Problem is not enough points for a wandering deliberations slaan plus dispel scroll if I'm squeezing in an oldblood. And I only bring a single priest hauling the cube, so really low chances of rolling the amber spear. Not sure what other options there are though. I've toyed with the idea of bringing a single ancient stegadon, but at this stage it seems I would have spent too much points on non-skink units to the extent that the army fails to work well enough as a "cloud" army. Argh! I hate dilemmas!
skink cloud can be very competitive but suffers vs 2+ armour. My thoughts on each skink unit: Skirmishers" keep them at 10 strong without upgrades. they will flee and theres no point wasting points. javs or blow pipes? I always go with javs for the no penalty for moving. this allows you to move up fast and cause more damage. a nice extra is the extra armour and parry save. this is a bonus but don't bank on hit saving you in combat with anything serious. for example: 1. long range: move to within 11 inches and throw darts. I say 11 inches away so that the rear ranks gets to throw. they hit on 5s and do poison. 10 shots = 3.33 hit. that's almost about 1 poison and maybe 1 wound. blow pipes get 20 shots, long range, multi shot and move and hit on 7s so no poison. 1 or 2 wounds. much lower damage output really. 2. short range move to within 5 inches and throw darts. I say 5 inches away so that the rear ranks gets to throw. they hit on 4s and do poison. 10 shots = 5 hit. that's almost about 1 poison and 2 wounds. blow pipes get 20 shots and hit on 6s so about 3 poison so similar damage output really. casting hand of glory on blow pipes will assist greatly. where javs do better is with wildorm cast on them for +1 Str. so for long range projection and movement control with effective shooting, javs are better. blow pipes are only really better if the unit doesn't move or is BS buffed. javes have quick to fire so always get a stand and shoot. bagged a wounded phoenix last game when it charged point blank into 10 skinks and it fell after losing its last 2 wounds. chameleon skinks - these guys are great. threaten warmachines or monsters turn 1. stop vanguarding units from moving up. keep them small to get into gaps in the rear. march them up into the face of a death star at an angle to force the charge. these guys are expendable. keep them cheap. for added fun have them 1 model wideto better control the charging units exact direction. skink priest good for carrying a scroll and casting wildform. handy for channeling the slann. cheap and that's their main reason for use. skink chief I never use this guy as their are far better options. troglodon no...just no. too expensive for what it does. slightly cheaper than a stegadon. stegs and bassies don't forget that these guys have skink crew so get their attacks and stand and shoot reaction. these guys are great. can chip a wound off GW units before they strike. Skink Army pros 1. masses of 70 point units that can keep an enemy bottled up in their own deployment while your slann rains comets on the enemy. This works great with death star lists as the enemy can only redirect once so you have 2 skink units fleeing. 2. vs high tough/low armour they will chip wounds off. ogres are scared of my list as is anything T3 AS5+ such as elves. Even the mighty hydra thinks twice before getting close to 30 skinks. 3. it needs heavy hitters to seal the deal. I use 2 ancient stegs (horns), 2 bassies, 2 baby stegs (horns) as my combat units. 4. sit the skinks in terrain for steadfast plus get ranks and remove the enemy rank bonus. 5. jav skinks still have a great save with 5+ armour and parry. 6. bait and flee to pull units out of position. the baiters can be 1 or 2 skinks wide to allow them to move past other skink units for panic. 7. make sure the flee path is not going to hit another skink unit or panic on LD5 which is roughly 50/50 chance to pass. Some tactics I use: - use your speed and shooting to target the greatest threat with multiple units shooting. 40 shots at long range = 6 poison and 6 hits. - push a unit up on a flank and cast wildform gives them +1 strength with javs. handy if there is a T4 unit that needs to be taken down. heck get multiple priests with it and on a large unit of skinks with hand of glory that becomes 2 or 3+ to hit and S4 or 5 and T4 or T5. That will give most monsters pause for thought. - nything in large amounts counts. I run 10 skink units. plus chammies. with march and shoot that's about 100 shots hitting on 5s for long range. next turn they fall back and shoot again. - use the slannto move them in the magic phase to get to a flank or a rear. this will cause many problems for a death star. get whittled down or engage the large unit behind them. - it can be a valid tactic to charge an enemy cav unit in the flank or rear to assist your own monster. For this end, I use 15 skinks in a cohort. sure they may be easy kills, but not really. T3 5+/6++ saves means that you give up 1 or 2 dead skinks but you get charge plus ranks plus flanks. Plus it allows you to dictate which direction the monster will pursue. I had 2 bassies in combat with elven heavy cav. I couldn't beat their armour and they couldn't wound me. The skinks tipped the battle from CR and the over run hit a chariot in the flank which died and then did the same to a phoenix. - whilst they are cheap, don't throw them away but don't be too worried if you lose the units. losing a small unit to allow a flank charge with an ancient steggie is worth it. So it boils down to A. control their movement B. whittle the enemy wounds down C. Use terrain D. sacrifice key units E. slam your big boys into their weakened blocks.