8th Ed. Jungle Swarms: Worthwhile or Waste?

[Captain Krox]

Hello...

Title says it all: Are the Jungle Swarms worthwhile or a waste of points? I have some of those snakes from the CoC box that I was going to make as a swarm, but if they are totally useless, I'll use them in a diorama or something.

 

[n810]

they are basicly a free unit in the Cold one box,
so it might be worth gluing them to a base,
but don't expect a lot out of them.

 

[ThakCo]

They really don't do much. I have also made some swarms out of the snakes in the cold ones box; they don't see much play time though. They can be amusing with Okkam's Mindrazor as they become strength 10, but they still die fast.

 

[parrot]

You can use them in front of razodons because they are small razodons can shot over them.

 

[Lord Cedric]

They dont' last long, but they are still 5 poisoned attacks. Use them infront of your shooters to slow down possible enemy charges so you can "force" a good shooting round. Or maneuver them to enemy war machines.. it's poison attacks after all.

 

[Shaslain]

Actually, adding one base into an army can actually be tactically efficient. In the last game I played I added in a single swarm to the list because I wanted to test them out for myself. I ended up moving the swarm at an angle so it could redirect a charge from my saurus block, and that's about all it did. I did not feel like I lost 45 points since I know that my saurus block was not ready for that charge yet and they probably would have died in droves. Another good thing was that it dies in the first round so I could spend another turn shooting and magic missile-ing it.

Granted a swarm base costs as much as 9 skinks, but it is easier to hide and move around the single base, and it can be used for other purposes too (which I plan to test later).

 

[SanDiegoSurrealist]

Might be useful if you can get them around or behind an ememy unit and rear/flank charge with them. 45 points for a couple points of combat res.

I have 4 bases that I never use as Swarms anymore, since 8th I have only used them as unit filler when I made a 150 Skink Horde unit.

 

[n810]

"150 Skink Horde unit."


Egad!!?

Whatever did you do with a 150 skink unit.

 

[Lord Cedric]

"150 Skink Horde unit."


Egad!!?

Whatever did you do with a 150 skink unit.

Have a nice luau with the salamanders roasting.. ahem.. boar meat from greenskins while the slann are slurping up a nice mix of enemy blood and papaya juice.

 

[Arli]

I have 4 bases that I never use as Swarms anymore, since 8th I have only used them as unit filler when I made a 150 Skink Horde unit.

You sir, are my hero! I run skink horde armies almost exclusively. Well, with a TG unit for my slann bunker.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

You can use them in front of razodons because they are small razodons can shot over them.

That rule still exists? I thought it got phased out.

 

[n810]

With true line of sight you can still see over them.
I believe they still have the small target rule too.

 

[parrot]

It´s in our army book page 58. Says that they don`t block the line of sight of other units.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

It´s in our army book page 58. Says that they don`t block the line of sight of other units.

Really, it does? Lol, that perfectly show that I never use swarms.

 

[Kroxygen]

I've got a whole bunch of those snakes from the coc box. What size base would swarms have?

 

[n810]

40mm same as Kroxigors.

 

[SanDiegoSurrealist]

"150 Skink Horde unit."


Egad!!?

Whatever did you do with a 150 skink unit.

Prety much just watched them die in droves! haha.

For Ard' Boys I stuck them in a 12 story tower with a Life Slann and Shadow Slann and surrounded that with Stegs.

 

[SanDiegoSurrealist]

Found a perfect use for swarms in my game yesterday vs. Orcs and Goblins. He had 2 giant units of Night Goblins

So I used 3 swarms to bait out all his Fanatics, it worked like a charm.

 

[Scalenex]

I'm doing some thread necromancy here. Now that the BRB FAQ has stated that unit that wipe out Unstable units with the crumble taking the last wound out can't overrun.

Does this make single Swarm bases viable now? Or is there still too great a risk of the swarm being wiped out regular style and overran anyway?

I think 45 points is worth a one turn stall. I haven't tried this out yet because I'm working on a wide variety of other nonconventional list builds to try out first.

If you want to stall a Deathstar horde with swarms do you have to use two or three to get a one turn stall or will adding more bases simply let them gain more frontage to make attacks on the impotent stalling unit?

 

[T`hinker`er]

I think a one turn stall/redirect is about the best you can hope for from a swarm, and at 50 points, a small unit of 10 skinks which can throw javelins is almost always better. But in a big enough army it's nice to have a swiss army knife of options available, and every so often the unbreakable nature of these, the 40mm wide base, the fact that it can turn on a dime and sneak through enemy lines, makes the swarm a good choice. The fact that the 5 attacks are poison is just gravy IMO ... in most cases you are striking last and the swarm is gone before you can even roll.