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8th Ed. Skink + Kroxigor Units - what's the point?

rothgar13
Saurus

rothgar13

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Hey all,

As the thread title implies, I've seen several lists that employ a unit of Skinks with a handful of Kroxigors in them (usually 24 Skinks + 3 Krox), and I'm frankly wondering why these points don't go somewhere else. From my perspective, the only thing they bring to the table as a positive is M6 base - any positive results the Kroxigors would achieve in combat are utterly overshadowed by the fact that Skinks will bleed CR against anything.

So tell me - what are they good for? Flanking? Running around aimlessly and preserving their points? I know that coming from other armies (Beastmen is my primary army, and I'm finishing up O&G), and I know I would be salivating to get at those juicy VPs. What say you?
 
Keep in mind that skinks are cheap. Staying steadfast is fairly easy. I've had a Skrox unit with tons of skinks go up against sword masters and bloodletters and hold their own for several rounds of combat. Basically if your opponent can cut through saurus just as easily, why not give up cheaper points?

Pus the unit is immune to stomping and causes fear, so that sucks for Minotaurs that kill Saurus just as easily.

Most people use them as flanking units though, especially with the minimum amount of skinks to keep the unit light on points.
 
I don't really see them as that cheap, though I guess I'm biased because my previous armies have access to cheaper or better tarpits (Night Goblins and Ungors). I'm also not seeing how they'd stay steadfast "fairly easily" - step up and the fact that you have to be 6-wide to get 3 Krox in your second rank will see them die in droves, especially in the units I've seen them fielded (24 Skinks + 3 Krox). That's a 2-round combat against most fighting Hordes, at best.
 
Saurus get their asses kicked by anything with S6. Skinks and Saurus have equal survivability against S6 attacks, but skinks are way cheaper and you can hit back with 9x S6 attacks which is very useful against certain units.

They are pretty effective against large monsters due to immunity to fear and thunderstomp along with a bunch of S6 attacks. Against a large target you can run up to it, throw poison javs with skinks and then engage in combat. They are also M6 as mentioned which makes them pretty good flankers.

They cover a different role than Saurus and are fun to play with since they are so fast and flexible, but they aren't exactly the strongest choice in the army book.
 
also they throw poisoned javelins...
 
You are comparing them to saurus - which are anvils. Very tough, solid, line infantry that will march up the middle of the field and happily face almost anything and at least survive.

Skrox units play a very different battlefield role. Their speed is probably their biggest advantage, backed up by their (somewhat limited admitedly) poisoned shooting. These guys are one of the best flanking units in the game. Put them on a flank and any fast cavalry, skirmishers, giant rats, medium cavalry etc. will get smashed by them. After they have done that, you can choose to either send them after shooting units (typically only 10-20 models in size, will beat them easily as well) and warmachines, or you can use them to come back into the battlefiled and charge flanks. Your saurus act as an anvil to hold a unit in place, your skrox charge in from the flank and win you the combat.

So think of them as classy and somewhat expensive flank holders rather than a block of infantry. They'll do well.
 
When combined with light magic skrox units are deadly.
 
Thanks for the breakdown regarding their function, guys. I am going to take a second look at this unit.
 
Even with lore of life, this unit is pretty hardcore. I agree that Light is better for them, but when conditions are right (throne of vines + flesh to stone), T6 skinks are very good.
 
Arli said:
Even with lore of life, this unit is pretty hardcore. I agree that Light is better for them, but when conditions are right (throne of vines + flesh to stone), T6 skinks are very good.
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I'd even go so far as to say that Life is actually better for buffing skrox in terms of combat potential. While WS and In are the weakness of Saurus, T is the weakness of skinks. The light buffs are good but not fantastic for Skrox anyway since they get their killing power from Kroxigors (which doesn't get much out of the buffs unless you double buff with Time Warp + Speed of light). Move 12 Skrox is insane though.
 
Movement caps out at 10 (unfortunately). When 8th first came out, that is all I ran. I bet I played 5 games before I was pointed to the BRB rule that states that no characteristic can go above 10. Birona's is still brutal when you get it off at the higher level in the first turn though.
 
Arli said:
Movement caps out at 10 (unfortunately). When 8th first came out, that is all I ran. I bet I played 5 games before I was pointed to the BRB rule that states that no characteristic can go above 10. Birona's is still brutal when you get it off at the higher level in the first turn though.
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Heh yeah must be tired, I've played with a lot with CoCav and casted Time Warp on them a million times and capped it at 10, but somehow my brain didn't carry over that to skrox ^_^. Move 16 Horned one Scar vet would be pretty neat otherwise....
 
That was my thought process as well. On the skrox units, 12 inch base move plus 2d6 charge, Yes please!
 
I'd also like to add that when I run 3 Krox in a Skrox unit, I typically use at least 10 Skinks per Krox. Usually I go with 36. Helps with staying steadfast.
 
Skroxigor are excellent versus any unit with a small model count, high Toughness/armour saves and front-loaded damage, and which relies on winning the first round of combat. Like cavalry. Cavalry for example, struggle to kill enough of the skinks to break steadfast, and whilst the Kroxigor attacks are limited in number, their high strength will usually ensure 1 or 2 kills go through - enough to deny most mounted units rank bonus (when fielded in ranks of 5). A typical combat will see the cavalry charge in, kill a bucket load of skinks, lose a couple of models and the Skrox pass their steadfast. Now the cavalry are stuck in a drawn out grindfest, their powerful charge-attacks are spent, and their large movement range for which they are so highly valued is denied.

They are also immune to stomps of all kind and fear, being fear-causing themselves. The skinks are just there as Kroxigor-delivery mechanisms to ensure that they survive long enough to get into combat, and then generate the CR to stick around.
 
This is a good point. I have successfully used that tactic against Brettonians many times.
 
Another benefit is that they are leadership 7. I have found that that makes the difference for me in more than one occasion. I look at it as an upgrade to the unit. For just the cost of one Krox you give a skink unit Fear, Immunity to Stomp and +1 leadership. That alone is a good investment to me.
 
You use the highest available leadership unless stated otherwise (Assasins for example).
 
Goat1of4 said:
Another benefit is that they are leadership 7. I have found that that makes the difference for me in more than one occasion. I look at it as an upgrade to the unit. For just the cost of one Krox you give a skink unit Fear, Immunity to Stomp and +1 leadership. That alone is a good investment to me.
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The thing is, without Kroxigors, I would never even consider bringing a unit of Skinks. Skink Skirmishers, yes, but Skinks? Heck no.
 
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