This may seem like a stupid question but wound a skink swarm outnumber a skaven or goblin swarm. I've got allot of the little guys and wondered if its worth trying to outnumber enemys with them.
i would probably say no. skinks while cheap are still more expensive than goblins or the basic skaven. and its hard to really compare. only the southlands list can generate units comparable to goblins and skaven due to being ranked. and besides... you want saurus... saurus make everything worthwhile
A skink is still 3 times more expensive than a skaven slave. They're also more expensive than a goblin (even a basic orc) and a clan rat. Add to this the fact that you are skirmishers and take up more room than a normal rank and file unit and I think Arklite is right in saying that you will be hard pressed to match these typical horde armies. That's not to say you can still have an intimidating force with lots of skinks!
Well, setting the idea of a swarm aside for a minute, do any of the more seasoned players (everyone else) have any experience with the Armies of the Southlands or the Red Host? Are these just gimmicks,or are they viable options for play. If anyone has ever used the horned one cavalry, how did they model them? Did they use the Dogs of War unit?
One thing i can say about southlands is that while skink cohorts can gain a rank bonus i much prefer the fast skirmishers as you can outrun almost all enemy units and they come with javs or blowpipes wereas cohorts have to buy them. I think the DOW models ae used for horned one riders though not really sure and horned one riders are a bit expensive for what they can do. I havent had much experience wih them but thats what i've gathered from the book .
@Geoff The southlands list and the Red host are two very different creatures. On the one hand, the skink cohorts in the southlands list are worthless. At 6 points they have all the cc weaknesses of normal skinks and no added benefits. However, with the southlands list one gets to use the short bow! If you look on ebay you can find people selling 200 of them at a time for under 20 dollars. In my southlands list i use 160 of these skinks armed with short bows, and if you throw in two units of salamanders and some kroxigors that can charge through them, you have an incredibly powerful (and slighltly cheesy) list. Unforuntately the Red Host is not even considered legal at most tournaments (although red crested skinks are pretty great). As far as Horned Ones go, I made my own. Although you can use the DOW skink riders, you can also find on ebay (a theme arises) old dark elf cold one knights for cheap (horned ones are just old cold one models fyi), or you can just buy the old cold one models as bitz. Then you just glue a skink on after fiddling with his legs a little and you'll save 20-30%. That said, for what they do Horned Ones are a little overpriced points-wise for what they do.