General Beginner Tips?

Hahaha wow, that certainly seems a bit more in depth/competitive than I'm looking for. "Gaming" with a tiny unit to redirect certainly seems play-to-win instead of theme. And a casual, affordable army won't be getting 200 models I'm afraid! But still it's all interesting info!

Oh yes I'm aware of that, though I'm not really planning on going past maybe a 1.5k game ever. I already have at least 800 points as per 8th edition, and of course they can also be used to play other systems ie One Page Rules.

Even the idea of fielding more than 60 clanrats in WFB 8th is unappealing to be honest, from both a financial and painting point of view! I just pulled the trigger on a bunch of minis suitable as night/gutter runners so I'll see what they can do in 3 months when they've been painted and assembled

I'm curious as to the role of warlock engineers, why are they so cheap? I'm surprised they don't have an aura ability with re-rolling warmachine misfires or something.

Warlock engineers are a bit like skink shamans; cheap casters to supplement the very expensive Grey Seers. That they can also take toys like the Doomrocket or Brass Sphere and skitterleap to a good position to use it is just icing on the cake.

Ah right, I was wondering if there was a reason to take them not-as-a-wizard. So you either kit them up as a wizard, use them as a tiny bit of firepower/unit leadership in a block, or skitterleap them behind the enemy and unload wunderwaffen into the enemy on a suicide mission. It's a shame the Skaven magics didn't get the 8th edition style arrangement.

What about Doomwheels? In his first game my brother charged a block of skinks and obliterated them! On the other hand the lightning bolts it fires out seems geared towards hurting things with multiple wounds.

I've got a 2k army that's not super competitive, and fairly low on the model count. I built this around the Island of Blood box and the Skaven Pestilens Start Collecting box.

- Grey Seer on Screaming Bell: Your general, with an 18" leadership bubble, your main spellcaster, with a 4+ ward from the bell, and probably your biggest block since it'll be hauled around by the Clanrats in the list. It also makes the Clanrats unbreakable, so that unit isn't going anywhere until it's wiped out. My favorite Skaven spells are Scorch and Plague. Also, casting Wither 3 times on a Toughness 3 unit to have it just entirely die after the third cast is great fun. For you, not your opponent. Also, don't forget to ring the bell every turn and see what chaos you can cause.

- Chieftain Battle Standard Bearer: As stated above, this guy is going to be very important for leadership rerolls. I usually stick him into my Stormvermin, or with the big Screaming Bell block if I'm playing more aggressive and moving the bell into the fray.

- Warlock Engineer: I basically use him as a Warp Lightning turret, with a lv.2 upgrade, and Warp-energy Condenser. Can also go into your big block, stick him into another infantry unit, or really play risky and deploy him alone, keeping him within 3" of another infantry unit to have a 4+ Look Out Sir save. Can also move him out of the unit he's in to redirect a potential charge. He'll maybe-probably-definitely-absolutely die, but in a dire situation, you may surprise your opponent by sacrificing a pretty expensive Skaven wizard to try and get a flank counter charge.

- Clanrats (40): Shields. Full Command. You put your Screaming Bell here. Usually folks will run these without any kind of upgrades. The name of the game in an efficient rat list is absolute numbers. But this is for the lazy painter. Shields bump their armor up to a 5+ and gives them a 6+ ward in close combat to the front. Not great, but if you get those good rolls, it'll keep your big block alive longer. The standard bearer is just there to generate Combat Resolution, and the Musician is there in case you need to Swift Reform and point your unit at something quickly.

- Warpfire Thrower: Weapons team, deployed with the Clanrats. Gives you something to shoot in the shooting phase with a pretty big template. Keep it within 3" of its parent unit to give it a 4+ Ward save against ranged attacks, such as missile fire and spells. Decent chance it will misfire and explode before the game is through, but can otherwise do some decent damage against infantry blocks.

- Stormvermin (20): The Skaven elite. These guys will do decent damage in close combat with their Halberds. They have a 5+ armor save, and 4+ against shooting if you put shields on them. I usually don't give 'em shields. They're good for Skaven units, but they won't do as well as other armies' elite units. But if you tie things up with your big block and flank with these, you're in for a good time.

- Poisoned Wind Mortar: Weapons Team, deployed with the Stormvermin. Another useful artillery piece that could very well just explode in your first turn. But we're playing for fun and trying different things. Same ward save for being within 3" of its parent unit as other Weapons Teams.

- Plague Monks (20): Your blenders. They're very much glass cannons, but with their Frenzy, and additional hand weapons, they get three attacks. Point them at lightly armored Toughness 3 infantry and they will more than likely delete it. Put the Plague Banner on them and activate it when you want rerolls to hit and to wound to ensure they output as much damage as they can for that turn.

Alternately, you can remove the Plague Monks and pump up your Stormvermin to 40 models so they'll stick around longer. Or, vice versa, take a bigger block of Monks instead.

- Rat Ogres: I've got two of these with a Packmaster/Master Moulder because they came with the Island of Blood set. Deploy them so they can attack the flanks of units you've engaged in your center, and they can add a nice chunk of Combat Resolution and cause Fear. Use them as support, or if you're in a bind, a redirector.

- Hell Pit Abomination: Boy is this thing a hoot. All kinds of crazy rules, just make sure you're not pointing it at something with Flaming Attacks as they negate its very important Regeneration save. And even if it dies, there's a chance it'll come back to life, or turn into rat swarms.

- Warp Lightning Cannon: Skaven lack a lot of shooting, especially if you're playing smaller points values, and trying to keep overall model count down. You're better of spending points on bulking up your infantry units. But you could buy Ratling Cannons, Jezzail Teams, or putting slings in the hands of whichever models can equip them (Gutter/Night Runners, Skavenslaves). I, a lazy painter, prefer Warp Lightning Cannons. 1 or 2 should do ya, depending on points. They'll also help in dealing with monsters.

This all comes out to about 2000 points depending on some options. It doesn't follow any conventional advice for Skaven, but it's got a lot of stuff to try out and have fun with. It will probably blow up, but it might not.

Oh yeah, love me some Weapons Teams, and I wish I had the other ones. I REALLY want to try a Warp Grinder to get that surprise "deep strike". I forget, but if you want something a little more reliable without the chance of losing them to a "Cave In" result from the grinder, I think Gutter Runners have "Sneaky Infiltrators" that let you bring them on in turn 2 as reinforcements from any table edge with I think a 2+ dice roll? I don't have my rulebook at work with me, but I think my regular Skaven opponent has done that to me to destroy my warmachines and harass my backline with great aggravating success. I haven't run them yet because I don't have models for them.