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From what I can gleam from reading the Nagash trilogy and just about the skaven in general, it seems like they just throw together what they can to use as arms and armor. Thus, I imagine their clothing would pretty much NEVER match. The reason I ask is I always see them on GW's website all wearing the same clothing (red robes, usually). I was thinking they would all be wearing totally random colors and clothes slapped together. I imagine them being more rag-tag than an army of uniformity (mixing of clans, etc, for bigger battles... until of course they stab the guy in front of them in the back). Thoughts?

1.) There is a Uniform book on Skaven, even if it is OOP.
2.) They certainly are not as uniform as a Roman Legion, but a Pestilence army looks different than a Clan Mortis army. Makes sense as they sometimes fight together or against each other, so warlords should have a means to tell their troops apart from the enemies.

Plus I thought this for chaos marauders, and to a lesser extent warriors. Painting a few marauders with differing trouser colours and so on was a pain enough. Imagine doing a skaven army that way... Also it is for identifying each regiment too, helps clear things up but there's nothing stopping you from rising to the challenge and doing it. Way I see it this should be applied to any army which doesn't have a uniform.
As said before me perhaps it's warlords making sure they and their followers can be recognised

This sounds sensible, I did this a bit with my 40k orks, everyone has something blue on (death skulls) but its not the same item for everyone, and the other items of clothing are browns and blacks.. there is a uniform in that theyre all the same colours but everyone doesnt have the same colour trousers, boots or tops. and again some I highlight to much lighter shades than others giving a little variety of the same colours.

I could imagine that generals in the more scavenger type races might issue dye out for troops to colour their existing vestments, resulting in a variety of tones and shades of the dye across his regiments where different garments take the dye differently.

The Skaven clans paint their robes.

Certain units definitely fit the "rag-tag" description more than others. Slave units, obviously, will generally have whatever gear they can scavenge up off the battlefield.

Clan Rats are generally a bit more orderly though. There are several famous units described in the Skaven Heraldry book known for particular dyed fur colors or gear color. No general wants to look weak, especially among the skaven!

Stormvermin especially are generally well geared and such, while Plague Monks are all usually in the same foul stained sort of robes.


So really it comes down to what sort of skaven he saw. Sounds like mostly slaves, which isn't surprising for someone like Nagash... I mean, what self respecting Rat would want to be near something that dangerous?