It seems completely plausible to me that creatures such as the Skaven, which spend most of their lives underground and dominate a huge subterranean empire, could make use of their tunnels in battle. You can imagine that a Skaven general could inspect the field on the day before the battle and try to guess the point where the enemy will deploy their artillery. He would then instruct some elite units to dig a branch from one of the main tunnels of the under-empire in an attempt to reach the spot before or during the battle. The fact that the new tunnel will be very narrow and dangerously unstable, added to the risk that the tunnellers may not arrive in time, will mean that the general will not risk valuable large units on this missions, just small groups of highly specialized commandos. Gutter Runners! Imagine a small group of these black-clad adepts of Clan Eshin making their way through the last layer of soft ground with their deadly 'digging' claws and then jumping on the unsuspecting crew of the enemy's war machines...
The following rules are for Skaven tunnellers, which you can use as a new regiment for your normal Skaven army list. As these are so unusual it would only be right and proper to let your opponents know what they'll be facing! Let me know how you get on.
0-1 SKAVEN GUTTER RUNNERS TUNNEL TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Points per team
The team consistes of four Gutter Runners.
| Profile | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
| Gutter Runners | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
Weapons/Armor: digging claws (count as two handed weapons) and throwing stars.
Save: None.
Options: None.
Tunneling: Tunnel teams are not deployed at the beginning of the game, but use the special rules for tunneling (see below).
Skirmishers: Tunnel teams always fight in skirmish formation.
Suicide mission: Due to the many difficulties and dangers involved in tunneling, characters and assassins will never join the teams. Tunnel teams never have standards or musicians because they are simply impractical in a cramped tunnel.
After both sides have set up, place a tunnel marker (a penny will do) anywhere on the battlefield. At the beginning of each Skaven turn (except for the first) roll a D6 to determine when your team emerges:
| First turn: | N/A | |
| Second turn: | 3+ | |
| Third turn: | 2+ | |
| Fourth turn: | Automatic |
When the team emerges, roll a Scatter dice and an Artillery dice. If you roll a hit on the Scatter dice, the marker stays in place; if you roll an arrow, move the marker the distance indicated by the Artillery dice in the direction shown by the arrow.
once the final position of the marker has been established, replace the marker with one of your models and place all the others within 2" of the first one, facing any direction. The team emerges at the beginning of the turn (this is the very first thing you do in the turn) and can act normally (yes, they can charge!). If the marker is moved marker is moved under an enemy unit, the Tunnellers will automatically engage it in hand-to-hand on the side that is closest to the marker (they count as charging). If the marker is moved under a friendly unit or impassable terrain, place the tunnellers on the closest edge of the unit/obstacle. If the marker is moved off the battlefield, the team has got lost (as per result 3-4 on the Mishap table).
If you roll a Misfire, roll a D6 and consult the Mishap table.
Mishap Table (D6)1-2 Cave in! 3-4 Where are we? 5-6 I told you to turn left! |
It is a bit unfair that only Skaven can take advantage of this rule - any other race which lives underground could have similar units. You can try other troop types using the same rules, but to ensure that the balance of the game is not ruined, you should stick to units or four or less and models with less than five Wounds (you should not be able to pop up at the back of an enemy army with anything that can threaten a proper regiment). Tunnel troups should be small groups of infiltrators, not huge fighting units.
Dwarf Miners, Chaos Dwarf warriors, and Night Goblins (no Fanatics please!) could replace the Gutter Runners. Just replace the stat-line, equipment, and points cost of the Skaven with the new unit, but keep the special rules of the Skaven tunnellers.
You could also decide that you are not bothered with respecting the game's balance and go wild! If so, you could apply these rules to any monster that can dig underground, like aHydra, Squigs, or one of the many Chaos creatures.
If you want to really push it, entire units could make their way to the surface from underground if the fight was close enough to one of the main settlements of the race involved. So you could have units of Iron Breakers or Stormvermin popping up from the ground like daisies in spring.
By the way, these rules should really apply only to Skaven, Dwarfs, Chaos Dwarfs, and Night Goblins. It would be rather unrealistic to try to do the same with your Bretonnian Knights!