8th Ed. How are Kroxigors good?

[Ronisman]

Please excuse me for being such a noob at fantasy; I haven't played in probably 7 years, and I'm only just now getting back into it with a Lizardmen army!

I have been reading up on kroxigors, and it seems like a whole lot of people like them in skrox units. Therefore I must just be missing something about them. For what is supposed to be a hulking crocodile monster; aren't their stats a little underwhelming? I can see having a low weapon skill and no initiative, that just makes sense for what the model is. But only 4 strength and toughness?

Great weapons make them strength 6 of course, but hell, dwarf hammerers are strength 6 with great weapons too. So are black orcs if you can still take great weapons with them (you could back when I played). Not to mention minotaurs which would be strength 7, and I'm sure there are ogres that can as well.

I just feel like they ought to at least be 5 strength base to be worth the points.

Or is having a whole rank worth of meat shields really enough to make kroxigors a strong choice?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Lord Tsunami]

i agree that kroxigors are underwhelming, and i personally do not like SKrox units very much, but i admit they have SOME strong points.

1) they are fast. this is the obvious one, but should not be forgotten. they move 50% faster than teh average infantry. that is alot.

2) they cause fear (which can be awesome, or do nothing at all) and they can not be stomped (even if combined with skinks). this makes them a reasonably good choice for taking on monsters who often rely on stomp.

3) when fighting extreme elite troops such as chosen chaos warriors, a skink and a saurus are not too different. they will both get absolutely slaughtered. however, if the skinks take an extra cashualty or two, they do cost half as much, and if they have their big bad cousins standing right behind them, killing 4-5 of said chosen warriors per turn, it is possible that the chosen will have at least suffered a big dent in them before the skinks run. remember that the kroxigors cant be attacked.


all in all i totally agree that especially pure kroxigor units have very little value, and in the next coupple of years when we get a new armybook, i do expect either a stat buff or a pretty steep point decrease. just compare them to ironguts... SKrox units admittedly has its uses, but i am not a fan. the only type i use is a unit of 11 skinks + 1 krox. it is very cheap and can be a real life save. much like other teams have fast cavalry. it usually has a possitive effect if you flank charge with one of those units to support the saurus in the front. if you play light magic, they can even become quite reasonable when you cast augments that affects all nearby units (i wouldnt wanna target them with a single buff except in extreme rare cases though). Especially if you are fighting hordes, a flank charge with one of these units will help, because it often does not increase the enemys fighting models by alot (since they wont have many ranks). with a bit of luck it will help both to remove rank bonus and steadfast.

 

[strewart]

Yeah that pretty much sums it up. The skrox unit is a good flanking choice. They can take on pretty much any other flanking choice, then have the speed to swoop back in and charge flanks while you hold opponents at the front. The s6 attacks are very useful for swinging combats, and the skinks are good for saving the krox from damage. Overall the unit works quite nicely, and with a buff or hex on the opponent they become even more of a thorn. Plus they are usually underestimated so left to their own devices.

Krox on their own, not so useful really.

 

[thenick]

I find them a really useful unit in my play styles. I play with a unit 40 - 50 skinks with 3 krox and have them 6 wide. hordeing doesnt matter to much with this unit as its the krox who are doing the damage and the skinks are extra wounds...extra ranks(alot of them) and for a unit to survive they need to get rid of all the skinks before they can even touch the Krox. Krox also help in another way which i dont think i have seen mentioned yet....leadership 7. weird but i use it. with coldblooded and the amounts of skinks in a unit most things will be stuck in with them for some time...gives me time to get one of our many flanking units like a steggy or my other skrox unit of 16 skinks 1 krox (had spare points and thought id try it out for warmachine hunting etc)
i tend to win most my games with lizards even against beardy things like a Tzeenth warriors army, dwarfs and high elves.

 

[Arli]

Another point to mention is that not only can they not be stomped, but the dreaded 13th spell (IIRC) cannont be used against the unit as it is considered a mixed unit.

I like skrox units myself. I have even tried some larger horded versions. I once put down 98 skinks and 4 Kroxigors. That unit ate everything that it touched. It was fun as well.

 

[Daneish]

Anyone tried out a krox chariot?

They are quite popular with some orc and goblin builds. Take two trolls rank them up and go. You only lose 1 stomp attack, and have a frontage that is half the size making them take less damage back while also making them more maneuverable.

On paper this build could be an awesome war machine hunter if not a little overpriced.

 

[strewart]

Thats a cool sounding tactic, I'd be interested in seeing how it went.

 

[Lord Tsunami]

unfortunately kroxigors are 3+ unit size. trolls are awesome at that thing because:

1) they cost 35 points
2) you only need to buy 2 in a unit (1+), and not a 3rd "useless" one

 

[Daneish]

Did not read the fine print.