8th Ed. A New Skink to Warhammer. Please Help!

[SkinkyPants]

Hey fellow Lizardmen.

I have never played Warhammer. I don't have the rulebook, or the codex. Basically I'm a complete newbie. I have been playing Warhammer 40k for some years, and I have become somewhat tired of it - I guess it has become rather competitive and making optimal lists to compete is becoming less and less fun (not to say Warhammer is any less competitive, but I would like to play the hobby for the fun of it!)

Thus, I picked Lizardmen as the army I want to start, because I love the models and they look fun to play and paint. I really like the idea of a heavy skink army, as hit and run tactics are generally my favorite style of play. As I understand it, they are more of a support unit for Saurus warriors, but if I wanted to build a list that uses an abundant number of Skinks, what would be some recommendations for starting an army (i.e.: Heroes, a good balance between Skinks, Saurus warriors and special/ rare units).

I will obviously be purchasing the codex soon, but my biggest mistake in 40k was not chatting on forums before making purchases (although forums did not exist way back then hehe).

Oh, and although I want to play Warhammer for fun, I don't want to suck too badly (I do have a competitive spirit) so if this just imply isn't an optimal strategy, let me know! Thank you for any feedback.

 

[Bragar]

I would say if you really wanted to do an all skink army then you will also be monster heavy. salamader/razordon hunting packs with skinks, terradons with skink riders, stegadons with skink riders or skink priest on engine of the gods and finally skink/kroxigor units.

camo skinks for scouts a couple of skirmish skink units on top for redirects and chaff killing, your best bet is to redirect enemy units to deal with them one at a time with multiple charges especially stegs for the impact hits and stomps.

it is doable but will most likely be very soft and you may end up losing a large number of the games you play which could be less fun.

let us know how you get on.

 

[Mr Phat]

First thing first! before you buy anything I want you to know that a new Lizardmen army book are rumoured to be released in August!
and when I say rumoured, I mean that a leaked release scheduel has matched with all other releases so far, and that different forum GW-speakers has more or less confirmed it.

that aside:

get 1 or 2 Slann, they are pretty much our beating heart and I will let you kick me if it wont be in the new book too.

for a skink-themed army: salamanders...rumours are that they will be downgraded in the new book, but I dont see it becoming too weak, so it should still be a great unit!

..other than that...I dont know...Im more a Saurus kinda guy but I can tell you that Chameleon skinks and skink skirmishers are units to bring everytime

 

[Caneghem]

Hey fellow Lizardmen.

I have never played Warhammer. I don't have the rulebook, or the codex. Basically I'm a complete newbie. I have been playing Warhammer 40k for some years, and I have become somewhat tired of it - I guess it has become rather competitive and making optimal lists to compete is becoming less and less fun (not to say Warhammer is any less competitive, but I would like to play the hobby for the fun of it!)

Thus, I picked Lizardmen as the army I want to start, because I love the models and they look fun to play and paint. I really like the idea of a heavy skink army, as hit and run tactics are generally my favorite style of play. As I understand it, they are more of a support unit for Saurus warriors, but if I wanted to build a list that uses an abundant number of Skinks, what would be some recommendations for starting an army (i.e.: Heroes, a good balance between Skinks, Saurus warriors and special/ rare units).

I will obviously be purchasing the codex soon, but my biggest mistake in 40k was not chatting on forums before making purchases (although forums did not exist way back then hehe).

Oh, and although I want to play Warhammer for fun, I don't want to suck too badly (I do have a competitive spirit) so if this just imply isn't an optimal strategy, let me know! Thank you for any feedback.

Whatever you do, do not buy the current army book! The new one is supposedly coming out in either July or August, and it would stink for you to only get a month out of the current book before buying another.

Skrox (ranked skinks with kroxigor) are your bread and butter in any dedicated skink list. They are good at beating down monsters and/or monstrous cav (anything they can outnumber) but suffer against medium to heavy infantry with loads of attacks. They're also the only proper skink unit that can carry banners. You'll have to be fairly skilled with skink skirmisher redirection of things you can't face head-on. That said, you want options in the list that allow you to slaughter massive amounts of troops. Salamanders are great for this. Lots of stegadons is also a good idea. You'll probably want a Slann too, though in theory you could do skink priests and a skink chief BSB. Oh yeah, and don't forget the chamelon skinks! They are great warmachine killers, and you'll want to kill warmachines quickly if you're running a fair number of stegadons. Take a unit of Terradons to see if you like them.


And of course, all of this advice could change with the new book, so take with a grain of salt.

 

[SkinkyPants]

Thanks for all the replies!

I was able to download a 7th edition rulebook last night, so I have a greater understanding of what a skirmisher army is capable of (although it appears that they got a little weaker in 8th with the loss of 360 degree vision)

So it sounds like I'll be waiting till August to start playing - I'm definitely glad I asked on a forum this time!

Along with your recommendations, I've done about as much research as one can do without a codex. I'm thinking of using 2 units of Skink Skirmishers and 2 units of Chameleons with a Skink Priest attached to one of them. They'll be my mobile supporting units. Perhaps I'll go with a Slann as well, but I was thinking of using a LOT of Skink Chiefs to fulfill a role against medium to heavy infantry (a new concept to me, since Warhammer 40k has a 2 HQ max). Then I'll have 2 Skink units geared for CC, with a number of Kroxigors to give them some survivability. I guess Salamanders are pretty good, so I'll try to work a pair of them into the list as well, but it's really hard to know what point value this will leave me at - but this is the ratio I'm thinking about until I actually get a codex. Cheers!

 

[SkinkyPants]

Thanks for all the feedback guys! I'll try to borrow a book and start preparing an army for the new edition. Sounds like a great time to start!

 

[Mr Phat]

I was thinking of using a LOT of Skink Chiefs to fulfill a role against medium to heavy infantry

giggle ^^

 

[spawning of Bob]

I was thinking of using a LOT of Skink Chiefs to fulfill a role against medium to heavy infantry

giggle ^^

I understand the reason for PhatMoFo's giggle. He has recently lost his mind. Were he coherent he would probably use words to explain what I shall demonstrate pictorially:




Sorry, Bob and Joe are saurus, not skinks, but the principle holds.

No amount of armour or padding will do more than make your skinks die marginally slower. The art is in using their manoevrability to avoid unfavourable (that is, any) combat.

Check out http://www.lustria-online.com/threads/8th-edition-lm-tactica-index-newest-link-march-2nd-2015.8681/ about redirectors and then look around for tactics threads from anyone with a "Southlands" style army (Skink heavy)

And welcome!

 

[Mr Phat]

He has recently lost his mind.

njeeh heheee potaaatoeees.....

 

[Caneghem]

In case you were wanting a clearer answer on why the skink chiefs won't fill the anti-infantry role, it all comes down to toughness and armor saves. Skink chiefs don't really work that way, and their role in the current army book is rather nebulous at best. A skink army's best way of tackling massed medium and heavy infantry is via stegadons and salamanders. Two salamanders I'd call the standard for every LM army currently, you might want to think along the lines of 4.

 

[SkinkyPants]

Thank you for the illustration hehe. Perhaps Bob made his 6+ armor save!

I don't expect them to outsurvive any heavy armor units. Rather, I hope that 25 attacks at I 6 will hit first and simply remove the threat before it hits back. Wishful thinking probably.

I'll make sure to test a game or two out before purchasing the models. Hopefully different will work in this case

 

[Mr Phat]

I don't expect them to outsurvive any heavy armor units. Rather, I hope that 25 attacks at I 6 will hit first and simply remove the threat before it hits back. Wishful thinking probably.

You do know about the step up rule right? You have to kill the entire unit to stop them from hitting back, which seem unlikely with skink attacks, and everything weak enough to be in skink-weight class will probably have same initiative.

 

[SkinkyPants]

Nope, that solves the issue.. I'm still adjusting from 40k, where you remove the closest models first and units are generally smaller. Thanks!

 

[Mr Phat]

well there it is then

If it helps I can tell you that your strategy had been viable in 7th edition, which the current book is for... so good planing non the less!

 

[spawning of Bob]

PhatMoFo? You're OK? No more foaming at the mouth?

Thats a relief. As long as nobody says "steg bomb" you should be fine.

 

[Mr Phat]

PhatMoFo? You're OK? No more foaming at the mouth?

Thats a relief. As long as nobody says "steg bomb" you should be fine.

 

[Myster2]

A mostly skink list can work well. Look up the skink cloud lists in the battle reports. It is a list that wins by poison shots, magic and more poison shots.

 

[JWK47]

Skink Clouds are probably the most competitive build the book can make in an uncomped environment. The key though is not to go full Skink (Slann and Scar Vets are crucial)

The list looks like

Super Slann or 2 Slann

2 Scar Vet Cowboys
1 or 2 Skink Priest scroll Caddies

Minimum Core consisting of minimum sized 1/2 skink skirmishers, 1/2 skink cohorts and sometimes a small unit of Saurus

3 Camo Skink units
3 Terradons

2 units of Salamanders

 

[SkinkyPants]

Hehe, I was the first to comment on your tournament results last night! Again, congrats.

Quick question though - how do you use the Skink Cohorts without any Krox? I was thinking of running a very similar list to the one you built, but wanted to have 1 or 2 bulky Skrox Units, instead of the Saurus Warriors. Will this work, or are Cohorts/ Saurus more flexible?

I saw that you already commented on my potential list as well (if I indeed decide to use a Saurus block). Thanks for the feedback!

Jeff, rather than answer here, you can post in my Skink Army list section, which you have kindly responded to. No need to double up on explanations!

 

[newscales]

Pure skinks can work for smaller point lists. can't even bring a slann unless you are 1100+. any big target will likely be blasted by a WM though. hunters are critical.