Skaven, Chaos Knights, and a Very Sneaky List Idea
Skaven, Chaos Knights, and a Very Sneaky List Idea
Sometimes army-building starts with a clean concept. And sometimes it starts with us changing direction again five minutes into the discussion. This was definitely one of those second cases.
This time Michał was working through a fresh Skaven list for Age of Sigmar, and the core idea immediately sounded like something we enjoy a lot: tricky movement, weird interactions, and a plan that is just dangerous enough to either work beautifully or become a complete disaster in the most Skaven way possible.
The starting point: Verminlord as general
The list begins with a Verminlord as the general, most likely a Deceiver, although Michał was still thinking that part through.
That choice immediately shaped the rest of the build. The original idea was to take 12 Ratlings, but there was a problem: with this setup, none of the Verminlords count as Skryre, so that option was off the table.
And honestly, this is exactly the kind of list-building moment we all know well. You have a cool idea, then one keyword or army-building restriction says “absolutely not,” and suddenly the whole thing has to pivot.
Reinforced blocks and board pressure
From there, the list moved toward a more mixed setup:
- 1 reinforced unit of Nightrunners
- 1 reinforced unit of Stormvermin
- 6 Warpfire Throwers instead of Ratlings
- 1 reinforced unit of Jezzails
It is, as Ender immediately noticed, once again something completely different than before. Which is honestly very on-brand for us whenever we start tuning lists.
Nightrunners for the early objective grab
The Nightrunners are here for one very specific job: getting onto objectives fast.
Michał pointed out that they can run 14” for free right at the start of the game, which makes them a great tool for early board control. We really like units like this in list design, because even if they are not the main damage dealers, they force the game to start on our terms.
If a unit can immediately pressure objectives, that changes how the opponent has to deploy and react. And with Skaven, that kind of early nuisance is often worth a lot.
Stormvermin as the expendable hammer
Then there are the Stormvermin, reinforced and ready to go in hard.
The plan here is not subtle. They are supposed to hit with weight of attacks, do solid damage, and—if everything goes according to the slightly grim expectations—die quickly enough for 10 of them to come back from the gnawhole.
That is such a wonderfully Skaven sentence.
We really like this kind of role in an army: a unit that is dangerous enough to demand attention, but also expendable enough that losing it is part of the plan rather than a failure state.
Why Warpfire Throwers instead of Ratlings
The Ratlings idea had to go, so Michał switched to 6 Warpfire Throwers—using the same models, just in a different role.
The reasoning was simple:
- better to hit
- better rend
- only 10” range, but that should not hurt this particular list too much
That short range would be a bigger issue in a more static gunline, but this is clearly not meant to be a static gunline. The whole list seems to be leaning toward creating messy engagements and then taking advantage of them at close range.
There was also the limitation that Michał could not take a second weapon team, so the build had to find ranged support elsewhere.
Jezzails as the extra ranged piece
That is where the reinforced Jezzails come in.
As Michał put it, for some reason they do not count as weapon teams, which opens the door to include them here. Their damage is not amazing, but they bring long range, and sometimes that alone is enough to make them useful.
In a list like this, they seem less like the main event and more like a practical tool: something that can reach out, threaten targets at distance, and force the opponent to respect the shooting phase while the rest of the army gets into position.
The spicy part: Chaos Knights in support
The most entertaining part of the whole plan is probably the support piece from outside the Skaven roster: Chaos Knights.
Michał’s idea is to send Chaos Knights into anything that tries to shoot at him, tie those enemy units up in combat, and then walk the Warpfire Throwers up and keep firing while the target is locked in melee with Chaos.
That sounds gloriously nasty.
It is one of those plans that immediately makes us smile because it is not just about raw efficiency—it is about creating a weird battlefield situation that the opponent may really not want to deal with.
If it works, it means:
- enemy shooting gets pinned in combat,
- the Skaven short-ranged pieces can safely close in,
- the whole fight turns into exactly the kind of chaotic scrum this list seems to want.
What we like about this build
What we like most here is that this does not read like a generic “good stuff” list. It has a clear personality.
It wants to:
- pressure objectives early with Nightrunners,
- push damage and attrition through Stormvermin,
- use Warpfire Throwers as the close-range payoff,
- keep Jezzails around for long-range utility,
- and use Chaos Knights to disrupt enemy shooting and create openings.
It is not the same as the previous idea, and that is probably a good thing. We often find that the most fun lists are the ones that come out of this kind of back-and-forth—where one restriction kills the original plan, and the replacement ends up being far more interesting.
Will it work? We would genuinely love to see it on the table.
Will it produce some very Skaven moments? Almost certainly.
And really, that is half the point.
If this list makes it to a game soon, we definitely want to come back with a follow-up and see whether the theory matched the reality.