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I'm going up against a melee army which by doing some math, i've found out no matter how hard I try, can rip through my screen in one turn of melee. Now, that's fine and all, but i'm curious which would be better. Is it better to have a full unit of 40 models and spend a stratagem to save myself from morale, or should I split it in half, and half one screen behind the other to REALLY delay it? This will ultimately make any psychic defense buffs on them weaker, so i'm not sure.

I'm screening with cultists in a thousand sons list, btw.

Smaller screens can be better, you don't have to worry about morale and you can hope your opponent doesn't declare charge against all of them (If he consolidates within 1" of a squad he didn't charge against - you get a free round of close combat!).
It also means falling back any surviving smaller squad doesn't impact as many models worth of shooting.

However. If you want them juicy psychic buffs (prescience, glamour etc) you probably want a single large squad to buff.

 Eonfuzz wrote:
Smaller screens can be better, you don't have to worry about morale and you can hope your opponent doesn't declare charge against all of them (If he consolidates within 1" of a squad he didn't charge against - you get a free round of close combat!).
It also means falling back any surviving smaller squad doesn't impact as many models worth of shooting.

However. If you want them juicy psychic buffs (prescience, glamour etc) you probably want a single large squad to buff.

Unfortunatly I did the math...And even with glamour AND a 5++ invuln, he still on average will kill about half of the models, almost certainly leading to a morale death.

Great question.

I'm finding there are 2 kinds of screens: the ones that are just there to hold up your opponent, and the ones that are supposed to punch back. Obviously, the former should be smaller and the second should be larger.

The problem I have with offensive screens is they get in the way. I like screens taking charges then falling back to position an enemy unit that something else in my army will charge. Getting 30+ models out of the way so that can happen takes a lot of planning.

The other problem I have with larger screens is they become bullet magnets. Everyone wants to clear the screen these days, the largest squad is likely to take the most fire because then there's more impact from morale.

I, too, play Cultists and have been downshifting from squads of 40 to squads of 15. It's worth testing with the rest of your list to see how it works. But decide if you really want them to punch back, or if they are just a speedbump for your opponent.

It's a good question. A lot depends on the amount of defensive buffs you can throw around and the number of CPs you can spare to avoid morale losses.

Look at IG for example, many are back to playing conscripts for screens, and that's not such a bad idea when you swim in CPs and you have nice buffs to support them. A big problem of small squads is also that you have limited decisions in removing models. If i have a 40 strong squad, and i want to stop one particular lane, they will have to remove every single man. If i'm protecting my gunline front with 80 man in 8 squads, if the opponent kills 30 or 40 man in the shooting phase, then he cleared a lane for his assault.