Spiteclaw's Swarm

Spiteclaw's Swarm
Grand Alliance	Chaos
Faction	Skaventide Verminus
Leader	Skritch Spiteclaw
Members	Krrk the Almost-Trusted Festering Skaven Hungering Skaven Lurking Skaven

Spiteclaw's Swarm are a Clans Verminus warband whose members are led by Warlord Skritch Spiteclaw^[2] Originally trapped in the cursed city of Shadespire, they constantly seek to escape, killing, looting and pillaging as they do so.^[3]

History

Shadespire

The warband originally came to to Shadespire at the direction of their Clawlord, Skritch Spiteclaw. He leads a particularly murderous and spiteful band through the Mirrored City, searching for artefacts and trinkets to loot, and an escape route by which he can claw his way to freedom.^[2] During their time in the Mirrored City, the warband was recruited by the Chaos Warrior Zuvass in exchange for helping protect Seguin Reynar to ensure his path towards betrayal was uninterrupted.^[4]

Beastgrave

At some point in time, the warband came to the living mountain of Beastgrave, continuing their hunt for relics. During this time, his warband had suffered so many deaths and returns to life (as a result of the Katophrane Curse that many had become overcome with a gnawing hunger that sees his leadership increasingly threatened. After the warband successfully takes a warpstone amulet from a slain beast, Skritch is granted a vision of its owner, a Verminlord. The Verminlord instructs Skritch to seek out a relic known as the gnawblade, a blade empowered by the stolen lightning of Stormcast Eternals and seeping with the power of decay. Skritch manages to sieze the blade during a battle between Stormcasts and Orruks. With the corrupting blade in hand, Skritch slays many Stormcasts, and in his hubris many of his own clanrats. Eventually, the Stormcasts are able to overcome Skritch, killing him, and bringing down chamber atop all of them. Skritch eventually revives, proclaiming his might at having slain so many Stormcasts, but found his warband (including his own lieutenant Krrk) staring at him hungrily with their eyes leering from the darkness of the mountain.^[5]

Warband

Skritch Spiteclaw

Skritch Spiteclaw is the Clawlord who leads the warband. He led his warband to pillage the ruins of Shadespire and eventually Beastgrave. During his time in Beastgrave, he saw his rulesrship increasingly challenged due to the hungering effect of the living mountain of Beastgrave.^[5]

Krrk the Almost-Trusted

Krrk is a Spiteclaw's second in command - at least until his master meets with some kind of unfortuneate accident. His sadistic cruelty is impressive even for a skaven, as any of Spiteclaw's lowly pack can attest.^[6]

Festering Skaven

The packs of Festering Skaven of Spiteclaw's Swarm have been blessed by the Great Horned Rat with a bounty of festering boils, rashes and buboes. Their weapons are similarly encrusted with foul-smelling grime.^[6]

Hungering Skaven

The Hungering Skaven of Spiteclaw's Swarm has developed a voracious hunger for raw flesh that cannot be sated. In battle this manifests as a ravenous madness. The frenzied swipes of their crude weapons can be just as deadly to their own kind as to their intended prey.^[6]

Lurking Skaven

The Lurking Skaven of Spiteclaw's Swarm are skulking killers who dart from the shadows to drive their twin blades into the backs of their victims, before skittering out of harm's reach - a quintessentially skaven approach to combat.^[6]

Miniatures

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  Skritch Spiteclaw

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  Krrk the Almost-Trusted

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  Festering Skaven

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  Hungering Skaven

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  Lurking Skaven

Sources

• 1: Shadespire website, Warbands
• 2: Warhammer Underworlds Shadespire Rulebook, pgs 3-9.
• 3: White Dwarf February 2018, pg. 22
• 4: Shadespire: The Mirrored City by Josh Reynolds
• 5: The Gnawblade by Denny Flowers
• 6: Warhammer Underworlds - Spiteclaw's Swarm warband cards