sg issue02

8/22/2019 SG Issue02

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sg-issue02 1/17

Issue 2

8/22/2019 SG Issue02


Voices from the dark Issue 2

Contents Skaven army building tacticsand general unit uses pg 3Commanding your troops is onlyhalf the battle. Bloodvixen givesan overview on choosing and usingyour special, rare and weaponteams choices.

War in the tunnels pg 6Inter-clan intrigue and politics deepin the UnderEmpire.

Legends of the UnderEmpire:King Rat pg 8The UnderEmpire is a dark andmysterious place. Clanlord Traskgives us a look at an enigma andmyth of Skaven society, the KingRat

Ask Seer Squeek pg 10That is, if you dare.

Musings about Clan Eshin pg 12A treatise about the non-skirmish,non-UCOD variant by Moritz

Hampel.

Skavenblight Gazette

Lead Editor

Sebrent

Editors

Skaven Lord Vinshqueek, Clanlord Trask

Writers

Blood Vixen, Clanlord Trask, MoritzHampel (Mutter), Seer Squeek,StormverminWarrior

Artwork and miniatures

Hysteria75, Matt Lee, Morgoth, Mutator,Scrivener, Setomidor, Sing the ScreamsTunnel Rat, Vaskrit

Cover

Scrivener

Production

Clanlord Trask

All material appearing in SkavenblightGazette is copyright of its author orcreator. Reproduction in whole or part innot permitted without permission.

Opinions expressed herein are notnecessarily those of SkavenblightGazette, The UnderEmpire or the staff.Information is published in good faith andwe do not accept any responsibility fordamage that may arise from any possibleinaccuracies. All rights reserved, none ofthe contents may be used in any othermedia without prior consent of its creator.

Warhammer, and associated intellectualproperty, is copyright of GamesWorkshop. A full list of Games Workshoptrademarks can be found at www.games-workshop.com/Legal/legal.html

All complainers will be fed to the MutantRat Ogre.

www.skavenblightgazette.com

So here we are, at Issue 2.

Things are certainly getting exciting around here.The first issue was really successful, and a lotof people were blown away by how good it was.Frankly, even us who work on it have been suitablysuprised by the response, both for the first issue,and from the subsequent support and passion thatpeople are showing for the publication.

So as you can see, the Skavenblight Gazette isreally starting to take form.

That form is largely dependant on you, thereadership, though. As you would already know, werun completely off of voluntary contributions, andas such, rely quite heavily on submissions. You

may not think yourself a writer of any calibre, but agood idea is a good idea!

Over the course of the issues, we will slowlyintroduce a selection of regular articles that youcan contribute to. The idea is that having featurearticles will help to focus the creative process forthose who wish to contribute. It can be dauntingcoming up with an article concept from scratch,and these features will be a good starting point foryou to explore the inner workings of Skavendom.

The first of these, Legends of the UnderEmpire,is aimed at exploring the myths and stories of

Skaven society, be it a place, a person or a thing.This issues article, King Rat, is a good example ofthis. It explores a mythological character of Skavenlore, giving a life and personality to the largelymysterious inner working of the Skaven race.

In the case of the Legends of the UnderEmpire, itisn’t so hard to look at the Skaven and think “What

would constitute a legend to the Skaven?”. Sittingdown and getting down your ideas is the hardestpart of the battle. Even if you are not confidentin your ability, our editors are here to help you toimprove your contribution and give valuable adviceand support.

As well as articles, we are always looking forillustrations and miniature photos. In fact, whatwe are lacking at the moment is a stockpile of wellpainted miniatures in a battle scene or diorama.We have had some impressive work alreadysubmitted, and I expect soon the cover space willbe hotly fought over by enthuiastic artists and

miniature painters wanting to create the cover.Get involved with the ezine any way you can.Tell your friends about it. Tell members of otherWarhammer boards about it. Tell your Mum aboutit. Tell someone, even if its your pet rat.

Especially if its your pet rat.Clanlord Trask

Editor

http://www.skavenblightgazette.com/


8/22/2019 SG Issue02


i S k av e nb l ig h t Ga z et t e Is s ue 0 2 p ag e 3

Heya everyone

First off thank you for the greatfeedback for the gazette. Itmakes it worthwhile to do this foreveryone, and it also gives enoughmotivation to continue with mypart.SAB

Ratling guns are one of our majorunits for firepower. Although

they are a lot harder to use since7th edition, ratling guns are stillpowerful. Take 1 per 500 pointsat the most and always with a unitof 25+ clanrats. If you take lessclanrats then they are a lot morelikely to panic so keep behind yourlines until they are needed.

Next are the warp fire throwers. Ifyou like fire, you’ll be good friendswith these ratties as they producemore fire than a dragon with acough. Unfortunately this could

result in them setting themselvesalight, but they are extremelyuseful against armies wherethe d3 wounds can make all thedifference (e.g. ogre kingdoms/beast of chaos and bigger things).They are also good versus well-armored armies since they have agood armor modifier too.

Skaven Army Building Tacticsand general unit uses

by Blood Vixen

Ratling guns

Warpfire throwers

8/22/2019 SG Issue02



From Lustria, chanting plagueand death to those against, themare the plague monks. A greatanti light armored unit and eveneffective against medium armoredunits. Always give them additionalhand weapons as the combinationwith frenzy will allow you 3 attacksper monk which will make many

units dissapear very quickly.However they are fairly soft asthey only have their toughness of4 to protect them. That’s rightno armor, just an extra point oftoughness, but then again we’reSkaven, we should have a line ofslaves ready to die for our causewilling or otherwise so why do wecare?. The command as normal isuseful although I see less use forthe musician than the other two.

Now bow your heads or losethem, it’s the sniper suck-upsfrom Skryre, the jezzails. Theseare a double edged sword unitas although they give you somestrong firepower, it leaves a softcentre when charged which cancause problems if against asmarter opponent. However beingskirmishers and having the pavisegives them a built in -1 to be shotand a 4+ save against shooting.Jezzails will need to be taken inlarger units to get their shots off,but when they hit they are verygood tin can openers; making amockery of cavalry and armoredstunties alike. These should be

your only real targets howeverotherwise the cost for jezzailswon’t reap benefits.

Recommendation for jezzails: anice choice is squads of 8. Thiswill allow you to hit fairly often andmake use of the better woundingcapabilities. One unit per 2000is a good estimate as their pointcost for a unit of 5 will get you 20clanrats or 50 slaves.

Banner of burning hatred: thismakes monk combat capabilitiesloads better. Being able to re-rollto hit on the first turn of combatswill allow many more hits to landand at a low points cost as well.

Banner of the four black winds:

commonly ignored as even ifthere were flyers chances arethey’d stay very far away from yourplague monks if they could helpit. However it’s still useful againstBrettonian RAF and the elven birdbrigade.

Umbranner: another commonbanner; this allows you to have a

4+ ward save vs. all strength 4 orless shooting.

Warbanner: +1 combat resolutionis always helpful but not as helpfulas other choices.

Banner of the swarm: if you’re nottaking a horde of plague monks(30+), I don’t see why this wouldbe considered over the warbanner.It can still be useful; just not here.

Okay, now let’s look at specialchoices.

Let’s work from the bottom up

starting with the gutter runners.

For their points, gutter gunnersare effective at little but useful allthe same. They are a skirmishingscout unit with above averagespeed and good combat statsand have two weapons. This unitcan cause your enemy a majorheadache in the early turns fornot an amazingly large amount ofpoints, but don’t expect them todo much by themselves. Gutterrunners can be fit to many rolesthanks to a variety of equipmentupgrades. Give the unit throwingstarts and they become a nicelittle harasser unit to any lightarmor squads and could begiven poison to make them moreeffective against high toughnessfoes like giants. This can also bedone with their combat weapons;making them a pretty strongcombat unit. The slings optionhowever is debatable in uses asthe x2 shots within half range

might seem tempting but having todeal with the ballistic deductionscan prove to be a lot less useful;but they are still a viable choiceeven though I believe the stars arenormally better.

Recommendations for gutterrunners: if taken, it is best tohave them scout forward wherethey can cause the most damageeven if they don’t get into

combat. Poisoned hand weaponsor poisoned stars are what Ipersonally reccomend but not bothas this will drive their points up

more than you will need. GutterRunners are definitely a high onthe list of choices for your specialslots.

Tunneling team gutter runners areuseful as war machine huntersand lone mage mincers but comewith added risks and at a bitsteeper point cost. However, thetactical uses outweigh this quitea lot. Again one poison or theother as they are already prettyexpensive just to be made to

tunnel and it’ll be quite a largechunk of your points if they fail toshow

Recommendation for tunnelingteams: very useful but not veryreliable. Keep them cheap butcapable of taking the role thatyou intend for them. I wouldn’treccomend more than 1 team per1000 points but its dependant onwhat you’re playing.

Gutter runners

Jezzails

Plague monks

Reccomendations for the plaguemonks: these should fill a lot ofgaps in your army as they’re notonly useful in combat but theyallow the plague censers to betaken. I recommend no morethan 20 a squad and always withadditional hand weapons andstandard.

Magic banners forplague monks

8/22/2019 SG Issue02



Okay, that ends the specialoptions so now I’ll move on tothe rares next... not a very largesection but still; there’s betterthings to put your points towards.

Warp lightning cannons eithergiving your enemy a case of theashes or a spiky hairstyle. Theseare our only true war machinesand everything about them israndom. The range, the strength,the misfires, these can be themost deadly or the most pitiful warmachine out there, but it’s stilluseful to have on your side. Neverlet it get charged or you have torun.

Totting next to the monks are theirflail crazy brothers the plaguecenser bearers. Other than ratogres, these are our combatcan openers either with theirgas attacks or their flail bonusstrength. They have to keepnext to plague monks until theycharge and with frenzy they have2 attacks each which can cause alot of damage but remember thatthe gas can hurt them too.

Recommendation for plaguecenser bearers: very helpfulunit you’ll need them if you don’thave rat ogres. Take one unitof these per two plague monkunits depending on the rare slots

available.

That’s the end of this copy and Ihope you enjoyed reading it. Nexttime I’ll talk about armory choicesand spells

Now comes the rat ogres, theunderdog of the special units inthe Skaven army that are known

to be feverishly defended byBassik Dwarveripper from theUnderEmpire.net community.Now rat ogres have always beendebated in usefulness but withsome luck this might shine somelight on these poor beasties ofgory death.

Rat ogres are one of theSkaven’s anti cavalry forces,but unlike the otherforces of the jezzails and weapon

teams who needto be at range or theplague censer bearerswho need to get the chargeto get their strength bonusthese guys can hold out against acharge and still deliver the goods.Unlike other units like clanratswho lose attacks per woundbasis the rat ogres need to take3 wounds before you can removetheir attacks so if only two woundsare caused you still get all of yourattacks in return.

Causing fear is also a bonusspecialty. Against armies with alot of fear causing units, you’ll bethankful you brought these guysalong. Rat ogres also make it inas one of the Skaven’s flankingforces that negate ranks and canstill hurt the big things. That issomething no other unit in theSkaven army has.

However they can prove to bea costly investment, especiallyagainst shooting, though they canalways be screened, and sincethey are not large targets, theycan not be singled out past units.

Reccomendations for rat ogres:squads of 2 or 3. The amountof squads is down to what you’reexpecting to go up against, butwhen it comes to all out combatrat ogres are one of the onlythings in the Skaven army that canduke it out with a heavy armoredfoe.

Rat ogres

Warplightning cannon

Plague censerbearers

However, being able to shootthrough terrain is a bonus as wellas instead of aiming at a targetyou point it in a direction and firein a straight line. This has provento be very helpful and somethingpeople have often missed out on.

Recommendation for warplightning cannon: one per 1500 isa good estimate but again armydependency is the key.

8/22/2019 SG Issue02



WitWarlord Snuff walked into thesmall alcove he was using as anest in these hazardous sewage

tunnels, beneath the man-cityabove. He unbuckled his armour,throwing it down beside his bedof straw and unsheathed his longfine blade, sweeping it from leftto right in a few practice swipes.He had done well to reach hisposition of Warlord, tricked,murdered and fought his way intopower over the skaven forces inthe area. The blade, he had takenfrom his predecessor, Skittich.

As Snuff went to sheathe his

blade he heard a faint soundbehind him. He turned in curiosityand came face to face witha black-clad skaven who haddropped from the rafters of thealcove. The mysterious skavenstepped sideways, blocking theonly exit from the alcove. Reachinginside its cloak, it produced ashort, wickedly curved blade,which had a slight green tinge toits surface. Snuff recognised thisinstantly as one of the poisons ofClan Eshin. He was frozen on thespot, his own blade brought upin front of him ready to defend incase the assassin attacked.

Instead, the assassin reachedinside its cloak again, thenpaused for a second. Suddenlyin a quick flash of movement theassassin flipped out the alcove,

War in the tunnels

its hand releasing two smallsilver stars as it moved, eachflew straight at Snuff with perfect

accuracy.Snuff dodged to the right, bringinghis blade up in front of one ofthe stars as he moved. The firststar bounced off his sword witha metallic ringing which echoedaround the alcove. The secondstar flew straight past Snuffs faceand embedded itself in the softwall behind him. Snuff snarled andraced out into the tunnel after hisattacker. The tunnel was dark, onefaint brazier in the distance giving

this stretch of tunnel an eerieglow.

Snuff caught sight of two redeyes in the darkness just to hisright but as he lashed out at thedarkness the shadows seemedto move and he lost track of theassassin’s position. Suddenlythere was a flash of silver as theassassin’s blade caught the lightand Snuff lunged forward, buryinghis sword deep in the assassin’sbelly. Snuff jumped backwards,

staying out of reach of the returnstrike. The last of his energyspent, the assassin toppledforward, dropping its blade andclutching the wound Snuff hadinflicted upon it.

Snuff grabbed the assassin bythe fur on his neck and pulled hishead up,

“Who sent you?!” he demanded.No reply came. “Who sent you?!”he repeated, hitting the assassin

and lashing his tail on the floor,snarling at the dying skaven.

“Clan Fenwell, warlord paid usmuch warpstone” the skavenmanaged to mumble before it felllimp at his feet.

Snuff turned back into his alcoveand strapped his armour back onbefore heading down the tunnelto the rest of his troops, steppingover many dead stormvermincorpses on the way.

The chittering horde of skavenwere assembled in the huge hallthe clan had spent many yearsdigging. The main sewer ranstraight along one side of it. It wasa good point to gather his forcesbefore they marched to war.

Snuff stood atop a high woodenledge built into the front wall ofthe grand hall. To his left stoodhis two chieftains and two warlockengineers, to his right stood hisgrey seer and the champion of his

stormvermin bodyguard, Stitch.Snuff, Stitch and the grey seer,Vishniq, had been in a council

all night since the attemptedassassination. Snuff was goingto launch a full scale war on

Clan Fenwell until their warlordwas defeated and the skaven joined his own ranks. The twoclans had been rivals for years,always fighting minor battles overarguments about where exactlythe border was between theirterritories. Now, however, Snuffwas not backing down. Such anarmy had never stood before him,the entire clan was assembledhere today.

“Listen” said Snuff.

The stormvermin all fellimmediately silent and looked upat their lord, the excited clanratstook a while longer to fall silent.

“Warlord Chutin of Clan Fenwellhas declared war on our clan” helied, “Says if we do not meet himin battle he will come kill us all.But we are not scared of this punyclan. No-no, not at all – we willgo to Clan Fenwell and I will killWarlord Chutin!”

With this the whole horde burstinto shrieks, yelps and morechittering.

“Go, attack from below!”

by StormverminWarrior

8/22/2019 SG Issue02



As Snuff entered the huge hallhe saw many surprised anddazed skaven looking around inconfusion. Some had only justrealised what was happeningand were reaching for weapons,others were already armed andlaunching counter charges againstthe skaven pouring out of everytunnel, pipe and drain in the area.Snuff had underestimated the size

of clan Fennel, their hall was wellover double the size of his ownand packed with both skaven andslaves. Two huge cannons wereagainst the far walls and skavenwere now running around themturning knobs and pulling levers,aiming the huge things in… hisdirection.

Snuff panicked, looking down thebarrel of the two huge cannons,which had been turned on himand dove into the ranks of his

stormvermin as a huge greenline or warplightning fired acrossthe hallway and vaporised allthe skaven it touched, includingStitch.

Snuff waited for the second shotbut it did not come. As he rose tohis feet he looked in the directionof the cannons. His gutter runnershad killed the first weapon crewand were pouncing on the second,poisoned blades killing the enemyskaven. Snuff looked over the

battle from his position near thedoor. His clanrats were in combatwith the enemies and the fightlooked about even. Globadierswere throwing globes of poisonousgas into the massed ranks of theenemy and it was taking its tollon Clan Fenwell. Snuff noticed theratling gun he had hired from ClanSkryre unleash a hail of bulletsinto the enemy ranks, shredding

clanrats, slaves and stormverminalike – most of which came fromthe enemies ranks.

Suddenly the gun stopped firingand the skaven manning the thinglooked down at it in confusionbefore it exploded in a fiery greenball of flame. Clan Skryre hadcheated him, he would deal withthem later.

Snuff caught sight of warlordChutin fighting amongst theclanrats, killing many with everyblow. Snuff ordered Vishniqto attack, motioning towardsChutin, and the skaven startedto chant. Suddenly the floor wasfilled with huge black and brownrats, which started gnawing atanything that came to close. Thegrey seer pointed at Chutin andthe rats erupted into a swarm ofdestruction, leaving a trail of blood

and gore in their path.When they reached Chutin’s unitthey took a heavy death toll onthe enemy before once moredisappearing. Much to Snuffsannoyance, many skaven haddied but Chutin was still standingand now fighting his way uptowards Snuff. He turned to hisstormvermin and ordered thecharge but one by one they fell tothe mighty warlord’s blade.

Snuff watched as the enemy

warlord seemed to grow bigger ashe came closer. The skaven washuge, standing at least seven feettall and had arms almost as wideas a rat ogre’s.

“No wonder he had killed so manyclanrats”, thought Snuff, as Chutingot even closer

He dove behind Vishniq but eventhe mighty grey seer was cut downand soon only the two warlordsstood in a massive clearing.

Snuff looked out to see his Clanhad been mercilessly beaten.Only he now remained. Thelast of his clanrats were beingeither butchered or chainedand shackled ready to be usedas slaves. All the eyes of ClanFenwell turned to the two lords.

“I see my assassin failed in histask. I will have to finish it for him”the mighty Warlord said

Snuff looked for a way out butthere was none.

Chutin darted forward with speedseemingly impossible for hissize and knocked Snuff backinto the wall in a series of fast,heavy blows. Snuffs tail lashed

out across Chutin’s face as hepushed back and landed a fewblows himself upon the mightyWarlords armour but none drewblood. He turned his blade anddrove it into Chutin’s arm, buthis weapon became embeddedthere. Chutin seemed to not feelthe wound, pulling the blade freefrom his arm and throwing it backover his shoulder, leaving Snuffunarmed and defenceless. Chutinstepped forward and landed a fewheavy blows, knocking Snuff to his

knees.“Wait-wait, I can join you, I can beat your command” Snuff pleadedas the warlord raised his massivesword. Chutin laughed and broughthis blade down in one final deadlystroke.

Snuff and Vishniq stood at theback of Stitch’s stormvermin unit,ready to charge the unwary clanfrom below. They had slain anyscouts and lookouts they hadcome across and were now readyto reveal themselves.

The clanrats, slaves and manyother units were all in positionthroughout the many tunnelsbelow Clan Fenwell, and knew tostrike at the sound of thunder.This is where Vishniq came in. Thestormvermin climbed a series ofladders and reformed in front ofthe huge black door that led to thehalls of Fenwell. This was the maintunnel and was well protected.However, the smaller tunnels couldeasily be captured by clanrats withthe help of globadiers and gutterrunners.

Vishniq stepped up to the doors

and snarled “These are toughdoors, strong wood over strongsteel, it will take much-much forceto move them”

“Do it, unless you want to begiven to the rat ogres” Snuff said,snarling at the grey seer.

The grey seer looked frightenedand turned his attention back tothe doors. After a moment he heldup his hands and a green glowstarted to emit from them. It gotbrighter and brighter until, with

a sound like thunder, two boltsof warp energy hit the doors andblew them straight off the hinges.The energy caused Snuff’s fur tostand on end but his stormverminwere already halfway through thedoorway so he ran after them.

8/22/2019 SG Issue02


Kig

by Clanlord Trask


King RatRattenkönig; The Hand of the Horned Rat; The Bound Many

Many legends throughout theWarhammer world tell of the KingRat. To the Empire it is known asRattenkönig. To the Cathayans,The Bound Many. Within theUnderEmpire, it is known as theHand of the Horned Rat. But allknow it as the King Rat.

Stories of the King Rat aremany and varied, and generallyconsidered ficticious. Even among

the Skaven, legends and tall talesin the realms of men themselves,the King Rat is the equivalent ofa bed time story. Something youtell to frighten and intimidate yourkindred.

But the truth is, the King Rat isreal. And it plots.

The King Rat is a sight to behold.From a distance it would appearas a wriggling ball, almost spawnlike, with an ungelating surface.On closer inspection, a far moreshocking truth would be revealed.The King Rat is comprised offive Skaven, bonded togetherby their tails. Whether this is anenvironmental effect, causedby the close birthing confines ofSkaven breeding dens, or somekind of foul mutation spawnedfrom the like of Clan Moulder orworse, is not known.

The five Skaven constantly wriggleand struggle against each other.Skaven are naturally distrustfulof each other, and even the closekinship of the King Rat cannotovercome this innate need tofight internally. As each Skavenwithin the King Rat is essentiallyan individual, this makes itimpossible for the King Rat toaccomplish basic survival tasks,such as finding food and movingabout. With such an unfortunatecircumstance, the King Rat shouldsimply have starved to deathquickly after birth. This, however,doesn’t seem to be the case.

Though Skaven are loathe to helpeach other, the King Rat surviveson food brought to it, and movesabout by being carried or pushedalong. Skaven know no notions ofpity or selflessness, helping suchan unfortunate should not be intheir nature, and yet the King Ratlives on.

It appears that the apparentcloseness and bond of theKing Rat allows for a degree ortelepathy within the five Skaven.Skaven do not willingly help theKing Rat to survive, they simplyfeel an overwhelming urge thatcompells them to obey orders.Whatever the King Rat asks,Skaven are unable to resist itscommands.

This power seems to stop short atself inflicted harm, however. TheKing Rat could not command aSkaven to commit suicide of anykind, the Skavens natural survivalinstinct over-riding the telepathiccommands perhaps. The King Ratcan, in certain circumstances,seem to ‘trick’ the Skavens mindinto acts of self sacrifice, forinstance, stepping on a trappedtile and being sliced in two. TheKing Rats powers also do notseem to work on higher levelSkaven who have some kind ofa sense of identity. Indeed, theKing Rats powers seem to operatesolely on those of Skaven societywho are simply one of many, suchas Slaves, Clanrats and Workers.

8/22/2019 SG Issue02

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sg-issue02 9/17i S k av e nb l ig h t Ga z et t e Is s ue 0 2 p ag e 9

King Rat

110 points

M WS BS S T W I A LD

5 3 3 3 3 5 5 5 7

Equipment: 5 Hand weapons, 5 suits of light armour and 5 shields

The King Rat takes up a single Lord choice, but also takes up an additional Hero choice.

Special Rules:

Bound:

The King Rat must be placed in a unit, and it can never leave the unit. All normal rules regardingSkaven characters in units otherwise apply. The King Rat moves normally, being allowed to march,charge, etc. However, if the King Rat is ever forced to flee, for whatever reason, it is automaticallydestroyed. The Skaven’s survival instincts meerly take over, and they leave the King Rat to its owndevices.

The King Rat is fielded on a monster sized base. This does not, however, give it the same rules as amonster.

One is many

The King Rat is made up of five Skaven. Each is armed with a hand weapon, light armour and shield.This does not give the King Rat any additional attacks, he only gets his base 5. Nor does it gain any

additional defence, having the standard 5+ save, with 4+ in combat.Controller:

The King Rat must always be the army General. Also, the King Rat can lend his leadership to any testwithin 12”, much like an Army Standard. Any army that includes the King Rat cannot include Warlords,Grey Seers or other Special Characters, though it can contain Heroes as normal.

Bad Omen:

The King Rat causes Fear in humans.

Because of this, the King Rat willrarely work along side anotherpowerful individual, instead optingto use easily controlled lackeys.This means that the King Ratalmost never operates with thehelp of Grey Seers or Warlords.Chieftains, Warlock Engineers,Plague Priests, Master Mouldersand Assassins are far easier tocontrol. Their lust for power and

advancement makes twisting theirgoals and alligances much easier.

The King Rats own alligances arelargely unknown. There are storiesin the UnderEmpire that detail theKing Rat as an unflinching Agentof the Council, while others tell ofthe King Rat as a renegade force.The truth is that the King Rat isboth and neither of these. Like anySkaven, the King Rat craves powerand control. Sometimes this callsfor co-operation with the Council,

while other times this wararntsopenly defying their wishes.

And because of the controlthe King Rat has over thedesperate, faceless masses ofthe UnderEmpire, declaring all outwar on it would result in anothercatastrophic civil war, which theCouncil cannot afford to fight.So the King Rat occupys its ownsmall niche within the SkavenEmpire, neither hero nor villain,but an uncontrollable force that

has to be managed.

The King Rat has appeared atmany places over the Warhammerworld, at many times throughouthistory. Whether it is the sameKing Rat every time, or some kindof subsequent King Rat is notknown. The lifespan of the KingRat is totally speculation, and itis not beyond reasoning that itspowers have granted it access totechnologies and techniques that

can extend the life of the normalSkaven.

Far from having a stable base ofoperations, the King Rat movesfrom place to place. Whetherthis is a survival tactic, or partof some larger plot is unknown,but the King Rat has a tendancyto make its home exclusivelybeneath the cities of Man. Forsome unknown reason, the KingRat hates Mankind above all otherraces, and indeed, the image of

rats joined at the tail is a potentomen of ill times in many humancivilisations.

Even among the Skaven, theKing Rat is a powerful symbol.Through breeding trials andmagical interferance, Clan Eshinhas managed to create tiny RatKings, inspired by the King Ratitself. These fairly easily carriedclusters of rats allow Clan Eshin tocontrol the minds of other Skaven,as well as communicate over long

distances. There has also beenstories of Grey Seers creatinglarge, golem like creatures fromthe corpses of many Skaven, alsocalled Rat Kings. These monstersare very powerful, but have nopersonality and are purely a toolof war.

What follows are some guideline rules for including the King Rat inyour games of Warhammer. It shouldn’t be to hard to adapt theserules to other settings the King Rat would be likely to appear in, suchas Mordheim or Warhammer Quest.These rules have not been play tested.

8/22/2019 SG Issue02

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sg-issue02 10/17i S ka ve n b li g h t Gaz e tt e I ss u e 02 page 10

Ask Seer Squeek

Honourable Seer Squeek,

If I may be so bold as to askyour worshipfulness the followingquestion:

Because most skaven live theirlives underground (in the absenseof light), how do we keep track ofdays and years? Do we even havea calendar like the man-things?

Yours truly,

Bodacious.

Dear Bodacious,

A concept such as days or years

is something a young clanrat

like yourself shouldn’t be taking

interest in. The Council of

Thriteen tells you what time it is.

Clan Skyre did develop a

warpstone powered timekeeping

device. However, it had a

tendancy to explode whenever

it rung on the hour, killing

hundreds. The device is currently

being developed for use against

man-things. No more can be

spoken about the Warpstone

Terrorclock.

My ‘agents’ will explain all this

when they visit you.

Time’s on my side.

Seer Squeek

Dear Seer Squeek

I have an upstart Chieften whoI know is plotting against myglorious rule and so far he hasilluded every attempt of mine tohave him assassinated, what canI do to remove this annoying thornfrom my side?

Glory to the Horned Ratand the 13!Warlord Bloodfang.

Dear incompetent warlord,

If you hire agents of clan Eshin

to deal with this upstart, and

let them get away with failure,

the end of your rule is deserved!

Secondly, dealing with the

chieftain in secrecy won’t stop

others plotting your downfall. I

suggest consulting the closest

Grey Seer (I happen to be

available) to capture and skin

him alive, in front of the whole

clan. I demand no payment, I am

a servant of The Horned Rat, but

I may call upon you for a favour in

future.

You owe me.

Seer Squeek

Dear Seer Squeek,

About 3 months ago I was onpatrol in the northern wastelandswith my unit and as we madecamp one night I drank a bit toomuch skavenade. Needless to say,waking up the next morning wasvery difficult.

When I did awaken I found myselfalone. My unit had gotten up and

left me behind, a typical jokewith us that usually all ends upwell, but not this time. I awokemissing three fingers and an ear.The fingers had been replacedwith possum tails and the ear hadbeen replaced with an eyeball. Antop of this I found a human headgrafted onto my chest looking up.

Now the possum tails are workingout fine as they are prehensile,but the third eye makes me dizzyand the human head won’t shut

up, making it difficult to sleep.I know that this was done by somefriggin’ Moulder, and I have mysuspiciaons who. What I want toknow is how I should go aboutconfronting him so hell undo all ofthis.

Please advise,Frustrated in the Northern Wastes.

Frustrated Clanrat,

If you are so foolish as to believe

Moulder will reverse any work ithas done on you, you might as

well believe that a charging Rat

Ogre only wants to play with you.

I advise that you accept these

“gifts” and learn to use them to

your advantage. Your only other

choice is death, which moulder or

myself can gladly help you with.

Always happy to help

Seer Squeek

Dear Seer Squeek,

I want to paint my Grey Seerbrown. Is this allowed?

scrivener

Dear fatalist,

When walking up to the grey seer

of your clan with a paintbrush in

your paws and the intent to paint

him brown, I think his answerto your question would be very

obvious. My best bet is that it

involves lots and lots of warp-

lightning.

I like my runts fried,

Seer Squeek

Skavenblight Gazette’s very own Agony Uncle answering your questions

by Seer Squeek

Dear Seer Squeek,

As a newly appointed StormverminWarrior, I believe that I shouldhave rights to the breeding penlike the Clan Guards do. ShouldI bring this to the attention of myChief or should I sneak in when noone’s around?

P.S. I’m worried about thesneaking part because my armorrattles a lot.

Ratmaster Rex

Dear ignorant stormvermin,

If the Horned Rat deemed you

worthy of breeders, then you

would have breeders. Obviously

he does not. Maybe you should

try earning breeders. I know

not the policies of your clan,

but the Seer Council has no

use for unworthy offspring. Your

predicament is exactly why weneuter the clanrats who attend

our breeders. The warlord of your

clan might want to look into this.

Shattering dreams since 0 I.C.,

Seer Squeek

8/22/2019 SG Issue02


Dear Seer Squeek,

As a young jezzail sniper, I wastold by my Master Engineer thatmy weapon, as well as manyothers in our army, count asmagical because of the warpstonewe use in it. (Pg10) I am awarethat they will cause damage toopponets invenerable to non-magical weapons however, I wastold by some bitter jealous anddeluded mercenarys that when weuse our own Banner of the Stormwe have the same handicap asour enemies. Which is obvious orccrap, since we can clearly see inthe incriptions on the banner thatonly non-magical weapons areeffected. (Pg39) Am I right?

Ratmaster Rex

Dear unexperienced sniper,

If you would read the magicalinscriptions of the stormbanner

more closely you would see that

it says non-magical weapons that

don’t use ballistics skill. Yes,

being a creation of the master

race, your jezzail is magical,

but it does require your limited

ballistics skill to use. So the

stormbanner does affect you

during battle.

Keep rolling those 1’s,

Seer Squeek

O glorious Seer, may your furalways be grey and your magicnever misfire,

I have recently purchasednightrunner boxes to use asclanrats, since I do find them somuch prettier than the clanratswe got, and also better dressedin the hindquarter department.However, imagine my dismay whenI realize that they do not comewith a command team, nor arethere sufficient shields to equiptall my rats. My dear Seer Squeek,whatever shall I do to remedy thissad state of affairs?

Closet Nightrunner Lover

Dear suck-up,

If your rats appear to be without

a command team and not

wearing any form of armour, I

suggest to sent them towardsthe enemy first as cannon fodder,

while your armed forces move

in behind them. To tackle this

problem in the future, I suggest

to start ‘mixing’ your troops

with one another. It might give

a somewhat disorganised look,

but each second your opponent

will underestimate you is another

second in your advantage.

Get your freak on,

Seer Squeek

Yo, Squeeky!

My friends all say that warlordsare better than grey seers, bcozthey are so badass, they getto carry big swords and hacktheir enemies to bitz, while greyseers are cheesy cowards thatzap things and sometimes killthemselves. What is your opinionon the matter?

Warlords R. Betta

Dear soon-to-be-fried furball,

Apparently, your friends

have never seen a grey seer

cooperating with their clan, but

most likely missed out on their

presence due to them hiding

behind the back of their warlord.

Of course, the point your friends

seem to miss is that one can not

be killed if he stays out of reach

of the enemy. The reason why

grey seers live far longer than the

warlords is due to our capability

of taking down enemies from

very, VERY far away through

various forms of magic.

Need I say more?

You can run, but you can’t hide.

Seer Squeek

Seer Squeek,

Why are grey seers lousiergenerals then warlords?

With regards,An anonymous clanVinshqueek member

Anonymous?...

Dear slave,

The only time grey seers ought

to be acting as the generals of a

clan, is when the warlords have

messed up that task.

You do the math,

Seer Squeek

Dear Seer Squeek,

I am just wondering, about thesafety of our warlord duringthe battle. Our warlord wearsWarpstone armor and carries anordinary Shield. I’m pretty surehe has a Talisman of Protectiontoo. I’m confused about how muchprotection this is against, say; aknife in the back? Also are therebetter ways I coul-I mean, he couldbe protecting himself?

Ratmaster Rex

Dear eager one,

Armour is no protection against

even the cheapest of poisons.

I would suggest contacting an

Eshin agent, though as you’ve

shared your scheme with other

Skaven, a hunch tells me they’re

already coming your way.

Don’t look at me,

Seer Squeek

Feeling extremely paranoid when

visiting the breeders? Searching

for a decent redecoration of yourlair? Or simply looking at the

proper way to avert the gaze of the

Council of... be a good Skaven?

Then perhaps you need to ask

Seer Squeek a question of your

own! Send your questions to

Seer Squeek at the UnderEmpire.

net community and look for his

response in the next issue of the

Skavenblight Gazette.

http://underempire.net/index.php?showtopic=18877








8/22/2019 SG Issue02


Musings about Clan Eshin Part .1.

Introduction

The following article describesthe use of an Eshin list withoututilizing the special rule UnderCover of Darkness. The listmakes heavy use of ranked unitsin the form of clanrats, slavesand giant rats, and only usesthe skirmishing Eshin troops asa support, not the main combatunits.

The list also uses a Sensei (aMaster Assassin) and equips himwith a Fellblade. While I will alsobriefly talk about alternative buildswithout the Sensei, it will be– well, brief.

Why not use UCOD?

Basically, there are two reasonswhy the UCOD-rules aren’t veryworthwhile to exploit: first,because it often doesn’t makefor a very enjoyable game for youropponent.

A lot of people complain aboutskirmishing armies, and the ClanEshin fits right in – even if it’snowhere near as powerful as forexample the Southland skinkhorde, it’s still very annoying foropponents, whose armies don’thave the tools to deal with thatmany skirmishers. Basically,the UCOD list is a VP-denial list,circling the opponent, killing soft

stuff and avoiding unfavorablecombats. Some people call thatboring (some might not, but eitherway, the UCOD list is fairly one-dimensional).

The second reason is efficiency.The non- UCOD list is actuallymuch stronger. It utilizes thestrengths of most of the Eshinelements in the list (skitterleap,sorcerors’ high LD, the Sensei, the

triads) without suffering from thedrawbacks of an all skirmishinglist (mainly having no rankedunits, not being able to take thefiendish ratlings and not beingable to break ranks). Plus, quitefrequently, the UCOD benefitsyour opponent about as muchas yourself – limited visibility forcharges, rendering the jezzailsuseless, etc.

Using big blocks of infantrychanges all that. Suddenly it’s

not about trying to catch anelusive enemy – it’s a game ofWarhammer again! Furthermore,the list doesn’t really sufferfrom bad match-ups (like theUCOD list definitely does!), and ituses the strength of traditionalskaven builds: ranks’n’flanks. Theonly thing you really exchangeis some warp-lightning againstskitterleaping assassins. The

rest stays more or less the same– well, you pay heaps more foryour characters, but you get to docool ninja-like stuff with them, soit’ all good.

There’s another reason to makeuse of the block-build rather thanthe allskirmisher list – models. Ifyou’ve already got a skaven army,all you need for THIS version ofthe army is to put some funky

china hats on three of yournight/gutterrunners, and hey!Instant triad! Give two of the ratssome staves (I put a chain witha ratskull on one of mine) andmore china hats – and you’ve gotyourself your sorcerers.

Now, if you haven’t got anyskaven models, this is even morepersuasive. You can get both thewarlord army and the Eshin listwithout having to buy any/manyextra troops. Now, by building up

the UCOD list, you’ll end up buyingtons of models you won’t haveany use for outside of the Eshinlist. And playing the all-skirmish,pointsdenial list CAN get tediousafter a while. Plus, in Europesome tournaments have started tooutlaw the SOC lists – where willthat leave the UCOD list?

By Moritz Hampel (Mutter)

8/22/2019 SG Issue02


i S ka ve n b li g h t Gaz e tt e I ss u e 02 page 13

Characters

Why use the Sensei?

When the SOC lists came out,he was in the first couple oflists I wrote simply because theseduction of having a Sensei withthe Fellblade was just too great toresist.

After a while, the Sensei gotkicked out of the list – he died a

number of times, giving away morethan 400 VP, and I felt he was awaste of points. But eventually,I came back to him. I just hadto realize that there are certainthings he shouldn’t take on all byhimself.

I guess basically the answer to thequestion “Why use the Sensei?”is: Because he can carry theFellblade, and is damn impressivein doing so!

Why use the Fellblade?

Some people use the Sensei,but not the Fellblade. Frankly, Idon’t think he’s worth it withoutthe big blade. His killing potentialis minimally bigger than thatof a normal assassin but witha much higher cost. A furtherdisadvantage is that the Senseiis usually gunning for somebody– leaving your troops outside the

much needed leadership umbrella.If you don’t want to sink thepoints into him, just use a normalassassin with Weeping Blade,and keep you sorcerer as thegeneral for that nice leadership10 right in the centre of yourarmy. Another configuration I haveseen is the Weeping Blade andBands of Power on the Sensei.I think Bands of Power are waytoo unreliable, and when theyare dispelled, the Sensei isn’tdoing anything another assassincouldn’t do just as well.

Obviously, the Sensei carries therisk of killing himself with theFellblade, but that happens veryrarely. Statistically, in every gamehe will only cause two wounds tohimself – so just make sure hedoesn’t loose the last one!

The Sensei is like one of thosedeath-cult assassins who doesn’tcare whether he dies or not– which is true if he fulfills hisdesignated role first. So take carehe kills all the valuable, easy stufffirst (steam tanks, stegadons,slanns) and then jump him into anasty character. He’ll have madehis points back loads by then, andyou’ll have fun as well.

As long as you don’t expect yourSensei to actually survive a battle,you’re good.

Alternative builds

If you use two hero-level

assassins instead, you can makeone sorcerer the general, andenjoy a Ld 10 across the board (atleast in ranked units). Using twosorcerers and two assassins, onewith the Weeping Blade and theother with the Warpstone Starscan make for a strong build, too.

The army enjoys a much morestable Ld 10 than the Sensei-build and runs a much smallerrisk of loosing its biggest asset.On the other hand, it doesn’t dealinstant death to so many thingsthe Sensei just laughs at - it’sbasically a question of risk vs.reward. The Sensei offers greatrewards, which also come witha huge risk. The two-sorcerer-

two-assassins-build is a veryconservative, stable build, whichserves the skaven well. But theSensei is just so much more fun!

The Talisman of Uselessness

Most people consider theTalisman of Protection toouseless to employ – some don’teven consider a 5+ ward to beworthwhile because it’s toounreliable. But the talisman isall that we can get if we want theFellblade, and there is nothing

else we could take.So we might as well. Every sooften, there will be a game wherethe last wound of the Sensei issaved on a six, and he’ll continueon his killing spree, and in thosemoments we’re glad we spentthe 15 points over and over …Basically, you spent 90 points (sixgames by 15 points) to make onesave.

With other characters, that onesave often doesn’t mean a lot,‘cause they mightn’t have takendamage at all. With the Sensei,it often means the differencebetween dying to the Fellblade,and being able to take the nextÜber-character down beforecroaking himself.

Assassin vs. chieftain

Basically, if equipped with aWeeping Blade to hunt downwizards, there isn’t much thatmakes the assassin any better atit. The move of 6 doesn’t oftencome into play since Skitterleapis often used on him, and theWS is usually not a factor, either,since the designated targets arewizards. One major difference isthe ability to buy smoke bombs,though. But by using the chieftain,quite a number of points aresaved, so either is a viable choice,

really. Of course, the assassinis the much fluffier option …it’s really up to you and, moreimportantly, your points budget.

If the assassin is to be used withthe warpstone stars, well … thenyou need an assassin. The starsare really ace, and can be game-winners against many targets– you basically have to decidewhether you feel comfortable withyour Sensei going after wizardsand characters all by himself, or

if he would like a helping hand.I’d consider the assassin withwarpstone stars to be the moreflexible build to the weeping blade.

8/22/2019 SG Issue02



Flying Ninja On A Stick

This idea actually came up whendiscussing a horde build withanother palyer, Bobo the VampireMonkey. The initial idea wasto use a BSB (much improvedin 7th!) with the Stormbanneror Warbanner to help out theranked units of the horde. WhileI’m not too keen on sacrificing acharacter slot for non-Eshin stuff

(well, sacrificing a character slotto somebody NOT assigned toactually killing people), it kind ofdawned on me that it’s no problemto make the chieftain with theWeeping Blade (see above) a BSBas well!

(Well, obviously, there is SOMErisk. You hand over another 100Vps when the BSB fails in hisassassination duties, but I thinkthat’s a small price to pay for theabovementioned advantages …)

He doesn’t lose out apart frommaybe a shield, can lend his re-roll and +1CR ability in the middleof the horde if need be, and canalso be skitterleaped about bythe sorcerers to go off and killpesky wizards and weedy hero-level characters. And if beaten incombat, he might actually hang inthere for a turn with his re-roll forthe break test (he should reallyonly go up against units with VERYlittle static CR, though, otherwise

even the re-roll won’t save theBSB).

Equipment for sorcerers

Standard equipment for sorcerersshould be a scroll and twowarpstone tokens. With twoscrolls and 4 DD, you should beable to weather the first two magicphases. After that, there shouldbe at least one wizard less on theopponent’s team. More than twoscrolls you will rarely need.

The warpstone tokens, on theother hand, make sure that theskitterleap can be cast on fourdice for the first three turns. Withfour dices, the chances for IF arethe highest, and especially early inthe game people will burn scrollsrather than let you leap.

A further advantage of four dice isthat to stop the spell somewhatreliably, the other player has tothrow five DD if he’s not using ascroll. But 5 dice carry a prettyhigh risk of getting an automaticdispel fumble. Either way,you’re dramatically increasingyour chances to leap with thewarpstone tokens. But beware: assoon as a sorcerer gets a wound,stop using the warpstone. Therisk to loose your magical mousealtogether is just too great.

Smoke or no smoke

Sure, it’s 20 points – but it cansave your valuable charactersas often as not. So I’d alwaysadvise to buy the smoke, but keepin mind that if another unit isinvolved, smoke bombs can’t beused – even if all your units areequipped with smoke bombs.

So either win those fights, ormake sure at least one of yourunits sticks around (can you say“swarms”?).

The rules

Skitterleaping in 7th ed.Debate is still up how exactlyskitterleaping is resolved in7th ed. The Eshin rules for thespell claim that the charge is‘treated exactly like a pursuit intoenemies’. Now, under 7th rules,this would mean that: A: somepeople argue the rules for PIFE(Pursuit Into Fresh Enemy) meansthe combat is actually resolvedNEXT round unless your targetis already engaged with othertroops of yours – now, since therules state that you won’t fighttill the NEXT combat phase, RAW(Rules As Written) would allow youto fight – seen as you moved inthe magic phase, not the combatphase, and so the combat phaseIS actually the next combat phase.But you might want to watch outfor that, since every so often your

opponent might argue that point.And B: the target gets to makea flee reaction if it so chooses,leaving your Sensei or assassinbehind and stranded. Now, thiswon’t be much of a problem if youchoose a high-point target sinceyour opponent is unlikely to fleewith it or if your target is immuneto psychology, but it could result insome nasty situations leaving yourSensei high and dry.

8/22/2019 SG Issue02



The army

Army-list composition

Nightrunners

With these guys, there is basicallytwo ways to go about: either smallunits of five with nothing extra orgroups of nine (to ward off panictests till the 3rd casualty) witheither additional hand weaponsand/or throwing stars. The small

units only cost 25 points, so fora measly 100 points, you getfour deployment options andthrowaway units.

The disadvantage is that the smallunits can easily cause panic whendestroyed by shooting or magic,so space them out and keep themaway from other panic-prone units.

The bigger units are supportand even combat troops. Withadditional hand weapons, they cantackle most light skirmishers andeven light cavalry if they get thecharge.

For a standard list, I’d considerthree to four units of five and twounits of nine, with additional handweapons. Throwing stars I’d onlythrow in (excuse the pun) if I havethe points left over.

With the new crossfire rule in7th ed., the small units of NRwill excel at making a nuisanceof themselves in the opponent’sbackfield, too.

Clanrats

If you’re not using the UCOD-rules, you need a stable fightingplatform. Even though they are notmainstay anymore, they stay atthe core of the army. This is trueeven if the Sensei is the general(the clanrats will generally not beable to profit from his leadership,and so their usefulness is slightlyreduced).

I would take three units of 25clanrats in any list – slightly lessthan in a normal skaven list, butthen we have to pay for the Senseisomehow, don’t we. Obviously,

clanrats can carryRattling Guns.

Rat-swarms

Swarms are already highly usefulin a normal list, but even more soin an Eshin list.

They can be a life insurance foryour assassins: if you manageto “stick” a unit you plan to jumpyour assassin into, you are safefrom pursuit if you break. Slightlyexpensive, if you lose the swarm,so either only use to save yourSensei, or keep it to one base.Usually, I’d go with two bases andrarely upgrade them to poison,because the elites slot is just toovaluable.

However, this was written with 6thed. Rules in mind – how the newrules with the swarms ‘crumbling’similar to undead affect swarmshasn’t been extensively playtestedyet. I presume, if swarms arebeing used in the usual

manner of ‘sticking’something up,at least threebases shouldbe employed.

If used as a light support unitto hunt single models, flush outskirmishers from terrain and helpthe Sensei in his killing duties twowill probably suffice.

Another excellent use for rat-swarms is the possibility tohelp your Sensei hunt down biggribblies like dragons or griffins.More on that in a later article.

SlavesThese little fellows serve adramatically different role in anEshin list than in a standard list.Because the Sensei will usually beabout, they often suffer from theirabysmal leadership of five. Keepthat in mind when taking break,panic and fear tests.

They are less of a mainline unit(which they sometimes can bein a normal skaven army) thantrue diverters and fleers. It is

imperative to keep them farenough away from each other soyou won’t loose multiple units inchain reactions on panic tests.

It is also worth noting that sincenightrunners are mainstay, thereis virtually no limit as to howmany slave units you can field. 65points buys you five nightrunnersand twenty slaves – anybody careto calculate how many rats youcould cram into 2000 points (Ithink it’s about 750 rats in 50

units)?

Stormvermin

Basically, to these guys appliesthe same as to stormvermin inthe normal list: if you like thepossibility of an armor save of3+ and the option to stick in amagical banner, and don’t mindpaying a premium in points for it– go for it. They can be worth it,but are hardly necessary. I usuallycan’t find the points for them.

Poison wind globadiers

These handy little guys basicallyfulfill the same role in an block-build Eshin list than in any otherskaven list: they kill armouredtroops. Since you’re able to takethem in small units, they cancome in handy as a diversion,but I’d refrain from using them inbigger units, simply because itisn’t too difficult for the opponentto take them out, and big unitsmeans big points. Just be aware

of panic possibilities, since theSensei list can suffer quite badlyfrom panic.

8/22/2019 SG Issue02



Jezzails

These guys are a good buy inany skaven list, and the Eshinlist is no exception. They arevery powerful in dealing with bigmonsters and well-armoured foesalike, and I’d always include aunit of five or six. Their threat alsooften influences the opponent’sset-up, so even just for that theyare well worth it.

Because elite slots are at apremium in an Eshin list, I’dadvise against splitting them upand buying more than one unit.

Gutter runners

Gutter runners are not quite asneeded in the list as in standardlists, because usually they are theone unit that can reach far outand touch things the other ratswould just take too long to get to:warmachines, wizards, etc. This ismitigated partially by the fact thatwith skitterleap, the Sensei andassassins can somewhat fulfillthat role. But gutterrunners arestill very useful, so depending onthe use for the other elite slots,I’d add at least one unit of five,with the obligatory poison andtunneling option.

If a triad is used, gutter are evenless of a necessity, but of courseteam up nicely with the triad.

Giant Rats

This is where for my style of playthe Eshin list really hurts. In anormal list, I often have at leasttwo big regiments of them, andoften up to three or four “ratdarts”- this is no longer possibledue to them being elite. I usuallystill employ two big units (three tofour packs) because I rely on themto sweep the flanks and controlthat part of the board.

Players less dependant on theirspeed might do okay with onlyone unit, or even (*shock*) none… but my advice would be: don’tleave home without them.

Plague Monks

They are a solid troop choice– their immunity to psychology andthe ability to stick the warbannerin the unit makes for quite asolid choice. Don’t bother withadditional handweapons, though.Makes them needlessly expensive,and doesn’t add that much punch.I’d either use ten to twelve basicones for reliable flank guarders or25 with standard, musician andthe warbanner as a main line unit.You only pay 1 point more thanclanrats and shouldn’t worry muchabout the rare slots, unless youmake extensive use of triads.

Censer Bearers

These guys can be really powerful– basically, if you bring plaguemonks anyway, might as wellinclude a unit of these if you havethe points. If you only get six toseven, they should in most casesget their points back, and theyare a strong deterrent for heavycavalry.

Triads

Triads are Eshin’s new toy, andlots of people love them. I guessin an UCOD list, they make a lotmore sense, because they are oneof the few units that can actuallyhurt someone, but in a block-build(non- UCOD), they don’t makemuch sense. They are hideouslyexpensive, very fragile and dealwith stuff you’re not in grave

danger from (the light units theTriad can destroy easily are lessof a threat if you have lots of bigblocks of troops).

Already seriously under-pointed(compared to a normal skavenlist), I can just never scrounge thepoints together for them.

Weapon Teams

Ratling guns are effective,warpflame-throwers are not.People hate ratlings with apassion, and don’t usually mindthe WFT. The ratling is even moreuseful in an Eshin

list than in a normal list becausewe’re missing the warplightnings,which pull a lot of the duty theratling now has to fulfill. I wouldtake a minimum of two, oftenthree.

Some people will moan, butsince there is no electricity in theair, they shouldn’t complain toomuch (they’ll find other things to

complain about, though).With the new rules allowingweapon teams to be individuallytargeted, make sure to impairvisibility to them unless you’reready to unleash them.

Careful placement is warrantedto stop them being killed early bybowfire, magic, etc.

8/22/2019 SG Issue02


www.skavenblightgazette.com contr ibute or die , man-thing!

Feeling extremely paranoid

when visiting the breeders?

Searching for a decent

redecoration of your lair? Or

simply looking at the proper way

to avert the gaze of the Council

of... be a good Skaven?

Then perhaps you need to

ask Seer Squeek a question

of your own! Send your

questions to Seer Squeek at

the UnderEmpire.net community

and look for his response in the

next issue of the Skavenblight

Gazette.


Play Eshin RPG

only available atwww.underempire.net

ask for“Skaven Roleplaying”

COMING SOON!Out in the Chaos Wastes roammonsters beyond belief. Someare mindless beasts, onlyexisting to feed, while others areancient and evil.

One of these monsters has beentracked down.

With the help of Clan MoulderPackmasters, adepts from theSkavenblight Gazette havecaptured one of the oldest, mostvile, evil creatures known.

Its knowledge is unfathomable,having plotted and schemed foran eternity.

This creature has hatched plansthat have shaped the face of theWarhammer world.

And now it is in the hands of the

Skaven.As you read this, deep withinthe bowels of the Gazetteheadquarters, the insane Editorsinterrogate the beast.

Soon, its knowledge will berevealed.

Soon, its secrets will be ours.

Soon, we shall dive into the mindof Alessio Cavatore .

And power shall come to the

Skaven race.

WANTED, EXTERMINATOR

Help is needed. Our warrensare infested with Squigs! If youcan help, contact Frikkit of ClanGartin.

All reasonable, and someunreasonable, solutionsaccepted.

FOR SALEHead Collection

My collection has grown far tobig. Some of it must go. Goodquality heads, severed from avariety of races and opponents.

Those interested, contactQueek of Clan Mors

FIRE SALE!

Warlock Engineer looking tooffload forty slightly charredslaves. Used in variousexperiemnts with warpfire.

Ideal for cannon fodder andmeat shields.

Contact Clan Skryre.

LOOK OUT SIR!Keep your eyes on theSkavenblight Gazette website,as soon we will be releasingScriveners last two fantasticallyillustrated covers as wallpaperimages.

Quote of the day

Given the natureof the Warhammerworld, I don’tsee why therearen’t more

Life InsuranceSalesmen...

Matt Lee,during a Warhammer game


















http://underempire.net/index.php?showforum=15








sg issue02

Documents