# Is Skaven a good choice?



## Dreadmaw129 (Jun 9, 2011)

I'm just starting out with Warhammer, and the army that appeals to me the most is the Skaven, what could be bad about this choice?


----------



## VeronaKid (Jan 7, 2010)

If the Skaven are the army which, as you state, "appeals the most" to you, then there is NOTHING bad about the choice. The biggest mistake that a newcomer can make (in my opinion) is avoiding an army just because other players don't have a high opinion of how it performs on the tabletop. Never lose sight of the fact that this is a HOBBY, not just a game.

If you end up sticking with Fantasy for the long haul, you're going to be spending a huge amount of time collecting an army, painting those minis, writing up a million and one army lists, designing a background story, etc. on top of actually playing games with them. If you like the ratmen (who, incidentally, perform VERY well on the tabletop these days) then go for it. Choose the miniatures you like the look of/story behind and paint them up first- it will keep you interested in the beginning and get you excited to build up the army over time as you play your first few games.

Best of luck.


----------



## GreatUncleanOne (Apr 25, 2011)

Alot depends on the style of gaming you want to play and your mentality (sp?)

I have a skaven army (somewhere) and it is probably the army I have the most fun with. Whilst some people may say how broken some of their items or units are this is hugely balanced by the chance that said item/unit will blow up and cause damage to your army instead (hilarity insues). They have gorgeous models and you get a good amount of them in the box game (try and find a HE player to go halfs with you).

However if you get angry at loosing models during a game then skaven may not be the army for you as you have to get the skaven mind set of there's plenty more where they came from. Don't feel bad about losing a game (my skaven won 3/4 of my games with them) as the general would feel nothing for losing all those meat shields :victory:.

As the previous post said if you really like the models then go for it. I just wish I had money (damn mortage) to get the newer models.


----------



## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

The only real downside to Skaven is the sheer volume of models you need for an army.
This is offset by the island of blood models to lower the cost but its still a lot to paint, thankfully it's not that difficult to get a nice looking unit unless you plan to paint them to a really high competition standard.


----------



## Flindo (Oct 30, 2010)

Yes.

Got to keep painting......
Flindo


----------



## Hammer49 (Feb 12, 2011)

Skaven are a fan army to use, as they have some very quirky units and rules.
The main downsides for me are that there are lots of models to paint for a decent sized army (currently painting an army at the moment!). It can be also costly due to the number of models you need esepcially if you go in the direction of a very infantry heavy army.


----------



## Masked Jackal (Dec 16, 2009)

There are lots of models to buy and paint, but apart from that, they're pretty much perfect. Enjoy! =)


----------



## HiveMinder (Feb 8, 2010)

VeronaKid said:


> If the Skaven are the army which, as you state, "appeals the most" to you, then there is NOTHING bad about the choice. The biggest mistake that a newcomer can make (in my opinion) is avoiding an army just because other players don't have a high opinion of how it performs on the tabletop. Never lose sight of the fact that this is a HOBBY, not just a game.
> 
> If you end up sticking with Fantasy for the long haul, you're going to be spending a huge amount of time collecting an army, painting those minis, writing up a million and one army lists, designing a background story, etc. on top of actually playing games with them. If you like the ratmen (who, incidentally, perform VERY well on the tabletop these days) then go for it. Choose the miniatures you like the look of/story behind and paint them up first- it will keep you interested in the beginning and get you excited to build up the army over time as you play your first few games.


I wholeheartedly agree with all of this. Especially if you're choosing your first army. I think the number one, most important thing about choosing an army is that you like the way the models look. Particularly for fantasy, as you will be spending a LOT of time assembling and painting them (this is especially true for skaven). Second most important thing is that you like the fluff of the army. You want the army to 'speak' to you, to make you want to field them because they are cool, and not just because they are considered "the best". 

I know from experience the importance of this second bit. I started my WFB hobby with orcs and goblins. While I liked the way my models looked, only a scant few units really fascinated me. Fanatics, Night Goblins, and Squig Hoppers. While I could have built an army around those units, I felt like I was wasting most of my army. Then I saw the Skaven, and every bit of it was entertaining and enthralling. So I sold the orcs and started collecting the Skaven. I now have over 4k pts of Skaven and I often find myself having a hard time making an army list, because I want to field every unit!

So if you really like the Skaven there is really nothing BAD that can come of it. There are only two real downsides to collecting a Skaven army. As mentioned before, you will have a lot of models to paint (but if you like the way the models look, this becomes less of a chore). Also, horde armies are generally more expensive to collect, since you need more models compared to other armies. 

Additionally, (and this is the only real gripe I have with the Skaven) most of the Special choices do not have kits, so fielding a unit of them can be astronomically expensive. For instance, I like to run a unit of 12 Jezzail Teams. Thankfully, I got them cheap at a Bizarre Bazaar, but were I to purchase them now, it would cost $200 for that unit, which is only 250 pts.


----------



## Tanarri (Jun 23, 2011)

I play Skaven. I think they are amazing. I love to play them. I like the idea of sorcerous engineers building diabolical weapons to shoot at expendable troops. That being said forming them up for battle and painting them are a pain. You will have alot of models to paint. And make sure you before you glue them to bases that they all form up and that you mark the bases so that you will know where they go in a unit. If you don't it will take forever to form the slaves and clan rats into units before and between games.


----------

