8th Ed. can we field small-ish saurus units?

[Pinktaco]

I'd like to discuss the viability of saurus units consisting of say 20-24 models in a 2400-2500pts game.

Could we do with something like 2 X 20 saurus + standard bearer/musician and some skinks along with 2 x 24 templeguards? I was thinking.. How about the above but with 2 x OBS and 2 x scar vets? It would eat up most of our points, but I'm just trying to come up with other ideas instead of my usual 30 saurus + skinks along with 30-35 templeguards with AP banner.

It doesn't have to be like the above mentioned, but I'd like to know if someone have tried something less than going full retard every single time.

Thoughts..?

 

[Qupakoco]

I usually always run units of 24 when I'm under 3k. Never had a major issue with it. In smaller games, say 1500 or less, I'll take 20.

To be fair, I've never ran a horde or anything over 35. Just seems like a waste of points for how cumbersome the unit is to wield.

 

[Lizardmatt]

How big really depends on local meta.
My units of 24 were usually losing combat and breaking before I would grind down the enemy.
I bumped my saurus to 30 to 36 and those problems went away.

That said, I've also run units of 10 saurus for support.
10 Saurus in the flank are pretty good, and at 110 points, it isn't a huge loss if they don't work out.


I generally don't like medium units. I shoot for expendable or built to last. The in-between sizes lose me games.

-Matt

 

[Putzfrau]

i think taking blocks between 24ish and 30ish is probably the best way to use them.


almost every successful tournament list brings 1 unit of 24ish, if they bring any at all.


but as was already mentioned, local meta will dictate a lot.

 

[Scalenex]

I've tried smaller Saurus blocks (~15 Sauri) to provide flanking support for my bigger Saurus blocks and it worked okay. I've had slightly better luck with using 20 Cohort Skinks rather than smallish Saurus blocks.

20 Cohort Skinks is a good watch tower unit and even in a non-watchtower game can be a really pain in the butt to enemies once they get in a building. If you can keep the building in a Slann's leadership bubble they won't break, they can provide a vantage point for spellcasters and get lots of good poisoned volleys. It takes at least 400 points of enemies to dislodge 130 points of Skinks in a tower and they are sure to be bloodied by a round of shooting every turn (Quick to Fire is fantastic for buildings).

I don't consider 24 Sauri small, I call it medium small. In a game of 2000 points or less I'd call it medium. That's two full ranks and 12-14 models to soak losses. Hardly small.

I tend to run my Sauri in units of 27-32. I use odd looking numbers because most of my left over points go I into my Saurus Warriors. I recently transitioned from ranks of five to ranks of six and I'm wondering why I didn't do that sooner (oh yeah, my transition to wider ranks stems from my friend getting bored with his Dwarfs and moving to less great weapon horde based armies).

I'm the opposite end I'm going to try 40ish Sauri, at least when playing my O&G friends. My Sauri tend to win against Orcs in ordinary formation and they tend to lose against Orcs in Horde formation so it's time to escalate.