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okay, so what is the obsession with skinks as a mojor part in armies? i realize that they are super cheap but you get what you pay for... with only WS 2 and a sad sad T of 2 (not to metion the Ld of 5, easily fixed by the general tho) they aren't very good troops, not at all. i find that they are the few "acceptable losses" that i will take in my lizardmen army.

i find that they make a wonderful screen for saurus tho. since the saurus are just so damn slow, the skinks can hold out atleast one round of combat and do a few wounds (esp. with all that poison!) before they break (not often with a BSB and the general near and Cold Blooded) or get stomped into the ground under someones boots. this lets the saurus move up enough to get a charge in. put a few kroxigor behind the skinks and there's some real hit before the saurus arrive to enforce the will of the Old Ones.

this tactic works WONDERS agianst the Ogres. seeing as their power is in the speed and punch of the first charge, they get slowed by the skinks and the saurus can no longer get Bull Charged. the tactic also helps against shootier armies, such as the Wood Elves (yet to fight the Empire) seeing as the screen takes the arrows to the face while the saurus make their advance.

i just dont see the advantage of an army that is a 2nd Gen. Slann and a whole mess of skinks. i realize that the Slann is a beast of a beast at 2nd Gen. but i have/do use a 3rd Gen. Slann and he is more than a match for a lot of the players i have fought.

am i wrong? have a missed the Skinks awesomeness? somebody helps me to know!

Skinks are just good, mostly because of their low points cost and what they give your army. Small units of scouts or possibly larger squad near your general.

they are ld5 but they are cold-blooded, too. It is not uncommon to make the test on a 5 but when you start needing 3s and 4s you are pushing it.

i have just found that they get stomped one too fast for my likeing. they seem to beg to get killed. maybe im just unlucky when rolling for them. saurus just stand up soo much more punishemnt than skinks.

maybe i dont like skinks beause they're so small and i cant see around my big hands to paint them...

skinks are great because they can allow you to make a screen for your army, terridon riders for march blocking (it helps believe me) the salamanders can be used as ratling guns (well... weapon teams) and the stegadon is well... a fantasy tank

What the hell are you doing letting them get attacked?

Skinks are a fantastic addition to lizardmen armies but they have certain roles and as you pointed out combat isn't one of them.

1: The ability to scout. Hello marchblockers. A unit of 10 excel at this and this is where blowpipes can really shine as the enemy slowly walks past your unit you can be pumping 20 shots at close range (from their flank or rear) per turn for the rest of the game.

2: Quarter grabbers. Got 5 left and you can grab a quarter or deny it from your opponent- worth more than the damage they can do.

3: Javs are thrown weapons ensuring a couple more hits per turn.

4: Bait and flee- Usually I will set up so I can stand and shoot, inflicting a couple more wounds and when I lose combat their overrun takes them into the middle of nowhere so that they are either delayed a couple of turns or I can swing around and get the charge on them. Standing in forest edges in front of frenzied units is the best use of this tactic.

5. Giant killers. Sure you have kroxigors and saurus heroes and the steg but most high T monsters will have a poor armour save- allowing you to knock at least a few wounds off.

I have more but have to go to surgery now (am at work) so will post more later....

those are all good ideas, it just seems that that puts the army all over the board. i have found that saurus work best as one soild wall or several units that moves together. but only with several units. by using the skinks to tie up the enemy for a turn or so the saurus can move up and do the real fighting. im not saying that i use the skinks as a meat sheild or cannon fodder, even tho they die a lot. a lot of the skinks that i use will live for a lot of the battle or the whole thing! except when i fight ogres... those little skinks just seem to have the worst luck against those guys.

now does the surgery mean that you has some twisty organs or something, or is you a surgeon?

Aha I see your problem, you are using suarus as a main battle line.

Saurus are the second worst cost to effectiveness unit in the lizarmen list, only pipped by the cold one riders due to their stupidity.

Saurus are in my experience best used as tarpits. Stick a slaan (I've always used a slaan as haven't gotten around to painting enough saurus heroes to use an oldblood as general) who has BSB nearby (never directly behind) and they will stick around through all but the worst round of combat.

The killing is done by your kroxigor, stegadon, heroes, etc.

Ogres hate terrain. They will avoid it at all costs as it stuffs their battle line (yhetis are the obvious exception). Stick your scouts in terrain to annoy your ogre opponent.

At the 3000pt tournament I played at in the weekend my chameleon skinks put 3 wounds on a large rhinox rider first 2 turns, killed by leadbelchers who had to be pulled out of the line to deal with them as they would have marchblocked half his army for the whole game otherwise.
The rhinox rider was then killed turn 6 by my 10 multi-shotting blowpie skinks (it had taken no other wounds through the game) and the accompanying small rhinox rider fled, and didn't rally. So 145 points in 2 units made over 300 points back and stuffed up the ogre battleline.

BTW I'm a doctor doing OBGYN, had to go and do a caesarian section.

Lizardmen are an army that relies on synergy between unit types, very similar to eldar in 40k.

I think I may write a tactica soon when I get the time... will talk to Malfred about putting it in articles.

i do use a Slann. it works very well. i've just found that the saurus work pretty well. maybe im just fighting idiots but they seem to work very well. i do use skinks, i just like the saurus more than them. i have units of kroxigor and a steg in both my 2000 and 3000 pts. they are very killy, i have just used the saurus as the main stay unit and it has worked for me.

You scout them into cover, and you just sit there and annoy the gak out of lone casters and other units. If anything charges you just flee and bam, their unit is now stuck in terrain and can ignored for the rest of the game.

PistolWraithCaine wrote:You scout them into cover, and you just sit there and annoy the gak out of lone casters and other units. If anything charges you just flee and bam, their unit is now stuck in terrain and can ignored for the rest of the game.

that's the other thing you can do. I do not know 7th but in 6th they got -1 to shooting for being skirmishers and -1/-2 for cover. And it is inconvient for them to be charged in cover, as you mention. Note that this includes water, since they are just extra awesome.

if these tactics are all so obvious why would another player play right into your traps? are you guys just taht good at setting them, or are people really that dumb? couldnt someone just run up and eat the general and then deal with the skink units individually? (is that spelled right?) it just makes no sense for a general to split up his forces and let you drag them all over the board.

If they just ignore them, they are going to ruin his day. Damage, objectives and march blocking.

To put it another way, they provide tactical options that may succeed or fail. And you have to play the game to find out who wins .

Two small scouting squads will cost you about 150 points in 2000. It's worth it, especially since they work with Terrain so well, when other Lizardmen units get bogged down.

well i guess your right.

ill just have to go and get more skinks and try a game or two with an army like that. i doubt (actullay am hopeful) that ill like my old ways and just keep my big blocks of saurus.

we shall see.