G'day guys, Thanks for everybody who helped with my initial post on the site, it gave me some really cool ideas, and after tinkering I think I've come to a possible list. I borrowed the rule book and Lizardmen army book off a friend's brother, and after some heavy reading and tinkering I've come to this; The army doesn't particularly have a name yet, though I've tried to come up with a theme and some basic fluff. Don't giggle if it isn't exactly accurate with fluff, its my first attempt on first impressions of what I've read. - Though it usually falls to the Saurus to deffend the great cities and temples of Lustria, often the mighty warhosts of Saurus can be too slow to react to a threat. Or an enemy force may be simply to large to engage openly and crush through sheer verocity and determination. - In the southern areas of Lustria, a spawning of particularly agressive and agile skinks has become more prominent in pools blessed by Tzunki. Banding together, these skinks form small warbands that excell in infiltration and moving through dense terrain seemlessly and unnoticed. Capable of probing and striking the most vulnerable or vital areas of an enemy's invading force, they strike quickly and unexpectedly before dissapearing back into the jungle before the enemy has a chance to react. These skink warhosts are not under the command or influence of any Saurus, indeed rarely if ever marching beside their more physically adept cousins. They choose their targets seemingly at their own tactical whim, though their efforts are of course still directed by the will of the Slann. - When engaged with the enemy, it is as if the jungle itself is trying to repel the invaders efforts to penetrate its depths. Confused and unable to coordinate a resistance against an enemy they cannot see, it is not until the swift Terradons glide overheard and the monsterous Kroxigors tear into their ranks that the invaders even properly realise they are being attacked. The skinks then emerge from the jungle in countless numbers, their lightning quick reflexes in combat and numbers dissolving the enemy in a shower of darts, javelins and finally a quick assault that breaks or destroys any remaining resistance. - The sheer speed that this force can move through the jungle baffles even their own kin. They can appear to aggitate an enemy flank and rescue their besieged kin at a temple, befor quickly dissapearing to repel enemy ships landing on shorelines several miles away only the next day. Or perhaps their number is greater and more widespread than the Saurus realise. - As creatures blessed by Tzunki, their skin is generally a dark murky green with lighter scally backs and crests. They seem to be able to vary the shades of their skin slightly however, fitting in with their swampy wetland enviroments, perfectly hidden from untrained eyes. In this way they act as scouts and messengers, weakening an enemies force as they move closer to a sacred city to be finally crushed by the forwarned Saurus warhosts and armies of the Slann. That was a little longer than I intended, but I suffer from writers diarrhea. Once I get started more just jumps to mind and I can't stop writing...but anyway, that's the general feel for the army I want. Very Beil-Tan I guess (40K refference). Any tips on improving fluff is also welcome. NOW, to the list itself. Hero Skink Chief, Javelin, Shield, Light armour, Sacred Stegadon Helm, Biting Blade, Blessing of Tzunki Total - 122 OR * Skink Priest, Sacred Stegadon Helm, Biting Blade, Blessing of Tzunki Total - 120 Core 12 Skinks, Blowpipes, Scouts, Brave, Blessing of Tzunki Total - 94 12 Skinks, Blowpipes, Scouts, Brave, Blessing of Tzunki Total - 94 12 Skinks, Javelins and Shields, Scouts, Brave, Blessing of Tzunki Total - 94 12 Skinks, Javelins and Shields, Brave, Blessing of Tzunki Total - 82 Special 4 Kroxigor - 232 4 Terradons, Brave Total - 150 Rare 2 Salamanders, 6 Skink handlers Total - 130 Total - 998/996* Tactics * As you can see, my first main concern is picking a Hero to be the armies general. When approaching the list I was very determined to keep everything on the cheaper side so I could fit more in. From what I've gathered, skinks are individually weaker than most units found in the realms of fantasy, thus I wanted to pack as many into the list as I could and still field interesting special units as well. I want the bottom to drop out of my opponents gut the moment he sees just how many units I have. In keeping with this theme of going cheap, I was intending on only taking a single general - but I can't decide... - On the one hand, and what I think I'd prefer, I have the skink chief. With the helm, he would hang with the none scouting skinks and Kroxigors, using his high leadership to ensure the squad didn't get stuck on the spot the turn the Kroxigors' were let loose. He would then proceed to assault the enemy himself with the Kroxigors, adding his attacks and tiping the tide just that bit more towards my favour, while the remaining skinks moved off in hunt of another opponent, or waited patiently for their general to join them again. Taking him would also fit in better with the more millitarized aggressive skink theme of the army. - On the other hand, the Skink priests magic would come in handy, and the extra disspel dice I get would aid in protecting my force from enemy wizards trying to ruin my intricuitely laid plans or blowing apart a unit of skinks. He retains the helmet for the same reason as befpre, and is atually armed more like a skink chief should be I perceive. His leadership is lower than the chiefs, detracting from the origional purpose, but if I took the first spell in the Lore of Heavens (its name escapes me currently) and cast it on the Kroxigors when they charge, they could almost never fail to wound. ...decisions decisions....advice? If I take the skink priest, should I perhaps arm him differently, as it wouldn't really be a hindrance to him not being able to move anyway... As to the rest of the army, the Terradons are there to harrass enemy artillery very quickly, and annoy hardened squads that might prove too difficult for the skinks on their own. The skinks themselves act as distractions from the Salamanders, or screans, until the two little monsters are ready to open wide and desecrate an entire squad. One other thing I have an issue with though is the numbers in my specialist squads. I want them to preform well in their own right, supported by the skinks, but don't want to put too much weight on them. Should I perhaps drop a single terradon and Kroxigor respectfully, and take another unit of skinks and swell their numbers even more? Or perhaps some chameleons to fit in with the armies fluff? Or are the squad sized fine? I was also wondering about my skink distribution as well. Origionally I had them in massive units of 16, but thought this would be too unwieldy...it would however mean that they could get a hell of a lot of shots off. Thoughts? I think I've made my basic tactics clear in the above. screen and frighten the enemy in a tide of skinks that pick appart units slowly, while the special and rare units do the real work. The blessing of Tzunki gives the skinks a little extra kick on their own though if they find themselves in combat, and adds to a theme of lightning quick ninja skinks! Also makes for a very fast and very cool Skink chief, if I take him. On a final note, I very much hate the Kroxigor models. Can anyone suggest possible stand ins? I'm considering converting some riderless cold ones to stand up a little straighter and carry a weapon? Perhaps from the Dark Elf range for better models? If you got through all that, thankyou for taking the time to read it all, lol. Thanks as well in advance for any advice given. Cheers, Cal
first things first, the fluff is good. you should look into the Southlands army list in the back of the Lizzi book. Second: skinks can't take blessed spawnings plus they are already aquatic and have high init. so that saves ya 80 pts, and neither can the skink chief (or priest), and again they still don't need it anyway. that knocks those extra pts up to 100. I'd suggest droping the units of skinks down to 10 (it's all your ever going to need)and switch one of the scouts to javelins as skinks are much better and survive longer with them (they have an armor save!). with the extra 154 pts I'd suggest adding a 1st lvl priest as a scroll caddy (has no magic items other than dispel scrolls) for 115 seeing as you have no magical defense. and with the chief, drop the biting blade to add the sword of might. Thats 3 str 5 attacks. not too shabby. does the same thing as a bitting blade but with a better chance to wound. oh, and he's 137 pts not 122 as you have him written. another thing you might want to look at is dropping the terradons and adding in another 3 man unit of kroxigors (you'll need the hitting power). another thing I just found were the braves in your skink units, drop 'em. Skrimishers, eps. scouts, should never take any type of command. too costly for a sacrifice unit, and you don't want them to be challenged. with the pts you save off of that make your chief and your last unit of skinks scout all around your going to have a big problem with LD. With LD 5 being the predominant ld of the army most of it will run allot of the time. Your general is going to be very buisy spreading his LD around. It might be more denificial to just take the standard JSoD (Scar-vet- light armor, great weapon, jaguar charm) he only costs 111 pts, is allot faster than your chief so can do a better job of spreading his higher LD around and that str 7 will compliment the kroxis rather well and hunt things like chariots. I really have no idea how this army would play out, I's definatly fast and shooty but lacks allot of hitting pwr and ranked units. On the plus side you can hide and bait allot, which you will have to do for your kroxis and the only victory pts bonus the enemy will get is the 100 from killing your general which shouldn't happen.
The difference between 3 and 2 sallies is surprisingly large, if you could find some way to get them up to 3 large I think you'll certainly notice the difference
G'day guys, sorry its been almost a month since I've made a reply here, I got busy and didn't have much time to think about this. I did take on board your advice though, and that from other sites, and dropped a lot of unnecessarily spent points, such as the blessing of Tzunki, and unit commands. The following is what I came up with Hero Scar Veteran, light armour, Charm of the Jaguar Warrior, Maiming Shield Total: 137 Core 10 skinks, Blowpipes, Scout Total: 70 10 skinks, Blowpipes, Scout Total: 70 10 skinks, Javelin and Shields Total: 60 10 skinks, Javelin and Shields Total: 60 Special 4 Kroxigor Total: 232 4 Terradon Total: 140 Rare 3 Salamanders Total: 195 List Total: 964 Notes Ok, so concerning the JSoD, I know this breaks the fluff of my army. However what I was thinking of doing was converting up a Skink Chieftan to look really bad-ass, prop him on a base that would make him stand out a bit and generally make him look like he could carry the stats of a Saurus Scar Vet. The model and fluff would have my army general being a super bred skink, while he would use the stats of a JSoD. Is this sort of 'repressenting' particularly welcome in Fantasy, or do players get very gnarly on WYSIWYG? That said, I would deffinately convert all gear onto the skink that I'm claiming he is carrying. ok, so assuming the 'repressenting' is ok, I'm still a little unsure on what to spend the spare 35 points on. I thought that it would be a good idea to purchase the Mark of the Old Ones, as those re-rolls might come in handy. Or alternatively I could purchase the blessing of Huanchi so that he can better keep up with the rest of the skinks, and the blessing of Tzunki to make him a little more speedy like a real skink. However I thought it might be just a bit too much to spend on one character, and I'm thinking its probably a good idea to drop the much loved Maiming Shield as well. Alternatively, I could drop a terradon as has been suggested (I just love the look of those guys though) and take either a skink priest (or chief for more Ld), or another unit of 10 skinks. If I went with the latter, should they be Javelin and shield core unit, or blowpipe infiltrators? Your help is very appreciated. Cheers, Cal
Technically you can give skinks spawnings... that is if where you're playing allows for Sacred Hosts armies Host armies are legal to use, but I'd ask just in case for your location