8th Ed. whats the best all round stegadon?

hi peeps, so as the title says: whats the best all round stegadon?

in short im a total newcomer to warhammer fantasy who started collecting lizardmen for the building & painting side of the hobby; but now i want to start to actually play fantasy and so before i build anymore models i would like a basic idea of what to equipt each unit.
so shall i give my only stegadon the blow pipes, bow or the EOTGs?
if it helps my army currently consists of :
1 5x4 and 1 6x4 unit of saurus
3 units of 12 skinks 2/3with blowpipes
2 units of 8 coldone cavalry
1 unit of 10 TG
this will eventually be lead by a slann(as i decided with advice from another forum).
right now i'm gonna give the steg the bow to play it on the safe side but i thought i'll run it buy you guys before glueing just incase this turns out to be a mistake.

 

I'd make it the ancient with the giant blowpipes, for a slight points increase over the regular steg you end up with a much better unit overall. EOTG aren't worth it in 8th.

 

Look at n810 topic on magnatising the steggie and you can have all the options
Redeyefrog

 

Overall they all have theyre uses but some are better than others.
Arranged by cost/effectivness ratio"
1. Ancient steg – great beast he higher streinght makes the impacts and thunderstomp even better and the giant blowpipes are brutal and can be quite helpful on a stand and shoot.
2. Regular (baby) steg – the cheapest version, usefull for when you simply can't affort an ancient.
3. Skin chief steg – the only way to get the war-spear on the beast, its a monster with or without it but the added cost of a character drags it down, it's an option for getting a BSB to work within 18" but is genereally a bad one.
3. Engine of the gods – yes a tie with the chief rather than being plain worse, add some deffence gear to the priest and you can get great use out of burning alignment for a few turns (usually), and the 5+ ward against shooting combines well with a slaan to make things even more resilient.

 

Big Fan of the Chief on Ancient Stegadon with the War Spear (2d6+1 S6 Impact hits what is not to love)

Of course he is a 300+ point giant missile/cannon/vortex magnet.

 

Best Stegadon is a Live one... No use keeping a dead one... Any of them are very good as long as you make its points worth while and keep it alive with some protection via magic or scenery or watching range on cannons and the like. Ancient Stegadons are amazing with the blow guns, the giant bow is a cheaper way of getting the big Barniesaurus onto the field, the Engine of the Gods, while a little less brilliant, can still be effective with the ward save and using burning alignment in the middle of a large combat. All of them are good if you use them right

 

wow thanks for all the advice people
so i judging by the comments i think i'll have to build the ancient steg with the blowpipes - which i quite like because the blow pipes look pretty cool

what are the blow pipes designed to take out, eg light infantry, big monsters, ect?
thanks again to everyone for the replies

 

well each blowpipe fires 2D6 darts, and any sixes to hit auto wound due to poison, so they can in theory be used on anything but i'd probably stick to big blocks of medium infantry, orcs, goblins or any elves seeing as they are after all only T3 with not great saves.

 

Actually the pipes, and poisons in general, are great for high T low armor targets, giants and ogres are prime examples, altho anything with a low save would suffer greatly from such a barrage.

 

The general opinion I'm seeing seems to speak towards the ancient steg being best. But the only diff I see if the higher strength and for that you lose out on an attack.
Plus you guys mention thunderstomp. I think I have the 8th book, and I don't see any special ability? Removed from 7th?

I liked the sound of the giant bow cause it gave me something with range finally
Skinks - short
Sallys - short

But I guess if you don't wound that first shot you did nothing

 

Answered my own question, thunderstomp is because they are monsterous calvary

 

Well no. Its because they are ridden monsters with multiple riders. Monstrous cavalry only gets regular stomp (1 hit) instead of thunderstomp (d6 hits).

On to my question.

How do all you people find the blowpipes efficient? I have tried many times and never seem to get a chance to use them. If my opponent is within 12" I will often charge them and I will almost never stand still. Since the blowpipes are move or fire (I think) that would mean that I would miss out on a turn of movement while having enemies in charge range.
Please tell me what Im doing wrong.

 

Blowpipes are not move-or-fire, but I also wonder how they can be used effectively.

The skink crew is BS3, so they normally hit on 4s. If the steg moves (and it usually will), then it hits on 5's , 6's with multiple shots. If you are also at long range (which is only 6"), then you hit on 7's which makes poison unusable.

If the only time I can shoot the blowpipes is if I'm within 6", then I'd usually rather charge.

Am I missing something?

 

I actually dislike the ancient steg, He is definatley worthwhile but i find the gaint bow alot more helpfull, the strength is a great bonous but I really cant justify -I -1 Atk -Gaint Bow in extange for +1 Armour +1 Str +2x Gaint Blowpipes for 40 points. I know the pipes are amazing but lizardmen already lacks anti heavy armour range attacks and i find the Normal stegadon to compliment my army alot more. Also as mentioned above skink cheif on a Steggy = beast. I hope my advice can help you, im not telling you the gaint bow is better just look at what your army is weak against and decide on what stegagon you use to help compliment it.
I use my steg to range out enemys then flank targets as my slann+ temple gaurd usally are always attacked first combinded withe the lore of life they are the invincible anvil.

@ MI_Tiger I belive you can choose for your crew to shoot the blowpipe while in close combat rather than attack normaly, im not 100% sure though. Im pretty sure the steg can move without the -1 hit also.

 

You make a good point, range of 12 charge distance of 12 (I'm still on 7th Ed). So unless you can shoot in close combat I'm not sure when I'd ever get to fire.

 

I don't know of any rule that would allow a Steg crew to fire blowpipes if they are in close combat, and I don't see anything that lets a Steg ignore the move-and-shoot penalty. This Lizardman book says that the howda weapons can move and fire (specifically not march and fire), but it doesn't say anything about the -1 penalty. If I'm missing these rules PLEASE let me know - I really want to like the Ancient's blowpipes, but I only see very limited uses for them.

 

Good point, Arli, but I also have a question about the effectiveness of blowpipes for Stand and Shoot. Rather than clutter up this thread, I started a new one in the Rules forum: http://lustria-online.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5938

 

You can not double fire with the Giant Blow Pipes, they are intrinsically multi-shot 2d6 each, so no penalty for double firing. Hit on 4s, 5s if moved, 6s long range. That's it.

I use the Blow Pipes in combo with Salamanders to soften up large units before the charge. You usually want to get the Steg in position for a flank charge, so often I maneuver him around and can get off a at least 1 sometimes 2 rounds of shooting before I run him in.

The other great thing with Giant Blow Pipes is you can Stand and Fire so if you don't/can't maneuver him out of the way you at least get the chance to knock a few guys down first.

 

Thanks for showing me where I was wrong. I must have mixed up the different rules and weapons.