Lorehammer: Skarsnik

In the Old World, Skarsnik is the goblin warboss who controls the mountains around the dwarf hold of Karak Eight Peaks. The dwarfs there are familiar with Skarnik’s ambushes and lighting raids, and his name features against many entries in the Book of Grudges.

Skarsnik takes particular delight in tormenting the dwarfs, often shaving the beards of the dead and displaying them on poles within sight of the walls of Karak Eight Peaks. Of course a night goblin ambush awaits.any dwarf foolish enough to try and retrieve these.

Skarsnik is no magic user, but he carries the potent prodder, a magical version of one used to herd squigs into battle. This shoots lighting into unwary foes, and gives Skarnik some serious killing power at a distance.

Skarnsik’s forces consist mainly of night goblins, but squigs also feature in the army. These can herded towards the enemy by night goblins armed with long prodders. Other squigs are literally ridden into battle by night goblins, with the goblin clinging on as the squig rampages through (hopefully) enemy lines. In truth the goblin has very little say in the matter.

The bosses in Skarnsik’s army may ride larger squigs into battle. Skarsnik himself is never far from his own squig, Gobbla. The two are inseparable and Gobbla shows a surprising amount of loyalty for a squig i.e. any at all. Artwork tends to feature the two together:

Squigs add a potent punch to any goblin army, acting as a glass cannon. They hit hard, but will break under pressure, so using them wisely is the difference between a useful unit and a liability to your own forces.

In miniature

Skarsnik has had a few models over the years, and the most recent is still available from the Games Workshop website, as a ‘grot warboss’.

For those who like their army generals in miniature format, this makes a nice pair. Okay, perhaps ‘nice’ isn’t the best work here.

On video

To see more of Skarsnik and the squigs, check out the release video: