So here is my army Allegiance: Order Leaders Slann Starmaster (260) - General - Trait: Great Rememberer - Artefact: Coronal Shield Engine of the Gods (220) - Artefact: Prism of Amyntok Skink Priest (80) - Priestly Trappings Battleline 40 x Skinks (200) - Boltspitters & Moonstone Clubs 40 x Skinks (200) - Boltspitters & Moonstone Clubs 30 x Skinks (180) - Boltspitters & Moonstone Clubs Units 3 x Skink Handlers (40) 2 x Salamanders (80) Behemoths Bastiladon (280) Bastiladon (280) Battalions Thunderquake Starhost (170) Total: 1990/ 2000 I'm worried that not investing in any Saurus units will lead to the demise of this army, so my question is, just how viable would this list be?
I never take saurus units, mainly because I don't have enough to make it a viable option! I like skinks a lot, when you lose a saurus warrior or guard to a mortal wound you feel annoyed, when it's a skink you feel indifferent because they're just so cheap. Fielding 110 skinks gives you a lot of cheap models on the table for your opponent to deal with. They're going to flood objectives and that's great. My only concern is that I can't see anything on this list that does floods of damage. I guess all those skinks might do some decent ranged damage but they'll only do that once a turn and you're looking at an average of 24 wounds with all of them shooting.
I ran Saurus about twice under the last GHB - it's totally viable. The list looks fun and tough but I'd make one small change if it was me: Take the 30 man skink unit down to 10 man (-120) +3 Salamanders (+120) With just the two you aren't benefiting enough from the formation and this should make them more effective whilst the small unit can still hug an objective.