Editing Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Skaven (section)

===Core Units===

* '''Clanrats:''' Your basic infantry. Very cheap so you can put them in HUGE units. They will die by the truckload, but you should have so many that even if they get blasted by a cannon, there will still be a good number left. Have them in units of thirty, forty, even fifty. They also have a host of neat special rules that your opponent won't be expecting. Highly recommended. Give them weapon teams for added lulz. It's funny when a ratling gun shoots up the enemy, but funnier when it shoots your own guys and then explodes. You'll have so many clanrats it's not as though you're suffering a real loss here. ALWAYS take shields, doubles your chances of surviving a S3 hit. 

* '''Skaven Slaves:''' See clanrats, but no weapons teams. These fuckers are twice as cheap as clanrats, meaning you'll have a lot of them. They have leadership is equal to their average dinner (ie, fucking nothing) so keep your general nearby to 'fix' that. Make sure they don't get flanked and they're not going anywhere. Keep a warpfire thrower close and have it set the unit held by the slaves on fire, since Skaven are bastards and are allowed to shoot at units tied down with Slaves(Funnily enough the errata removes the sentences where you randomnize hitting slaves you shoot at when engaged, so technically you always hit enemies theyre engaged with with no slave casualties). Watch as your opponent quits in a huff. Laugh. Take it like a scrawny bitch when he beats your ass in a neckbeard rage for trying to rules lawyer even more (obviously unintended) cheese. Also never horde them up; make as many ranks as your wish so they can hold units in place for your ogres or plague monks to flank charge them. Slaves aren't meant to cause damage; they take it; cause they are whipped. Note that Slaves have the option to take slings. Generally won't do much but can be a nasty surprise for your opponent if he's not expecting it (though nightrunners/gutter runners with slings are a much more efficient investment). Don't bother with spears , Slaves are there to take damage, not dish it out. Shields allow them to last somewhat longer, with effective 6+/6++ in melee (also, IoB slaves come with shields, so keeping shields is also cheaper).

* '''Stormvermin:''' Slightly more elite infantry. Still nice and cheap so huge units are not out of the question. Units of forty or fifty are not unreasonable. Can also take a weapon team. Shields are a preference choice, depending on how much fire you expect them to absorb.  Stick a warlock with Skavenbrew in them for berserk armor-covered, halberd-swinging rats of doom. Or take Queek Headtaker and upgrade your Stormvermin to a REAL elite unit.

* '''Night Runners:'''  Decent skirmishing infantry/harassers. Their scout move allows you to set them up as charge blockers but other than that; expect them to die rather quickly. As far as choosing them above slave or clanrats is up to you. They can also chose a Warp-Grinder, so you could go warmachine hunting/ rearcharging with these guys. Shame their models look like deranged chimps. However, if you want a shooting unit, Gutter Runners are notably better.

* '''Giant Rats:''' Make a very nice tarpit but Slaves are cheaper and do it better. If you're looking for cheaper ways to get giant rats than the Rat Ogre/Giant Rat box set; there are about 12 rats in the doomwheel kit, the plague monk kit and several more in the screaming bell set as well. They are great to throw on those big bases but you can easily build up a nice pack of rats while you're collecting on the side.

* '''Rat Swarms:''' It's a Swarm, usual rules apply. Don't discount the swarm, even groups of three or four are useful in tying down a unit long enough to get those valuable flank charges. Less experienced players are even likely to flee instead of allowing a rat swarm tie them down in combat! Str 2 is far from great, but they aren't there to kill stuff, they're there to distract and detract. Skavenslaves are arguably more efficient though.

* '''Weapon Teams:'''
** '''Poison Wind Mortar(NO LONGER A CORE UNIT):''' Lobbing big glass Globes of poisoned gas has never been so much fun. Ignores armour saves, wounds on 5+, unless your the poor bastard underneath the centre of the small blast template. Then it's a 4+. Plus it's the only weapon team to be able to move and fire allowing for a lot more flexibility when deploying it. Keep it right behind it's accompanying unit for extra protection and to make use of it's line of sight. A slight downside is the small template, which can make hitting MSU armies in smaller games a pain. best used on high T and armor save units like chaos knights
** '''Ratling Gun:''' Can you say tons of shots? This thing rolls for its shots, if you roll doubles however, it misfires. Don't take this unless you're in a casual game. The Cheapest weapon team, but you pay for it with a higher chance to blow up. Although if you roll two dice per turn, you average to 7 shots per turn, with just 1/6th chance to blow up - same as PWM. Take this against smaller elite units (like elves). Ratling guns are also better against Monstrous Infantry, since a template will have a harder covering more models (and the PWM doesn't kill, it wounds).
** '''Doom-Flayer:''' This bad boys armour save will protect it long enough to get it in to close combat... The one wound that the team has will probably result in it being killed in the first round unless you manage to decimate them in the first round. Not the greatest team out of the four but has potential against smaller foes. Not to mention if it misfires in close combat there is a chance it can blow up and take some enemies out with it. Glass is half full kinda guys.
** '''Warpfire Thrower:(NO LONGER A CORE UNIT)''' This is a good choice, but there are better, (see the Poisoned Wind Mortar) It has more of chance to kill you, explode, and blow up on you than whatever you're hitting with the Mortars. It's essentially small blast vs Flame Template and move or fire at this point. Standard rules for flaming attacks using the template apply. Best used on low LD units as this weapon is great for causing panic checks.
** '''Warp-Grinder:'''  A smaller variant of a similar machine, the larger machinery of this weapon was meant to carve large tunnels within the earth with relative ease, meant to allow passages for whole armies of troops to move with speed through the underground tunnels of the world. Although those machines were larger than the biggest Empire warships, the smaller version acts as a more portable and hand-held one, used for the same purpose, but also as a weapons platform to be used against infantry. Similar also is the need for a two-skaven team to operate; one to hold the ammunition and another to aim the shot.