perhaps this is a common loadout, perhaps not, BUT if a skink chief is equipped with dagger of sotek (confers killing blow and causes fear in skaven), the other trickster's shard (forces models in base contact to reroll their wardsaves), and charmed shield (grants a 2+ save against first wound) he would have some seriously good chances of winning challenges against many heroes (except perhaps elvish heroes (ASF) or heroes that count as monstrous infantry (no HKB)) plus, i really like the skink chief models, and i've been having one heck of a time against enemy heroes (you'll get yours beastmen, you'll get yours ). thoughts?
I wouldn't count on that killing blow. and with his low WS, T, S and number of attacks, the chief doesn't have much of a chance in challenges. rather give him the staff of lost sun and a terradon and let him go harassing the opponent's lone characters and army back
Over the weekend, I used a skink chief with the gold sigil sword (I10) + maiming shield (+1 attack) + Luckstone (reroll failed armor save). He had an armor save of 5+. I buffed the unit he was in with Briona's time warp (the ASF double movement, +1 attack spell in lore of light). That build gave me a skink chief that was ASF and rerolling missed hits. In a game lasting 4 turns, he did not miss one hit (he was normally hitting on 3s against WS3 opponents). I was surprised at how well he performed. I also like to give him the fencer's blades and let him loose for character hunting.
I usually play against HE and O&G, so WS4 and either T4 or ASF. tried to field a chief but he just got his lizard ass kicked every time... and that's against standard troops, not characters.