New to Warhammer please help

[Crowsfoot]

Morning guys, if this is in the wrong section please move it.

I used to paint minis around 25 years ago but never gamed with them, my son aged 8 is wanting to start painting and gaming so I have bought the Island of blood set to get us going.

He wants to play high elves but I have always loved lizardmen and want to play these, so far I have bought,

the army codex,
8 cold one riders,
10 temple guard,
10 saurus warriors,
1 saurus oldblood

mostly off ebay but what should I add to be around the same points as the high elves from IOB set?
Im going to build both the high elves and lizardmen into 2500 point armies as we progress, and im loving painting again.

Any help will be appreciated.

Edit: After a bit of internet digging I found the High elves from IOB set are around 750 points without the Griffion as he is illegal until 1500 points, and I think my lizardmen are around 750 points atm.

 

[Kblock]

Welcome to you and your son! It seems that you already have the points total figured out. I also enjoy the painting aspect of the game as much as the playing aspect. I also introduced my sons to Warhammer and it is a great way to spend some time with the kids.

 

[n810]

MORE Saurus,
and lots more Skinks
a skink priest or 2.
and eventualy a Slan,

 

[Crowsfoot]

Cheers guys,

I managed to win a Battalion of ebay so now have more warriors, temple guard, cold ones and some skinks it also comes with an oldone which I can paint and maybe convert into a scar vet?

Will add some pics in the threads when I get some painted.

 

[Scalenex]

Welcome to the forums! I would have liked to play with my dad but he never cared for fantasy gaming.

With your 1 2/3 battalion boxes. You are pretty set. I'd echo N810. You probably want at least 20 Skinks to start with.
You need a Scar Veteran or Skink Priest to serve as general starting out. Once you hit 1000 points, you'll want a BSB as well. Saurus BSB are the norm for games south of 1500 points. If you aren't using Temple Guard, a Temple Guard Standard Bearer a stand in as a BSB while you build up your models. As you build up characters you'll probably want to add some Saurus Cowboys (you can do some conversions or kitbashing to characterize a Cold One Rider or two from the Battalion box).

As you get to 2500 you will probably want a Slann or a Carnosaur. If you don't want to buy every LM model, I would suggest proxying Slann and Carnosaur so you can figure out which one suits your playstyle better before dumping a pile of money on one of the lord options. You'll probably want some dinosaurs. It's up to personal preference whether you prefer big dinos like Stegadons and Bastiladons or smaller dinos like Terradons, Rippers, Sallies, and Razordons. Salamanders are probably the best anti-Elf dinosaur. I would avoid Troglodons in armies smaller than 3000 points. Swarms are underwhelming units on the whole but you can glue the snake sprues that come with Cold One Riders to 40 mm bases and field jungle swarms for practically nothing in terms of dollars.

Check out the Tactica Index for more goodies. It's linked in my signature.

As for your son's collection, I will share my limited wisdom on High Elves. Generally you should get as close to 25% as possible. High Elves have great Specials and Rares but there Core is underwhelming compared to the rest of the army. The norm is a mix of spearmen and archers. Generally if your Special and Rare are geared towards heavy hitting infantry, you should take mostly Core archers. If your Specials and Rares are geared towards shooters and cavlary, I would advise taking mostly Core spearmen. Ellryrian Reavers are good for redirecting non-Lizardmen. Against LM Reavers make a great Skink killer.

Phoenix Guard and White Lions are a tough anti-LM units. Sword Masters are pretty potent, but LM shooting can them down fairly easily. Eagles are the best redirectors in all of WHF but against LM they have the weakness of being really vulnerable to Skink shooting. The nice thing about HEs is there really are no bad choices in Specials and Rares as the list is pretty balanced. The exception is Phoenixes. Frostheart Phoenixes are easily the best stand alone unit the High Elves can take. Flamespyre Phoenixes are subpar. I'd give Rothgar's High Elf Handbook a look

 

[Crowsfoot]

Wow great detailed answer, I won some skinks and a couple of skink priests so im well happy, I also won 20 He archers and 20 HE spearmen with full command so both armies are coming on.

Im letting my son paint all the HE as it's his army, got loads of LM to paint can't wait, cheers guys for the warm welcome I will be posting alot as I know nothing about gaming!

 

[Crowsfoot]

Oh and whats a sarus cowboy?

 

[Scalenex]

Oh and whats a sarus cowboy?

Oops, usually I try to avoid Lustrian slang with new members. A cowboy refers to a Saurus Oldblood or Saurus Scar Veteran that rides a Cold One. They are a powerful unit for their points cost and are versatile enough to fit in almost every different type of list.

If run across a term you aren't familar with, check out this glossary which is located at the top of the general discussion forum, but never be afraid to ask questions.

 

[Crowsfoot]

Once again thank you