Because I don’t have a copy of the new rules in front of me I’m writing this off of memory, so hang on tight. Over the past few weeks I have been drooling over the new Skaven rules for Warhammer Fantasy. The book may only be a couple weeks away but I can’t wait to field a competitive RAT army. Don’t be afraid loyal rat enthusiasts, Skaven maintain almost all of the randomness and insanity that make them a fun army to field. But with the changes, Skaven actually have some staying power and non luck related chances to win. My local game store buddies agree that the new Skaven book is very well balanced with the latest codex releases. However, when you consider how broken Chaos demons are and how terrifying the Lizardman can be, there is no short supply of cheese in the Skaven book.
Hands down one of the single greatest changes to to the Skaven is removing the 0-1 cap for Stormvermin… And they didn’t stop there. Games Workshop made each model in the unit 7 points a piece with the option to give them a shield for 1 point. This makes them the same price they were before, but better. In close combat a 3 plus save versus the old 5 armor save is major. The rats finally have a solid core choice that can take a charge and not run instantly. The Stromvermin box has changed from 10 models for $50, to 20 model for $50 and the new ones are plastic. Due to the price, last edition I avoided the Stormvermin like the plague…
GW also gave the rats a giant creature. Though GW isn’t producing the model, when you purchase the new codex you will have the rules to one of the most evil creations to date that screams “CONVERT, CONVERT CONVERT!!!!!” This bad mamajama moves in straight lines using 3D6 to set its distance. On a triple 6 this bad boy triples his movement and gets a plus 1 STR for the rest of the game. Mmm, possible charge one the first turn, increased strength, and no negative effect that I could see. This pile of ratlike death may not fall down like a giant and kill more models, instead this rat beast amongst rat men after dieing rolls a d6 1-3 he dies, 4-5 rats spring out from the giant’s corpse, and on a 6 he gets back up with one wound. There are a ton of rules for this brute and each rule is more broken than the last.
Games Workshop didn’t hold much back with the new Skaven codex. New plastic kits, new characters, old characters brought back (oh yeah the rat demon is back!!!), the screaming bell isn’t worthless, different special choices, new rare choices, doomwheel, doomwheel, doomwheel, something called a plague catapult, and they left the ratling gun unchanged and as deadly as before! November 7th we can bring a new level of cheese to the game table. Have fun people and enjoy the new Warhammer Fantasy carnage!