hi all, its been on my mind a little while bout these awesome looking little models! although i think they look great their stats arnt amazing other than the fact their BS is good and they are scouts, now im thinking of getting them but ONLY to use them when im going against enemy were i know they have assasins or if i know theirs a fanatic or 2 hiding in the ranks of night goblins. Now as im still rusty and getting back into warhammer im not sure on how to drown out an assasin or a fanatic but this is the only reason why i would use them as i think 12 points each and taking up one of my special choices arnt really worth it as im usually struggling to choose my special regiments as it is! Although only if i take the minimal numbers with no stalker is only 60 points which overall isnt to bad....but it still takes up one of my special choices, ive had a quick look on peoples army lists and they dont seem to be using them either. please discuss and pass on your knowledge thankyou for reading
Yeah they are pretty expensive in points. This is the primary reason most people don't take them; normal skinks are pretty fast and can get up to where they need to be relatively quickly for a lot less points than the charmeleons, they also do a similar job to terradons and terradons are a lot more versatile with fly, drop rocks and multiple wounds. If you are already struggling with your special choices, then don't bother with them.
They are not even expensive as a unit. 5 of them without a brave is 60 points in total. You need to understand that units of this nature are not there to kill things. They are there to march block armies, and to charge solo scroll caddies in dumb places, or shoot them, or to shoot at war machines from the safety of a river or a bush. 60 points of march blocking goodness that can in theory shoot something a little, is a really good investment. If you have terradons, they are less important, and more so if you don't have terradons. They look cool and are classy.
I´ve too have begun to use chamaleons skinks, used a unit with 5 of them, as "thesecondman" sad, 60 points, they are march blockers, they BS are more accurate (BS 4 makes a lot of diifference), they do well with warmachines and solos chart, and to the enemy kill them with shots its almost impossible, the enemy will never use regular movements units to turn and charge them, so you will be shooting enemy from behind almost all games.... of course if the opponent has fast cavarly or skirmishers they will charge them... but always change the opponent basic strategy... I´ve used 2 units of 5 something, just to test, depending of the scenary they work very well too... I´ve played in the last club tournment with 2 units, in the four games i´ve played they shine on two games, on the other two they at least holded they ground and save me 100 point of getting quadrants.... In specially one game, against Dark Elves, i´ve placed them on each side, the enemy has one fast cavalry in each flank, the first turno was mine, i´ve shoot on these two units, and, my luck, the opponent fail the two panic tests and those 8 man cavalry run off the table on the first turn.... Off course this was luck, but this is the game that shits happends... was a lot of fun looking my opponents face....
I almost always take them. Whether it is march blocking, weapons teams (Especially lightning cannons), hero hunting, or just pelting to break ranks I think they are awesome. I did some cool stuff with mine, and if I ever figure out how to get pictures posted up here, I will.
the 6th edition chameleons were great since you could deploy the behind enemy lines, great for picking off heros hiding in the back. but they are still useful so i keep a unit of them around with the other special slots filled with terradons.
Additional -- Picture this.... Expensive enemy unit with frenzy is deployed at the start of the game. Your chameleon skinks are deployed close to them, or if your lucky right next to them in a water feature. You move in the way of said frenzied unit, or charge them in the rear/flank with your chameleons. The frenzied badass unit kills almost all of your 60 points unit. Your cheap unit's survivors flee, hopefully towards the opponents table edge (if you charged in rear) or at least towards the side table edge. The opponents frenzied unit MUST PERSUE as it is FRENZIED. The opponents frenzied unit goes AWAY from your main battle line. If it is a block of troop, it will need to spend a great deal of time reforming and getting back to where it was before. You just crapped on someones battle line cohesion (frenzied unit may persue into way of other enemy unit), and wasted a potentially scary unit's battlefield usefulness, all for a small amount of points. You also just manipulated your enemy and hence, you have earned the right giggle like an evil genious.
I sometimes run 10 of them for flank protection. They can throw 20 shots needing 6's at long range while moving, and resist ranged attacks, so they work well against much of the fast cav I run into (pistoliers, spider riders). They can often panic such a unit with their attacks, and even against something like ghouls, fel bats, marauder horsemen, and dire wolves they can seriously hamper them. I also use them to bother chariots, and the frenzied units talked of earlier.
the entire reason i will never take a Frenzied unit. didn't think of using them on marauder horsemen, i might have to try that.
plus if you buff them with portent of far allowing them to re-roll all 1's they are even better. camo-skink
The problem with the Chameleon skinks is not necessarily the point cost, but the fact that you are using up a valuable special slots as well. Ultimately Terradons can do everything a chameleon skink can and are better at it. For the extra 30pts pick up a unit of 3 terradons. The only time I'd consider taking chameleon skinks would be in a fluffy all skink army. Time of Madness
You can fit a unit of chameleons AND terradons. You do have 4 special slots, and two units of terradons is basically kinda cheesy.
Two units of terradons is "cheesy"? I'll have to disagree with you there. Four units might be over the top, but to units if pretty common in most lists now a days. Maybe my post was a little confusing. In my opinion out of the 6 special units to choose from the chameleon skinks are probably one of the worst options to take. Time of Madness
Additionally. Hatred. Less relevant to chameleons, but a point worth voicing somewhere. Dark Elf Lord on Dragon (one of the most feindishly beastial things in the entire game at the moment) goes into the side of your line and breath attacks ready for a charge next turn. However, this min-maxing power-gaming scumbag with this dirty ass unit has missed the unit of 10 skinks within 12 inches. The skinks charge the dragon in its huge flank and do nothing to it. But, the lord and the dragon only have 9 attacks see, so he kills at a maximum 9 of the wee critters. The one lone skink flees automatically by being outnumbered by a terror causer. The lord on the Dragon MUST persue due to HATRED. Next turn, no charges, as it still has a charge arc even though it has 360 movement. No 9 str 6 attacks with hatred into the flank of your battle line. Do it. Its the man.
How? Its 60 points for another unit that can march block and damage fast cavalry easily. They do what they do, just like terradons. They are cheaper. And more than one unit of terradons is pushing on dirty, especially if the rest of your list is hard as well. And terradons cannot start the game in water features with a -4 static shooting to hit penalty off the bat. They hero it up in almost all my games. AND then theres the fact that they are cute, charismatic and all googley-eyed.
I don't know, I seem to handle all my marchblocking and harass with plain skirmishers. Reading all these posts I might consider trying out the chameleons. And I haven't used terradons yet either, but they seem much easier to kill (even with 2 wounds) then the chameleons. I guess it boils down to the effective uses of drop rocks VS decent BS + Poison. Since both can marchblock by turn two (terradons might need another turn to marchblock multiple more important units) and both can harass. I guess unless someone plays units based on math-hammer its just preference...
You do want at least one unit of terradons OR chameleons in your army, minimum. Not a rule of course (cos there are none), but to give your army that potential (march blocking, pestering with shooting) you should take some of either, or some of both, or lots of both ;p
a method i like to use is the toll booth tactic, basicly you put them in a place where many units will have to pass by, say a bridge, in a safe area, a stream or forest. then when enemy units pass by since stationary can let out double shots tolling wound, and if things go bad they can bail quickly, due to the fact that they are in protective terrain. camo-skink
See the toll booth tactic makes sense. At least to me it seems a whole lot more effective then using terradons. 30 pts a model and all I see me doing is rushing to try and drop rocks on something worth dropping them on before the enemy easily shoots or magics one or two dead... So I will try chameleons, I can only hope that they can kill warmachine crews well, and of course a lone wizard would make my day... Good Luck, Chameleons...
so today in my game i used 5 Chamerleons scouted in a house. my opponent was very scared and shifted a squad to go away from it. Allowing some LOLZ and ROFLS then i came behind them and shot them till death