The Skaven team is, in my opinion, the hardest to play. The team draws an abundance of Cheating Tokens from the get go, which, in great numbers, represent a risk to at least one of the matchups you are committed to. Here is a list of basic pointers.

The first round for any Skaven team should be all about earning buffs (such as Star Players and Team Upgrade cards.) Many people run straight to where the fans are, but you should be aiming to grab the stars.

there is a simple reason for this. Getting Freebooters will allow you to drop the riskier, unskilled players (Blitzers for Skaven are sadly lacking in any kind of bonus) or replace the Linemen (Good to do for any team, especially with Freebooter Linemen.)

The team upgrade that allows you to check and discard a cheating token is very handy and coupled with the Rat Ogre's skill, significantly reduces your chances of being sent off.

Getting the right balance here is essential. Don't be afraid to leave off from the high scoring fan pickings early on and aim for the team building elements of the game. You can grab all those fans back from round 2-3 onwards, when you have a better team than anyone else.

Back up your Gutter Runners with Linemen. The Dodge skill means you can force the opponent to make a potential mistake and then, on the off chance he does bring you down, you can redirect on to a lineman with Guard and keep this more valuable potential ball carrier standing.

 your post is true for all teams.

no team rushes for fans right away, everybody wants to replace their linemen and get staff or team upgrade cards, so you win in the long run -,-

I've found the Dwarves to be tougher than the Skaven to win with, tbh.  They start out with a naturally inferior team, so Star Players are magnified in importance for them.

Dwarves take a little longer to get going but are fairly decent once they do. The Skaven seem to take a little while to get going, then a bit more strategic to play. IMO at least.

For me skaven have some key advantages that you need to leverage as much as posible:

1 - Good team cards; I would go for them whenever possible, not only for the risk reducer but also for the capacity of changing one player from one game to another, using that skill in the last turn should ensure at least 1 game per round.

2 - Lots of character with cycling ability; properly used this should limit the number of linemen played and give you better players to use instead.

3- Players with double ball ability, played in the last turns these guys can give you the edge.

One quick question, If I change one player holding the ball from one game to another, does the ball go with him or it is dropped? I always assumed it is dropped but still wonder about it...

I would like to point out that skavens got a lot more cheat tokens than our usual teams. Therefore, I wouldnt consider skaven strategic. There are things to do but they are more tactical then stratigic, if you will. I mean +3 star power or a whistle can be a game changer and you almost cant influence it (there is the Seasoned Cheater team upgrade or something similarly called). If you want strategy go with the good factions.

Moebius said:

And yeah, he drops the ball.