Slann
Canas
Ninth Spawning
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Back in 8th Skinks being skirmishers got a -1 to being hit with ranged attacks,
any unit get an additional -1 to being hit with ranged attacks when they are occupying terrain,
Skinks also got extra cover form being in water terrain (swamps, rivers, ponds).
(non-aquatic units get a 1/2 movement penalty for being in water.)
*and chameleon skinks get an additional -1 to being hit.
So a general strategy was to plop them down in the nearest body of water for a -3 to getting shot.
and create a small machine gun nest of poison shots. and if something charges you just flee
leaving them bogged down in a water hazard.
ps. skirmishers can shoot on any direction, and don't have to keep a rigid formation.
That does seem considerably more usefull than the current incarnation for skinks. Especially the ability to have people charge into difficult terrain alongside having far better cover is briljant. And as far as I can see the only thing remaining of them being skirmishers would be wary fighter then, which is the one thing actually making em worthwhile.. explains why that single ability is so disproportionatly powerfull when compared to the rest of their abilities
As for their current incarnation, how would we get them to a similar level without making them horrificly OP? I'd say start by giving them back their poison on all skink wielded weapons, including the heroes and mounted ones. I don't think it'd be particularly OP on anything, but it'd at least push skinks far enough to actually be capable of forcing a save without needing at least 20 attacks... Then give all unmounted skinks that -1 to being hit with ranged attacks, which makes em far more durable and fits their general skirmish tactics. It'd give them more of an identy as skirmishers without being oppressive and would feel more like their old incarnation. Not sure what else could be added though and I do feel like this wouldn't be entirely enough to make a "proper" skink based army, but it should at least change skinks from mostly harmless to something actually worth chasing down.
Dwarf missile troops are dreadful in close combat (Gun Butts hit on 5s and wound on 6s I think), and if it wasn't for the fact that they can shoot into melee they would be annihilated if charged. This applies to Kharadron Overlords and Dispossessed ranged units - Fyreslayer Hearthguard, although not a patch on their melee brothers, are slightly better in melee and can hold against truly rubbish combatants.
Which dwarfs? these are fine as far as I can tell. Far more capable than our skinks at least in terms of stats. And these have such amazing ranged firepower that a poor melee would be excused (and they're still better than skinks in melee..).
Also, it's not that skinks have crap melee stats, it's that they have fairly terrible stats in most any situation. The only interesting thing being wary fighters.
Those no longer exist though. Plus skaven slaves are still skaven so as a race they're still fine with their stormfiends and stormvermin even if they also have the absolute worst available as well. Gnoblars I'm not sure if they count seperatly or not like how goblins differ from orruks, not sure how different they are.@Canas ... I believe the bottom of the barrel (absolute worst troops; the dregs) was Gnoblars or Skaven slaves ... weren’t they two models for one point?