Skaven and 8e

8e is just around the corner, but already people have spoiled the rules changes all over the 'net. Most of changes are, if you ask me, needed and very healthy for the game. This article will go through the various units in the Skaven book, and compare the usability of them between the versions. A lot of stuff has changed read on!

Lords A comparison like this wouldn't be complete without starting with the big guys, so here goes...

Vermin Lord The first Lord option is also the one who is unpredictable. The Vermin Lord, previously the worst option of the bunch, is now blessed with a number of new benefits, including stomp attack, not being hit better because of being a large target, and not that vulnerable to miscasts, which means that you can risk more with it compared to e.g. a Grey Seer. He's still quite expensive, however, and if he doesn't receive a price drop I'm still not seeing him compete in the 2250-range games, since he's the only Lord option available then, and he can't beat the sheer power of fielding multiple smaller lords.

Grey Seer Our favorite Lord is back - however, is he really that good? He's still top tier - but his potential is vastly hampered by his frailty. Sure, since everyone is afraid of the new miscast table, he might be the only guy ready to lay waste using magic, but at what cost? He belongs on the Screaming Bell now, increased command range is very valuable. But when you do that, you're also fielding a character that starts at 440 points - this in turn means that you can't fit in another Lord at 2250 points, if so inclined. This may, in the end, prove to be his undoing...

Warlord For me, this is where the money's at. He's got great initiative, and coupled with a Bonebreaker and perhaps my favorite sword, the Warlock-augmented Blade, he's at 11-13 S5 attacks on a charge. Stick him in a unit of Rat Ogres, and you're looking a deadly unit, easily capable of making anyone hurt. Or, give him the Fellblade and the Bonebreaker...serious business! In any case, there's lot of build options available with the Warlord. I smell article material...

I'll not go into the Special Characters just yet, but obviously opening up the different sections to percentages can mix things up. Boosting the in-game value of one of the main attributes of the Skaven, initiative, is also great...

Heroes The smaller bosses, these guys overall come in so cheap that you can actually spam them now, and maybe even achieve something with them...

Plague Priest First up - probably the guy that came out the worst. Yes, he's still quite the monster, and you might see him parading about in his Furnace inside a mob of Monks...but really, I think there are better options out there. Anyway, he's now at least more likely to get his spells off, and if mounted in the Furnace, has a built-in magical ward save due to the Magic Resistance. Being able to control one's frenzy with a simple Leadership test also helps them out. All in all, he's gonna be a rare sight, in part because I think you can field better options, and in part because the hero-portion of the army is already a contested set of points...

Assassin This guy is in for a revival. The hefty pricetag, one which I hope is altered downwards a notch, is one of the prime reasons he wasn't really that good in 7e. Now, he might see more playtime... Always Strike First coupled with the high I (8!) should ensure that this model is allowed rerolls on his attacks. Add in high WS and perhaps a nice sword of some sort, and he's easily able to destroy enemy heroes. Mind you, he should be issuing challenges, since he's still fragile when facing ordinary troops - remember step up is in place. This won't win him combats, so add in Smoke Bombs to make the escape possible after killing an enemy hero, and you're all set. I can easily see this guy in charge of some scouting Gutter Runners as a fun part of any list. Get charged, stand and shoot with shurikens, slice the head off a character and deploy smoke to leave the enemy dumbfounded. So ninjaesque!

Warlock Engineer This guy is so cheap, you'll want more than one from now on. Previously, I clumped all the nice options into two characters, from now on I'll just be fielding four of them. One with the Doomrocket, one with the Death Globe or maybe Brass Orb, one with level 1 Warp Lightning and Condenser and another level 1 Warp Lightning guy, with a dispel option and perhaps a warpstone token. I might even begin to give them guns now, just for fun... while it's not that good, you can buy these guys, give them warp pistols or muskets, and place a gunline in the front row of a unit with spears, like the clanrats. Hilarity ensues...

Chieftain This guy is half the price of the Warlord, and he is kinda bleak compared to both the Assassin and the Warlord. He is however able to wear armor, and is of course upgradeable to be the BSB, which you have no excuse not to field now. As always, stick him the War Banner, and he's a good +2 CR to any big unit, for a massive 7 static CR. He's joining my games from here on...

That concludes the heroes...onwards to the Core choices!

Core In all, you would think that the new rules benefits the horde-armies more than most - and I think you'd be wrong. In effect, unless you face off multiple attackers or another horde-unit, you won't get your full range of attacks anyway. Getting stubborn is of course a good thing...

Skavenslaves These guys are - on paper - prime candidates to be made into horde units. But are they really that great? I mean, they can't kill shit, even with the two additional ranks. And don't you want them to break on a charge most of the time? Setting up countercharges is a big part of a slave's life, and being stubborn can actually ruin that. I think we'll see just as many slaves as we're used to, in the usual blocks of 21 with a musician.

Clanrats One of the premier beneficiaries, I think these guys will, for me, shift to be the main rat unit in my lists. 30-40+ strong with spears, this can make anyone but heavily armored knights think twice. Add in e.g. a bell, or a Warlord on Bonebreaker and you have a nice, killy unit, with loads of attacks and static CR. And, nice I to boot for the price. Weapon teams are also enabled by getting these guys, so that's another plus. No magic banner really is the biggest worry if you ask me.

Night Runners Not much have changed for these - although I hope the errata gives them Skirmish, I don't really believe it. Add in the Warpgrinder and you have a decent tunneling unit, hopefully able to reach a gunline and destroy / disrupt it. They do have I5, which is nice, but the cost is kinda atrocious.

Giant Rats As before, this unit is the premier flanking unit. Low cost, M6, decent attacks and an additional rank to fight in on top of everything else is great. You can put these in a horde as well, 40 rats with 8 packhandlers, allowing them all to attack if you place the packhandlers in the 4th row. 48 attacks WS3 STR3 is fun! Add in Skweel and throw death frenzy or even better, poisoned attacks on the unit and it's a killer - all for 284 points.

Rat Swarms Having not heard any news of swarms changing their rules, I believe they keep their Unbreakable option. Since frenzied units are now able to control themselves, they have but one role, and that is to protect your gunline. If that's your game, buy 4 of these and stick them in front of them. But you knew that already.

Stormvermin The elite vermin has changed role, at least in my view. Where I previously would gladly field a huge unit of these, I believe they have changed their nature a bit to become more of a hammer unit, actually replacing the Plague Monks in this context. Good initiative, weapon skill and halberds is a nice combo. Additionally, enabling the use of weapon teams once again makes these guys preferable compared to the plague monks. And, they fulfill the minimum two core unit requirement nicely, in turn also freeing points for other special selections. Magic banner enabled is still good, too - remember to bring the Stormbanner, it's still the superior option in 8e as well as in 7e.

Weapon Teams These models aren't really that much different, since they already had the new template rules in effect. One thing to note is that the already-top tiered choice, the Poison Wind Mortar, has become even better with the new Stone Thrower rules in place. Couple that with the other options available that will come into it's own with the hopefully bigger units to come, like the Warpfire Thrower, and things are looking pretty solid.

Special The special choices have always been the hammer units and the better ranged options for the Skaven player, with (I think) the Plague Censer Bearers in the top in 7e. However, given that the Plague Monks aren't really that good now compared to the Stormvermin, and the Rat Ogres have gotten stomp attacks, things have changed a bit...

Rat Ogres This is the new black in hammer units of the Skaven, because of the stomp attacks. Units of 6 or even armies with two units of 4+ will become stable. Throw in a Warlord on Bonebreaker in any of those units and the potential is astonishing. Add in Skweel for ridiculous amounts of awesome. The fact that they are cheap, have good I compared to other Ogre-type units and now are better able to control their frenzy makes them a fearsome choice.

Plague Monks As mentioned, I don't think these guys will be fielded outside of a plague furnace-pushing unit - and even that is going to be a rare sight. Between the Stormvermin and the Rat Ogres, these seem lackluster.

Poison Wind Globadiers Skirmish formation, march + shoot - these could get a renaissance. I don't field them right now, but this might change for me in the future…

Gutter Runners This unit is still decent. I don't know the exact rules for ambushing in 8e, but I can only imagine that they retain some of their usefulness. I think that one of these units, coupled with the assassin as mentioned above, could be fun to field.

Jezzails The removal of the +to hit bonus against large targets is hampering this unit. Sure, it still have a great weapon, and can be used against armored knights, but besides that I was gonna use them against monsters - not that likely anymore, maybe in a game or two.

Plague Censer Bearers One of, if you ask me, the best options in 7e is now severely hampered by their average I. Before, they could charge something, but partly due to their I, and due to step up, they will get destroyed by most enemies after charging (unless they're used as a hammer unit in the side). I think they'll be fielded...almost never.

Rare Here we are, finally, at the end. The Rare choices is still dominated by the Hell Pit Abomination, but the new boy in town is the Plagueclaw Catapult, able to hit better than ever.

Hell Pit Abomination So, the big worm is still here, alive and kicking. It's got boosted defensive AND offensive features from the rule changes, and the random charge length is now a game-wide rule, which kinda reduces the problem this monster earlier had. I predict a lot more of these on the battlefields, especially if it somehow finds it way into the new starter deal for WHFB...which I highly doubt. Anyway, due to stomp attacks and the fact that it is less prone to be hit by shooting...this monster is here to stay! Dual lists may still occur...

Doomwheel Not much changed here - except this unit is now hampered by one of the things that was a boon in 7e, it will not receive any stomp attacks unless it is errata'ed into being a monster of some sort. Right now it falls into the Unique-category, which isn't that great. Here's to hoping that GW will change this around, as I will still not field it, I'd rather have 2 HPA's.

Warp Lightning Cannon This model is still as good as ever - or as random. Still a solid choice.

Plagueclaw Catapult Coming in rather cheap along with the Warp Lightning Cannon, this is one of the models I really hope will be releashed by GW in the future. As it is now, the upgrade to aiming with Stone Throwers in 8e has really boosted this model, along with the promises of larger units - the large template is very handy in that aspect.

So this concludes my opinions on what will change.

In the coming days and weeks, I'll post some updates on what you might want to put together in your lists, and when I receive a complete list of the new magic items from the new book, I'll do a walkthrough of those as well. Here's a teaser...imagine having a Warlord with a magic hat that enables him to use the new lores...exciting stuff!