I have read and re-read every post i can get my hands(eyes?) on regarding skinks and their armament. My question is this; given a BS of 3 and the fact that your blowguns will almost always be at long range and suffer from the multi shot -1 and will most of the time have needed to move before firing (or be suffering -1 for a SaS response) how does the poison rule ever come into play(outside of a large target)? It seems to me most of the time my skinks will need a 7 to hit negating the poison. Having never run skinks, is it just that it is common practice to only fire once(thus negating the multiple shots -1) or am i truly missing something? Any guidance on this matter would help. Oscar
You can often get into close range with them, as you can march and shoot. Its true though that double shooting is not always an option. In those cases you just have to single shoot and hope to get into close range for next turn.
Yea you won't get too much luck trying to roll all 6's to hit something. In my experience, i moved, long range, multi shot, and my target has the mark of nurgle so i had to roll for 6's and those 6's i rolled were rolled agian but for a 4+. You just have to wait for them to come to you; set up your skirmishers so when they come, you won't move, it might or might not be long range and you'll have a better chance.
Or use chameleons and get their balistic skill of 3. That way you can march and shoot at long range and double tap and still poison on 6s. Or, if you are at short range, hit on 5s. Another thing to note is if you take javelins, there is not penalty for moving (quick to fire).
Im thinking I will just single tap more often than not. It just seems to lower the effectiveness of darts somewhat. Getting within 6" for a 6+ double tap seems risky with most units able to perform a free reform.
As long as you are outside the charge arc, even if they reform you will be able move back outside the arc. Unless there is special rule that allows them to charge outside of the movement phase.
Point to note: Skinks are really confusing to players who haven't seen them in action before. Mine spent three turns running around a hydra before losing 4 wounds because 20 shots hurts even hitting on 6's with poison. In the end my plaything ran off to try and charge some of my teammates goblins having failed to do anything to my Skinks.
Wolfmage has the best point. Once you get the hang of using them skink skirmishers and chameleon skinks can be a very deadly units. One of my favorite mini-games to play is "ring around the mage bunker". Once you get in close you stay within 6 inches and outside of the charge arc of whatever cheap bunker your opponent is using and light them up with multi-shots-- most people tend to stick their mages in units of cheap (low armor save, low toughness) troops to minimize the effects of miscasting. You'd be amazed at how quick you can decimate a unit like that... Don't forget that skirmishers are stubborn in woods! Even if you get charged you have a pretty good chance of holding up a much more expensive unit for a turn or two. While the new rules hit skirmishers kind of hard, they still have a place in any list.
In a way they did get hit, but they also got better in other ways. I think being able to march and shoot is a really big bonus. Especially for our little skinks because it can help get them into close range and unleash the double shots. I do miss 360 degree line of sight though!
When using blowguns, all you need to do is to infect poison on the enemy. Try using the most damaging poison that you could use.
Except when my opponents are being really cooperative, my BP skinks hit on 6s. If I have moved and am within 6" I double tap, outside 6" single tap. I try and find the most expensive targets with the highest toughness and lowest armour or ward saves to maximise effectiveness. If I can't stay out of charge arc I will often flee on the grounds of living to fight another day or to make chargers fail their charge and stagger into one of my other units charge zones. BP skirmishers tend to be on flanks to stay out of enemy charge zones. Javs with sh and longer effective aim are nearer the centre of the board where it is harder to stay out of charge zones. Steadfast jav skirmishers are surprisingly hard to get rid of considering the normal squishyness of skinks. Skinks are the Foreign Legion of LM, their purpose is to die, your objective is to put them where their glorious if messy deaths serve the purpose of the old ones.