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So I've been tinkering with different armies to try and find the ones that would best suit me. i'm pretty comfortable with my choice in 40k.. The question is in WHFB..

I've looked at Skaven and I have to say that I'm curious. Are they Skaven a worthy army? They interest me, visually and fluff wise but on the field? Anyone tell me?

They say lately that Skaven can be one of the more competitive armys out there, they can have a nice strong magic phase (fairly important in 8th edition) a bunch of neat and fun warmachines, the sort of general feel that they might accidentaly blow themselves up at any moment (skaven warmachines tend to misfire spectacularly.) and their cheap infantry can really benefit from horde rules.

And as a side note I really love their fluff too, especially the way everyone refuses to believe they exist.

Skaven are one of the more competitive armies currently. However, one should be aware that to make best use of them, one needs a LOT of them. Your block infantry is going to need to be between 30 and 50 to guarantee Steadfast for as long as possible, because your troops don't actually kill all that much. They win by pinning down the enemy and bringing a big nasty of some sort in on the flank to do the killing.

But as I said, you need to buy and paint a LOT of models. This could be out of your price range (not that even a small, elite army is cheap, but horde armies like Skaven take it to an extreme!) or just too much work to paint them all.

Another thing to bear in mind is the tendancy of Skaven stuff to blow itself - and everything around it - up at minimal provocation. Sometimes you will loose games just because your warpfire thrower misfired and barbequed your general and BSB, or some other such mishap. If this is going to piss you off, Skaven is not the army for you. If, on the other hand, you can just laugh at the mishap and get on with trying to salvage the game, then Skaven might just be a good army for you.

They're vicious, horrible, evil buggers to play against 80% of the time. The other 20% they blow themselves up and flee off the board and much laughter is had by all involved.

I think Phloop hit it. Their warmachines and weapons teams aren't very reliable, but they are very potent. They have their own magic lists and I'm a big fan of them.

But you really need to like models and painting, because they're one of the cheapest point-wise armies in the game. I think I'd go crazy.

I like they way everyone describes their playstyle, it sounds so fun to have an army that could obliterate enemies with ease or completely self destruct in an instant.

Ad you can minimise certain things like blowing up your general and BSB for instance, you have to try to remember to keep things like that out of misfire destruction range, on the left flank of a unit if the weapons team is on the right, on the right flank if they're left, in the middle if they're on both sides, Murphy's law, always be ready for everything to go wrong.

Yea I've heard that mishaps are prone to happening to the Skaven machines but they look so BLOODY COOL! I'm seriously considering giving them a go.. I actually like the WHFB set up, I think it's quiet cool, i just needed to find an army that was my style. I may have just found it.

Good to know Gents.

Does any of you have a thought about the small army that was released with IOB?

IoB is a great starting point for a skaven force. 40 clan rats, 2 weapons teams, a warlord/chieftain, an engineer, a couple Rat Ogres and a Master Moulder. If you need the rule book still, it's a good to great deal depending on how much you can get for the High Elves

After that I can't say anything bad about the battalion box. 40 more clan rats, 20 Plague Monks (tough buggers with 2 hand weapons and Frenzy) and another 2 Rat Ogres, 6 giant rats and 3 pack masters. Not a bad deal, nor a bad way to expand your force.

Then it's all about getting the fun frills. Doomwheels look to be a pain in the tush to paint and assemble, but are amazing for flank attacks and character hunting. Warp Lightning Cannons have a way of ruining your opponents day, assuming they don't blow themselves up first

Seconding pretty much everything steamdragon said. IoB is a great deal, and the models are very nice. And on top of that, it's not too hard to find someone willing to trade all of those HE models that come with it for an entire 2nd set of the skaven.

Battalion box, same. I shop around. I managed to find an old one at a local store for $30 off retail. It might be an old one though, the models are all the old versions. Not sure if they've updated that box since then. Mine came with a TON of extra bases too though, and between all the IoB and battalion sprues and a doomwheel, I managed to come up with a unit of 40+ giant rats as well.

Yea I'm trying to see if i can trade some stuff I have for the IOB Skaven side. I figure if I get two of those it's a start and then I'll wait until Jan for the new sculpts (Since I'll definitely have enough minis to paint between now and then)

DukeRustfield wrote:
But you really need to like models and painting, because they're one of the cheapest point-wise armies in the game. I think I'd go crazy.

This.

If you can't stand painting all the skaven you need (if your like me and have to play with painted stuff) then the army is not for you. Otherwise they are a great army to play/play against.