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Hey guys,

Just shelled out for a pile of new Skaven models including 2 boxes of Clanrates (I just love these models for some reason, very characterful). Question: I'm a serious noob at WFB, so I'm wondering if there's any reason why a person would take Skavenslaves instead of Clanrats? Is it to simply flesh out a list if you have extra points, or are they a strong tactical choice?

Tarpits.
Slaves are very cheap, and large units can be used to hold up large threats.
simply throw the slaves at them and either beat them in combat over a few turns, or hold them up long enough to kill off the threat.

Not only that, but the extra numbers in the army is usually a good thing.

Especially consider:

1) You use your unit's rank bonus in addition to the general's leadership, not the general's ranks. As such, super-cheap Slaves = very easy to provide ranks for.
2) With the general and BSB in range, you can easily have a (before modifiers) Ld. 10 re-roll break tests unit. Your static combat-res will always be a 4 (hopefully), so unless you make the mistake of throwing them into a full-res combat unit (in which case their raw kills translate into your penalty), you should have at least a 3-res advantage (Cavalry only having a Standard) to start.
3) They are dirt-cheap flankers. You don't use them to kill someone in a flank, you use them to negate 3 points of their combat res and add one to your own.

Slave death doesn't cause panic in other Skaven units. Makes them the choice for bait-and-flee. Also, with the new rules, throwing slaves at a problem (unit) might actually solve the problem through the cornered rats hits.

For less than 50 points we get a ranked unit that doesn't make us take panic tests and will, every once in a blue moon, show un-Skaven-y heroism and do something more than die horribly. Always worth as many as you can fit.

Edit: Oh yeah, flanks. Skaven that get charged in flanks run away like the cowards they truly are. However, as a horde army, you shouldn't have flanks to worry about. Slaves out on the flanks is one solution if you're having problems filling up the entire tabletop.

They are basically dirt cheep annoyances
they cannot be ignored because even slaves will kill knights when they flank them. However, diverting points to killing them is generally a waste so it is a win win for you.

Send them out in front to disrupt your enemies battle lines.