Skaven Underground Sects
The Skaven were once the masters of a vast underground empire than ran deep beneath the earth, under the noses of Men, Elves and Dwarfs. Then the Old World was devastated by the great war between the Empire and Chaos, causing much of the and forcing the rest to flee. Through tunnels scratched deep beneath the seabed the rodents scurried, until they emerged in the New World. Here they had once fought long wars against the treacherous Dark Elves and ferocious Lizardmen, but now those races were also in decline, and the peoples of the Old World had arrived to build a new future. It was in the filth, detritus and squalor that emerged throughout the West where the Skaven clung on to life like a rat clinging to the edge of a roof gutter.
Even in modern day Skaven society, the Warlords like to think they rule the roost. These are the largest, toughest and most aggressive Skaven, who are the sires of scheming and infighting clans, though even the most burly Warlord has to have a sneaky and intelligent mind to avoid ending up with a multitude of knives in his back. Simultaneously below and above them are the Grey Pipers. These ruthless sorcerers, descended from the ancient Grey Seers who worshipped the lost Horned Rat, have developed a unique way to control the disparate Ratmen and unite them as a single pack - enchanted panpipes, that produce a sound beyond the hearing of humans but easily audible to the ratmen. The Warlock Engineers are the next rank down in the hierarchy - the artisans of the Skaven have observed human invention and ingenuity from the shadows for many years, and have developed their own branch of mad science that shares disturbing parallels with human Arc and Magneto-static technology, the pinnacle of which is the fast and deadly Doomwheel.
When a Skaven raiding party emerges to cause destruction and mayhem, the rank-and-file of the Warband will inevitably consist of Clanrats. Though once limited to using scavenged spears and rusty swords, most of these vicious furballs now carry at least one pistol made by the Warlock Engineers to be able to take down their foes at range, some even wielding two pistols as skilled gunslingers. The biggest and most aggressive of these fill out the ranks of the Stormvermin, the Warlords’ personal bodyguards who are equipped with the best weapons and equipment the ratmen can scavenge (which isn’t saying that much). Skaven companies are also supported by the Night Runners, stealthy aspiring assassins that are often the first of a company to leave the sewers and scout the human world above, using throwing stars and concealed daggers to dispatch those who would sound the alarm too soon and, in rare circumstances, even disguising themselves as humans to eavesdrop on clandestine meetings. The greatest of these, the Deathmasters, are viewed with a special awe by the Skaven masses, for their daring and intelligence are second to none.
Many of the creations of the Warlock Engineers are brought with the Skaven on raids as these provide the perfect conditions for them to be ‘field-tested’. Carried onto the battlefield by Weapon Teams of two Skaven, these maniacal weapons invariably cause devastation, whether amongst the ranks of the enemy or their own side, and though they are many and varied, they can be broadly categorised as the musket-like Jezzail, the flame-belching Warpfire Thrower, the lethal Poisoned Wind Mortar, the suspiciously familiar Ratling Gun and, most horrifying of all, the Doom Flayer, a ball of whirling blades piloted into close quarters to achieve especially messy results.
Yet it is not just to machinery that the Skaven have applied their ingenuity - some of their especially malevolent scientists have turned their experimentations to the flesh of deceased creatures, stitching them together and inserting electrical circuits to animate them as horrifying beasts. Given the loss of much Skaven technology after the collapse of their tunnels in the Old World, most of these take the form of the dog-sized Giant Rats. Goaded by Packmasters, these small but vicious creatures can surround a target with weight of numbers and tear them to pieces in the blink of an eye.
Figure: Grey Piper
Pluck: 3+
FV: +1
SV: +1
Speed: +2
Cost: 41 + Powers
Talents/Powers: Leadership +3, Inspirational, Stealthy, up to 20 points of Mystical Powers
Equipment: Grey Robes (Jack), Fighting Knife Figure: Warlord
Pluck: 4+
FV: +3
SV: +1
Speed: +2
Cost: 37
Talents/Powers: Leadership +2, Inspirational, Tough
Equipment: Sword, Pistol, Skaven Plate Armour (Steel Breastplate) Figure: Deathmaster
Pluck: 2+
FV: +4
SV: +2
Speed: +2
Cost: 58
Talents/Powers: Martial Artist, Leadership +1, Stealthy
Equipment: Sword, 2 Throwing Knives, Poisoned Weapons Figure: Warlock Engineer
Pluck: 5+
FV: +1
SV: +1
Speed: +1
Cost: 26 + Powers
Talents/Powers: Engineer, up to 10 points of Mystical Powers
Equipment: Warlock-augmented Weapon (Halberd), Pistol, Monocular Targeting Array Figure: Clanrat
Pluck: 6+
FV: +1
SV: +1
Speed: +1
Cost: 11
Talents/Powers: None
Equipment: Sword, Pistol Figure: Night Runner
Pluck: 6+
FV: +2
SV: +1
Speed: +2
Cost: 21
Talents/Powers: Stealthy
Equipment: Sword, 2 Throwing Knives Figure: Stormvermin
Pluck: 5+
FV: +2
SV: +1
Speed: +1
Cost: 20
Talents/Powers: None
Equipment: Skaven Plate Armour (Steel Breastplate), Carbine Figure: Packmaster
Pluck: 6+
FV: +1
SV: 0
Speed: +1
Cost: 5
Talents/Powers: None
Equipment: Bullwhip Figure: Giant Rat
Pluck: 6+
FV: +0
SV: +0
Speed: +2
Cost: 4
Talents/Powers: None
Equipment: Jaws (Knife, cannot be Thrown) Upgrades:
The Warlord may replace his Sword and Pistol with a Great Axe (Large Axe) (-2 points), a Halberd (-1 point), or a Carbine (+-2 points)
Any Clanrat may take an additional pistol (+3 points) and may increase their SV to +2 (+1 point). If they do so, they may take the Gunslinger talent (+5 points)
Any Stormvermin may replace their Carbine with two Pistols (+1 point) and may increase their SV to +2 (+1 point). If they do so, they may take the Gunslinger talent (+5 points)
The Deathmaster and any Night Runner may take Dynamite Sticks (Explosive Grenades) (+6 points per Grenade)
Any two Clanrats may exchange their Swords and Pistols for fighting knives and one of the following:
Jezzail (Muzzle-loading rifle), Monocular Targeting Array and Shield (+ 6 points)
Warpfire Thrower (Flamethrower) (+ 3 points)
Poisoned Wind Mortar (Congreve Rocket Gun with Gas Rockets) (-1 point + Rockets)
Ratling Gun (Machine Gun) (+ 18 points)
Doom Flayer (+ 17 points) - counts as a Steam Hansom with one of the Clanrats as the driver and the other as a passenger, that is unable to take a second passenger but is equipped with Doom Flayer Blades (a melee weapon with Weapon Bonus +4, Pluck Modifier -2 and the Ignores Most Armour rule).
These two Clanrats form a Weapon Team that stay as a group throughout the battle.
A single Warlock Engineer may be made the driver of a Doomwheel (+ 42 points). A Doomwheel is treated as a Steam Carriage that cannot take passengers, but has an Arc Cannon mounted on either side. Each Arc Cannon can be fired at an separate target while the Warlock Engineer is driving, but he may perform no other action while doing so.
Any Packmaster may replace his Bullwhip with either a Fighting Knife (+1 point) or Spear (+3 points) and may take a Shield with either of these options (+1 point)
Even in modern day Skaven society, the Warlords like to think they rule the roost. These are the largest, toughest and most aggressive Skaven, who are the sires of scheming and infighting clans, though even the most burly Warlord has to have a sneaky and intelligent mind to avoid ending up with a multitude of knives in his back. Simultaneously below and above them are the Grey Pipers. These ruthless sorcerers, descended from the ancient Grey Seers who worshipped the lost Horned Rat, have developed a unique way to control the disparate Ratmen and unite them as a single pack - enchanted panpipes, that produce a sound beyond the hearing of humans but easily audible to the ratmen. The Warlock Engineers are the next rank down in the hierarchy - the artisans of the Skaven have observed human invention and ingenuity from the shadows for many years, and have developed their own branch of mad science that shares disturbing parallels with human Arc and Magneto-static technology, the pinnacle of which is the fast and deadly Doomwheel.
When a Skaven raiding party emerges to cause destruction and mayhem, the rank-and-file of the Warband will inevitably consist of Clanrats. Though once limited to using scavenged spears and rusty swords, most of these vicious furballs now carry at least one pistol made by the Warlock Engineers to be able to take down their foes at range, some even wielding two pistols as skilled gunslingers. The biggest and most aggressive of these fill out the ranks of the Stormvermin, the Warlords’ personal bodyguards who are equipped with the best weapons and equipment the ratmen can scavenge (which isn’t saying that much). Skaven companies are also supported by the Night Runners, stealthy aspiring assassins that are often the first of a company to leave the sewers and scout the human world above, using throwing stars and concealed daggers to dispatch those who would sound the alarm too soon and, in rare circumstances, even disguising themselves as humans to eavesdrop on clandestine meetings. The greatest of these, the Deathmasters, are viewed with a special awe by the Skaven masses, for their daring and intelligence are second to none.
Many of the creations of the Warlock Engineers are brought with the Skaven on raids as these provide the perfect conditions for them to be ‘field-tested’. Carried onto the battlefield by Weapon Teams of two Skaven, these maniacal weapons invariably cause devastation, whether amongst the ranks of the enemy or their own side, and though they are many and varied, they can be broadly categorised as the musket-like Jezzail, the flame-belching Warpfire Thrower, the lethal Poisoned Wind Mortar, the suspiciously familiar Ratling Gun and, most horrifying of all, the Doom Flayer, a ball of whirling blades piloted into close quarters to achieve especially messy results.
Yet it is not just to machinery that the Skaven have applied their ingenuity - some of their especially malevolent scientists have turned their experimentations to the flesh of deceased creatures, stitching them together and inserting electrical circuits to animate them as horrifying beasts. Given the loss of much Skaven technology after the collapse of their tunnels in the Old World, most of these take the form of the dog-sized Giant Rats. Goaded by Packmasters, these small but vicious creatures can surround a target with weight of numbers and tear them to pieces in the blink of an eye.
Figure: Grey Piper
Pluck: 3+
FV: +1
SV: +1
Speed: +2
Cost: 41 + Powers
Talents/Powers: Leadership +3, Inspirational, Stealthy, up to 20 points of Mystical Powers
Equipment: Grey Robes (Jack), Fighting Knife Figure: Warlord
Pluck: 4+
FV: +3
SV: +1
Speed: +2
Cost: 37
Talents/Powers: Leadership +2, Inspirational, Tough
Equipment: Sword, Pistol, Skaven Plate Armour (Steel Breastplate) Figure: Deathmaster
Pluck: 2+
FV: +4
SV: +2
Speed: +2
Cost: 58
Talents/Powers: Martial Artist, Leadership +1, Stealthy
Equipment: Sword, 2 Throwing Knives, Poisoned Weapons Figure: Warlock Engineer
Pluck: 5+
FV: +1
SV: +1
Speed: +1
Cost: 26 + Powers
Talents/Powers: Engineer, up to 10 points of Mystical Powers
Equipment: Warlock-augmented Weapon (Halberd), Pistol, Monocular Targeting Array Figure: Clanrat
Pluck: 6+
FV: +1
SV: +1
Speed: +1
Cost: 11
Talents/Powers: None
Equipment: Sword, Pistol Figure: Night Runner
Pluck: 6+
FV: +2
SV: +1
Speed: +2
Cost: 21
Talents/Powers: Stealthy
Equipment: Sword, 2 Throwing Knives Figure: Stormvermin
Pluck: 5+
FV: +2
SV: +1
Speed: +1
Cost: 20
Talents/Powers: None
Equipment: Skaven Plate Armour (Steel Breastplate), Carbine Figure: Packmaster
Pluck: 6+
FV: +1
SV: 0
Speed: +1
Cost: 5
Talents/Powers: None
Equipment: Bullwhip Figure: Giant Rat
Pluck: 6+
FV: +0
SV: +0
Speed: +2
Cost: 4
Talents/Powers: None
Equipment: Jaws (Knife, cannot be Thrown) Upgrades:
The Warlord may replace his Sword and Pistol with a Great Axe (Large Axe) (-2 points), a Halberd (-1 point), or a Carbine (+-2 points)
Any Clanrat may take an additional pistol (+3 points) and may increase their SV to +2 (+1 point). If they do so, they may take the Gunslinger talent (+5 points)
Any Stormvermin may replace their Carbine with two Pistols (+1 point) and may increase their SV to +2 (+1 point). If they do so, they may take the Gunslinger talent (+5 points)
The Deathmaster and any Night Runner may take Dynamite Sticks (Explosive Grenades) (+6 points per Grenade)
Any two Clanrats may exchange their Swords and Pistols for fighting knives and one of the following:
Jezzail (Muzzle-loading rifle), Monocular Targeting Array and Shield (+ 6 points)
Warpfire Thrower (Flamethrower) (+ 3 points)
Poisoned Wind Mortar (Congreve Rocket Gun with Gas Rockets) (-1 point + Rockets)
Ratling Gun (Machine Gun) (+ 18 points)
Doom Flayer (+ 17 points) - counts as a Steam Hansom with one of the Clanrats as the driver and the other as a passenger, that is unable to take a second passenger but is equipped with Doom Flayer Blades (a melee weapon with Weapon Bonus +4, Pluck Modifier -2 and the Ignores Most Armour rule).
These two Clanrats form a Weapon Team that stay as a group throughout the battle.
A single Warlock Engineer may be made the driver of a Doomwheel (+ 42 points). A Doomwheel is treated as a Steam Carriage that cannot take passengers, but has an Arc Cannon mounted on either side. Each Arc Cannon can be fired at an separate target while the Warlock Engineer is driving, but he may perform no other action while doing so.
Any Packmaster may replace his Bullwhip with either a Fighting Knife (+1 point) or Spear (+3 points) and may take a Shield with either of these options (+1 point)
