"you have to take ghouls"

[Count Lasombra]

My last few games(1600) I've used a unit of 15 HW skellies + FC as a bunker/reserve,and it has worked well in that capacity.Fast reform can be very helpful and allowed me gain good position last time.
I ran it behind 2 7-wide units of 21 ghouls.The ghouls have been doing the majority of the killing.In battle of attrition with 2 or less ranks ghouls dish out considerably more attacks and can suddenly overwhelm units composed of single attack models.
I feel good about attacking people with ghouls,skellies....eh..not so much.I try to look at them as second string grave guard.
As to the title of this thread,you don't have to take ghouls,but it's damn good idea.Running nothing but ghouls is a little OTT,but I beleive that not bringing at least one unit of ghouls is an outright mistake.skellies are good support and bring a much needed banner to the fight w/o giving up tons of wounds like zombies would.Delaying enemy reinforcements w/ summoned zombies has won me games.I have yet to field them in units.

 

[Burnanation]

Lord Fear it didn't matter how many I killed. There were 50ish frenzied rats when it started. Run the numbers and you'll still have a ton of rats left over to stand their ground. The were steadfast with LD 10. The unit needed to hold them there until other units could move in for back up. At no point was it a question of "can we win this combat," ghouls or not. It was simply "can we hold out?"

So let us run the numbers. Remember wither had been casted on the unit so we'll look at it with that in mind.

Ghouls:
24 attacks coming in 12 hits, 6 dead

30 ghouls loosing 6 a round for the next 3 turns means a net loss of 36 ghouls... but we only started with 30...:grave:

Skellies
24 attacks coming in, 16 hits, 10.67 dead, becomes 11 dead. 3.67 make saves save 4 for armor. So roll for 7 ward saves, lets say you only make one. 6 dead... Oh no's they'd all be dead too! :slapface:

Vampire is already killing 2 or 3. so we're down in CC by 3 or 4 wounds, which either ghouls or skellies can make. By math hammer they were going to fair the same out come for that situation. But the difference is that math hammer is hypothetical.

Again, admittedly it was lucky, the parry save saved my bacon. But ghouls would not have faired better, and there isn't a chance for lady luck to toss her dice.

I stick by having some sort of chance for a save rather than nothing at all.

 

[Ghurt]

The Ghouls would have killed more than double the amount of rats that the skelletons did and would thus not crumble as much or maybe even win the fight. A big difference.

 

[TobinRoss89]

I really feel that most of us could agree that Ghouls,Zombies,and Skeletons all have their purposes on the table top and that they are waaaaaay cooler than any other army's core infantry

 

[Bravo_10]

Can I just say that I love the Lichebone Pennant? I'm one of the biggest supporters of Ghouls simply because of their attacking power, but I love to run a Skeleton bunker with the Lichebone for my casters. If I give somebody the Wristbands of Black Gold, then my entire unit gains a 6+ Ward against Magic, and whoever has the Wristbands gets a nigh-impenetrable 2+ Ward! What do you have to say about that, Mr. Fate of Bjuna? :konrad:

And you can't give the Lichebone Pennant to Ghouls. If you could, then I would never run Skeletons. Ever. But as of now, I think that Skellies have a permanent place in my lists as a bunker.

 

[Slothmasta]

Can I just say that I love the Lichebone Pennant? I'm one of the biggest supporters of Ghouls simply because of their attacking power, but I love to run a Skeleton bunker with the Lichebone for my casters. If I give somebody the Wristbands of Black Gold, then my entire unit gains a 6+ Ward against Magic, and whoever has the Wristbands gets a nigh-impenetrable 2+ Ward! What do you have to say about that, Mr. Fate of Bjuna? :konrad:

And you can't give the Lichebone Pennant to Ghouls. If you could, then I would never run Skeletons. Ever. But as of now, I think that Skellies have a permanent place in my lists as a bunker.

That is exactly how I run my list. Completely Ghouls except for a small 10-20 skeleton bunker with Lichebone Pennant, Wristbands of Black Gold and Caster Lord.

 

[Balleflass]

i dont know if anybody have said it or not but ghouls are excelent against HE and DE since theyr bolt throwers got S4 if they shoot 6 shots each which got armour piercing so they will deny the AS on skellies but they will wound on a 4+ on ghouls and 3+ on skellies where none got AS. im only ghouls in fighting troops and skellies in bunkers, but i may change my lord bunker for ghouls if i cant find a good defence banner for 25 points.

 

[Mikael.K]

I dont have time to go through the entire topic, but there is one thing to consider. When one puts his list up on this forum and asks "what should I do? Is this good?", then I will answer what I think he/she should do. I like ghouls and so I would say something like "I´d go with ghouls instead of skellies". Then it´s up to the author of the topic himself to decide what advice to use and what do discard. Very simple in all honesty.

 

[Aren]

A good, honest to goodness mix of the two would work a unit or two of skellies and one or two of ghouls, then if they don't expect the ghouls (tough chance) you can kill them withskellies and same vice versa, sorry if this has been posted before, didn't have time to go through the whooooooooooooooooooole thread

 

[Swissdictator]

Well another, and very valid, part of list designing is feel.

Some people love a more Strigoi/ghoulish feel, and will prefer them naturally. This, for them, automatically makes ghouls quite a bit better as they'd enjoy fielding them more... and adapt to use them.

Same can be said about Skeletons.

If people like one more than the other to a significant degree, than it is an important factor and completely valid. Be it due to theme, style, look, figures, ability to use them rules wise, or just because they like the way the word sounds... if it increases their enjoyment that's what matters.

 

[Aren]

you hit the nail on the head there Swissdictator, back to the thread... you should concentrate a bit more on the fluff, anything works as long as you know how to use it and you like it