Skaven | Warhammer Age of Sigmar 4th Edition Battletome Review & New Miniatures Unboxing | (2024)

The 4th Edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar has been with us for a little while now, so hopefully lots of you have been able to get a few games in with the Indexes.

Indexes are cool, but what we really want is Battletomes, and what better army to mark the first 4th Edition Battletome than the mighty Skaven! YES-YES! (I could be biased, of course).

As always, our thanks to Games Workshop for sending us a copy of the book to review, and the models to unbox and paint. You can preorder the Battletome and the new minis RIGHT NOW and you can help us out massively by preordering via our Element Games affiliate links. We’ll get a kick-back and you save some cash!

During the course of this review I’ll also be looking at the brand new plastic kits that are also up for preorder right now alongside the book.

Want to check out all of the sprues? Then why not watch the following unboxing video!

Again you’ll also see shots of the sprues later in this article.

Presentation | Welcome to 4th Edition Battletomes

First and foremost, and as shouted about over on Warhammer Community, the new Age of Sigmar Battletomes have had a bit of an overall glow up.

A lot of it is subtle, however they really make a difference. The artwork is absolutely stunning throughout this book, in particular in the opening few pages. The lore brings us bang up to date on where the Skaven are at in this new edition of the game. Even as a returning Skaven player I found a lot of new lore in here (a lot of which made me smile and reminded me why I love this faction so much).

The book is ideal for those new and returning to the faction. Each of the Clans is delivered individually (I like how they show an image of each of the different Skype weapons for example, which helps with newcomers wondering which weapon is which). There is of course a focus on the Vermindoom, which is the main story point which marked the start of the new edition.

The book is clearly broken down in to the following sections:

• Faction Rules
• Warscrolls
• Spearhead
• Path to Glory
• Armies of Renown
• Regiments of Renown

We are going to move on and check out each of these now.

Faction Rules

At this point, it’s really important for me to put out that a lot of the general rules, and to be honest a lot of the warscrolls, are there or thereabouts the same as the index cards.

I’m not…that disappointed by this. I was pretty happy with the warscrolls anyway. I am however, a little disappointed they didn’t expand on the faction bits though.

The Battle Traits for example, are identical. To remind you all these are…

• Lurking Vermintide – Allows you to leave a Skaven unit in reserve (aka in the tunnels below).
• Too Quick to Hit – Your Skaven infantry and cavalry units take no damage when using the Retreat ability.
• Always Three Clawsteps Ahead – Grants a Normal Move to a none Monster Skaven unit in your opponents Hero phase.
• Splinters of the Vermindoom – Once per battle round you can deploy a single Gnawhole on the battlefield (that is until you have three down on the board). These can be placed anywhere on the board (so long as they are outside of 9” of enemy units and 3” from all objectives and terrain). So much better than the old Gnawhole rules!
• Gnawhole Ambush – Allows you to bring one of your reserve units on to the battlefield via one of your Gnawholes.

Battle Formations

What is new is three brand new formations reflecting different Skaven Clans.

The fourth formation is the Warpcog Convocation, which again is from the Index. Again, no change here, affects up to 3 Skype units and has the same D6 chart which either grants extra rend, +1 to wound or if you are unlucky, deals damage to your units.

So what about the other three?

First of all we have Fleshmeld Menagerie, which as the experienced Skaven players will guess revolves around the Clan Moulder units. You can pick up to 3 Moulder units (none hero however) and then roll a D6 for each of your chosen units, the following then happens:

• On a 1-2 you lose D3 mortal wounds on the chosen unit,.
• 3-4 gives your unit +1 Attack (in melee)
• 5-6 Also gives your unit +1 Attack, whilst also granting them a 5+ Ward save too.

Virulent Procession is the formation you’ll want to chose if you have leaned in to Pestilens. Instead of rolling a D6 and getting a random buff, you instead get the following rule. You again chose up to 3 Pestilens units and those units then get to make a pile-in move at the end of the turn, and then deal up to 3 mortal wounds on an enemy unit in combat with said unit on a 2+.

Finally, for those fans of Clanrats and Stormvermin we have Claw-Horde. You pick up to 3 Verminus units and each of those units gains 1 extra rend, which is awesome!

Heroic Traits, Spell Lore, Prayers & Artefacts of Power

Now, we’d already been advised by Warhammer Community that the first few Battletomes won’t have a ton of changes, and we haven’t been led to believe that we’d get a load of new spells, artefacts or traits.

It shouldn’t then surprise me that, whilst all the Index Spells, Traits, Artefacts and Prayers return in the book, we don’t have any new ones. Now, I’m greedy, and I would have liked some new additions, if only to make list building a little more fun, however when all is said and done I’m happy with what with have. Who knows, in future publications, such as a new General’s Handbook, or perhaps something with a more narrative flavour (such as last editions Thondia book) may introduce some new abilities specifically for the Skaven, or for more general use across the game.

It is also important to remember that some of the faction’s warscrolls have unique prayers and spells too. Perhaps by limiting the number of said abilities it helps to balance the game more, and it also means you’ll have a more streamlined gaming experience as you’ll have less flicking through spells and such.

As aforementioned, there aren’t many changes within this tome, and the changes that have been made have for the most part been where we have new models.

I’m therefore going to tackle each of the warscrolls that correspond with a new miniature.

Before I do that however, I want to take a moment to focus on the Plaguepack.

Until this edition we had been able to use our Warhammer Underworlds war bands within our Warhammer Age of Sigmar armies. As a war band was released for Underworlds, so were the rules for using them in Sigmar, along with a points cost.

In this brave new edition however, for the most part, Underworlds war bands have been destined to go to Legends, simply meaning whilst playable, they won’t be tournament legal. When we found out that the Skaven would be joining the Stormcast Eternals in the new edition box WarCom announced what units from each army would be going to legends, and the Plaguepack was one such unit.

So when WarCom announced that the Plaguepack would be getting reboxed, its rightly confused a few people. Importantly, I can confirm they do have a warscroll here in the Battletome. Every model in the unit (including the Priest) are covered in one warscroll. He keeps the Priest keyword, and can enact 1 prayer. The Plague Rat included in the bundle of minis is classed as a token, which can be discarded if you roll a 1 on a prayer, allowing you to re-roll that prayer. The unit is -1 to hit from shooting due to the Enshrouding Fumes. Aside from the Plague Censer Rat (who gets 4 attacks, with Crit-Auto Wound, 4s 3s 1 Rend and 2 damage) the rest get Weapons of Corruption, which gives them 2 attacks each, 4s, 5s, no rend and 1 damage. They do however have Health 2, which is cool.

Now, I think they have allowed the Plaguepack to stay because of the removal of the Plague Priest on foot model from the tome. You can still get the mini with the Screaming Bell kit (if you don’t build it as a Plague Furnace), however he has disappeared from the roster. The only other Priest model (again, aside from the Furnace) is the brand new Prophet of the Horned Rat, Vizzik. Has this been done on purpose? Potentially!

ANYWAY! Let’s crack on with some images of the new minis and a look at the warscrolls, starting with…

Vizzik, Prophet of the Horned Rat

Man, this model is EPIC and is a fantastic model to build. I had a lot of fun putting him together, and as a bonus he comes with a bunch of rats that you can put on Vizzik’s base, or you can add them to other models in your army. The only bit that caused me a slight headache was the assembly of his head as it includes a tiny piece which makes up his forehead.

As you’ll see from the slideshow above, he’s a big model and a proper centrepiece for any force.

He has some very cool abilities. Firstly he is a Priest (2) instead of a caster, which is great considering the amount of spell casters we have in the army. He has a unique prayer called The Death Frenzy. It has a high prayer value of 8, however it allows a Skaven unit to fight twice (albeit the second time being with Strike-Last) or, instead of choosing your own unit, you can choose an opposing unit. Doing so reduces each of the chosen units attacks by 1.

He’s built for combat, with a couple of abilities such as Gaze of the Gnaw, which allows you to chose a unit you are in combat with and on a 2+ that unit can only target Vizzik and also said unit is -1 to Hit and Wound. You also get another ability called Fissures in Reality, which again requires a 2+ per enemy unit in combat with Vizzik and simply dishes out D3 mortal wounds.

His weapon stats back up his prowess in combat. His main weapon is called Unholy Gnawstaff, which has Crit (Mortals), 6 attacks, hits on 4s, 2s to wound, Rend 1 and D6 damage. He also gets 10 attacks with his little rats, albeit hitting and wounding on 5s with no Rend. It’s all sounding great right?

15 wounds, 10” Move…but then comes the disappointing part. He only has a 5+ Save, with a 5+ Ward save. Having had a test game with him, albeit with my sometimes terrible dice rolls, I found he just fell really quickly. I honestly think he either needs a slightly better save, or a slightly better ward save. He’s going to be pricey in points, and as awesome as he is, I may find it easy to overlook him. You do however have one way to improve his performance, which we’ll get in to later.

Warlock Galvaneer

Another Warlock joins the ranks. He’s a cool mini, with a brand new Skaven weapon, the Warpvolt Obliterator (Anti-Cavalry +1 Rend, Crit 2 Hits, 18” 2 Attacks, 3s, 3s Rend 2 and D3 damage). On top of this, you can pick an enemy unit that has had any damage allocated to it from the Warlock’s Obliterator, and on a 2+ you deal D3 mortal damage to each other enemy unit within the target’s combat range.

He also buffs Warpvolt Scourgers, which are one of the builds for the Warpstone Battery units (another new unit we’ll get to soon). On a roll of a 2+ he sets the Attacks characteristics of the Scourgers to 10, instead of 2D6. It is however a one use ability.

He’s a really nice mini, with a powerful weapon, but I personally would only take him if I was also taking a unit of Scourgers.

Arch Warlock

The Arch Warlock gets a very cool new plastic mini at last (which heavily reminds me of a Tech Priest Dominus).

He retains the same weapons as his predecessor, and is great in a fight (for a Skaven). His Warpfire Gauntlet can shoot in combat, 4s, 2s Rend 2 and 1 damage, which he has two combat weapons, his Halberd (3 Attacks, 3s, 4s Rend 1 and damage 2) and his Crushing Piston-claw (2 Attacks, 4s, 2s, Rend 2 and damage 2).

He has just the one ability, which is called Overseers of the Enginecoven, and grants a free Covering Fire to a Skype unit without spending a command point.

He’s also still a Wizard, and is able to cast a single spell.

Acolyte Globadiers

I think these collection of minis are some of my favourites from the new range of plastic Skaven. They really have a cool, almost Steampunk element to them, and it almost felt like I was assembling Kharadron Overlords, especially with the collars.

They have a pants combat profile, but that isn’t why you bring these. Each model gets a single Globe ranged attack, with a range of 10”, hits on a 3, wounds on a 3, Rend 1 and D3 damage (increasing to D3 +1 damage if the enemy unit you are shooting at has 10 or more minis). On top of this, they have Anti-Infantry (+1 Rend) and they can shoot in combat.

They also cannot be targeted when in combat range of a friendly Clanrats unit that has 5 or more models, so long as the enemy is more than 13” away.

Warpvolt Scourgers (Warpspark Weapons Battery)

The new Battery unit can build one of three variants, Ratling Guns, Warpfire Throwers or the brand new weapon, the Warpvolt Scourgers.

Importantly, you have to build all three in the kit as the same weapon option, so you cannot for example have a single Ratling Gun.

I wanted to focus on the new weapon, which is very tasty against Cavalry and also when paired with the previously mentioned Warlock Galvaneer.

Each team gets 2D6 attacks at a range of 15”, hits on 2s, wounds on 4s, Rend 1 and damage 1, along with Anti-Cavalry (+1 Rend) and Crit (2 Hits). They are pretty cool, not a must take, but very handy if you know your opponent is rocking lots of cavalry.

Oh, you get some Rusty Knives attacks in combat. Spoiler, don’t charge them in to combat.

Doom-Flayers

Man, these are really cool too! Again, really fun to build, and the good news is the outer casing of the Doom-Flayers just pushes on, so you can use them in game whilst unpainted, then take them apart to ensure you can paint the internal elements a lot easier.

They have 4 Health, and can move 2D6+3”. They also have a 4+ save, but only Control 1.

As you would imagine, you (potentially) get a fair few attacks. The box/unit includes 2 of these. Each get 2D6 attacks, hitting and wounding on 3s, with Rend 1 and damage 1.They also get Anti-Infantry (+1 Rend) and +1 damage on the Charge. In other words, send these hurtling in to those enemy infantry units!

If the unit has charged then on a 2+ on a D3 you inflict that amount of mortal wounds on said enemy unit.

Warp-Grinder

This kit comes with a couple of build options which is really cool, especially if you plan on running 2 of them in a list. They are really fun and easy to assemble too.

The reason you are taking one of these is the Warp-Ambush ability that it comes with, and of which has been featured at this link on Warhammer Community.

It is a big gamble, as they only appear on a 4+, but if it goes off then you could potentially really surprise your opponents units that have no support. The other downside is they can only appear outside of 6” of other enemy units, but of course they can turn up in combat with the enemy unit you are ambushing.

Once it’s out of the ground and in combat it gets D3 attacks, hitting on 4s, wounding on 2s at an awesome Rend 3 and damage 5! Oh, and some back up Knife attacks too.

Krittok Foulblade

A brand new named character, and it’s a Clawlord. He’s a really nice model, armed with a killer Daemon sword.

Again, he has been the focus of some attention over on WarCom, but had to give his ability another mention. Giving +1 to wound on the Stormvermin is ace. I’ve found Stormvermin to be really good since the index, and this only further improves them.

He does also have another ability, called A Reputation for Cunning, which allows him to grant the Always Three Claw Steps ahead ability to two units instead of one, however one must be a Verminus unit.

Master Moulder

Taking more than a few design inspirations from the Brood Terror and Hell Pit, the new Master Moulder simply shouts out that he’s from Clan Moulder, I mean, he’s got two heads!

He’s nothing spectacular, but he does give a Clan Moulder unit +1 to charge, which is handy. He also heals 1 unit at the end of your turn, bringing 3 wounds back, which is even better when paired with the Brood Horror, who also has an ability to regain D6 wounds.

If you are packing Moulder units he’s a handy utility character, but you do have to keep him in combat range to make use of the +1 charge ability, which could make him an easy character for your opponent to take out.

Brood Terror

The Brood Terror was the first model we got to see post-launch box, and he didn’t disappoint. Again a joy to assemble, albeit not quite as big as I expected.

Still, he is a very characterful model, and is a beast in combat. Thanks to his end of turn D6 healing ability (especially when paired with the Master Moulder) he can be surprisingly tricky to take down. In a test game with Matt he more than made his points back, and survived longer than I anticipated.

An ability that furthers helps with his survivability is Warpstone Fumes. In the Combat Phase you roll a D6, and on a 2+ all enemy units within 6″ of the Brood Terror are -1 to hit.

I’ve mentioned he’s a beast in combat and that is thanks to his two weapons. The Chain-Flail has Crit (Mortals), 5 attacks, 4s, 2s, Rend 2 and flat damage 3 whilst his Bladed Limbs add another 3 attacks, 4s, 4s Rend 1 and damage 2. He does heavily benefit from an All-out Attack, so consider ensuring you save a CP for him.

Summary of the New Models/Warscrolls

This is the range refresh that the Skaven have been crying out for, and honestly, I love every single mini in the release from an aesthetic POV. If I HAD to pick a favourite, it would be between the new Acolytes, the Warp-Grinder and Vizzik, but it really is a close run thing.

Every kit was straightforward to assemble (aside from that forehead on Vizzik!) and I’m looking forward to painting the remainder of the units over the coming few weeks.

As for rules, overall I’m very happy. Vizzik, IMHO, has a disappointing warscroll. He’s made from combat, but with a 5+ save and ward save, he isn’t sticking around for long. If you are taking him you’ll be wanting to only send him in to combats with units you know he’ll be able to deal with before moving on. He’s still a great utility piece and thanks to being a Priest he unlocks the Prayers which are also very good.

The Warp-Grinder can seriously mess with your opponents mind, however use it with caution. Whilst you could set it up underground with say, a unit of Stormfiends, you are relying on that 4+ for it to surface and you potentially face the risk of them never arriving, thus wasting the points of the Stormfiends. Perhaps consider sending a cheaper unit underground with it, or at least be prepared for your more expensive units to be wasted. Hey, it’s the Skaven way!

Kritttok is a must take IMO if you plan to run a Verminus heavy list, or if you are planning on bringing along a big unit of Stormvermin.

Out of the other new characters, I’d probably imagine the Arch-Warlock seeing a lot of use, whilst the Master Moulder and Warlock Galvaneer may be a little more situational. I’m not a competitive player, so of course all of the above is based on my opinion, but overall I’m very satisfied with what we’ve got.

Spearhead

Spearhead is new to 4th Edition, and the Spearhead rules for the models that came in the launch box return here. No changes, however you do get a very comprehensive painting guide to help you get your force on the tabletop.

I’ve only had the one game with them so far in Spearhead, and I do feel they are perhaps…a little underpowered compared to other Spearheads, but they are still a heck of a lot of fun, and perhaps you folks have had better success!

If you haven’t yet tried Spearhead, I highly recommend it. You can check out Matt’s review of the game mode here.

Path to Glory

We’ve had Path to Glory content in Age of Sigmar Battletomes before, however, they never really did it for me.

Yes there was a fair bit to digest but, they never really clicked with me, and as a group we never really delved in to those rules much.

In 4th Edition it appears Path to Glory has been simplified, and makes more use of the Path to Glory rules from the Core book (we also believe that more narrative books are coming in the future too). This means we get something very very cool in this book, the Anvil of Apotheosis returns!

For those who don’t know what the the Anvil of Apotheosis is, it was first introduced a few Generals Handbooks back, and allowed you to create a bespoke named character for your army. It worked on choosing a Hero type, which can you a Destiny Point (DP) limit (think of it as points to spend on gear) and a Battle Profile points cost, so even in narrative games your Hero is costed to help with list building.

For Skaven, this looks like so:

This allows you to fill in a basic warscroll for your new Hero.

From there, you get to choose what Clan your Hero will hail from. All of the Clans are represented, and each one includes either a passive or Once per Turn ability that you can use. Take for example, you choose Masterclan, you then gain the Passive ability Malicious Authority. This allows you to use an All-Out attack for free on any friendly non-Hero Skaven units within 13″ of your new hero.

Alternatively, perhaps your new hero is an Assassin and aligns with Clan Eshin. They gain a Once per Turn ability called One with the Shadows, which allows you to choose up to 3 Eshin units wholly within 13″ and not in combat, you can then remove those units from the battlefield and place them down again anywhere on the battlefield outside of 9″ of enemy units. This is done in the Movement phase and can be used on any Eshin units.

Next up, you can pick an origin…and should you wish…a flaw for your character. An origin provides you again with a new ability whilst a flaw gives you…well…a flaw, such as subtract 1 from the number of dice rolled when making charges.

You don’t have to pick a flaw, but if you do you gain back Destiny Points, which you can spend elsewhere. For example, that previously mentioned flaw would give you back 4 Destiny Points.

Does your new Hero dislike the idea of having to walk around everywhere? Well, they are in luck, as the next bit provides you with the option to choose a ‘mount’ for your hero. This is split between either a Siege-Engine Chassis (think, Screaming Bell) or a Moulder Beast (which is further broken down to either a Gnaw-Beast (5DP) or Monstrous Horror (a mighty 20DP). These can then be upgraded at the cost of DP, so you could, for example, attach a Warp Lightning Discharger to your Siege-Engine, or a Accelerated Regeneration ability to a Moulder Beast for some healing shenanigans.

Finally, you get a full page of cool upgrades and keywords, all with Destiny Point costs, that you can add to your hero. You cannot duplicate any. There is a wide variety of stuff here, from weapons to keywords. Here is a selection:

• Dealings with the Masterclan – Your Hero becomes Wizard (1). If already a Wizard he adds 1 to casting.
• A Knack for Survival – Gain a 6+ Ward Save
• Warpstone-infused Blade – Improve your basic Warpforged Blade to Damage 3
• Experimental Warpvolt Incinerator – A ranged weapon. 18″ range, 2 Attacks, 3s to hit and wound, Rend 2 Damage D3. Anti-Cavalry (+1 Rend) and Crit (2 Hits)

With your Hero now ready for battle, it’s time to slay some lesser beings and gain some experience.

This book contains two charts, the first being Path of the Master, which allows you to choose new abilities for your Skaven Hero as he gains experience and Path of the Swarm, which is an upgrade tree for non-Hero Skaven.

I much MUCH prefer what they are doing with Path to Glory now, keeping the main campaign, missions and rules contained in other rulebooks, such as the Core rules, leaving the important cool stuff for your faction within your Battletome. The Anvil provides you with the perfect excuse to go bananas and create the Skaven Hero OF YOUR DREAMS. I for one will be creating one for each level of Destiny, so I can chart his ascendency to Clan-lord! YES YES!

Ragnark Spittlespark – Example Anvil Character

With all the above in mind, I decided to have a go at creating my own Hero using the Anvil rules.

Here is what I ended up with, and is a great example of what you can do!

Name: Ragnark Spittlespark

Step One: Going all in for this example, Clan-lord, giving me 50 Destiny Points.

Step Two: Fill in my basic stats, which are Movement 6″, 5 Health, Control 2, 5+ Save, Warpforged Blade (which is 4 attacks, 4s, 4s Rend 1, Damage 2)

Step Three: It’s all about praying right? So with that in mind I’m going Pestilens. It costs me 4 DP, so I am down to 46 DP. I gain the Priest and Pestilens keywords.

Step Four: Time to choose an origin. I’ve gone for Favoured Pack. it allows me to choose a Stormvermin or Clanrat unit to be my bodyguard. It grants Ragnark a 4+ Ward, and also gives my bodyguard unit +1 to wound. Just got to keep them wholly within 6″ of my hero. That costs me a further 4 DP, so I am down to 42 DP.

I’ve also decided to go full fluffy, and pick a flaw. I’ve gone for He Who Fights and Runs Away, which means if I retreat I cannot contest objectives. This grants me 2 DP, taking my running total back up to 44 DP

Step Five: MOUNT UP! I think it makes sense, seeing as I’m not intending for my hero to get in to combat really…to go for a Siege-Engine Chassis. That costs me 15 DP, reducing my pool to 29 DP. This improves my health to 15, my save to 4+, my control to 5 and replaces my Infantry keyword with War Machine.

Step Six: I liked zappy things, so I’m going to strap a Warp Lighting Discharger to my Siege-Engine, costing me a further 10DP (only 19 DP left!). It works a lot like a Warp Lighting Cannon. 20″ range, 2D6 shots, hits on 4s and any hits equal 1 mortal wound.

Step Seven: With 19 DP left, it’s time to blow them on some general upgrades. As we don’t have many Priests in the book I’m going for Clerk of the Horned Rat, which gives me +1 to chanting rolls. That costs 6 DP, leaving 13 DP to play with. Just in case I lose my bodyguard unit, I’m going to take A Knack for Survival for a 6+ Ward (2 DP). Extra Health is also good (2 DP, adds 1 extra to Health). Although I don’t plan on being in combat too much…I’m going to buff my melee weapon with Fell-Blessed Blade (gives it Crit Mortals) and Warpstone-infused Blade (flat 3 damage). Those two cost 7 DP together, leaving me with 2 DP. I’ll use 1 DP to add 1 extra Control and 1 extra to my Move.

That in total means my Hero is now…

• Movement 6″
• Health 16
• Control 6
• Save 4+ / Ward 6+ (4+ if near my bodyguard unit)
• Warpforged Blade (4 Attacks with Crit Mortals, 4s, 4s, Rend 1, 3 Damage)
• Priest (1) with + 1 to Chant
• Mounted on a Siege-Engine with a Warp Lighting Discharger

Now I need to make the model!!!

Army of Renown: The Great-Grand Gnawhorde

The book is not yet done, as we now have two Army of Renown options, for those not keen on the general Skaven faction rules, or for those that want to lean in to a particular theme.

The first is called The Great-Grand Gnawhorde, and focuses on a force of Rats rallying around the recently arrived Vizzik, Prophet of the Great Horned Rat.

As such, your roster options are limited to Vizzik and any general Skaven units. You can take any non-Unique Masterclan, Verminus, Skyre or Moulder units. You also cannot take a Regiment of Renown nor your Gnawholes.

Your Battle Traits are replaced with 4 new ones:

• Disciples of Vizzik – So long as a friendly unit is within combat range of Vizzik it grants Vizzik a 4+ Ward Save, and any damage inflicted and saved by said ward save bounces on to the nearby friendly unit. Very fluffy, and IMO, grants Vizzik the survivability he should have already.
• Warpshatter Throes – This is made up of three abilities, and you can only use one per turn, and targets 3 of your units. Unstoppable Warp-Volley adds 3″ to the range of one of your targets range weapons however the unit cannot use commands. Frenzied Momentum adds 2 to run and charge rolls, however you lose 1 control score. Reckless Abandon adds 1 to Attacks, however it grants enemy units +1 to hit said targeted unit.

You then gain access to 1 x Heroic Trait, Artefact of Power, Spell lore, Prayer Lore and Manifestation. It means you have less flexibility than a normal Skaven army, but they are powerful abilities, such as the one spell you get is called Deafening Frenzy, which gives a unit Strikes First. The one manifestation that you can take is the Vermintide (because that makes sense for the fluff of the army).

Warhammer Community have also done a piece on this, which you can find here.

Army of Renown: Thanquol’s Mutated Menagerie

The second army of renown…you guessed it…focuses on Thanquol and Clan Moulder units.

For the roster you can only pick:

• Thanquol, of course
• Master Moulder
• Rat Ogors
• Hell Pits
• Brood Terror
• Stormfiends.

Like Vizzik’s, you cannot take any Regiments of Renown and you cannot use Gnawholes.

And again, just like Vizzik, all your general Battle Traits are replaced with 4 new ones, two of which are Rampage abilities.

Monstrous Entourage is the same rule as Disciples of Vizzik, granting Thanquol a 4+ ward save which potentially damages his own units within combat range. Once per turn you can use an ability called More-More Mutation! which works on any non-Hero Moulder units. It grants them a plethora of buffs for the rest of the battle:

• Add 2 to Health
• Add 2″ to Movement
• Add an extra Attack
• Give it a 5+ Ward save

However…and you knew this was coming…you do have a downside. At the end of each turn you have to allocate D3+2 damage to that unit. OUCH.

The two Rampage abilities are Spiteful Swarms (gives a unit Strike First, however at the end of the turn your unit dies, and for each enemy unit within 6″ on a 3+ loses 1 attack from there melee profile for the rest of the game) and Rampaging Demise (same as Swarms in that it grants Strike First and your unit ends up dying, however instead of potentially reducing attacks from your enemy you instead potentially deal D3 mortal wounds on a roll of a 2+).

Once again you just have 1 unique Spell, Artefact, Prayer and Heroic Trait, as well as access to the Warp Lightning Vortex. Again, each of these unique abilities are flavoured around the army, but reduces the overall flexibility of the force compared to the general Skaven faction rules.

Summary of the Army Of Renowns

I really liked the idea of having two different ways of using your Skaven, both of which are incredibly fluffy. Even though the new abilities are cool, I personally don’t think they fully off-set the abilities that you lose from the normal faction rules, such as the use of Gnawholes.

I absolutely want to run Thanquol’s Army, as I think that would be a heck of a lot of fun, but I can’t see me using his or Vizzik’s armies all that often. Personally, I think both needed at least options when it came to traits and spells, rather than a very limiting number of 1 each.

Regiments of Renown

We are getting close to the end of the book now, however we do have two Regiments of Renown available, should you wish to add some Skaven flavour to your Chaos armies.

As with all Regiments of Renown, you cannot take these as present in the Regiment in a Skaven army.

The first is Krittok’s Clawpack, which includes Krittok, a unit of 10 Stormvermin and 1 unit of Doom-Flayers. They gain the following abilites:

• +1 Attack on all units in the Regiment whilst you have more Victory points than your opponent. Subtract 3 from control scores of this Regiments units whilst you have fewer victory points
• Once per turn in the enemy movement phase you can move a unit normally (same as Always Three Clawsteps Ahead)
• Skyre Payload grants the Doom Flayers a 5+ ward whilst within combat range of the Stormvermin.

The second Regiment is called Volt-Klaw’s Enginecoven, and as you would guess features Skyre units heavily. You get a Warlock Galvaneer, 1 x unit of Warpvolt Scourgers and a Ratling Warpblaster.

They gain two abilities, which are…

• Behold my Genius! Once Per battle every unit in the regiment gets +1 to hit with its shooting attacks and an extra 3″ on there range.
• Hide-Shelter. Whilst an Infantry unit from this Regiment is within range of the Warpblaster, they cannot be targeting by units over 13″ away.

Both Regiments I feel are very good, and would work great in an array of Chaos armies, in particular the Enginecoven, which provides some firepower that most Chaos armies don’t really get any of (looking at you, Blades of Khorne!).

Again, WarCom have done a piece on these too.

Rules Reference

To finish us off is a very handy, one page, cheat sheet. Why have we not had these before!

On here we have a QR code to obtain the points (worth noting that we have zero points lists in this book), the rules for Gnawholes, the Battle Traits and all of your spells (including the basic summoning rules for the manifestations).

How handy is that! This encompasses how games of AoS have become so much more streamlined and slick.

Overall Summary

4th Edition is here with a bang, and I’m very happy.

I’ve not yet had a bad game of Age of Sigmar 4th Edition, but I have been eagerly awaiting the first Battletome to land, and how lucky am I that it is the Skaven who get the spotlight first.

The book is slick, beautifully presented whilst also being easy to read and navigate. Yes, we haven’t seen many changes from the Index, but why break what doesn’t need fixing. From my point of view I’m happy with the warscrolls, and feel that Skaven players have an awful lot of thinking to do when it comes to list building.

At last we have the gaps in various clans filled with amazing plastic minis, further giving you a headache (albeit a welcome one) of choosing what kind of army you want to run. Clan Eshin is a slight odd one, as the Underworlds warband which was popular in the last edition have gone. Nightrunners still have a warscroll ability even though the plastic models are ancient, leaving me to thinking we’ll see new models for these very soon, perhaps in a Warcry box.

Yes, I would have liked new Spells, new traits, new artefacts, but I wasn’t really expecting any, and to be honest I like what we have. GW have wanted to remove some of the bloat from the game to make it more streamlined, and limiting those options does help that. Let us also not forget that all of your spells and manifestations can be cast by any of your wizards, so whilst the lores may be limited, the availability of them has been greatly expanded. I also want to add that the new Gnawhole rules are equally fantastic, much better to limiting them to being near board edges.

The Path to Glory rules are fantastic, and are a much better way of presenting narrative flavour to the army compared to last edition. With the right support from supplements I believe Path to Glory can be better than Warhammer 40,000’s Crusade mode. I cannot wait to start converting my Skaven Hero(es).

I’m trying not to be biased, but I really love this battletome, and the minis released alongside it. It is a great time to collect, or start to collect, Skaven.

The Vermindoom is here, and that means the Skaven are here to stay. All hail the Great Horned Rat!!

Our thanks again to GW for sending us this content. Everything is up for preorder right now from Element Games. Use this link right here to save yourself some pennies and massively help us out too.