AoS How do you equip your Skinks?

I'm just starting to upgrade from the start collecting box and got myself some skinks (for a shadowstrike starhost) but I'm not sure about how to equip them. Seems like everybody favours the boltspitters&shields. However I'm not sure what to pick because to me it looks more usefull to have boltspitters and clubs.

My reasoning is that when you do end up in melee you get an extra attack allowing you to do some extra damage. Whereas otherwise you need to make a save of 6 anyway. So isn't it better to get more attacks when you do end up stuck in melee combat? Or is there something I'm missing?

 

Shields are better. They are abysmal in close combat. They are not damage dealers, so you should be using "wary fighter" 99% of the time

 

You're right I looked at the numbers again and realised that clubs aren't worth it. And If they get attacked somehow its indeed better to defend the squishy dudes and hope for the best

 

I was really hoping that ghb2 would expand the skink horde bonus to include close combat! That's the only way these guys would be effective or viable, but alas that did not happen.

 

Skinks need their spitters, brah. Also, Spitters + unit of 30+ means that they're hitting on 3+ and wounding on 5+... which takes them from being "eh" to being genuinely pretty good at shooting, especially coupled with their ability to chicken out of close combat. And ignoring the most common Rend in the game is pretty sweet, since they'll mostly be getting peppered by small arms or, most favorably, eating Mortal Wounds that could instead be going to your Trogs or Bastilodons or, heaven forbid, Priests or Slanns.

 

I field mostly dartpipes-and-clubs Skinks in games that use the Skirmish rules. I've played maybe 8-10 skirmishes and have won every single one. Quite often, my skinks managed to do in close combat what they had failed to do at range: when 4-5 Skinks swarm a Stormcast, some wounds do eventually get through.

That being said, effectiveness at the micro level does not necessarily translate at the macro level. I haven't used my Skinks often enough in larger games to give a definitive assessment of their close combat ability. I do believe they can finish off a small unit they maimed in the shooting phase, though. Sometimes it can make a difference when, say, trying to gain control of an objective.