Hey everyone. So I am going to my first tournament at the end of the month. I know Fangs is what a lot of people consider competitive, however I want to run a decent and competitive Thunderlizard list. Please, if you have any advise let me know. This is what I was thinking below; Allegiance: Seraphon - Constellation: Thunder Lizard LEADERS Engine of the Gods (260) General - Command Trait: Prime Warbeast - Artefact: Sacred Stegadon Helm Lord Kroak (320) Terradon Chief (70) Artefact: Fusil of Conflaguration UNITS 5 x Saurus Guard (100) 10 x Skinks (60) Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 10 x Skinks (60) Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 3 x Salamander Hunting Pack (330) 3 x Terradon Riders (90) Bolas 3 x Terradon Riders (90) Bolas BEHEMOTHS Bastiladon (220) Stegadon (240) Seraphon Battleline (Constellation: Thunder Lizard) BATTALIONS Thunderquake Temple-host (150) * TOTAL: 1990/2000 WOUNDS: 110
If you really want to play it competitive then the battalion and stegadons really isnt the way to go. You want 2 bastiladons and decide how much support you give them. I go all in and take a skink priest general and bound burning head to give them both +1 to hit and reroll 1s. Salamanders also a real risk, especially a big unit as they only have bravery 5 and can battleshock easily and you want CP for bastiladon shots. Terradons are a decent option but not 2 units of 3 with a chief. Again its wasted utility to spend a CP on only a unit of 3. In almost any list you want kroak with his support pieces, at the very least an astrolith bearer. Competetive thunder lizards IMO should start with Kroak Astolith Guard 2x bastiladon Then build the rest out with other units like skinks screens, knights, heroes or whatever. ive had success with thunder lizards and it can still be an A tier list to run
My thinking behind the Terradons is they help with one of the lists weakness which is mobility and bodies. Plus they are cool. The Terradon Chief's ability effect all units wholly within 12 so my thinking was have two units is better than one so they can split up if needed. What does the Skink Priest as a general give you over a mounted general in Thunderlizard since he can't benefit from the command trait?
He get to use his command ability (+1 to hit rolls for a skink unit) for free, once per turn. So you can always have a bastiladon hitting on 3s for its double shooting.
The terradon chiefs CA doesn't affect all units wholly within 12" the terradon unit that activates it's deadly cargo ability needs to be wholly within 12". So you could go a few ways, either keep them as msu groups of 3 for fast objective grabbers and drop the terradon chief since they aren't meant for damage in this build. Or keep the chief and make them a unit of 6. But if you just want fast objective grabbers you might be better off with some aetherwings, they're much cheaper. I also second that salamanders are not great in coalesced due to the low bravery. If you're set on running the thunderquake battalion I'd go with the krox, they're pretty nasty with the savage buff and it's easy to keep a skink unit in range with the stegs
Agreed that Thunder Lizard is going to be really CP heavy so you want to minimize the things that require CP to be effective (like terradons). I dont necessarily think you need an astrolith and guard for kroak in a thunder lizard list. If he's primarily there for a CP battery, defensive unbinds, and endless spell/comets call casting, he's still ace. However, if you aren't going full kroaknado, i'd drop the guard. I dont think you need them and it can just be more skink bodies or a buffing hero. Thunder Lizard lists with stegs can also work well. Eric Hoergar has done well with steg based thunder lizard lists because they threaten in two phases and can be used to push units off objectives, something Thunder Lizard can struggle with. Same with salamanders. Battalion helps extend the threat ranges of everything, i just think its probably a hair too restrictive for me personally but i've seen it used to great effect. I'd consider dropping the terradons for just more skink blocks. Make each terradon unit a block of 30, and make the terradon chief bound geminids IMO. You could shuffle it around even more for the standard starpriest/priest/double basti build but seraphon definitely dont need to be built that way to be strong. And it's boring if all competitive lists look the same. Seraphon are in a pretty unique spot where we actually have a decent amount of flexibility in our competitive lists. HOWEVER with all that said, if this is your first tournament your primary objective should be to have fun. Not very many people set the world on fire in their very first competitive tournament, so I think it's more important to play a list you're comfortable with. There are so many other things to learn and perfect that will have a bigger impact on your play, and its easier to focus on those things when you're playing something you enjoy.
Not gonna lie, I like Steg Chief General, a couple of ballista Stegs, 1/2 Solar bastis and then some tar pits for objective control/Board control. if you have points after that, use kroak for nuke/dispel and CP generation.