UNIT SIZE

The size of units is probably more important in a Skaven army than in any of the other races of the Warhammer world. It is vital that they are large enough to maintain a reasonable leadership, but not so large as to be an inefficient use of troops. It is important that in order to gain the advantage of outnumbering your opponent in troops it is vital that you also outnumber him in units as well. It’s all very well building up huge 40+ units, but you need to think to yourself, what benefit are the extra troops in your units giving you? Once you have three ranks and outnumber the enemy, extra troops do nothing to increase your combat ability. In fact they may hinder your manoeuvrability and be a liability. The best unit size is the minimum required to withstand enemy missile and magic casualties, whilst still maintaining combat effectiveness. The best size for your units depends a great deal on your regular opponents and the usual size they like to field their units. I find that a unit size of 25 is about the right amount for my mainstay Clanrat blocks. When facing an army particularly strong in the Shooting phase, such as Empire or Elves, it may well be wise to increase this to 30, but that has become the maximum size for my units. Remember, two small units have just as many troops as one big one. If the enemy concentrate their fire on one of the units, the other will remain unscathed, and if they divide their fire, each unit will only suffer half the casualties. If the enemy uses large units, just make sure you charge into combat with two of yours. (Fig 1)

Another potentially very useful advantage of smaller units is that they become more expendable. The sacrifice of your troops is something a Skaven general should always be aware of.

UNIT NUMBERS

Why is it so important that you outnumber your opponent’s units? Well, as I mentioned earlier, the Skaven do not have any elite units. So when going against an enemy unit one-on-one, you are going to find it very difficult to win the combat let alone break the enemy. Very often you will find that you lose a one-on-one combat even when you charged! If, on the other hand, you have two units to the enemy’s one then you have the opportunity for a flank charge, and this is how the Skaven general can really tip the balance of combat in his favour.

One of the best ways to ensure that you have more units than the enemy is to force some Slaves into battle for you. These are probably the worst troops in Warhammer and yet they are potentially one of the most useful to the Skaven army. At 2 points each you can have a unit of twenty for 40 points and that certainly goes a long way to ensure that you have more units than your opponent. So what if Slaves are completely rubbish as fighters - they can still pose a threat to the enemy. A flank charge from a Slave unit is still dangerous enough for your opponent to have to deal with somehow, and against a thin line of archers they can win the combat by just overwhelming the enemy with their numbers. Don’t bother to equip them with anything. I do not even bother with shields because, as far as I am concerned, they are not in the battle to fight, but to sacrifice themselves in order to improve your tactical position, and as such need to be as cheap as possible.

Next: Think Expendable.
Previous: Introduction.