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I was looking to make a list for Clan Skyre and was wondering if there are any core essential concepts I should keep in my mind when designing it?

2 things, pure skryre lacks numbers and can't take hits. You'll probably blow up about half your army(always more-more)

So overload everything and shoot from far away?

Overload everything, take the warp-resonator on an arch-warlock with verminous valor (FYI the arch-warlock's spell is the one thing you generally don't want to overload), don't take the battalion, take probably 6 stormfiends (don't use the windlauncher weapon, all the other options are good), take 3-4 units of 3 jezzails and space them out a bunch (the enemy will kill them easily but you make him have to chase them to the back end of nowhere to do it), don't use warlock-engineers since warlock-bombardiers are better, warp-lightning vortex + chronomantic cogs is an incredibly good combo, bring at 1 or 2 warp-lightning cannons.

I don't find my Skryre ever struggling against hordes enough to justify taking a weapon I'll fire maybe once in a game. The Windlauncher range and LOS ignoring is such a boon on a -2 rend d3+1 damage weapon.

I just always see my opponents trying to avoid my juiced up Stormfiends like the plague, mostly because they're hidden behind a bunch of clanrats and are thus pretty difficult to reach without overextending units and dying.

Other than that, as a dirty skaven player myself I'll second what Ninth says.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Overload everything, take the warp-resonator on an arch-warlock with verminous valor (FYI the arch-warlock's spell is the one thing you generally don't want to overload), don't take the battalion, take probably 6 stormfiends (don't use the windlauncher weapon, all the other options are good), take 3-4 units of 3 jezzails and space them out a bunch (the enemy will kill them easily but you make him have to chase them to the back end of nowhere to do it), don't use warlock-engineers since warlock-bombardiers are better, warp-lightning vortex + chronomantic cogs is an incredibly good combo, bring at 1 or 2 warp-lightning cannons.

I would’ve thought the battalion for the lightning cannons would be invaluable?

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Overload everything

Is Overloading all the time really worth it?

It seems like a significant portion of your army will end up killing itself every time you do.

Overloading is typically worth it, especially if you stack modifiers/other self-damaging buffs and ect on to the units. A Doomwheel maybe dying to get 2d6 shots doesn't sound like much, until it's 2d6 shots rerolling hits, or rerolling hits and wounds and tossing on a +1 damage buff per shot hit on to it.

Same can be applied to most other overcharging units. If it's going to maybe die, might as well toss More More More Warp Power and a Vigordust buff on it as well.

This applies to shooting units. Avoid overcharging spells with your Heroes. That's not the way to win games.

Always overcharge the Lightning Cannon and aim it at heroes or elite units.

Dice probability says that your most common Overcharge option (2d6, doubles = bad time) has a 1 in 36 chance of backfiring, but you still get to shoot with the unit even if it dies/explodes.

About the Battalions... Short Story: they're not worth it.

Longer Story: Every single Battalion costs you more points. The Skryre ones are just awful even compared to other Battalions. To get a bonus on your Lightning Cannons, you need to spend an extra 120pts + the cost of heroes just to boost one cannon a little, then 60pts on top of every other cannon. Cannons are worth the 180 pts + 120/100pts for a Warlock to buff them. They're not really worth 240 with a small bonus.

 Thadin wrote:
I don't find my Skryre ever struggling against hordes enough to justify taking a weapon I'll fire maybe once in a game. The Windlauncher range and LOS ignoring is such a boon on a -2 rend d3+1 damage weapon.

I find if my stormfiends are far enough away for the windlauncher range to be relevant they are going to run to get the rest of the unit into range faster. And while theoretically the rend -3 and ignoring LoS is nice the average damage is terrible; just 1.5. For comparison a warpfire projector, while only 8" range, needs only target a unit of four models to be dealing higher average damage. And realistically speaking I want my stormfiends to be close to the enemy so they can get into melee anyways.

Perhaps more importantly they absolutely murder things in a way other weapons cannot. That blob of 3+ save mortek guard? Half of them dead. If I am up against an opponent without any units that make juicy warpfire targets then they get allocated wounds first.


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 vipoid wrote:

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Overload everything

Is Overloading all the time really worth it?

It seems like a significant portion of your army will end up killing itself every time you do.

Yup. Skryre armies inevitably kill a not-insignificant number of their own models during the course of the average game. But they are designed perfectly in that the risk-reward works out in your favor... most of the time. It represents the fluff and the theme exceedingly well and is one place where I really compliment GW on doing a great job on the rules.


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 Thadin wrote:
About the Battalions... Short Story: they're not worth it.

Longer Story: Every single Battalion costs you more points. The Skryre ones are just awful even compared to other Battalions. To get a bonus on your Lightning Cannons, you need to spend an extra 120pts + the cost of heroes just to boost one cannon a little, then 60pts on top of every other cannon. Cannons are worth the 180 pts + 120/100pts for a Warlock to buff them. They're not really worth 240 with a small bonus.

This exactly, well put.

The fluffy answer is honestly...if you aren’t willing to overload everything every time, you shouldn’t be playing Skaven. When you kill yourself, one of the other clans compromised your equipment. When you win, it was all according to plan. A loss is never your own fault, but a win gets you glory.

Overload everything. Or play a safe army.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
The fluffy answer is honestly...if you aren’t willing to overload everything every time, you shouldn’t be playing Skaven. When you kill yourself, one of the other clans compromised your equipment. When you win, it was all according to plan. A loss is never your own fault, but a win gets you glory.

Overload everything. Or play a safe army.

I love your answer.


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What’s the best Battleline to go with then? Stormfiends or acolytes?

Honestly, I’m going with fluff. I haven’t played the book, but I’d imagine you want a mix of both, or maybe stormfiends and clan rats. You’ll want bodies to take objectives and storm fiends to obliterate enemies.

Yeah but taking Clan rats forces me to invest in it all. They aren’t Clan Skyre so taking them disqualifies Acolytes and Stormfiends as battlelines

DeathKorp_Rider wrote:

 timetowaste85 wrote:
The fluffy answer is honestly...if you aren’t willing to overload everything every time, you shouldn’t be playing Skaven. When you kill yourself, one of the other clans compromised your equipment. When you win, it was all according to plan. A loss is never your own fault, but a win gets you glory.

Overload everything. Or play a safe army.

I love your answer.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
What’s the best Battleline to go with then? Stormfiends or acolytes?

I'm going to have to hit you with a neither. Both options lack body count to hold or take an objective. Acolytes are too squishy and expensive, while Stormfiends just don't have bodies. If I were to run a full Skryre list though, I guess I would take 2x 10 Acolytes and a unit of 6 Stormfiends, take some toys I want, then see if I've got space for more Acolytes. But, my Skryre armies typically have Stormfiends, Jezzails, a doomwheel and cannon, a couple warlocks of different sorts depending on what I want to use, then some extra other toys, like a grey seer or warpseer, with a battle line of 3x 20 Clanrat units. Clan Rats are great battle line, there's really no reason at all to limit yourself from using them, unless you're trying out some different lists, or doing a fluffy event with your local group.

Edit: Skryre is a deadly army. But I just can't allow myself to rely entirely on murdering the enemy to win the game. Objective points win games, and having a unit of 20 clan rats to run and die on an objective while 6 stormfiends shred the enemy to pieces is a very powerful strategy.

Yes but then I’d be taking at least 3 units of clan rats, which might be a point sink? Maybe ?

Shooting and ranged damage output the likes that Skaven are capable of is quite uncommon. It's only really Tzeentch, certain Stormcast builds and Kharadron Overlords that can muster shooting/magic death the same as Skaven. Most enemies will have to take out your shooting units with melee, since they wont have their own guns or magic effective enough to kill them quick enough.

Having Clan Rats allows your shooting to be more effective than just having more shooting typically, because if there's a unit of clan rats in front of Stormfiends, the enemy has to fight their way through the rats before tying up the Stormfiends in melee. I don't know how familiar with AoS rules you are yet, but tying up shooting units in melee forces them to target what they're in melee with when they shoot. More turns of free shooting for Stormfiends the better.

To me, Clan Rats are just fantastic. Cheap wounds that enhance my shooting by protecting them, and holding objectives. A humble 20 clan rats can cover a lot of area with their bodies.

Honestly I know a lot about the game, but I’ve only played Khorne and Slaves before, both of which have almost no ranged shooters so I don’t really have much experience with those type of armies

Thadin is putting it lightly; clanrats will perform WAY better as battleline. But Skaven as an army are so strong that depending on your local meta going with a mechanically weaker, more thematic option could end up being more fun.

PersonallyI have a weird OCD at units of just 20 clanrats because a unit of 40 is so dramatically more powerful, but I don't want to run 120 clanrats... Yeah it does not make sense, it is a weird neurosis.