Hey everyone. Been considering getting into Lizardmen for a while, with the arrival of 8th edition I'm seeing a lot of positives for the army (good basic infantry, excellent wizard, cool units and items). Also, being a 40k player, I like the allusions the background makes to higher powers creating the Lizardmen to 'take care of things' until they return. Plus, an army of dinosaurs is always awesome. So, with that in mind, here is what I'm considering for my full army. Naturally, it would change depending on the points level, but this is what I envision fielding at 3,000pts (I find small games frustrating, because you are kinda forced to field certain units, and some of the more awesome combo's are harder to pull off). Lords: Old Blood w/Blade of Realities, Jaguar Charm, shield, light armour Slann w 'Focus of Mystery', 'Focused Rumination', Bane Head, Cupped Hands of the Old Ones, BSB, Banner of Eternal Flame, Lore of Light Heroes: Scar-Veteran w/Gold Sigil Sword, Enchanted Shield, Dragonbane Gem Scar-Veteran w/Burning Blade, Dragonhelm, light armour, Potion of Speed Engine of the Gods w/Level 2 Skink Priest, Plaque of Tepok Core: (2) 18 x Saurus w/hand weapon+shield, musician, standard bearer (4) 10 x Skink Skirmshers w/blowpipes Special: 16 x Temple Guard, standard, musician (2) 4 x Terradons Rare: (2) 3 Salamanders Tactics: - Old Blood: Pretty awesome statline, so he's the best choice for the Blade of Realities. Even with a decrease in uber-characters and deathstars (cos of composition restrictions), it's still awesome to completely bypass all defensive measures and one-shot people. (His background is that he is the most dedicated enforcer of all the Saurus in the city, intensely xenophobic towards outsiders. His master granted him the Blade of Realities as a gift, so that he might better slay Daemons, who remain a constant threat to the city). With the Jaguar Charm, I can reposition him where he's needed, and use him almost like an interceptor missile. He will most likely be attached to the Temple Guard, so he can stay close to the Slann when it hands out buff powers. - Slann: Obviously, he'll be rolling with the Temple Guard, in a phalanx with the Saurus protecting the flanks. Banner of Eternal Flame will make the Temple Guard lethal against models reliant on Regeneration (like Undead). - Scar Veterans: These guys will attach to the Saurus blocks and provide support. Both of them have good armour and an excellent defense against Flame attacks (my background for them is they are a lone twin spawning, coinciding with the arrival of a wounded drake in their city. Tli is the one who actually killed the monster, and now wears it's skull, Zec killed its Dark Elf rider and now wields its sword. They act as lieutenants to Kor Xa, seeking out the most deadly monsters and heroes to slay). I'm still amazed at how cheap these guys are for what they do. Were I not fielding an Engine of the Gods, I might consider taking another two to further improve the hitting power of the Saurus. - EotG: I love the model and the rules for this thing, so despite it's high cost and vulnerability to warmachines I'm taking it. The defensive aura it gives off will help keep the phalanx alive I hope, and when battle is joined it can rack up a lot of kills at close range with the 'Burning Conflagration'. The Skink Priest is not so bad as a caster, knowing three spells and at Lvl2. I'll just have to figure out what he'll do at the start of each battle (unlike Slann he has to roll for his spells), but the Lore of Heavens has some pretty decent spells now. - Saurus: Mainstay of any Lizardmen army, and from what I can tell spears aren't what they used to be, so hand weapon+shield it is. They'll hang around the Temple Guard block so to benefit from the Slann buffs (both normal and magical) and hopefully tie up dangerous units until the Slann or EotG nukes them. - Skinks: I've seen a lot of debate about Kroxigors mixed in, the merits of normal Skink units as assault units. In my mind, T2 models aren't going to stick around long, and Kroxigors seem kinda expensive when compared to Saurus. Blowpipes still seem pretty awesome and straightforward, cause a heap of wounds and the enemy will fall over. Multiple small units lets me string them out in staggered formations to block flank attacks on the Saurus, and also potentially shield the Salamanders from getting tied up in close-combat. - Temple Guard: Pretty awesome for what they do, not much has changed here really. I was considering a 20-strong unit, but after considering how much space the Slann will take up, I cut out four of them. - Terradons: I figure these will be good warmachine hunters, with their ability to drop a big pile of S4 deep in enemy lines. Rather like the Skinks, I don't expect them to stick around for much longer after that, so they're pretty sacrificial. - Salamanders: Downright terrifying how much death these guys can rack up on big light infantry blocks, and even heavy infantry won't like getting set on fire. I figure if they do get tied up in close-combat, it'll be better if they're in packs, as they can take more damage and not get picked off one by one. The idea here will be to send a pack up each flank in conjunction with the Skinks, to provide fire support (literally lol). Hopefully they can also tie up enemy flank attacks on the Saurus, allowing me time to reposition and then either counter-charge or nuke with Slann/EotG.
The list looks like it would be pretty fun to play and could work out well if used correctly. A few things stuck out though that I'm not sure if they would fly or not. I don't see how EOTG is giving your priest lvl3 or 4 spells. Most I think you can get with him is lvl 2, plague of tepok (extra spell), and +1 to casting and dispel attempts thanks to the engine. Also I'm not sure if you can take 3 of any special or rare unit (salamanders). If I remember correctly it caps at 2 for any unit so that you cant field 7 units of 5 terradons or something to that effect. However you could use 2 sallies for your flanks and take a razordon pack to protect your EoTG from any nasty chargers and hide behind them some to get off the burning alignment. Just a few tidbits. Solid choices all around though, and the fluff behind the characters you'd like to play is always fun to have and makes the game more personalized. For this set up I'd run lore of Fire for offensive magic, or lore of Life for Defensive. Could also sub lore of Death as offensive for character killing as sallies + EoTG will take out many weaker troops. Happy Gaming, -Chicken Basket
Chicken Basket is right, your EOTG priest will only have 3 spells. And you are limited to 2 of any rare and 3 of any special (until you play 3001+, then its 4 and 6). So you can only have a max of 2 packs of 3. War drums are pretty overkill on the slann as now if you pass a LD test you aren't march blocked. And with LD9 and cold-blooded you will rarely fail. The only problem I see is the lack of war machine hunters. At 3k you can be pretty sure you will see a lot of war machines in peoples lists. So think chameleon skinks or terradons.
Thanks for the feedback guys. Don't worry, I was misreading the unit entry. He is still a Lvl 2, and with the Plaque he has three spells, and as you say +1 to casting and dispel. Yeah, pretty much my plan. I don't know how long the Skinks will last against flank chargers, probably only enough time for me to reposition things. But yeah, a Salamander pack might actually tie up an enemy assault long enough for the Burning Alignment or Slann to nuke them. How are people finding Razordons in 8th? They can put out a fair amount of shots, but how does their stand and shoot bonus work? F Pretty much my impression of the Lores as well. Does Lore of Light or Lore of Beasts have much merit in this kind of army? Ah ok, another thing I missed when reading the rules. I'll modify things accordingly. I'll get rid of that too. Any items worth adding to the Slann in its place? I'm a little unsure about Chameleon Skinks, they seem a little costly for what they do. Terradons look pretty good though, Drop Rocks would cause plenty of damage. What unit size would be best for them? I'll have points to spare after dropping the third Salamander pack. I'll make some changes to the original post. Tell me what you think.
Razordons in 8th didn't get a boost, and didn't get a nerf. That said I rarely if ever fielded them in 7th and will likely never field them in 8th. But some like them so give it a shot if you have the points, but personally there are better uses of point imo. Lore of light could work pretty well, beasts could go either way, Honestly I need to play some games with each lore to truly get a feel for them. Check some other posts to see the general uses of each new lore. Well I missed it before but you can;t have bane head and War Drums anyways because they are both enchanted items. Bane head and Cupped hands are good, you don't need to use all 100 points Unit size for terradons are typically between 3-5 depending on how you want to run them. Any bigger is pretty unwieldy. Chameleon skinks are actually really good as scouts got a boost in 8th, you can lave them within 12" of the enemy after they have deployed and get poison shots off at their war machines, lone characters etc.... on the first turn.
Yeah. I got the impression from reading tacticas and army lists that people always picked Salamanders over them anyway. True, well it's gone now anyway. I've decided on two packs of 4, should be right then. Ah ok. Might count-as with a pack of normal Skinks when I playest with some mates, see how they fare. I already have a boatload of poision shots though, so just seems a little redundant.
They may seem a bit redundant but harassing war machines from the first turn on is priceless, and is more likely to get the rest of those poison shots across the board intact. You are forcing them to think about what your chameleons are doing versus worrying about the rest of your army. Play testing and proxying with your mates is the best course for all units you are considering. I am just stating what I like to play with and what fits my style. But to each their own, so figure out what you like playing with and adjust accordingly.