8th Ed. Prospective Player

[Vaush]

Hi, I apologize up front if I end up rambling a little bit. I recently discovered there was a Warhammer Club in my town. I hadn't played in almost 18 years. So I got to play few new games of 40K 6th Edition with my old Space Marines. But they also play Warhammer Fantasy. And that seems to intrigue me more than playing 40K again.

I am having the worst time trying to decide which army I want to start with. I have borrowed a copy of the rule book. And been reading through it. And from what I can piece together the only Armies that seem to strike my fancy are Warriors of Chaos, Lizard Men and Ogre Kingdoms.

The club players are Warriors of Chaos, Vampire Counts, Tomb Kings, Daemons of Chaos, Dwarves and Ogre Kingdoms. They are ok with duplicates. But I wouldn't mind having something different. I enjoy the playing as well as the painting and modeling aspects. So that makes it doubly difficult for me, I want something I enjoy painting as well as playing. And cheaper cost doesn't always hurt.

I've discovered that Lizard Men and Ogres seem to have fantastic web sites to learn and ask questions.

I seem to be beginning to wrap my head around some aspects of the Lizards. They seem to play as two different armies to me, between the Skinks and the Saurus' With one being highly maneuverable and the other being the heavy hitters or defensive cores. The Skinks seem to be disposable harrasment units that have some bite to them, unlike Chaos Warhounds or Ogre Sabretusks (Although the tusks seem to better than the Warhounds)

The aspects of Chaos I like are the monsters, and what seems to be a lot of variation in how the four marked units can play. As for Ogres they just look like fun, easy to paint and would theme well. And they seem to have a lot of useful units. And OK seem to be the cheapest army to get into.

Now to go into some of my background I did play a hell of a lot of Battletech back in the 80s. And I grew to enjoy playing the light and medium mechs. Being fast and maneuverable and beating larger and heavier mechs. When everyone else seemed to like being the big heavies. And this strikes me as how the Skinks play. But they are backed up by the Saurus and other units. You can't ignore them, but if you focus on them the big guys are gonna hammer you.

So I guess this has been a huge block of text, and my understanding could be off. But a few specific questions maybe that I'm finding hard to sort out..

If I understand skirmishers right they basically have 360 movement but need to face where they want to shoot/charge/fight??

They are able to march move and still shoot?? And it seems Javelins and shields are better than Blowpipes to hit with??

Poison seems to be a great equalizer for their weak melee capability.

If they do get charged, you can always flee and if you get away rally next turn to move and continue shooting and harassing??

A few at the club are planning to do a mail order early this week, so I have been wracking my brain to decide what I want to pick up. With a group buy it will save cash. So I'm looking at getting upwards of 2000 to 2500 points worth. If I only need a few things at retail it won't hurt too bad without the online discount. That would give me time to paint and prepare. I need to get my own rulebook along with this.

I hope this makes some sense =)

Thanks everyone!

 

[Kharn The Betrayer]

Trust me. I have owned chaos space marines, tyranids, and I used my friends tomb king army for months, but this is still my favorite army by far . I'll tell you why.

1) the sky is the limit for lizardmen themes and paint schemes.

2) your general can be the deadliest wizard on the field, or a vicous killer that can Stand toe to toe with 95% of other generals and win

3) nothing feels better than killing elite units with T2 guys

4) who doesn't want to ride a dinosaur to war?

5) lizardmen have great lore

6) im sure everyone will be greatful to see a new army on the table

7) lizardmen have a very unique and fun play style

8) there are litterally like 6 different army's the lizardmen can field

Also, seems like you're pretty much spot on w/ skirmishers, and yea I'd take javelins.

Good luck, hopefully you will decide to join our ranks soon, tell me if I missed anything.


Welcome to the jungle.

 

[Vaush]

Trust me. I have owned chaos space marines, tyranids, and I used my friends tomb king army for months, but this is still my favorite army by far . I'll tell you why.

1) the sky is the limit for lizardmen themes and paint schemes.

2) your general can be the deadliest wizard on the field, or a vicous killer that can Stand toe to toe with 95% of other generals and win

You mean the difference between the Slaan and the Old Bloods, one for Combat and the other for Magic.

3) nothing feels better than killing elite units with T2 guys

lol.. Yes I think that was what I was getting at with the Battletech reference. I used to love showing people that just because I was running a Spider and they had 80 tonners didn't mean I was going to lose. Or lose easily.

4) who doesn't want to ride a dinosaur to war?

I always loved Dinosaurs as a kid

5) lizardmen have great lore

6) im sure everyone will be greatful to see a new army on the table

lol again, that's what the VC player said basically. Hardly anyone in our area play them I guess. And locally just the ones I listed at the club

7) lizardmen have a very unique and fun play style

That's what it's looking like, I know I've been flip flopping from week to week on my decision as I learn more. Had we ordered a few weeks ago it could have been Chaos or Ogres depending in the week. I just started digging into Lizardmen really this past week. And only the last couole days it seems I've started wrapping my head around that they seem to be able to play so different from the others. With the Skink forces being so flexible in movement, and yet having some real bite.

8) there are litterally like 6 different army's the lizardmen can field

I just found the post here with the breakdown on army styles. Going to read it next

Also, seems like you're pretty much spot on w/ skirmishers, and yea I'd take javelins.

Good luck, hopefully you will decide to join our ranks soon, tell me if I missed anything.

Thanks, so far with what I'm learning the only real killer is some kits are so expensive, and not many options on Ebay at the moment.

Thanks for your advice.


Welcome to the jungle.

 

[Dreyer]

Welcome to the greatest army ever!

Skinks are indeed awesome, they can perform multiple roles and are cheap enough that you can sacrifice them if you feel like it. Javelins are nice but so are blowpipes and you dont need to choose you can just field both!
if you flee with them you cant move and or shoot the next turn but a lot of the time its still worth it just to leave the enemy stranded. Another favourite of mine is running a unit of skinks up at an angle in front of lets say bloodletters and just start burning them with salamanders, next turn they cant charge your salamanders but need to charge your skinks which gives you another turn of safe blasting away.

Lizardmen is a really solid army and quite beginner friendly, we have good leadership and you get to participate in every phase in the game. We have the greatest wizard not to mention freaking dinosaurs!

 

[Vaush]

I should also ask, whats the opinion on the Stegadons?? There seems to be a few flavors of them. I like my monsters, that was the big draw to Chaos.

The vibe I'm getting is that the Steg is just there. Doesn't seem to be great or bad. Beyond the EotG how are they just with the Bolt thrower and just a combat monster.

And while I'm asking I assume the Carnosaur is the combat leader if you don't go Magic with the Slaan. How is he usually??

That was another draw for me with the Lizards. Having access to all the Magic. Where as the Ogres and Chaos only have a handful to pick from, although no less powerful. But just few choices when I like the sound of Lore of Light and Life.

 

[Vaush]

Welcome to the greatest army ever!


Lizardmen is a really solid army and quite beginner friendly, we have good leadership and you get to participate in every phase in the game. We have the greatest wizard not to mention freaking dinosaurs!

Thanks,

I'm also getting the impression that they can be a good 'Defensive' army. Which would be good for me to learn the rules and the game in general. Before I get crazy and start doing something different.

Going back to Btech again I also used to like the big heavies and stuff. But once I had the game down pat, I started to field the light stuff and just show people there was more to playing that. And you could win reliably that was too.

 

[Dreyer]

Welcome to the greatest army ever!


Lizardmen is a really solid army and quite beginner friendly, we have good leadership and you get to participate in every phase in the game. We have the greatest wizard not to mention freaking dinosaurs!

Thanks,

I'm also getting the impression that they can be a good 'Defensive' army. Which would be good for me to learn the rules and the game in general. Before I get crazy and start doing something different.

Going back to Btech again I also used to like the big heavies and stuff. But once I had the game down pat, I started to field the light stuff and just show people there was more to playing that. And you could win reliably that was too.

We do defensive play really well yeah. About Stegadons opinions are mixed, I personally really like them and field 2 whenever I can, just remember to bring some chameleon skinks and or terradons to get rid of cannons. But it all really depends on which lore you choose (that will dictate alot of what is in your army) and Stegadons usually do better with a Life Slann.

 

[Caprasauridae]

Personally, I find both Ogres and especially Warriors of Chaos extremely dull. If you do decide to dwell into Lustria, I would recommend at least one battalion box, and, if you like the idea of wielding your Slann in a protective care of Temple Guard and are open to at least try the Cold One Cavalry out, two battalion boxes. This would give you 40 Saurus Warriors, 24 Skinks, 20 Temple Guard and 16 Cold One Cavalry. Lots to paint, yes, but a solid back bone for your army. Add a Slann, couple of Salamanders and maybe another pack of Skinks, depending how many you want to wield them (one pack contains 24 of the little buggers). Skinks can be easily converted to Chameleon Skinks (check the Painting and Modelling section, there are plenty of examples), so there is no real need to buy the official (read: more expensive) models. Then you can add the monsters, like Stegadons, Carnosaurs, Terradons and Kroxigors, as you see fit. Hope to see you in our ranks soon!

 

[Vaush]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I pulled the trigger and am going to the Lizardmen.

There seems to be some good deals right now on Ebay for some odds and ends. And a couple good online sites to grab the basics from. I will start with one Stegadon for now. He looks awesome.

I will have to check out the painting and modelling section for tips. I've only painted Space Marines mainly and a few Ork squads until now. But the Orks turned out very nice with the washes and such.

 

[totzro]

Great choice!

Lizardmen is indeed a very fun army to play with. It's a very flexible army which allow you to adapt to what is happening on the field. We've generally good movement and our core of saurus is some of the best troop choices in the game and are super hard. Add a slann to that, which excels at magic and can really tip the scales of the battle over to your side.

What I love most about the lizardmen is that I feel I can play in so many different ways, it doesn't lend itself to mono builds (I tried dwarfs and found the warmachines + gunline extremely booring to play).
Sure we may not have that many different units but each has very different functions on the table.

They're just plain fun to play with and also: you get to paint them in brightly oversaturated colors and get away with it!