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In a well-rounded Skaven army, are Plague Monks worth taking? If so, in what formation? Should they be kept small and cheap just to allow a player to field Censer Bearers?

I'm looking at a unit 6 wide 3.5 deep. Two hand weapons and the banner of burning hatred. Mostly, they'll be a delivery system for a plague priest with censer and a 10-strong unit of censer bearers. I almost never see these guys fielded. Is that because they suck, or have people just come to associate Skaven with shooting and magic so much that they miss these potentially nasty close combat beasties?

Hells yes. I take 29 with extra hand weapons, full command, the banner of burning hatred and a plague priest with a censer bearer and warpstone amulet in a 6x5 formation.
Just use them as a hate missile and deploy them from whatever threat you see most likely to be destroyed by them. With frenzy, your opponent has to reduce them to 0 to keep them from getting to them and if backed up by several other blocks of clanrats and stormvermin and slaves your opponent will have little chance of avoiding them. On the charge you'll have the plague censor do some damage to both sides, then you'll have 4 strength 6 attacks and 16 strength 3 attacks with re-rolls to hit. Very nasty given they have the same combat resolution as a block of clanrats.
If your opponent has anything with high armor saves and T3-4 I'd take 8 censor bearers, if not, then nothing at all because you're not likely to get your points worth out of them.

Strange that they are never fielded. What they add is a immune to psychology unit that is devastating against the ordinary rank and file unit. With additional hw, they are rather nasty in combat, but bounce against heavier targets. Especially the plague priest is good with a flail (S6 in the first round of combat). Cancer bearers are there for the tough stuff.

They are gold against undead for the already mentioned reasons.

Greets
Schepp himself

EDIT: Sorry, haven't played the rats for a long time, mixed up the stats of the Plague priest.

Schepp himself wrote:Strange that they are never fielded. What they add is a immune to psychology unit that is devastating against the ordinary rank and file unit. With additional hw, they are rather nasty in combat, but bounce against heavier targets. Especially the plague priest is good with a flail (S5 in the first round of combat). Cancer bearers are there for the tough stuff.

They are gold against undead for the already mentioned reasons.

Greets
Schepp himself

Actually, the plague priest is a hero selection and he's strength 4, the plague censor counts as a flail in addition to it's other effects so that's +2 strength. Typically they don't bounce when I field them as they bring the same combat resolution as a unit of clanrats but also have a lot more offensive potential.

So, I'm not crazy in thinking that they're rarely fielded? It seems that the prevailing opinion since the book released WAY back when has always been to take more clanrats and slaves. I'm not sure if T4 and Frenzy really make them more resilient then T 3 4+ AS (in combat) clanrats. I just thought they might be a bit of a surprise, a Skaven unit that could actually punch through a softer unit in one turn. The plague priest seems like a monster in combat. I'm not sure how well the censer bearers do, however. They all seem like could bounce pretty easily off an armoured unit.

I take one decked out unit of them to give my teeming masses some teeth. You do give up some durability in close combat when compared to clanrats, but in exchange you gain much more offensive power. Because the censors force a toughness test to any models BEFORE the start of close combat it gives you a way around Always Strike First and it has a 50% success rate against T3 models. They lose effectiveness against T4 and up though. Make sure to keep them and any censor bearers you have in support of each other. Let the plague monks charge the unit head on and let the censor bearers get the flanking charge. The plague monks will provide the static combat resolution and both units together will cause an ungodly number of wounds, even against armored targets.

I always take 4 units of them.... granted I play clan pestilence.


I stick a unit of slaves right in front of them to block there LoS so they don't go charging till I want them to, also its a great way for them to avoid arrow fire.

So, is it worth fielding them with a wider frontage? Or just keep them 5 wide? Is it worth dropping a rank to add 3 attacks? Or should I treat them like clanrats, relying on static combat resolution and using any wounds scored as gravy?

I wouldn't extend them beyond 6 wide as then you run into issues with wheeling and also you lose combat resolution from having fewer ranks. Think of them as more offensively oriented clanrats. They're still dependent on the same things as a unit of clanrats are for winning combat resolution, but they have the added effect of gutting squishy targets.

plague monks are decent. as stated they crush rank and file. I usually take 18 with hatred and the plague priest with censurs walking beside.
you have clanrats for the 1+save knights and such.
However, you have nothing for the regenerating nurgle units. So, enjoy.

I would always take them if i still play D:
They were metal and stupid looking back then so i never bothered.

But now , in nice plastic + what they are capabe of?
take them! take tons of them xD