hello fellow lizards!

Now, this is the story all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute just sit right there
I'll tell you how I became a newly lizardmen player...

alright all jokes aside, i am an avid warhammer fantasy player, playing Vampire counts at the moment, and i felt like getting a new race ( although i started beastmen before that, and even empire and orcs before that...you get the picture). I had my eye on the lizardmen for quite some time, but decided to go with Daemons of Chaos for some reason, got back to my senses and got me my first lizardmen unit, after reading a very helpful guide that you guys have up here. I have purchased and Saurus Oldblood and a box of Saurus cavalry, now when i arrived home i think i misread what was posted and should of purchased Saurus warriors? i will be ordering the battalion shortly with the codex of course, we usually play games around 1500 to 2000 pts, so what would be your suggestions to have an all mighty powerful army...?

thanks !!

 

I was in the same boat as you when I first got here a few months back. I'm still not very experienced as a player. I have now played three real games and won one game and drew the other two. No losses yet. Although I read almost everyone's opions (here on these forums) on army lists and tactics. And I have come up with a few starter tips that will save you hours of reading. And I hope you find them to be helpful.

1. You need to buy more saurus warriors.

Most lists and people seem to run them in units of 25-40. Normally two groups split evenly. When it comes to expanding your army, you can almost never have enough of these things.

2. The only unit that is 95% useless is the skink chief. Everything else is safe to buy.

Almost everyone finds them to be completely useless, competitively speaking. Some people find uses for them like adding them to a skrox (mixed unit of krox and skinks). Magic attacks in low piont matchs vs VC and such. But most people say they plain suck and almost no tournament lists include them. Though they are just fine for casual play. But probably not worth the pionts.

3. Don't run temple gaurd without a slann.

Unless thier slightly larger numbers give you some sort of extreme tactical advantage over the saurus warriors, most threads say they aren't worth the extra pionts without the slann in the ranks to bring the unit rediculous buffs.

4. Slann's are the only magic unit in the army that can use a lore other than the lore of heavens.

Certainly one of, if not the most powerful caster aside from special characters in any army.
Most popular lores in order: Life (by far), Light, Death, and Shadow. Almost all lists over 2000pts have a slann and run temple gaurd with the slann. (20 TG is standard)

5. Purple Sun sucks.

Watch yourself. Spell 6 in the Lore of Death is no joke. Level 1 skink priests are really good at halling around heavy dispell scrolls that would otherwise fill the hands of more useful models.

6. Almost everyone here prefers salamanders to razordons.

If there was one unit that sees less play than a skink cheif it would be either the razordon or jungle swarms. Razordons aren't without use though. Big models and low armor are a good bet for razordons. Deamons of Choas for example. Jungle swarms are a decent tar pit. They can gum things up pretty well. Not many units in the 1500-2000 point range can dish out 15 wounds in a timely manner.

7. Cold one Cavalry. Since you will have a large number of them after your battalion box. I'll give a tip.

They make great flank protectors from what I have read. Put a champion in the unit and maybe a hero or lord choice and they supply your army with some high strenght hits that are really hard to come by in the Lizardmen army. As well as making an excellent hammer to the hammer and anvil strategy. Take the role of skrox uinits.

8. Most Importantly, this place is a wealth of knowledge.

Almost all questions I have asked I found later in the pages of these threads. Reading as many as possible really gives you all the information you need about the inner workings of the lizardmen. The only time I feel like I don't know what I'm doing is at the table and I don't know much about the army I'm up against. There are a lot of "help against ____" threads. Reading them helps, but none can really give you all the information to the piont that you know all the ins and outs. Know your army list and play it the way it was built to be played. Mistakes will be made, but as long as you fallow the fundamental strategy, you should enf up in a better spot than you deserve. THe games that ended in a draw, I made some major mistakes that should have cost me the games. But lizardmen are solid. And even with many mistakes, they aren't easy to bring down.
Hope some of this helps.

 

Wow, thanks for the heads up! really helpful, so if i want to make a 1500pts army, what should i do to make the biggest bang?

like i stated before i am getting the battalion and i can probably exchange my saurus cavalry for some saurus warriors, i dont have the book yet so its hard to prepare an army, i dont really know the heroes or lords, i really like the "toad" sitting on a chair (?) i guess he's a type of mage? would i be better off not buying the battalion and just getting boxes of saurus warriors and couple specials?
thanks again!

 

Glad you like the toad. That is the "Slann" that makes it into almost every list. You'll need at least 2000pts to run that sucker though.

Start out with two even blocks of 16 saurus. (since they come in a box of 16) Even blocks of 24 would be better if you can get 3 boxes of them. I'd run your CoC (Cold One Cavalry) as a flank defender with a possible hero(general w/ great wep) on it. 2-3 units of 10 skink skirmishers for range and to act as screens vs HE and shooty stuff plus to bring down the big monsters. A skink preist or two one with the Diadem of power. And a couple (2) salamanders to stick in front of cannons till you get your hands on some cameleons. I always bring the extra handler to make sure they can't eat all my handlers on a single misfire. 1/6 chance to misfire.

 

ok, so heres what i am about to purchase,

Battalion
+ box of saurus warriors

i already have an oldblood and a box of saurus cavalry, would you suggest me to exchange my CoC for some SW instead?

 

I am not a fan of the CoC. Though they are useful and you'll get 5 more in your battalion either way. It's more a preference than a question of what is better. If you like what they look like, keep them. If not, exchange them and you'll get 5 in your battalion.

Something to consider before you decide to exchange though; If you were thinking about what i said earlier and wanted to add a lot of heros and a lord to the unit of CoC you'll need more than 5 models to meet the min unit size. If you plan to run your scar-vet on a carnisour or on foot, no need for the CoC. CoC loaded with characters make one of the best hammers if you are familiar with the hammer and anvil strategy. Run them into a flank of almost anything and they'll be in a world of hurt. Piont hog though. If you do decide to exchange them no worries, a stegadon that survives long enough to smash a flank does a fine job for a lot less pionts. And a skrox unit does pretty good work for even less points in most cases, and the skrox and steg come with ranged attacks that only sweeten the deal.