I was wondering how many (regular) skinks do people bring, whether blowpipes or javelins at each point level. I feel like more people are taking chameos instead. Why?
I take as many skinks as I can. I no longer take skirmishers because I feel like the chameleons do that job much better. I would rather use some skink cohorts as a screening unit with javelins. Skirmishers are good with blow pipes but I usually end up losing the poison attack (unless I am in close range) while double tapping. If I am going to be forced to single tap the blowpipe, I would rather have the javelins and take advantage of the quick to fire rule. With chameleons, I do not have to worry about that. I have been known to take an all skink army. I also love the new rules that make kroxigors more powerful. My opponent has to deal with 40 skinks before he can touch 4 Kroxigors, it is a good thing. The unit also causes fear and is immune to stomp and the dreaded 13th spell (skaven). Lastly, skinks are fast! Movenment 6!
i thinkabout 12 skinks with blow pipes to give you some mobile fire support, and maybe one of those units with the 3 kroxigors in the middle to add a great smashing fist within your army.
pretty much what arli said, but what really does it for me is scout. most games you can scout close enough that your march move puts you in range of whatever you like (my personal targets of choice being enemy cannons and skaven screaming bells/plague furnaces. you can often eliminate them in turn 1-2 which can be a massive game changer, even if the chamo skinks subsequently get slaughtered.
my 2000 pt army has 101 skinks. 70 skink skirmishers, 12 chameleons, 18 salamander handlers, and 1 priest. Tactically works great. Your opponent can never hold a battle line, is only taking 70 points at a time when killing units, and allows you to focus on a very small portion of his army at a time. Works great.
Since Skrox skinks can throw javlins i dont bother with core unit Skirmisher skinks, I just take 2 squads of 7 chameleon skinks, Skrox are a amazing choice now the krox are almost unkillable untill the skinks die the only way to kill them before that is with ranged attacks, plust they cant be stomped and get a 6+ wardsave in CC while your kroxigors smash everything, M6 also alows you to flank easier, although you should never chrage head on with skrox unless you know you will win. They are such a versatile unit and its defintley worth running them.
I bring a 22+2 with full command Skrox unit and a 10 man skirmisher unit to hide my cube caddy priest in. (Not counting the 3 units of 7 Chameleon Skinks, 2 Sallies, and Ancient Steg).
a skrox unit is a "mixed" unit, stomp can only be used against troops, being a mixed unit stops stomp. Yours Aye Mixer
Could you post a typical 2k list. I would like to see that. I tried taking an all skink list for months. It worked ok, but I still needed the heavy hitting TG or Saurus. I would like to go all skink, but need something that works a little better.
the way i see it, in all skink lists, taking say 3 skrox units (24 skinks, 3 krox) would give you your hardhitting units, then skirmishers to fill up. I too would like to see your all skink list. Yours Aye Mixer
I lean away from skirmishers in 8th because they fold so easily and their shooting is very situational. I mean, if I march them and doubletap outside of short range, I lose the poison ability. I would rather take cohorts with command that may give me a chance at lasting more than one round of CC (skirmishers are usually gone after one round). I use chameleons for warmachines.
I have found that a lot of units of skirmishers work well, but maybe not how you might think. You want them to run or get wiped out. Let me explain. 3 units move into short range on an enemy unit. You place 60 shots into it. On their turn they charge one of your units. You can either run or stand and shoot. If I'm in short range and have the ability to stand and shoot, I do. If I'm at long range, I flee. The reason for this is that you will most likely get caught in a flee from short range and escape if you flee from long range. Anyway, after your stand and shoot, you have now put 80 shots into the unit. After combat your unit runs and is cut down, or runs, and your opponent holds and reforms, or your opponent wipes them out, and overruns, or your opponent reforms. There is the small chance that the unit actually holds. Rare, but it does happen. On your turn, you place your skirmishing units in their flanks, easy to do since last turn you were in short range already. Your double tap both units and now have put 100 shots into the unit. Lets say you are a poor player, and were still in their charge arcs, and get charged and stand and shoot. 120 shots into the unit now. On your turn, you double tap again for 140 shots. Get charged, stand and shoot, 140 shots. This is the worst scenario since each turn one of your units got caught and killed. However, you have placed 140 poisoned shots into one unit, taken it out of the game for 4 turns, and have only lost 210 points for 3 units of skink skirmishers. Usually, I get into this position after I have thrown a few salamander fire balls or a dwellers first. This technique usually gives you the ability to wipe out a unit in two turns, maybe three if your rolling bad or if your playing heavy armored guys. However, I have found that isolating one unit at a time allows for destroying that unit, however big it is. Imagine 8 units of skirmishers, 3 units of chameleons, 2 units of 3 salamanders, and a slann in a temple guard. Thats a lot of shooting. Due to the skirmishing units all over the place, my opponents rarely make it to my temple guard. To summarize: I use skinks to kill my opponent. They are meant to be sacrificed at the benefit of tactical domination.
My friend, who plays Vampire Counts, hates this list. He has gone as far as to make a tailored list with as many etherial units as he can because I don't have many magical attacks. He still loses. He really gets mad at me sometimes. To give you some game examples. I played against a dark elf guy with a lord on a dragon, 2 hydras, and 2 blocks of 40 or 50 guys each. He was very cocky saying he is apologizing ahead of time because his list is so good. I killed every model on the board. He was shocked. I went up against a Warriors of Chaos army. I was a little scared because of the armor saves, but because his models cost so much, I outnumbered him by a lot. I just kept throwing dice upon dice and eventually wiped him out. Played a few games against skaven. Between the slann and the salamanders, my other units didn't have to to much. High elves die really easy. Teclis can be a pain sometimes, but thats all. Ogre Kingdoms are a little tricky. The salamanders don't do as well, but the skinks do great. Evens out I guess. Wood elves are a joke. Demons fall pretty easy, so far. I have never seen a blood thirster run so much. I have yet to play the new 8th against empire, bretonia, or dwarves. I'm a little concerned about bretonia as all of there guys have a 2+ armor. We shall see. Any questions, feel free to ask. I should be posting a list up on the boards soon. I have a 2000, 2250, 2500, and I'm still working on a 2999 for a tournament in December. Got to love them skinks.
from what you have said skinks are pretty good, wouyld you recomend using kroxigor mixed units. and also how many temple gaurd do you use with your slann.
I don't use the mixed unit of skink and kroxigor. I found them to be fun as far as movement and the kroxigor strength, but with a WS of 3 the krox don't do enough for the amount of skinks you lose. I'm sure many have stated this opinion, however there are many out there that like them. They look cool, but are a pain to rank and file up. I don't want to go toe to toe with any army. The skink skirmishers allow you to segregate and whittle down your opponent, rather that the normal hammer-anvil tactic, hoping your units are better stat wise, or you roll better.
I too run a unit of 20 Temple Guard with my slann. I have run them in a unit of 26 before. This allows you to reform into a horde allowing all of your guys to attack, or a lot of extra ranks for static rez. But, usually 20 does the job, and looks nice on the board, all balanced and such. By the time your opponent reaches the Temple Guard, they are usually so weakened by the dwellers, salamanders, and skink skirmishers that the Temple Guard wipe them out with out losing too many guys. Life Slann works well with this tactic. Light is less useful as you don't have multiple close combat units like the typical saurus lists. Just my opinion. It also is nice to look at your opponents face after the game and see that his massive warriors of chaos army got wiped out by a bunch of toughness 2 guys. Love that.