I am building my first low point list and was thinking that chameleons may really shine in such a small point game. The way I see it... Advantages: Will either get to deploy behind the enemy, or force the enemy to spread out deployment thin. Less likely to be demolished by magic, as there are typically not lvl 4s. Less likely to be eaten by a flying creature, as the point limit may dissuade people from bringing flying). Will proportionally do more damage, as I imagine there to be a lot of MSU in such a small point game. Disadvantages: Premium price when point pinching is really important. Potential for WM hunting may be lost, since WM are probably less popular in 1000 pt. Skink Skirmishers may be a better choice since you can field twice as many and the board should be open enough to get them into position without too much hassle. Should I leave them boxed and just bring terradons instead? The rest of the list is pretty basic, SV on CO, saurus block, beast preist, salamander, skinks, and a dinosaur if I can swing it. Thinking bastilladon to throw all my spare PD dice at if wildform fails.
I almost always include chameleons in my lists. Even at lower levels (500-750), they are great. If the chameleons draw fire from a war machine (or a unit), it is a win! When I take them, I like to start with two units of 5. That way, I can focus on the same target while making my opponent focus on a single unit. Or, I could split the unit for two separate targets.
^+1 I like bringing two groups of 5 and use them to deny vanguards. Even a single unit of 5 in a 1k point game can deny a pretty large section of the midfield. Plus people freak out about chameleons and will throw magic at them just to see them off the board and sometimes will even alter their battle line to adjust for chameleon deployment. Nothing makes me happier, because it means whatever initial strategy they had in mind has been shifted. Really experienced players can take it in stride, but against lesser experienced players it just wrecks their strategy and gets them flustered. Plus, even if your opponent is tossing spells at the Chamos, those are spells not directed towards more important units. All that for 65 points? For me that's a no-brainer. I just played a 1000 point tournament, and in each game my opponent focus an unnecessary amount of attention on my scouts, and in all three games this ended up disrupting his formation in some significant way.
I had not thought about disrupting vanguards. I am going to likely be playing against many dwarf players, of which I have never played before. Would I be better off deploying in the back to try and destroy the WM, or deploying in the field as you mentioned to deny vanguard. Or just take 2 units and do both?
That's going to be really list-dependent. If the dwarf player is using gyros, you'll want to give them a WIDE berth, as their steam weapon thingy auto-hits and wrecks chameleons. If the dwarf player is deploying a lot of artillery, you should try to scout the unit in such a way that you're Chamos are a serious threat to the WM. Force him to react to your list from turn 1. If he doesn't have to react to your deployment, he can just shoot at you all day long without thinking. If the dwarf player is running combat blocks (I've recently gone up against a pretty nasty list that vanguards 3 tanky infantry blocks), try to place scouts in the midfield and block any vanguards. Deny the opponent any advantage they may have before the game even starts. When it comes down to it, I rarely count on my Chamos as combat units. Sure they might get in a position to knock out a war machine or put wounds on a monster, but recently I've discovered that I get the most use out of them when they force the other guy to react to them. 5 Chamo skinks on their own aren't that great, even against war machines/monsters. But lots of opponents don't seem to know that. Those are just my thoughts on how I use 'em. I'm certainly not the most experienced WHFB player (been playing for about 18 months), but that's my take-away so far.
+1 I was initially really bummed out about how little chamos brought that regular skink skirmishers didn't bring already, but the scout option alone messes up so many players you wouldn't believe it. I had a 2000 points battle against Wood elves. 3 entire blocks of archers decided that those 3x5 chameleons were more dangerous than my Cold one bus. Sure, they died first turn, but it means my cold one bus hit them turn 2 before they did any noticeable damage. they overkilled all 3 of the blocks by multiple wounds (in 2 of the cases, 10 man units had STILL been obliterated), so imagine the pain they could have done to another, more dangerous unit. And it earned me a flank charge on one of them with my 4 Rippers! Who still lost combat and were overran, because 2 of them got killed before they got to attack. God i hate ASF.
Chameleon Skinks are noticeably better in 1000 point games than they are in 2500 point games. In 3000+ I tend to bring zero Chameleon Skinks. The smaller the two total armies are, the more open space the table has. The more open space the table has, the more options you have as to where to put your Scouts. Chameleon Skinks can block Vanguard, target war machines, inflict moderate damage on poorly armored targets and counter enemy Scouts (if you get to deploy yours first anyway). Problem is Dwarves are fairly versatile these days and it's hard to predict what one is likely to bring at 1000 points. If they have rangers you may want to deploy your Scouts defensively. If they take Slayers (unlikely), they should be your top priority with your Chameleon Skinks. If a war machine is exposed, go after it. If there is an Organ Gun, you should try to keep your Chamo Skinks in soft cover as much as possible (same with normal Skinks). The key is to try to be as flexible as possible.