Good morning fellow Lizards - I've been a browser but now I'm a poster. After a couple of years painting I've built-up a 3000 point Salamander army that is Lizard-themed, so no fire elementals. I'm about to start a campaign against my regular KOW opponent who is using Herd. My previous army was Kingdom of Men so its my first experience of being out manoeuvred to such a degree. I'm wondering if folks have any tips for taking on an army where everything is faster than my Lizards and hits like a train.
Hi! Actually yes, I'm used to be slower so I think I can help. Is basically the same as playing against a Flying Circus type of army but a bit different since he is Pathfinder. Be sure to have a nicely balanced board, that is very important, you should use obstacles, usually 2-3 otherwise he is in a very clear advantage. Use the obstacles and terrain to your advantage, if you know he is going to take the charge position yourself to give him hindered charges. You can be clever about it too, you don't need to place the units behind the obstacles you can place them to the side and place a chaff unit in a way that if he charges your combat unit it would be hindered because he would have to slide or he has to charge the chaff if doesn't want a hindered charge. Will try to make a drawing for you. CHAFF, CHAFF ALL DAY LONG. That is the most useful thing you can have, if he is faster give him no good charges, Lekelidons work like a charm for that and are so useful the rest of the time. Hunters or Ghekkotah Warrior Troops are also God options. Shoot him into oblivion. Herd is all defence 4, take advantage. Three Lekelidons and a Horde of Skyraiders with the Jar will kill with ease anything he has in two turns, and small.units in one. Skyriders will be completely unreachable for him and will always score and Lekelidons can be used as chaff when he gets to you, win-win. The new Corsair formation is also amazing at that job. Very powerful shooting and decent combat. You have good fast units. A Skylord with the Blade of the Beast-Slayer is a cheap and very effective Weapon to harass his large Infantry, Monsters and Large Cavalry. Stampedes are a piece of crap if disordered, but a freight train if not, use a cheap individual (mounted Battle-Captain) or a Skylord to disorder them into oblivion. His shamans are very dangerous, Heal and Inspiring is very powerful, hunt them down if you can. Artakl or a mounted combat Individual can do that with ease. As for a list, that depends on you, very personal but you can see a pattern in the text above. I would take a core of Tyrants (High defence and Nerve plus Fury and wounding on 2+ with Vicious? YES PLEASE!) two Hordes of them with Two Hordes of Ancients on Rhinosaurs (CS2, wounding on that sweet, sweet 2+, and good Fearless Nerve) should be all the core you need. You can use the new Ancients formation instead if the Tyrants. Sprinkle some Lekelidons, a Horde of Skyraiders with Jar, a Mage-Priest with Martyr's Prayer and Inspiring (don't need Inspiring if you use the Formation) a Skylord with Blade of the Beast-Slayer and a mounted Battle-Captain or two and season to taste. As said you can also go double formation (Ancients and Corsairs) with two Hordes of AoR and a Horde of Skyraiders with Jar plus a Martyr's Prayer Mage-Priest. Hope that helps.
Thanks for the prompt and useful reply. I'd pretty much decided on a core of Ancients (new formation looks good), Tyrants, and Rino-riders so good to hear that's a solid choice. I lack the models for the Corsairs but that could be a future project. The Skylord feels like a good hero hunter and for sure the Shamans are vital to take-down rapidly to exploit his weak armour. I can also field a decent number of Primes as filler / unlocks. I had nt really considered the Lekelidons as they seem to get poor reviews so that needs another look. Shooty chaff seems like a core component though as he largely gets to pick his charges. My opponent being a nice chap does allow units that are in keeping with the theme (that might otherwise be allies) to be core units. So I have some Oldhammer lizard archers I can deploy either as Hunters or as Ra5+, De:4+ archers, giving a different option on the shooting front. But I'll look again at the Skyraiders as I think they got a buff in COK19. I had wondered about the Battle platform as its high De and some shooting. Is that effective or just too costly compared to the alterative options?
Trust me here, Lekelidons are one of the best units in the game. There are not much better ways to spend 95 points, I never play with less than 2. Just take a look at my Battle Reports and judge for yourself, extremely useful. Hunters are not bad but I would never spend more than the standard points on them because they are there to die. Skyriders Horde with the Jar of Four Winds are right now the only unit that is an absolute must in the army, since they got buffed in Cok18 they are an staple. Basically you get a Horde of Elven Archers, that moves 10, Flies and is Nimble, ON TOP OF THAT they can fight in combat as well! It is a unit that has 2US and won't die if you don't want to, and can move 20" in the last turn to take any objective. They are our only unit that I truly consider OP, crazy OP. The only reason they've left them alone in CoK19 is because they NEED the Jar, without the Jar they are useless so you are naturally limited to just one unit and this cannot spam them. The Battle Platform.... Well that is a bummer. If you ask me, it is not a good unit. I tried for TWO years to make it work, it stayed in my lists for two whole years, only when I dropped it I started winning consistently. It's not a BAD unit but the damage output is ridiculous and the cost is too high for me. Spend 25 more points and you get a Horde of Ancients on Rhinosaurs, so much better.