Collecting a Skaven army
In this article I hope to divulge the experience I have with playing the Skaven army from Warhammer fantasy so that you will better equipped to best your rivals and create an unstoppable killing machine.
The main strengths, I believe, that the Skaven army has is its potentially lethal magic, its agility and the numbers it can take to the field, I will hope to tell you how to use these attributes to your best advantage and to enhance them and also to negate your weaknesses.
Army creation
When collecting a Skaven army it is important to consider how you personally would like to use them on the battlefield, I believe to use Skaven to the best advantage the following things need to be considered.
1.
large units of clan-rats and
ultimately quite a few units:
these are ultimately some of the best value for points models in the game… if
you buy them in large numbers, large numbers means more ranks which means more
leadership, but I suggest not making the units more than 25 to 30 strong because
otherwise it will be difficult to move your formations and make them easy to
flank by a swift foe. More units means it is easier to make one large unified
front that is difficult to flank, which is perhaps the worst thing that could
happen to a Skaven army as there is little chance of coming back from it. Also
it means you can by large numbers of other units…
2.
Lots of small elite units:
These units provide swift expendable and powerful flanking foes for an opponent,
although the Skaven army does have the difficulty of mainstay unit limitation
the speed and points cost offset this difficulty, also a very powerful benefit
of being able to shoot into combat with an opponent in combat with these units
means that you have a great flexibility to use troops. To specify units any
moulder units are great for this role as they are cheap and quick; clan
pestilence provide a greater difficulty as their frenzy makes them somewhat
unwieldy, but the fear inspired by these troops in a gamer can often offset
this; clan eshin forces can be used to an extent in the form of night runners
but these can be useful in other ways and gutter runners are to expensive;
slaves are often seen as the obvious choice for this but remember that they are
not powerful, they are not seen as a threat and they are taken in large units,
if taken I suggest that they are taken in units of twenty and treated as a
poorly constructed wall.
3.
Shooting should be kept
minimal but available: my personal favourite for shooting in a Skaven force
are night runners with slings, which are a quick and flexible unit that can fire
up to twenty shots a turn; but rattling guns are extremely powerful. The reason
I say to keep it minimal is that it is far too easy to fall into the skyre trap
of far too many jezzails, which people should avoid as it simply cost far too
many points that could be used on something that better compliments your forces.
I am not saying that they are not wonderful, but use them to take out foes that
are to tough and could be extremely lethal to a Skaven army (chariots and
cavalry are the best option)
4.
keep equipment for characters
limited: Skaven characters are to be blunt poor, the main strength lies in
their normal men, their magic is extremely dangerous (and if you want to upset
your friends you should take more than one warlock engineer) admittedly but this
does not need to be made more expensive by frivolous expenditure on magic items
and warrior characters are primarily leadership polls, I suggest however a
battle standard bearer to ensure that your clan-rat wall does not break and thus
get flanked.
Battlefield tactics
The Skaven is massively versatile, like most armies but its main strengths lay more in assault in my opinion, my way of using the Skaven is ultimately, however, vague in comparison to my description of what to take, hopefully what I have informed works well with the Skaven army has given you ideas on how to use them but here are a few pointer to remember.
1.
Focus your attack Skaven
magic and shooting can be lethal to pretty much anything due to its strength and
the small units are quick and powerful when used against a weakened foe. If you
manage to break through an opponent’s line they will be forced to act when
they are surrounded. It must be remembered when doing this though you must be
dynamic and care little about the loss of the small units, these are expendable
and the main clan-rat line is the most vital part of your force, ultimately if
you can weaken the opponent’s main force enough your clan rats will prevail.
2.
Take casualties a rather
odd way to win but something to remember, your massed ranks of clan-rats may
take casualties from an opponents shooting, but no one cares warhammer is
ultimately won and lost in the combat phase, the rest simply makes different
odds for when it comes to the clash. Also linked with this don’t be afraid to
wipe out one of your own units by shooting a combat if it means you can damage
an enemy, generally if they are loosing the combat your forces deserve it anyway
and the foe is to powerful to live.
3.
ensure you hold the initiative
counter attacks with powerful and swift enemies can destroy Skaven armies
easily, once you start retreating you rarely return and cavalry and chariots are
particularly effective against Skaven as a little luck can make them
unstoppable, firstly attempt to destroy these so you are then free to use you
decent speed to ring rows around the foes infantry by shooting or casting magic
against them; or when the move to attack they will most likely move alone or in
a small group, isolate them and surround them, even if a clan-rat squad must
feel and not return to make the trap it is best that this happens and the enemy
is destroyed in the process than let them maim and move on.
Connor Barker