League 2025: Building a Skaven List Around Ratling Guns
We love these moments when an army list stops being just a pile of points and starts becoming an actual plan.
This week Michał shared the Skaven list he’s preparing for his first League 2025 game under the General’s Handbook 2024-25. On paper it already looks very Skaven: a bit dirty, a bit sneaky, and with a frankly unreasonable amount of rat-powered dakka.
The list
Liga 2025 (2000 points) - General's Handbook 2024-25
Skaven
Warpcog Convocation
Auxiliaries: 0
Drops: 2
Manifestation Lore - Manifestations of Doom
Prayer Lore - Noxious Prayers
Spell Lore - Lore of Ruin
General's Regiment
Grey Seer (120)
• General
Warlock Bombardier (110)
Clanrats (150)
• 1x Champion
• 1x Musician
• 1x Standard Bearer
Ratling Gun (340)
• Reinforced
Stormfiends (520)
• Reinforced
• 2x Grinderfists
• 2x Warpfire Projectors and Clubbing Blows
• 2x Doomflayer Gauntlets
Regiment 1
Grey Seer (120)
Clanrats (150)
• 1x Champion
• 1x Musician
• 1x Standard Bearer
Clanrats (150)
• 1x Champion
• 1x Musician
• 1x Standard Bearer
Ratling Gun (340)
• Reinforced
At first glance, the thing that stood out most in our chat was the decision to keep the second regiment’s Clanrats as two separate units of 20, instead of reinforcing them into one bigger block.
And honestly, that’s where the list starts getting interesting.
Why two units of Clanrats instead of one reinforced block?
The short version: each Ratling Gun unit wants its own Clanrat screen.
Michał’s idea is that the Clanrats are not just there to exist and die in a vaguely Skaven fashion. They have a very specific battlefield job: stand in front of the Ratling Guns and make them awkward to interact with.
According to the plan, if the Ratling Guns are positioned behind the Clanrats, they can stay effectively hidden from the enemy at the right distance, while still threatening with their own shooting.
That matters a lot, because reinforced Ratling Guns are no joke here:
- 15” range
- 3D6 attacks
- hits on 4+
- and critical hits generate extra hits
So the dream scenario is exactly the kind of thing that makes Skaven players grin like maniacs: a protected gunline of rats behind more rats, unloading a ridiculous volume of fire into anything that gets too close.
This is also why splitting the Clanrats makes more sense than making one larger reinforced brick. One screen per Ratling Gun unit gives more control, more board presence, and fewer awkward situations where one expensive shooting piece is left exposed.
The third Clanrat unit: pure Skaven nonsense, in the best way
The extra Clanrat unit is not just there for objective duty.
Michał’s plan for it is much funnier: don’t start it on the board, then bring it up from below and send it into the enemy backline.
Yes, the idea is basically: a hole opens, rats appear, artillery crews start having a very bad day.
That gives the list another angle of attack. Instead of being only a front-facing shooting castle, it can also threaten:
- enemy artillery,
- backfield objective holders,
- and generally anything that was hoping to be left alone.
Even if that unit doesn’t do spectacular damage, forcing the opponent to turn around and deal with it can already be worth a lot.
Bringing the rats back
What really pushes this from “annoying” into “very Skaven” territory is the recursion.
Michał pointed out that a Grey Seer can cast a spell that restores a large number of Clanrats in a turn, and the unit itself can also bring models back over the course of the round.
So the idea is not just to throw disposable bodies forward. It’s to throw disposable bodies forward that are, inconveniently, not fully disposable.
In practice, that means the Clanrats can keep doing all the annoying jobs Skaven infantry are supposed to do:
- screening,
- clogging movement lanes,
- tagging things in combat,
- stealing space,
- and generally refusing to go away when the opponent would really prefer them to.
The list concept in one sentence
If we had to sum this army up in one line, it would be:
two protected Ratling Gun packages, reinforced Stormfiends as a major hammer, and extra Clanrats causing chaos wherever they’re least welcome.
That sounds both coherent and extremely on-brand.
The very real hobby problem: time
Of course, no army-building post is complete without the classic hobby reality check.
Michał is going into the first league game next week, but there’s a catch: he probably won’t manage to paint everything in time.
And that led to the most relatable line in the whole conversation — that the 500 points for absence might end up being the highest score he gets in the event.
We’ve all been there in one form or another: the list is researched, the tricks are mapped out, the theory is solid… and then the painting queue looks back at us like an accusing pile of grey plastic.
First impression
Do we know if this list will work on the table? Not yet.
But as a first league concept, we really like it. There’s a clear plan behind the unit choices, the Clanrats actually have jobs beyond “stand around and evaporate,” and the whole thing feels like it should create exactly the kind of messy, high-pressure board state Skaven thrive in.
Also, let’s be honest: any plan that includes hidden Ratling Guns and surprise rats erupting behind enemy lines already starts with bonus style points.
Now we wait for the first league game and see which part arrives first:
- tactical genius,
- catastrophic rat-based failure,
- or the paint deadline claiming another victim.
Probably all three at once. Very Skaven.