# What makes Skaven so competitive



## search116 (Aug 9, 2010)

Well as I am a noob trying to find a new army and looking for intelligent gameplay(get away from little 40k kids no offense to the little kids that play) as I read the bretonnia book they didnt feel me so I decided to look at skaven.


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## Lord Sven Kittyclaw (Mar 23, 2009)

Rank upon rank of cheap troops, backed by awesome warmachines, and the hellpit abominations. Powerful magic for cheap, and did I mention 300 rats? 

Basically 8th edition was VERY good for skaven, your big units got better, your war engines have always been good. All in all Skaven just worked out to be one of the most competitive


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## Wasabi (Aug 24, 2010)

Cheap units.
Cheap characters.
Cheap Level 4 Grey Seer.
Dreaded 13th.
Night Runners (or was it Gutter Runners) with Slings + Poisoned attacks.
Weapons Teams.
Dreaded 13th.
War Machines.
Rat Ogres + Master Bred + Thunderstomp.
5 Million Clan Rats for 100 points total.
Dreaded 13th.
Plague Furnace.
Hellpit Abomination.
Dreaded 13th.

Rinse and repeat.


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## aquatic_foible (Mar 17, 2010)

aside from anything else, i find Skaven incredibly fun to play with. things either go very well, or very, _very_ badly. never a dull moment with the ratmen :biggrin:


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## Khorothis (May 12, 2009)

Skaven are indeed badass... if you have the cash to buy and the time to paint them. Around 100-130 for a 1000 pts game. And this number will go up like crazy. However, if you have them theres very little to stop you, except for your own misfires and miscasts. So give your dice a hug and you're good to go.


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## Barnster (Feb 11, 2010)

They also have a tendency to strike before virtually anything else other than HEs so merc lightly armoured foes before they have a chance to hit them back

As long as you try to fight skaven in a static battle line they will mow over you, Even shooty list struggle to kill enough.

But when it starts to go wrong it avalances, but that was someone elses fault...


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## FATHER NURGLE (Oct 10, 2009)

One Thing i have got to say you will need the army painter for this army thats how i paint myn because if you dont its going to take you quite a long time to paint if you dont also i happen to be a noob to FB also as iv been painting my army for my frist game at my local store he.. he.. =)

http://www.thearmypainter.com/gallery_presentation.php?GalleryId=47&Gallery=Skaven Clan Rats


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

You don't need the Army Painter stuff for Skaven. Brown spray paint certainly speeds up the process, but spray and dip tends to leave sort of iffy looking models, I think. 90% of painting Skaven is learning to drybrush the fur, apply unusual colored washes to get stains and "filthy" effects, and learning how to do very basic layering on skin and armor. 

Anyway, Skaven do well because they have extremely effective war machines. Weapons teams are mobile and do a disproportionate amount of damage for what you pay, and by the time you've chewed up your opponent with war machine fire, your blocks of crappy infantry (and make no mistakes, Clanrats -are- garbage... but garbage that comes in a huge mass.) can usually win on static combat alone. 

Skaven also have access to a fairly cheap Level 4 wizard, and the spell list the Grey Seer has access to is quite solid.


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## FATHER NURGLE (Oct 10, 2009)

The Son of Horus said:


> You don't need the Army Painter stuff for Skaven. Brown spray paint certainly speeds up the process, but spray and dip tends to leave sort of iffy looking models, I think. 90% of painting Skaven is learning to drybrush the fur, apply unusual colored washes to get stains and "filthy" effects, and learning how to do very basic layering on skin and armor.


Ya I Agree but thats what i do as i like to get my army painted & onto the table as fast as possible & they look pritty good to me for the amount of time i spend on each model 5 mins tops & i splash instead of dip so its more like Wash's of ink then dip but for my nurgle army i take my time painting them the traditional way but its more easy for me to paint large amounts of mins in a short time the army painter way =)


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## search116 (Aug 9, 2010)

Well I'm not like that it took me 6 months to paint my BA they way I liked them and I enjoy the hobby processes(except for gluing, gluing sucks)


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## mynameisgrax (Sep 25, 2009)

Skaven, in my opinion, are actually the most competitive army in the game. They have great shooting, great spellcasting, descent close combat units, and most importantly, the ability to stop an enemy army dead in its tracks, by blocking them with incredibly cheap slave units.

As for which units are competitive, 'Wasabi' has it right in his earlier post.


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## Crimzzen (Jul 9, 2008)

Throw a unit of 40+ steadfast slaves into an enemy unit and start lobbing poison wind mortar shots into them. Cleanup whatever is left with a flank charge of clanrats and send your hellpit aboms rampaging through their lines. Anchor it all with a furnace being pushed by plague monks and a lvl 4 grey seer and your set.


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## search116 (Aug 9, 2010)

so would you say IOB is a good buy to start skaven


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## Masked Jackal (Dec 16, 2009)

I want to know if anybody wouldn't think it's a good buy for Skaven, because then I'll punch them in the face. Cheap way to get rats, and more stuff besides.


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## sybarite (Aug 10, 2009)

search116 said:


> so would you say IOB is a good buy to start skaven


most people get there friend to play so they buy 2 of them, one takes all the HE and the other Skaven and both get your own rule book ect.

so yea very good and cheap way to get your rats up


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## mynameisgrax (Sep 25, 2009)

It's a very good buy for starting skaven. I'd also look on ebay for cheap skaven to make into slaves. You'll probably need quite a bit.


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