Top Five Skaven Magic Items

Okay, time for some Skaven goodness……

Having had the book now for 13 months (and two editions) there has been plenty of opportunity to look at the various Skaven Magic Items. This excludes the Common Magic Items list in the 8th Ed rulebook which does tend to complicate your choices.

Number Five: Shadow Magnet Trinket (30 points) – This item gives all shooting at the unit -1 to hit. I used this item extensively when the Skaven book was first released, putting on a Plague Priest riding a Furnace. Its value was gold. Unfortunately with 8th Ed it has had to go as my Priest needs to carry a Dispel Scroll. Underutilised and definitely something I revisit in larger games.

Number Four: Warplightning Condensor (20 points) – Channels a Power Dice on a 5+ and +2 on the number of Warplightning spell hits. Great kit on an Engineer Mage and useful on a Grey Seer if you have a slot. The extra channel is the cream, the real value is that +2 Str 5 hits. Worst case it acts as a draw for Dispel Dice.

Number Three: Banner of the Underempire (25 points) – 2D6 Str 2 hits on every unit in combat with the carrying unit. Early on I was having trouble with elite Elf unit hitting into the flanks of my Furnace unit. This banner stopped that. It is fantastic at inflicting extra kills on T3 units like Elves and Bloodletters, reducing either attacks or ranks. I didn’t use it at one tournament and really missed it….straight back in.

Number 2: Doomrocket (30 points) – One of the most hated items in the game….it generally is as about as popular as Cupped Hands, Pendant of Khaleth, Hail of Doom, Icon of Despair. Large Str 5 template 4-10D6 out from the carrier and you can Stand and Shoot with it. No LOS is required. Now it’s not going to matter to your opponents that you might have missed, fallen short or overshot in the past. When you tell them you have it you not going to get their vote for Favourite Opponent.

Number 1: Storm Banner (50 points) – For many the Doomrocket is the #1 Skaven item, but not for me. The Storm Banner stops all flying, adds +2 to rolls to hit from shooting and requires non-BS warmachines to shoot only on a 4+. You test each player turn and it runs out on a 4+. In the past it was potentially better/worse as it did not affect magical shooting. This meant most Skaven shooting was unaffected but so were things liked Runed-up Dwarf warmachines. So why do I rate it as #1? Well it is the one item out of the above list that you can build your gameplan around. You know that the turn it goes up that your chances of damage are likely to be reduced by at least 50%. This is great when you have units like the HPA, Furnace, Doomwheel and Gutter Runners in your list. It might be up for one turn, it might be up for seven – however regardless you know it’s going to pay for its points.