Topic: Skirmishers

[KTG17]

So something doesnt make sense to me and its some of the animal units like Chaos Hounds or Dire Wolves that move around in ranks. Wouldnt it make more sense if they ran around as skirmishers then grouped up when in combat?

[brr-icy]

skirmishers have a bunch of advantages, which would make the dogs and stuff cost more points to keep them balanced. then they wouldn't be the cannon fodder they are useful for. in real life, i would agree though

[Warlord]

I think their base size reflects it though. Dogs aren’t as big as warhorses in real life, yet they occupy the same base size game-wise...

[Michael W]

I think they were "Skirmishers" back in 5th Edition; it was 6th that introduced "Fast Cavalry" and started grouping them under that category of special units instead.  I suspect that it had to do with game balance - Skirmish was a pretty potent rule for some types of troops, and cavalry could have put it to even stronger use.

That said, logically...yeah, it would make sense for such units to have the Skirmish rule.

[Warlord]

Kislev horse archers, and goblin wolf riders I recall could skirmish in 5th ed.

[azrael88]

I have a question regarding skirmishing unit, so let myself use this topic.

Skaven Jezzails - do they benefit from -1 to hit as other skirmishers do? If yes, could you provide any reference?
I heard skirmishing unit must be US1 models to gain this bonus.

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

From your reference to US, I guess you are playing an earlier edition than 8th. Unit strength referred to the strength of the complete unit: so, 6 archers would have a unit strength of 6x1. It is just that lone characters on foot with US1 move like skirmishers. In any case, Jezzails are not skirmishers.