8th Ed. Skink Chief on Teradon vs 3 Teradonriders

[Pofl]

Hello there,

I´m trying to figure out, whether it´s usefull to take a skink chief on Teradon instead of 3 Teradons.
The idea is to take two of them.

1) Skink Chief, Teradon, Spear, LA, Enchanted Shield, Dragonbane Gem
2) Skink Chief, Teradon, Spear, LA, Shield, Dragonhelm, Quango Egg

Now i want to compare them to Teradonriders.

+ Both should be save against S3 ranged attacks and some magic missiles because they are flaming -> better protection
+ no panic tests due to 25%
+ Leadership +1
+ Quango Egg adds additional damage output
+ maybe they can hunt "bigger" warmachines like the ironblaster more effective?
+ more flexible because it´s just one model (better to hide and so on)

- no rocks to throw at enemeys
- no ranged attacks
- are payed from hero budget
- more fragile to cannons because there is just one model instead of 3

Well, are there more points to add?
The way i see it they have the qualification to replace the Teradonriders. Do you think different? Tell me your minds.
Do you already have experience with them compared to Teradonriders?

 

[VampTeddy]

Drop rocks is a terradon specific rule, as such, the chief gets it too, just a single d3.

 

[hdctambien]

- no rocks to throw at enemeys

A Terradon Character mount does have the Drop Rocks rule. It only drops 1d3 hits instead of 3d3, but it's still something!

I like to take a Chief on a Ripper with the Stegadon Helm and Javelin or on a Terradon with the Egg and Javelin (I have the 2+ Ward VS fire for my Scar Vets). But I don't take them *instead* of regular units of Rippers/Terradons. I take them in addition!

The benefit to having both a Chief on a Terradon and a unit of Terradons is that your opponent has to do some mental math and figure out which unit to go after (assuming they have decided to go after your flying unit).

If you had 2 units of Terradons, then it's just a matter of attacking the one that is the greatest threat.

If you had only a unit of Terradons or a Chief on a Terradon, then it's an easy decision.

If you have one of each, then your opponent has to decide if he wants to try to kill the Terradons or just weaken the Chief. As long as you have a plan for both of those scenarios, you are in a good position no matter what he chooses!

 

[Pinktaco]

well the single skink chief have the same amount of attacks as 3 regualr terradon skinks. He also comes with 1 more strenght, but less wounds due to less model.

I think that the two major points as to why I find the chiefs attractive are IMO:

- easily obtainable +2 armour save (compared to 4+), which against most artillery crew is quite good since they usually come with S3.
- The equipment option for our chiefs allows to gearing towards specific goals, meaning that our chief doesn't HAVE to be a warmachine hunter. He can easily get a +2 AS with S5 on charge (spear) and the egg of quango and be a CR booster for our saurus blocks or something like that.


Also one other thing, he might eat into our hero point allowance, but on the same time this also means that he will be deployed after every other model have been placed. It's not much, but it's something.

 

[Putzfrau]

Hero points are usually tight. Terradon riders are extremely good in their own right.

From an efficiency standpoint i'd just go with the riders. Special points are never tight.

 

[Scalenex]

Hero points are usually tight. Terradon riders are extremely good in their own right.

From an efficiency standpoint i'd just go with the riders. Special points are never tight.

Never is a strong word. My Special allowance is sometimes squeezed, of course my unofficial new years resolution is to stuff as my many Kroxigor as feasible into every list. I also tend to be favor large blocks of Temple Guard because I always seem to wish I made my unit slightly bigger.

 

[Putzfrau]

Never is a strong word. My Special allowance is sometimes squeezed, of course my unofficial new years resolution is to stuff as my many Kroxigor as feasible into every list. I also tend to be favor large blocks of Temple Guard because I always seem to wish I made my unit slightly bigger.

1200 points in special

6 terradon riders is only like 210. Still leaves about 1k points for temple guard if you want lol

 

[VampTeddy]

Never is a strong word. My Special allowance is sometimes squeezed, of course my unofficial new years resolution is to stuff as my many Kroxigor as feasible into every list. I also tend to be favor large blocks of Temple Guard because I always seem to wish I made my unit slightly bigger.

1200 points in special

6 terradon riders is only like 210. Still leaves about 1k points for temple guard if you want lol

Kroxigor
Chameleon skinks
Ripper's
CoC
Reg. Stegadon
Bastiladon
Temple guard

That's our special selection excluding the very rare choices of Jungle swarms.

Everything there is our answer to something, and very rarely is it possible for us to settle for one thing, in fact, we can find answers for most things there.

Special and hero are the most competed areas for LM or at lest should be, per the units are are present there, the rest are easy.

Core -> fill core tax, stop there.

Rare -> 1-3 Salamanders, 1 ancient or none.

Lord -> Slann mage priest - maybe an oldblood, whichever way you go, usually 500ish pts++

Bow this leaves 2 places from which we need some specific solutions of 1. High strength, 2. Warmachine hunting, 3- Target saturation, 4. Slann bunker.

Basically everything >important< is chosen here, because both parts of that fence can be used to fill the list up to be competitive.

Bear in mind, the above is with a competitive list in mind.

 

[Putzfrau]

Kroxigor
Chameleon skinks
Ripper's
CoC
Reg. Stegadon
Bastiladon
Temple guard

That's our special selection excluding the very rare choices of Jungle swarms.

I guess i just see it differently. Krox, rippers, regular steg, and CoC to a greater or lesser extent aren't even a consideration for me (in a serious list anyways), and they simply won't be fielded in a vast majority of competitive lists. Chameleon skinks, temple guard, and terradons is really what your choices come down to. Bastiladon maybe. Either way, 1200 points is a lot to spend even between those 4 units.

I dont think you're ever realistically in a scenario where you're taking 400 points of krox, 400 points of temple guard AND rippers AND something else (still 400 to spend in that scenario). Between the mandatory slann, the near mandatory 600 points in hero and the mandatory 600 in core you literally run out of points before you run over your special allotment.

Lets say you dont spend 600 points in hero. Lets say you go with 2 cowboys at 300 for the two of them, and a scroll priest. Not unreasonable. 500 points of Lords, 400 points of heroes, 600 points of troop, you're already at 1500 points. You'd need to spend 600 on both lord and hero choices together to even get a chance use up your special allotment. And that's also assuming ZERO rare choices.

Special is not a tight section. Heroes are. You'll never "max out" special. It's VERY easy to push your hero choices right up to that 25% allowed.

 

[Lizardmatt]

It's really hard to look at chief vs terradons, because they are vulnerable to different things.
Also, don't forget that Terradons are skirmishers, where as a single flyer is not.
Oddly, that makes the terradon unit -1 to be shot, and the chief is only easier to hide.
The Chief can also swoop in and bubble his aura of "You don't have to pursue".

I've had both of those small effects make a big difference in a game (one round the krox didn't have to chance, and the following round, elf archer shot him dead).
2+ armor is good and all, but -1 to be hit and three times as many wounds is also good.

I would suggest taking both in good numbers.
2+ units of flyers, with 2 or 3 flying skink chiefs.
Opponents have a limited* way in dealing with flyers, and the more you take, the better you do.



*Except skaven with that storm banner and howling warpgale. At least we get the skaven pelt banner as retribution.

-Matt