As a Preface I am incorporating all of the confirmed rumors from the upcoming book that i have found (mostly at warseer). My opponent is cool with it, and i will note them where applicable. As a side note i will be playing against a VC army here so some of the choices reflect that. Characters Saurus Old Blood 459 LA, GW Itzl (carnosaur) Tzunki (new rules make this strike first) Xthol (gives characters a 5+ ward save and damage return) Enchanted Shield Venom of the firefly frog JSOD 133 LA, GW, Shld Charm of the jaguar sotek Tlazcotl Skink Priest LvL 2 150 2 dispel scrolls Skink Priest LvL 2 175 Cube of Darkness Blessed spawning of the Old Ones Core 13 skinks with javelins 78 13 skinks with javelins 78 11 skins with blowpipes and scouting 77 24 Saurus (at 10 points per model in leaks) 290 Tlazcotl musician Std Bearer Champ Special 4 Kroxigor 240 3 terradon 105 5 saurus cav 205 std bearer Haunchi's totem Rare 2 salamanders 130 2 salamanders 130 2250 exactly
my real question is: should i trade the saurus cav for jungle swarms? I guess it comes down to hitting power versus durability.
Firstly I just want to ask if the new rules make salamander a rare choise? Thought it became special.. Second, I thought the charm of jaguar warrior's gona dissappere, but I'm not really into theese rumors so check with others for confirmation. I personally would go for swarms. They'r great to hold your enemies hevy troops, and can give you a easy flank charge of another unit. A great combo. Never got those Cavalery units to work propperly anyway, they always go stupid at the worst of moments and I don't like reliable troops!
the salamanders are supposed to go special and change their firing type and barbed razordons are going rare. there just isn't enough detail out there for me to have an answer tough so im sticking to the way the codex has that unit. Also not sure if they are getting rid of JSOD so i left it. I want to use it once before its gone. yeah the more i think about it the more i want the swarms there to tie up a big block of ghouls or zombies. A cav charge loses soem of its allure when the enemy will never break.
But the thing with Swarms is that lovely Unbreakeble rule. That makes them a really reliable troop. They won't be able to deal alot of damage, though I have taken out fast cavalry units several times. Their main duty is however to hold an enemy and not break. That, they do better than enyone Sooner or later they die, but as long as they hold a heavy cavalery long enough for you to flank 'em, I don't really mind. They die in the name of Sotek!
I would say that adding the jungle swarms is an excellent idea. You can successfully tie up an annoying unit that could do potential damage for at least a round or two because of that unbreakable rule. This allows your killers to work on other more dangerous targets and helps break the enemy up into smaller more chewable chunks.