I'm just starting Warhammer, and I'm building my first list. I'm trying to keep this on a budget, mainly built around the Lizardmen Battalion pack. My friend plays Dark Elves, so this list is primarily going to be against them at first. I know he'll field a War Hydra, but he doesn't have any bolt throwers. I don't think he uses Witch Elves either. Last I checked he was using Corsairs. Core Units Skink Skirmishers -11 Skink Skirmishers -Patrol Leader -Lustrian Javelins and Spears Saurus Warriors -20 Saurus Warriors -Full Command Special Units Temple Guard -10 Temple Guard -Full Command Ripperdactyls -3 Ripperdactyls -2 Ripperdactyl Riders -1 Ripperdactyls Brave Rare Units Salamander Hunting Pack -1 Salamander -Extra Handler Heroes Saurus Scar-Veteran -Cold One -Shield -Armor of Destiny Skin Priest -Level 2 -Lore of Beasts I'm currently thinking of running the Skink Priest with the Skirmishers, and the Scar-Vet would be lone. This leaves about 45 extra points that I haven't spent yet. Again, I'm completely new to Lizardmen, and Warhammer in general, so any advice would be very welcome.
Having very little experience with lizardmen myself I can't say ifit's a great list or not. Generally it has all the elements for an effective army with the exception of long range assets, so as long as you can disable war machines early you have a good chance. I do know however that the great weapon does not allow use of a shield so thats out. The cold one gives you a 2+ so maybe you could save some points and go for a opal amulet for a one use 4+ ward and funnel some points elsewhere. At low points numbers tend to help and the troops are awesome, so maybe shaving a few points you could swap the TG for another larger unit of saurus maybe with spears for you skink to hide behind and get a look out sir. Anyhow. Good luck to you.
Thanks for commenting! I would use another block of Saurus, but I'm trying to keep this on a major budget, built mostly from the Battalion pack. I'll see what I can do.
I feel ya on the budget... I got lucky and found a box of sixteen online for $18 bucks. So I have a whopping 36, but with characters and some fillers I could probably make that 2 units of 25. A chariot base filler scene can take the place of 8 models and they make your units look unique and awesome. I've already decided to make something like a totem pole or maybe easter island style heads that look like lizardmen; not sure what kind of theme I'm going for though.
Well the cold one gives your scar vet a 2+ armor so if all you want is a ward you can save points and just give him a charmed shield to cancel the first hit on a 2+ and hopefully that's all you need to get to CC since he's probably going to gunning for a flank. That saves you 45 pts; and I'd probably add a little more wargear to make hime more killy since he's on his own. That and and a swap for the temple guard at 170 pts nearly gets you another block of 20. I'd drop the full commands down to just banners saving you another 10 points assuming you get another banner with the second unit. One extra attack is not worth 10 pts for the spawn leader. And winning ties is not a huge deal because with spears and predatory fighters your kicking but in the next round of CC. Save another 17 pts and ditch the brave and the extra skirmisher; they're chaff or re-directors anyway. Same goes for the ripper, 10 pts is not worth an extra attack. play the toad smartly to get them frenzy. After that things are tight, but you do have enough free points to do the unit and you have a few more extra with the 45 you mentioned. I tallied the points up to 939 leavin 45 pts worth of room for warger on the scar vet and 61 points overall I recommend a dispell scroll for the priest. At the same time with beasts the only spell you really want is wyssans so you could even drop him to a lvl 1 if you like and free up 10 pts and still get the scroll. He may not be effective but you'll manage to get it off at some point. You could add standards to make your saurus stick even better a one time reroll with a gleaming pennant for 5 pts is awesome with cold blooded. Food for thought. You can keep your priest a lvl 2 if you go cheaper on the wargear a simple great weapon gives +2 strength for 4 pts and you can add light armor to increase your sv for 6 pts. That makes his build pretty good ata 1000 pt game at 115 pts. Freeing up lots of room for little tweaks that can give you an edge. You might even consider ruby ring instead of a scroll to get a bound fireball for your priest just to add a little extra ranged threat that's easy to cast and flaming attacks are always good if he has any regen saves. Good luck.
Also if your skink priest is close enough to a saurus block he can get a look out sir. He also needs to be close to cast wyssans easier; keep him out of the skink unit. Also He probably has a Hydra so the ring or flaming banner is probably in order.
Salamders are excellent against de. I been playing vs de at 1000 points quite some times now and i usually use two of them, one bastillidon, 7 chamillion skinks and a oldblood on cold one with great weapon and a 4+ wardsave. Lvl 1 priest, Skinks x 10 and saurus x18. Charmillion i usd to hunt warmachines and wizzards. But togheter with skinks they have taken out hydras on 1 turn at times, thanks to posion. Old blood can take on a unit of knights on his own, or just help your saurus in battle. Salamders can utterly destroy a unit of dark spears, which elves or outer core units.
I'm in the same boat as you, my friend plays DE and I play lizardmen so I've gotten very used to their underhanded tactics. For your skirmishers I would run them as a 10 man with javelins and shields (5+ armor save) with no patrol leader, he isn't worth the points. This allows you to run the unit at minimum cost and gives you a good quick unit to put your priest in and also gives him a -1 to hit from range which DE have a lot of. Saurus Warriors are devastating against DE, I've killed a group of 20 corsairs with 7 Saurus warriors. Run them with spears and just a standard bearer. The spawn leader isn't worth the extra 10 points for 1 attack when you attack 3 ranks deep, so with a 5 man front you get 20 attacks! They can take a hit too and you will usually only suffer 1 or 2 casualties in close combat against DE. I would drop the temple guard, they are a waste of points at this level and your core saurus warriors are strong enough. Rippers are great too, very fast and can devastate the unit with the bloat toad quickly. Drop the Brave though, again I don't feel he is worth the points. Salamanders are extremely powerful and extremely useful, I would run 2 if you could, with or without the extra handler, if you have the extra points to bring 1 more then it is up to you. At 1000 points i would do a Saurus Scar-Vet on a cold one with gambles armor and dawnstone with a great weapon, 1+ rerollable armor save and 6+ ward save with 4 S7 attacks. That with the level 2 priest should put you at 249 for heroes so just under the limit if I'm not mistaken, unfortunately I don't have my book with me. So the new list would be as follows: Core Units: 10 Skink Skirmishers -Lustrian Javelins and Shields 20 Saurus Warriors - Standard Bearer - Spears Special Units: 3 Ripperdactyl Riders Rare Units Salamander Hunting Pack Salamander hunting pack Heroes Saurus Scar-Veteran - Cold One - Gamblers Armor - Dawnstone - Great Weapon Skink Priest (Beasts) - Level 2 This however is only 834 points you could change out the Saurus Scar-Vet for an Oldblood with cold one, gamblers armor, great weapon, and dawnstone to put you at 906 points for the army, this would allow you to bring a dispell scroll for the priest when you free up points in heroes. Maybe even a bastiladon if you can get one on the cheap or another group of ripperdactyl riders for 2 bloat toads. Just a few thoughts. Good luck against the DE and win one for the Lizardmen!
Thanks for the advice, kg1121. I see what you mean about the Temple Guard, they were mainly there simply because they're in the Battalion pack. For the Skirmishers, do you think javelins and shields would be better than blowpipes? Armor of Destiny it more expensive, but would provide the Oldblood with a 4+ Ward Save. Ah, but that would bring his total cost to one point over the maximum of 250. Using the list above, but giving the Skink Priest a Dispel Scroll and changing the Scar-Vet for an Oldblood with Great Weapon, Dawnstone, and Gambler's Armor, comes out to 934, according to my calculations. That leaves 66 unspent points. I'll keep working on filling in that gap. I may start the list with the Temple Guard, and replace them with a Salamander later simply so I can get started sooner. Thanks again, and good luck in your own endeavors against the Dark Elves!
I personally find javelins and shields to be the better option. I usually use my skinks as harassers or a priest bunker. With javelins you can march and shoot from long range at a 5+ so that gives you some wiggle room if your target is a skirmisher unit or has soft cover you will be hitting on a 6+ so poison still counts. With blowpipes you can only do two of the following: move, shoot long range, or double shots. If you do all 3 then you are hitting on 7+ which is a pain and negates poison attacks. Plus the shield gives you a 5+ armor save and DE have armor piercing on all their range shots so you still get a 6+ which isn't much but it helps. With the extra 66 points you could run a larger group of saurus warriors, maybe up your handlers to 4 per salamander pack, or run another ripper in the pack. Lots of options mostly beefing up what you already have. Good luck!
EDIT: Removed the point values, I was copying and pasting from a word document. What if I made my Skink Priest my Battle Standard Bearer and ran a BoEF, rather than a Dispel Scroll? This would help my Skirmishers a lot in taking down the Hydra. My list would then look like this: Core Units: 10 Skink Skirmishers - Lustrian Javelins and Spears 20 Saurus Warriors - - Standard Bearer - Spears Special Units 3 Ripperdactyls Rare Units Salamander Hunting Pack - Extra Handler Salamander Hunting Pack - Extra Handler Lords Saurus Oldblood - Cold One -Dawnstone -Gambler’s Armour -Great Weapon Heroes Skink Priest (Beasts) - Banner of Eternal Flame -Level 2
I'm pretty sure only saurus scar-vets and skink chiefs can be a BSB. Also if you get the charge on the hydra with your saurus block it won't really stand a chance. also your skirmishers should be 70 not 77 not sure if you added it wrong in your total and now have a free 7 points! lol The dispell scroll is a pretty big plus too, if the DE run with dark magic they get a +1 to casting attempts, making their level 2 basically a level 3 and dark magic has some nasty spells you need to worry about.
Oh, I thought it said Skink Priest, you're right. Alright, I guess I'll go back to Dispell Scroll and Level 2 on the Priest. That brings the total back down to 934. Now I just need to fill that gap.
As you are to play versus dark elves i would go for blowpipes for the simple reason that it can really put some hurt on a hydra. If you walk and shot two darts against a large target you still hit on 6 and get poison, which is worth a lot versus their high toughness. Also, two salamanders versus DE is very effective in my experience. Have never played with any flying unit so can not say if they are awesome or not.
Alright, thanks for your input, I appreciate it! I'll experiment with blowpipes versus javelins, they both have their pros and cons. For now, I think I'll try pulling out one of the Salamanders and adding Skink Chief with BoEF in the Skirmisher block. I can always add in another Salamander later, but I'm trying to keep this on a pretty tight budget to start with.
Here's my current list: Core Units: 11 Skink Skirmishers - Lustrian Javelins and Spears 20 Saurus Warriors - Standard Bearer - Spears 18 Saurus Warriors -Standard Bearer -Spears Special Units 3 Ripperdactyls Rare Units Salamander Hunting Pack - Extra Handler Lords Saurus Scar-Veteran -Cold One -Gambler’s Armor -Dawnstone Heroes Skink Priest (Beasts) -Level Two -Dispel Scroll It comes out to 999 points, and if I run the Temple Guard from the Battalion pack, plus some of the Cold One Rider bases, as a block of Saurus, I can get this list for under $200. Thanks for all the feedback, everyone!