8th Ed. Why venom of the firefly frog?

[Battlehamster]

I've been lurking around numerous warhammer forums and keep seeing this item taken by Scarvets. People put venom of the firefly frog on the Vet and sometimes even add a Great Weapon to it. Now this doesn't seem to make much sense to me. The way I think of poison is a way to counteract high toughness units. If I have a high strength unit (Scarvet S5), then I'm already counteracting both their toughness (easier to wound) and armor (-mod to armor) so why do I need the venom? Why not leave it out and save yourself some points?

Can anybody enlighten me on what I'm missing?

 

[Arli]

I cannot. I have only ever used that on skink chiefs to get the re-roll of poison misses. I would never give it to a scar vet.

 

[Lord Cedric]

For 10 points, it also makes the weapon magical, enabling it to be used against those that can only be attacked my magic. Seems worth the points to me.

 

[Shaslain]

I think its because poison will auto wound on a 6 so you don't have to roll to wound. You automatically get -4 to the armor save, in the case of a steam tank this can be plenty helpful. Ethereal units will fear your magical great weapon, and it is an extremely cheap item that can fit in with magical armor.

 

[Danger Goat]

Yup, making the attacks magical is the biggest appeal. Of course, this depends on your particular metagame. If you never face etheral units, Venom loses some of its utility. But, the guarantee of a wound on a 6 isnt too shabby, even with a GW.