Has anyone had any luck with a flying skink of raining death? I'm taking about skink chief on terradon, in a unit of 3 terradon riders - staff of the lost sun and spear? Seems like its good on paper, but I havn't seen him in anyones list. Is there a reason for this?
Hmm... Lets compare it to a High Elf Noble on eagle with Reaver Bow. Noble - Eagle, Reaver Bow, Dragon Armour, Lance, Shield (possibly Talisman of Loec as well) 187 (197) Skink Chief - Terradon, Staff of the Lost Sun, Spear, Light Armour, Shield 128 Both characters have 3 S5 shots and can fly. Ways that the Noble is better: BS6>BS5 30" range>16" range 15" short range>8" short range 3 WS6 S6 + 2 WS5 S4 attacks>3 WS4 S5 + 1 WS3 S4 attacks Noble is harder to take out (4+ save and a monstrous mount to hide behind) Ways the Chief is better: Almost 2/3 the cost Can hide inside a Terradon unit Drop rocks
Most elf riders take the reaver bow and enchanted shield for a total 3+ AS rather than 4+. The skink combo looks ok and is pretty cheap, might have to consider it sometime. He is more fragile though.
I'm going to try out a flying skink. Skink Chief Terradon Light armour Spear Blowpipe Venom Firefly Frog Shield of the Mirrored pool 139 pts. I do believe that the venom is a great replacement for the staff of the lost sun, since you get poison on 5-6 with blowpipe. I also like the shield of the mirrored pool, since this is what's really dangerous for them terradons. Also, the spear for +1 charge and combined with poison i think you get a dangerous charge. I could probably switch the shield for the enchanted shield or something. The thing that I find really nasty is that you can "hide" the skink chief in the terradon unit, then let him charge out on his own to take out a mage or something and let the terradon riders drop their rocks and mind their own buisness. Anyways it's nice that the little chief's have gotten better. Now there's actually a point in taking a chief...
I think the main reason is there's actually room for him in your army. Personally with my high elves I need all the character slots doing other things. The mirrored pool is ok, I was considering an enchanted shield that way he has a 3+ save i think. I have noticed that skinks on terradons benefit from +1 toughness and +1 wound. Do you think a skink chief will get this bonus when the FAQ come out?
I just woke up, so I'm not thinking clearly, but can you have a blowpipe on your skink if he's on a Terradon? I know Terradons as a unit can't have blowpipes themselves, but does that extend to a Skink Chief if he wants one as a mount?
You can, there is no restriction. He is not a skink, he is a skink chief, and has access to both blowpipes and terradons. That would be like suggesting the chief cannot be given a shield since the terradon riders can't. @Enginseer, I don't think chiefs will get a stat boost for having a terradon.. The units need it because they are too weak otherwise, heroes are ok. There is a similar thing with pegasus knights in Bret armies, they get an extra wound and toughness for combined stats between mount and rider but paladins or lords on pegasi do not get that, so it won't happen for skink chiefs.
Ah, my apologies. I suppose being new to the game I should keep quiet about rules that I don't know about
I always want to bring one.. but pick something else in the end.. I be sure to use one on my next match. Only have to convert one .. Hmmm
Do keep in mind that on the Skink Chief weapon selection, it says to choose one, so having a spear AND blowpipe may cause an issue.
Hmm I will have to have a look when I get home.. Normally it is ok to have a ranged weapon and a combat weapon, you can't usually take several combat weapons. I would be surprised if the skink was any different, but GW may have messed up the wording.
Yeah, the chief has his pick of only one of jav/blowpipe/spear/halberd. I think if I ever went through the trouble of making a terradon chief I'd probably throw him a spear with the VotFF for magic/poison. The staff could then be taken as it is a ranged magic weapon only, and can't be used in h2h so the spear comes out on the charge. Now I'm not sure if this would conflict with the "Only 1 magic weapon per character" rule, since the spear becomes magic from the venom... I think it would be ok personally, since the 2 magic items choices are from different sections (VotFF and SotLS).
Whacked, it does clearly say one choice only. You would be fine taking a spear and the staff though since the staff is magical, even with venom that doesn't make a mundane spear count as a magic weapon, just gives it magic attacks.
This seems reasonable to me. With the spear he'd be a pretty effective mage hunter. Not a bad unit overall