8th Ed. Skink Chief Tactica

I’m a sucker for looking at unpopular unit choices and trying to make something halfway workable. So let us all pool ideas on when and how to use skink chiefs in army lists.

Let us see what we can do with a skink chief?

Flying Skink of Doom.
In earlier editions it was popular to give a skink chief the Cloak of Feathers and point him at enemy wizards and war machines. That still seems viable in 8th edition. It can also be a sneaky surprise if you keep the skink chief with a cohort or group of skirmishers until he’s within range of his target.

Chiefs on terradons are more appealing. For a mere five points more, you can put a skink chief on a Terradon and give him +1 to AS, Terradon's attack profile, Terradon's Stomp and Rocks. More importantly it frees up 25 points to spend on magical items. For a mere 18 points you can take Venom of the Firefly Frog and a blowpipe to have multiple re-rollable poisonous shots.

A minimal Skink Chief on a Terradon is 85 points. There are a lot of things an expendable 85 point flyer can set up that are worth way more than 85 points. Any of these tricks with Great Eagles from the High Elf Tactica would work. Just replace “great eagle” with “skink chief on terradon” and it carries over.

http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=33028

A Skink chief on a Terradon can lead a unit of Terradons riders. The Terradon riders benefit from the extra hitting power of a chief. The chief gets the benefit of rank and file troops to soak up enemy missile fire and he moves towards his target. Basically instead of using cavalry as a hero bus, you use flying cav as a hero Southwest airlines.

Stegadon Hammer
Skink chiefs are the only character that can use the mighty Stegadon Warspear. Double impact hits is nice, and the extra hits are magical to boot. Since you are getting double impact hits, it’s probably worth the extra 40 points to go for an ancient steggy rather than a regular one for a hero mount.

There are numerous risks involved with a Skink chief on a Steggy. If your foe is packing a cannon or something else with the tonnage to take down a Steggy, you risk losing a lot of points to one lucky shot. The Stegadon is likely to survive hits that the chief will not, so even if the Steggy survives the template hit, the chief probably won’t. You also lose all your impact hits if the Steggy receives a charge rather than giving it.

You can mitigate some or both these risks by putting a chief on a Steggy without the Warspear. An Opal Amulet means he’s less likely to die from his first cannonball. Venom of the Firefly Frog plus a blowpipe or a Staff of the Lost Sun can boost the chief’s hitting power when receiving a charge. Even without magical items, a skink chief add hitting power to the Stegadon in close combat.

Added Muscle for Normal Skinks
A Skink chief can add hitting power to a unit of skirmishers or a skink cohort. Block skinks gain relatively little from the inclusion of a skink chief. A Kroxigor provides comparable extra hitting power and the same leadership boost. If you are expecting to fight enemies that require magical hits to wound, a skink chief with a cheap magical weapon (or Venom of the Firefly Frog), but there are generally more practical ways to get magical attacks where you need them (buff spells or putting the Skink chief in a more mobile unit)

Skirmishers gain more from including a leader than vanilla skink blocks. Venom of the Firefly Frog is designed with Skink chiefs in mind. Rerolling hits with a blowpipe adds a decent amount of ranged killing fire for a mere 18 points. The Staff of the Lost Sun is probably overpriced, but I’ve heard worse ideas than giving one to a skink chief in a skirmisher unit. If you usually have your skirmishers flitting around shooting all game, a chief with either ranged combat upgrade would be an okay move. If you use typically use your skirmishers to charge into vulnerable enemy spots, a chief can still add hitting power to the unit. If you are setting up your skirmishing chief to charge something right out the gate, you are probably better off skipping a ranged weapon.

Poor Man's General
Regardless of the point total of an army we are required to take one character to be the general. Skink chiefs are the cheapest character we have. They are slightly cheaper than Skink priests, have better leadership, and can survive slightly longer in close combat. I can see a skink chief general for an all skink theme army, armies of less than 1500 points or as the sole character for a player who wants to free up maximum points for non-character units. In most cases you are better off with a Scar Veteran general cause they are tougher and have Ld 8.

Poor Man's BSB

If your army doesn’t have a Slann, or your Slann is flying solo without Temple Guard, you probably want someone else to be the BSB. In most cases you want a Scar Veteran BSB. They are stronger and tougher and can ride Cold Ones. If you are strapped for points you might consider a Skink BSB. If you plan to run with an all-skink army you might want a Skink BSB. A chief on a Stegadon is the Lizardmen’s only opportunity to get an 18 inch BSB range. Regardless of WHY you are fielding a Skink BSB, you probably don’t want to give him a magical standard. Skinks are brittle and you probably want to give your BSB some kind of magical protection.

A skink BSB in a Skroxigor block has some protection, but a Stegadon mounted BSB is fairly exposed. It’s a big risk in tournament armies, but if you know you are playing an specific army that lacks the artillery to shoot your chief off his mount, the risk goes down. To get the most out of a Steggy BSB, you probably want a wider battle line and a coherent plan that benefits from a wide battle line. If you are deploying most of your troops within a 12” radius you don’t really gain anything other than novelty for a monster mounted BSB.

In THEORY you can field a BSB on a terradon. He could then fly to wherever you need the Ld rerolls the most. The BSB would only have a 12 inch range and are fairly exposed to enemy shooting. Terradons usually advance ahead of the main army and BSBs usually remain in the center of your main forces. I see a fun conversion challenge in making a flying BSB, but little utility in game play.

 

A terradon is a monstrous flying cavalry choice. It has the stomp rule, not the chief.

Beat me to it Hoverboy!

 

I have edited my OP to reflect that it is the Terradons stomp that the chief benefits from, not his own.

 

There seems to be a consensus that the Lizardmen FAQ lets characters take a Horned One as a mount and not as a magical item choice. It's worth keeping in mind to put a skink chief on a Horned One. A lot of people still have Tichi Huichi models that are collecting dust right now.

In most cases you are better off with a Scar Veteran on a Cold One but if you are set on using skink chiefs, 35 points is reasonable for the extra attack, Fear, and +2 to AS. With a Horned One a Skink Chief can actually provide more muscle to a skink unit (though if it has Kroxigors the Horned One's Fear and attack pale by comparison).

 

Blowpipes and Javelins only.

 

Yea, you would think that if the skinks can use poison enough to put it on darts and javelins that they may just as well put it on all their weapons.

 

You could go with the ASF sword. At I6, the chief would be getting rerolled misses against most standard infantry. Crown of command would be a plus as well. A unit of terradons with the chief could hold up a unit for several turns with the stubborn chief.