I'm a visual learner, so I was wondering if you guys knew of helpful videos (or anything else that might help...) of how best to manoeuvre skink skirmishers in general cloud tactics, whether that be redirection otherwise. So, know of any such resources?
That is quite a hard one, i would say that simple experience is your best tutor. I do not know of any LM specific youtube pages or anything, it's to bad that learning via words is hard for you. I would say that most of my experience of really understanding the game was simply going to tournies. As long as you have a good grasp of the game, you can learn a lot of tactics and mindsets to play the game optimally there. You do need a basic level of understanding, or else everything is just over your head, you are swept of the table and you blame dicerolls or the other guys OP list .
It's not much textual tutelage, as it were, is hard (I really can't allow to be in my profession!) but that Skink Clouds are my weak spot and I learn well through the visual medium. Unfortunately I'm not a massive tourney fan plus I tend to travel a lot, so tournaments are logistically awkward :s I have trawled through Youtube but haven't found much as yet!
I've got some battle reports. I still have two to upload though... shameless plug for subscriptions! Haha. https://www.youtube.com/user/LordoftheSwarm/
I had a look, very useful! Although, I was initally confused as to what was what on that first Beastman video... Found a few other links online: Summary video, might be useful: Other cloud battle reports: Vs. Bretts Also Vs. Bretts Vs. Ogres Vs. Skaven
I've only watched the first two videos so far. The second one demonstrates some great tactics (in my opinion).
Ok, I watched them all finally lol. Here's my feedback: 1: I didn't watch it all the way through. Kinda just skimmed through and lost interest when I realized he wasn't going to move the models. 2: Not too bad. He used his models very defensively and didn't focus on the objective of the game. He could have easily ran a unit of Skinks across the board to the enemy deployment zone and possibly gotten a trebuchet in the process. Didn't illustrate the movement phase very well. But all's well that ends well! Interesting list too. 3: That was a little better, but he played more aggressively and hit the weak flank really hard. The knights didn't really have a chance to do much thanks to the crafty deployment and use of the river. As it should be. The Rippers were the star players in this game though. 4: I don't the the Ogre player knew too much of what the Lizarmen player was up to. He did indeed predict all the flee moves very well, but he still ended up succumbing to them. This Lizard player did a much better job. The double flee is a great move when you have something to counter-charge with on the next turn. I would have liked to see his Terradons be more aggressive and tackle the cannons straight away, but they took care of themselves with the misfire, lol. Due to the scenario I think the deployment could have been done better. You dont HAVE to set up directly across from your opponent when you vastly outnumber them. Making use of the flanks seemed like a low priority. 5: Double HPA lists are dumb and broken. Unless you specifically plan for it, you're kinda screwed from the get go. You can use your Skinks a little more crafty to pull them out of the battle line, but you really need to invest 2 or 3 units to the cause. Those points you invest will just be lost and you likely wont kill the HPA. Oh how I miss the Burning Blade of Chotec... The flaming banner is a nice surprise though. @Slanputin, a lot of the finesse in cloud lists comes from minuet moves. After you move you Skinks, cock the unit to one side or the other. Remember that a unit that charges them HAS to square up to the Skink unit. You can easily throw a couple 35ss units away to divert a larger 200ss unit. Especially if you give them something to overrun into (namely another 35ss Skink unit). Keep the cloud in front of the combat units like the players in those videos did and do your best to predict what the other player will do. You bait them with the Skinks, kill them with the Krox/Saurus/Rippers/etc. Force your opponent to expose his flanks. EDIT: @Kaleidoscope, I really liked your use of the Rippers. I honestly haven't thought about turning them around like that, haha. Certainly helps with Frenzy issues. Looks like the Beastmen were slightly unprepared for the amount of poison you were packing too, so that certainly helped you to play more offensively. You didn't have to do too much fancy footwork with your Skinks, but the Terradons showed their value with the Fast Cav rules. Grats to the win!
@Qupakoco Thanks for the shout out. Ripper dactyls are my thing but you could use any unit for the same thing. What is their purpose? Killing level 4 wizards to allow my Slann to own the magic phase or wiping out weakened units to allow me to score points. Many avoidance style lists make a critical error by not taking any "mop up" units. The easiest way to get points in Warhammer is through magic and, perhaps even easier, through combat. I could also see someone using Coldones, Templeguard, or Stegadons to the same effect. Rippers are easier for me to use so I use them. They are not main combat blocks but rather to pick off stragglers.
I've always found Raffazzas' blog with LM battle reports to have plenty of tips how to play with skink cloud. You can find plenty of reports from older posts there. I think the most important thing that I've picked up from him is that you should always make room for yourself to flee. Most of the times meanign just to move forward the first turn. BR Agrem
Never ever do this. If they overrun they reform in your combat phase and can pretty much charge whatever they like. If you allow a good player a combat reform in your combat phase he will get a free unit of his choice in his next turn. with the option to face whatever way they like and to extend in that direction with a conga it is the worse case scenario especially for a cloud list.