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8th Ed. Saurus with spears; yay or nay?

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Saurus

aidanlynch

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I have two units of saurus, one of which is equipped with spears. On paper they look pretty good, fighting in 3 ranks means those saurus will throw out a bucketload of attacks in a round of combat.

But most people seem to think spears aren't worth it. So I'm putting it up for discussion,. Yay or nay to saurus with spears?
 
Both are viable,
with Spears, it seems like it's either go big or go home.
while regular had weapon units are fine for smaller units.
 
in a huge brick that you could horde out, I think the extra 14 attacks (7 wide is almost all that unit can hit assuming normal 5 wide 25mm or 20mm formations).

I roll with HW and shield. I use the points elsewhere. Big blocks are slow movers, big targets, and have long flanks.
 
Thinking of taking a unit of 30 with spears, either 6x5 or 7x4. This seems like a good size but not sure if its the best investment for 350ish points.

On the other hand a big unit of saurus like that would look awesome
 
For me, and I'm pretty new so take this with a grain of salt, it depends on what you are using your saurus for. Are they there to kill stuff or to hold up the enemies main combat unit while your other items (heroes, magic, salamanders etc.) kill stuff? I use mine to mainly hold up the enemy and go for flanks so I use the hand weapon/shield.
 
All personal I think I'm thinking s&s 2 mid size grips not one massive grp lol
 
I've had a lot of success with hw shield and running them 6x5. I think spears aren't worth it, especially for an army that is doing anything other than defensive stance, which generally means that you're losing. Also with hq shield you'll have a 4+ save and spear will only be a 5+ which is quite noticeable when you start taking armour saves
 
I'm sure the math has already been done.

against weaker core, the spears are certainly better since you'll be getting more wounds to win combat res. Against tougher opponents, your AS is likely being reduced and likewise fewer of your attacks are wounding. at WS3, we are 4+ to hit, so having an extra 5-7 rolls in there will mean that you have an extra 3 or so attacks that will hit, and another half again to wound likely. so for 1-2 more wounds, you are trading a 6+ ward for your entire unit and a rank of armor save. I just don't see it, but some people like spears.
 
I could be wrong on this but how do spear and shield only give a 5+ save? Saurus have 5+ so adding a shield makes it 4+. The rulebook doesnt say anything about spears requiring two hands unless its in an faq?
 
They get the same armor save,
the big difference is that the hand weapon troops get the 6+ ward save.
 
do you still get it the armor bonus for shield with spear? My friends and I have gone round and round with that questions and it still isn't clear for me.
 
Shields grant a +1 to your armor save, so long as you're not armed with a two handed weapon like a halberd or great weapon.

Shields & Hand Weapons grant a 6+ ward save for parrying the attack, that you only ever get if you've got shields and hand weapons. As soon as you arm them with anything else, you lose that ward save.


Personally, I never count on 6+ saves under any circumstances, they're too easily negated by a strength bonus and the odds are too slim otherwise (16.7%?). When they happen, they're a bonus, but I'd rather be dealing extra attacks than hoping for the 6+ ward save. If I take a block of 20 warriors and set them up 5x4, I can take 5 casualties before I lose any combat effectiveness. I'm making more use of the model's I've paid for, while retaining the survivability of a larger unit. I would only ever be taking HW+S in small blocks of 10 where I'm not going to have a third rank.

But then again, I'm new at this. I also tend to use my Saurus as a defensive wall, and use my stegadons and skinks as my primary offensive forces. (Ancient Steg + Skink Chief, Warspear & Ancient Steg right up the middle, 3d6+2 S6 Impact hits before they get to hit back, + 2d6 Thunderstomp hits at the end usually ruins most units' day.)
 
I use my saurus defensively as well. 6+ save keeps 16.7% more models around. And against stronger opponents that will negate the armor save and I'll have a harder time wounding, I like having the parry save.
 
you say your running them at 5x4 which means to get an extra 5 attacks your paying 20 points at our ws3 2.5 hit average 1.5 wounds.

By going sword and board save 20 points which is another saurus plus in CC your 4+ save and 6* will keep the fight going as you stated many units have stre4 meaning that your spear saurus are practically naked

For me its sword and board all the way due to the size of saurus base ill never be wide enough across the front to make it worth taking spears.
 
I run my saurus in blocks of 30 6x5. i give them spears cause at initiative 1 with hw and shield they wont fight first anyway, so if you give them spears and hold them back, the enemy charges they go first but you get 3 ranks instead of 2.
 
the extra rank is something to consider for sure. I still like me a ward save though. against anything with a great weapon, armor is toast and that 6+ has won combat res for me.
 
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