Howdy folks! I considered whether I should be posting this in the army list section, but thought it'd be more convenient over here, since I'm not particularly referring to an army list per se but more to what I currently have. I've my army for about a year and a half now, buying bits and pieces here and there, playing with what I've had so far. The problem is, I get completely wasted most of the times. Recently played a friend of mine who collects Dwarves, and he simply annihilated me with this 'reroll-on-missfire' cannons. Allow me first of all to share what I currently have available: 1x Stegadon 1x (20) Saurus Warriors 1x (16) Saurus Warriors w/ spears 1x (10) Temple Guards 1x Slan 12x Skink Skirmishers 24 Regular Skinks + 3 Kroxxigors 8x Cold Ones Cavalry 3x Terradons 1x Salamander That's pretty much it, I think. My army is simply way too weak at the moment, and I'm hoping somebody will be able to advise me as to what I should definitely get that will solidify my force as a whole. Personally, I find the unit with 24x Skinks and 3x Kroxies completly useless, even as cannon fodder. In all the games I've played it was either chased away or simply slaughtered on sight, even if it was the one to get the charge. I plan on getting rid of it completely, and make room for something that will give me more benefits in exchange. I'm definitely planning to increase the Saurus Warriors units, or even add an extra one. Maybe more Temple Guards will also do the trick. Chamelon Skinks are soething I'm most definitely willing to add, a full unit of them. Think about it for a bit and please get back to me with some feedback, if possible. I'd really appreciate any kind of help =) Thanks in advance!
Not sure why your Skrox unit isn't holding steadfast against the Dwarfs. Are you saying that it's panicing from shooting? If you could describe what's going wrong we could help you better.
I find that a skrox unit is very useful. What lore are you using with your Slann? Personally, I use Lore of Life and make sure I get Throne of Vines casted. Then I buff my Skrox unit with Flesh To Stone, giving the entire unit a +4 buff to their toughness makikng them a force to reckon with. Added in Fear (caused by Krox's) and their Great Reach.. all packs a pretty strong punch especially vs. moderate warriors and other low strength units. WIth a movement of 6, you can get them into position fairly decent. Also, depending on your play style, you may think about dropping your CoC for another Sali pack and some buffs. CoC seems to be hit or miss in 8th edition. I've had some successful hits with it on enemy unit's flanks. However, as heavily armed as Dwarves are, flame attacks are pretty nasty from Sali's.. getting a -3 to their armour save hurts them well.
CoC is hit and miss alright. I'll definitely get rid of it. I was considering getting 3 more terradons, although I find them a bit weak overall. Great for flanking and going for cannons/warmachines. I'll defo add the Chamelon Skinks to the army, and more Sallys/Razordons. I have to admit I'm quite an amateur player. I've been using Lore of Shadow in my matches, and I can see where you're coming from. I will certainly try Lore of Life for the buff, should I choose to run that unit again. I'd be leaning towards trying something else though. As I said, perhaps extra Temple Guardsmen and SW's to the units I currently have would do the trick. I'd have to go through points and all to make sure I can accommodate all the changes suggested. Furthermore, although I like the stegadon buff with the Enfine of Gods, I was considering dropping it for something else. Now, for the matchup vs. dwarves, would you guys have any particular tips to offer? The cannons are what fuck me up every time. My spells get dispelled and the cannons blow the shit out of my units as they move forward. Is there anything in particular I can do to protect my units from the cannonballs?
Poison works very well against war mahcines. My suggestion is either get your Terradons to the cannon or deploying (if possible) a unit of chameleon skinks (as scouts) near it and unleash a bunch of darts. Also, if you are having problems getting spells dispelled (as this is a Rune Priest's major ability), I would suggest looking at Cupped Hands (pg 102 Lizard book) or do specific spell targeting. Im sure there are several others who can offer even more suggestions.
I probably wouldn't get rid of anything as most of what you have been having trouble with is either usable as something else or will be buffed in the next edition. Some of it is also better against other opponents than dwarfs, LM have trouble against dwarfs because the match ups aren't good. Re. dwarfs: the need to have a clear space in the middle of the board has gone, so put a BIG hill there to block line of sight for his cannons and other shooters. If he puts a hill in his deployment zone put a piece of terrain on the hill or somewhere it will block LOS from the to the key parts of the battlefield. Make a lot of low wall terrain pieces and put them 8" in front of where you plan to put saurus/TG to give them cover while they advance. Your jav skinks you are using as the skinks in your krox unit you can use as javelin skirmishers, the krox as normal krox. Remember that according to the latest FAQs that skrox units cause fear so in the remote chance that the dwarfs fail their leadership they will find it harder to hit you. Cold one cavalry can be used as mounted scar vets or old bloods although not perfect against cannons as they lose their LOS roll. Sallies are currently good and razordons bad, so get sallies now and wait for next edition before going for sallies. Life is generally considered the best lore for your slann, closely followed by Light as buffing spells counteract our troops main weaknesses. Consider taking a priest as there are Heavens spells that affect warmachines. As others have mentioned the Cupped Hands is good for a life slann and even better for other lores. Also consider which big spells are best against dwarfs and consider going with that Lore, with cupped hands you should be able to get it off with 7 dice twice at least as the first one should be saved by cupped hands if it miscasts.
I certainly would not get rid of anything. That always comes back later to bite you in the ass...usually hard. It is very difficult to get on a forum and ask people..."why doesn't my army win." One unit that works for someone may or may not work well for you. It depends on playing style. I personally love Cold One Cav with a SV. They will break base infantry from the front, move fast and have great armor saves. IMO Skinks in CC are absolute crap. T2, WS2 javelin carrying close combat troops simply get their asses crushed. Kroxigors will do better without the skinks. Skinks simply take too many wounds to be viable against a competent opponent. Take the 315+ pts from the Skrox unit and just take kroxigors or saurus. Compare the damage and combat effectiveness of the kroxigor unit or saurus unit vs the skrox unit and there simply is no comparison. Skinks suck. The few hits the kroxigor get are totally offest by the casualties the skinks take. While you could be "steadfast" the initial round of combat...soon you wont be due to mass casualties of the skinks. then the 3 kroxigors will break and probably be run down. (hopefully they make a cohort more along the lines of the empire spearman in the next book) For my style of play, the best close combat unit is spear saurus. But this fits my style of play. Everyone plays different. Do not try to run someone else's army. proxy proxy proxy until you develop a style and army that you are successful with!! My army is very effective. my win percentage is almost 100% since 6th edition. the LM army (at the points we play) is definitely a top tier army. Again. proxy units (try new things) until you find a style and army composition that works for you!!!
Thanks everyone for your kind and constructive replies! One question remains though. Jungle Swarms: YAY or NAY? I personally never seen anyone use them, and was wondering how effective they can be - if at all.
Swarms used to be great a couple of versions ago, in 6th LM had a choice of 2 types of swarm with different characteristics and had a great trick with Tehenhauin when he was still Tinihuini where he could summon a swarm and instacharge it into the rear of a unit. Current swarms are both overpriced and cannot do the job they were designed for. They are supposed to be weak but unbreakable units that the enemy has to take time to kill because they don't run away. But with the swarm crumble rule, your swarm units generally instadie, making good enemy units faster as they get charge move plus an overrun move when they kill your swarm first turn. We will have to wait for either a points drop for swarms in the next book or more usable swarm rules in 9th edition before it is worthwhile taking swarms again.
I'd try convert that steg into EoTG because of 2 reasons: 5+ ward at 12 inches+ with plaque of teapok u have a fair chance to get commet of casadora. If u land a comet dawrves usually explode and the ward save will help you get close and finish them off.