8th Ed. Frenzied Saurus

[Goat1of4]

With a Skink Chief BSB and the Skaven Pelt Banner you can do it. But is it worth doing? The downsides of the Skink in the unit aside, what would be the drawbacks or benefits? Do you pay the point for spears? Would a front rank of oldbloods/scarvets help, pushing the BSB Back at the least? How about Scrox units? Are they more viable frenzied?
There is a madness round coming up in a campaign I am in and there are campaign benefits to having Frenzied, stupid, hating etc… units that normally aren’t. I already have a block with the Cold one armor.

 

[Arli]

I thought the skaven pelt was a skink only item. States skinks only in our book. It will not affect Saurus. That supersedes the BRB.

 

[n810]

It just means that only a skink chief can Hold the banner.
(It would be silly if the Skink Only dager of Sotec only killed skinks)
he can join any unit.

keep in mind the skink has greater movent that saurus and since he
is frenzied he could charge an enemy unit on his own if you didn't screen him.

 

[Reiks]

I think you'll have to put him on the side of the unit because of his base size, so no pushing him to second rank with Scar-Vets.

 

[KroxigorsFTW]

I think you'll have to put him on the side of the unit because of his base size, so no pushing him to second rank with Scar-Vets.

What this guy said.
For this reason, I think it would be way, way, way, way, way bette to Frenzy a Skrox unit with the banner.

 

[Reiks]

except support attacks by monstrous infantry are capped at 3. Frenzying a skrox unit will just give you an additional attack from each skink in the front rank.

 

[Yakhunter]

With Lore of Light it could be good, otherwise your naked skink chief BSB is more than likely going to get picked off in the first round of any close combat if your opponent is smart before anyone but the skink can go. With lore of light giving you ini 10 ws 10 or ASF, you may just get in the extra attacks you need to make it a non-issue.

I'd still take Slann BSB or Scar Vet w/ 4+ ward pretty much every time over it.

 

[Reiks]

Christ, stop it already. A Krox with I10 still strikes last because of the great weapon so only the Skinks benefit from the I boost. Not that it really matters as the enemy will just step up and beat your BSB's face in anyway, losing you a lot of VPs and a very important hero... unless of course you plan to wipe out the enemy unit in one round of attacks from your front rank of skinks?

It just doesn't work.

Let it go.

 

[rammramm]

Christ, stop it already. A Krox with I10 still strikes last because of the great weapon so only the Skinks benefit from the I boost. Not that it really matters as the enemy will just step up and beat your BSB's face in anyway, losing you a lot of VPs and a very important hero... unless of course you plan to wipe out the enemy unit in one round of attacks from your front rank of skinks?

It just doesn't work.

Let it go.

I am pretty certain that yakhunter was talking about how he works in a saurus unit. Also I think you are getting way to uppset with people trying to figure out new fun ways of playing their army instead of streamlining it to the point of ruining the game.

Now to the topic at hand. I would sugest putting him in a 6 or 7 models wide unit. With him as a seventh model on the side he should be able to avoid most combats since your enemy will have a smaller frontage. He will not risk being taken down and your saurus will get the extra attacks. It is expensive but it could be fun. Myself I am thinking of 40 saurus in hordeformation with this guy in it and bironas being cast on them. 60 saurus attack in 1 round isnt too bad.

 

[JohnMavrick]

Now to the topic at hand. I would sugest putting him in a 6 or 7 models wide unit. With him as a seventh model on the side he should be able to avoid most combats since your enemy will have a smaller frontage. He will not risk being taken down and your saurus will get the extra attacks. It is expensive but it could be fun. Myself I am thinking of 40 saurus in hordeformation with this guy in it and bironas being cast on them. 60 saurus attack in 1 round isnt too bad.

That's a really good idea. A whole bunch of attacks from that unit is sure to crush a lot of enemy. Too bad the rear ranks cap at a single attack or otherwise it'd be more of a blood bath! LoL.

Otherwise I'd suggest perhaps giving him the Great Horned One and running him with a unit of CoC. 3+ armour save isn't bad! You've have to be careful with them but with Ld 8 reroll or frenzy check it shouldn't be hard controling them. Plus 3 attacks at strength 5 on the charge per model is pure nastiness!

 

[Gor-rok]

Also I think you are getting way to uppset with people trying to figure out new fun ways of playing their army instead of streamlining it to the point of ruining the game.

Thank you, Rammramm. We're playing a giant board game with little action figures, not coordinating national defense. If you try something fun and lose a game or five, it'll be OK in the morning.

I tried the frenzy banner once in a plain kroxigor unit. I had to juggle the skink around to keep him off to the side and out of the fighting, only charging things with a small enough profile that they couldn't strike him.

It worked like a charm at first, but then I overran into a single file Chaos Knight unit's flank. My champion took the chaos lord's challenge to protect the skink; no krox could attack the unit itself, and the lord got big overkill on the champ. The krox fled and got run down.

I'll try playing around with again; might be fun. My concern is striking last, even on the charge, and taking too much damage on the krox.

Hmm... Life Slann/Frenzied Kroxigor hoard battlestar, maybe?

 

[Arli]

I may try that banner in a horde unit of skrox this weekend. I like the krox in 2x2 formation with 3 skinks to either side. That way, I get the benefit of all the krox attacks and 3 ranks of skink attacks as well. Although, I like my slann BSB with banner of discipline.

 

[Yakhunter]

I think I might try it in a huge skink horde with lore of light slann some time for fun. A very cheap unit that essentially turns into corsairs when speed of light and birona's are cast on them. 40 skinks and the chief should only run about 300 points...44 attacks at ws 10, in 10 should chomp through anything that isn't mounted. Strength 3, sure, but who's counting?

 

[Reiks]

Also I think you are getting way to uppset with people trying to figure out new fun ways of playing their army instead of streamlining it to the point of ruining the game.

Thank you, Rammramm. We're playing a giant board game with little action figures, not coordinating national defense. If you try something fun and lose a game or five, it'll be OK in the morning.

No need to ridicule me just because you don't like my opinion. You can certainly lose a game and still have fun, but you gimping yourself to the point where you don't stand a chance isn't fun for anyone, and I think choosing a Skink BSB, particularly with this loadout, is a big step in that direction - that is all.

 

[JohnMavrick]

Also I think you are getting way to uppset with people trying to figure out new fun ways of playing their army instead of streamlining it to the point of ruining the game.

Thank you, Rammramm. We're playing a giant board game with little action figures, not coordinating national defense. If you try something fun and lose a game or five, it'll be OK in the morning.

No need to ridicule me just because you don't like my opinion. You can certainly lose a game and still have fun, but you gimping yourself to the point where you don't stand a chance isn't fun for anyone, and I think choosing a Skink BSB, particularly with this loadout, is a big step in that direction - that is all.

It's not that we don't appreciate your opinion, it's how you communicate your opinion and how you, in fact, ridiculed other's opinions. We love to discuss options and tactics and lord/hero builds. But people do get offended when you become aggitated over a discussion others find valid on many levels. If your going to berate people expect to encounter resistence. It's best to accept their views and give valued feedback but leaving out harsh comments no matter how tempting it sometimes is.

 

[Reiks]

I calls 'em like I sees 'em but I certainly meant no offense. I'll remember to break out the bubblewrap next time I feel like disagreeing and hopefully I'll avoid stepping on people's toes - and in the spirit of reconciliation, I'm off to see if I can't find a use for a skink BSB! Cheers

 

[rammramm]

I may try that banner in a horde unit of skrox this weekend. I like the krox in 2x2 formation with 3 skinks to either side. That way, I get the benefit of all the krox attacks and 3 ranks of skink attacks as well. Although, I like my slann BSB with banner of discipline.

I might have misunderstood but if not I am afraid that thats not a legal tactic. The skinks need to be in front of the kroxigors and form upp the first rank of the unit as shown in the armybook.

 

[Gor-rok]

No offense taken or intended back, Reiks. If one post comes off strong, others will respond in kind, but it's all in the spirit of debate and good fun -at least on this forum, in my experience.

Anyhow, tried the frenzy banner in a quick game with a Saurus HW & S unit. Unfortunately, the points were low enough to leave them with little to fight but Chaos Warriors, who were also frenzied, and to much greater effect.

One of the downsides to frenzy, which I had forgotten, is no more parry save- which is one of the big selling points of shields for me. This is also why the Khorne Warriors had halberds. Needless to say, things did not go well for the servants of the old ones this time.

Spear saurus (and something else to fight) would have been better. Skrox are less than ideal, due to the supporting attacks cap, and plain skinks don't seem like they'd have enough punch. I could be wrong.

When I try it again, it'll be on Kroxigor, with magic support, and other heroes in the unit. I10 might not do any good, but between the banner and Timewarp, it'd be a scary number of attacks coming from each krox.

 

[SanDiegoSurrealist]

I was thinking about putting the Skink Chief on a Horned One with my mounted Old Blood and put them both in a unit of Cold One Cav.

Anyone care to deal with those 40 Attacks!

Old Blood 6 attacks Str5
Chief 4 attacks Str4
Champion 4 attacks Str5
Standard 3 attacks Str5
Musician 3 attacks Str5

5 Cold Ones 2 attacks each Str4

5 supporting attacks 2 each Str5

Could put a Scar Vet in there as well and push the Chief BSB to the second row so he does not get targeted in the 1st round of combat.

 

[JohnMavrick]

SanDiego that is nasty! Although I might call it an 'all eggs in one basket' deal onto a unit which is less capable of supporting such a large bullseye (our TG are actually pretty fair at dealing with being such a target).

What about the frenzy banner in a unit of TG? They are pretty nasty in CC and this banner would make them all the better, especially if you put another SV or (only in high end games like 3K+) Chakax?