8th Ed. Are Spears Worth It?

I know this question has been asked many times over, but are spears really a good choice for Saurus?
I have 2 regs of 16, and I want to know if it is a good tactic to give them spears.
If not, then what is the best number of them for spears?

 

Units bigger than 20 are good candates for spears, smaller units should probaly go for hand weapons.

Edit: yea, yea so saving 1 out of 6 saurus from death after their 4+ AS is ok (6+ ward)
Personaly I would rather kill more of the enemy, typicaly I find killing the enemy is a better way to win a fight.

Also with spears wider units are better (6 or 7) as it greatly increases your number of attacks.
you could even go 8 wide against another 25mm based unit if your unit was deep enough.

Ps. basic handweapon Saurus work best with the lore of life Slann
while spear Saurus work best with a lore of light Slann.

 

Now I am not the most experienced lizardmen player out there, but I have played other armies and I can ascertain that spears for saurus warriors are not all that great. Saurus to me are not meant to kill off a whole unit by themselves. They have a good amount of attacks at a good strength but have a low WS and low Int compared to most armies. The extra rank of attacks is not worth the extra points.

The width of a saurus unit in my opinion should be 5 or 6, this way they keep steadfast longer. In a horde formation you will be attacking more, but they will break faster. So if you have spears in a unit with 5 frontage you only get 5 more WS 3 attacks, and in horde you get 10 (which is much better) but as I said, horde is not the best formation for saurus. Not only are the extra attacks not worth it, they lower your survivability (albeit a small effect) with spears you do not get the 6+ ward save parry.

Saurus will probably not kill a unit by themselves since they will most likely be hitting the front of another large unit, and the extra attacks probably will not make as much of a difference as your possible steadfast and parry saves. They need to survive long enough until they get a magic boost or get support from another unit.

 

I go wit units of eighteen with spears in ranks of five. The guys at the back die first turn before they can strike, but that doesn't matter, as they can't strike anyway. I effectively use them as spare wounds, as they can die without reducing the combat effectiveness of the unit.
The unit will then hit back with around twenty S4 attacks, which puts the fear of Tepok in any rank-and-file unit.

 

I also use spears. I always have some COC near for a finishing touch.

 

7th ed spears were definitely better by a loooong way, 8th ed seems to slightly favour hand weapon instead but based on the number of threads I've seen discussing it, and my own experience.. It really isn't going to win or lose you the game if you pick one over the other. The difference isn't really that much. In my army, I am going for one unit of spears and one unit of hand weapons so I have a bit of variety and am more equipped as an all-round list.

If it helps your decision, the hand weapons physically look absolutely awesome on saurus models. Thats what made me want to take some even in 7th ed!

 

I've kind of been a HW&S guys since I started Lizardmen, back in 6th ed. I just find them to be more survivable and with the new parry save they are really worth their points. The extra attack is just not worth it in my opinion.

 

Personally I like the regimented, uniform appearance of the Spear Saurus so I like to have them around for the aesthetics.

Game wise, the HW saurus got a huge boost this edition. Step Up, charge rules and supporting attacks really threw there weight on the side of HW.
Spears only got the buff of step up. Charging is the same as HW (obviously) but you get no benefits from the spears them selves when you do charge. Supporting attacks means the spears get an extra rank attacking but the same number of attacks as in 7th.

So on paper the HW is better now. On the tabletop it depends on gameplay. Have the spears if you play a defensive game and with a larger number of Saurus (25+ or so).