Skink Cohort

Skink Cohort is a Lizardmen melee infantry unit in Total War: Warhammer II. The diligent workforce of the Lizardmen Empire, good for throwing into melee as fodder.

Description
Skittish and quick, Skinks stand out from the rest of the sluggish Lizardmen. They are the mass workforce designed by the Old Ones to perform many different roles, and without them, Lizardmen society would quickly collapse. Skinks take up the weapons during their many patrols as well as to join the fighting during times of war. As troops, they range between reckless audacity and sudden panic. Their skittish nature makes them much more prone to routing than the stoic Saurus. Most commonly, the Skinks advance before the bulk of the main army, harassing the foe's advance with hails of darts. When massed together in a fighting cohort, they can bulk out a Lizardmen battleline. The volleys of javelins and darts that the Skinks can unleash are astoundingly dangerous, for they have learned to coat their weapons with lethal toxins distilled from venomous amphibians, insects and serpents that thrive in the steamy jungle and profuse swamps of Lustria.

Strategy
The Skink Cohort may seem like just another cannon fodder unit at first, but these little lizards can be highly useful when properly employed on the battlefield. Skinks have a number of advantages that make them highly useful to put on the flanks of your main battle line.

Skinks are fast. With a speed of 46 they're the fastest cheap infantry units in the game, though they are outpaced by Skaven Death Runners and Vampire Counts Cairn Wraiths (Though you really shouldn't be fighting these with Skinks anyway). Their speed makes Skinks adept at flanking or attacking unprotected units, as well as chasing down fleeing troops. Despite being cheap, Skinks actually have fairly decent combat stats and come standard with shields, which is also better than most basic infantry. If fighting in swamplands, Skinks are your best friend as they are Aquatic. As Skinks are just as numerous as Vampire Coast undead and have much better stats, they can also challenge the pirate undead on their own turf.

Cohorts are best used on the flanks of your main line. Have them engage units with armour-piercing before they can close with your Saurus and do real damage, or push them around the enemy flanks to encircle them. Cohorts are also useful in reserve, ready to fill any holes that might develop in your own line or exploit those in your opponent's. As Lizardmen mount their siege engines on powerful dinosaurs, not as much attention must be paid to keeping them secure, however a Cohort protecting them from anti-large troops is rarely a bad idea.