New Skaven Warhammer Miniatures Review - Rats Off To Ya!

Skittering in from the darkest reaches of the Mortal Realms come the Skaven, terrible rat-men bent on causing mass chaos. We saw Skaven in the kick off to the new edition of Age of Sigmar, and now Games Workshop has sent along the Skaven Codex and a heap of new models for me to check out. I’ve got a lot to cover, so I’m trying out a new format here! Tell me what you think in the comments, and read on for my New Skaven Warhammer Miniatures Review.

Acolyte Globadiers

What the Acolyte Globadiers do best: These Clan Skryre troops are great at thinning out a crowd with their Anti-Infantry Poisoned Wind Globes, which gain 1 extra Damage when attacking enemy units with 10 or more models.

How to run them: Keep them close to other Clanrats to use their somewhat incongruous Hidden Weapon Team ability (which makes them invisible to enemies more than 13” away), but get them in the mix as crowd control. Consider further buffing their poison attack for max whittling down but beware, once they face off against smaller number units they lose their effectiveness pretty quickly.

Arch-Warlock

What the Arch-Warlock does best: Being a brute with decent melee weapon skills (and a Warpfire Gauntlet that can shoot in combat) who can also use 1 spell.

How to run it: I really think you just want to pair a bunch of these Arch-Warlock’s with your rats to help dish out some real damage and use their Overseers of the Enginecovens special ability to make it so nearby Skryre units don’t spend command points when using the ‘Covering Fire’ command. Pretty straightforward, honestly.

Brood Terror

What the Brood Terror does best: Looking absolutely, gleefully disgusting on the tabletop. Also... smashing opponents.

How to run it: All jokes aside, this amalgam of rotting rat flesh can dish out extreme melee damage, and has a powerful 15” ranged Warpflame Scourger. Just plop it down anywhere and let it do real damage to your opponents.

Doom-Flayers

What the Doom-Flayers do best: As you’d expect from a rat on a giant wheel, the Doom-Flayer is best at moving fast on the battlefield (with a 2d6+3” move speed).

How to run them: For the Doom-Flayers, it’s all about the Charge. Cover the distance, slam into your foes with a charge for extra damage, and use their special ability after your charge to sneak in some mortal wounds! It’s the perfect on-the-go option!

Krittok Foulblade

What Krittok Foulblade does best: Krittok, a unique Verminus hero, gains most of his power from his possessed dagger Dooming - and what he does best on the battlefield is… slice and chop his opponents with Doomfang!

How to run him: Krittok has some nice buffering abilities for those around him, including beefing up the wound roles. But because he has such a nice melee weapon, you’ll want him close by (and protected by) other units of fodder.

Master Moulder

What the Master Moulder does best: Healing abominations - which makes sense, since they're the ones who made them.

How to run it: The Master Moulder truly runs best as a support system for your larger, more valuable and punishing Moulder units. If you run him (and I’m not sure you need to, to be honest), you’ll want him primarily healing and adding to other units’ charge values.

Stormvermin

What the Stormvermin do best: Being slightly sturdier than Clanrats.

How to run them: If you have the points in your army list, you would do well to swap in a few of units of Stormvermin, but know that these slightly more advanced Clanrats (better save at 4+, and 3 attacks instead of 2) won’t truly move the needle for your army.

Vizzik Skour, Prophet of the Horned Rat

What Vizzik Skour, Prophet of the Horned Rat does best: What does the chief priest of the Horned Rat do best? Crazy prayers and special abilities that basically rip apart your foe! Obviously.

How to run him: While his attacks and all his abilities are super strong, his special ability ‘Fissures in Reality’ punishes enemies for being locked in combat with him. So don’t be afraid, even though he’d be a big, expensive centerpiece in your army, to move in for the kill and start attacking your enemies head on. In essence, don’t be precious with Vizzik!

Warlock Galvaneer

What the Warlock Galvaneer does best: Sparking off electrical damage that can bounce from foe to foe. Also, looking like he's absolutely shredding with that blaster of his!

How to run it: Pair him up with the classic Warpvolt Scourgers and the Galvaneer can actually buff the attacks of those models by overcharging their weapons with electricity (which is hilarious to imagine). But as mentioned above, where you really want this unit to shine is by dishing out heavy ranged damage, and then using their special ability ‘More-More Warpvolt Doom!’ (Lol) to chain lightning attacks to other nearby enemy units!

Warp-Grinder

What the Warp-Grinder does best: Popping onto the battlefield at moments most inopportune for your opponent!

How to run it: This is such a cool concept for a model. Essentially, they’ve got a giant drill that can tear through the fabric of reality. During deployment, you set them and one other friendly non-Monster unit up “In the Tunnels Below” (aka in reserve). Then, later, they can pop up right next to an enemy unit! This is absolutely fantastic for catching your enemies off guard.

New Skaven Warhammer Miniatures - Final Thoughts

Phew! Thanks for joining me on that sprint through ten new Skaven Warhammer models up for preorder this week from Games Workshop. What do I think of all of these? As you can maybe glean from a lot of my quick-looks above, I'm really enamored with a lot of these models. While some don't necessarily break the mold here, most are extremely varied in how they enhance your Skaven army.

The products used in the creation of this review were provided to us by Games Workshop.