skaven any fun??

[van Awful]

As it says on the tin.
Im toying With the idea of adding a smal force to my 2 armies.
My 2nd army is empire and Id like to Bring something different to the table(and skaven is quite cheap on ebay and such). What do you guys think? my last experience Against them was in 6th ed. And i got my ass
handed to me!

[Dragon9]

Skaven are my second army. I love them. So I may be a bit biased. I love them for all their crazy contraptions and suicidal tendencies.

[direweasel]

You had better like painting, or have a friend that does. Slaves and clanrats, as far as the eye can see.

[Amboadine]

They are one of the armies that I keep toying with the idea of getting. But already have a night goblin second army for fun.
Horde armies are definitely a labour of love however, a lot of models to get through.

[Searinox Nagharha]

Skaven are a hilarious army to play, but you need a fairly think skin to handle them. Alot of the more fun things they have can turn around and bite you in the ass viciously
First time playing them i misplaced my Warplighting Cannon, it missfired and then shot a cannon ball straight through my own army ending in a unit of Slaves and continued to wipe them of the table after the blast template.
Another time i had my DoomRocket misfire and had it end up hitting my DoomWheel who then failed his control check and drove itself straight into a nearby building xD
or a Poison Wind Globe Bombadier throwing the Orb and thanks to the way it scatters actually landing behind the guy that threw it.

[van Awful]

Thanks guys, i know i probably shouldnt do it. I have enough to paint as it is. But im reading dead winter and it got me really excited about these little critters.
Are slaves an absolute must?
Im planning for once to actually start a small force (1000 -1500 pts) instead of hoarding all i think is awesome.the IoB seems ideal.

[Dragon9]

Yes. Slaves are a must. Skaven work best when they're a horde. (Size, not formation) Slaves are there to tie up units and let your other units hit the flanks, be a roadblock, etc. Quite simply, you need numbers. The more bodies the better.

[lil' fisty]

I'm facing my friend who plays Skaven today, and they are indeed a fun army. The more the merrier is very correct. My friend has roughly 70 slaves and 110 clanrats for a nice solid core....

Slaves are perfect candidates for conversions. We actually made ours out of a mix of common goblins, wolf riders, empire militia and zombie units, all being driven forward by whip wielding clan moulder beast masters. The most outrageous conversion being the lovable "crotch demons" inhabiting the front ranks. Wolf rider legs with goblin heads and nothing more. Deranged Clan Moulder experiments gone horribly wrong (or right!) seems more fitting for a slave than another rat but that was just our opinion.

I like the army, but it is true that the painting is the worst. My friends Skaven are literally brown, red, flesh wash, metal in that order. We painted 30 in one night at one point hahaha. Massive assembly line style 15 each. looks like garbage individually, but as a whole it looks fine as a dirty rat bastard mess!

Thankfully clanrats are often cheap if they are purchase used, but all in all I say you want 50 rats for every 500 points. It's a costly army.

[Cold73]

Skaven are a wonderfully fun army. And a nice change of place for when you play Dark Elves.

Skaven..when on the roll will just about flatten any army that they come in contact with.
However when the dice are against you....you don't even need your opponent to loose every one of your troops on the table.

Yes I've had a lot of fun when i borrowed a friends Skaven army ;-)

[van Awful]

Well thanks guys, you pushed me over the edge.
Spend some time searching the web.
Ordered me a book, and ill be buying the IoB Box and selling of the asurcrap, all but the griffon! Wayland does a nice deal on it btw!
Slaves like lill fisty said, ill be making from all sorts of races! got enough stuff left over
There are no official models are there?

[Karond]

I wonder when the next skaven update will happen... It's got to be soon?

[van Awful]

I was wondering the same thing! I reckon they would update Brets first, i my eyes the need the update more, model and rulewise. But with GW you never know. Beastmen is still 7th but that's it.

[Dragon9]

Skaven was the last 7th book, so they'd be a late book for 8th or a carryover to 9th most likely. As for slaves, no, no official models. However the clanrats models have two flavors: armored an dun armored. Me personally, I use the unarmored for slaves and armored for clanrats.

[direweasel]

Me personally, I use the unarmored for slaves and armored for clanrats.

I think that's a fairly common practice.

[MangoPunch]

Back in 5th edition I played Skaven and have lots of old models (mostly unpainted) at my parents house that I will be looking to unload - Plague Rates, Plague Bearers, an Original Doomwheel, Original Screaming Bell, a Vermin Lord (I love that model so might hold onto it), some Special Characters, mono-pose Clanrats, some old command groups. A bulk purchase might be a good way to start your force - I will inventory them next time I am there.

[van Awful]

Cheers man! That would be Great!