# Versus... Skaven



## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Hi all,

Continuing with the Fantasy Versus... series, next on the list is Skaven. If you want to add your suggestions as to who Fantasy Versus should deal with next, go here for the general thread.

So, Skaven, how do you combat these foul smelling, backstabbing irritants? Their powerful guns can devastate even the toughest unit of knights, they can field seldom rivalled numbers of troops which can act as screens for their weapons and they have all sorts of nasties like devious magic items and sneaky assassins.

So how do you plan to combat them? Do you have a preferred unit or tactic that works every time? Do you prefer to wade in with powerful units or use magic and artillery to try and shoot them to bits?


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## TheKingElessar (Mar 31, 2009)

Have to admit, I'm confused. Why do a vs Skaven _now_ when they're the next Army Book to be released? Even people who don't go online for rumours will know after the 'man-thing' paragraph in this month's WD...


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## MaidenManiac (Oct 2, 2008)

TheKingElessar said:


> Have to admit, I'm confused. Why do a vs Skaven _now_ when they're the next Army Book to be released?...


Perhaps because the strengths and flaws of the ratarsed army wont change with a new book, only specific points and magical items:wink:

Skavens have beyond bad LD!
Fear, panic but most of all Terror is your friend here. If you have fairly ok shooting in your army then try to harass the Generals unit enough to force a panic test as often as you can. If he runs then the average rats are down to mediocre LD at best. Also once them rats are packing they dont have their LDbonus which means rallying them is a problem
Fear works as normal but better thanks to poor LD. Terror on the other hand can make most of the army run by itself. Start outside the "12 inc general LD bubble" since units there flee *alot* easier!
Skirmishing rats really suffer from the LD issue since they lack the rank-bonus-on-LD-rule. Even tossing a lowly fireball on some fairly important skirmishers will force the ratarsed general to use DD/scrolls. Keep this in mind if you have a strong magicphase!

One muse realize that you dont have to kill *all* Skavens to win, once the mass panic has begun the Skaven army can crumble faster then an undead army with a dead general...

Good CC units generally rocks against rats, if they can get to CC fairly unmolested. Skavens fight on the principal of numbers and static CR, killy units love such opponents. The only "problem" is to get them there whilst still fairly unmolested 
Flank/rear-charges are godly against ratarsed rats. Its great against normal things but against them its really tripple win. You remove most of their static CR, you gain flank-bonus _and_ you remove their LD bonus!:biggrin:


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## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

The rats are one of the few armies were you can split your fire with more benefit than normal.
Most armies splitting fire has very little discernable effect and only by concentrating fire can you do enough damage to disrupt or destroy them, With skaven destroying a rank often lowers that units LD one death can be the difference between holding and running.
The current trend for Skaven armies that I see more often than not is for uber shooty armies with loads of output and magic but this normally comes at the cost of the sheer numbers that skaven need which makes them slightly easier to break although the cost in (little plastic) lives can be scary.


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