Are Jungle Swarms that good as they are said to be? I personally have no experience of them, but conserding 60 pts/base is pretty much... So people, what are your experiences with Jungle Swarms? Are they worth of buying? Any tactics also welcome...
since they changed the swarm rule for 7th edition, swarms have fallen out of favor in most armies some people still use them but its very situational
I used to take a unit of 6 in every list, 30 unbreakable wounds which were ItP is a nightmare for any army. Since they crumble though, most enemies can chop through them in a couple of turns, they still work, but for 60pts a base it's a bit steep. I know SohCahToa has some good uses for jungle swarms I picked up from him
Keep in mind that the cost/wound ratio for jungle swarms is the same as that of Saurus warriors. However, the Saurus have twice as many attacks with more strength and weapon skill, have a higher toughness and don't crumble. Also, with Cold Blooded, LD8 and a BSB within 12" they are pretty close to unbreakable.
They are also poisonus which is nice. I run one plate of them just to protect my flank. They are the same cost as 10 skinks and I think they are just as useful. they can Skirmish and they see 360 degree which makes them really useful while they do crumble they are enough of a threat that only a foolish enemy will ignore them. The first time I used them they took out one of my enemys dragons. I will love those littel guys for ever.
Personally, if I can afford them, since I take a lone Slann I use some of these buggers to defend him from potential fear-causers enough for me to get some terradons back or prepare a nasty spell.
I take some swarms in almost every lizzy army. Hence to their exelence in protecting thouse flanks, in can get some counter charges, get time to manouver my units into better positions if I get lucky and bind a heavyhitter like chaos knignts. I can also put all of my linebreakers like carno, stegi and kroxis on one side of the table and rest assure that my swarms will hold the other side. Besides, poisoned attacks and M5, makes it a threat to enemy light units. There really isn't any other unit that fits these tasks as well as swarms, and for just 120 pts, you got 10 unbreakable wounds whose bound to hold their ground!
Well I look at it like this. 6 bases 360 points. Or 8Ogres with Light armour and Iron fist. with about 20 points left over. You be the judge.
Once again, depends on what you are using them for. As a CC unit, they're not the best. If you use them to tie up an enemy unit to countercharge them, or deal with another larger threat, then they are worth their weight in gold.
Aparach, you are aware Swarms pop with the new rules? 10 wounds don't count for crap against Chaos Knights because every point you lose combat res is a wound. So if if they do 7 to you, and you one to them, they'll outnumber, maybe have a rank, banner, and maybe even the BSB. That's death right there.
Yes, dalkarius I'm aware, and maby vs chaos knights was a bad example. Still my swarms has never let me down. They has taken down enemy light cavalry all by themselves, and I did hold a unit with 5 chaos knights long enough(1 Round) to flank'em with my carno! I think that was 3 swarms, but still, thats a lot less pts than my fellow chaos player payed for his knights(inc. his general!) Besides, whats the deal with compare them to ogres? They'r not even in the army list. Maybe it's just me, but I prefere a all lizzards army. And, yes I know of ogres in dogs of war, but then you loses a rare slot for sallys or steggi.. As a replcement for swarms, I imagine that skinks could do a good job with a slightly different tactic. Use smale groups of skinks to harras the enemy,espessially frenzied units. Then flee as charge reaction and counter with a block with saurus or an other heavy hitter like kroxis... But that requires a very carefull use of your skinks! With swarms you know they stay put and your units can move freely behind them without beeing affraid of panictests. I preffere Swarms. Any other veiws on alternatives to swarms and related tactics?
I can not find rules anywhere stating that jungle swarms crumble in CC. Was this added in a WD or ruels errata perhaps? I've looked through the Lizzie book and the BRB now and can't find anything talking about swarms even implying that they crumble. Is this slated for the new book release in February?
BRB page 53, under Unbreakable Swarms. Since this thread came up I've been trying to find the rule myself (I knew it was there but like yourself, I was unable to locate it until just now.