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AoS: Things You’ll Love About the Skaven Battletome

3 Minute Read
Sep 10 2024
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The Skaven break into the battlefield with the first battletome of AoS 4.0, and it’s full of goodies for everyone!

Welcome in, Generals of the Realms! The long and winding road to a new library of battletomes has taken its first steps with Battletome: Skaven. This guidebook shows you the ins and outs of the verminous warriors, and gives you the rundown of leading an army of them to crush-slay your enemies. New to 4.0, you can get this incredible tome in either the standard hardback or a more compact Gamer’s edition which includes helpful reference cards.

As a Skaven player who was always more fond of Skryre and Verminus than Pestiliens, I think this book is almost perfect. It does admittedly leave Pestilens out in the cold, but it makes the nefarious ratmen the best they’ve been in years. There’s a lot to love in the new book for fans of the Skaven, and even if it isn’t everything you ever wanted, I think it does our boys justice.

New Skaven Heroes and Units

The Skaven are getting all kinds of toys in 4.0, from powerful new heroes to deadly weapons of war. Vizzik Skour, a brand new Verminlord Priest, is at the tip of my wishlist, and he’s earned his spot. Not only can he unleash a powerful prayer to empower your units and weaken your enemies, but he can melt every target that comes to fight him, and even force them to focus on him so the rest of your army can take them out. While he’s certainly a dangerous unit to engage, he’ll pay back any damage he takes in spades.

Another new favorite of mine is the Warpblaster. The Skaven have always been fans of comically unreliable but deadly war machines, and this one is the perfect example. You can overcharge the firepower of this weapon, but be ready for it to blow up in your face. All the big Skryre machines are like this, but that makes them more fun.

Special Anvil Rules

At the heart of the new Skaven army is the phenomenal new rules. Alongside the new faction goodies and unit rules are the rules for making a new Hero for Path to Glory games. This is a new feature in 4.0, and I’m stoked for it. Every army is going to have special rules for their mighty heroes, and the Skaven have some amazing options. You can choose between a Masterclan aspirant or a Warlord, and then outfit them based on martial and arcane abilities. Eventually, you can have a Clawlord, Grey Seer, or Warlock worthy of your mighty force.

Will you be picking up any Skaven goodies?


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Author: Clint Lienau
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