About Squig Herds, Placing Squigs/Herders in the unit

[Reiks]

Hello, I'm wondering how much freedom I have when it comes to placing the Squigs and Herders in the unit. I checked the books and FAQ but didn't find an answer. Basically I want to know if I can place then as I like in the unit, and if I can move them around in the unit during the game?

Example: say I field a 30/30 Herd in horde formation vs High Elves. They end up facing a big unit of Swordmasters, and I'm worried the Squigs will get cut to shreds before they have time to eat the crunchy elves. Being a sneaky git, I push 10 herders to the front rank before I engage the elves, thus forcing them to attack the meat shield instead of the damage dealers. Let's say they inflict 20 wounds. The front rank is killed, as are 10 gobbos from the back as the green book says I remove models of "the appropriate type". Now it's my turn, and the Squigs (which were conveniently placed in ranks 2-4) simply step over the gobbo-flavored paste and demolish the elves with 40 S5 attacks.

?

edit: I gather from other threads about Herds that "sandwiching" squigs is legal, so I guess my question is simply if I can shuffle the minis in the Herd during the game, and how that works if I can

This post has been edited by Reiks on Jul 15 2012, 09:55 PM

[Squigkikka]

Nope, by putting the herders in the front rank you'll be forced to keep the frontrank filled and pick from the back ranks (not only the last one) until every herder is dead.

This will basically result in your entire unit of squigs blowing up since all handlers are dead, the squigs will not take the place of the herders that die (unless you are running out of herders).

[Morkmillian]

just had a look at the O&G book and it doesnt specify where they are placed.
it even says if an enemy is in contact with both a squig and a herder he can choose who to attack,
which implys both can be on the front rank.

but fluff wise the goblins are making noise behind the squigs to herd them so it would seem odd the gobbos wouldnt get eaten being in front of the squigs .

the other thing is as soon as there are no more herders the unit disperses.
so in your high elf example if it is legal id leave at least 1 herder at the back


*edit*
id be interested to know how a krox can move within a skink unit if it can?
are there any other mixed race units out there?

This post has been edited by Morkmillian on Jul 16 2012, 12:25 AM

[Reiks]

Right, casualties are taken from the back... ok, so I remove gobbos until all of them are dead at which point the unit goes nuclear. Still, that gives me 2 ranks of untouchable Squigs in a horde which is nice. I'd still like to know when (and how) I'm allowed to shuffle the guys in the unit during the game though. Suppose I'm facing a character, I could make sure he faces a mob of angry squigs instead of gobbo meat shield. There are quite a few neat tricks here when you think about it.

[Squigkikka]

No, there really isn't. If you place the frontrank full of goblins, then you'll only have squig attacks once you're down to your very last few goblins which is incredibly risky since, if the kill off all the goblins before I3, your squigs wont get to strike at all and instead explodes.

You can only move models around in a unit as part of a reform (characters are the exception and may be moved during a normal move/march). This doesn't work in combat however, because you're not allowed to bring a model out of combat. So if a character is in base contact fighting goblins, then you're not allowed to move the goblins out of the way.

Really, the best option is just to have squigs in the frontrank. That way you'll get a ton of attacks (2A S5 squigs are really choppy). If you are worried about them dying, use more squigs in the unit instead. The benefits of having them only in second rank are very meh.

[Mrmox42]

Many quite devious (and some even unsporting) ways of placing your Squigs and Herders have come up - even units with no Squigs at all!

I go Old School And Fluffy and place the Squigs in front, and the Herders in the back. I usually have 29 Squigs (because I have 29 Squig models) and 11 Herders.
Some times I make two units, one that is 14 Squigs + 11 Herders, and the other 15 Squigs + 10 Herders.
Both ways of fielding them are good.

Many hot discussions have come up over time about this issue.

[Giblit]

Using goblins in the front rank is only really useful in 2 situations

1) When the enemy will strike before you and you know you will lose fewer goblins than you have but you will only be there for a single round of combat. IE 5 squigs 9 goblins in a unit vs 4 swordmasters

2) horde formation where you have ~20 squigs and ~80 goblins. your squigs get supporting attacks and you hope you deal more damage than the enemy. Even if you lose you are still stubborn and hope you pass that test

personally I like option one. I use a unit of 5 squigs and 10 goblins and depending on if my squigs will strike first/at same time I deploy them in the front rank or if the enemy will strike first they go into the 2nd rank when i deploy. Even if they kill all the gobs before I can strike the unit explodes. If they don't kill all the gobs I usually get to attack with about 7 squig attacks and then I explode.

I had a game where they killed 9 gobs but after my attacks/explode I caused them to take a panic test from the explode. They didn't flee from it but still

[barbabyan]

I have a big herd and I want to use it but I hate that an 8 point squig is so easy to kill before it would even get to strike. After giving it some thought i will run my unit in horde formation with 20 squigs and 40 handlers. The squigs will take up the 2nd and 3rd ranks with handlers being in front and in back. This way the enemy can only kill ngs leaving 20 str 5 attacks guaranteed . I think this formation takes advantage of ngs cheapness and squig killiness.

This post has been edited by barbabyan on Jul 20 2012, 12:36 PM

[Giblit]

Depending on the armies and attitudes of your typical opponents the formation you are talking about does have a weakness...shooting

No matter the % of squigs vs NG, the squigs are hit 2/3 of the time. A couple of effective rounds of shooting can reduce your squig count to less than effective. Either keep this in mind during deployment, add in a few more to absorb casualties while keeping the 20 for max effectiveness, or have enough other juicy targets in your army.