hello fellow lizards and a couple of questions

I'm from Oxford, England. I've been collecting 40k dark angels for about a year and fancied a change, so I bought the lizard army book and a ton of models. I've been borrowing the brb when I can and am wondering if i should buy a copy for myself or get island of blood? If I were to start another army it would probably be undead, so...

As a beginner, how important is a bsb? I've heard so many different arguments

I've been considering making a paint log as I really enjoy reading other peoples, and its a great way to get feedback and tips, it might also help me to focus on finishing units rather than painting random bits of the whole army and getting nowhere. But would anyone actually be interested in yet another load of blue lizardmen?

And finally, does everyone's front rank (especially standard bearers) fall over all the time? I've started glueing stones and gravel all over them, is there something I'm missing or is this standard?

Thanks in advance to anyone who answers one or more of these

 

Hi and welcome.

Island of blood is not a bad way to get the BRB and dice/templates etc as you can usually offload the minis on ebay for a reasonable chunk of the cost of IoB anywhere, some people manage to make a profit on splitting and selling IoB (and Dark Vengeance for that matter).

BSBs are very useful but particularly if you have a lot of low leadership models as they grant a re roll of failed tests (within a certain range of the BSB) also they give you extra combat res if they are in a big combat block (which is static combat res so always good). Usually I would say you have to have a specific reason not to include one rather than a reason to include one. As a side note they don't have to be a points sink with a magic banner, I field mine without a magic banner 9 times out of 10 as I only want the BSB effects rather than anything you get from a magic banner.

People are always interested to see other peoples painting, everyone does something slightly different so you never see quite the same thing.

Front ranks quite often fail over so it is pretty normal. What a lot of people do is magnetize the bases and the trays so that doesn't happen and it is much easier to transport your army ranked up. I'm sure there is a tutorial on here somewhere for doing that but I haven't got the 5 minutes to check at the moment. If you can't find one give me a shout and I'll happily explain how to do it.

 

Welcome to the jungle!

As others have said, getting a used copy of the BRB is a good thing. Whether you get the small version from IoB or the big version with the fluff, having the rules handy during a game always helps me when I forget a rule or need to clarify something during the game. I like the fluff in Warhammer. The fluff helps bring the game alive to me, so I personally like the big book.

I use a BSB in all but very low point games. I normally keep my General and BSB as separate units. Even with the Cold-Blooded rule, having that extra reroll for leadership tests and the extra point of combat res is always helpful.

Yes, please make a paint log! I really enjoy seeing the Lizardmen that others paint. There are some great color schemes, and none of the blue lizards in the paint logs look exactly the same. I look forward to seeing yours!

Yes, my standard bearers especially fall over, and some of my heroes with great weapons tend to be a little front heavy. I use the movement trays with raised edges, and I also put gravel and some static grass on the bases of my minis. The falling over is not a big issue except when I am sometimes moving the trays.

Oh, and in 40K I am an Ultramarines man!

 

Thank you all very much. I shall try and post something tomorrow then.