8th Ed. Skrox in 8th

[gapton]

There are a lot of changes:

1) Skinks and Krox can both attack just like in 7th, however now your enemy MUST hit the Krox if he is in B2B with a Skink that is in B2B with the Krox.

Take a 6 wide Skrox with 2 Krox in second rank as example, this means the Skink at the front can never be attacked. Now instead of Skinks dying in waves, the Krox will be the first to go. I think this reversed the usage of Skrox entirely. In 7th all elite troops would kill are Skinks, and we use steadfast to hold them up.

Now in 8th, a Krox at T4 W3 with 4+AS isn't exactly bullet proof. So I feel that we should be charging Skrox into troops that don't hit too hard. In exchange we have good protection for the Skinks.

2) Skinks cohort now has access to poison attacks (melee) as an upgrade at x points per model. This is confusing because that makes Krox S7 attacks rather pointless. If I can get 10 poison Skinks to take 1 or 2 wounds off a T8 target, that is a huge win by any means. In fact it makes me wonder why would you want to have the Krox if you can just use poison?

3) Jungle Swarm now adds poison to all ally that are in the same combat. So if you hit something with a Skrox + Jungle Swarm, you get poison skinks for free, plus poison Krox attacks, and the Skinks cannot be touched(any Skink not in B2B with a Krox but in B2B with an enemy model can still be hit I think)! So your enemy will have to take tonnes of poison attacks, and a few S7 attacks, try to wipe out 10 wounds worth of swarm, and can only hit Krox but not Skink.

That sounds like a lot of dynamics going on! I think these are the things that make games fun, trying to pull these combos off and planning ahead. I think Skrox will be a lot of fun to play with in 8th, what do you think?

EDIT:
Added a diagram I made to clarify which Skinks can/cannot be attacked

 

[Rikard]

Nicely put together,

I have to agree too, the whole point of a screen is just that, to screen, but baring any stomp attack it does seem to be rather pointless now.

And poison is awesome, against a high Toughness model (8 or more like you said) it's ideal.

 

[gapton]

Damn I forgot about PF! LOL

Look, the Jungle Swarm + Skrox will also give Krox PF poison.

3A per Krox, rolled 3 6s, not only do those auto-wound due to poison, you get 3 free attacks! If you roll 3 6s again that is 6 auto-wound from just one Krox

Not likely to happen but according to the rules this is entirely possible.

Also.... Jungle Swarm + Saurus.... imagine how many poison PF attacks you will get.

Poison + PF = win?

 

[n810]

I think we are going to see a lot more of Tehenhauin this edition...

 

[hardyworld]

What is the ratio of Skinks per Kroxigor? 7th Ed. ratio was 8:1 correct? (sorry, been playing a lot of OK) I'm hoping this ratio has dropped to something more reasonable like 5:1, heck, I'll take 6:1

Does the requirement to hit Krox apply even if skink characters are in base-to-base with the enemy? That's some great protection for characters in combat if so!

 

[gapton]

yes still 1:8
did not change

 

[The Hunted]

Does the requirement to hit Krox apply even if skink characters are in base-to-base with the enemy? That's some great protection for characters in combat if so!

^This

This is quite important, you can put a chief in there (heck, throw in 2) with random gear. Have the Skrox unit sit next to your saurus unit (say, 30 strong) and have the chiefs all safe and well tell the saurus not to auto-pursue...

It does completely change the way Skrox work. Where we were absolutely terrified of HE Spears, they are now just another unit with lots of attacks. Interesting.
I don't quite know if I like them more, or less now though. Have to give it some more thought.

And the cohesion with some jungle swarms could be nice too.
Skrox+jungle swarm+bastilodon+brick of saurus looks like a nice setup. They all help/support eachother.

I don't have the new book yet, but I can't wait to figure these things out!

The Hunted

 

[Pofadder]

Good protection for skink priests? maybe even give some viability to skink bsb if they can still do BSB on skink chief...This will take getting used to, I rather enjoyed the previous design...

 

[sirkently]

There are a lot of changes:

1) Skinks and Krox can both attack just like in 7th, however now your enemy MUST hit the Krox if he is in B2B with a Skink that is in B2B with the Krox.

I think you read that wrong. It is just stating that you can attack Krox, not that you have to.

 

[Ailideon]

There are a lot of changes:

1) Skinks and Krox can both attack just like in 7th, however now your enemy MUST hit the Krox if he is in B2B with a Skink that is in B2B with the Krox.

I think you read that wrong. It is just stating that you can attack Krox, not that you have to.

Agreed,

 

[gapton]

There are a lot of changes:

1) Skinks and Krox can both attack just like in 7th, however now your enemy MUST hit the Krox if he is in B2B with a Skink that is in B2B with the Krox.

I think you read that wrong. It is just stating that you can attack Krox, not that you have to.

No, I have the book right in front of me, and I read these two sentences like 15 times :

"Unless otherwise stated, close combat attacks can only target Kroxigor within a mixed unit if an enemy model is either in base contact with a Kroxigor, or if an enemy model is in base contact with a Skink who is in turn in base contact with a Kroxigor. Stomps and Thunderstomps are always resolved against the Skinks(if all the Skinks are slain, any excess hits are lost)."

 

[Andrinor]

There are a lot of changes:

1) Skinks and Krox can both attack just like in 7th, however now your enemy MUST hit the Krox if he is in B2B with a Skink that is in B2B with the Krox.

I think you read that wrong. It is just stating that you can attack Krox, not that you have to.

No, I have the book right in front of me, and I read these two sentences like 15 times :

"Unless otherwise stated, close combat attacks can only target Kroxigor within a mixed unit if an enemy model is either in base contact with a Kroxigor, or if an enemy model is in base contact with a Skink who is in turn in base contact with a Kroxigor. Stomps and Thunderstomps are always resolved against the Skinks(if all the Skinks are slain, any excess hits are lost)."

I don't have the book yet but that sounds what they are saying is that the only time you are able to attack Kroxigor is when you have an enemy model in base contact with a Krox or if you in base contact with a Skink who is in turn in base contact with a Krox.

I don't think it is saying you can attack only Kroxigor. I think it is just poorly worded.

 

[Andrinor]

I asked this in another thread but it should probably be here:

Didn't Great Reach previously only allow kroxigor to attack over a single rank of Skinks? And since that rule is gone, are they able to be placed into the third rank of a horde of skinks and still get their attacks (and also negate the ability to attack the Kroxigor)?

 

[gapton]

I don't have the book yet but that sounds what they are saying is that the only time you are able to attack Kroxigor is when you have an enemy model in base contact with a Krox or if you in base contact with a Skink who is in turn in base contact with a Krox.

I don't think it is saying you can attack only Kroxigor. I think it is just poorly worded.

Yes, if the enemy is in B2B with a Skink who is NOT in B2B with a Krox, they can indeed choose to attack the Skink.

However for a frontal combat, if we field 6 Skinks on first rank, then 3 Krox on second rank, the enemy will have no choice but to attack the Krox.

Actually if I am not mistaken, corner to corner is still considered in B2B contact so we can still field classic 8 wide Skinks with 3 Krox in second rank. and unless enemy flank/rear charge, they can only attack krox

 

[sirkently]

It is just poorly worded. What it means is if you want to attack a Krox, you can only do so if you are in base contact with it or a skink that is in base contact with it.

You are allowed to attack whoever you want in all combats. But you couldn't attack Krox in the last edition. This is just giving you a way to attack them if you want to.

 

[PlasmaDavid]

Yes, if it was enemy models HAD to attack Krox it would say " close combat attacks can target only Kroxigor if such and such conditions are met" but it does not.

As it is it says "close combat attacks can only target Kroxigor if such and such conditions are met" which to me says "you need to fulfill these criteria if you want to attack the Krox"

Still, has anyone worked out WHY GW changed the Skrox rules, and what it actually means for the units?

I guess from where I stand it looks like they're trying to make the unit play more like it is in the fluff: Kroxigor lumbering forwards and dishing/receiving the pain whilst the skinks dart back and forth from behind their battering ram brothers.

 

[Reddogfish]

I was going to say if they must target the Krox then you can always run a wounds denial setup...

One krox behind a unit of skinks

All the front rank, bar one skink in a five wide unit would be forcing attacks against the Krox...

A maximum of 3 wounds could then be done by most units.

Unfortunatly I doubt this is the case... It would prove a bit broken in certain situations... like using skinks to hold up a charge by DE corssairs with hydra banner or DE cold one riders....

 

[LogicalUnit]

There are a lot of changes:

1) Skinks and Krox can both attack just like in 7th, however now your enemy MUST hit the Krox if he is in B2B with a Skink that is in B2B with the Krox.

I think you read that wrong. It is just stating that you can attack Krox, not that you have to.

Agreed,

Agreed here too.

The language in the book is "...can only target Kroxigor..." which could have two meanings. It could mean that you can only target Kroxigors (and nothing else); or that this is the only situation in which you can target Kroxigor.

I'm inclined to believe it's the second interpretation, poorly worded.

 

[OmegaHavoc]

The entry in the army book is not worded poorly at all. It very clearly states the only time you may attack a krox is, 1) if you are b2b with it or, 2) if you are b2b with a skink that I'd also touching a krox.

Nothing confusing about how it is worded at all.

 

[Andrinor]

The entry in the army book is not worded poorly at all. It very clearly states the only time you may attack a krox is, 1) if you are b2b with it or, 2) if you are b2b with a skink that I'd also touching a krox.

Nothing confusing about how it is worded at all.

Omega, it is poorly worded but the confusion wasn't about when you could attack Krox. The problem was that it could be read to say that you can only (read "must") target Krox when the necessary conditions are met.