Age of Sigmar: 3 Things the Skaven Need in Their Battletome
The Under-Empire is rising, or at least we hope it is. Here are our hopes for the upcoming Skaven Battletome.
The verminous forces of the Skaven have been one of the primary antagonists of the Fantasy world for decades. They are traitorous schemers, but they’ve had their claws in almost every major event. They provided the blade that brought down the Great Necromancer, unleashed a plague that nearly brought the Empire to its knees, and provided Be’Lakor with potent varanite, allowing him to undertake his blasphemous spell in Chamon. Unfortunately, their last battletome left a bit to be desired, and 3.0 didn’t do it any favors.
But the Horned Rat is not without mercy, and we’re getting a brand new battletome following a battlebox release. While there isn’t much new in the box, the tome will hopefully provide some much needed love to the denizens of the Under-Empire. Here are three things I hope we see in the new Skaven book.
More Balanced Clans
One of the most interesting things about the Skaven are the 6 Great Clans that make up their society. From the warmongering Clan Verminus to the deadly war machines of Clan Skryre, each Clan brings something special to the tabletop. However, in the last book, some of the Clans were just…lacking. If you weren’t playing Skryre, Pestilens, or Verminus horde (the latter of which was ruined by 3.0) you weren’t playing high power Skaven. Honestly, even if you did play those, Skaven still felt very limited for a faction with so many options. Here’s hoping the new battletome will make it possible to merge the Clans without completely sacrificing usefulness, or at least make Moulder and Eshin more appetizing.
Troop Improvements
Even though the Skaven are not the strongest race in AoS, they are plenty deadly on the battlefield. With the power increase of 3.0, Skaven have fallen behind in that area. I’m not saying I want Skavencast here, but making Stormvermin the deadly warriors they’re always described as in the lore would be nice. If you think this sounds a bit like a similar Chaos Marine argument, well…it is. I think it makes sense to give Stormvermin an extra wound, and maybe bring back the chafe Skavenslaves unit to represent the low power, high body units.
“Strength in Numbers” Update
While Skaven were a little weak on their own, the Strength in Numbers rule gave them a massive advantage if you took them in large numbers. Skaven are always described as overwhelming their enemy with numbers, so that made sense. Sadly, 3.0 put a hard cap on how many models you could take, and that unfairly hamstrung the Skaven. Where before Stormvermin were a credible threat, completing the relatively simple task of killing 2 or 3 of them neutered the entire squad. Here’s hoping this rule is rewritten to both encourage horde play while not compromising the 3.0 focus on more elite armies.
What do you want to see in the update?
