Well this is new! I haven’t reviewed a Battletome Supplement before, but when the Skaven gets an expansion, I’m first in the queue, yes-yes!

So why the Supplement? Well that’s because the Skaven are getting some returning units courtesy of City of Ash, a new boxed edition of Spearhead that is up for preorder this coming Saturday from 10am.

You can preorder City of Ash on Saturday. If you fancy saving some cash vs RRP then you can preorder through our affiliates over at Element Games. You’ll be helping us out at the same time!

All of the below units are available within the City of Ash box, and I would safely assume we’ll get separate releases in the coming few months.

Let’s get into it!

Battle Formation

This book introduces a new Battle Formation to add to the ones in your Skaven Battletome, and as you’ll imagine, it focuses on Clan Eshin.

Choosing this Battle Formation unlocks the trait Kill-Kill! Scurry-Flee! You activate it in your Deployment phase by selecting one enemy Hero. For the rest of the battle, if the target has been destroyed, then all your Eshin units gain 2″ extra movement, which could come in handy for those late in the game objectives.

I would have liked maybe an Eshin focused Artefact or Heroic Trait, but sadly not.

Warscrolls

Time to check out the new Warscrolls, starting with the return of a cool character!

Deathmaster Crixxit

Deathmaster Crixxit is a named character, who is in short, awesome. Firstly, his stats. He comes with a 7″ move, 6 Health, Control 2 a 5+ Save and a 5+ Ward. Whilst he comes with a Ward, he is still super squishy, but his survivability isn’t why you are taking him.

He is armed with The Blades of Thirteen Cuts. This gives him 13 (THIRTEEN!) attacks, hitting on 2s, wounding on 4s, Rend 1 and Damage 1. Whilst he gets a load of attacks, damaged 1 and Rend 1 is a little disappointing. But then you look at his weapons keywords…

He comes with Anti-Hero (+1 Rend) and Crit (Mortal), which boosts his attack potential.

Master of Assassins is a passive ability he has which grants double damage on his attacks against enemy Heroes. So now you’ve got 13 attacks, doing Crit Mortals, Rend 2 and damage 2. NICE.

He also has an ability called Diversionary Assault which allows him to choose a visible friendly unit of Gutter Runners wholly within 13″, granting them +2 to charge.

Gutter Runners

We move onto the new warscroll for the Gutter Runners. 7″ movement, Health 2, Control 1, 6+ Save and a 6+ Ward save.

They have ranged attacks which is cool, in the guise of Saboteur Bombs. They have a 10″ range, 2 attacks, 4s, 2s and D3 damage. Whilst the basic stat-line doesn’t come with rend, the weapon does have Anti-Infantry (+1 Rend), as well as Shoot in Combat.

In melee they are equipped with Punch Daggers and Blades, which do Crit (Mortals). 3 Attacks, 3s, 4s Rend 1 and Damage 1.

You get little Bomb Rats in the unit. Once per turn you can pick an enemy unit this unit is in combat with, and pop a Bomb Rat next to them (up to 2 per unit). At the end of any turn you can Detonate. Pick an enemy unit with Bomb Rats next to it and roll a D3 for each enemy unit within the target’s combat range. On a 2+ you inflict that amount of mortal damage on the unit, before removing said Bomb Rat. The really cool thing with this ability is that even if the unit of Gutter Runners has been destroyed, you can still use this ability to trigger your rats.

Night Runners

These little rats have the same basic stat-line as the Gutter Runners, but have different ranged and melee profiles, as well as different abilities.

Ranged wise they have Slings and Poisoned Stars. Proper ninja rats. They have Crit (Auto-Wound) and Shoot in Combat, but the weapon profile isn’t great, with 2 Attacks, 4s, 4s, Damage 1.

These rats aren’t amazing in combat, although they do get Crit (Mortal) with 2 Attacks, 4s, 5s, Damage 1.

They also get 2 abilities. Grappling Hooks (which cannot be used on the turn this unit is setup) is basically a mini teleport, allowing the unt to slingsshot up the board

Smoke Bombs is the final ability which triggers after resolving your combat attacks in any Combat Phase. On a 3+ your unit can Move up to it’s full distance.

Summary

And that’s a wrap on this Battletome supplement, so what did I think?

Firstly, it’s amazing to see Gutter and Night Runners return for the Skaven. Eshin is a seriously cool Clan within the Skaven army, and after years we finally have new plastic minis. Alongside the Verminlord Deciever and the generic Deathmaster, you can now build a fun Eshin list.

The Battle Formation in this supplement is…ok. It’s handy for sure, but IMO nothing ground breaking. I’d have liked one new Eshin focused artefact or battle trait, but sadly not.

Still, the warscrolls are good, in particular Deathmaster Crixxit. Whilst his stats and his weapon aren’t amazing, you add in the Crit Mortals and extra Rend on heroes, plus his warscroll abilities, and suddenely you have enemy heroes running scared.

Bring on City of Ash!