HEROS: 603 Old-blood: light armor, great weapon, jag charm, BS tepok, BS quetzl, bs Tzunki- 214 Scar Vet: Light armor, BSB, Jag standard, BS tepok- 157 skink priest- 2 dispel scrolls- 115 Skink chief- sacred stegadon helm, light armor, shield, javelin, scout- 117 TROOP: 578 19 saurus: Command- 258 10 skinks: blowguns, scouts- 70 10 skinks: javelins, scouts- 70 10 skinks: javelins- 60 10 skinks: javelins- 60 10 skinks: javelins- 60 SPECIAL: 824 20 saurus: command, BS Chotec- 290 3 kroxigors- 174 4 terridons- 140 6 Cold ones- musician- 220 RARE: 495 3 Salamanders- 195 20 saurus: command, BS tepok, tzunki- 300 TOTAL: 2500 Models: 129
Just a couple comments. (1) Give your Oldblood a shield. For 3 pts, the +1 to your AS against shooting isnt bad at all. Moreover, you still have the ability to go HW/Shield in situation when you are charging T3 troops. (2) I just wanted to make sure that you are not placing the BSB in with the Chotec Saurus (would be illegal). IMO, the Huanchi totem would be a better tool when used by infantry, especially as this boost should give your Saurus a jump on Ogres and other M6 nasties. (3) With only 2 level 1 casters, your magic phase is not going to be terribly effective. You might find that it is more points effective (and more durable), to go for several Tepok blessings rather than 1 of the skink priests. (4) I would suggest that you drop the spears on the Saurus. You are paying 40 points for 4 attacks that are only circumstancially useful. Use those points and a couple dropped points elsewhere to boost your kroxigors to a 4 group. That should give them enough power to be able to combo charge infantry units.
The HW/shield combo I've thought about, I just don't fight tough 3 troops. The only army I fight is O&G (But that might changed to include betonia or dwarves). Of course the BSB's not going with the Chotec suaurs. Like you said its illegal plus it makes that unit way too expensive. Same goes for the putting him in the spear unit. The totem of Huanchi I've found to be a better cav banner (since it's use only once). I'd rather break 'em in combat and have a 75% chance of running 'em down than 50%. The magic is defensive, I'm obviously not trying to get any off, except maybe the first spell. The spears break orcs in extended combat. Assuming that the orcs kill no saurus (it happens) thats 16 str 4 attacks that hit on 4's (50%)= 8 hits, wound on 4's (50%)= 4 wounds at -1 AC which means a save on a 6, thats about 4 guys dead right theere. Even if the orcs do end up killing one or two you still have more attacks back rather than less. Plus to drop them for a kroxi is impossible without recirculating points seeing as the spears cost 40 pts and a kroxigor costs 18 pts more.
If your magic is being defensive, why not simply do tepok rather than the diadem skink. The diadem cannot be used effectively to boost the offense, and using it purely for defense nerfs 50% of the priest's points value. 3 tepoks would be cheaper. As far as the spears go, yes, they do pay for themselves in situations where they are being charged and suffer no casualties. However, you are paying 2 pts a model to lose a 4+ AS in combat, only to gain 4-5 attacks that cannot be used on the charge. So yes, in the long run perhaps spears are better then HW/Shield. But if you are playing a battle of attrition, why would you make your units more expensive? If you are using them as anvils, then their killing potential should not matter. I would think it ill-advised to try to go toe-to-toe with a classic O&G battle-line, but you dont have enough hammers to allow your Saurus to act as anvils.
ok, revamped it. I Took your advice and droped the Diadem of power and in so doing had to drop the spears as well just to make the pts I saved off the diadem worth while. Now I'm a bit sceptical of the army. The heros are more pricey than I like, the core is small and i have a rare unit of saurus thats pretty damn expensive. not really my style, though the army works together well.
So I played with this army tonight and, granted we ended up with 13 pieces of terrain on the board, but the army itself didn't work, or at least I didn't like how it played. Too many small units worth too many victory points (i.e. 400-390 for the special and rare blocks). So I decided to revamp the list again, this time sticking to how I usually play...w/no sacred spawnings. HEROS: 556 Old-blood: light armor, great weapon, jag charm, aura of quetzl- 204 Scar Vet: Light armor, BSB, Jag standard- 137 skink priest- 2 dispel scrolls- 115 Skink priest- diadem of power- 100 TROOP: 1094 19 saurus: Command- 258 20 saurus: musician, standard- 258 20 saurus: musician, standard- 258 10 skinks: blowguns, scouts- 70 10 skinks: javelins, scouts- 70 10 skinks: javelins- 60 10 skinks: javelins- 60 10 skinks: javelins- 60 SPECIAL: 653 3 kroxigors- 174 3 kroxigors- 174 4 terridons- 140 10 cham. skinks- stalker- 165 RARE: 195 3 Salamanders- 195 TOTAL: 2498 Models: 136 that looks more refreshing...