Questions about skeleton warriors

[DeadGroove]

First time posting here. Apologies if this is in the wrong place. I've recently gotten into the game, really only bought the start collecting skeleton horde as my end game is to have an army with nagash at the helm, haven't played any proper games yet as I've been slowly building my army to 1k points. The first models I built were my skeleton warriors but I decided to mix swords with spears and am now concerned if that's ok as I want to use then in a unit of 30 where the majority will be spear users. I read somewhere that you cant mix the weapon types, it would be a pain if that was the case.

Also while I'm here, my army so far for 1000 points is looking like this

 

Arkhan the black

Necromancer

5 black knights

30 skeleton warriors

10 dire wolves

 

What else can I add to the list as I'm unsure, the options are a little overwhelming as this is my first time ever playing a miniature game.

[Blightzkrieg]

If it's a friendly game your opponent likely won't care as long as you specify in advance and don't have multiple units kitted differently (which would get confusing). But generally as a rule units can't mix weapon types (there are exceptions).

[Ferrus65]

You could also think to glue spears in the back of skeleton swordsmen (maybe previously cutting hands from the spears) and put the ‘true’ skeleton spearsmen in the front lines. So the wysiwyg is respected,  I read it somewhere else in tris forum, and seems  to be a very good solution 

Edited August 18, 2019 by Ferrus65

[Whitefang]

rulewise you can only choose one weapon for the whole unit

model wise I think it’s ok as long as you specify the option of the unit to your opponent in advance.

[XReN]

On 8/18/2019 at 4:07 AM, DeadGroove said:

First time posting here. Apologies if this is in the wrong place. I've recently gotten into the game, really only bought the start collecting skeleton horde as my end game is to have an army with nagash at the helm, haven't played any proper games yet as I've been slowly building my army to 1k points. The first models I built were my skeleton warriors but I decided to mix swords with spears and am now concerned if that's ok as I want to use then in a unit of 30 where the majority will be spear users. I read somewhere that you cant mix the weapon types, it would be a pain if that was the case.

Also while I'm here, my army so far for 1000 points is looking like this

 

Arkhan the black

Necromancer

5 black knights

30 skeleton warriors

10 dire wolves

 

What else can I add to the list as I'm unsure, the options are a little overwhelming as this is my first time ever playing a miniature game.

You really should build your next skeleton units in a way to be able to field wholle units with same weapons. And, of course, you should by A LOT of skeletons, unless you want to go for elite force of grave guard you probably want 80 of them on the field. Whille you build up your numbers you can buy some heroes (Wight King, Vampire Lord on foot, Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon) and Morghasts for Nagash's Battalion (It's not great, but its fluffy and gives you a reason to show off cool minies) 

And that will be pretty much all that is worth buying in this book, you can supplement your force with some Grimghast Reapers from NH because they are a great unit. 

[Grimoriano]

Do not use 30 skellies, just use 40 x unit for 121 attacks, with a vampire lord it will be 161, + wightking 201, +lord of nagashizard 241. And then use ur necromancer for the double attack.

[RuneBrush]

21 hours ago, Grimoriano said:

Do not use 30 skellies, just use 40 x unit for 121 attacks, with a vampire lord it will be 161, + wightking 201, +lord of nagashizard 241. And then use ur necromancer for the double attack.

Probably need to add a disclaimer of "theoretically" to this.  The likelihood of getting all 40 skeletons in range is quite low (you're going to normally get 25 to 30 depending upon the enemy unit) and the above example will cost 2 CP's and a spell (not to mention including the less than impressive Wight King), so isn't something you can sustain every turn.

It's also worth bearing in mind that skeletons don't have good quality attacks, 50% are going to miss and a further 50% aren't going to wound.  Against a unit with a good armour save (e.g. Stormcast), your actual damage output will be pretty low for the number of dice you're rolling - don't get me wrong they can be brutal (against chaff especially), but you'll likely find the results can be a bit hit and miss.

[Honk]

3 hours ago, RuneBrush said:

you'll likely find the results can be a bit hit and miss.

qft... 

40 skellis have 3 attacks each, with vampire CA 4, with Wight CA 5 and with van hels 10 attacks each. If they wield spears you might get 20 into combat. That’s 200 attacks, 100 hits, 50 wounds and on a 4+ save you‘ll do 25 damage. 33 on a 5+, only 16 on a 3+ and the 2+ Treelord will take only 8 damage on paper.

So if you’re going against another 40 skellis, you just burned 2CPs and a spell, opponent still has 7 skellis left and can decide to inspire them and regenerate a bit or resummon them wherever or just don’t care at all... while you really burned through CPs for inspiring or resummoning.

 

they are not as brutal-imba-crazy like some people try to make them look. They can bring down something big, but they’ll need to get the charge off first. If a Bloodthirster kills off 11-19 first... 

[Grimoriano]

😉

[Evil Bob]

That’s not a good video.  Puts way too much emphasis on 3+ verses 4+.  He hasn’t played on normal battlefields.  Other combats or terrain get in the way all the time.

Edited August 22, 2019 by Evil Bob

[Honk]

10 hours ago, Evil Bob said:

Puts way too much emphasis on 3+ verses 4+.

Now that’s a circular BS-discussion supreme...

„I hit better!!!“ vs „I get more into battle“ in close combat with „you‘re stupid“

🍺🥳👍

There is time and table for both I guess...

[Evil Bob]

3 hours ago, Honk said:

Now that’s a circular BS-discussion supreme...

„I hit better!!!“ vs „I get more into battle“ in close combat with „you‘re stupid“

🍺🥳👍

There is time and table for both I guess...

No joke.  Over simplification is the worst.  “If you don’t support x-policy then the terrorists win,” phrase comes to mind.

We’ve had some great threads on optimal circumstances for both skeleton set-ups and unit sizes.  Or even using other battleline for whatever reasons.  Your 60 blob zombies as a center a part of an army for instances.  My favorite is the VLoZD trolling that says battleline is pointless and monsters are the only way to go.

The video reminded me of my math and logic course teacher who liked to say, “there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”  Then proceeded for several weeks teaching statistics.  I’ve been running large skeletal spearmen blobs in AoS and have never gotten all 40 of them into combat at the same time.  A buddy who does sword and board (only owns 40 of them and never plans on buying another so he doesn’t burn out on painting) hasn’t made full contact either.  Either a number are down waiting on revival or the more likely cause is battlefield position.

The entire video is based on a logic fallacy.  Ignoring the 16.6% hit chance difference to potentially having 1/3 more dice to roll.

Edited August 22, 2019 by Evil Bob

[Honk]

8 hours ago, Evil Bob said:

monsters are the only way to go.

The best way to kit out your skelli blocks is a pack of 20 wolves 🤣

[Evil Bob]

11 hours ago, Honk said:

The best way to kit out your skelli blocks is a pack of 20 wolves 🤣

👍

Speaking of BS arguments.  😉

[Death1942]

On 8/23/2019 at 6:58 AM, Evil Bob said:

No joke.  Over simplification is the worst.  “If you don’t support x-policy then the terrorists win,” phrase comes to mind.

We’ve had some great threads on optimal circumstances for both skeleton set-ups and unit sizes.  Or even using other battleline for whatever reasons.  Your 60 blob zombies as a center a part of an army for instances.  My favorite is the VLoZD trolling that says battleline is pointless and monsters are the only way to go.

The video reminded me of my math and logic course teacher who liked to say, “there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”  Then proceeded for several weeks teaching statistics.  I’ve been running large skeletal spearmen blobs in AoS and have never gotten all 40 of them into combat at the same time.  A buddy who does sword and board (only owns 40 of them and never plans on buying another so he doesn’t burn out on painting) hasn’t made full contact either.  Either a number are down waiting on revival or the more likely cause is battlefield position.

The entire video is based on a logic fallacy.  Ignoring the 16.6% hit chance difference to potentially having 1/3 more dice to roll.

AOS Coach did a video on Legions and they brought up this topic.  The consensus was the swords are probably slightly better (although either choice is fine) mainly because that extra +1 to hit will make a big difference against all of the -1 to hit that is floating around.

As for the original question, you should try and not mix weapons but explaining what a unit is armed with clearly to an opponent should be more than enough (I certainly wouldn't care).  I will also say that it is surprisingly easy to replace those arms as they are very fragile, I broke a bunch of arms off when I dropped some while spraying on the undercoat and it was easy enough to glue back on the arms.  You could easily cut off the sword (or spear) arms at the shoulder joint and just glue on the other weapon.