Friday, February 9, 2024

A skittering in the night: Skaven in Warhammer The Old World

The Clan lives on

The Old World has become new. Joining aspiring new generals (welcome!) are former commanders who left after 8th edition (or older). Ranking up with them are players who never stopped and have been carrying the torch with the 9th Age (IX Age Fantasy Battles) or other systems. 

I imagine many former players (like me) reaching deep into their closets, pulling out old biscuit tins or Tupperware boxes, dusting them off, and slowly opening them. What tissue-protected gold (lead?) and other riches lie within?

After taking a look at my painted High Elves, I wanted to see if I could coax my old Skaven into skittering out of the darkness and into the light of day. How many points are they worth? To find out, I turned to 'The Old World Builder' (https://old-world-builder.com) and chucked in the names of my models that are on the official Skaven Legacy PDF from GW. Just to be clear, I wasn't trying to plan out a viable army (which has various limitations on different unit types) but instead wanted to see what I have to play with. Out of interest, I added in a few magic items, champions, musicians, and banner bearers in units etc.

Characters

Grey Seer & Screaming Bell [455 pts]
- Hand weapon
- D3 Warpstone Tokens
- Level 4
- Screaming Bell
- Ruby Ring of Ruin
- Warpstone Armour
- Battle Magic

Grey Seer [205 pts]
- Hand weapon
- D3 Warpstone Tokens
- On foot
- Dispel Scroll
- Battle Magic

Skaven Chieftain [76 pts]
- Additional hand weapon
- Heavy Armor
- Battle Standard Bearer

Plague Priest & Plague Furnace [296 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Plague censer
- Level 2
- Plague Furnace
- Daemonology


Skaven Warlord [93 pts]
- Halberd
- Light armour

Warlock Engineer [111 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Warplock pistol
- Level 2
- D3 Warpstone Tokens (default)
- Battle Magic

Warlock Engineer [111 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Warplock pistol
- Level 2
- D3 Warpstone Tokens (default)
- Battle Magic

Core

40 Clanrats [332 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Thrusting spear
- Light armour
- Shield
- Clawleader
- Standard bearer
- Musician
- 1 Weapon Team (Hand weapons + Warpfire Thrower + Light armour)



40 Clanrats [332 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Thrusting spear
- Light armour
- Shield
- Clawleader
- Standard bearer
- Musician
- 1 Weapon Team (Hand weapons + Warpfire Thrower + Light armour)



40 Clanrats [327 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Thrusting spear
- Light armour
- Shield
- Clawleader
- Standard bearer
- Musician
- 1 Weapon Team (Hand weapons + Poisoned Wind Mortar + Light armour)



20 Stormvermin [220 pts]
- Handweapon
- Halberds
- Heavy Armour
- Fangleader
- Standard bearer
- Musician


3 Rat Swarms [108 pts]
- Claws and fangs (counts as hand weapons)

12 Giant Rats [36 pts]
- Claws and teeth (counts as hand weapons)

Special

10 Gutter Runners [190 pts]
- Two hand weapons
- Sling
- Ambushers
- Poisoned Attacks

10 Gutter Runners [190 pts]
- Two hand weapons
- Sling
- Ambushers
- Poisoned Attacks

3 Warplock Jezzails [57 pts]
- Hand weapons
- warplock jezzails
- Pavise

30 Plague Monks [228 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Plague Deacon
- Standard bearer
- Musician

3 Rat Ogres [149 pts]
- Hand weapons
- Mutated hides (counts as Heavy armour)
- 1 Packmaster (Whip
- 1 per 2 Rat Ogres)
Two 'Old skool' early rat ogre mutants

3 Rat Ogres [149 pts]
- Hand weapons
- Mutated hides (counts as Heavy armour)
- 1 Packmaster (Whip
- 1 per 2 Rat Ogres)
Four r-ogres...

Rare

1 Hell Pit Abomination [210 pts]
- Warpstone claws

1 Doomwheel [145 pts]
- Warlock: Hand weapon / Rats: Claws and fangs (counts as a hand weapon)

1 Plagueclaw Catapult [110 pts]
- Plagueclaw Catapult
- hand weapons
- Light armour

1 Warp Lightning Cannon [110 pts]
- Warp Lightning Cannon
- hand weapons
- Light armour

So, 'How many points are they worth?' 
The answer is 4,349...

...but that is not the whole story.

The departed

A quick scan of the PDF reveals that there are a whole litter of models that didn't make it into WOTC. Those models still look great though and could easily be used in an Old World Skaven army (Snikch as an assassin, Queek as a warlord etc.) For named models, this makes perfect sense, as the game takes place in a completely different era to that in which the 8th Edition took place. For other units, less so, and IMHO to the detriment of the characterful nature of the army...
...no Skaven slaves? (Bah!)
...no Vermin Lord? (Sacrilege!)
...no Doomrocket? (Aggressive squeek and sniffle!)

So, raise your drinking skulls and pour out a Skavenbrew for those units assigned to the scroll of remembrance.

Skaven Vermin Lord
(Alternative non-GW model, counts as Skaven Vermin lord)


Queek Headtaker of Clan Mors

Deathmaster Snikch

Skaven Slaves
(Old clanrats, used as Skaven slaves)

MORE slaves...Goblins, (count as Skaven slaves)

Not having the units above brings a sense of nostalgia, tinged with regret, but it is what it is!

That list in full:
===
Skaven [4349 pts]
Warhammer: The Old World, Skaven
===

++ Characters [1236 pts] ++

Skaven Warlord [93 pts]
- Halberd
- Light armor

Grey Seer [455 pts]
- Hand weapon
- D3 Warpstone Tokens
- Level 4
- Screaming Bell
- Ruby Ring of Ruin
- Warpstone Armour
- Battle Magic

Grey Seer [205 pts]
- Hand weapon
- D3 Warpstone Tokens
- On foot
- Dispel Scroll
- Battle Magic

Skaven Chieftain [76 pts]
- Additional hand weapon
- Heavy Armor
- Battle Standard Bearer

Plague Priest [296 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Plague censer
- Level 2
- Plague Furnace
- Daemonology

Warlock Engineer [111 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Warplock pistol
- Level 2
- D3 Warpstone Tokens (default)
- Battle Magic

++ Core Units [1575 pts] ++

40 Clanrats [332 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Thrusting spear
- Light armor
- Shield
- Clawleader
- Standard bearer
- Musician
- 1 Weapon Team (Hand weapons + Warpfire Thrower + Light armor)

40 Clanrats [332 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Thrusting spear
- Light armor
- Shield
- Clawleader
- Standard bearer
- Musician
- 1 Weapon Team (Hand weapons + Warpfire Thrower + Light armor)

40 Clanrats [327 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Thrusting spear
- Light armor
- Shield
- Clawleader
- Standard bearer
- Musician
- 1 Weapon Team (Hand weapons + Poisoned Wind Mortar + Light armor)

3 Rat Swarms [108 pts]
- Claws and fangs (counts as hand weapons)

12 Giant Rats [36 pts]
- Claws and teeth (counts as hand weapons)

20 Stormvermin [220 pts]
- Handweapon
- Halberds
- Heavy Armor
- Fangleader
- Standard bearer
- Musician

1 Weapon Team [75 pts]
- Hand weapons
- Warpfire Thrower
- Light armor

1 Weapon Team [75 pts]
- Hand weapons
- Warpfire Thrower
- Light armor

1 Weapon Team [70 pts]
- Hand weapons
- Poisoned Wind Mortar
- Light armor

++ Special Units [963 pts] ++

3 Rat Ogres [149 pts]
- Hand weapons
- Mutated hides (counts as Heavy armour)
- 1 Packmaster (Whip
- 1 per 2 Rat Ogres)

3 Rat Ogres [149 pts]
- Hand weapons
- Mutated hides (counts as Heavy armour)
- 1 Packmaster (Whip
- 1 per 2 Rat Ogres)

30 Plague Monks [228 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Plague Deacon
- Standard bearer
- Musician

10 Gutter Runners [190 pts]
- Two hand weapons
- Sling
- Ambushers
- Poisoned Attacks

10 Gutter Runners [190 pts]
- Two hand weapons
- Sling
- Ambushers
- Poisoned Attacks

3 Warplock Jezzails [57 pts]
- Hand weapons
- warplock jezzails
- Pavise

++ Rare Units [575 pts] ++

1 Hell Pit Abomination [210 pts]
- Warpstone claws

1 Doomwheel [145 pts]
- Warlock: Hand weapon / Rats: Claws and fangs (counts as a hand weapon)

1 Warp Lightning Cannon [110 pts]
- Warp Lightning Cannon
- hand weapons
- Light armour

1 Plagueclaw Catapult [110 pts]
- Plagueclaw Catapult
- hand weapons
- Light armour

---
Created with "Old World Builder"

[https://old-world-builder.com]

That's all for now. For the next post, I'm thinking of seeing what unpainted High Elf and Skaven units are still in the closet...

Thanks for reading!

2 comments:

  1. An inspiring read! I have been digging out and counting points on my vintage squeakers as well. First battle in two decades planned this weekend!

    I was planning on running my verminlord as an allied chaos demon which can be taken as allied forces on oldworld builder!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for dropping by the blog! I like your idea about the Verminlord. I haven't got to the stage of really prepping for a game yet, but you've got me thinking...

    ReplyDelete

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