Ok, so I mostly play against WoC and I am having a really hard time figuring out what I should use against him: skink cohorts with javelins, skink skirmishers with blowpipes, or skink skirmishers with javelins? My opponent tend to run a block of 40 Marauders, and two blocks of I think 24 Chaos Warriors. By my calculations (which could be faulty), if i were using blowpipes, the math would be something like this: long range = -1 to hit. Double tap = -1 to hit. At this point, I would need a 6+ to hit, which would basically mean anything that hit would wound. However, the Chaos Warriors would still have their armour save of a 4+ (or something along those lines). And if I move and shoot, then even LESS of my attacks will wound, and he will still get his armour saves. But if I use javelins, it would turn out to be a 4+ since there is no penalty for move and shoot or long range (correct me if I'm wrong), and 6s would still auto-wound, but I would have more chances to hit and possibly wound, allowing for, maybe, a couple more wounds than I would get with blowpipes... Now that I have officially confused myself, my main question is this: what is better against WoC that is Chaos Warriors and Marauder heavy? Skink cohorts, skink skirmishers with blowpipes, or skink skirmishers with javelins? Any and all advice, opinions, and corrections are welcome.
Working it out on mathhammer it's VERY slightly better with javelins at T3, but anything over that the blowpipes get it. However you don't get the shield. If you move with blowpipes you can't poison and double tap.
I personally take blowpipes just because I normally can guarantee that whoever I'm fighting will have something that I'll be wounding on 5/6 anyway.
Not true. You march your 12 inches (skirmishers can always march and shoot). BS is 3 (so at the start you are hitting on 4+). -1 for moving and -1 for double tap, you are hitting on 6+. But, only if you are within 6 inches of your target. Being outside of 6 inches puts you hitting on 7s ( from the -1 for long distance).
Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking. Plus, once they get in close combat they're gonna get destroyed anyways so I might as well get off as many attacks as possible i guess. Thank you guys for the posts and making it less confusing of a choice.
Your original post is completely floored as you used the example of chaos warriors. If you are using blowpipes against high armoured opponents then you are using them completely wrong or they have no other targets on the board. They are designed entirely for high toughness models with low armour save beacuse alot of monsters the armour save is lessened by the increased difficulty to wound (Monsters, Warmachines) Never expect better then 6's to hit but thats all that really matters when your throwing 24 dice at a warmachine or giant or hellcannon etc etc.
Hiv0r is absolutely correct. If you need to take skirmishers to fill your core requirements against WoC, target things like Giants, War Hounds, Chaos Spawn, etc. Wizards off by themselves on discs or whatnot are also worth focusing your fire on, armored or not. If he doesn't have any of those, have the Skinks make themselves useful annoying the Marauders. They have 5+ armor at best, and not even that if he's given them great weapons or flails.
I see that everyone is saying there is a penalty for double tap. Is that 2 shots? and why is there a penalty, I cant find it anywhere in the books.
Look for the special rule 'multiple shot' in the main rulebook. You will find that it gives -1 to hit. If the army book doesn't state they have the multiple shot special rule (I'm pretty sure it does) then the FAQ would definitely mention it.
I looked everywhere in the FAQ and army book and I could not find it, but it was in the main book. Thanks for the help!