Had a thought tonight, sort of moving on from a previous idea what do people think of placing a skink Chief on a Steg/ Ancient Steg with either 1) BSB and Skavenpelt Banner. This guy could either go it alone or join a unit, to pass out the frenzy. (Could you imagine throwing him in a unit of Krox with a champ for challenges?) 2) Carnosaur pendant and some combat gear. More self- orientated, not being able to pass the frenzy to a unit, however, he doesn't suffer the frenzy liability till he's already been in combat, so you don't have to worry about re-directers, etc. The main point of these builds is to increase the stegs combat potential both on and after the charge... Thoughts? Suggestions?
I'm pretty sure the banner only gives frenzy to skinks... not stgadons. In that case only the riders would benefit. Aditionally it wouldn't be too hard to challenge the rider with a hero or so and kill him of... no more BSB --<Edit>-- Just checked it out. It does say that the unit isaffected, but also "Skinks"only, in plural as opposed to the other items singular. I might be very wrong here, but I think it'll only affect skinks then
I guess you're right on that, but as it's skinks in plural I thought it might be just affecting skinks. but yeah, that's for the carrier.
Regardless is the banner only effects skinks and not the unit, the mount gets frenzy if the rider has it...
and before we hit the "Carnosaur Pendant only gives Frenzy to the rider and the Steg not the crew" question, the BRB under mount psychology actually mentions that the frenzy affects "the whole combined model" So what do people think? Are these setups tactically viable? are they a worthwhile change to the usual Stegadon War spear setup? The warspear Id accept is probably better on the charge, but if the steg gets charged or is caught in a protracted fight its useless...
Of course the main problem with frenzy is you now must charge if you can, and there will certainly be times when you don't want to charge and it opens up the complete possibility of the opponent baiting your steg away and taking several hundred points out of the fight. Personally I think giving him frenzy is a risk that isn't worth the reward.
Thats true for the Banner, however, the Carnosaur Pendant doesn't kick in till you kill an enemy. I think its probably the more tactical option, plus that leaves options with the Warbanner wide open... Remember, the Chief has the highest Initiative and the pendant kicks in "Immediately" after you cause the wound, so the steg and skinks'll get the bonus in the same round as it activates...
Frenzy is better against newer generals that don't know how to properly kite, but a 4 S6 atacks from the kroxigors is a scary prospect. i know in my beasts list i run frenzied bestigors and minotars. i don't think lizards particullay need frenzy though.
I dont think trading 1 S6 attack with WS 3 for loss of control over the steg is worth it, so I would never ever take the banner as any good player can use it against you. Even with closed lists you are gonna be forced to commit to combats you dont want your steg to be in with frenzy. The pendant on the other hand does not give you frenzy until you commit, which can indeed be handy. The skink strikes first with his In 6, cause a wound and then turn frenzy. When the steg then hits he has his +1 A so the difference in the first round of combat between pendant and banner is 1 attack from the skink. Biggest downside of this is the BEARER needs to do a wound, so if you face something the skink can't do much damage to, such as high AS units, high T units or if he just fluff his rolls, the pendant isnt gonna get activated. In the end I think its a pretty neat idea, but the advantages are few and the downsides are many, Id take the War spear any day of the week (hits MUUUCH harder on the charge and slightly weaker afterwards).
can a skink chief BSB even carry a magical banner and another magical item? No. Only the slann can do that, and he's out of the question on this subject Even if you could, the gain does not weigh against the loss of free moving. Even if you have been in combat once (you can be charged too you know!!) some charges are just not favorable. Imagine this: a group of very light skirmishers charges your Steg+Carnorsaur pendant chief, they utterly fail->you do a wound->are frenzied->HAVE to pursue->pulling you out of position (otherwise your opponent fAILED!). With permanent frenzy it's not getting any better... Stay away from it unless you want a serious randomness/fun/fluffy(??) army. The Hunted
Wait, what? Who is carrying a magical banner and another item? The set ups discussed are either 1: frenzy banner or 2: frenzy pendant.
Oh man, Did I do that? I guess I though warbanner+carnosaur pendant... Anyways: forget it. I'm keeping it short this time: No, I do not like a frenzied stegadon. DONE! The Hunted