this may be a question already asked so i apologise but i thought id unearth it again simply what do you guys think is better having a huge block of saursu (60) in my case or breaking it up into smaller units?. How do you guys field your saurus? best unit sizes and rank sizes? spears or shields? hord? and finally if you were to put your bsb in a unit of saurus what are peoples favorite/most used banners?
Last question answered - No magic banner, if i put my BSB in the saurus i don't want him to die, so i get him magic items instead.
There's very little point to putting more than 50 models in a unit, and there's diminishing returns after 40.
really i always thought that 60 or 50 was a good number due to some dieing before they can strike i mean saurus that are initiative 1 suffer in the first round usually so i like to have a few ranks buffering and then after 40 i like to have because if you are using spears and horde you dont want your extra rank of attacks eaten away in combat but yeah in higher points i do play bsb and a general do you guys use gor rok?
Skeletons and zombies are good in units of 80. Everything else really does reach a point where it's just excessive. Usually that point is around 40. I am playing with 40 Saurus at the moment, and I am finding that without a character with the Crown of Command, it's a very dicey proposition. Going larger would really be too much risk for me. My feeling is that units of 40 in Horde are good, but if you do not Horde, then 30 is your max.
Yeah good point sleboda i usuall pack more ranks i spose because i usually am steadfast then but i agree its still risky hmm what do you guys think the minum block size should be to still be effective?
Depends on the game size. 2K + i'd say 24 as a bare minimum. 1K + i'd say around 20 - maybe 18 at the lower end. 500 + i'd say 15ish should do. It really is about what you want to do - if you want to hold stuff up 25 is a good number, so is 30 (for added CR since it has a larger frontage). If you want to deal damage but believe you can buff them out of hard times 24 might do for you. in the lower brackets it get's more about damage and anvilness i find, since saurus are so expensive that you want to have enough for them to not die without bursting out of your core allotment. Bigger pts allows us to look more at sauri as anvils. TBH though, i pref. going with TG, ignoring the sauri and having blocks of skinks - so far they've by far outperformed my Saurus!
They're cheaper = easier steadfast since you go with larger units. They can have poison for teeth, or none for more bodies. They can handle core troops decently (had a unit of 40 kill 24ish lothern seaguard in 6x whatever makes it to 40 ranks), just weaken with shooting, jav's also help, smaller units (24ish) will outrank monsters and tie them up (though dying in droves) and can hold up lesser units of other's core. The key is to use TG as your hard hitting Infantry. They fight a lot better than saurus, i'll send them against tougher enemies. Saurus will die in almost equal droves against anything str 5 or 6 (especially 6), so there's no point in not sending skinks at it - the 6's to skip the wound step really is an aid as well - never had my core do so well, my saurus got murdered on the other flank (albeit against tougher opposition) still, they had a scar vet BSB with them - they just dissapointed.
vamp teddy has got a point there i had a unit of temple guard get charged by a unit of 9 demigrpys i held my unit was 30 or 40 cant remember i had a bsb with the razor standard in the unit i managed to kill all the demigrphys hardest task ever for normal tropps wherease my block of 60 saurus got charged by his like 30 ish knight unit and held but only because they were size 60 and were steadfast i do agree that tg are generally better too bad in the new book they couldnt make them core XD that would have been awsome
why would i pay 50 pts for something that will either be killed when it can do something or do the roughly the same damage as a skink would anyways? For the same price i can get 7 skinks with poison, or an entire horde rank without poison. Krox don't deliver steadfast, they cancel out the point. ^^
bu, bu, bu, but... What is this?! I was lead to believe that saurus warriors were awesome and killing machines and now I see people go all skinks. Unfortunately I only have about 50 or so skinks. I'm considering buying to boxes of skinks in the new year or find some cheap ones, already painted, online.
personally i prefer saurus for 2 reasons sure skinks can have loads of ranks and are cheap but man what about their low ld and their sucky armour and low s and most important no pf!!!!!! saurus ftw !
Unless I'm running a horde with an oldblood, my typical core is 30 spear saurus and the rest skinks. They doba decent job clogging a flank while my other flank wins the battle.
30 club and board, 30 poking sticks, either use them as a hammer and anvil, or feed the hand weapons into scary units and go do damage with the spear lizards
The Ld isn't even a valid complaint as far as i see it. You'll always play to have your general nearby (giving them ld 8 or 9) and their "sucky" armor, is a 5+ - their "sucky" strength is what other races have to live with and instead of predatory fighter which gives me a second roll to - first hit, then wound - i do a wound that needs saving if i buy poison, i also get a stand and shoot charge reaction at any range. The only thing that's worth complaining about you completely ignored in your comment - their toughness. Toughness 2 is really a pain, toughness 3 doesn't seem so much to ask for. I believe you're missing the point, completely, in using skinks in a cohort formation - I don't want my core to kill stuff, because, frankly, it can't - it can hold stuff up though, and while a single saurus is better than a single skink, i'd rather take a unit of skinks than saurus. They are more mobile, have a better result on 6's, and have a Stand and shoot charge reaction, can be unfolded as well to deliver a lot of shots and have greater numbers at the same points cost. The negatives are lower toughness, lower strength, lower armor, less attacks. The leadership, can as mentioned, be fixed by being smart with your general. I am not saying Saurus are bad, i'm just saying you're awful fast to judge something you don't seem to have even tested.
I typically take one unit of saurus and fill out the rest of core MSU of skinks, often 8 units of 10 each. I once had a demon prince fly up close to about 6 of these units thinking he'd kill them one unit at a time...he died my next turn. I love skinks, they block, harass, and can shoot pretty well. And most of all, I don't care if they die, is that mean?
This is my kind of topic! I think I may have found a kindred spirit for my love of overwhelming suarus ground-pounders. To quote the A-Team "Overkill is underrated!" I run my saurus in a hoard formation of 60, with spears so that if they get charged every rank but two gets to attack, and those extra ranks soak up damage so that I am not losing rank bonuses, taking panic checks, or losing my actual attacking troops. With PF rule, they guys unless a butt load of attacks, and that's without buffing them with magic or having jungle swarms in their to give them poisoned attacks. Don't forget a couple characters for extra bite, make them stubborn, and a BSB for that extra combat rez. The local players cower before the scaled might of the saurus phalanx. These bad boys will stick around all game and go toe to toe with the best your enemy can offer. Last night they took a combo charge from nurgle warriors, 2 gorebeasts, and then later a flank of skullcrushers, and while the 60 were whittled down to about 15 0r 20 by the end, all fell before them. And while they are killing, the enemy is stuck in with them, great targets for your stegadons to ram into...