spending +20 points on a Rattling cannon is a good idea.
Stormfiend with Shock Gauntlets
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 5; Wounds 35; 265 Pts.
- Rule: Brute
- Weapons:
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 4/10
- Fighter Commentary- Less attacks than the Doomflayer Gauntlets... the extra 2 Damage on a crit hit do not make up for less attacks.
Stormfiend with Ratling Cannons
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 5; Wounds 35; 285 Pts.
- Rule: Brute
- Weapons:
- Ranged-Range 3-10"; Attacks 4; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 2; Strength 4; Damage 4/8
- Fighter Commentary- The most expensive model for good reason.
Stormfiend with Grinderfists
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 5; Wounds 35; 265 Pts.
- Rule: Brute
- Weapons:
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 4; Strength 5; Damage 4/8
- Fighter Commentary- Less attacks than the Doomflayer Gauntlets... But +1 Strength.
Stormfiend with Doomflayer Gauntlets
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 5; Wounds 35; 265 Pts.
- Rule: Brute
- Weapons:
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 5; Strength 4; Damage 4/8
- Fighter Commentary- Statistically more attacks is better than more strength unless fighting Stormcast and even then if they have shields its all the same in the end.
Stormfiend with Windlaunchers
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 5; Wounds 35; 265 Pts.
- Rule: Brute
- Weapons:
- Ranged-Range 3-20"; Attacks 2; Strength 4; Damage 2/4
- Unarmed-Range 1"; Attacks 2; Strength 4; Damage 4/8
- Fighter Commentary- If there is no terrain on the table this could be worth the points....
Minions, Thralls, and Allies
Clawlord
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 3; Wounds 22; 140 Pts.
- Runemarks: Ally, Elite
- Weapons:
- Sword-Range 1"; Attacks 5; Strength 4; Damage 2/5
- [Triple] Strike and Scurry Away: Make a bonus attack attack action, followed by a bonus disengage action.
- Fighter Commentary-
Grey Seer
- Stats: Movement 5"; Toughness 3; Wounds 20; 125 Pts.
- Runemarks: Ally, Wizard
- Weapons:
- Magic-Range 3-7"; Attacks 2; Strength 3; Damage 3/6
- Staff-Range 1"; Attacks 3; Strength 3; Damage 1/4
- [Triple] Consume Warpstone Token: Roll a number of dice equal to the value of this ability. For each roll of 1, deal 1 point of damage to this fighter. For each 4+, add 1 to damage dealt to enemy fighters using the Magic attack in the next attack action.
- Fighter Commentary-
General Tactics
The stand out leader for utility is the Bringer-of-the-Word, while the standout leader for cost effectiveness is the Fangleader. The Bringer-of-the-Word is the only leader to benefit from all the abilities available to a Skaven leader and is still pretty points efficient. The Fangleader is more points efficient in terms of damage output and survivability but gives up scurry away and recite from the book of woe.
The stand out Fighter is the Plague Monk due to points efficiency, +1 attack,-1 toughness, and -5 points compared to clan rats are a better choice. 1 attack is more statistically valuable than 1 toughness.
The Night Runner comes with an extremely weak ranged option, but can be the ideal choice against slower warbands without ranged options where it can kite enemies and still get in a bit of damage each turn. If you don't think you are going to be making use of the 8" range on those 1 damage per attack throwing stars you may as well take clanrats for the extra toughness... or more plague monks for the avalanche of cost effective attacks.
The Stormvermin with Halberd is neat but not overly point efficient. Both options only have the wounds to survive a handful of hits so the extra attack is probably more useful than the extra toughness of the shield.
The Rat Ogre is an absolute beast, and synergizes to become even more effective with a packmaster. The ranged ogre has changed to 30w in the 26/02/2020 Errata. People think less of it because of the decreased close combat damage over its ranged counterpart, but it is still no slouch. An interesting consideration is that crack the whip is stackable and can be used for each packmaster that burns a double if you wanted. This lets you more easily take advantage of redundancy in a Moulder focused lists with multiple ogers and packmasters.
Giant Rats are very points efficient but could easily give away win conditions dependent on kills as they are extremely fragile.
Stormfiend with Rattling gun statistically performs the best of the ranged profiles but it is dependent on terrain and enemy movement speed. The Doomflayer Gauntlets and Windlaunchers perform better in CQC and high visibility low movement speed scenarios respectively. Your local meta will dictate what is most useful.
Other Helpful Tips
Skaven lack a Warcry specific boxed set, but still have some cost effective options to get into the game quickly!
A single box of Plague Monks provides everything you need to run a perfectly fine (maybe a little one note) pestilens warband. Plague monks are fast, hard hitting, and pretty cheap, which actually makes this a relatively strong list for the cost of a single box.
Alternatively, Spiteclaw's Swarm, and a box of Rat Ogres is also a great place to get started (Just make sure if you are running Skritch as a Stormvermin Fangleader or Clanrat Clawleader that you put him on a smaller base to match his demoted military rank as his normal base is Clawlord sized; if you want to run him as a Clawlord Ally instead and use another model as your leader, this is a non issue)! As many players may have been introduced to Skaven with Spiteclaw's Swarm this is probably one of the easiest ways to pivot into Warcry while still making use of the models you have.
Example Builds
Close Combat focused mixed list:
- Stormvermin Fangleader
- 6x Plague Monks (daggers)
- 1x Rat Ogre (claws)
- 1x Packmaster
- 3x Giant Rats
Ranged focused mixed list:
- Bringer-of-the-Word
- 5x Night Runners
- 1x Plague Monks (daggers)
- 1x Packmaster
- 1x Rat Ogor (ranged)
- 3x Giant Rats
The Thirteen - thematic Pestilens 1 box warband (plague monk kit):
- Bringer-of-the-Word
- 12x Plague Monks (daggers/woe staves)
Spiteclaw's Swarm with Rat Ogre kit example list:
- Stormvermin Fangleader
- 1x Clanrat (spear and shield)
- 1× Clanrat (sword and shield)
- 1× Night Runners
- 1× Rat Ogre (claws)
- 1× Rat Ogre (ranged)
- 1x Packmaster
- 2× Giant Rats
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