Background: A skaven invasion of a major Empire city. Obviously, its death from below.  I'm using MapTool with various Oones maps, so the PCs will be caught up in a series of good old fashioned urban battles. House-to-house, room-to-room, no quarter given or asked.

Here is my battle plan:
I figure: Clan Eshin C3 strikes preceding a first wave of Stormvermin plus support elements from Clan Moulders  & Skyre aimed at key points; second wave being clanrat warriors firming up control of key points and seizing secondary points, plus a few bands of skaven-slaves for disruption & decoy.
Third wave will be one-third Clan Skyre specialists with the heavy gear, and two-thirds slaves & expendables to spread confusion.
Successive waves will be out of the time-frame, but will contain the operational reserves and logistic elements.

The questions:
1) At what point will the Skaven begin to go into looting and slave-taking in a big way; I'm not talking about by the plan, I thinking when the various claw and pack masters start grabbing whats to hand.

2) How concerned would a Skaven force be in regards to the security of its assault ramps leading from the sewers and tunnels to the surface? Are they sufficiently confident about their mastery of the underground beneath Mannish cities to leave them unguarded between waves?

3) Is my battle plan consistent with Skaven tactics? I don't play the minis game. If not, what should I change?

4) At what stage of the invasion will bulk loot & slaves be moved underground? This would slow the follow-on waves, but hedge the Skaven commander's risk by securing loot.

Quote from: OneTinSoldier;2747121) At what point will the Skaven begin to go into looting and slave-taking in a big way;

Is the plan to conquer then loot or just raid?  If its conquer, they won't begin the looting until the sounds of battle have died down and the only humans around them are peeing their undies.   If its a raid, then they will start looting as soon as the initial defense is overcome.

Quote from: OneTinSoldier;2747122) How concerned would a Skaven force be in regards to the security of its assault ramps leading from the sewers and tunnels to the surface?

I doubt they would guard their retreat during the raid.   No Old Worlder in the right mind goes into the sewers on the best of days.  That's for those crazy adventurers!

However, they would afterward cover their final retreat to discourage any counterattack on their lairs.

Quote from: OneTinSoldier;2747123) Is my battle plan consistent with Skaven tactics? I don't play the minis game. If not, what should I change?

Sounds fine.   The slaves and expendables will be sacrificed in any kind of face to face assault with masses of troops.   Just remember that Skaven have great climb rates so they can take combat 3D far better than humans.

In WFB, Skaven are mostly cheap units who mob and swarm foes and waste their time being cut down why the expensive units achieve the objectives.   Skaven haver zero problem with friendly fire or letting dozens of their own die to achieve even a minor objective.

However, when the Skaven recognize a serious threat (the PCs), then they will send the Ninjas and a whole load of expendables to take them out.

I have run "Skaven attacks Town" scenarios and the PCs soon made the decision to loot and flee themselves!   In my game, the Skaven torched the town on their way out so when the authorities arrived, it was all blamed on a Beastman attack and the few survivors were too shell-shocked to disagree.

Quote from: OneTinSoldier;2747124) At what stage of the invasion will bulk loot & slaves be moved underground?

I would not be surprised that Skaven planned tunnels that are just for the IN and other for the OUT.   Maybe even set up a chain of lesser Skaven whose job is to quickly drag away whatever loot is tossed down to them, allowing the looters to run back and do more looting.  

Hmmm...that might be more than their IQ allows though.

Don't worry about it, the miniatures game doesn't really play too true to the fluff in which you'd almost never see an open field battle involving the skaven with odds better than 10:1.

I think the thing to remember is that the skaven are fracteous.  Not in the, bash you on the back of the head way the orcs are though.  Somewhere somehow, someone is going to get screwed over and hung out to dry.

Any major skaven action should be mired in high level inter-clan skullduggery.

One good example drawing from your ideas is that the guys guarding the rear have cut a deal with another unit to hold the gate until they come back early with the pick of the slave crop and then hang the other unit they don't like out to dry.  But the unit they don't like has secretly contacted the humans and let them know where the ramp is and made their own plans to raid a valuable site like a church that will be unprotected when the humans move.

Have you looked at the Talabheim book? Its basic premise is a Skaven invasion.  
One big point is that the Skaven aren't orcs, they don't just spring up and try to charge their way in.  First, they will spend weeks weakening the city with plague and panic, and only when the city is already in bad shape will they make themselves seen.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Spinachcat;274744I doubt they would guard their retreat during the raid.   No Old Worlder in the right mind goes into the sewers on the best of days.  That's for those crazy adventurers!

True enough.

Quote from: Spinachcat;274744Just remember that Skaven have great climb rates so they can take combat 3D far better than humans.

Oh, man, I had completely over-looked that. That is an excellent point! Stormvermin wouldn't climb, but others would. Very good idea.

Quote from: Spinachcat;274744I would not be surprised that Skaven planned tunnels that are just for the IN and other for the OUT.   Maybe even set up a chain of lesser Skaven whose job is to quickly drag away whatever loot is tossed down to them, allowing the looters to run back and do more looting.  
.

I like the one-way planning-the Skaven are clever, and you figure Clan Skyre will be tasked with the engineering work, so that would be feasible.

Quote from: David JohansenI think the thing to remember is that the skaven are fracteous. Not in the, bash you on the back of the head way the orcs are though. Somewhere somehow, someone is going to get screwed over and hung out to dry.

Any major skaven action should be mired in high level inter-clan skullduggery.

Got that covered-the last three sessions have covered the PCs unwitting (at first) involvement with the double-cross of Clan Pestulens, who were supposed to be primary benifactors of the assault, and who met an untimely end.

Quote from: David JohansenOne good example drawing from your ideas is that the guys guarding the rear have cut a deal with another unit to hold the gate until they come back early with the pick of the slave crop and then hang the other unit they don't like out to dry. But the unit they don't like has secretly contacted the humans and let them know where the ramp is and made their own plans to raid a valuable site like a church that will be unprotected when the humans move.

We ended the last session with the PCs holed up in a chapel as the alarm bells started to ring...perfect.

Quote from: RPGPundit;274763Have you looked at the Talabheim book? Its basic premise is a Skaven invasion.  
One big point is that the Skaven aren't orcs, they don't just spring up and try to charge their way in.  First, they will spend weeks weakening the city with plague and panic, and only when the city is already in bad shape will they make themselves seen.

RPGPundit

I am in fact using it; however, while the plague plan is fairly identical to mine (I had to change it somewhat to account for the difference in game systems), the overall S operational plan had to be altered a bit.

Three sessions into the book (41 in the campaign) has the PCs in an interesting position for which I needed a bit more detail. I'm drawing most of my source material on the S from the Gotrek novels.