Skaven are horrible ratmen which are pretty much a staple of Warhammer Age of Sigmar. The vile little monsters have themes of poison and disease, and they look gloriously sinister. There are the sort of beastie that are most suited to Games Workshop’s Warhammer Underworlds game. Sneaky, devious and filled with spite, you can easily imagine them lurking in the dark haunted parts of Shadespire, looking for their next victim.
Spiteclaw’s Swarm include 5 models and 60 cards. As usual, half the cardsare specific to the Skaven, and the rest can be used with any team. They’redesigned to be a ‘hit and run’ style squad, featuring the highest movement in the game. Unlike other sets, only two of these are ‘named’ characters – Spiteclaw himself, and Krrk the Almost-Trusted. The other three are Lurking, Hungering and Festering. This is because those can be brought back from death by Spiteclaw’s special ability. Basically the sneaky leader has hordes of ratty minions who appear as soon as one of their number is downed. This is a game changer, as a lot of Shadespire is about knocking your opponent about the board to achieve objectives. Having a foe that keeps coming back changes things up for the other teams.
Though they’re easy to take out, they are also pretty fast – you have to catch these horrors first. When they huddle together they can get tougher,and can also gang up on tougher foes to take out even the heavily armoured with lots and lots of swipes of their pestilent paws.
Thematically, they’re pretty much spot on. We especially like the way they lurk on one side of the board, appearing to lose then suddenly bursting across to the other side, capturing objectives and then pretty much turning the game on its head. Sneaky. The models themselves are snap-fit and in brown plastic – your can pretty much use them straight away though you really need to read all the cards and figure out their tactics first. They require a bit of finesse and you’ll find your ratties outmatched if you don’t plan ahead. Go for the subtle and tactical route though, and you will have bags of fun with these monsters.
