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I'm starting a Skaven army and would like to have an army that is actually playable but not necessarily tourney worthy. I'm getting the Isle of Blood and need input on what other units I need to pick up. 2500 point games seem common in my area so that'll be what I'm aiming for at first. I'd like to prioritize plastic over metal models where possible but there's a lot of choices in the Skaven line and I don't know what to pick up and what to stay away from. I'd rather not spend money on units that I'll never (or rarely) use.

I've got a fair amount of old Skaven bits from my Mordheim days. Would those work as slaves or do they look too much like clanrats?

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Island of Blood is a good starting point! You can try and get additional sets of skaven from IoB too, from ebay or elsewhere, plus swapping high elves for skaven of course.
2-3 sets of IoB skaven are super!
Id get a few boxes of regular clanrats to use as slaves, as well as any leftover/old skaven you have got. ANYthing can almost be used as slaves, including infantry from other races

I'm planning on getting some additional IoB Skaven from trading the High Elves away and possibly trading some of my old Empire stuff which I never used so I'm covered there, I think. Would three IoB skaven sets be enough or would I realistically need four?

Interesting comment about slaves. Good to know. What about Plague Rats? Are those worth investing in or should I pass for now? Also, what about the Plague Furnace and Abom?

For competitive skaven...

Your going to want around 200+ slaves/clanrats.
A few warpfire throwers
A few rat ogres (6ish)
2 WLC
1-2 Hell pits (I wouldnt run more then one unless its a WAAC tourny)
A grey seer
A warlord
A plague furnace
30-40 plague monks to push said furnace
an engineer or 2
10ish gutter runners

This will build you a fairly solid list up to 2500-3000 points

Other stuff isnt necessarily bad, this is just the stuff in the book that is (at least imo) tourny worthy.

Your going to want around 200+ slaves/clanrats.

Okay, I managed to find a person to trade the high elves to and now have my WHFB box with two sets of Skaven. I also found a set of clanrats I didn't know I had so that brings my total of those to 90. I'll be getting another set of IoB Skaven shortly and that should fill out my clanrats.

I broke out my old stash of night runners from back in the Mordheim days and I have enough of those to make about 56 of them. Everyone gave away their Skaven back then. Yay me for being a pack... er, rat? Would it work to put capes on ten or so and use them as night runners and then use the rest as slaves? Or would there be confusion when I put them on the board?

A few warpfire throwers

I'll have at least three from the IoB rat sprues. Is that enough or do I need another?

A few rat ogres (6ish)

Got it covered with IoB stuff.

2 WLC

Two, huh? I'll put them on my shopping list.

1-2 Hell pits (I wouldnt run more then one unless its a WAAC tourny)

I assume this is the Abomb? Hmm... that may take some time.

A grey seer

Going on the shopping list then.

A warlord

I have (or will have) three of them.

A plague furnace

Another item for the shopping list.
30-40 plague monks to push said furnace

an engineer or 2

IoB has it covered.

10ish gutter runners

Covered with my old Mordheim rats.

So, after three IoB rats trades I still need approximately 2 WLC, 1 Abomb, 1 GS, 1 furnace, and 40 monks, is that about right? What about special characters?

One more thing, what's the best way to arm the clanrats/slaves?

Seems about right.
For arming slaves and clanrats id recommend: just hand weapons on all the slaves (keeps them at 2pts) and handweapon + shields for the clanrats. Clanrats are at 4.5 pts then, but get a 5+/6+ save (5+ armour from light armour+shield, and 6+ ward save, a 'parry save' from hand wepaon + shield)

But you can easily go spears + shields as well on the clanrats. You willl have a lot of those from the IoB sets. And those are fine as well, though not AS good as the HW/shield combi i think.

Nice thing about plague monks is you get 16 giant rats in each box, so that will help boost your forces too. Or at least I believe so based on this sprue:


I have yet to pick up a box myself.

The rats on the giant rat sprue are noticeably than the ones from the actual giant rat box. Still, I've seen units that use two of those guys on a single 20mm base, so you're still getting 8 models per monk box. That's what I plan to do, as I don't feel like paying $10 for 4 rats, or buying the whole Giant Rat / Rat Ogre box just to get 6 giant rats.

Okay, I've got most of my IoB rats built. Before I move on to other stuff, I have a quick question. Should I remove all the spears from the 60 that have them and buy one-handed weapons from bits sellers or is it useful to have a bus full of spears?

I generally don't take spears, but I can't see any real reason to remove them. I've got 2 sets of IoB skaven, and rather than rearm them I just put them at the back of my hand weapon / shield rats. They're removed from the unit first, the majority has the correct armament, and it has yet to be an issue with anyone.

For both slaves and clanrats, sword & shield is the way to go. That ward save can make it even more frustrating for the opponent to get rid of them (and as a bonus, you can use the more raggedy IOB rats as slaves).

That said, you don't have to get rid of your spears. I kind of randomized what weapons I gave my rats, just ensuring the front ranks all had sword&shield. It fits their character more to have a ragtag look, and it's not like they are disciplined enough to properly use spear formations anyway (at least not in my mind).

I understand sword and shield for the clanrats, but I was under the impression that you wanted your slaves to die after a few turns.

Why? Let them stick around while I flank him with an hpa or something.

Also, the cost savings of using the ragged IoB rats may also have something to do with it.

Okay, I've got a WFC/PC and am looking to magnatize them for weapon swapping. Are there any rules issues regarding height that I need to be aware of? I ask because I see in pictures that the WFC has the frame set low and the PC is set high and once I start gluing I'm going to be stuck with one or the other.

Nah, no one will care whichever way you decide. The old WLC sits on the ground, and no one objects to me using those.