Warhammer Fantasy Island Of Blood Tactics: Skaven

Let’s take a look at the game plan for Skaven in the Warhammer Island of Blood box set and my experience in winning and losing with them.

From a starter/new to wargames perspective the Skaven are a tough army to play since they rely on a higher element of randomness to win.

Sure wargames are random in their nature- that provides the fun and tension of the game, allowing those moments of triumph and defeat, and in this both armies have a layer of it in terms of hits, wounds, and potential saves with the dice.

But the Skaven have a second layer in their war machines- which give them the punch to really take on the elves- Skaven need to get in one or two good shots per game and not have a misfire- which can happen most of the time, but of course if the dice screw over your war machines (like in the last game I posted) all you can really do is take ride the game out, and give it another go next time.

Vs. the elves you have to deal with two rock hard units- the great swords and the prince on the griffon. Your rat-ogres look tough, and there is a temptation to let them lose, but the elves have can weaken them with some well placed arrows, not killing them, but weakening them when they assault so their intended hard hitting power is really lessened.

Let’s start with the Skaven mortar and target priority. Forget firing on the griffon for now even if that is the first panic reaction and thing to do. Target #1 is the Elven swordsman- a well placed shot or two can take them out no problem, and that is what needs to happen.

Next war machine- the warpfire thrower is going to go next to your two Skaven clan rat groups and push up the center with the rat-ogres behind. This block is your counter to the griffon who has a huge charge range. You want to push to the center so you can get the charge off on it with both your clan rat group- drowning it in numbers is the only way. Next, you follow up with the rat-ogres if combat doesn’t go well or you need to follow up with more attacks to put it down.

If you can’t get that push to mid field, then bait with the war-fire thrower, although I imagine most opponent’s wouldn’t fall for this, so maybe the rat-ogres instead.

In the usual just line up and battle it out game that is what I’ve been doing and having good success with the Skaven- when my temperamental warmachines co-operate.

Of course special scenarios or themed missions require a different approach…

Long time Skaven players or those with IOB experience what do you say?