Kroxigor

Kroxigor Cohorts are meant to dish out damage.  They are not as tough as Saurus Warriors, or have as many wounds per unit, but their potential to deal wound is significantly higher, especially against lightly armored enemy units with 10 or more models.

Their bite attacks deal mortal wounds, which is great because they ignore armor.  In Starborne, the bites tend not to add much damage, but in Coalesced, with +1 to bite rolls (or +2 to bite rolls near the Realmshaper Engine), they can have a significant impact.

Kroxigor synergize very well with the spell Hoarfrost from the Lore of Primal Frost.  This spell can give them a significant boost to their damage, and so is excellent to pair with them.

Kroxigor Cohorts have limited combat synergies in Starborne, but they have some significant mobility options.  They are a legal target for the Starborne Skink spell Speed of Huanchi, which can affect non-monster SKINKS and KROXIGOR, which can let them move 10" between the bonus hero phase move and the movement phase move.  If Kroxigor are teleported to 9" from an enemy unit, and then targeted with this spell, they can make an immediate move in the hero phase without any chance for an enemy redeploy.  This lets them advance 5", and although the teleport prohibits a move in the movement phase, they now only need to make a 4" charge.  Kroxigor are also more likely to be around skinks that can issue them commands in Starborne.

In Coalesced, the Kroxigor Cohorts are stronger and tougher.  Coalesced Kroxigor benefit from Scaly Skin (-1 to enemy damage) and stronger bites, as well as +1 to wound rolls when charging in Koatl's Claw.  And Coalesced armies have several synergies with KROXIGOR units as well, such as the Skink spell Heavenly Frenzy and the Saurus command trait Vengeful Defender, both of which help them with their limited speed.  Sadly, Kroxigor are not legal targets for the Slann spell Empowered Celestite, to increase their rend, so they have to depend on Hoarfrost for that.

 A reinforced Kroxigor Cohort of 6 Kroxigor is a true hammer, and a significant threat.  They are known to wipe out large enemy hordes and can pack a punch against armor as well.

Against smaller threats, 6 Kroxigor can deal out so much damage as to be overkill, so if that is your intended target, multiple small units (MSU) of 3 Kroxigor may be more efficient.  These small units can spread out in different directions and cause problems for chaff, support heroes and other units that are top-tier threats.  

Units of 9 are possible in Koatl's Claw, where KROXIGOR are battleline.  These large units aren't used often, but when they are, they are a big threat with 36 wounds.  Although they are subject to the more strict coherency rules with 7+ models, their long weapon reach allows them to attack from the second row of the unit; but they do fall out of bite range. 

Kroxigor Cohorts are armed with Drakebite Mauls, but you may upgrade the weapon of one in three Kroxigor to a Moonstone Hammer.  With an improved To Hit and Damage characteristic on the Moonstone Hammer, and no downside, you should always bring as many Moonstone Hammers as you are allowed.

Bringing Moonstone Hammers does split the Weapon Profile into two, which means Hoarfrost will no longer be able to affect all of the attacks, but even so, a unit of Kroxigor with Moonstone Hammers nearly always outperforms a unit of Kroxigor without (the one exception being when the enemy has a 2+ save and the Kroxigor gain a -3 rend from Hoarfrost).  Even though the Hammers split the weapon profile on Hoarfrost, it is still better to supply the Kroxigor with these excellent weapons.

Against enemy units with 10 or more models, a Kroxigor Cohort's Sweeping Blows ability kicks in.  With either weapon, unmodified Hit rolls of 6 score two hits, doubling those attack's damage potential.  With as many attacks as Kroxigor have, that can amount to significant additional damage.

Kroxigor don't have a unit champion and are not elite.  That means the unit is unable to issue commands to itself.  They are not alone in this limitation: it is shared by Terrawings, Spawns of Chotec, Bastiladons and Stegadons.  But it is unusual for a unit of foot troops.

The Skink Guidance ability softens this limitation by allowing champions in units with the SKINK keyword to issue commands to the Kroxigor while the Kroxigor are wholly within 12" of the skinks.  Our SKINK units that have unit champions include Skinks, Hunters of Huanchi, Raptadon Chargers and Hunters, Ripperdactyl Riders and Terradon Riders.  Of course, HEROES and TOTEMS can still issue Kroxigor commands as usual.

The spell Hoarfrost from the Lore of Primal Frost deserves special attention in relation to Kroxigor Cohorts.  Kroxigor Cohorts are deadly units, despite hitting on a 4+ with their most abundant weapon, the Drakebite Maul, and having just -1 rend.  This means that there's lots of room for improvement from Hoarfrost, no matter what is rolled.  But which weapon profile should Hoarfrost be applied to?  And which characteristic is best to modify?  It turns out the answer is pretty straightforward and consistent, with only a few considerations.

First, apply Hoarfrost's affect to the Drakebite Mauls.  There are more attacks from them than the Moonstone Hammers, and there's a bigger improvement to the To Hit characteristic, so mathematically, it's always the better choice.

For the characteristic to modify, that depends on what value is rolled for Hoarfrost, and the armor save of the enemy unit.  If the value you rolled is a 1 or a 2, always modify To Hit.  If the value you rolled is a 3, you'll still want to modify To Hit against a 5+ or higher (worse) save, but choose Rend if the enemy save is 4+ or lower (better).

However, it should be noted that if you stack on other buffs to To Hit or Rend, the pattern may change a bit.  For example, let's say you have a unit of Kroxigor that has no To Wound modifier (it is either not Koatl's Claw or has not charged), and you plan to attack a unit of 20 models with Hoarfrost and All-out Attack.  You make your roll for Hoarfrost and get a 1.  You can apply Hoarfrost to To Hit or To Wound (applying it to Rend would not change their -1 Rend).  Because the unit will have +1 to Hit from All-out Attack, and a natural 1 is always a miss, your choice will look like this:

• Apply Hoarfrost to To Hit to hit on 2+ and wound on 3+.
• Apply Hoarfrost to To Wound to hit on 3+ and wound on 2+.

For most units, these two options are mathematically the same, but because Kroxigor Cohorts score 2 hits on 6 against units of 10 or more, you will probably end up rolling more Wound rolls then Hit rolls.  So in this scenario, it's actually better to apply Hoarfrost to the To Wound characteristic.  Though it only averages slightly less than 1 additional wound against low armor.