New To The Forum - Great Cave Squigs, Does anybody use them . and how?

Hello everybody

This is my first post here. So, ahem, here I go:

I have been playing O&G for while, but only in a friendly environment, and now I have, for the first time, enlisted in an escalation tournament.

Thusly, I would like some advice from some of you gnarly ol' folks in here.

My questions:

Night Goblin Characters on Great Cave Squigs - do you use them?

Are they worth their points?

If you use them, how and what for?

I have toyed with the idea of putting them in a unit of Squig Hoppers, but the SH are generally so bad, that even a Great Cave Squig doesnt seem to help - in my opinion. Am I wrong?

So my own thought is to let the characters go alone on the big Squig, cheap on equipment (spear and possibly an enchanted shield or the like), out on a flank, and eat War Machines and Chaff.

My opponents? Brettonia first. Then Wood Elves, Ogres, Tomb Kings, Empire, Skaven and another bunch of Orcs and Goblins.

Would a NG on a Great Cave Squig be more appropriate against some of these than others?

We start with 1500 points and go up to 2700.

Thanks guys, great to be here

Welcome to Da Warpath!

Haven't used it as I don't have the model, but theoretically it seems pretty good! I'd either run mine on his own or stick him in a small unit of squighoppers, maybe just 5 strong, and use them to clear out chaff and flank and do other such odd jobs. What's bad about 10 WS4 Str5 attacks? Sure, many things will strike before them but you shouldn't take all that much damage. Not like you're gonna try to hit a horde of Halberdiers or Graveguard in the front with them anyway. ^^ Also some wuzzy gobbo attacks, yay! I'd be tempted to add a magic weapon onto the guy to give him a bit of utility against Ethereal units, maybe the Sword of Might to bring his Str up to the squig's level. As you say, an enchanted shield is a good buy. and maybe the Dragonbane gem

Theo

Welcome to the forums! I have used it once and I was pretty happy with it. Very useful carácter for certain roles. He can hunt chaff nicely and the best thing is that due to its random movement, if you charge someone, that unit can’t react to the charge, so no fleeing, stand and shoot etc. Also he pursues the enemies moving 3D6 instead of 2D6!!! Neat! Put him a good armour save using dragonhelm, so he can hunt the flaming stuff (against daemon’s flamers is really good ) and a magic weapon if someone brings ethereal.

A Warboss on a squig is only 15p more expensive than a hero on a squig (the mount is cheaper for the Lord, for some reason) and he's real choppy! I think going cheap with him is the best way to do it aswell, so how about spear, shield, dragonhelm and luckstone eh?

Hmm, sounds ok.

Is it really viable to stick him with some Hoppers? (I have about 10 of them, that I have never used)

I think he is better alone. Use squig hopper points for something else, maybe some manglers .

Yeah, I don't really like Squig Hoppers all that much either, better and cheaper on his own.

Also, did you know? He may even reroll his pursue and flee moves thanks to the Supreme Bouncer rule

I think this is probably because the Great Cave Squig effectively gives the Hero an extra wound. Its odd how this isn't also the case with the Hero vs Lord on Gigantic Spider point costs.

15pts for the +1 WS, I, A and Ld is pretty damn good now you mention it, I might try making my Squig Boss into a Warboss. I really like using him and with a entourage of 5 Hoppers.

Yeah, I don't think that +1w has anything to do with it being cheaper for the Lord since the spider is more expensive. Just an oversight probably.

15p is indeed a minor upgrade for a major increase in choppyness! The jump from WS4 to WS5 is actually huge, since most decent infantry is WS4 and Elites are WS5.

I think I may have just added a Squig Boss to my list of units to try. Curse it all why do we have so many fun-looking options!

The fun bit is what got me started on OnG, and on Warhmmer actually, as OnG was my first army. And I have never been able to let them go, always returning from my Skaven/Lizardmen/Ogre/Chaos Dwarfs excursions.

And the Great CaveSquig and its rider is realy nice.

I would really like to take him, but is he best against elite armies, or better against horde-type opponents?

He's best when he can prey on easy enemies and kill off small trash units, but he's tough enough (and can be kitted almost defensively well) to stand up against the heavier elites.

I have been using a boss on a giant cave squig in the current escalation league I was playing and he has worked out pretty well. I equipped him with the enchanted shield and the sword of striking since we have a few vampire counts in the league and I needed a magic weapon of some sort. He has worked out pretty well in most of the games I have used him.

I put him in a unit of Squig Hoppers, mainly cuz I just wanted to use some Squig Hoppers - even though they are not the greatest unit around. The Hoppers worked well to protect him from impact hits and also from the auto-hits generated via Hex Wraiths moving through his unit. Sadly the hoppers have otherwised fared rather poorly, and have directly contributed to the boss running from combat a couple times. However, the only time I have lot the boss was due to them getting charged by a beast chariot (which did poorly on impact hits) and I simply rolled horrible for all the attacks from the unit (hero, goblins, squigs, great squig - all of them rolled very bad). I ended up fleeing and getting run down. But every other time he has worked out well.

I gave him the sword of striking so that he hits most etherials he fights on a 2+, and he has been very useful at hunting them down. He single-handedly beat the snot out of a unit of Hex Wraiths last week - after they moved through his hoppers and killed most of them. He has also been very useful as a late-game flanker in a few other games.

On the whole, unless using him to hunt etherials I would otherwise just give him a spear. But I am a fan of keeping stuff as cheap as you can. I think that in the future I may still keep using him with the squig hoppers, but bounce him out on his own when it comes time to charge.

Wow look at all the hate for the hoppers!

I personally love this unit for it's 360 threat range and init 3 isn't that bad. They are very effective as flankers and as the rear guard. I wouldn't be running a large group of them, 10 is perfect IMHO, but lets not forget they count as Calvary. This means they can be a pain for a lot of monsters out there as they will deny them thunder stomp and init 3 is decent against most monsters out there. Hell the Hydra is init 2 not saying that's a good match up but it can be a way to take a few wounds off to lower it's ridiculous breath weapon before it thrashes your boys. They work well against ogres and most monstrous infantry as long as you flank they will likely survive.

End Hoppa rant.

Now on to the Cave squig.

If you are going to use this guy I highly suggest taking the lord due to the cost difference being a mere 15 points. What makes him so effective for his points is the 360 threat range with the re-roll to bounce. No one knows where he will end up and yes that includes you! This makes it all the more entertaining when you are using this guy. Your opponent will be less bitter as this little bouncing ball of joy cleans up his cheap points as it's almost comical to watch him boing around landing an inch short here or hitting something so far away everyone thought it was safe.

Builds

I have a few builds I like myself. These are mostly based on him having a body guard of squigs to help him to survive small arms fire. At any point he can bounce away on his own out of the unit effectively allowing you to charge one target with the hoppers and another with the Lord. That is a nice little trick when you get close to a couple of war machines and your opponent assumes you can only assault one. SURPRISE random movement is not a declared charge MOFO east hot squig spit!

STANDARD BUILD

Enchanted shield
Light armor
Bashas's axe

So a 3+ with A-5 str-5 with AP

There are 45 points left on this guy which I normally don't use unless I have left over points. But sometimes you have those extra 5 points and you give him devastating charge, or the fire gem. A nice little move if you have the points is the potion of strength. Remember your opponent can't flee so drinking this at the start of your turn really doesn't change much. now he has 5 attacks at strength 8 with init 5. That can put a serious beat down on a lot of monsters and characters. imagine getting a flank on some chaos knights with that.

FUN BUILD

light armor
shield
Battle axe of the last waaaaagh!

The only thing I cringe at here is I wish he was WS-6 because when he becomes ws-2 it gets kinda depressing. However he is fun to use. Put him against monsters, chariots, wizards, knights, well anything you need to blow up that is not WS-5 or greater. The pure comedic factor alone of a 10 attack str 10 ws-2 night goblin running amok is just gold.

CHEAP BUILD

Light armor
enchanted shield
inset cheap magical weapon here.

This guy is a pure chaff killer and ethereal hunter. He'll never over impress you but you will never mourn his loss. However the time he save you from those hex wraiths will have you more than happy to include him in your army.

They are not as bad as people make them out to be, but they also have some ugly disadvantages. You just have to be aware of what they can and cannot do decently and use them appropriately (as with most stuff). How well they do also depends a lot upon the opposing faction you are playing. They get a lot more mileage against certain factions.