Edit : posted this in army lists by mistake. Don't know how to move it! Hi, I'm thinking about using Oxyotl and was wondering if anyone had any tactics. You can scout but not within 12". Great, you are out of range. You can move 6 inches but will still be at long range presumably as 12.1 plus 6 is 6.1 so long range. Is this correct or do you scout to 12 inches and so start in range and can walk to 6' to get to short range? I read it as the former, so you start out of range, walk forward to get in range, that's -1 for moving -1 for range -1 for multiple so we are on 4s with bs6. Not so great for 3 st3 shots for 120 points. However, presumably turn 2 is killer, your target cannot charge as you are rear or flank, so the most they can do is turn to face and walk up, or walk away. If they are still within 12 " on your second turn you now have master predator for not moving, and either the single -1 for multiple or -2 from long range if they don't approach. So it's hitting on 2s or 3s with auto wound on 5&6. However, it's still only three shots...and they have AS and WS... At this point you are going to be charged, and can't stand and shoot if they moved up on their turn... Your toast. On the plus side, you have wasted two of their turns and potentially wounded them... Is it better to run him in a unit of chameleons, thus benefiting from skirmishes, to allow March and shoot?. Scout within 12 then March to 5.5" for short range shots? Presumably your after beasts, lone wizards and war machines. Anything without armour? Would be good to hear people thoughts on how to run this guy?
For about the same amount of points you can get 9 regular Chameleon Skinks. I think that's the better deal. You're looking at 6's to hit for them (movement, doubleshot, range) so about 1.5 poison hits which is the same about of hits Oxyotl should get on that first turn (3 shots at 4+) The Chameleons are skimish, so they can actually move 12" and still shoot, so they probably won't even have the -1 range modifier and enemies are -2 to hit them with shooting (skirmish + chameleon) And 9 Chameleons have 9 wounds, where Oxyotl only has 2 wounds. Oxyotl doesn't need to be charged, pretty much anything with a bow will shoot him to death in their first turn (even with -1 to reform and -1 chameleon). If you are going to use Oxyotl, the only reason is for his sniper ability. Now you're able to put 3 shots (probably at 5+ to hit) into a bunkered mage. That's 1.5 hits into a 2 or 3 wound model that probably doesn't have an armor save! I believe you are correct with this. THe rule reads "[Scouts] can be setup ... *more* than 12" away from the enemy" so you have to be at least 12.0000001 inches away, which is still long range for our missile weapons.
My understanding is Oxoytl is used for psychological warfare. Don't let the enemy have enough time do the mathhammer in his head. Confidentally advance Ox to clearly try to snipe at an enemy wizard. Make the enemy overcompensate. I don't see any other way to use him and get your points worth.
I used him in a game against a Teclis HE list. The HE player was freaking out about Oxyotl. I ended up winning the game. The psychological warfare for this works really, really well.
Well if you are lucky enough to get some water based terrain (skink snipper nest) on the board... scout him in there, your oponent wil likely avoid that whole area like the plague.