Our King of the Rats series next takes us to Clan Skryre, the “engineers” of Skaven society that dream up all sorts of war machines and experiments.
With a small dosage of raw chaos in there as well in the form of warpstone, Clan Skryre is probably the most “competitive” one out there. A lot of people just use massive amounts of stormfiends, so it might seem familiar to one you’ve seen at a tournament.
*Note I have seen some people refuse to play against this army as it can basically instantly kill some armies, so it might not be ideal against a friendly or learn the game army*
AoS 2.0 Taking Clan Skryre to 2000 Points
Special Rules:
- Bravery in Numbers: Add 2 to Bravery for every 10 models in a unit
- Warpstone Sparks: At the start of battle roll for D3 warstone sparks. You can use one to re-roll a casting or unbinding roll for a Skryre Wizard, reroll a failed to hit or wound roll for a Skryre Hero, or add 1 Damage characteristic of a weapon used by a friendly Skryre model. After using the spark roll a D6 on a 1 the unit that used the spark suffers D3 mortal wounds.
- Various Clan Skryre Command and Artifact traits.
The faction in a Nutshell:
This faction blends science and sorcery to create mighty war machines that can be purchased by the other Skaven clans. The demand for their weapons is so high that they could be considered the wealthiest of the clans and the most influential to the Council of 13.
They are not above double-crossing their clients either as well. In the Age of Sigmar books, they have not dominated any one book as the main character, though their creations are talked about and seen here and there.
Taking this Army to 2000:
Let’s start with what makes this army so deadly the stormfiends battline troop.
- 3 Stormfiends: 290 points (Battleline 1 of 3)
- 3 Stormfiends: 290 points (Battleline 2 of 3)
- 3 Stormfiends: 290 points (Battleline 3 of 3)
Stormfiends: Move 6”, 4+ Save, 6 Bravery, 6 Wounds. They have a variety of weapon choices they can be armed with one of the following:
- Ratling Cannons: Range 12”, 3D6 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 4+, with -1 Rend, for 1 Damage.
- Windlauncher: Range 16” (do not need to be visible), 2 Attacks, Hitting on a 4+ (3+ if the unit has 10 or more models), Wounding on a 4+, with -2 Red, for D3 Damage.
- Warpfire Projectors: Range 8” Target takes 2D3 mortal wounds.
- Doomflayer Gauntlets: Range 1”, 2D3 Attacks, Hitting (Add one to hit rolls on a charge) and Wounding on a 3+, -2 Rend, for D3 Damage.
- Grinderfists: Range 1”, 4 Attacks, Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, with -2 Rend, for 3 Damage.
- Shock Gauntlets: Range 1”, Hitting on a 4+ (rolls of 6 cause D6 hits rather than just 1), Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for 2 Damage.
Finally, if you arm your stormfiend with a missile weapon they have Clubbing Blows: Range 1”, 4 Attacks, Hitting on a 4+, Wound on a 3+, for 2 Damage.
If you arm the stormfiend with either of the gauntlets they receiver an additional wound. Finally, the Grinderfists allow the Stormfiends to tunnel and instead of setting up as normal they are set up in reserve. In your movement phase roll a D6 on a 3+ they can pop up anywhere more than 9” away from the enemy.
After that what really makes them deadly is using the Gautfyre Skorch Enginecoven so let’s get the models we need to make that happen. (It includes the 3 units of Stormfiends)
- Arch Warlock: 140 points (Leader 1 of 6)
- Warlock Engineer: 100 points (Leader 2 of 6)
- Clan Skryre Battalion: 80 points (Battalion)
- Gatfyre Skorch: 150 points (Enginecoven)
- Warp Grinder Weapon team: 80 points (No Unit Type)
- Warpfire Thrower Weapon team: 70 points (No Unit Type)
- Warpfire Thrower Weapon team: 70 points (No Unit Type)
- Warpfire Thrower Weapon team: 70 points (No Unit Type)
Arch Warlock: Move 6”, 3+ Save, 6 Bravery, 6 Wounds. He has a gauntlet he can use once per game: Range 8”, target suffers D3 mortal wounds. He also has a Claw attack: Range 1”, 1 Attack, Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, -2 Rend, for 3 Damage. Finally a Halberd: Range 2”, 2 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for D3 Damage. He is a wizard and can cast/unbind 2 spells a turn with his unique spell being Warpstorm: Casting value 7, Range 18”, Target 3 enemy units, roll a dice for each on a 2+ they suffer D3 mortal wounds.
Warlock Engineer: Move 6”, 5+ Save, 5 Bravery, 5 Wounds. Has a missile weapon Pistol: Range 9”, 1 Attack, Hitting on a 3+, Wounding on a 4+, with -1 Rend, for D3 Damage. His other attack is a Blade attack: Range 1” 1 Attack, Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for 2 Damage.
He is a wizard and can attempt to cast 1 spell with his unique spell being Warp Lightning. Casting Value 5, Range 18”, Target is enemy unit, they then suffer D3 mortal wounds. (Before casting you can choose to attempt to supercharge the spell.) If the casting roll is successful the damage is D6 rather then D3, but if it is not successful the Engineer suffers D6 mortal wounds instead.
Clan Skryre Battalion: Consists of an Arch Warlock and 2 Enginecoven’s and is required to take Enginecovens. Also, the Archwarlock or a Warlock Engineer can make a battalion reroll for one of the Enginecovens once per turn. Gives you a bonus Command Point and Artifact as well.
Gatfyre Skorch Enginecoven: Consists of a Warlock Engineer, 1-3 units of Stormfiends, 1-5 units of Warpgrider Teams, and 1-5 units of Warpfire Thrower Teams. It allows you to set up the enginecoven to the set and them bring them in any of your hero phases. You set up the Warpgrinder Team and then all the other units in this battalion within 8” of that Warpgrinder, any units set up closer than 3” to enemy units suffer D6 mortal wounds. This does NOT give you an additional Command Point and Artifact
Warpgrinder Team: Move 6”, 6+ Save, 4 Bravery, 3 Wounds. They have two attacks the first is Warp-Grinder: Range 1”, 1 Attack, Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, with -2 Rend, for 3 Damage. Then Knives: Range 1”, 2 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 5+, for 1 Damage. They allow you to set them and one other Skaven unit to one side and attempt to set them up in any of your movement phases. On a 3+ they can be set up anywhere not within 9” of enemy models.
Warpfire Thrower Weapon team: Move 6”, 6+ Save, 4 Bravery, 3 Wounds. Has two attacks the first is Warfire Thrower: Range 8”, the target then auto suffers a D3 wounds (can be a D6 if you roll a 2+ on a D6 beforehand. If you do this and roll a 1 though the Warpfire Team suffers D3 mortal wounds instead). Knife attack: Range 1”, 2 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 5+, for 1 Damage.
To make this legal you must take a second Enginecoven for the Clan Skryre so we’re going to add the following. This will raise you up to 1980 points so with your last 20 you can grab an Endless Spell that might be useful. I personally like the Shackles at 20 points.
- Warlock Engineer: 100 points (Leader 3 of 6)
- Warp Lightning Cannon: 180 points (Artillery 1 of 4)
- Arkhspark Voltik: 70 points (Enginecoven)
Warpfire Lightning Cannon: Move 3”, 5+ Save (4+ against shooting), 4 Bravery, 6 Wounds. It has a missile weapon Lightning Cannon: Range 24”, you roll a D6, then roll an additional 6D6 and for every one that is equal to or greater than the first D6 that target suffers a mortal wound. It also has a Knife attack: Range 1”, D6 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 5+, for 1 Damage.
Arkhspark Voltik Enginecoven: Consists of a Warlock Engineer, and 1-3 Warp-Lightning Cannons. In your hero phase a Warp Cannon within 13” of the Warlock Engineer can order it to fire. Then roll a D6 on a 1-3 it suffers D6 mortal wounds. This does NOT give you an additional Command Point and Artifact
Loadouts: Your going to give all your Stormfiends Warpfire Projectors as 2D3 instant hitting and wounding mortal wounds is the best option by far.
Tactics: This army has a grand total of 15 models and 88 wounds which is not a lot, so you need to be smart with placement and not sacrifice models unnecessarily. But, holy cow this army dishes out some mortal wounds, almost every unit in this army is dealing at least a D3 mortal wounds. Your Stormfiends are 6D3 during shooting phase and if they hit in combat phase that is even better. Then your Warpfire thrower team is doing a D6 mortal wound if they don’t blow themselves up.
Next, your engineers each have access to Warp Lightning. Again, if they don’t blow themselves up this is doing D6 mortal wounds. Then your Lightning Cannon is, you guessed it, shooting mortal wounds in your hero and shooting phase.
Finally, as icing on the cake your Archwarlock has a spell that can do D3 mortal wounds to 3 different units. Very few armies can stand up to that kind of punishment.
If you enjoyed this breakdown, be sure to check out the other Skaven army articles by clicking below!
About the Author: Travis Perkins
