by Theo Kik-Jansen

What’s that? New Skaven plastic incoming? You can’t spell REINVIGORATE without RAT!

I’ve been out of AoS for a bit. Real life screws with things sometimes and I haven’t really been able to find my way back properly towards the tail end of 3^rd. And I am going to be honest, I nearly lost interest at some point. On top of feeling behind on my knowledge of the game, I hadn’t had time to digest any of the Dawnbringers stuff. I felt myself starting to turn into a Normie… I even started playing Warcry on club nights just to hide the shame.

So I was going about my business, forgetting I was ever an obsessive nerdy gamer, and blending into normal life more and more. I wave at the neighbors, make comments to the kids on how silly the cat is being, bring my lunch box into work and spend break time chatting about mortgages and fuel pricing. Normal stuff.

Then these rumors start to surface that Skaven are going to be the main antagonist of the new edition. And then, BAM! the Ratling Gun sprue leaks. The suppressed obsessions and memories come flooding in like I’m (a slightly less athletic) Jason Bourne. I feel the Great Rat’s claws sinking into my brain, horns sprouting from my skull. Combat phase, alpha charges, 1-drop lists, 3’s-and-2’s-minus 1. I squirt the musk of fear! I’m back baby! Glory to the Horned Rat!

We have a lot to go through for you Rat enthusiasts, so let’s dig in! Let me preface by saying that I have two loves in Warhammer: Goblins and Skaven. I have about 11k points (in AoS 3^rd money) of fully painted Skaven. So anything I say is guaranteed to be biased. The Horned Rat could pee in my eye and I would still rate it 13/10. Also, while there’s an asterisk that we don’t yet know point values (so some commentary may end up wide of the mark), I do have a half-baked hypothesis on point values, so hang tight.

Favorite model so far

Anyways. That Ratling Warpblaster. Oh baby. Look at that thing. It’s glorious.

What I like about the model is how stupidly big the rotary barrels of the thing are. Only the Skaven can engineer a cannon capable of blasting the stuff of raw magic through an automatically rotating gun barrel, on an articulated platform driven by a pulley system. But then decide that propulsion might as well be done with a 4 Clanrats pushing it round. I also love how the Engineer protects himself by all means possible, but takes no such care of his pushers. As any self-respecting Skaven leader will tell you: it only makes tactical sense.

As for the rules, we are off to a good start with this one. Although 7 health on a 4+ save isn’t particularly survivable, I suppose it could have been worse. It has a random attack value, which I do not love. This is the old GW “random is fun” approach to “fun” armies. At least it’s 3D6+3 which ranges from 6 to 21 shots as a baseline. That 3D6+3 gives a cool 75% chance of being 11 shots or higher. The mean volume of shots is 13,5 and the result into an infantry unit with 10+ models on a 4+ save is a damage output of 4,5 dead man-things, thanks to the 6’s auto wounding.

Let’s not talk about the melee profile. As we can’t shoot in combat (pretty sure this is because the Engineer on top has bounced well before the enemy gets in), shit has probably gone sideways when this unit gets tagged.

Its special rule gives me a lot of hope for Skaven. It’s the exact right amount of risk versus reward. It gets you a great buff, with the off chance of it actually blowing up. Because the outcome is risky, it’s exciting to roll for it, for both you and your opponent. Because it happens on 1’s, you’re unlikely to blow yourself up in one go, so you should get at least 2 volley of shooting out of this thing before it self-detonates (“should”). IF you spike, you’re much more likely to explode, but it will have been worth it.

Note that this ability is once per turn (army). This means that they are trying to disincentivize spamming these units. Which I think is good for the game, as no other restrictions apply to list building. Having the most powerful rules locked behind this restriction is an elegant way to do it. Although I still prefer the rule of 3 from 40k, if they apply this rule consistently, it’ll do just fine.

If they’ve got an Engineer buddy nearby, calculating with 6D6+3 gives us an average of 8 damage in the same scenario. Now we’re cooking with warp-fire, and we’ve got an interesting anti-horde unit with a 26” threat range. A preferred target could be clearing screens but also blasting a hole in reinforced combat units (without elite armour) – something like 10x Brutes for example. Interesting to see a unit with such a targeted role in this army, making it meta dependent but a fun choice indeed.

We get to compare it to the Jezzails and the Warp Lightning cannon. The former being a sniping unit when paired with the Warlock Engineer. The latter seeming to be able to do well against most targets without a (good) Ward.

It delivers an average of 13 shots when boosted by an Engineer, resulting in a strong 9 mortal damage. Or 4 when un-boosted. Making it so you only need 4 of these bad boys on average to blow Karazai out of the sky in one round of shooting! Probably not the most realistic scenario, but putting 9 damage on a big bad does really make a dent.

Further Warscrolls

Warlock engineers

We also saw a reimagining of the Warlock Engineer. I’ve seen a lot of complaints about the blandness of the sculpt and fact that he isn’t a wizard anymore. Personally, if they are stripping down on wizards, I’m cool with having these guys just being mechanics. If this is what we need to eat to revoke the Army Wide Wizard License from those stupid Aelves, I’m all for it.

I think the reaction on the sculpt stems partly from people confusing the Warlock engineer with the Arch Warlock. Which is the old model with the claw-canon and the halberd – my guess is that we’ll see a new model of him later.  To be clear, this is the model this sculpt is replacing:

That is one hell of an improvement and to me, a fantastic concept. It embodies the idea of these engineers dreaming up mad inventions and then dialing them up to 11 on the battlefield, without the poor souls manning the contraptions knowing it. They make damn sure they take up a more “tactical” position on the battlefield for themselveas, in case the worst happens.

Rat Ogors

The improvement of the year has to go to these creations of Clan Moulder. The Man-bear-pig models that GW has had the audacity selling well into 2024 is the laughing stock of wargaming miniatures. You have a decent chance of hurling a lump of clay down a flight of stairs and having it coming out better looking than this piece of shit.

We of course also had the Island of Blood Rat Ogors. But due to an oopsie in sprue layout, these have never been sold separately. I thought of these as very modern and great looking sculpts that stood the test of time quite well.

But look at the new ones. It just goes to show how far GW has come in its sculpting. These models are absolutely gorgeous. We’ve seen both the Spearhead and the AoS scolls for these guys:

As you can see, they are identical except for the keywords and the limitation on the ability. Are you going to take damage for extra output? Do Skaven eat shit? Of course! With 6 attacks each you’re looking at around 8 damage into a 4+ base save unit, or 6 damage against a random Stormcast hero (without AOA or AOD). Not exactly wild output. With a health pool of 12 and a 5+ save, it might be difficult to make a case for them as a useful unit, unless they are cheap (the possibility to resurrect the unit does help here too).

Best of the rest

This box has been a dream come true for me. I loved everything about it. Which probably makes this article useless as an objective piece. Well, suck it, we’re here to enjoy the buzz. Here’s a few more things that got me super keen:

The Grey Seer is an awesome sculpt to me because it’s such a classic look. It steps away from the more cartoony vibe we got from the Warlock Bombardier a couple of years back. It has a more grimy and gritty feel to it. The blade it carries is properly Skaven, and I love how the base has a scenic feel to it. I do have to say that I really didn’t mind the old Grey Seer, so out of all models I’m not too sure why they replaced this one, but it’s awesome none the less so I’ll take it.              

The Clanrats are as good a makeover as the Skeletons were for Soulblight. They are the upgrade I didn’t know I wanted, and didn’t expect to be motivate to add to my 120 painted Clanrats. But they got me again. The choice to go the more gritty route for them is (agains) perfect here I feel.

The Jezzails were due a plastic model for a while now. I’m glad we have them, but I’m not too blown away by them. They are perfectly modernized versions of the thing, and they look fantastic in that context. But I have 12 of the old ones painted up, and not convinced I’ll be replacing them any time soon.

And lastly, the Clawlord on Gnaw-Beast. I am so happy we have a hero like this back in the army. It just adds to the idea that Skaven will grab anything that will help them in battle. For the sculpt, I’m not too blown away by the Gnaw-Beast. With how emaciated it looks and the short snout, I feel that without the tail, It could have belonged to any Chaos or Death army. It doesn’t scream Skaven to me. The Clawlord however is magnificent and his halberd is epic:

Rules and observations

There are some rules that stood out, that I wanted to touch on real quick.

Control score

One of the themes I am spotting is the ability to mess with control scores. Speaking of the Clawlord on Gnaw-Beast: On his warscroll is a rule called Cruel Commander. It means that a unit can add 5 to its control score at the cost of 1 mortal wound. This is really strong, but let’s clarify how it works a little, because I’ve seen a lot of people getting mixed up on this one..

The way this works is that your Control Score is the sum total of the Control characteristic of all your models that are contesting the objective, plus or minus any modifiers.

So in this case (and remembering we’ve killed one model to trigger that ability), it’s (19 x 1) + 5 = 24

What this ability (and some others we’ve seen) is not doing is adding to the Control characteristic of your unit. That would make it 19 x (1 + 5) = 115 “models” on an objective. I’m afraid that’s not how it works – this rule is directly modifying your Control Score (as opposed to the characteristic), so it’s amended upwards by a set amount rather than multiplying upwards exponentially. Sorry for the bad news! Still a good rule though.

Anyway, to top off this ability: because it lasts until you next turn AND Clanrats have their own D3 recursion mechanic, this rule can be extra powerful for stealing objectives unexpectedly. A single Clanrat has the power to steal an objective from a monster and with just 5 Clanrats (with standard bearer) lets, you can tell a God model to shove it! It also does not appear to be limited, so you can do it multiple times to the same unit if you have more than one Gnaw-Beast! Now let’s hope the Clawlord on foot has the same rule. I can’t wait for the stories of people doing this to Nagash!

To add to the theme, the Rampage for Lord Screetch Verminking allows you to potentially neuter enemy objective control, by subtracting 3-6 points from their Control Score:

The Grey Seer might give us a sneak peak into the Skaven spell lore by revealing Will of the Horned Rat as another potential Control Score booster:

Gnawholes are awesome

There’s a lot to love about the new Gnawholes. They spawn during the game and go pretty much anywhere outside of 9” of enemy models. More importantly, it now provides Skaven with a recursion ability!

This is a gamechanger for Skaven. Anyone that has played with or against Gitz can tell you how powerful this is and what a clutch rule this can become for Skaven. It makes you re-evaluate the value of the Infantry units you bring. Best of all: You don’t have to roll for it.

It does cost a command point, but it happens automatically at the end of your turn. And just 3” from your foes as well! Shove that up your Gnawhole, Nagash!

Damage output reduced

Another clear pattern from the new rules is just how much damage output has been reduced for a lot of units. There is a lot less focus on damage from the army rules, and the scrolls themselves also seem toned down. A great example of this is the Skryre battle formation rules:

Snorting a cheeky line of Warpstone used to gain that unit a pip of damage in AOS 3, doubling the output of a lot of guns, on top of a near-guaranteed 2+ to hit on many units. Now you’re rolling for a chance at a wound roll increase or some rend.

Clan rules changes

One of the bigger changes is the way Clan rules work. So far we have only seen the Skryre rules as pictured above plus those for Moulder. These are now encapsulated in the battle formation (as a very necessary name change from sub-factions):

Where Skaven enjoyed the ability to add rules by mixing heroes from different Clans, you are now forced to choose which Clan you want to buff at list creation.

Points hypothesis

From the list pictured above, let’s try and learn something. If the units in that list are worth 2000 points, then they have increased in cost by about 15% from the 1710 points this list costs in AOS 3 (1740 for the Lumineth list from the same game). That is without Endless spells. Meaning that your armies would get smaller.

Now whether this holds up we won’t know until GW releases more info on points, but it is at least an interesting footnote I thought and something to watch out for.

Closing Thoughts

All in all I am beyond excited about what is in store for Skaven. I fully expect to see replacement models for units such as the Plague Priest, Master Moulder, Stormvermin and Clawlord on foot. I’m less sure if we’ll see Eshin in this release, my thinking being that those will follow in a second wave down the track. I am still hoping for a cavalry unit to be presented before launch.

The rules seem to focus on recursion and Infantry Skaven as the main tools for winning the games, which is as it should be. The models return to the gritty look and feel that I absolutely adore.

Hellpits look fantastic. With Prized Creations, they just even better. Screech is off this chops. There is so much more to talk about, so if you want to join us in our Patreons’ Discord, you know what to do.

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