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Skaven Review

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Hillbilly Carl

Posted: Nov 5 2009, 02:15 PM

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Here is a review of the new skaven book from a guy in my local league:

QUOTE

So I've read through the stuff online, borrowed the preview copy from the den, looked over everything, know it inside and out now.

Honestly, there's some great things about the new Skaven book and some not so great things.

Great:
The Doomwheel is back. My favourite model (by concept rather than appearance) of all time is back with an even better looking version. I can't wait to be running around with 2 of the things. They're not chariots, so can't be killed by S7+ which makes their 5 T6 wounds much more substantial. They do D6+1 S6 impact hits, D3 S6 impact hits when they don't charge, and fire 3 blasts of lightning that automatically hit the nearest target (friend or foe) within 18" doing D6 wounds each. All that for 150 points? It moves like a chariot with 3d6 movement, so it can pivot an unlimited amount of times to get where it needs to go. Yeah, I'll take 2.

It's almost a shame I like Doomwheels so much, because the Hellpit Abomination looks to be a real beast. 6 T6 wounds with Regen, and when it dies, if you roll a 6 it comes back to life with D6 wounds. Combined with its ridiculous attack chart: 1-2 S6 hit on each model in base contact, doing D3 wounds with no armour save, 3-4 it gets 3d6 attacks that roll to hit and wound, 5-6 each model in base contact must make an I test or suffer a S6 hit, then one unit in combat takes 2d6 S6 hits distributed like shooting. Give the think Magic Resistance and magic attacks, and let it whomp Treemen. Unfortunately it moves like a spawn (choose a direction, it moves 3d6 in that direction without any pivots, or turns or anything), meaning a canny player can keep it trapped and out of the important fights. This, along with its ~250 point cost, make the Doomwheel seem the better choice in my opinion. That said, I am sure there will be whining about the Abomination being the new Hydra, and probably more than a couple Skaven players that max out on these guys.

The new Spell Lores are pretty darn good. There are two of them, one for Engineers, one for Plague Priests, and Grey Seers and Vermin Lords can take from either/both in any combination. Both lores are very destructive, but many spells can backfire. Warp Lightning can fry your mages, Plague can kill your entire army with some bad rolls. Death Frenzy is murder on elite units. Moderate casting costs with all spells, nothing ridiculously powerful. That said, the 13th spell (which only Grey Seers and Vermin Lords can substitute for) requires a 25+ to cast. It can only be cast on visible infantry within 24". The caster rolls 4d6. If this total is greater than the total number of models in the unit the entire thing is removed (characters and all) and replaced with Clanrats. If the unit has more models than the total rolled, the unit suffers that many CASUALTIES. Take that Ogres and Minotaurs! Scorch is interesting because it is a template spell that doesn't require a target. Just place the template within 24" after it is cast, making units in combat perfect targets, and it benefits from the next point...

All templates in the book no longer have any 4+ for partials. Skaven are playing 40k now because any model TOUCHED by any template at all is automatically hit with full effect. Warpfire Throwers are godly now. Scorch will castrate whole units. The Plague Catapult thing that uses the large template at S2 with no armour save will be devastating.

The special characters are moderately interesting, but most seem overpriced. Definitely nothing over the top or unbalanced here. Snikch is a hero but 270 points... Nice to see him in the book, but for S4 attacks and 2W, that's a hefty price...

Pretty much everything that fights has gotten cheaper and fightier. Clanrats, Stormvermin, Plague Monks are all cheaper, Rat Ogres, Giant Rats, Plague Censer Bearers all fight harder (and are cheaper). Unfortunately just about everything that shoots has gotten worse.

The Screaming Bell and the Plague Furnace make their units unbreakable and provide some very useful abilities. That said, they are very expensive and will drastically cut down on the number of rats on the table. Could be an interesting way of dealing with the typical Skaven unreliability. They aren't THAT hard to kill, so I don't know how reliable a strategy taking a bunch of these would be...

Not Great:
Everything that shoots has gotten worse. Ratling Guns roll to hit now, so even with their decreased cost of 55 points, they're a waste. Jezzails no longer Skirmish, so they're pretty much bunk. Globadiers have moved from core to Special - what a waste of a slot. The Warp Lightning Cannon fires like a regular cannon with a template on the end. I suppose it could be more useful now in some circumstances, but with the number of artillery dice you have to roll to resolve the thing, it's simply too unreliable now. Warpfire Throwers are the one exception to this, for the template reasons mentioned above.

The magic items suck bad. There are no good arcane items, no good bound items, no decent magic armours, no 4+ ward, no regeneration item, no useful magic weapons. The Fellblade is 100 points now instead of 85 - you can't even take the Talisman of Protection with it anymore. The Weeping Blade is armour piercing and D3 wounds instead of +1S and D3 wounds. Storm Daemon is gone, along with Bands of Power. Warpstone Tokens are 15 points now instead of 10. Who the hell would take a Warpstone Token for 15 points when a Power Stone is 20 points, provides 2 dice instead of 1 and doesn't wound you if they come up 1??? The magic items are sooo bad, there's absolutely no point in taking a Warlord. Without any sort of useful weaponry, armour, ward save or regeneration, there are unit champions that can beat down a fully kitted Skaven Warlord. Grey Seers also have Ld7 now, so there really is no point in trying to take a fighty lord. Worst magic item selection ever. Just shamefully bad. Horrible. Hell, there is a 30 point magic standard that does NOTHING if you have less ranks than your opponent. If you have more ranks, then you roll a D6: 1-2 IT STILL DOES NOTHING, 3-4 it provides +1CR, JUST LIKE THE 25 POINT WARBANNER, 5-6 it provides +2 CR. What the hell were they thinking?

Assassins are still character choices. Dark Elves get theirs as Core units, so why the hell should Skaven get a weaker, watered down version for more points and a hero slot? Very disappointing.

The Vermin Lord can't be the army's general. For 500 points, and stats slightly lower than all the other Greater Daemons, it's really sad we won't ever see this guy in a 2000 point game because he can't be the general. Skaven need their leadership, so forcing you to have a Ld6 hero as your general is pretty poor. His points cost and abilities aren't out of whack, so there wasn't a need for this. He might be fun in bigger games I guess...

Night Runners don't skirmish anymore. Skaven don't need another ranked unit with no armour save thank you very much. This is doubly true when they cost 7 points a model. I guess I will start calling mine slaves now.

Poison on Gutter Runners costs 5 points a model. Seriously, WTF? Second stupidest upgrade in the game, only ranked just behind lances for Chaos Knights.

All in all, it's a decent book. I think it will be fun and interesting and certainly won't be overturning the Tournament tables anytime soon. If I were to rank its pure OMG POWER, I would probably put it midway between Empire and Warriors of Chaos. It has the tools to do damage, but Skaven will really suffer from unreliability, almost as badly as Orcs and Goblins now. A single dice roll will win or lose MANY a Skaven game. This means they won't really be able to seriously compete against Dark Elves, Vampires, Daemons or even Lizardmen, who all benefit from how reliable their armies are. The big boys will still have a fair chance against the Skaven A game, and if the Skaven bring their B game, then the rats will get stomped on.

And some more:

QUOTE

Oh yeah, there is one magic item that has the internet shitting bricks right now, and that's the Storm Banner. The old one was one use only, made BS weapons -2 to hit, prevented flying and artillery only went off on a 4+. It lasted until someone rolled a 5+ at the start of their turn.

The new one makes BS weapons -2 to hit, prevents flying and artillery only goes off on a 4+. It lasts until someone rolls a 4+ at the start of their turn.

Geep	Posted: Nov 6 2009, 02:03 AM
Citizen of the Glade Group: Ancient Posts: 2,455 Member No.: 63 Joined: 4-January 06	Thanks for posting that Hillbilly Carl- I've been meaning to look at their book but haven't got around to it yet. Overall, I think I like what I'm hearing- Skaven don't seem to be exceptionally broken which they definitely could have been, they have a lot of unreliability which suits them and they still have some very threatening things. I don't agree with half the complaints the reviewer was making- No 4+ ward? limited magic items? Wood elves and Orcs and Goblins have suffered this for ages- don't rely on the items to make your characters work. Worse shooting? All races have had rolls to hit introduced- skaven still have the instant hit doomwheel and decent magic. The only real shame is that I doubt I'll be playing against them anytime soon.

Billfred	Posted: Nov 6 2009, 12:57 PM
Citizen of the Glade Group: Ancient Posts: 173 Member No.: 371 Joined: 29-September 06	I liked the reading the 'Not Great' bits :) Good review over all. I do like the stories of the Skaven.

Zelt Arruin

Posted: Nov 6 2009, 03:02 PM

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QUOTE (Billfred @ Nov 6 2009, 07:57 AM)

I liked the reading the 'Not Great' bits :)

Me too, the best way to measure a new book is through what people perceive as the 'worst' bits.

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