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So I am working on fine tuning my list before posting it here for critique and I have one simple question:

Is the netters upgrade for night goblins worth it?

Thanks
Redbeardthefarmer

Yes. Provided you don't roll a 1, and the enemy they're fighting is not at least S6 / re-rolling failed to hits, they decrease the odds of injury anywhere from 20% to 33% (Essentially becoming -1 to the enemy's roll to wound, thus removing between 1/5 and 1/3 the incoming hits) as well as increase your odds of saving (provided you're using a Hand Weapon & Shield) by another 16%.

With the eternal caveat of "it depends on what else is in your list", I'd say yes, so long as the block is large. It's especially good if you are dropping things down a point from strength 4 or 5, as you not only reduce the wounds taken, but increase your armor save.

If you reduce wounds taken by even one, you have effectively given yourself +1 CR for the fight.

And the penalty isn't that terrible. I mean, you weren't planning on killing anything with night goblins anyway, right?

RZ

Yes.

In large blocks of HW & shield.

For the reasons Red_Zeke has outlined.

I use them on all of my NG units.... there is nothing like Chaos knights thundering in with St4.

I have forty NG spearmen with shields via bfsp. Is hand weapon and shield preferred over spear and shield ?

In this edition, spears are only a good idea for saurus sometimes, and elves who get them free anyways (and not always a good idea for them either).

In the majority of situations, the hand weapon shield combo is going to go farther towards winning combat for you. If the spears were free, or maybe less than a point each, then the choice would be a little more difficult.

RZ

redbeardthefarmer wrote:I have forty NG spearmen with shields via bfsp. Is hand weapon and shield preferred over spear and shield ?

Usually, for a few reasons. Mainly, the +1 to armor save (usually meaning 16% less casualties any given round) is what gives it its bonus. And the fact that you aren't spending any extra points for that combo. For some guys, it can be worth taking a spear as you are only losing - maybe - one more model in return for getting a nigh-doubling of attacks. Night Goblins however are a WS2 S3 A1 unit - they gain very little from fighting in a second rank, and the loss of durability isn't quite worth it.

Night Goblins are, for the most part, not expected to kill people. They hold them up. They should always have a static CR of either 4 or 5 base, and - after wading through a Fanatic or three - the enemy should be around 3 or 4 points themselves (or about 1-2 points behind the Night Goblins). Combine this with the nets (essentially being -1 to the enemy's to-wound rolls), and you're trying to keep them losing by only one or two points. Something that, when combined with proximity to the general and a battle standard bearer, often means a leadership seven or eight with a re-roll. They tie the enemy up, and - being only 220pts for 30 NG's, full command, and a trio of fanatics - for much cheaper than the enemy unit (hopefully).

For some mathhammer: A unit normally S4 against them, for instance, with WS3 or better and A2 (Saurus or Chaos Warriors, for instance) is - with a six wide front - getting about eight hits, about 5.3 wounds, and about 4.444 wounds after saves. Get the nets off successfully, that drops to four wounds, of which turns into about 2.7 wounds. You just cut an average of about 1-2 wounds away, which - as stated by Zeke - is essentially +2 to your combat resolution. Now, say you merely had an outnumbering over the enemy, you went from losing by three-to-four points to losing by one-to-two, which even in a under-2000pt game means that you'll likely be at least Leadership 6, if not leadership 7. That's a very good thing for the Goblins.

Fair enough. Good thing I haven't made my list yet! Will be posting it as soon as I have enough time to do so! Thank you gentlemen.

Redbeardthefarmer