I have come up with the dirtiest (and cheapest) lizardmen tactic ever. everyone knows about skaven Rat pack torpedoes right? They use thise tactic with 6 rats and a packmaster, with only 1 per rank..... they use it as a fast flanking unit that has minimal b2b contact. WELL NOW ITS OUR TURN Take 10 ranked up skinks and have them 1 per rank, they will be able to flank easily with 6 inch movement AND they will be dirt cheap at 50 points total MUAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHA
so... a unit that will negate flank bonuses? kinda like detachments for Empire... On my mark.... CHARGE! ZMFG! Where did my Ran bonuses go? AND you get EVEN MORE CR? WTF? your evil man, EVIL...
Yes, yes I am Just think of the possibilities... starts dreeming about saving his TG and Slaan from a particularly nasty ranked up unit using dirt cheap skinks... MWAHAHHAHAHAHA
First of all in the 7th ed rulebook you are not allowed to use the 'snake' formation, I am fairly sure it needs to be 2 wide at least. Second, what is the big advantage of 1 model rather than 5 across? Against most models (on 20mm bases) they can still get 3 in contact with your 1 when they maximize corner to cornver, that is a decent amount, and a unit 10 deep becomes very hard to manouvre and turn. Imagine trying to get it around to a flank! Maybe I am missing something here...
First of all, the skaven use this tactic because there is no rule about the snake formation (ie minimum numbers in ranks) and the whole point of this unit is to lsoe as little skinks as possible... its not meant to be alone. Lets say your 20 temple guard are fighting 20 black orcs, the combat is fairly even... but if you can get this 50 point flanker in you get +1 for flanking, some for outnumbering, they lose their ranks. Meanwhile the black orcs will strike back and probably get about 3 kills (with 3 attacks seeing as they wouldnt be using 2 HW against TG) Howerever, it still will turn out a win due to them losing rank bonuses, the outnumbering and the flanking bonus. And if the skinks are killed, who cares???? Its like a skaven player losing a unit of slaves.
I will check my rulebook when I get home... I am 90% sure it was a change for 7th ed, and I haven't heard of any skaven player doing it recently. 3 attacks from the black orcs? Remember, maximizing still means there will be two opponents in contact with your skink since it can go between two enemy bases like this: -----|ss| |OOO|OOO| Though I don't know how many base attacks a black orc gets off the top of my head.. All I know is from 2 models it should be an even number. 3 kills probably sounds about right though.
i think the point is to have the flanker hit right at the front of the unit at the corner where they have to choose between attacking the skink or the saurus they will attack the skink but it is still only one guy dying so you end up with huge combat res from it
Hmm well, I cannot find anything saying you can't single file.. My opponent has been screwing me over then. If that is the case, and it seems to be, why don't you take a unit champion, hit at the front corner as lupercal suggests, then issue a challenge? None of the other skinks will be in contact so none can die. The unit champ will get a bit mauled though.
Its such a dirty tactic... black orcs have 1 attack to start... and I would get a champion if i had the points but having an extra cheap flanker seems more effective, with 2 black orcs in combat, the max skinks that can die are 2, meaning by negating ranks, the outnumber and bonus for flanking will help your other unit win combat (by the way the black orcs are just an example... ittll work for anything that isnt a monster or amazing in combat... Then again slight modifications can be used depending on your playing stile
I'm still not completely convinced of its effectiveness, maybe f it were 6 skinks.. But 10? With 20mm bases you are looking at 20cm, or a whopping 8" flank, and that 8" will need to stretch off to the side of the unit you are hitting too, and what unit sits out on its own with nothing within 8" of either side of it? Especially in an O&G army which tend to favour large numbers. If you can find the gap to fit them in, and if you can manouvre them and turn them ok, then go for it. I would like to see it actually tested before making too much of a judgement though. It just seems impractical.. Would definitely work if they could have a free reform like fast cavalry, and start in a normal formation.
Supposedly the "RAT TORPEDO" is a preferred way of crippling most enemies if you are a skaven..... for them it is 7 models but we would have to take 10 because of minimum unit sizes... im just saying that a little trick like this could be a potential life saver, I probably won't use it myself but i like to think up of incredibly cheap tactics (I need to cuz my friend plays skaven... luckily he's cool enough not to go SAD )
I have a friend who has been playing Skaven for years and is a hell of a player with them and he has never used it or even mentioned it, mod on the UnderEmpire now. Interesting idea alright, but I would be worried about the huge flank of skinks you leave exposed. If anything charges that you suddenly lose the +1 flank charge, +1 outnumber and probably enough skinks to lose combat by a fair way. Theory really holds nothing over actually trying it though, I would definitely be interested to hear how it goes.
As would i...... I have an idea.... what if you started with the standard 5 by 2 procedure, and once you lose a few guys, (say you got about like 7 left) then you could switch the unit into an incredibly cheap flanker with ease by changing the formation :}
Once you lose a few? Who the hell is going to shoot at or cast spells on a unit of 10 skinks? I think you would definitely have to start them 5x2, and use them as you normally would like that, but keep the torpedo in mind to deploy if a situation arises. Maybe on the far flank of their formation so there is nothing out there to combat the skinks, then the torpedo could go through one unit to the next. I guess if you wanted to lose a few, you could put them in one rank and spread them across your line so they block LoS to your other units. Then you get to save your more expensive units from being shot and reduce the skinks in one go, before doing a simple reform by turning all your models 90 degrees.
is it too hard to manouver 1w 10rank unit ? if you want to use this unit within a gap between 2 friendly unit, this gap must be minimum 5"-6" or the 1x10rank unit cant whell in the gap (it touchs boundary units)...
I've used 2 wide 5 deep skink units in a few games. They work fine and are much easier to manouvre than a unit 1 wide and 10 deep, though it should work otherwise just nicely.
well if you look at the rulebook, i think it doesn'tsay you need any space to turn 90* (except of course the space the unit takes itself) and it would only take a quater of the movement still leaving you the charge range of 9 being still rather plenty.