Trying a Very Un-meta Skaven List in Age of Sigmar
Trying a Very Un-meta Skaven List in Age of Sigmar
Sometimes the most fun games are the ones where we bring something that is clearly nowhere near the current meta and just see what happens.
That was exactly the vibe this time. Michał took a Skaven list that plays in a completely different way than the more familiar image of Clanrats charging forward while Ratling Guns hide behind them and spray everything down. Instead, this build leaned hard into weird tricks, board control, and making the opponent solve problems they probably did not prepare for.
A very different kind of Skaven game
What immediately stood out was how much the list revolved around sacrificing units and turning losses into value.
According to Michał, that part felt amazing. A lot of units could come back, some could be infected so that they die in an explosion, and the whole army created this constant pressure where removing pieces did not always feel like a clean win for the opponent.
There was also a really funny defensive angle to it: companion attacks did not work on any of Michał’s units. That meant enemy cavalry suddenly hit much less efficiently — in practice, it felt like some of them were operating with half the attacks they wanted to have. That kind of rule interaction can really change how a game unfolds, especially when someone arrives expecting to play into more standard lists.
Catching an opponent off guard
One of the coolest parts of the game was simply that the opponent didn’t really know what to do with the list at first.
And honestly, that makes sense. When most people are tuning toward the meta, they practice into the same kinds of threats over and over. Then a strange list shows up — still rough, still unfinished, definitely “far from complete” — and suddenly the usual game plan stops working.
Michał still lost the game, but it sounded like exactly the kind of loss we like talking about after a match: a loss where the list showed real potential, created difficult decisions, and came surprisingly close to flipping the result.
At one point, the enemy heroine was down to 1 HP. That could easily have been the turning point. But she teleported to the other side of the board, and that was that — no way to reach her in time.
Those are the moments that stick with us after a game. Not just the final score, but the feeling that a few small changes could have made the whole thing swing the other way.
Regiments of Renown keep getting more interesting
Another takeaway from the game was just how cool Regiments of Renown continue to be in practice.
Michał’s opponent apparently had limited anti-monster tools in his main force, so he patched that weakness by adding a Cities of Sigmar drop with Witch Hunters. And by the sound of it, they did serious work.
That sparked an immediate army-building thought: if Skaven do not really offer the kind of cavalry Michał wants, maybe the answer is not forcing it inside the faction — maybe the answer is bringing in a Regiment of Renown that fills that gap.
The current idea is to go in that direction and look at something from Slaves to Darkness.
And really, that is one of the most enjoyable parts of list building right now in Age of Sigmar: not just asking “what is strongest?”, but asking “what tool am I missing, and where can I borrow it from?”
Army-building thoughts after the game
This is the kind of match that makes us want to keep tinkering.
The list is not finished. It is not polished. It is definitely not a solved internet build. But it already does something valuable: it creates awkward situations, punishes assumptions, and plays on axes that many opponents may not be ready for.
That alone makes it worth exploring further.
Right now the most interesting thread seems to be:
- leaning even harder into the sacrifice-and-recursion plan,
- keeping the weird defensive interactions that blunt enemy efficiency,
- and possibly adding an allied-style hammer through a Regiment of Renown, especially if that helps cover the cavalry gap.
Also, hobby reality remains hobby reality: it is a shame Dubry is not playing yet, because otherwise there would already be a convenient source for the models. As things stand, Michał may just have to print them himself.
And honestly? That is also part of the fun.
Why we love games like this
Not every good game has to be a win. Sometimes a game is good because it shows us a new direction.
This one sounded like exactly that: a battle where an unusual Skaven list, still far from its final form, managed to confuse the opponent, create real pressure, and nearly steal the result.
We are definitely curious where Michał takes this next — especially if the next version adds a borrowed hammer from outside the faction.
Because if the list is already causing problems before it is refined, it may get really nasty once all the pieces click.