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Okay, I was just reading through the rulebook again and glanced through the skirmishers section, wishing that my O&G army had some. :/

But I did come up with a potentially wicked tactic for armies like woodelves. What would happen if you took a unit like glade guard, made them skirmishers but deployed them in rank and file "form"
The rules say they can be up to 1" APART but doesn't say anything about them being too close. Now, this may seem dumb at first but it could be a really handy trick to have when drawing flanking units into woods and such because they wouldnt suffer any negative movement for moving through terrain. Just a thought, what do you guys think?

There is no benefit from deploying skirmishers in rank and file form other than the size they take up on the table. (I usually deploy my jazzeles in 3x3 or 2x5 formation because its smaller than a mob)

Also, you cant make a unit skirmishers. Either they are or they aren't. A few units can pay points to become skirmishers but then they are skirmishers...

Not sure what your getting at.

um, its just an idea to trick someone into charging a unit of skirmishers thinking they are rank and file so the skirmishers can bait them into terrain . its just an idea.

As stated, units either are skirmishers or they aren't. And glade guard aren't.

Anyone that's played for even a few months knows which units are which.

That's dependent on tricking your opponent in real life into believing that they're normal Glade Guard, and not Scouts. A lot of players/groups expect people to declare what units are as they deploy them.

Also, Glade Guard (non-scouts) are minimum unit size 10, so even if your local group is cool with this kind of trickery, you're going to have to spend 170pts in a max-size unit of Scouts to pull off this subterfuge. Scouts lose the S4 longbows, so that's a LOT of points on a unit which doesn't fight very well.

What you're much better off doing is taking a minimum-sized unit (5 cost 85pts) and using them for their traditional duties- scouting and march blocking. Actually, the way skirmishers flee from charges, you can use them VERY well for diverting enemy units without having to trick your opponent at all.

Here's the 7th edition FAQ, which explains the rule:

http://us.games-workshop.com/errata/assets/warhammer_v7_faq.pdf

And here's a discussion thread which explains how you use it:

http://warmongerboard.yuku.com/topic/4623

Alrighty, I'm just really partial to using in real life tricksy tactics. Like putting my black armored marines into a blackened building. Or "hiding" a unit behind a big terrian piece where they are hard to see. hehehe....

The downside to that is, that IME, I'm just as likely to forget as my opponent is!

I think the downside to that is it's beardy and underhanded, personally.

But as all Wood Elf units ignore movement penalties for difficult terrain your particular example is horribly flawed. Might work for like Skinks, or Brettonnian Bowmen or something. Doesn't seem like a particularly useful tactic, however, as the enemy charging a unit near woods will be mindful that they could end up in the woods, regardless of if they catch you or not.

Also, FYI, Orcs and Gobbos do have some of the best skirmishers in the game - squig hoppers! Why are they the best? You don't need LOS to charge your opponent! Hiding behind terrain? Too bad for your opponent. Also, 3 D6 movement can really be a sucker punch if you roll well. And immune to psychology works against one of the typical problems in the O&G army - low leadership (especially for Goblins.) Have fun!

Zoned

I have always found that using 'tricksy' tactics rarely pays off. Like painting my huntsmen exactly the same shade of green as the tabletop felt, simply results in me forgetting about them after deployment, and failing to use them for the entire game. Or claim victory points for the table quarter they held. Or pick them up and put them back in the case afterwards... .

In the olden days of 2-wound beastmen (that was what, 3rd edition?) a friend of mine had a unit of 20 brightly-painted (not to say garish) beastmen, and a unit of 10 dark & drab chaos warriors. The beastmen always drew a lot more fire than the warriors, simply because they were a big, colorful target. Then the warriors would make it in to close combat, and we would all cuss because we had forgotten- again!- that the big colorful unit was not the threat.

hahaha that beastman thing is hilarious. and i tottaly forgot about squig hoppers...>< im going to go feed myself to something large and nasty later.

but as far as beardy and underhanded goes (along with low to no pay off) im not a super competetive gamer most of the time and I know most of the people I play with. I thinks its worth it to lose to pull off some ridiculous stunt just for the story. but thats just me

I always liked the 40k trick of deploying my transports(Rhinos for my ultras) with their units not in them and then running the transports at the enemy during the game. Most players quickly forget that the unit was not in the transport and spend the first 2-3 turns worrying and trying to pop the two rhinos and a razorback zooming up there flank or at their best units. Only to find that nothing pops out when they blow them up. Hehehe.

hahah, thats great. yet. ITS NOT FANATSY!!! hahh just kidding. I learned all of my underhanded gameplay from 40k anyways.

like putting a super tooled up close comabt unit into a building and then waiting patiently for my opponent to get to close and then running them out. generally they forget about them until its too late. hehehe.