Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi guys, first time poster here.

I've finally decided to start a Skaven army. Woo hoo. and to start things off I decided to get the hamster wheel of doom. woo~

Jokes asides, I wondering what various color scheme work well with a Skaven I've tried googlefuing for ideas but i want more. I've come to like the black, red an white cloth theme of the default paint job but I thought I could try something different.

Pictures would help greatly.

Thanks all.

You will need lots and lots of rats if you are starting skaven, it is not uncommon to have over 100 clan/slaves in an army. For this I recommend taking advantage of IoB skaven sets particularly the hand weapon/shield variety for your clan rats. Since you will be painting so many you will probably want a speed method to them, army painter can be good for this but expensive with all those rats I recommend at checking out how big squig did his here: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?293293-Speed-painting-skaven

I've seen some really good looking Skaven with a bright, "plageuish" skin, I'll see if I can get the pix for you.

You might want to check out the skaven heraldry book.

Hargus56 wrote:
You will need lots and lots of rats if you are starting skaven, it is not uncommon to have over 100 clan/slaves in an army. For this I recommend taking advantage of IoB skaven sets particularly the hand weapon/shield variety for your clan rats. Since you will be painting so many you will probably want a speed method to them, army painter can be good for this but expensive with all those rats I recommend at checking out how big squig did his here: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?293293-Speed-painting-skaven

Wow color me impressed with his technique though I wonder if i am able to reproduce the same results

Thanks for the info man.

 sinius wrote:
Hi guys, first time poster here.

I've finally decided to start a Skaven army. Woo hoo. and to start things off I decided to get the hamster wheel of doom. woo~

Jokes asides, I wondering what various color scheme work well with a Skaven I've tried googlefuing for ideas but i want more. I've come to like the black, red an white cloth theme of the default paint job but I thought I could try something different.

Pictures would help greatly.

Thanks all.

Welcome to the broken team!

You are going to need boatloads of rats. Splittings IOBs and ebaying to buy more are key (having as many as 150 makes sense.) its $35 for 20 so be smart. Also Battalions are very useful. Also your going to want a Screaming bell or Plague Furnace, Hell Pits, and Warp Lightning Cannons.

What is everyone's impression of using special weapons on clan rats? Jezzails too.

Fun or not so fun?

 sinius wrote:
What is everyone's impression of using special weapons on clan rats? Jezzails too.

Fun or not so fun?

Do you mean Weapons teams? if so YES they are great fun

 spyguyyoda wrote:
You might want to check out the skaven heraldry book.

Going to second this suggestion if you're interested in color schemes. The book presents a wide array of major, large and minor clans and their various histories and garb. Great resource.

As to what you'll need, lots of regular clan rat/slaves is an obvious one. Warp Lightning Cannons are FANTASTIC, Doomwheels are great for lower point games. Higher point games the Hellpit Abomination will take over for the Doomwheel.

Jezzails, while they look snazzy, just aren't worth their cost. Weapon teams, generally speaking, sadly also fall into this category. They're all 1W wonders that generally die without making much of an impact on the battle, excepting when they run into your own lines and blow up. The warpfire thrower can do an extreme amount of damage, but is Move or Fire and generally dies before it can fire. The Poisoned Wind Mortar is pretty much your top dog. It's Move and Fire with enough range that you can hide it behind your main blocks and fire over them. No saves allowed and straight up to wound rolls regardless of toughness (which is good and bad, obviously). Still dies to magic missiles or even regular BS shooting though. I wish they (jezzails included) were better, but they're simply not worth it in competitive play. That said, I still take them (jezzails included) in most of my regular friendly lists.

The Island of Blood sets for skaven can be found online pretty cheap, and are a good way to start building a force. The battalion box isn't bad if you want to include some plague monks also, and the giant rats can be made into a Rat-Dart. The Rat Ogres, sadly, are another "not great for it's cost" unit. T4 with no saves is sort of "meh" for their cost. Again, doesn't stop me from wanting to field them though.

Anyway, good luck!

Hey all just want to ask something.

Well among the available weapon teams in the army, Which ones are among the most useful teams for the Skaven?

 sinius wrote:
Hey all just want to ask something.

Well among the available weapon teams in the army, Which ones are among the most useful teams for the Skaven?

They are kinda all good, it really depends what armies you play... but on All takers list you want to mix.

sinius wrote:Hey all just want to ask something.

Well among the available weapon teams in the army, Which ones are among the most useful teams for the Skaven?

Pros and cons of the various weapon teams:

Warpfire Thrower:
Pro - Flaming attacks, flame template hits a lot of models in a bus, can stand and shoot, S5 + d3 wounds, causes panic checks for a single casualty
Con - Move or Fire, fairly short range, expensive

Poisoned Wind Mortar:
Pro - Move and Fire, can use parent unit's LoS for shooting, ignores armor, set to wound roll means great against high T units
Con - High scatter, set to wound roll not great against low T units, second most expensive weapon team

Ratling Gun:
Pro - Cheap, most forgiving misfire table, decent power, can stand and shoot
Con - Move or Fire, BS3, not great range

Doomflayer:
Pro - Cheap, best armor save, grind attack can be up to 10 hits, impact hits
Con - Dies VERY easily in melee, low Init means it often dies before it can attack

Really the answer is that the PWM is your top dog, but the WFT will usually do the most damage. The Ratling Gun is a good cheap option for weapon team also. Overall, keep in mind that ALL weapon teams are very, very squishy. They have T3, W1 and a 5+ armor. Even with their 4++ ward for being near their parent unit, weapon teams die fairly quickly to even regular BS based shooting.

Edit: in my usual 2,500 point list I run 2 WFTs and 2 PWMs. It should also be clear that I don't have a great track record with my usual 2,500 point list though!

 streamdragon wrote:

sinius wrote:Hey all just want to ask something.

Well among the available weapon teams in the army, Which ones are among the most useful teams for the Skaven?

Pros and cons of the various weapon teams:

Warpfire Thrower:
Pro - Flaming attacks, flame template hits a lot of models in a bus, can stand and shoot, S5 + d3 wounds, causes panic checks for a single casualty
Con - Move or Fire, fairly short range, expensive

Poisoned Wind Mortar:
Pro - Move and Fire, can use parent unit's LoS for shooting, ignores armor, set to wound roll means great against high T units
Con - High scatter, set to wound roll not great against low T units, second most expensive weapon team

Ratling Gun:
Pro - Cheap, most forgiving misfire table, decent power, can stand and shoot
Con - Move or Fire, BS3, not great range

Doomflayer:
Pro - Cheap, best armor save, grind attack can be up to 10 hits, impact hits
Con - Dies VERY easily in melee, low Init means it often dies before it can attack

Really the answer is that the PWM is your top dog, but the WFT will usually do the most damage. The Ratling Gun is a good cheap option for weapon team also. Overall, keep in mind that ALL weapon teams are very, very squishy. They have T3, W1 and a 5+ armor. Even with their 4++ ward for being near their parent unit, weapon teams die fairly quickly to even regular BS based shooting.

Edit: in my usual 2,500 point list I run 2 WFTs and 2 PWMs. It should also be clear that I don't have a great track record with my usual 2,500 point list though!

Hey man thanks for the breakdown, this helps me plan out better

My army:
HQ:
Warlord: Polearm, hand weapon, fire talisman, heavy armour
Warplock Enginer: Warpmusket, Polearm, hand weapon, light armour
Warplock Enginer: Brass orb, hand weapon, light armour

Infantry (all light armour)
Clanrats x20: spears, shields, full command, warp fire thrower
Clanrats x40: hand weapons, shields, full command, rattling gun
Clanrats x20 : hand weapons, shields, full command, poison wind mortar
Stormvermin x20: polearms, heavy armour, full command
Sometimes plague monks

Other:
Doomwheel
Warp lightning cannon x2
Rat ogres
Giant rats

They are painted as my own clan, Clan Shalf (pronounce: shelf)
Which has green robes, using waagh flesh.

AND WARPLIGHTNING CANNONS RULE!!!!!

Ember

You just revived a post from 2013....let this one die please don't think the original poster is even active lol


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And yes I realize that I just added to reviving the thread but still haha