However, it's always nice to see them in a balanced army. Essenially they are more expensive, more liable to blow up than ratling guns and hence are usually overlooked in favour of the ratling gun. However with the new 7th edition rules units in combat will be immune to psychology so again this further restricts them. Shoot into the back of a combat and you can panic a unit out of combat allowing it to be pursued and destroyed. Their high strength hits can damage tougher opponents but it's the ability to cause panic that makes them effective. In terms of effect they have a more limited range but are potentially devestating to multi-wound enemies and/or those with low leadership as any casualties have to take a panic test. Warpfire Throwers suffer the same fragilities. This will certainly lead to fewer people using them and in forthcoming tactics sections I will explain some ways of protecting them, but the days of numerous ratling guns are over. In other words being close to a unit doesn't protect them. The reason I say take them while you can is because in the 7th edition they will be viable targets from missile fire. One per thousand points you are playing is balanced, more is considered unfair but legal. Ratling guns will have your opponents crying cheese but you should take them while you can. Secondly more units gives you more options, apart from allowing you to take more of other units because of the mainstay rule, it presents more targets to your opponent and allows you to take more weapons teams if you wish. Firstly, you need extra units for those key flank charges. In other words 4 units of 25 is better than two units of 50. It is much better to take more units rather than more rats. They won't kill much, but their low price means you will be able to take many. An article on race specific tactics will follow but for the purposes of this overview, you have to take at least one unit of clanrats and they are a bargain.
If you are facing a specific opponent that has powerful shooting such as the dwarfs, empire or elves, you may wish to bolster these up to around 30. At 2000pts you should be taking at least 2 units, preferably 3 For a tournament army they should be around 25 in number especially with the new 7th edition rules that require you to have 5 across the front to constitute a rank. They are a measly 5 points, come with a 4+ save in hand to hand combat and 5+ save normally, and form the bedrock of your army. It is therefore sensible to tackle your core choices in the first instance.Ĭore choices don't get much better. In other words if you take 3 clanrat units, you can take 3 of any other type of unit. The reason for this is because this is where you should start when designing your armies and also it the mainstay rules dictate that you may only have as many of any given type of unit as you have clanrat units. I am starting with core units rather than characters which appear first in the army list. So without further ado welcome to the first tactics article, the 6th Edition Skaven Army. As it stands the next army will be Orcs and Goblins, followed by Empire, nothing further is confirmed but it is believed Vampire Counts will follow. The 7th edition is due for release on 9th September. In further parts I will assess magic and magic item selection as well as a step by step approach to choosing an army and developing tactics that will see you defeat your opponents on the battlefield.Ħth Edition, I thought we were in the 7th edition already?Īs strange as it may seem, the 6th edition army will be the list used for the 7th edition as Games Workshop begin updating the current army books. In this first article I will run through some of the units in the current army list explaining their strengths and weaknesses. No other army combines the amusing and random aspects of the game with rich mythology, versatility and yet still maintains a very competitive army that is capable of beating any foe. Well done for choosing the best army in Warhammer.