I’ve had the itch to start a Soulblight Gravelords army for ages (honestly), and it turns out the undead are very patient. While I’m more of a painter than a player, this time I’m looking to change that. My goal is to raise not just beautifully (hopefully) painted miniatures from the dead, but also my gaming skills. From Grave to Glory, this series will follow my journey from the humble beginnings of a Spearhead box to a fully fledged Soulblight force, and maybe even a few victories along the way (I can dream).
I’ve decided to start with the older Soulblight Gravelords Spearhead box. Yes, the one that’s vanished from the Games Workshop store like a vampire at dawn but still lurks on various third-party sites. I chose it over the newer box because, quite simply, it offers more bite for your buck.
Here’s what’s inside:
1x Vampire Lord
20x Deathrattle Skeletons – The backbone (literally) of the force.
5x Blood Knights
3x Vargheists
Theme: “Death’s Season”
This army will be steeped in the decay of autumn, when the leaves fall, and the dead rise. Think dusty orange-browns for cloaks, dark mouldy green for armour, sickly yellows for banners, and green magical glow effects. The bases will be littered with autumnal detritus: leaves, browns, ochres, and just a touch of rot.
Bits & Bones
I’ve not actually got had the opportunity to paint minis yet, but I’ve used dreaded AI to come up with a few possible themes that may work.
The one that really caught my eye, but perhaps with more a green tint to the armour.
WIP on replicating the scheme
The tunic is a 1:1 mix of Steel Legion Drab and Wild Rider Red, aiming for a worn, autumnal orange-brown. The armour started with Castellan Green and was drybrushed with Runelord Brass to give it a weathered, aged-metal look. The banner is a 50/50 mix of Steel Legion Drab and Fire Dragon Bright. I’ll be adding a design and some glow effects to the eyes next. All the wood and leather were done in Rhinox Hide for that deep, earthy tone. I hope this all comes together for a rich, autumn-season vibe. Though I think the tunic could be a little darker.
Next Steps:
Over the next month, my plan is:
Paint the entire Spearhead to tabletop standard (or better, depending on how much the vampires drain me).
Get some games in, hopefully with actual living opponents.
Reflect on gameplay and look at which models (or playstyles) I might want to expand into as I build towards a 1,000-point list.
This will be the first of our Age of Sigmar 4th Edition battletome reviews.
Like other Battletome reviews you see elsewhere, we’ll be looking at the Battle Traits, Battle Formations, Artefacts, and Heroic Traits. But we’ll be adding our own twist as we look at their effectiveness and usage by players using our own stats that we publish each week. We’ll keep this updated throughout 4th edition so you can keep referring back.
On top of this, because not everyone is a competitive player, we’ll be looking at the lore in the book as well as the rules for both Path to Glory and Spearhead.
Also, a little reminder that you can purchase your copy of the Skaven Battletome through our affiliate link with Element Games (£31.45). You’ll be helping the site and saving money on the RRP at the same time!
And if you want to chat to us directly, why not join our friendly Discord server?
I want to thank everyone who has helped create this Battletome review by either sending me pictures of their models to use or giving me little snippets of their tactical thinking around Skaven:
Boggy
Carl Stokes
Celefaze
Droog
DustyDness
HairyHogg
Jesterscf
Kieren Coates
Noel Fundora
Patrick German
Roland Rivera
Schokoweck
Scott Huber
Vericur
Vladislav Turusov
Zaza / Elsaz
Fazer
Also, a massive thank you to our Patreon supporters! It’s because of you that the site no longer had ads!
What are the Skaven?
To witness the Skaven at war is to glimpse the apocalyse. Twisted fusions of man and rat, they epitomise the most despicable traits of mortalkind. Callous, cunning and foul beyond imagining, they strive to reduce the realms to ruin, overthrowing the natural order with wicked glee.
The Skaven are a race of humanoid rats who plot and scheme for realm spanning domination (think Pinky and the Brain). They number in the their billions, and the realms have not yet been overrun by the Skaven only due to constant infighting and distrust of one another.
Each Skaven claws their way as high as they can through the social structure by any means necessary, whether through double-dealing, bribery or assassination.
Crazy and ingenious, their War machines are things of terror, as are their menagerie of monsters, created from the visions of the warp-addled minds of the Clans Moulder.
The Chittering Horde Advances – Carl Stokes
Battletome Lore
The lore of the battletome focuses on the Hour of Ruin, a time when the Skaven unite under their father-god, the Great Horned Rat, and swarm across the Mortal Realms. Central to this narrative is the Great Horned Rat’s grand scheme: for the sprawling Skaven stronghold of Blight City to breach the weakened veil of reality and spill into the fiery hellscape of Aqshy’s Great Parch, now corrupted and renamed the Gnaw.
The Gnaw is a landscape saturated with the corrupting taint of Chaos and glittering with warpstone dust, lethal to both body and soul. Only those with resistance to Chaos can tread within its bounds, and even then, they must face the countless hordes of Skaven that infest the area.
The battletome also explores the larger Skaven clans in detail, highlighting their character and roles within Skaven society:
Clans Eshin specialise in espionage, deception, and assassination, their shadowy operatives striking from the darkness with deadly precision.
Clans Pestilens venerate the Horned Rat as the Great Corruptor, willingly infecting themselves with virulent plagues they believe bring them closer to their father-god.
Clans Moulder are macabre beastmasters, known for creating horrific warbeasts by melding creatures together through dark alchemy and mutation.
Clans Skryre are diabolical engineers, crafting devastating machines and warp-powered devices capable of wreaking havoc from a distance.
Clans Verminus derive their strength from sheer numbers, commanding endless hordes of Skaven to overwhelm their enemies in a tide of fur and claws.
The battletome digs into the details of Blight City, describing its labyrinthine layout and painting a picture of the Skaven’s festering metropolis. Alongside the background lore, it includes a selection of short stories. One, Red in Fang and Claw, recounts the fate of Greatcost, a fortified city in the Great Parch. This story captures the destruction carried out by the Skaven.
Faction Rules
Battle Traits
Skaven armies have a number of thematic abilities that reflect their devious and unpredictable nature. These traits allow players to embrace the Skaven underhanded style of warfare:
Lurking Vermintide (Deployment Phase): Allows one friendly Skaven unit to be held in reserve, representing their knack for striking from the tunnels below.
Always Three Clawsteps Ahead (Enemy Hero Phase): Once per turn, a non-Monster Skaven unit not engaged in combat or freshly deployed can make a ‘Normal Move‘ as if it were the movement phase, showcasing their quick reflexes and adaptability.
Too Quick to Hit-Hit (Passive): Skaven Infantry and Cavalry are immune to mortal wounds caused by Retreat abilities, reflecting their frantic and slippery nature.
Splinters of the Vermindoom (Once per Battle Round): If there are fewer than threeGnawholes on the battlefield, this ability allows you to place another Gnawhole, provided it adheres to specific placement rules.
Gnawhole Ambush (Your Movement Phase): A unit in reserve can emerge from the tunnels, deploying within 6″ of a Gnawhole and at least 9″ from enemy units, enabling surprise attacks.
These traits reinforce the Skaven‘s strengths in mobility, and making their heroes difficult to pin down, making them partially unpredictable to play against.
Skaven in battle on the tabletop – Credit to HairyHogg
Battle Formations
The Warpcog Convocation stands out as the current favourite among Skaven players, offering a combination of risk and reward during the shooting phase. Once per turn, the Skaven player rolls a dice for up to three Skryre units. The outcomes vary dramatically: on a 1, the unit suffers Kaboom! and takes D3 mortal wounds. Rolling a 2-5 (66% Chance) grants More Power!, adding +1 to wound rolls for shooting attacks for the turn. But roll a 6, and you get More-more Power!, not only improving wound rolls but also adding +1 to the rend characteristic of ranged weapons. This mechanic captures the chaotic nature of the Skryre faction, rewarding a little risk-taking with offensive boosts.
Trailing behind but still notable is the Fleshmeld Menagerie, a solid second choice for many Skaven players. Triggered during the hero phase, this ability allows the player to target up to three friendly Moulder units and roll for each. On a 1-2, the units suffer Self-destructive Fury and take D3 mortal damage. A roll of 3-4 grants +1 to the attacks characteristic of melee weapons until the next turn. On a roll of 6, the rewards stack with the addition of Ward (5+) alongside the increased attacks. While not as universally useful as the ranged effect of Warpcog Convocation, the Menagerie appeals to those looking to boost their melee-centric Moulder lists. Fleshmeld Menagerie affects the following units:
In contrast, Virulent Procession and Claw-Horde struggle to make a similar impact. Virulent Procession offers a situational effect for Pestilens units, allowing up to three of them in combat to pile in and deal mortal damage. Affecting:
While both abilities have their uses, neither matches the versatility or consistent boost of the top two choices, leaving them underrepresented in competitive play.
Heroic Traits
When it comes to Heroic Traits in the Skaven Battletome, Scurry Away emerges as the clear favourite among players. This trait allows the hero to attempt a Retreat on a 3+ if they are engaged in combat. What makes this effective is its synergy with the Too Quick to Hit-Hit ability, detailed in the Battle Traits section, which ensures that SkavenInfantry or Cavalry units don’t suffer mortal damage when doing so.
Short-tempered sees moderate play and offers a straightforward but useful buff. It adds +1 to both run and charge rolls for friendly Skaven units wholly within 13″ of the hero. This trait is ideal for lists looking to capitalise on mobility and aggression, helping to close the distance to enemy lines or reposition quickly.
Lagging slightly behind in popularity and in terms of success on the tabletop is Skilled Manipulator, which grants the hero a Ward (4+). However, the trait comes with a twist: successful ward rolls pass the damage onto a nearby non-hero Skaven Infantry unit. While this provides survivability for the hero, the reliance on sacrificial units to absorb the damage can make it a more situational choice, particularly in lists with limited disposable infantry (but entirely thematic).
Artefacts of Power
Among the Artefacts of Power in the Skaven Battletome, Foulhide takes the top spot, chosen by roughly a third of all competitive GT players. Its straightforward utility allows the bearer to Heal D3 health each turn, offering much-needed durability.
In second place is Skavenbrew, a once-per-battle artefact that provides a powerful but risky buff. In any combat phase, the bearer can target a friendly non-heroSkaven infantry unit wholly within 13″. The chosen unit suffers D3 mortal damage, but gains +1 to the Attacks characteristic of its melee weapons for the rest of the turn. This trade-off is very Skaven and has proven a solid choice for players looking to enhance their offensive output at crucial moments.
Warpstone Charm, on the other hand, sees little use and limited success on the tabletop, falling just outside the ideal 45-55% win rate range. Its effect allows the bearer to target an enemy unit in combat, and on a 3+, that unit suffers a -1 penalty to save rolls for the rest of the turn. While potentially impactful, its situational nature make it less appealing compared to the more reliable Foulhide and the high-risk, high-reward Skavenbrew.
Prayer Lore
The Skaven’s Noxious Prayers offer a blend of offensive and defensive abilities. These prayers are chanted by Skaven Priests each with effects that grow stronger on an higher ritual points. The Skaven Priests are:
Bile-Torrent is an offensive prayer with a chant value of 4. The Skaven Priest targets a visible enemy unit within 13″ and rolls a dice for each model in that unit. Each roll of 5+ inflicts a mortal damage. If the chanting roll is an 8 or higher, the prayer deals mortal damage on a 4+ instead. This makes Bile-Torrent particularly effective against large units.
Filth-Crust, also with a chant value of 4, enhances the offensive power of a friendly Skaven Infantry unit wholly within 13″. It grants +1 to their wound rolls for melee attacks. On a chanting roll of 8+, the effect becomes even more devastating, giving the unit’s weapons Crit (Mortal), until the start of the next turn.
Rabid-Tough shifts the focus to defence, with a chant value of 5. It allows the Skaven Priest to target a friendly Skaven Infantry unit wholly within 13″, subtracting 1 from wound rolls made against that unit. On a chanting roll of 8+, the targeted unit gains +1 to their save rolls until the start of the next turn, boosting their survivability.
Spell Lore
The Skaven Spell Lore, Lore of Ruin provides spells for controlling the battlefield and disrupting opponents. Each spell has a casting value of 6, making them relatively easy to cast for their Wizards:
Skitterleap offers mobility, allowing a Skaven Wizard to teleport a visible Skaven Hero wholly within 13″ to anywhere on the battlefield, as long as it is at least 9″ away from enemy units. This spell is perfect for achieving battle tactics like Take Their Land, Take the Flanks, or Attack on Two Fronts.
Warpgale provides battlefield control. Targeting a visible enemy unit within 18″, the spell inflicts the Strike-Last effect for the rest of the turn. This can swing key combats in your favour, particularly when used against high-impact enemy units.
Wither allows the Skaven Wizard to pick an enemy unit within 13″ and inflict D3 mortal damage. This makes it an excellent option for sniping vulnerable enemy heroes or chipping away at key threats, adding a touch of reliable damage to the Skaven arsenal.
Each of these spells brings utility, whether for enhancing mobility, controlling the flow of battle, or dealing targeted damage.
Manifestation Lore (Manifestations of Doom)
Most Skaven players are choosing to take Krondspine Incarnate or Forbidden Power over their own Manifestation Lore, Manifestations of Doom. And we can see that they are having good success with Forbidden Power at 72% win rate where it’s included.
Manifestations of Doom is seeing little success and falls short of the 45-55% win rate we see for lists where its included.
I asked the Skaven players on our Discord server why they are choosing Manifestations of Forbidden Power over their own lore and generally Forbidden Power allows the units of Ratling Guns and their screens to be teleported which is especially useful when the Gnawholes have been removed or can’t be set up. Forbidden Power is also great for area denial.
The Krondspine Incarnate is taken as something to sit in the midfield and tank the enemy.
There are three spells within the Manifestations of Doom, the first being:
Bell of Doom
Bell of Doom by Vericur
This is fairly easy to cast on 7+. It has a 3D6″ move and it will force the Skaven opponent to subtract 1 from wound rolls for attacks that target a Skaven Infantry unit wholly within 13″ of the Bell of Doom.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.6
0.9
1.2
1.5
1.8
Vermintide
Vermintide by Vericur
Vermintide has a move of 7″ with a health of 13 and save of 6+. If can also be cast on 7+. At the end of any turn it will Heal (D6).
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.5
1.0
1.4
1.9
2.4
Warp Lightning Vortex
Warp Lightning Vortex by Vericur
During the Hero Phase in a turn in which it was not set up enemy units within 6″ of the Manifestation suffer D3 mortal damage on a dice roll of 4+. It will also force enemy units to subtract 2 from run and charge rolls while they are within 6″ of the Warp Lightning Vortex, and if any enemy unit passes across the Warp Lightning Vortex they’ll suffer D3 mortal damage.
But considering none of the three models that make up this manifestation move, it wouldn’t be hard for a canny player to avoid.
Throughout the following warscroll reviews you’ll see figures for average shooting and melee damage output. These do not include bonuses from All-Out-Attack or the effects of Covering Fire. Please bear this in mind when viewing these figures.
Hero
Arch-Warlock
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.3
1.3
But note, this unit can shoot in combat as well.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.5
2.1
2.7
3.3
3.7
The Arch-Warlock is a Skryre Hero and a Wizard (1). It has an ability that negates the need to spend a command point for using the Covering Fire command for nearby Skryre units.
Works with other Skryre units that have ranged weaponry:
However, if this unit has been damaged it adds three to the number of attacks increasing it’s damage output to:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
You could tie this in with the Skavenbrew artefact when it comes up against a tougher opponent. It would mean it suffers D3 mortal damage, but then its attacks would increase to 10 and its damage output would increase to (I’m not at all advising this!):
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
2.2
3.3
4.4
5.6
6.7
Once this unit has fought, you can also get another nearby Verminus Infantry unit to then resolve their Fight ability immediately after the Clawlords attacks have been resolved.
The Verminus Infantry units that this would work with are:
This is another unit that can shoot in while in combat.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
Like the Clawlord on foot, if this unit is damaged, it can add three further attacks to it’s Warpforged Blade. Increasing its output to:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
2.7
4.0
5.3
6.7
8.0
It can also inflict 1 mortal damage on a nearby Non-Hero Verminus Infantry unit to then add 5 to that unit’s control score until the start of the Skaven players next turn. This works with:
But let’s be honest, its melee damage output isn’t why you’re taking it.
The Grey Seer benefits from having Warpstone Shards which boosts his casting rolls to 3D6 instead of 2D6. If the casting roll is 13, the spell is cast successfully and cannot be unbound but the Grey Seer suffers mortal damage as a result – but beware, if two of those dice rolls are 1’s then it will count as a miscast, regardless of the dice you choose. Otherwise, the player may choose which two dice to use for the casting roll.
Grey Seer on Screaming Bell
Screaming Bell
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
3.3
4.9
6.6
8.2
9.8
Note that the number of attacks reduces once this unit has 10 or more damage
The Screaming Bell has a number of abilities that accompany it, such as giving Skaven Infantry wholly within 6″ a Ward (6+). Peal of Doom has a random effect of either subtracting 1 from hit rolls for combat attacks for enemy units nearby or dishing out up to 3 mortal damage for each enemy unit within 13″, but if the roll for Peal of Doom is a 1, the Screaming Bell itself suffers D3 mortal damage.
The last one is not an ability, but a spell – Cracks Call, with a casting value of 6 (which is easy enough considering the Screaming Bell has Wizard (2)) it will inflict an amount of mortal damage on an enemy unit based on the difference between the casting roll and the enemy units move characteristic. It comes in particularly useful against those tough slow units like Chaos Warriors – lifting an average of two of them.
Krittok Foulblade
Krittok Foulblade by Vladislav Turusov
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.0
1.3
1.7
2.0
2.0
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
3.3
3.9
4.4
5.0
5.0
At the expense of using commands, this unit can use the Strike-First ability as well as adding 1 to the wound rolls for friendlyStormverminunits while they’re wholly within 13″ of this unit.
Krittok Foulblade can also pick 2 units to benefit from the Always Three Clawsteps Ahead ability instead of 1 (providing 1 of those units has the Verminus keyword).
Lord Skreech Verminking
Lord Skreech Verminking by Fazer
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
7.3
9.7
12.2
14.6
14.6
Lord Skreech Verminking also comes with a Rampage ability that reduces his opponents control score and prevents them from using commands that turn.
He has the spell The Dreaded Thirteenth Spell which he can cast on 7+ (a 72% chance of success), this will allow the Skaven player to pick a visible enemy unit within 13″ of Lord Skreech Verminking and then roll 13 dice. For each 5+ it inflicts 1 mortal damage on that enemy unit, but also returns 1 slain model to a friendly Clanrat unit wholly within 13″ of Lord Skreech Verminking.
He can also choose to pick one of the following in the Hero Phase for his ability The Thirteen-Headed One:
Add 1 to casting rolls for friendly Masterclan Wizards
Add 1 to the charge roll of nearby Verminus units
Add 1 to the hit rolls for nearby shooting attacks made by friendly Skryre units.
Add 1 to the rend characteristic of nearby Eshin units.
Add 1 to chanting rolls for nearby friendly Pestilens Priests
Heal (D3) for nearby friendly Moulder units
It’s worth noting that he also has Ward (5+).
Master Moulder
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.7
1.0
1.2
1.5
1.5
Like other Skaven Hero units, the Master Moulder can also shoot in combat.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.6
0.8
1.1
1.4
1.7
This unit is really only useful as a buff to your other Moulder units, giving a nearby Moulder unit Heal (D3) at the end of any turn, and adding 1 to the charge rolls for a Moulder unit in the Skaven charge phase. The units that benefit from this are:
The Plague Priest on Plague Furnace also buffs Pestilens units within 6″, giving them Ward (6+), while also subtracting 1 from Ward rolls enemy units. The buff can be applied to:
In addition to the melee attacks, Thanquol on Boneripper also benefits from the Boneripper Rampage which inflicts a number of mortal damage on one enemy unit he’s in combat with. This can range from a single nothing (33% chance), to D3 (50% Chance) to 2D3 (17% Chance) depending upon a dice roll.
While Thanquol on Boneripper is a Wizard (2) his staff also grants a plus 1 to casting rolls, making him one of the most reliable Wizards in the game currently. Add to this the ability to Heal (D3) at the end of any turn, and you can see why the unit is a top pick for players right now.
His signature spell is Terrible Madness which can prevent enemy units from using commands and causing mortal damage at the same time – though don’t expect this to cause too much damage.
Verminlord Corruptor
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
4.7
6.2
7.8
9.3
9.3
This unit goes well with any Priest models in the Skaven army. If any friendly Priest models roll 6 on their chanting rolls it will allow the Skaven player either cause mortal damage for a nearby unit of the Verminlord Corruptor to suffer D3 mortal damage each time that enemy unit moves, or, re-roll chanting rolls for friendly Pestilens Priests, or, inflict 2D3 mortal damage on a nearby enemy unit. This can benefit:
In addition, once this Verminlord is in combat it can cause mortal damage to up to 3 enemy units with its Rampage ability, it also gains ritual points for mortal damage it does deal in this way.
Verminlord Deceiver
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
7.1
8.2
9.3
9.3
9.3
This unit has the unique ability to be be able to teleport out of one combat to an area 13″ away even if that brings it into another combat. However, this only has a 50% chance of working.
It can also allow friendly Eshin Infantry to Redeploy a minimum of 4″ when using that command ability if they are wholly within 13″ of the Verminlord Deceiver. This benefits:
In addition to this damage output though, the Verminlord Warbringer also has a Rampage ability called Killing Blow, which it can use at the end of any turn. The Skaven player can choose a damaged enemy unit in combat with the Verminlord Warbringer. If a dice roll is less than the amount of damage the unit has it inflicts that amount of mortal damage.
It can also use the All-out Defense or All-out Attack commands on two units of Verminus Infantry even if those commands have already been used that phase. This affects:
The benefit that would appeal to me personally of running the Verminlord Warpseer is adding 2″ to the distance of the friendly Skaven units when using the Always Three Clawsteps Ahead ability. However this can be lost by using your Hurl Scry-Orb to cause mortal damage (average of 3 mortal damage) on an enemy the Verminlord is in combat with. It can dish out Strike-Last to a unit it is in combat with, but you want to avoid having this fella in combat and instead take advantage of his Wizard (2) keyword. Though Thanquolis better….
Vizzik Skour, Prophet of the Horned Rat
Vizzik Skour by DustyDness
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
5.8
7.1
8.5
9.9
11.2
Vizzik Skour can cause some decent damage to enemy units in combat, especially when adding in the mortal damage (average of 2) it can dish out from its Fissures in Reality ability, and reducing the hit and wound rolls of an enemy unit facing it in combat by 1.
Vizzik also has the ability to reroll his chanting rolls once per battle until the Skaven players next turn. While his signature spell, The Death Frenzy, which he can cast on a roll of 8+ can target either an enemy unit or a friendly Skaven Infantry unit within 13″. If the target is an enemy unit, then they must subtract 1 from their attacks characteristic of their melee weapons. If the target is a Skaven Infantry unit, that unit can use 2 Fight abilities this turn, with the second Fight ability also having Strike-Last. If this was cast on 12+ you can even pick 2 targets for the spell.
This weapon does have anti-Infantry and so would deal a little more damage to them:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.2
1.6
1.9
2.3
2.3
Being D6 damage though, this weapon can spike a fair bit, the above is based on an average dice roll. You can also add 1 to the hit rolls for the unit if it targets an enemy unit that has 10 or more models, and if the Warlock Bombadier doesn’t move or wasn’t set up you can change it’s damage to D3+3 instead of D6. All of this combined boosts its damage output against infantry units with 10 or more models to:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
2.2
3.0
3.7
4.4
4.4
There’s possibly better ways to spend the points.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.1
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Don’t get it into combat?
Warlock Engineer
Warlock Engineer by Schokoweck
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.8
1.0
1.3
1.5
1.5
But like the Warplock Bombadier it comes with a few abilities to boost this output. More-more Warp Energy! will give it the chance (83%) to set the damage to flat 3 instead of D3, while Sniper-master will allow it to target an enemy Hero ignoring the effects of Guarded Hero – which it can also give to a unit of Warplock Jezzails.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.3
0.5
0.8
1.0
1.3
Warlock Galvaneer
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.1
1.5
1.9
2.2
2.2
The ranged weapons do also have Anti-Cavalry (+1 Rend) making them a little more potent there. But the better ability is the once per battle Lightning Master, allowing a chance (83%) for a friendly Warpvolt Scourgersunit within combat range to set the attacks characteristic of their Warpvolt Scourgers to 10 for the rest of the turn.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.3
0.4
Dangerous.
Infantry
Acolyte Globadiers
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.5
2.2
3.0
3.7
4.4
That not be the most impressive of damage output, but they are able to shoot in combat and if shooting enemy Infantry, they’ll get an additional pip of rend. If the enemy unit has more than 10 models as well, they’ll get to add 1 to the damage of their ranged weapons.
This ups their damage output to:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
3.3
4.4
5.6
6.7
6.7
Also, set them up within combat range of a Clanratunit with 5 or more models and the enemy won’t be able to target them.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.2
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.8
Clanrats
Clanrats by Patrick German
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.9
3.8
5.7
7.6
9.5
The damage ramps up a bit when facing units with a 5+ or 6+ save.
Tactical Note: With 20 models and being relatively cheap, Clanrats are perfect as screens for your ranged weapons and expensive toys.
Night Runners
Converted Night Runners by DustyDness
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.1
2.2
3.3
4.4
5.6
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
3.9
4.3
4.7
5.1
5.4
This unit gets Slinking Advance, allowing it a free move in the Deployment Phase. Plus, while all the models in this unit is within 1″ of terrain they can’t be targeted by shooting attacks unless the attacking model is within 9″.
And don’t forget this unit can use a Shoot and/or a Charge ability even if this unit used Run when they’re near a Deathmaster.
Tactical Note:… I usually run a Night Runner unit with (Verminlord) Deceiver for turn 1 objective completion….
Jesterscf – Woehammer Discord
Plague Monks
Plague Monks by Fazer
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.9
3.8
5.7
7.6
9.5
Plus, if their near a Plague Furnace they can benefit from both having a Ward (6+) and if chosen to be the target of the Prayer Filth-crust, they’ll get +1 on their wound rolls. This ups their average damage output to:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
2.3
4.6
6.8
9.1
11.4
Don’t forget that Vizzik Skourcould get them to fight twice in one combat phase.
Plaguepack
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.5
2.4
3.3
4.3
5.2
Enemy units that shoot at the Plaguepack subtract 1 for hit rolls due to its Enshrouding Fumes ability.
This unit does count as a Priest (1) however, and even comes with a Plague Rat, which if you roll 1 on a chanting roll, you can burn the Plague Rat to re-roll that chanting roll.
Rat Ogors
Converted Rat Ogors by DustyDness
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.5
1.9
2.4
2.9
2.9
But, this is based on average dice rolls and considering its shooting attack is based on 2D6, it could spike a fair bit.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
3.3
5.0
6.7
8.3
10.0
But their ability Unleashed Warp-fury can add to their attacks characteristic for the remainder of a turn at the cost of D3 mortal damage. But this could be healed (as well as adding 1 to their charge roll) if there’s a nearby Master Moulder.
Ratling Guns
Ratling Guns by Boggy
Be honest, how many of you clicked straight here from the menu?
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
2.6
3.9
5.3
6.6
7.9
Which doesn’t look great off the bat, but this unit can spike with 3D6 shots each and at 15″ range they’re fairly decent. Plus if you have this unit near a unit of Clanrats, they aren’t visible to enemy units.
You’ll often find that players may run these as a reinforced unit.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.2
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.8
Stormfiends
Stormfiends by Zaza / Elsaz
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
Weapon
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
Warpfire Projectors
1.5
1.9
2.4
2.9
2.9
Ratling Cannons
1.2
1.8
2.3
2.9
3.5
Windlaunchers
1.0
1.3
1.7
2.0
2.0
In a unit of 3 you’ll only have two Stormfiends that can take ranged weaponry and one of those can take the Ratling Cannons but this is at the cost of taking Grinderfists. This leaves your other model to choose between either Warpfire Projectors or Windlaunchers.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
Weapon
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
Clubbing Blows
1.3
1.7
2.1
2.5
2.5
Doomflayer Gauntlets
3.1
4.2
5.2
6.3
6.3
Grinderfists
1.7
2.2
2.8
3.3
3.3
Shock Gauntlets
2.0
3.1
4.1
5.1
6.1
Again, we’ve listed the weapons as you’ll get to choose which ones you want to take in the unit. While one model will have to take Clubbing Blows, your second model can choose whether to have Ratling Cannons and Clubbing Blows or just Grinderfists. While your last model can either have Doomflayer Gauntlets or Shock Gauntlets.
Tactical Note: If this unit does include the Grinderfist unit, you’ll be able to use the Grinderfist Tunnellers ability if it has been set up in the tunnels below (Reserve), they can pop up on the table anywhere more than 9″ away from all enemy units. You can use this ability at the end of the enemy movement phase as well meaning you opponent can’t react with their hard-hitting units to remove them. Plus when it rolls over into your turn, if you’re going second you can move and then make a 3″ charge into the enemy.
Stormfiends by Patrick German
Stormvermin
Stormvermin by Vladislav Turusov
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
3.4
5.2
6.9
8.6
10.3
Though remember Krittok Foulblade? He can add +1 to their wound rolls, boosting their damage output to:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
4.6
6.9
9.2
11.5
13.8
Plus Vizzik Skour could get them to attack twice in one combat phase.
There are benefits for friendly Skaven Infantry Heroes who are within combat range of the Stormvermin, they gain Ward (5+). This benefits:
Like the other Skryre weapon teams, the Warpfire Throwers aren’t visible to enemy units while they are in combat range of Clanrats.
Warplock Jezzails
Warplock Jezzails by Celefaze
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
2.3
3.1
3.9
4.7
4.7
While this unit has a range of 18″ this can be increased to 24″ if they don’t move. A Warlock Engineercan also allow them to ignore the Guarded Hero rule and snipe enemy characters.
Tactical Note: You can use Warplock Jezzails to shoot ranged non-hero enemies from 24″, Heroes on Monsters or teleporting from a Gnawholeto shoot without the possibility for your opponent to Redeploy.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.2
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.8
Warpvolt Scourgers
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
3.5
5.3
7.0
8.8
10.5
Not bad eh? But also, against enemy Cavalry units they’ll get an additional pip of rend.
But what’s even better is that a Warlock Galvaneercan (on a 2+) set the Warpvolt Scourgers attack characteristics to 10 once per battle. That will up the damage output to:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
5.0
7.5
10.0
12.5
15.0
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.2
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.8
Monsters
Brood Terror
Brood Terror by Boggy
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
2.1
3.1
4.1
5.2
6.2
If facing off against Infantry, it’ll also get an additional pip of rend.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
5.1
6.0
7.0
7.9
8.2
This unit also has some defensive abilities making it durable in a fight. At the end of any turn it can Heal (D6) and, once per turn in any combat phase, for its Rampage ability it can subtract 1 from enemy hit rolls if they’re within 6″ and the Skaven player rolls 2+ on a D6.
Hell Pit Abomination
Hell Pit Abomination by Celefaze
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
5.4
7.2
9.0
10.8
10.8
This isn’t bad, but you’ll also have access to Avalanche of Flesh for its Rampage ability which on a roll of 3+ will allow it to roll a dice for each model for a unit its in combat with and cause mortal damage on 5+. Like the Brood Terror, it can also Heal (D6) at the end of any turn.
The first time this unit is destroyed, you also have a chance (33%) of causing D3 mortal damage on each unit it was in combat (33%) with and a chance of having the unit remain in the battle with D6 health.
War Machines
Doom-Flayers
Converted Doom-Flayers by DustyDness
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
2.1
3.1
4.2
5.2
6.2
But you do get a bonus of +1 damage on the charge and it also has Anti-Infantry (1 Rend), which would up the damage against Infantry units if it charges to:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
6.2
8.3
10.4
12.4
12.4
This unit will also cause an average of 2 mortal damage on its charge into any enemy unit. Compare that damage output to the two Monsters above who cost double its amount.
Doomwheel
Doomwheel
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.0
1.6
2.1
2.6
3.1
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.3
0.7
1.0
1.3
1.7
The other benefit from using the Doomwheel is its Rolling Doom ability. This unit can move through other units but it cannot end its movement in combat. When it does move through units, you can choose up to three enemy units that it passed across and rolling a D3 for each one, you’ll cause mortal damage equal to the roll on a 2+. This unit has a movement of 2D6 +7″ so that’s an average of a 14″ move. The Doomwheel can use this ability even if it is combat.
Plagueclaw
Plagueclaw by Vericur
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.3
1.9
2.6
3.2
3.9
If you’re targeting an Infantry unit though, this does get an additional pip of rend in doing so.
When you do hit a unit and remove models as a result, you have the ability to roll a dice, if the roll is equal to or less than the number of slain models killed by the Plagueclaw that phase then that unit suffers from Strike-Last for the rest of the turn.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.1
0.2
0.4
0.5
0.6
Ratling Warpblaster
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.8
2.6
3.5
4.4
5.3
If the target has 10 or more models though you can add 1 to the hit rolls. Plus, once per turn you can use More-more Warpstone Bullets! if it is within combat range of Skryre Hero. This will boost the number of attacks from 3D6+3 to 6D6+3. But! for each unmodified roll of a 1 it’ll suffer 1 mortal damage (average 1 mortal damage). This will boost its damage output when attacking a unit of 10 or more models to:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
Given it has a range of 20″, that’s not too shabby.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.6
Warp Lightning Cannon
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
Damage inflicted by the Warp Lightning Cannon is all mortal damage and is resolved after it makes its hit rolls. If this unit is within combat range of Skryre Hero it can add 6 to the number of attacks making its mortal damage output:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
6.5
6.5
6.5
6.5
6.5
Given that it has a 20″ range, it could be a great way to chip wounds off those high save targets at distance.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.5
0.6
Warp-Grinder
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
2.9
3.7
4.5
4.6
4.7
This unit and one other friendly non-Monster Skaven unit can be set up in reserve (in the tunnels below) during the deployment phase. During the Skaven movement phase you can pick an enemy unit as a target that is more than 6″ away from other enemy units. On a dice roll of 4+ this unit can be set up (along with the other Skaven unit that joined it in deployment) within 3″ of that target and more than 6″ away from other enemy units. This works with:
The Gnawhole is often the key to success for the Skaven on the battlefield, providing a couple of key functions.
The first is the ability for the Skaven player to transport units from one Gnawholeto another. Handy for claiming objectives further up the table, or getting a unit away from trouble.
The second, is a once per turn command ability that costs a measly 1 command point, The Endless Vermintide. This will allow the Skaven player to pick a friendly non-Hero Skaven Infantry unit that has been destroyed and set up a replacement unit with half the number of models from the unit chosen, rounding up near a Gnawhole. It can be handy for either reclaiming an objective, finishing off an enemy unit or perhaps putting out a bit more firepower from a unit like Warpvolt Scourgers. This ability works with:
The warscrolls and the unit sizes for these units differ from those given in the match play rules above. For one, you’ll notice that you have two units of 10 Clanrats, where in matched play their minimum size if 20.
Spearhead Battle Traits
The Skaven player has two Battle Traits to use, the first is allowing any one of their units to be set up in reserve in the tunnels below. The second is to allow a unit that has been set up in the tunnels below to use an ambush ability that sets them up wholly within 6″ of a corner of the battlefield more than 9″ away from enemy units.
SpearheadRegiment Abilities
They have a choice of their regiment abilities. Either Warpstone-Laced Bullets allowing units in their army with ranged weapons to have Crit (Mortals) that shooting phase once per battle. Or, Too Quick to Hit-Hit, where no mortal damage is inflicted on friendly Skaven units when they retreat.
Spearhead Enhancements
The Clawlord on Gnaw-Beastis allowed one of four enhancements. The first being Lead the Seething Horde, allowing the replacement unit from ‘Call for Reinforcements‘ to be set up within 13″ of the Clawlord on Gnaw-Beast.
Another, Warpstone Charm, will subtract 1 from save rolls for enemy units in combat with the Clawlord on Gnaw-Beast. While Skryre Connections will allow its Ratling Pistol to change its attacks characterisitc to 2D6 instead of D6.
The last is Cloak of Stitched Victories which gives your general Ward (5+).
Spearhead Warscrolls
Spearhead – Clawlord on Gnaw-Beast
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.6
0.9
1.2
1.5
1.8
But if you choose to give this unit the Skryre Connections Enhancement and use Warpstone Laced-Bullets to give Crit (Mortals), its damage output increases to:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.9
2.3
2.7
3.1
3.5
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
Though, if this unit has been damaged its attacks increase by three boosting this output to:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
2.7
4.0
5.3
6.7
8.0
Spearhead – Grey Seer
The Grey Seer comes with two spells (in Spearhead you don’t make casting rolls) which it can do in the Hero Phase. One will add 3 to the control score of a nearby unit, while the other will inflict D3 mortal damage on a roll of 6+ on 2D6 onto a nearby enemy unit.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.5
0.8
1.0
1.3
1.5
Spearhead – Warlock Engineer
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.8
1.0
1.3
1.5
1.5
You could use the Warpstone-Laced Bullets on this unit, but with only two attacks, it’s not really worth it. But what you can do is increase the damage to 3 from D3 on a 2+ if the unit hasn’t moved. This will increase its average damage output to:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.0
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.3
0.5
0.8
1.0
1.3
Spearhead – Clanrats
You’ve two of these units and each one is able to come back once during the course of a Spearhead game. Plus each turn this unit is able to return D3 slain models at the end of the turn.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
0.6
1.1
1.7
2.2
2.8
These are the main troops of the army that you’ll be using to claim the objectives in game.
Spearhead – Rat Ogors
Average Shooting Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
1.5
1.9
2.4
2.9
2.9
This unit does have the benefit of being able to shoot in combat as well.
Average Melee Damage (v Save Value)
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
3.3
5.0
6.7
8.3
10.0
These are your main hitters in Spearhead, though be careful as these models don’t come back once they’re destroyed. Which makes their ability a little dicey, for the cost of inflicting D3 mortal damage on the Rat Ogors you can increase their average damage output to:
2+
3+
4+
5+
6+
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
Is the mortal damage worth this extra output? Possibly not.
Path to Glory
This is my favourite game mode as members of the Woehammer Discord server would tell you. Though I’m disliking how long it takes to increase your list sizes in 4th Edition PTG…. but that’s just my niggle.
Anvil of Apotheosis
The Skaven Battletome comes with rules to create your own unique special character to include in Path to Glory campaigns.
You have three different hero types you can create, each costing a certain amount of points and coming with their own Destiny Point Limit (DP).
Hero Type
Destiny Point Limit
Points Cost
Skaven Underling
10
150
Skaven Chieftain
30
250
Skaven Clan-lord
50
350
Having run a couple of campaigns for Path to Glorynow in 4th Edition, I can tell you that it is possible to break campaigns with Anvil of Apotheosis characters, so my recommendation is to run any characters past your opponents before using them.
You’re guided through a step-by-step process on creating your unique character starting with their basic stats and then adding to those by spending your Destiny Points (DP).
You’ll be asked to choose a Great Clan for your character with each one giving a benefit to your character. Each one of these costs 4 DP.
Then you move on to choosing an origin and/or flaw for your hero. You’re allowed to pick up to 1 Origin and 1 Flaw – with Origin costing DP and Flaws giving you additional DP to spend.
In step 3, you can pick up to 1 Skaven Contraption or up to 1 Moulder-Beast for your hero. Some cost more than others, but they do give both a narrative element and an opportunity for you to start converting a Hero you can use in a campaign. Your given the choice of:
Siege-Engine Chassis
Gnaw-Beast
Moulder-Beast
By choosing these you’ll also be asked to adjust your Health, Save, Move or perhaps your Control characteristics. They’ll also come with some Keywords to add to your Hero.
The next step will then allow you to pick some upgrades (also at the cost of DP) for your Contraption or Mutations for your Moulder-Beast. All of these will add abilities to your Path to Glory Hero.
In the final step you can then pick a number of upgrades for your hero (all of which cost DP), but none of these upgrades can be picked more than once. These range from Adding 1 to the Hero’s Control characteristic to making you hero a Wizard or Priest.
Skaven Paths
The book gives you two additional paths to those that you can use from the Core rulebook. One for a Hero (Path of the Master) and one for non-Hero Skaven (Path of the Swarm).
Path of the Master
As in the book each Path has four levels, with the player forced to choose between two abilities at each level. Some of the standout skills here are giving the Hero Strike-First or adding 1 to the charge rolls.
Path of the Swarm
Path of the Swarm is for non-Hero Skaven units only. The abilities in here reflect the Skaven mentality of war and there are a few here which stand out. Such as giving the unit Ward (5+) (I would not like to see that on Stormfiends for example) or giving the units melee weapons Crit (Mortal).
Rules of Renown
Armies of renown are armies that use specific faction rules and units for the army. Often the roster of units is much less than you would get with the usual matched play armies.
You CANNOT include Regiments of Renown or Gnawholes for this Army of Renown.
When units are included in army of the Great-Grand Gnawhorde they gain the Gnawhorde keyword.
I’m not going to sugar-coat this, the loss of Gnawholes is possibly a little too large to overlook when choosing a Skaven Army.
Battle Traits: The Great-Grand Gnawhorde
There are four Battle Traits available to the Great-Grand Gnawhorde. The passive ability Disciples of Vizzik will allowVizzik Skour to have a Ward (4+) and to pass off the saved damage to another Gnawhorde unit within combat range.
The three remaining Battle Traits, also have the keyword Warpshatter Throes. This means based on the rules of these, you can only use one of these traits each turn so you’ll have to consider carefully which one you may want to use each turn.
With Frenzied Momentum if you have not used any Warpshatter Throes abilities that turn, you can pick up to three Gnawhorde units in the movement phase to add 2 to their run and charge rolls and subtract 1 from their control score.
In the shooting phase, you’re able to use Unstoppable Warp-Volley which, again, if you haven’t used any Warpshatter Throes that turn, you can pick three Gnawhorde units. They can then add 3″ to the range of their ranged weapons at the expense of receiving commands.
Finally Reckless Abandon will allow you to pick up to three Gnawhorde units and add 1 to their attacks characteristic of their melee weapons, but this comes at the expense of your opponent being able to add 1 to hit rolls for units that have benefitted from this ability. Again, you can only use this ability if you haven’t used another Warpshatter Throes ability that turn.
Heroic Trait: Harbringer of the Great Ascendancy
Any Hero in the Skaven force may have this and use it once per battle, allowing the unit to use 2 Warpshatter Throes abilities in a single turn if the unit is not in combat.
Artefact of Power: Icon of Great-Total Supremacy
Once per battle you can return up to D3 slain models to each friendly Gnawhorde Infantry unit with a health characteristic of up to 3.
Spell Lore: Deafening Frenzy
A Gnawhorde Wizardmay attempt to cast this on 8+ targeting a visible Gnawhorde Infantry unit wholly within 13″. This will allow them to have Strike-First at the expense of using commands.
Prayer Lore: Reverberating Ritual
A Gnawhorde Priest may chant this Prayer with a value of 7, allowing them to give a Gnawhorde Infantry unit wholly within 13″ an extra 3″ move when it makes a pile-in until the start of the Skaven players next turn. If this was made with a chant roll of 8 or more then that unit can add 1 to it’s control score.
Manifestation Lore: Summon Vermintide
With a 7+ a friendly Skaven Wizard may summon a Vermintide to the battlefield wholly within 13″ of the caster and more than 9″ away from all enemy units.
You CANNOT include Regiments of Renown or Gnawholes for this Army of Renown.
I’m not going to sugar-coat this, the loss of Gnawholes is possibly a little too large to overlook when choosing a Skaven Army.
Battle Traits: Thanquol’s Mutated Menagerie
There are four Battle Traits available to Thanquol’s Mutated Menagerie. Monstrous Entourage will allow Thanquol to pass off wounds with Ward (4+) that were meant for him to another friendly Mutated Menagerie unit within combat range.
More-more Mutation! will allow the Skaven player to pick a friendly non-Hero Mutated Menagerie unit (Note: Any one unit can only be chosen once per battle) and add 2 to their Health characteristic, 2 to their Move characteristic, 1 to an Attacks characteristic of one of the units melee weapons and give them Ward (5+). BUT, and it’s a big but, I cannot lie, at the end of each turn that unit will suffer D3+2 damage.
Spiteful Swarm is a Rampage abilitie and allows the Skaven player to pick a non-Hero Mutated Menagerie Monster that has not used any Rampage abilities. That unit will have Strike-First for the rest of the turn, but, at the end of the turn it is destroyed. When it is destroyed, you can also subtract attacks on a 3+ from enemy melee weapons that are within 6″ for the rest of the battle.
Finally Rampaging Demise is also, if you hadn’t guessed it, a Rampage ability. The non-Hero Mutated Menagerie Monstergains Strike-First like Spiteful Swarm and is also destroyed at the end of the turn, but instead on a D3 roll of 2+ inflicts mortal damage equal to the roll on enenmy units within 6″.
Heroic Trait: Pack Tactics
You can pick two friendly non-Hero Mutated Menagerie Monster units within 13″ of the bearer to use All-out Attack or All-Out Defence. This is a once per battle ability.
Artefact of Power: Warpstone Innards
This is a once per battle ability where you can add 1 to the number of attacks to a Non-Mutated Menagerie Monster for the rest of the battle. However, that Monster then suffers D3 damage points at the end of each turn.
Spell Lore: Untapped Mutation
This has a casting value of 5, and allows a Mutated Menagerie Wizard to pick up to 3 Mutated Menagerie units with 13″ that are already affected by More-more Mutation!. For each damage point allocated to those units at the end of the turn by More-more Mutation! They add 1 to their Control characteristic until the start of their next turn.
Manifestation Lore: Warp Lightning Vortex
If there is no friendly Warp Lightning Vortex on the battlefield then a friendly Skaven Wizard may attempt to cast this spell on a casting roll of 7+. This would allow the Skaven player to set up the first part of the Warp Lightning Vortex within 18″ of the caster, the second part and third parts exactly 7″ from the first part and from each other creating a triangle.
Regiment of Renown: Krittok’s Clawpack
This Regiment of Renown may only be included in other Chaos armies with the exception of Beasts of Chaos. It consists of Krittok Foulblade, a unit of Stormvermin and a unit of Doom-Flayers.
Units in this regiment will be able to add 1 to the attacks characteristic of their melee weapons while the player has more victory points than their opponent. The Doom-Flayers will have Ward (5+) while they are within combat range of the Clawpack Stormvermin.
Once per turn a single unit in this regiment that is not in combat may use a normal move in the hero phase.
This may be a good unit for Blades of Khorne who don’t have access to much in the way of ranged weaponry.
Once per battle in the shooting phase units in this Regiment of Renown may add 1 to the hit rolls for their shooting attacks and add 3″ to their ranged weapons.
If any of your units within this Regiment of Renown are within combat range of the Ratling Warpblaster then it will not be visible to enemy units more than 13″ away.
Change Log
This will be updated with changes to the articles and the date they occurred throughout 4th Edition.
14th December 2024 – Initial Release 23rd December 2024 – Update to the Skaven Grey Seer comments. Update to Skreech Verminking as a Wizard (2).
A new edition calls for new stats, we’ve incorporated player Elo ratings into our stats, so you can now see what affect the elite players have on those pesky win rates.
All of the results in this article are taken from Best Coast Pairings, Stats and Ladders and Ecksen. They include GT (Two day events) or GT+ (6 or more rounds) only.
We’ve only included factions so far that have had at 20 players represent them at GT or GT+ events.
To date our database (which you can download at the end of this article), includes 12,675 matches for RTT, GT and GT+ events.
Tournaments Included
29. Würfelgötter AoS Turnier
Age of Ropecon 2024
Age of Sigmar 4 Bootcamp 1
Age of Sigmar Episode 4: Greytide
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: Theatre of War
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: US Open Tacoma (GT+)
Age of Sigmar Grimnir’s Vengeance 2024
Age of Sigmar: Quoth the Skaven
Age of Sigmar: Throne of Skulls
AOS世界锦标赛预选赛华东赛区上海站
Aqshy Summerfest ’24 ITC GT
Armed Forces Day 7 Age of Sigmar
August Burns Jade GT
Bathurst GT 2024
Black Tower Brawl: Age of Sigmar GT
Blackout VIII
Border Wars 2024
Broken Realms: CGG edition
Call to Arms 2024
China Warhammer City Tournament 2024
Circuito Nacional DKHM – Freak Wars 2024
Crossroads Carnage 2024
Cruicible 2024 Age of Sigmar
Dawn Reforged – Ipswich Grand Tournament
Dwellers Below AoS GT
Fall to Darkness: Chapter Three
Feed the Horde
Feud on the Fens 2024
Fylleslaget 2024
Galactic Age of Sigmar Store Championship
Gateway Open
GoldCon 2024
Guts & Glory 2024
Hereford Invitational ’24
High Desert Hammer Fall AoS GT 2024
Invasion AOS 2024
Irish GT 2024
Justice Series World Championship Qualifier
King in the North! 2024
Lamoine Last Stand VII
LSO Outlaw GT 2024
Medhammer GT 2024 – Golden Dawn II
Michigan GT 2024
Mile High Open 2024
Montreal GT 2024
Nashcon GT 2024
NI GT 2024
North China Open III
Nova Open 2024 Age of Sigmar GT
Old Town Roar in ’24
Oslohammer #8
Pizza Brawl 4.0 – Summer Edition 2024
Port Plunder 2024
Rotten Seagulls GT 2024
Saga Hammer
Salt Lake Open
Show Me Showdown
Sigmar at the Arena
SigYAR GT
Smite Club Open 2024
Southern Fried Sigmar GT
Tales in the Wood XI GT
Tampere GT 2024
The Dojo Open GT
The Northern Wastes GT
The Salt City GT
The Warrior Lodge – Summer Lodge 2024
Threshold Invitational V
Thunderstrike GT II
Vantastic GT
AOS Saigon GT
GT Win Rates
Only Bonesplitterz remain as the only faction yet to meet the criteria for reliable data.
Nighthaunt and Lumineth Realm-Lords win rates remain high at 64% and 62% respectively.
GW Meta Watch Win Rates
This chart is an estimation of what GW would calculate the faction win rates at as at the current date. This data is based on all 2,000 point games available in Best Coast Pairings and Stats & Ladders over the last 60 days that are not doubles, online or teams matches. Mirror matches have been removed.
The data still shows Nighthaunt and Lumineth both above the ideal 55% target, and are joined by Gloompite Gitz.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Player Elo Rating)
This is perhaps the most interesting chart to me personally. Here you can see the spread of the player skill levels for each faction according to our Elo rating system (updated each week in line with the stats).
The dark blue shows the really elite players of 700+ Elo. Interestingly, they don’t seem to give a damn about which faction is performing well in the meta and rely on their own skill (as they should!). Two of the players with 700+ Elo are playing Flesh-eater Courts. Two others are playing Skave.
Both Nighthaunt and Lumineth have a larger number of 500+ rated players, and this in turn could be responsble in part for their stats being skewed.
Elite and Rookie Players by Faction
The blue section shows the percentage of a factions players which have an Elo rating of 500 or greater. While the Orange shows the number of new players to the faction where they have yet to attend a tournament (based on our database history).
The aim of the above chart is to show how the lower rated players of between 300 and 399 elo are performing with the various factions. The figure in brackets denotes the number of games the data is based on. Nighthaunt and Lumineth Realm-Lords are both still at the top of the table, suggesting that these factions are both easier to claim wins with. At the bottom half we can see Maggotkin and Kharadron both at sub 30%.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Number of Wins)
The above chart breaks down the faction popularity by the number of wins each player achieved in the first 5 rounds of games at GT’s or GT+’s.
Number of GT Wins as Percentage
This chart shows the % breakdown for the number of wins players are achieving in the first 5 rounds at GT and GT+ events.
The Fabien Chart
Fabien Barbusse is a top player in the AoS scene and a member of the Woehammer Discord who is one of many who points out any mistakes in the charts before we publish them. He recently stated he felt the most valuable chart would be a version of the one above, which shows the % of 4+ win results in a 5 game event compared to the other results.
Positive Player Results
The below chart shows how many players as a % finished a GT or GT+ with a positive result (more wins than losses).
Consecutive Wins
This chart shows firstly the % of players with a negative result from 5 games at GT’s or GT+ in light blue for each faction.
Dark blue shows the percentage of players who achieved 5 wins from 5 in the first five rounds of a GT or GT+.
Orange shows the players who achieved four wins from the first four rounds of a GT or GT+ but were unable to achieve the full house and lost their round 5 match.
Grey shows the players who achieved three wins from three wins but were unable to win in their fourth round match.
Yellow shows all other players aside from those shown in the first three categories, who were able to achieve a positive result at a GT or GT+ i.e. 3 or more wins.
The light blue shows the percentage of players unable to achieve a positive result with the faction at a GT or GT+.
Battleplans
The below is based on data we’ve been provided which is very little information so far. If you’ve attended a GT or RTT listed in the first section of our article. please get in touch to let us know the battleplans that were used.
The above shows both the popularity of battleplans at events (both GT and RTT’s) and each factions win rates on those Battleplans.
Individual Faction Stat Articles
Nighthaunt Lumineth Realm-Lords Disciples of Tzeentch Soulblight Gravelords Ogor Mawtribes Slaves to Darkness Cities of Sigmar Gloomspite Gitz Ossiarch Bonereapers (Publishing on 24th September) Daughters of Khaine (Publishing on 25th September) Hedonites of Slaanesh (Publishing on 26th September) Idoneth Deepkin (Publishing on 27th September) Fyreslayers (Publishing on 28th September) Kruleboyz (Publishing on 29th September) Sons of Behemat (Publishing on 30th September) Seraphon (Publishing on 1st October) Sylvaneth (Publishing on 2nd October) Stormcast Eternals (Publishing on 3rd October) Ironjawz (Publishing on 4th October) Maggotkin of Nurgle (Publishing on 5th October) Blades of Khorne (Publishing on 6th October) Flesh-eater Courts (Publishing on 7th October) Skaven (Publishing on 8th October) Kharadron Overlords (Publishing on 9th October)
A new edition calls for new stats, we’ve incorporated player Elo ratings into our stats, so you can now see what affect the elite players have on those pesky win rates.
All of the results in this article are taken from Best Coast Pairings, Stats and Ladders and Ecksen. They include GT (Two day events) or GT+ (6 or more rounds) only.
We’ve only included factions so far that have had at 20 players represent them at GT or GT+ events.
To date our database (which you can download at the end of this article), includes 11,556 matches for GT and GT+ events.
Tournaments Included
29. Würfelgötter AoS Turnier
Age of Ropecon 2024
Age of Sigmar 4 Bootcamp 1
Age of Sigmar Episode 4: Greytide
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: Theatre of War
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: US Open Tacoma (GT+)
Age of Sigmar Grimnir’s Vengeance 2024
Age of Sigmar: Quoth the Skaven
Age of Sigmar: Throne of Skulls
AOS世界锦标赛预选赛华东赛区上海站
Aqshy Summerfest ’24 ITC GT
Armed Forces Day 7 Age of Sigmar
August Burns Jade GT
Bathurst GT 2024
Black Tower Brawl: Age of Sigmar GT
Blackout VIII
Border Wars 2024
Broken Realms: CGG edition
Call to Arms 2024
China Warhammer City Tournament 2024
Circuito Nacional DKHM – Freak Wars 2024
Crossroads Carnage 2024
Cruicible 2024 Age of Sigmar
Dawn Reforged – Ipswich Grand Tournament
Dwellers Below AoS GT
Fall to Darkness: Chapter Three
Feed the Horde
Feud on the Fens 2024
Fylleslaget 2024
Galactic Age of Sigmar Store Championship
Gateway Open
GoldCon 2024
Guts & Glory 2024
Hereford Invitational ’24
High Desert Hammer Fall AoS GT 2024
Irish GT 2024
Justice Series World Championship Qualifier
King in the North! 2024
Lamoine Last Stand VII
LSO Outlaw GT 2024
Medhammer GT 2024 – Golden Dawn II
Mile High Open 2024
Nashcon GT 2024
NI GT 2024
North China Open III
Nova Open 2024 Age of Sigmar GT
Old Town Roar in ’24
Oslohammer #8
Pizza Brawl 4.0 – Summer Edition 2024
Port Plunder 2024
Rotten Seagulls GT 2024
Saga Hammer
Salt Lake Open
Show Me Showdown
Sigmar at the Arena
SigYAR GT
Smite Club Open 2024
Southern Fried Sigmar GT
Tales in the Wood XI GT
Tampere GT 2024
The Dojo Open GT
The Northern Wastes GT
The Salt City GT
The Warrior Lodge – Summer Lodge 2024
Threshold Invitational V
Thunderstrike GT II
Vantastic GT
AOS Saigon GT
GT Win Rates
Only Bonesplitterz now remain as the only faction yet to meet the criteria for reliable data.
Gloomspite Gitz have climbed to third this week, just pipping Disciples of Tzeentch.
Nighthaunt and Lumineth Realm-Lords win rates remain high at 64% and 61% respectively.
GW Meta Watch Win Rates
This chart is an estimation of what GW would calculate the faction win rates at as at the current date. This data is based on all 2,000 point games available in Best Coast Pairings and Stats & Ladders over the last 60 days that are not doubles, online or teams matches. Mirror matches have been removed.
The data still shows Nighthaunt and Lumineth both above the ideal 55% target, and are joined by Gloompite Gitz.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Player Elo Rating)
This is perhaps the most interesting chart to me personally. Here you can see the spread of the player skill levels for each faction according to our Elo rating system (updated each week in line with the stats).
The dark blue shows the really elite players of 700+ Elo. Interestingly, they don’t seem to give a damn about which faction is performing well in the meta and rely on their own skill (as they should!). Two of the players with 700+ Elo are playing Flesh-eater Courts, the faction with the 2nd worst win rate currently. Two others are playing Skaven, the fourth worst win rate.
Both Nighthaunt and Lumineth have a larger number of 500+ rated players, and this in turn could be responsble in part for their stats being skewed.
Elite and Rookie Players by Faction
The blue section shows the percentage of a factions players which have an Elo rating of 500 or greater. While the Orange shows the number of new players to the faction where they have yet to attend a tournament (based on our database history).
The aim of the above chart is to show how the lower rated players of between 300 and 399 elo are performing with the various factions. The figure in brackets denotes the number of games the data is based on. Nighthaunt and Lumineth Realm-Lords are both still at the top of the table, suggesting that these factions are both easier to claim wins with. At the bottom half we can see Maggotkin and Kharadron both at sub 30%.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Number of Wins)
The above chart breaks down the faction popularity by the number of wins each player achieved in the first 5 rounds of games at GT’s or GT+’s.
Number of GT Wins as Percentage
This chart shows the % breakdown for the number of wins players are achieving in the first 5 rounds at GT and GT+ events.
The Fabien Chart
Fabien Barbusse is a top player in the AoS scene and a member of the Woehammer Discord who is one of many who points out any mistakes in the charts before we publish them. He recently stated he felt the most valuable chart would be a version of the one above, which shows the % of 4+ win results in a 5 game event compared to the other results. So, here you go Fabien!
Positive Player Results
The below chart shows how many players as a % finished a GT or GT+ with a positive result (more wins than losses).
Consecutive Wins
This chart shows firstly the % of players with a negative result from 5 games at GT’s or GT+ in light blue for each faction.
Dark blue shows the percentage of players who achieved 5 wins from 5 in the first five rounds of a GT or GT+.
Orange shows the players who achieved four wins from the first four rounds of a GT or GT+ but were unable to achieve the full house and lost their round 5 match.
Grey shows the players who achieved three wins from three wins but were unable to win in their fourth round match.
Yellow shows all other players aside from those shown in the first three categories, who were able to achieve a positive result at a GT or GT+ i.e. 3 or more wins.
The light blue shows the percentage of players unable to achieve a positive result with the faction at a GT or GT+.
Battleplans
The below is based on data we’ve been provided which is very little information so far. If you’ve attended a GT or RTT listed in the first section of our article. please get in touch to let us know the battleplans that were used.
The above shows both the popularity of battleplans at events (both GT and RTT’s) and each factions win rates on those Battleplans.
A new edition calls for new stats, we’ve incorporated player Elo ratings into our stats, so you can now see what affect the elite players have on those pesky win rates.
All of the results in this article are taken from Best Coast Pairings, Stats and Ladders and Ecksen. They include GT (Two day events) or GT+ (6 or more rounds) only.
We’ve only included factions so far that have had at 20 players represent them at GT or GT+ events.
To date our database (which you can download at the end of this article), includes 3,428 matches for GT and GT+ events.
Tournaments Included
Age of Ropecon 2024
Age of Sigmar 4 Bootcamp 1
Age of Sigmar Episode 4: Greytide
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: Theatre of War
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: US Open Tacoma (GT+)
Age of Sigmar Grimnir’s Vengeance 2024
Age of Sigmar: Quoth the Skaven
Age of Sigmar: Throne of Skulls
Aqshy Summerfest ’24 ITC GT
Armed Forces Day 7 Age of Sigmar
August Burns Jade GT
Bathurst GT 2024
Black Tower Brawl: Age of Sigmar GT
Blackout VIII
Border Wars 2024
Call to Arms 2024
China Warhammer City Tournament 2024
Circuito Nacional DKHM – Freak Wars 2024
Crossroads Carnage 2024
Cruicible 2024 Age of Sigmar
Dawn Reforged – Ipswich Grand Tournament
Dwellers Below AoS GT
Feed the Horde
Feud on the Fens 2024
Fylleslaget 2024
Galactic Age of Sigmar Store Championship
Gateway Open
GoldCon 2024
Guts & Glory 2024
Hereford Invitational ’24
Justice Series World Championship Qualifier
King in the North! 2024
LSO Outlaw GT 2024
Medhammer GT 2024 – Golden Dawn II
Mile High Open 2024
Nashcon GT 2024
NI GT 2024
North China Open III
Nova Open 2024 Age of Sigmar GT
Old Town Roar in ’24
Oslohammer #8
Pizza Brawl 4.0 – Summer Edition 2024
Rotten Seagulls GT 2024
Saga Hammer
Salt Lake Open
Show Me Showdown
Sigmar at the Arena
SigYAR GT
Smite Club Open 2024
Southern Fried Sigmar GT
Tales in the Wood XI GT
The Dojo Open GT
The Northern Wastes GT
The Salt City GT
The Warrior Lodge – Summer Lodge 2024
Threshold Invitational V
Thunderstrike GT II
Vantastic GT
AOS Saigon GT
GT Win Rates
Only Bonesplitterz now remain as the only faction yet to meet the criteria for reliable data.
Disciples of Tzeentch have remained in third this week, however their win rate has fallen back below 55%.
Nighthaunt and Lumineth Realm-Lords win rates have both fallen from 65% and 61% respectively for last week, to 62% and 60% respectively.
GW Meta Watch Win Rates
This chart is an estimation of what GW would calculate the faction win rates at as at the current date. This data is based on all 2,000 point games available in Best Coast Pairings and Stats & Ladders over the last 60 days that are not doubles, online or teams matches. Mirror matches have been removed.
The data still shows Nighthaunt and Lumineth both above the ideal 55% trget.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Player Elo Rating)
This is perhaps the most interesting chart to me personally. Here you can see the spread of the player skill levels for each faction according to our Elo rating system (updated each week in line with the stats).
The dark blue shows the really elite players of 700+ Elo. Interestingly, they don’t seem to give a damn about which faction is performing well in the meta and rely on their own skill (as they should!). Two of the players with 700+ Elo are playing Flesh-eater Courts, the faction with the 2nd worst win rate currently. Two others are playing Skaven, the fourth worst win rate.
Both Nighthaunt and Lumineth have a larger number of 500+ rated players, and this in turn could be responsble in part for their stats being skewed.
Elite and Rookie Players by Faction
The blue section shows the percentage of a factions players which have an Elo rating of 500 or greater. While the Orange shows the number of new players to the faction where they have yet to attend a tournament (based on our database history).
The aim of the above chart is to show how the lower rated players of between 300 and 399 elo are performing with the various factions. The figure in brackets denotes the number of games the data is based on. Nighthaunt and Lumineth Realm-Lords are both still at the top of the table, suggesting that these factions are both easier to claim wins with. At the bottom half we can see Flesh-eater Courts, Maggotkin and Kharadron all at sub 30%.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Number of Wins)
The above chart breaks down the faction popularity by the number of wins each player achieved in the first 5 rounds of games at GT’s or GT+’s.
Number of GT Wins as Percentage
This chart shows the % breakdown for the number of wins players are achieving in the first 5 rounds at GT and GT+ events.
Positive Player Results
The below chart shows how many players as a % finished a GT or GT+ with a positive result (more wins than losses).
Consecutive Wins
This chart shows firstly the % of players with a negative result from 5 games at GT’s or GT+ in light blue for each faction.
Dark blue shows the percentage of players who achieved 5 wins from 5 in the first five rounds of a GT or GT+.
Orange shows the players who achieved four wins from the first four rounds of a GT or GT+ but were unable to achieve the full house and lost their round 5 match.
Grey shows the players who achieved three wins from three wins but were unable to win in their fourth round match.
Yellow shows all other players aside from those shown in the first three categories, who were able to achieve a positive result at a GT or GT+ i.e. 3 or more wins.
The light blue shows the percentage of players unable to achieve a positive result with the faction at a GT or GT+.
Battleplans
The below is based on data we’ve been provided which is very little information so far. If you’ve attended a GT or RTT listed in the first section of our article. please get in touch to let us know the battleplans that were used.
The above shows both the popularity of battleplans at events (both GT and RTT’s) and each factions win rates on those Battleplans.
A new edition calls for new stats, we’ve incorporated player Elo ratings into our stats, so you can now see what affect the elite players have on those pesky win rates.
All of the results in this article are taken from Best Coast Pairings, Stats and Ladders and Ecksen. They include GT (Two day events) or GT+ (6 or more rounds) only.
We’ve only included factions so far that have had at 20 players represent them at GT or GT+ events.
To date our database (which you can download at the end of this article), includes 3,428 matches for GT and GT+ events.
Tournaments Included
Age of Ropecon 2024
Age of Sigmar 4 Bootcamp 1
Age of Sigmar Episode 4: Greytide
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: Theatre of War
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: US Open Tacoma (GT+)
Age of Sigmar Grimnir’s Vengeance 2024
Age of Sigmar: Quoth the Skaven
Age of Sigmar: Throne of Skulls
Aqshy Summerfest ’24 ITC GT
Armed Forces Day 7 Age of Sigmar
August Burns Jade GT
Bathurst GT 2024
Blackout VIII
Border Wars 2024
Call to Arms 2024
China Warhammer City Tournament 2024
Crossroads Carnage 2024
Dawn Reforged – Ipswich Grand Tournament
Dwellers Below AoS GT
Feed the Horde
Feud on the Fens 2024
Fylleslaget 2024
Galactic Age of Sigmar Store Championship
Gateway Open
GoldCon 2024
Guts & Glory 2024
Hereford Invitational ’24
Justice Series World Championship Qualifier
King in the North! 2024
LSO Outlaw GT 2024
Medhammer GT 2024 – Golden Dawn II
Mile High Open 2024
Nashcon GT 2024
NI GT 2024
North China Open III
Nova Open 2024 Age of Sigmar GT
Old Town Roar in ’24
Oslohammer #8
Pizza Brawl 4.0 – Summer Edition 2024
Rotten Seagulls GT 2024
Saga Hammer
Salt Lake Open
Show Me Showdown
Sigmar at the Arena
Southern Fried Sigmar GT
Tales in the Wood XI GT
The Dojo Open GT
The Northern Wastes GT
The Salt City GT
The Warrior Lodge – Summer Lodge 2024
Threshold Invitational V
Thunderstrike GT II
Vantastic GT
AOS Saigon GT
GT Win Rates
Only Bonesplitterz now remain as the only faction yet to meet the criteria for reliable data.
Disciples of Tzeentch have climbed to third this week following some strong results over last weekend, and this has also meant their win rate now just peeps back over the 45-55% area.
Nighthaunt and Lumineth Realm-Lords are have remained at 65% and 61% respectively for a second consecutive week.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Player Elo Rating)
This is perhaps the most interesting chart to me personally. Here you can see the spread of the player skill levels for each faction according to our Elo rating system (updated each week in line with the stats).
The dark blue shows the really elite players of 700+ Elo. Interestingly, they don’t seem to give a damn about which faction is performing well in the meta and rely on their own skill (as they should!). Two of the players with 700+ Elo are playing Flesh-eater Courts, the faction with the 2nd worst win rate currently. Two others are playing Skaven, the fourth worst win rate.
Both Nighthaunt and Lumineth have a larger number of 500+ rated players, and this in turn could be responsble in part for their stats being skewed.
A good example here, would be to cross examine the player Elo breakdown for Nighthaunt with their Win Rate. Nighthaunt have a win rate of 65%, however 36 players of the 141 that played them at events have an Elo rating of 500+
Elite and Rookie Players by Faction
The blue section shows the percentage of a factions players which have an Elo rating of 500 or greater. While the Orange shows the number of new players to the faction where they have yet to attend a tournament (based on our database history).
The aim of the above chart is to show how the lower rated players of between 300 and 399 elo are performing with the various factions. The figure in brackets denotes the number of games the data is based on. Nighthaunt and Lumineth Realm-Lords are both still at the top of the table, suggesting that these factions are both easier to claim wins with. At the bottom half we can see Flesh-eater Courts, Maggotkin and Kharadron all at sub 30%.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Number of Wins)
The above chart breaks down the faction popularity by the number of wins each player achieved at GT’s or GT+’s.
Number of GT Wins as Percentage
This chart shows the % breakdown for the number of wins players are achieving at GT and GT+ events.
Positive Player Results
The below chart shows how many players as a % finished a GT or GT+ with a positive result (more wins than losses).
Consecutive Wins
This chart shows firstly the % of players with a negative result from 5 games at GT’s or GT+ in light blue for each faction.
Dark blue shows the percentage of players who achieved 5 wins from 5 in the first five rounds of a GT or GT+.
Orange shows the players who achieved four wins from the first four rounds of a GT or GT+ but were unable to achieve the full house and lost their round 5 match.
Grey shows the players who achieved three wins from three wins but were unable to win in their fourth round match.
Yellow shows all other players aside from those shown in the first three categories, who were able to achieve a positive result at a GT or GT+ i.e. 3 or more wins.
The light blue shows the percentage of players unable to achieve a positive result with the faction at a GT or GT+.
A new edition calls for new stats, we’ve incorporated player Elo ratings into our stats, so you can now see what affect the elite players have on those pesky win rates.
All of the results in this article are taken from Best Coast Pairings, Stats and Ladders and Ecksen. They include GT (Two day events) or GT+ (6 or more rounds) only.
We’ve only included factions so far that have had at 20 players represent them at GT or GT+ events.
To date our database (which you can download at the end of this article), includes 3,428 matches for GT and GT+ events.
Tournaments Included
Age of Ropecon 2024
Age of Sigmar 4 Bootcamp 1
Age of Sigmar Episode 4: Greytide
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: Theatre of War
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: US Open Tacoma (GT+)
Age of Sigmar Grimnir’s Vengeance 2024
Age of Sigmar: Quoth the Skaven
Age of Sigmar: Throne of Skulls
Aqshy Summerfest ’24 ITC GT
Armed Forces Day 7 Age of Sigmar
August Burns Jade GT
Bathurst GT 2024
Border Wars 2024
China Warhammer City Tournament 2024
Crossroads Carnage 2024
Dwellers Below AoS GT
Feed the Horde
Feud on the Fens 2024
Fylleslaget 2024
Galactic Age of Sigmar Store Championship
Gateway Open
GoldCon 2024
Guts & Glory 2024
Hereford Invitational ’24
Justice Series World Championship Qualifier
LSO Outlaw GT 2024
Medhammer GT 2024 – Golden Dawn II
Mile High Open 2024
Nashcon GT 2024
NI GT 2024
North China Open III
Old Town Roar in ’24
Oslohammer #8
Pizza Brawl 4.0 – Summer Edition 2024
Rotten Seagulls GT 2024
Saga Hammer
Salt Lake Open
Show Me Showdown
Sigmar at the Arena
Southern Fried Sigmar GT
Tales in the Wood XI GT
The Dojo Open GT
The Salt City GT
The Warrior Lodge – Summer Lodge 2024
Threshold Invitational V
Thunderstrike GT II
Vantastic GT
AOS Saigon GT
GT Win Rates
We’ve only two factions not yet meeting the criteria for reliable data. With both Bonesplitterz being expected. However, Kharadron Overlords are perhaps more of a suprise with only 93 GT games so far.
Nighthaunt‘s win rate has climbed this week after two weeks of falling back towards the 45-55% bracket.
Lumineth Realm-Lords are also a little too strong at 61%.
The good news is that both Disciples of Tzeentch and Soulblight Gravelords have both fallen into the 45-55% bracket.
Perhaps a little worrying in the bottom ranked factions is Flesh-eater Courts who have generally a higher average of Elo for the players using them, yet a poor win rate at 41%. The same can be said for Khorne at 42% as well.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Player Elo Rating)
This is perhaps the most interesting chart to me personally. Here you can see the spread of the player skill levels for each faction according to our Elo rating system (updated each week in line with the stats).
The dark blue shows the really elite players of 700+ Elo. Interestingly, they don’t seem to give a damn about which faction is performing well in the meta and rely on their own skill (as they should!). Two of the players with 700+ Elo are playing Flesh-eater Courts, the faction with the lowest win rate currently. Two others are playing Skaven, the third worst win rate.
Both Nighthaunt and Lumineth have a larger number of 600+ rated players, and this in turn could be responsble in part for their stats being skewed.
A good example here, would be to cross examine the player Elo breakdown for Nighthaunt with their Win Rate. Nighthaunt have a win rate of 63%, however 27 players of the 115 that played them at events have an Elo rating of 500+
Elite and Rookie Players by Faction
The blue section shows the percentage of a factions players which have an Elo rating of 500 or greater. While the Orange shows the number of new players to the faction where they have yet to attend a tournament (based on our database history).
The aim of the above chart is to show how the lower rated players of between 300 and 399 elo are performing with the various factions. The figure in brackets denotes the number of games the data is based on. Nighthaunt and Lumineth Realm-Lords are both still at the top of the table, suggesting that these factions are both easier to claim wins with. At the bottom half we can see Flesh-eater Courts, Skaven and Ironjawz all at sub 30%.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Number of Wins)
The above chart breaks down the faction popularity by the number of wins each player achieved at GT’s or GT+’s.
Number of GT Wins as Percentage
This chart shows the % breakdown for the number of wins players are achieving at GT and GT+ events.
Positive Player Results
The below chart shows how many players as a % finished a GT or GT+ with a positive result (more wins than losses).
Consecutive Wins
This chart shows firstly the % of players with a negative result from 5 games at GT’s or GT+ in light blue for each faction.
Dark blue shows the percentage of players who achieved 5 wins from 5 in the first five rounds of a GT or GT+.
Orange shows the players who achieved four wins from the first four rounds of a GT or GT+ but were unable to achieve the full house and lost their round 5 match.
Grey shows the players who achieved three wins from three wins but were unable to win in their fourth round match.
Yellow shows all other players aside from those shown in the first three categories, who were able to achieve a positive result at a GT or GT+ i.e. 3 or more wins.
The light blue shows the percentage of players unable to achieve a positive result with the faction at a GT or GT+.
A new edition calls for new stats, we’ve incorporated player Elo ratings into our stats, so you can now see what affect the elite players have on those pesky win rates.
All of the results in this article are taken from Best Coast Pairings, Stats and Ladders and Ecksen. They include GT (Two day events) or GT+ (6 or more rounds) only.
We’ve only included factions so far that have had at 20 players represent them at GT or GT+ events.
To date our database (which you can download at the end of this article), includes 3,428 matches for GT and GT+ events.
Tournaments Included
Age of Ropecon 2024
Age of Sigmar 4 Bootcamp 1
Age of Sigmar Episode 4: Greytide
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: Theatre of War
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: US Open Tacoma (GT+)
Age of Sigmar Grimnir’s Vengeance 2024
Age of Sigmar: Quoth the Skaven
Age of Sigmar: Throne of Skulls
Bathurst GT 2024
Border Wars 2024
Crossroads Carnage 2024
Feed the Horde
Feud on the Fens 2024
Fylleslaget 2024
Galactic Age of Sigmar Store Championship
Gateway Open
GoldCon 2024
Guts & Glory 2024
Hereford Invitational ’24
Justice Series World Championship Qualifier
LSO Outlaw GT 2024
Medhammer GT 2024 – Golden Dawn II
Mile High Open 2024
Nashcon GT 2024
NI GT 2024
North China Open III
Old Town Roar in ’24
Oslohammer #8
Pizza Brawl 4.0 – Summer Edition 2024
Saga Hammer
Salt Lake Open
Show Me Showdown
Southern Fried Sigmar GT
Tales in the Wood XI GT
The Dojo Open GT
Salt City GT
Warrior Lodge – Summer Lodge 2024
Thunderstrike GT II
Vantastic GT
AOS Saigon GT
GT Win Rates
We’ve only three factions not yet meeting the criteria for reliable data. With both Beasts of Chaos and Bonesplitterz both being expected. However, Kharadron Overlords are perhaps more of a suprise with only 78 GT games so far.
Nighthaunt‘s win rate has fallen since the 4th edition release and this would be expected with the number of players using the faction increasing week on week. However, they’re still sitting pretty on top of the pile at 63%.
Lumineth Realm-Lords are also a little too strong at 60%. Both Disciples of Tzeentch and Soulblight Gravelords are less of a concern, with both being only slightly beyond the green zone of 45-55%.
Perhaps a little worrying in the bottom ranked factions is Flesh-eater Courts who have generally a higher average of Elo for the players using them, yet a poor win rate at 41%. The same can be said for Khorne at 42% as well.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Player Elo Rating)
This is perhaps the most interesting chart to me personally. Here you can see the spread of the player skill levels for each faction according to our Elo rating system (updated each week in line with the stats).
The dark blue shows the really elite players of 700+ Elo. Interestingly, they don’t seem to give a damn about which faction is performing well in the meta and rely on their own skill (as they should!). Two of the players with 700+ Elo are playing Flesh-eater Courts, the faction with the lowest win rate currently. Two others are playing Skaven, the third worst win rate.
Both Nighthaunt and Lumineth have a larger number of 600+ rated players, and this in turn could be responsble in part for their stats being skewed.
A good example here, would be to cross examine the player Elo breakdown for Nighthaunt with their Win Rate. Nighthaunt have a win rate of 63%, however 23 players of the 93 that played them at events have an Elo rating of 500+
Elite and Rookie Players by Faction
The blue section shows the percentage of a factions players which have an Elo rating of 500 or greater. While the Orange shows the number of new players to the faction where they have yet to attend a tournament (based on our database history).
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Number of Wins)
The above chart breaks down the faction popularity by the number of wins each player achieved at GT’s or GT+’s.
Number of GT Wins as Percentage
This chart shows the % breakdown for the number of wins players are achieving at GT and GT+ events.
Positive Player Results
The below chart shows how many players as a % finished a GT or GT+ with a positive result (more wins than loss’s).
Wanna win?! Play Bonesplitterz….
Consecutive Wins
This chart shows firstly the % of players with a negative result from 5 games at GT’s or GT+ in light blue for each faction.
Dark blue shows the percentage of players who achieved 5 wins from 5 in the first five rounds of a GT or GT+.
Orange shows the players who achieved four wins from the first four rounds of a GT or GT+ but were unable to achieve the full house and lost their round 5 match.
Grey shows the players who achieved three wins from three wins but were unable to win in their fourth round match.
Yellow shows all other players aside from those shown in the first three categories, who were able to achieve a positive result at a GT or GT+ i.e. 3 or more wins.
The light blue shows the percentage of players unable to achieve a positive result with the faction at a GT or GT+.
A new edition calls for new stats, we’ve incorporated player Elo ratings into our stats, so you can now see what affect the elite players have on those pesky win rates.
All of the results in this article are taken from Best Coast Pairings, Stats and Ladders and Ecksen. They include GT (Two day events) or GT+ (6 or more rounds) only.
We’ve only included factions so far that have had at 20 players represent them at GT or GT+ events.
To date our database (which you can download at the end of this article), includes 1,228 matches for GT and GT+ events.
Tournaments Included
Age of Ropecon 2024
Age of Sigmar 4 Bootcamp 1
Age of Sigmar Episode 4: Greytide
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: Theatre of War
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: US Open Tacoma (GT+)
Age of Sigmar Grimnir’s Vengeance 2024
Age of Sigmar: Quoth the Skaven
Age of Sigmar: Throne of Skulls
Crossroads Carnage 2024
Guts & Glory 2024
Justice Series World Championship Qualifier
LSO Outlaw GT 2024
Pizza Brawl 4.0 – Summer Edition 2024
Southern Fried Sigmar GT
Thunderstrike GT II
Vantastic GT
GT Win Rates
Nighthaunt are very strong right out of the gate with a 67% win rate (falling 1% from last week). However, they’re player base is perhaps a little stronger when compared to the other factions such as Skaven and Stormcast (You can see this analysis in the next segment).
Likewise with Lumineth Realm-Lords and Soulblight Gravelords, a few 500+ Elo (including two 700+ rated for Lumineth) rated players are using this faction at tournaments in 4th, which would perhaps explain their inflated win rate.
Perhaps a little worrying in the bottom ranked factions is Flesh-eater Courts who have generally a higher average of Elo for the players using them, yet a poor win rate at 42%. The same can be said for Khorne as well.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Player Elo Rating)
I’ve cross-referenced the players that have taken part in GT’s with our Elo Rating we have for that player at the beginning of that tournament.
The purpose of this is to start to get an idea of which factions the high rated players are favouring. If a faction has both a high win rate and a large number of high rated players, this could show their affect on that factions win rate.
Skaven‘s player base is made up mostly of players ranked 499 or less with only 3 players rated at 500+. This would go someway to explaining their lower win rate.
A good example here, would be to cross examine the player Elo breakdown for Soulblight Gravelords with their Win Rate. Soulblight Gravelords have a win rate of 60%, however 10 players of the 23 that played them at events have an Elo rating of 500+
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Number of Wins)
The above chart breaks down the faction popularity by the number of wins each player achieved at GT’s or GT+’s.
Interestingly, we talked earlier about how Skaven has mostly a lower rated player base, with 3 players rated 500+, have a look at the above and notice how many players managed 4 wins…
Positive Player Results
The below chart shows how many players as a % finished a GT or GT+ with a positive result (more wins than loss’s).
A new edition calls for new stats, we’ve incorporated player Elo ratings into our stats, so you can now see what affect the elite players have on those pesky win rates.
All of the results in this article are taken from Best Coast Pairings, Stats and Ladders and Ecksen. They include GT (Two day events) or GT+ (6 or more rounds) only.
We’ve only included factions so far that have had at 20 players represent them at GT or GT+ events.
To date our database (which you can download at the end of this article), includes 1,228 matches for GT and GT+ events.
Tournaments Included
Age of Ropecon 2024
Age of Sigmar 4 Bootcamp 1
Age of Sigmar Episode 4: Greytide
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: Theatre of War
Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament: US Open Tacoma (GT+)
Age of Sigmar Grimnir’s Vengeance 2024
Age of Sigmar: Quoth the Skaven
Crossroads Carnage 2024
Guts & Glory 2024
Justice Series World Championship Qualifier
LSO Outlaw GT 2024
Pizza Brawl 4.0 – Summer Edition 2024
Southern Fried Sigmar GT
Thunderstrike GT II
Vantastic GT
GT Win Rates
Nighthaunt are very strong right out of the gate with a 68% win rate. However, they’re player base is perhaps a little stronger when compared to the other factions such as Skaven and Stormcast. You can see this analysis in the next segment.
Likewise with Lumineth Realm-Lords and Soulblight Gravelords, a few 500+ Elo (including two 700+ rated for Lumineth) rated players are using this faction at tournaments in 4th, which would perhaps explain their inflated win rate.
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Player Elo Rating)
I’ve cross-referenced the players that have taken part in GT’s with our Elo Rating we have for that player at the beginning of that tournament.
The purpose of this is to start to get an idea of which factions the high rated players are favouring. If a faction has both a high win rate and a large number of high rated players, this could show their affect on that factions win rate.
Skaven‘s player base is made up mostly of players ranked 499 or less with only 3 players rated at 500+. This would go someway to explaining their lower win rate.
A good example here, would be to cross examine the player Elo breakdown for Soulblight Gravelords with their Win Rate. Soulblight Gravelords have a win rate of 62%, however 10 players of the 22 that played them at events have an Elo rating of 500+
Faction Popularity (Broken Down by Number of Wins)
The above chart breaks down the faction popularity by the number of wins each player achieved at GT’s or GT+’s.
Interestingly, we talked earlier about how Skaven has mostly a lower rated player base, with 3 players rated 500+, have a look at the above and notice how many players managed 4 wins…
Positive Player Results
The below chart shows how many players as a % finished a GT or GT+ with a positive result (more wins than loss’s).
