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is it safe to say that the best formation for most of the core units - skeletons, zombies, ghouls - is to just horde them at 30+ unit sizes?

Hording them is fine I normally one horde of ghouls that's 30+
But I also like running em 7 wide and really deep to get rid of steadfast.

Also as far as core units go stay away from ever paying for zombies,
they're easy to summon and they are hardly even worth their free price tag

As far as skeletons go unless you love the models or NEED the armor save, for 8 points a model I think the ghouls are the way to go.
2 attacks and poison is really good, and I think they have a point higher WS than skeletons also.

I realise the armour save makes skeletons more survavable than just T4 (not enough to matter imo)
and that would be a problem in an army where you cant raise your losses almost effortlessly, especially with summon ghouls.

Standards and magical banners can make up for the loss in killing power of skeletons.

Both can work, but you do need a few standards in the army, should you roll up that one mission...

-Matt

As swarmer said, Zombies are probably not worth fielding at all. If you want them you can just summon them!

Between Ghouls and Skeletons, Ghouls are probably better overall. However, Skeletons can take a Standard, which can really help if you are playing Blood and Glory. So depending on 1) the likelihood of you playing Blood and Glory and 2) the amount of Fortitude generated by the rest of your army, you could choose either Ghouls or Skeletons. Ghouls work well in horde formation. Skeletons on the other hand, are pure anvils. Don't expect them to do any damage. Just run them 5 wide to minimize the amount of incoming attacks.