Basic and Advanced tactics below!

Choice of Warriors:

	Assassin Adept: Each Skaven warband must have one Assassin Adept: no more, no less!
	Eshin Sorcerer: Your warband may include a single Eshin Sorcerer.
	Black Skaven: Your warband may include up to two Black Skaven.
	Night Runners: Your warband may include up to two Night Runners.
	Verminkin: Any number of models may be Verminkin.
	Giant Rats: Your warband may include any number of Giant Rats.
	Rat Ogre: Your warband may include a single Rat Ogre.

Special Rules:

Starting Experience:

	An Assassin Adept starts with 20 experience.
	Eshin Sorcerers and Black Skaven start with 8 experience.
	Night Runners start with 0 experience.
	Henchmen start with 0 experience.

Skaven Skill Tables

	Adept may choose from the Combat, Shooting, Academic, Strength, Speed or Special skills.
	Black Skaven may choose from the Combat, Shooting, Strength, Speed or Special skills.
	Eshin Sorcerer may choose from the Academic, Speed or Special skills.
	Night Runners may choose from the Combat, Shooting or Special skills.

Skaven Equipment List

Heroes

The Nightmaster of Clan Eshin has sent the Assassin to collect precious wyrdstone. Success means many breeders, wealth and a better position amongst the clan. Failure, on the other hand, is best not contemplated…

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
6	4	4	4	3	1	5	1	7

Weapons/Armor: An Assassin Adept may be armed with weapons and armor chosen from the Skaven Heroes Equipment list.

Special Rules:

	Leader: Any warrior within 6" of the Mercenary Captain may use his Leadership characteristic when taking Leadership tests.
	Perfect Killer: An Assassin Adept always has an extra -1 modifier to any armor save the enemy has to take against wounds they inflicted (both with shooting and close combat weapons).

0-2 Black Skaven; 40 gold crowns to hire
Black Skaven are the most powerful fighters of Clan Eshin: black-furred killers trained in the martial arts of their clan. In Mordheim they excel at ambushing and assassinating man-things.

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
6	4	3	4	3	1	5	1	6

Weapons/Armor: A Black Skaven may be armed with weapons and armor chosen from the Skaven Heroes Equipment list.

0-1 Eshin Sorcerer; 45 gold crowns to hire
The Sorcerers of Clan Eshin are black magicians who manufacture the enchanted weapons of the Assassins. Though their power is slight compared to the Warlocks of Clan Skryre or the mighty Grey Seer, their black sorcery is still potent.

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
5	3	3	3	3	1	4	1	6

Weapons/Armor: A Skaven Eshin Sorcerer may be armed with weapons and armor chosen from the Skaven Heroes Equipment list.

Special Rules:

Wizard: An Eshin Sorcerer is a wizard and uses the Magic of the Horned Rat. See the Magic section for details.

0-2 Night Runners; 20 gold crowns to hire
Night Runners are the young apprentices of Clan Eshin. Recently initiated into the secrets of the clan, they make up for their lack of knowledge with their ambition and energy.

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
6	2	3	3	3	1	4	1	4

Weapons/Armor: Night Runners may be armed with weapons and armor chosen from the Skaven Henchmen Equipment list.

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
5	3	3	3	3	1	4	1	5

Weapons/Armor: Verminkin may be armed with weapons and armor chosen from the Skaven Henchmen Equipment list.

0+ Giant Rats; 15 gold crowns to buy
Giant Rats are creations of the twisted genius of the Skaven. They are mutated monstrosities the size of dogs. They fight alongside the Skaven, overpowering any opponents by sheer weight of numbers.

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
6	2	0	3	3	1	4	1	4

Weapons/Armor: None. Giant Rats never use any armor or weapons.

Special Rules:

	Pack size: You can recruit as many Giant Rats as you wish.
	Experience: Giant Rats are animals and do not gain experience.

0-1 Rat Ogre; 210 gold crowns to buy
These horrible monsters are much in demand as bodyguards to important Skaven.

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
6	3	3	5	5	3	4	3	4

Weapons/Armor: Jaws, claws and brute force! Rat Ogres can never use weapons or armor.

Special Rules:

	Fear: Rat Ogres are so frightening they cause fear.
	Stupidity: A Rat Ogre is subject to stupidity unless a Skaven Hero is within 6" of it.
	Experience: Rat Ogres do not gain experience.
	Large Target: Rat Ogres are Large Targets as defined in the shooting rules.

Special Equipment

Range	Strength	Special Rules
8"	1	Save +1, Poison, Stealthy

Special Rules:

	Save +1: Allows the victim +1 to their Save, or if they have no save roll, they may roll a 6+.
	Poison: The needles fired by a blowpipe are coated in a venom very similar in its effects to the Black Lotus (if you roll a 6 on the To Hit roll, the victim is automatically wounded). A blowpipe cannot cause critical hits. This weapon has a positive armor save modifier, so a model that normally has a save of 5+ will get a save of 4+ against a blowpipe dart. Even models that normally do not have an armor save will get a 6+ save to take into account protection offered by clothes, fur or the like.
	Stealthy: A Skaven armed with a blowpipe can fire while hidden without revealing his position to the enemy. The target model can take an Initiative test in order to try to spot the firing Skaven. If the test is successful, the Skaven no longer counts as hidden.

Warplock Pistol; 35 gc (70 for a brace); Availability: Rare 11 (Skaven only)
Warplock pistols are terrifying weapons, testimony to the mad genius of Clan Skryre engineers. Warplock pistols shoot ammunition made of magically treated warpstone and wounds caused by warplock pistols are horrible to behold and often cause infections.

Range	Strength	Special Rules
8"	5	Save -3, Fire Every Other Turn

Special Rules:

	Save -3: Victim suffers -3 to their Save roll.
	Fire Every Other Turn: May be fired once every other turn. Braces may be fired once every turn, or twice every other turn.

Fighting Claws; 35 gold crowns per pair; Availability: Rare 7 (Skaven only)
The martial arts practiced by Clan Eshin employ many unusual weapons. The most famous of these are the Eshin Fighting Claws: sharp metal blades attached to the paws of a Skaven warrior. It takes a real expert to use them effectively, but an adept of Clan Eshin is a fearsome opponent when armed this way.

Range	Strength	Special Rules
Close Combat	As User	Pair, Climb, Parry, Cumbersome

Special Rules:

	Pair: Fighting Claws are traditionally used in pairs, one in each hand. A warrior armed with Fighting Claws gets an additional attack.
	Climb: A Skaven equipped with Fighting Claws can add +1 to his Initiative when making Climbing tests.
	Parry: A Skaven armed with Fighting Claws may parry blows and can re-roll a failed attempt once, in the same way as a model armed with a sword and buckler.
	Cumbersome: A model armed with Fighting Claws may not use any other weapons in the entire battle.

Weeping Blades; 50 gc (per pair); Availability: Rare 9 (Skaven only)
The adepts of Clan Eshin use weapons called Weeping Blades, murderous swords constructed with a small amount of warpstone in their structure. A Weeping Blade constantly sweats a deadly corrosive venom.

Range	Strength	Special Rules
Close Combat	As User	Pair, Venomous, Parry

Special Rules:

	Pair: Weeping Blades are traditionally used in pairs, one in each hand. A warrior armed with Weeping Blades gets an additional attack.
	Venomous: The venom of Weeping Blades will enter the blood of the victim and ravage his organs and muscles. These weapons count as being permanently coated in black lotus (see the Equipment section). No additional poison may be applied to Weeping Blades.
	Parry: Weeping Blades are swords and can be used for parrying.

Skaven Special Skills

	Black Hunger: The Skaven can draw upon the dreaded Black Hunger, the fighting frenzy which gives him unnatural strength and speed but can ravage him from inside. The Skaven Hero may declare at the beginning of his turn that he is using this skill. The Hero may add +1 attack and +D3" to the total move to his profile for the duration of his own turn but will suffer D3 S3 hits with no armor save possible at the end of the turn.
	Tail Fighting: The Skaven may wield a shield, knife or a sword with its tail. The model gains an extra attack with the appropriate weapon or a +1 bonus to its armor save.
	Wall Runner: The Skaven does not need to take an Initiative test when climbing up walls and other sheer surfaces.
	Infiltration: A Skaven with this skill is always placed on the battlefield after the opposing warband and can be placed anywhere on the table as long as it is out of sight of the opposing warband and more than 12" away from any enemy model. If both players have models which infiltrate, roll a D6 for each, and the lowest roll sets up first.
	Art of Silent Death: The Skaven has patiently mastered the deadly art of open-hand fighting, as taught by the mystics of Cathay in the temples of the far East. In hand-to-hand combat, the Skaven can fight with his bare paws without any penalties and counts as having two weapons (i.e., +1 attack). In addition, a Skaven Hero with this skill will cause a critical hit on a To Wound roll of 5-6 instead of just 6. This skill may be used in conjunction with the Eshin Fighting Claws (+2 Attacks instead of +1).

A Brief History...

The Skaven power structure is divided into a clan structure where the strongest clans have the most influence in the Council of Thirteen, the political government of the Skaven. However the Council members work as much against each other as they do against the surface dwellers. The strongest clans are Clan Pestilen, the devotees of disease. Clan Skryre, warlock-engineers of weapons of death and destruction. Clan Eshin, black clad assassins that hold the entire Under-Empire in fear and are frequently used by the power seeking Skaven to rid themselves of any opposition. Clan Moulder, famous for their specially breed creatures of war like the fearsome Rat Ogre, part Ogre part rat. There are also the numerous Warlord Clans that make up the bulk of the Skaven military forces but who are often allied with one of the ruling Clans. The Order of Grey Seers is not a clan but the religious spokes organ for the Horned Rat and the administration of the Council of Thirteen, of course individual Grey Seers do have their own agenda.

The fundamental unit in Skaven society is the Clan. The Clan will determine the Skaven's place in life and their role in Skaven society. For nearly all Skaven, their life will revolve around the fortunes of their Clan. If their Clan prospers, they prosper. If their Clan faces severe poverty or other misfortunes such as slavery, the fate is the same for all members of the Clan. A Skaven's personal existence is utterly indistinguishable from the fortunes of their Clan. Skaven don't share the same spirit of individualism as humans, elves, or dwarves. The closest they ever come to being any sort of individualism, is when the Skaven feels it must act in its own self-interest out of fear or ambition. Skaven are notorious for being cowardly and self-serving, and rarely face danger alone. This instinctive need to shelter in amongst a crowd, to be anonymous, is far stronger than any notions of singular self-identity. As such, and coupled with the social hierarchy, the Clan is the single most dominant feature in Skaven society. Skaven can expect to live and die in the same Clan, and that Clan is all they will ever know. It is that kind of security that nearly all Skaven seek out. It is this need for security that keeps the Skaven from striving for any true concept of individuality. Most Skaven live in one of the numberless minor Clans. These Clans are led by a Clan Chieftain and compose of a large group of Skaven sharing the same warrens, burrows and nest within a particular locale, which interact or depend on each other and share common lifestyles, and are under the leadership of the Clan Chieftain and his loyal followers. Powerful and clever Clan Chieftains may increase their own influence by defeating or cowing nearby Clans into submission. These stronger Clans composed of the victorious Clans and their subservient Clans are known as Warlord Clans, with the victorious Clan leader claiming the title of Clan Warlord. The smaller member Clans within these Warlord Clans are led by individual Clan Chieftains, whom owe their position and authority to the Clan Warlord. The Clan Warlord is often distrustful of the Clan Chieftains under their command, and those deemed too ambitious or competent are eliminated in bloody purges.

Amongst Skaven society, there are four major dominant Clans, who, despite their size, wield a disproportional amount of power. These Clans, Clan Eshin from the East, Clan Moulder from the North, Clan Pestilen from Lustria and the Southlands, and Clan Skryre from the Old World are the most significant Clans. Each of these four major Clans are described in greater detail later in their respective sections.

Skaven Family: The Skaven family is almost non-existent in comparison to the families formed by other races. The Clan Warlords, Chieftains, and Clan guards are essentially breeding studs that spend their leisure time in the breeding warrens. Whose get is whose is a fairly confusing matter! The progeny of these loveless acts are cared for by the old matriarchs who are no longer of reproductive age. Skaven offspring are not very well cared for by the elderly and infertile female Skaven, who are quite bitter about their status, and who are forced into servitude in vast nursery warrens.

By the time the time the few Skaven who survive the rigors of childhood are set out on their own, the concept of family is entirely alien. The one concept for them to latch on to is their identity and social status based on their position in the Clan, and indeed their entire world are their Clan warrens.

Skaven Lairs: The tunnel complexes that the Skaven live, breed, and die in, are usually a massive twisting labyrinth of tunnels and caverns, natural and Skaven-made, that have been linked together centuries ago. The massive concentration of warrens, burrows, tunnels, and communal caverns is the center of the community, and may exist in various levels. To go up levels, Skaven will build gradual ascending and descending tunnels, or steep tunnels or wells with crumbling stone steps, rickety wooden ladders, or in the more sophisticated communities, lifts pulled by Skaven slaves or other undesirables. This entire area is overcrowded, and reeks of filthy matted Skaven, of offal and excrement, of waste, and of dying Skaven. The air is close and foul, and the caverns themselves are fairly dark, illuminated occasionally at intervals by torches or other means of illumination. In the few outlying tunnels live the Skaven outcasts and other parasitic types. Beyond that, are guarded tunnels to other communities.

Female Skaven: Female Skaven make up less than a quarter of the Skaven population. Many Skaven females die under the squalid conditions they are kept under. Skaven female newborns are often either killed and eaten by their mothers, or neglected of care and die. The lot of all female Skaven is a terrible one. Most are sequestered in filthy breeding warrens, where they merely sit and wait for the conjugal visits of the Clan Chieftain and his Clan Guard. Skaven females are seen as useless in Skaven society beyond their reproductive purposes, and few if any female Skaven escape this fate. The female Skaven can look forward to bearing between three to five litters of squealing newborns, with each litter consisting of up to a score. Of their progeny, around a quarter may survive into adulthood.

The center of Skaven culture and civilization is the miasmic city of Skavenblight. From the decrepit city extends the network of tunnels and warrens throughout the Old World known as the Underground Empire. This area is under the control of the Cult of the Horned Rat, and its constituent members, the Council of Thirteen and the Grey Seers. While the great majority of Skavendom at least nominally obey these authorities, some groups have become isolated or have rebelled, and defy the traditional authorities. The nature of Skaven society and the Skaven themselves makes any strong central control over the Underground Empire impossible. With the Skaven population dispersed about in fairly isolated communities, and their ambitious, scheming and self-serving behavior, the Council of Thirteen only imposes control in times of dire need. Within the individual Clans, all Skaven Clans are organized along a hierarchy, where the strongest and most cunning will control and dominate the lives of the others. In the competition for this power and authority, the Clans are eternally embroiled in political and military crises, with various factions and individuals dueling, fighting, plotting, murdering, scheming, abducting, torturing, allying, betraying, and dying in a complex and unending web of conspiracy. This never-changing existence insures that the weak and slow will eke out short miserable lives at the bottom while the strong and cunning will fight a bloody path to the top.