Skaven: Army Analysis

Who are the Skaven?

Scheming, treacherous and utterly without number, the Skaven are the ratmen of the Mortal Realms — a verminous civilisation that swarms from beneath the world in untold millions. They drown the enemy in cheap bodies, back them with gloriously unreliable warp-powered war machines, and stab one another in the back the whole way. In Warhammer Age of Sigmar they're the ultimate horde army: chaotic, characterful and an absolute riot to play.

The Core Fantasy

Skaven are the horde-and-mad-science army of the Mortal Realms: endless expendable bodies plus wildly powerful, wildly unpredictable technology. This is the fantasy of overwhelming numbers and reckless ambition — you have more rats than sense, and that's exactly the point.

Expect:

• Vast, cheap hordes that swamp the board
• Devastating but unreliable warp war machines and magic
• A high-risk, high-reward, gloriously chaotic playstyle
• Bags of character and the occasional spectacular backfire

How They Play on the Tabletop

The Skaven plan is numbers and nerve: flood the board with expendable clanrats to swamp objectives and tie up the enemy, while your war machines and sorcery rain down devastation from behind. Your bodies are individually pathetic and your tech can misfire spectacularly — but when it works, nothing else in the game dishes out damage quite so cheaply.

What you'll love:

• Numbers: you out-body almost anyone and smother objectives
• Firepower: your war machines and magic hit shockingly hard
• Character: no army is more fun, chaotic or unpredictable

What can bite you:

• Fragility: individual rats fold instantly under pressure
• Unreliability: your best toys can backfire at the worst moment
• Nerve (leadership): rats break and flee if you don't manage them

Strength in (Enormous) Numbers

The Skaven signature is overwhelming, expendable mass paired with high-variance warp technology. You happily throw away ranks of clanrats to buy time and hold ground, because there are always more — and behind that tide, a Warp Lightning Cannon or Grey Seer can delete a unit a turn when fortune favours you. Embrace the chaos and the swings, and the rats reward you handsomely.

As a Grand Alliance Chaos army, the Skaven scheme alongside the followers of the Dark Gods. For durable, god-marked warriors who fight very differently, see our Slaves to Darkness army analysis; for fellow masters of unpredictable sorcery, compare our Disciples of Tzeentch army analysis.

Key Unit Roles (What You'll Commonly Need)

Forget memorising every warscroll. Think in jobs:

1) The Horde (clanrats and stormvermin)

Vast blocks of cheap infantry to swamp objectives, screen, and tie up the enemy. Your endless, expendable core.

2) The Weapon Teams (specialists)

Ratling guns, warpfire throwers and the like — nasty little units that punch holes in the enemy line.

3) The War Machines (and monsters)

Warp Lightning Cannons, Doomwheels and the Hell Pit Abomination — your unreliable but devastating heavy hitters.

4) The Leaders (Grey Seers and warlocks)

Scheming heroes who cast warp sorcery, buff your hordes, and (try to) keep the rats from fleeing.

Getting Started the Smart Way

Building Skaven from scratch? Start with a big block of bodies and a couple of toys. Aim for:

Step 1: A large block of Clanrats

• Your expendable, objective-swamping heart. Cheap, numerous, and the foundation of everything.

Step 2: A weapon team or two

• Ratling guns or warpfire throwers to add cheap, nasty firepower to the swarm.

Step 3: A war machine or monster

• A Warp Lightning Cannon or Hell Pit Abomination for devastating (if dicey) damage — and a great centrepiece.

Step 4: A Grey Seer

• Your sorcerous leader to cast warp magic and buff the horde — the brains behind the chaos.

Cover those four jobs and you've got a characterful, hard-hitting horde that plays to its strengths. New to the brushes? Our beginner painting guide will get those mangy fur-and-rust schemes started — and batch-painting rats is a skill worth learning early.

Common Beginner Mistakes (Avoid These)

• Treating rats as precious. They're ammunition — spend them freely to buy time and ground.
• Over-relying on one machine. Variance is real — bring a couple of threats so one misfire isn't fatal.
• Ignoring leadership. Battleshock can collapse a horde — manage it with your heroes.
• Forgetting objectives. Drowning the enemy in rats is great, but you still win on points.

Who the Skaven are For

"Choose the Skaven if you love hordes, chaos and gloriously high-risk warp technology — endless expendable rats backed by war machines that are devastating right up until they explode in your face. Give them a miss if you want reliability, durability, or an elite, low-model-count force; this is mad science by the bucketload. Skaven reward boldness, cunning and a sense of humour about variance. Send in the rats — all of them."

Shop Skaven

Further reading: meet the magic-masters of Chaos in our Disciples of Tzeentch army analysis, or explore the full range over in Warhammer Age of Sigmar.