Krox were great, when they had str5. Now they are a ton of points and a little too weak in my opinion. I do agree they have their uses but model cost and high points really puts me off. If they were in plastic and str5 I would pack 18 of them. I might actually use them if they weren't over 50pts each and you really need at least 6.
They did gain the benefits of stomp and three attacks from the second rank in this edition which is nice. Also, ancients have the ability to get us 50 extra vp when they dominate an opponents hero.
True, if you can use the Skrox unit how you plan to use it (ie. flanking charges) of course they are effective. But since little ever goes according to plan its likely that you face a basic block of infantry head on (or something else): half of the kroxigor rolls to-hit will miss, and the Skinks' WS and T of 2 put them at a serious disadvantage for winning combat. Ld of 7, even cold blooded, just doesn't hold out well. Even worse if the unit gets shot at with some basic arrow fire. It will shred the skinks and then they run
As someone whose name is Kroxigor01, I have the right to say this: Kroxigors are crap. Instead of a unit of 6 you could get a Stegadon and 3 Terradons or 30 Saurus. They are just to easy to remove from the board. Say you are against a unit of 30 Empire State Troops with Halberds (costing ~160 points?). The Empire attack first and kill a Kroxigor. Then you kill 8 with your attacks and stomp. The humans hold. Next combat phase you lose another Kroxigor and you kill 7 humans. Then you lose another Kroxigor and 5 humans. After 4 phases you have 2 Kroxigors left and there are maybe 6 humans left. Your unit is spent to kill a unit of pathetic humans worth half their points. Compare this to what 30 saurus would do to 30 humans...
Hmm, very good point. But if you charge from the side you'll only get a few attacks back which drastically lower the number of possible wounds they can do to you while maintaining the same number of attacks back on the unit. I never throw Krox into the front of a unit unless I can break them on the charge. In fact the only unit I'll throw at the front of a unit is usually Saurus and perhaps a couple of Stegs simultaneous. As with all fast units like Krox and CoC and Skrox it's movement and flanking. Never attack from the front.
Thats a moot point though IMO. With M + 2D6 charging of you could get a flank with a Krox you could have got a flank with a Saurus unit. Furthermore, remove 1 Krox and you lose your disruption. However for the Saurus they will have more ablative wounds.
As is just being pointed out krox in a 3x2 formation is not effective as a flanking unit. It has the potential to remove ranks but if you lose one (not hard from shooting) its gone. In that case 5 krox isn't worth 275pt. I believe 4 krox in a 2x2 formation is a better option. Its 220pts (expensive, krox are not point efficient. another topic tho), and will not draw as much fire. If it does, then 4 krox is just as effective as 3 krox for their purpose (protecting flanks from light flankers, providing weight to main battle combats). Even though you don't disrupt ranks, they still give you +1 for the flank, +1 for the charge, and cause fear. Now a 17 man skrox unit is cheaper slightly. So is that a better option? That's up to the general. My current list for 1800 uses two 2x2 krox blocks. A dual charge is mighty crushing. Do I use them in my more competitive lists? No.