by Hill Bullock
Taken with permission of Skavenblight
Skaven can be one of the most rewarding and fun armies to play in Fantasy Battle. At the same time, they can be incredibly frustrating. They are delightfully destructive to others and to themselves. Even more so than Orcs and Gobbos, Skaven are the embodiment of a screaming horde of crazed loonies rushing forward to battle (if played correctly). I have played them for about 2.5 years now, alternating off with Dwarves, fighting mostly Chaos and Empire, so my experiences are slanted by those foes.
The Skaven strategy that works best for me is to charge across the field as fast as I can with large units and overwhelm my opponent with numbers. This would not work as well with equally numerous opponents like Gobbos, but against most others, it works very well.
They have no missile troops to speak of, so why hold back. Even very tough enemy units are occasionally defeated without even one Skaven scoring a wound due to the ranks and standard bonus (remember that except for casualties caused by character models, the maximum number of figures killed is the number in the front rank). Always have at least 4 ranks in your units (except possibly rat ogres) and a unit standard. Also, a 27 point champion in each unit is a must to challenge powerful opposing character models.
The largest single problem with Skaven is their low leadership. Even the general only has a 7! But, remember how I said always have at least 4 ranks? Skaven get to add their rank bonus to their leadership for ALL leadership tests. If you don't take them in large swarms, they won't be around very long.
Very powerful. Some feel it is the nastiest in the game. Plague can eat up whole units with a little luck. Warp Lightning is good for whacking isolated characters or whittling down units. I have used Cracks Call to kill demi-god level generals (with a little luck) and seige engines. Skitterleap is great for teleporting a Vermin Lord into the thick of the enemy's formations. Curse of the Horned One can turn your enemies most horrifying critter into a Skaven (just watch the look on your opponent's face). All of them are very effective, if sometimes a long shot, when used in the right situation.
The Skaven specialty items are deadly, too. The Fellblade gives STR 10 and d6 wounds (but wounds you on a 1 at start of turn). There are items to heal up your characters completely, extend the range of spells, and to drive high-flying creatures down to earth.
Skaven have a number of very colorful characters from which to choose.
First, the best. If you can afford him and don't mind risking 600 points on one figure, a Vermin Lord is fantastic. He is near the equivalent of a bloodthirster in hand-to-hand (without wings) plus you get spells and he is cheaper! I have wiped out whole units of heavy cavalry with a general in one round with this nasty sucker; killed greater demons in one turn; and had him held completely useless for most of a game by the Supreme Patriarch casting Crimson Bands repeatedly! The Citadel figure is very nice, too.
Thanquol is an effective grey seer due to his ability to reroll failed warpstone-munching tests. Without him, even if I only chew one piece of warpstone, I almost invariably turn into a Chaos Spawn. Ouch. (To prevent that, you can take the Warpstone charm, which allows you to reroll one failed roll using + or - 1). Add to that his ability to redirect wounds, and he is well worth the few extra points.
Skrolk is valuable due to his ability to actually choose his spells, although he is hampered by casting as a level 2 wizard. His ability to go frenzied and the fact he causes terror makes him very effective in hand-to-hand.
Snikch takes a little care when using. His ability to avoid detection can desert him at the most inopportune time. However, if you manage to activate his power bands in the previous magic phase and charge into most character models, he should do a fairly good job of dispatching them in short order. It is very easy, though, to spend the whole game running him around and not accomplishing very much. Even in the White Dwarf Battle report of Skaven vs High Elves he was misused. They charged him into a unit of high elf spearmen (archers?), where he spent the whole battle; a gross misuse of his abilities.
Ikit Claw is interesting, but I haven't used him very much. You have to take 25% war machines when using him. He is a 4th level wizard and gets to take spells from any deck except Waagh. Also, his spear/pike casts lightning bolts.
Queek Head Taker is a little less expensive than his fellow special characters. He hates dwarves and goblins and must always challenge oppossing character models. This tends to get him killed if he runs up against Chaos Lords and the like. Hi sword is very effective against dwarves (wounds 2+).
The Standard General is not bad, but he is more for keeping your troops from running away than for anything else. To this end, give him the Crown of Command. It will make you army much less liable to run away at the first hint of trouble.
Army Standard Bearer is a must. Your low leadership troops need that reroll!
Jezzails are effective, but frustrating. Their low ballistic skill of 3 often leads to lots of missed shots. Hint: Shoot at units/large things at under half range. Their STR of 5 wounds most things, but will mostly bounce off demons and nastier monsters. They do have good range and one well placed jezzail shot can kill a general due to d3 wounds per hit. Their inaccuracy calls for large numbers, but their points cost (30 each) is prohibitive.
Warp Flame Throwers are neat and melt big holes in units, but tend to blow up all the time. I have never made it through a game with any Warp Flame teams left alive. There is nothing worse than bracing your unit for a charge of heavy cavalry, fire your Warp Fire Thrower in attempt to melt the knights, and have the thing misfire on you, blowing a big hole in the side of the unit about to be hit!
The Doom Wheel is basically a one man Skaven chariot that shoots lightning bolts! What more can you ask for. The two tricks are: 1) if the single driver gets killed, it moves randomly (can be a BIG bummer) and 2) the lightning hits the closest units which may very well be your units. You have to get the Wheel out away from the rest of your units.
The Screaming Bell is nice, but it locks you into a grey seer, making it hard to afford the Bell and a Vermin Lord. It needs to be pushed across the field by Skaven, but a nice cheap unit of 30 to 40 slaves works very well for this. Charge in with d6 Str 6 (7?) hits, 3 ranks, and a standard (before normal attacks) and you will be grining the enemy beneath your wheels! As with most things Skaven, the effects of the Bell are incredibly unpredicatble. I have had it drive off the board an enormous unit of Chaos Heavy Cav on the first turn and I have had it kill members of every one of my units on the board. You just have to take the good with the bad. When painted well, this can be the center piece of your painting collection.
The Storm Vermin are decent troops (WS 4, STR 4), but they tend to die easily since they have a toughness of 3 and virtually no armor. They are expensive as far as Skaven go. I usually give them halberds to really make them hard hitting. The trick is to run other units out front of them to distract magic and missile fire. Otherwise this prize unit will get shot-up. These guys (with halberds) are your only duke-it-out chance with heavily armored or tough opponents.
Clan Rats are your average troops. They have roughly human stats. Take a lot of them to push the Bell or to support other units.
Slaves are great. They are as cheap (and weak) as goblins, but get the rank bonus for their leadership. Use them to soak up missile casualties and to tie up powerful enemy units. The rest of the Skaven ignore broken slave units. My philosophy with them is "Kill all you want, we'll make more."
Assassins are a little disappointing. Unlike Dark Elf assassins, their stats are little better than average, so their chance of taking out someone important is very low.
Gutter Runners look nice, but tend to get driven off easily. They cost too much to waste as missile absorbers. Use slaves for that. Still, they are a neat idea. I am going to have to experiment some more...
Plague Monks are very colorful and reasonable effective against not too tough, not too heavily armored foes. They can carry 2 weapons and go frenzied, giving them 4 attacks each! They are a little tougher than normal, but get no armor.
Censor Bearers are just plain nasty. Against anything but really elite troops, they are excellent. They are hard to drive off due to hatred. Their fumes always attack first and ignore armor saves. Watch out human knights! Their censors act as flails and they already start out with a strength of 4. Their worst enemy seems to be their own fumes, which often kills them before the enemy does.
Rat Ogres should be great. They are even nastier than Ogres (stat wise), but lack the ability to use 2-handled weapons or halberds, which puts Ogres over the top. They are fairly expensive and subject to stupidity if their handler(s) gets killed. Should be used mostly for support, although I have played with the idea of a 16 rat ogre unit being the middle anchor for an army.
Poisoned Wind Globadiers are, once again, erratically effective. If you are rolling poorly, their globes will wander into nowhere, or even worse, into your own troops. If you are on target, they will wound anything on 4+. They aren't cheap, so you need to kill 3 or 4 human foot troops each to get your moneys worth. You decide.
You get to purchase rat swarms at half price with a Skaven Army (50 points). They have 5 wounds and can't be broken. Great for holding off Chaos Heavy Cav units until you are ready to deal with them.
Big, deep units. Charge. Cast. Ring Bell. Win (most of the time).