8th Ed. HELP provide a points cost for my custom Chaos Lord, Lady Valentia!

[Scalenex]

That sounds exciting! You absolutely should go through with that (and sooner rather than later). I'd be interested in reading the exact rules you come up with and your finished writeup.

My friend and I are pretty casual about adding house rules to our WHF games, but we did agree on limit. "If you are going to make a new unit, it needs to have a converted model to back it up."

So the biggest stumbling block is kitbashing a bolt thrower not writing the rules. My various bits and bobs are sitting in several boxes and not particularly well organized but I believe I have the spare bits to make two Giant Bows. If I want more, I have to buy another Stegadon.

That said, it's probably going to use the BRB Bolt Thrower rules verbatim, plus poison. Base skink stats for the crew. Maybe, give the Skink crew javelins for a stand and shoot if charged. That would cost a few points extra.

Probably use the base cost of a O&G plus ten points (for not having O&G misfires or animosity).

Would you be categorizing them as rare choice to represent the point you mentioned earlier: "Lizardmen aren't technically supposed to have war machines."?

I was leaning towards Special for purely selfish reasons. I very frequent max out my Rare points because I like Ancient Stegadons, Salamanders and even Razordons.

If it has to be Rare, I'll grin and bear it.

Do you have a back story as to how they came to be?

There is no in-universe fluff reason for "Lizardmen don't have war machines." It's just a game balance thing created by the game designers back in the old days when they pretended to care about game balance (I'm looking at you Hellcannons).

I don't have an epic backstory. I figure the Lizardmen can use them and should use them.

I figure if they could put a working giant bow on a Stegadon's back, they can build a stationary giant bow. After all, the radio and air conditioner was invented before the car radio and car AC was invented.

The only in-universe explanation I can think of for Lizardmen not using stationary giant bows is that they would be a pain in the ass to transport long distance but that sort of applies to all armies in history. A predatory dinosaur is certainly going to be a pain in the ass to transport long distances.

I also figure that Lizardmen walled cities and fortresses make heavy use of stationary giant bows. Assuming I ever play a Siege game again, I plan to use giant bows in them as an attacker or defender.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

If I want more, I have to buy another Stegadon.

Or if you want to make a bunch more, you can probably source the bits you need off of Ebay.

So the biggest stumbling block is kitbashing a bolt thrower not writing the rules.

I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise. You do a lot more writing than painting or converting.

I very frequent max out my Rare points because I like Ancient Stegadons, Salamanders and even Razordons.

I'm the same way for my WoC (Skullcrushers and Hellcanons) and my Chaos Dwarfs (K'daai Destoryers and Hellcannons). Salamanders are pretty badass and I must admit that I have a fondness for the Razordons even though supposedly they aren't mathematically all that great.

It's just a game balance thing created by the game designers back in the old days when they pretended to care about game balance (I'm looking at you Hellcannons).

You should have seen the first iteration of the Hellcannon, the one from the Storm of Chaos. It was BEASTLY!

There is no in-universe fluff reason for "Lizardmen don't have war machines.

The only in-universe explanation I can think of for Lizardmen not using stationary giant bows is that they would be a pain in the ass to transport long distance but that sort of applies to all armies in history.

Only in-universe thing I could add would be that Lustria itself is not all that conducive to war machine usage. Thick jungle terrain is quite different from open fields and grasslands with their long sightlines. Still, it's fun to break the mold. Maybe they are used to defend temple cities. Or maybe there are strategic clearings where they can be harnessed.