So recently I've been thinking about how to make Kroxigor work in the new book, specifically as a counter to all the Monstrous Cav. The go to counter should always be a Ancient Stegadon with Sharpened Horns, but it is worthwhile to hedge your bets and have multiple counters. By now we all know the changes from 7th so I won't linger on this, but will be looking at them anew. 6 or more solo Kroxigor. A big unit of these guys can take a pounding and still maintain impressive damage output. The can happily go into the front of things and take them out. You are paying for this however and they're inflexible. You can also guarantee that your opponent will focus on them, especially when you start looking at 8 or even 18. For these reasons they aren't for me. Consider 5 instead of 6 to save on some points without sacrificing too much damage if you are on a budget. 4 solo Kroxigor. These can work 4 wide to maximise stomps or in a 2x2 cube for a narrow frontage and at 200 points they are relatively inexpensive. The cube formation is especially useful for getting into the flanks, which is always where you want your Kroxigor to be. There are certainly worse ways to spend 200 points. However, a unit of 4 will probably need babysitting to make sure they get to combat and, once they get there, that they don't get smacked around too much. Fortunately Iceshard does all these things. It's also worth pointing out that for the same amount you can get two Scar Vets with mundane gear, or pay a little bit more for some cheaper magical equipment, or one fully tricked out Vet on a Cold One. These may give you more mileage. You may be tempted to stick with a minimum size of 3: I really wouldn't recommend it. Losing one model will really hurt the unit, whereas losing one model from a unit of 4 will still kill a Monstrous Cavalry (for instance). 4 Kroxigor and 32 Skinks. This takes the above unit and shifts it into Core, which has its own advantages. The Skinks also bring ranks and some protection as well as command options. Unlike the solo unit it is not at all manouverable though and will most often be going into the front rather than the flanks - this is why you'll want 4 instead of 3. 2 Kroxigor and 18 Skinks in two units. Take the above and split it into two so that the unit is 4 Skinks wide. This regains the advantageous narrow frontage of the Cube, but there is a cost: you have to buy the Skinks but they are almost entirely irrelevant as they won't give you any ranks. There's a further cost in that just one of these units is almost as much as the solo 4: not a problem if all you are looking to do is hit minimum Core or you are happy to go over, but certainly problematic if you want some Skinks chaff and a Saurus block in that 25% as well. Still, like the above bigger option,it opens up command upgrades; most notably Standards. 1 Kroxigor and 10 Skinks. An interesting and relatively inexpensive "dart" that can be used on the flanks or hunt chaff. With only 1 Kroxigor it's not going to help against Monstrous Cav, though, unless you bring multiple darts and throw them into the same unit. All in all I feel like the 4 strong unit is the most worthwhile and easiest to fit into a list. Thoughts?
Personally, I prefer my krox unit to be 6-8 strong. Since they strike last and have very little in the way of defence, you need the unit to be able to take some casualties and still have enough guys around to layout a beating. I think small units of krox in the range of 3-4 can be useful in certain situations, but they lose out in versatility.
For sure, more Kroxigor is usually a good thing. But once you start spending 300-400 points or more on a unit, I really feel that you need to tailor the list around it. The 200 point cube is something that can be slotted in to a existing list fairly easily and augments that list in support, rather than being the driving for behind it. There's good and bad things to both approachesw though. I actually prefer Iceshard to Wildform. Its easier to cast, it helps more against ranged attacks and the strength bonus is pretty irrelevant on Kroxigor.
I too have been thinkin how to use krox nowdays. How do you guys use them nowdays? I just cant think of a good matchup for them... Exept for chaff and some mediocre infantry, they seem to lose to against everything in CR, Wounds or cost-effectiveness.. And against chaff skinks ecxel way better and saurus are still better agaisnt normal infantry. So is there a place for these guys in the army nowdays? If so.. How should one use these fellows. Love the models so do want to put some kroxigors on the table but..
With the 4 Kroxigor in 2x2, I'm looking at running them alongside a Saurus block or some Skink chaff, and getting them into flanks of stuff (especially Monstrous Cavalry). The problem with Kroxigor, like with most of the Lizardmen book,* is that they need to be supported and can't necessarily go into the front of stuff and wreck face. You can do that with Kroxigor, but then you need the 6, 8 or 18 strong blocks that have the extra wounds. But if you can get them into a flank, then 4 will ruin Knights and Monstrous Cavalry (although against the latter, you probably still want to drop an Iceshard, Miasma or Wildform just to make sure). Run them 4 wide, and you can make a mess of infantry too through the S5 stomps. *Realistically, its also a "problem" with almost all units in almost all armies in that they have weaknesses that need to be supported. Its the books like Ogre Kingdoms and Warriors of Chaos with stuff that you can simply push forward and win with that cast everything else in a bad light.
I think they match up very well against most monsters. They can't be thunderstomped, and monsters only have so many attacks and no static combat res. On the flip side, the Kroxies S7 attacks really puts a hurting on most monsters.
Kroxigors seem like they are one of the better units we have to deal with the Monstrous Cavalry spam that is becoming common. Unfortunately, I think that you need a unit of 6 or 8 to reliably take down these units. The 4 man unit seems like it is just a little too fragile, and you can't always get into a flank of an opponent. Personally, I would try running 6 on a flank and would probably run them in place of my Stegadon. I don't think they are as points-efficient as a cowboy (or 2 cowboys), but with many more wounds and attacks they could be devastating in the right circumstance. On a different note, has anyone tried the Kroxi-horde? I know they are not as points efficient as a Gutstar, and can't take a command (yes, Ogres can horde MI better). But, I would think that a unit of 18 supported by lots of skink chaff could give some opponents fits. Thoughts?
I rember someone on the site was runing a unit like that this summer... I seem to recall that it did quite well.
I've found a few reliable uses for Kroxigor: -Lower-damage, high-toughness/armour targets (Dwarfs, Bretonnians that have already charged) -A small-frontage unit (even 3 isn't that big) next to a big block that can be expected to hold up a charge- I did really well be sticking them next to my Temple Guard (with some Salamanders out front drawing all the enemy's magic & charges- they redirected some big creatures away by angling funny), who then took a big Grave Guard charge, and then the Kroxies came flying in to do a lot of damage. -A double-Hammer with another tough unit. In 6 & 7th Editions, I had a lot of fun pairing them off with the Stegadon, because they had the same Movement- now that it's more random when you charge, it might not be as effective. By putting them next to each other, you'd guarantee that a big unit would almost HAVE to charge both, and they're high Movement meant that they'd often get the charge instead. They are VERY fragile to enemy counter-attacks (T4, Armour 4+ isn't all that great, especially now that EVERYONE in the game is dishing out high-strength attacks), but sending them into units unassisted was always a bad idea anyways. Tactically, they're less-useful than, say, Orcs' cheaper Trolls, but then Orcs are a much weaker army than Lizardmen in a great number of ways.