8th Ed. Lizardmen warmachine, what would it be like?

Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking along the lines of 'cannons cost X, but this needs power dice, and it can be blocked by dispel/MR'. I added the extra stuff because it seemed a bit boring in my early versions. I'll cut down some of the rules.

I like that. I feel for 200pts though, its not cost-effective compared to say Salamanders. 150 seems more reasonable, as that's around what you pay for a Level 2 w/gear.

Nah, that's easily handled. You just specifically state that it knows all the magic missiles and direct damage spells. It never rolls for its spells, it counts as a Level 2 for the purposes of casting and dispelling.

And that's a bad thing? GW doesn't release proper model support for all kinds of things. Proxying is inherent in this game, you can never mode everything completely.
Also, I think they would release a model for it. It's much simpler to make than any of the other 'magic cannon' kits. All you need is an obelisk or tower, chisel some glyphes into it, maybe have a crystal ball/array on top.


Anyway, after all that feedback, I think I have a better version for fresh criticism;

Bastions: Rare choice, 150 points

Toughness 8, 3 Wounds, no other stats

Special rules:

- Construct: Bastions never take Leadership tests, and automatically pass all characteristic tests.
- Immobile: Once deployed, a Bastion cannot be moved by either player for any reason (spell effects, abilities, special rules etc).
- Elemental Icon: A Bastion knows all the direct damage and magic missile spells from any one Lore in the main rulebook. All spells cast by a Bastion are considered bound spells, with a casting cost of 5+.
- Warding Glyphs: A Bastions has a 4+ ward save and Magic Resistance (2).
- Channeling: A friendly Slann within 24" may channel any of its spells through a Bastion. The Bastion is then treated as the point of origin for the spell, but any miscast results affect the Slann as per normal.

So, for the price of two Salamanders, you are getting a reasonably tough warmachine that shoots spells. The change from Level 2 to bound spells clears up any confusion regarding how it works (you spend power dice, it shoots spells, miscasts mean it can't shoot anymore, simple). Bound spells are also a cleaner mechanic (it stops shooting if you miscast) over some normal miscast results (lose Wizard levels, now it can't shoot for the rest of the game).

 

It's a great design, but I'd personally never use it. I'd be giving up precious power dice from my slann to buff all my units. My opponents have (finally) realized what a powerhouse a Slann is, and now chunk enormous amounts of power dice at him to stop whatever they can. I'd be alot more interested if it was a dual kit that had another version of the bastion, maybe a skink-driven warmachine.

 

I'm trying to come up with something equivalent to a war machine that a Central/South American Indian might have used on the field of combat. I'm really not getting anything, because they didn't have that sort of technology.

Honestly, a war altar that spawns jungle swarms in the middle of enemy regiments and/or fires lightning from a swirling vortex above it sounds far more like something the Lizardmen would actually use.

Perhaps we could get ranged Krozigors that either used atlatl (hand-held spear throwers) or thrown boulders. The atlatl spears would be aimed at specific targets and make armor like like swiss cheese, and the boulders would be meant for rolling through regiments when they landed. I'm not too sure of how to acheive the rolling boulder effect rules wise though.

I'll be happy if they just bring in the Thunder Lizards as a super-huge monster. Kind of like the Ork Stompa or Squiggoth from 40K.

 

I would love to see Krox chariot lol. Like a kroxigor pulling a cart type thing full of skinks

 

I just started to think about the casket of souls, and thought that it would be kinda cool to have something similar, with skink priest guarded by two kroxigors something ancient that the old ones left behind

 

Cool! Now I can cast Dwellers at a 5+! Awesome Sauce!
[/sarcasm]

Doubt it will ever happen that way. I'd keep it just as Magic Missile.