My first army back in Warhammer Fantasy, the Skaven have always gnawed their way into my heart. The little, fuzzy rapscallions are an entertaining army to see or play, let’s see how their Path to Glory rules hold up!
Army Special Rules:
The Skaven get a very powerful ability for their campaigns. So long as they complete one of six “Master Plans of the Horned Rat”(selected at the beginning of every battle) per mission they ignore injury or casualty rolls. Now, some of these missions are difficult: casting 13 spells over the battle, killing three or more heroes with Eshin heros, etc. However one only requires you to have four weapon teams, start them hidden, and reveal them all at once. While this does have some risk, if you go second, it is way too easy to achieve for such a powerful boon.
Quests:
The Skaven get four Quests to choose from. The first is a fairly simple quest that grants your Verminlord a command trait (provided they don’t already have one) if they kill any enemy units in the next battle. Vermintide allows you to pick two Master Plans to carry out in your next battle, rather than just one, so long as you end your last battle with at least three friendly Skaven units on the board. Aggressive Expansion requires you to hold 6 territories and win a major victory but you get a unique Skaven Leader for free in your next battle. Finally, Ceaseless Assault sets up the Skaven custom mission.
Custom Mission:
The Skaven have only one custom mission. They start their army in reserve. On their first turn you can bring in your whole army from one of three Gnawhole terrain pieces, though must stay 9″ away from enemy models. The non-Skaven player only has to protect a central objective so the ability to counter-deploy and go first balances things out. This strikes me as a very fluffy mission and, oddly enough, is not one that penalizes you for fighting a shooty army. Enemy horde units could be an issue but the Skaven have ways of dealing with them.
Veteran Abilities:
As is now standard, any Skaven unit can take an ability off this table. All a good options, you can gain the fly keyword, suffer D3 wounds to increase your attacks by 1, give a friendly unit within 13″ (nice) +1 to hit in the shooting phase, etc. These are a really solid set of abilities and work well with either hero or unit choices.
Territories:
The Skaven get six territories to choose from. One fun option cannot be controlled but allows you to pick another option from the table (they found a promising new route!). The Underwarren allows you to set up a unit in reserve at the start of the game and come on 6″ from the board edge and only 7″ away from enemy units! The Nexus allows you to split units between a Gnawhole and being deployed on the board. The Warpstone Quarry allows you to make two exploration rolls after each battle rather than just one, while the Statue of Entropy has an amazing ability to make all enemy to-wound rolls -1 on turn 1!
Conclusion:
The Skaven Path to Glory rules are a weird mix of great and terrible. They don’t get any passive abilities like other factions, but their Master Plan’s rewards are amazing. In the same way, these plans provide good benefits they are very uneven. Really the weapon team option is the only one that is easy to do, with the others being quite difficult, with little middle ground. The Skaven’s custom mission doesn’t really offer any unique benefits or operate within their army-specific rules, which is disappointing. Their quests are okay with the exception of getting a Skaven character for free which is just a bit much, especially as it can be repeated easily once you have six territories. Lastly their territories and veteran abilities are really powerful and allow you to play your army in a creative way which is nice to see.
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