My favourite Skirmisher units & Top Tips for making the most of them!

I've played a lot with Skirmishers recently, and I wanted to talk about what makes them so good - but also give some of my top tips on how to make the most of these mobile units in your Old World games!
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[@Ironside120]

I play Daemons so wanted to give my opinion on the skirmishers that we have available, no real insight on skirmishers as a whole as you summed it up nicely but might make for a nice read through if you've got nothing better to do, thanks for the video! Daemons of Chaos have 7 Skirmisher units these are: Furies, Nurglings, Plague Drones, Seekers, Flamers, Brimstone Horrors and Screamers. Nurglings and Horrors are tarpits (expensive chaff). Seekers, Screamers and Furies are melee threats. Flamers are shooting skirmishers. Lastly Plague Drones weirdly are all three at once although they lean more towards melee. Daemon skirmishers all have magic attacks, fear, 5++ save (against non-magic attacks), immune to psychology and unbreakable (this does mean they can never flee). I think daemons can use these units to create a unique playstyle as they have skirmishers for every occasion. The best out of these are Furies for melee, Nurglings for chaff/tarpit and Flamers for shooting. An honourable mention to Plague Drones for their versatility. 1) Furies: Furies are cheap (14P/model with a mark). They have Fly (8), Furious Assault, Swiftstride, Vanguard and being infantry get -1 to hit base. With MoK they get +1S on the charge with base 1 attack at WS3 S4 AP -1. You can take them in small units of 5 minimum but i can see them work as big death star units as well. You can add a Herald to them and not lose any movement by giving the herald the Winged Horror mutation (which any herald can take) Adding a Herald is a big force multiplier not just for their own attacks but you can now add a banner to the unit. Khorne could make the unit re-roll charges, Slaanesh -d3 to WS and I or potentially denying (fire &) flee reactions. Nurgle could give re-roll wound rolls of 1 and Tzeentch could give MR (-3) or 3d6 S2 hits in combat. These are all great effects to stack on a deathstar unit This opens up taking other marks as well because the other heralds can be wizards, more imortantly each of them have access to Daemonology and Dark Magic which, imo, are the best lores for a deathstar unit of Furies. Mainly because Daemonic Vessel for +1S, A and AP or Word of Pain and Battle Lust and there always is the Tzeentch signature spell Gift of Mutations for a -d3 to S, WS or T and on a 12+ two of those. Nurgle gives Furies a native re-roll 6s to hit against them, Slaanesh gives +1 to max charge range and charge and persuit rolls. Tzeentch doesn't add anything to the Furies themselves but the Herald is a +2 caster base and can get to +4 while the other two are +2 max. The one negative for this route does meant it becomes an expensive unit (mostly due to the character) but i'd say it's akin to your Gutter Runner deathstar. 2) Nurglings: Nurglings are M4 and 45 points and that's pretty much their only negatives, sure they don't get the -1 to hit because they are Swarms but they don't need it. T3 with 7W, a 6+ regen save and enemies re-rolling 6s to hit natively is quite the chore to get through. D3+1 Poisoned attacks (albeit at WS2) does mean they can get some wounds in against anything. With a Travel Mythical Pathways or Arcane Urgency to make up for their poor movement these guys can throw a real wrench in your opponent's battle plans as in numbers they are hard to deal with and can buy you time to set up the rest of your army. 3) Flamers: 40 points/model isn't cheap but you get a lot of bang for your buck here, the biggest weakness is that you can't flee due to being unbreakable but your stand and shoot has the potential to end a combat before it even began. At BS4 base (5 for the Champion) with Move Through Cover, Quick Shot and Move & Shoot these guys can go the distance and bring the pain at the same time with d3 shots at S4 AP -1 (18" range). In addition, the Champion can be upgraded a second time making it a wizard which can be upgraded to level 3 (has native +1 to cast). This adds extra movement, firepower or (de)buffs, however you can't cast missiles or vortexes if you marched. 4) Plague Drones: At a whopping 63 points/model base the guys aren't cheap to say the least but they come with so much stuff you're happy to pay for a unit or two. Plague Drones have a 6+ regen save and enemies re-rolling 6s to hit and have an impressive statline of WS & BS 3, S4 T5 and 3W a piece. Each has a total of four attacks all of them with Poisoned Attacks. They also are quite fast with Fly (9) and Swiftstride they also come stock with a ranged attack at 12" S+1 AP -1 with move & shoot nd multiple wounds (d3). The Rit Flies have Armour Bane (2) on their attacks and the rider's attacks are at S4 AP -1 and negates regen saves. 5) Brimstone Horrors: They aren't bad M5, 6W and 4 attacks each is nice but are only 7 points/model cheaper than Nurglings, which makes me feel they are simply outclassed by them but not the worst to fill out your Tzeentch core imo. 6) Seekers are fast cavalry with M9 (can pivot 90° at the end of their movement) but are quite fragile with T3 and 1W, i think they are great to hunt small units and other skirmishers but not having Fly hampers them to get to the backline and die to easily for a 21 point model. 7) Screamers: Screamers are the only "stinker" of our Skirmisher collection. 44 Points/model for is very expensive they only have 2 attacks each at WS3 S4 AP -1, their niche is they deal d3 wounds against monsters and behemoths but you've got bigger and better stuff to deal with those. They also have a special damage dealing rule but to be of any impact you would need to take larger units which you wouldn' t want to. They aren't that though either at T4 2W each. Hope this was interesting to read.

[@Dawiafterdark]

Yeah buddy !

[@robnixon8832]

Can’t wait to hear about badland brigands with blunderbusses. Or triple b for short.

[@tiredgardener]

No mention of Ghouls? They are phenomenal Skirmishers. Toughness 4 and 2 attacks with poison.

[@simoneengelleitner947]

As a Skinkefficionado myself, i approve this video 👍

[@CloseOrder]

Hell yeah, poison cloud > all things

[@YouTubeuser6294]

You take the panic test, and flee 0" if you have already fled in that phase. It is a great video, I just hate that you are spilling the beans. The one thing you I think you missed is that skirmishers do not cause panic on non-skirmishers, which can be used to setup some charges.

[@CloseOrder]

That's absolutely true! Definitely something I should have mentioned Don't worry, they're complex enough that even knowing how they work people will still miss their power ahha

[@LawL_LawL]

I do believe you are supposed to take the Panic test anyways. "A unit can only ever make one flee move per phase of the game. Should a unit ever be required to make a second flee move during a phase in which it has already fled, it does not pivot (if required to do so) and will flee 0"." P133 "Limits of Endurance" There is nothing to stipulate that you would auto-pass a Panic test, like the No Need For Hysterics section specifies, it merely prevents you from actually following through with a second Flee move if you would otherwise normally be required to make one. So in theory you could still "break" a unit that has already conducted a Flee move via Evasive by forcing a Panic check through casualties or some other interaction in the shooting phase, but they wouldn't actually go anywhere. They would test for Panic as usual, and if they fail they would be routed but would also remain standing in place due to not being able to execute the second Flee move.

[@CloseOrder]

Yeah that follows my logic

[@bruunkristian]

Thanks for a great video! I don’t understand how the models at the back can have line of sight in the first formation shoved. Why do models in front not block them if they are base to base?

[@samgibbs8194]

Technically its not a 360 Los. Instead every arc is front arc. This throws up some odd interactions as for example, all chargers in the same arc move simultaneously. So if charged from opposing directions which way do skirmishes rank up?

[@tizianomerello6530]

In tournaments people play as your model in the same unit got hard cover if they got LoS blocked from models of the same unit?

[@CloseOrder]

They do (or they should!) the checkerboard formation prevents you from having this issue

[@tizianomerello6530]

@@CloseOrder that’s true for sure, but I think the rules should change , that make the game clunky imo!:)

[@olavc.oevele1902]

So the bret Squires remain shit?

[@LawL_LawL]

Squires are shit not because the unit is objectively terrible, they're really not when you put them next to Empire Archers and realize they're basically carbon copies (basic human stats); except for the fact that Archers have Warbows and Squires have Longbows, so if anything Squires are actually slightly better. They're still bad though, because they exist in Special rather than Core, and it will always be better to fill out such utility/harassment/supporting aspects of a list in your Core tax rather than elsewhere. Now factor in the problem of them existing in an army where you get a cheaper option (5ppm vs 7ppm) in Peasant Bowmen in Core no less and you're really left with no reason to ever take Squires. If Squires were Core, or Peasant Bowmen didn't exist or were otherwise heavily restricted in a specific Bretonnian list (say an all-knights list where Squires and Peasant Bowmen trade places, the former going into Core the latter into Special), they would be much more attractive options in lists.

[@CloseOrder]

If you take them in Core they're solidly ok!

[@olavc.oevele1902]

@@LawL_LawL Thanks for your thoughts.

[@olavc.oevele1902]

@@CloseOrder Buildings Errantry Crusader lists if always cant avoid skipping those foot guys alltogether...

[@LawL_LawL]

@@CloseOrder I actually forgot Errantry Crusade existed, so in Core I guess that almost works. But then the problem becomes your 33% core requirement. I feel like that's a bit of a deal-breaker.

[@necalovescake]

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