Hi all, Since my return to the game 2 months ago, I have won every games I have played, namely: 500 pts vs TK 500 pts vs TK 800 pts vs TK 1000 pts vs TK 1000 Lizardmen + 1000 Empire vs 2000 TK My opponent are as inexperienced as I am, perhaps that explains the result due to the unforgiving nature of TK play. However, he constantly pointed out he had absolutely no idea or in fact any feasible plan to tackle my Saurus. He said 11 pts for S4 T4 2A are pretty hard to deal with, and he thinks only Tomb Guard would stand a chance up against Saurus. Then I just said "how can you expect skeleton warriors to do well against Saurus when they cost less than half the points" loool I reduced the number of Saurus in the larger points games, and even with less of them, they did their duty perfectly. As a Lizardmen general, I find the Saurus an extremely reliable unit, that I can count on surviving and giving a decent blow to any enemies. Especially so up against the fragile TK skeletons, since they just die from combat resolution in the blink of an eye. Even facing TK chariots, being charged, with a Tomb Prince in it, my group of Saurus stood their ground absorbing the impact hits and dissolved the entire unit of chariots the next round. For more experienced players, what unit will make you fear that your Saurus may be destroyed?
Saurus are tough, no doubt. However, I always am wary of having to take any kind of I test. With their low iniative, they are ill equiped to handle things like purple sun, pit of shades, and the TK stalkers (snake like things that test I).
No our Saurus are not too cheap they are just verry efficient at low point games. When you start facing TKs in the 2000-2500 range then they bring Warshpynxes, Snake-surfers, Screaming Skull Catapults, and magic synergy. Its still can be a tough match up for inexperienced Tomb Kings players but they do have to tools to counter most thing is our army. As posted before,Death magic is the bane of Saurus as are Warshpynx. SSCs might not cause reliable panics but hit the unit with the neg. LD spell and even Coldblooded gets chancey.
Saurus just match up fantastically againist standard core troops. The weakness is vs S6 infantry where our toughness and armour save are both negated.
mobility: cavalry, chariots, ... tactics. use one? saurus are cheap, but if 1 tactic is getting the better of your opponent, maybe he needs to rethink his game plan?
Nope. If anything Saurus cost 2-3pts too much. Not that GW will ever fix that, they have an irrational fear our infantry will become too powerful (whilst merrily handing out great weapons and OPTIONS to every other race out there for their heavy infantry).
I used to think that LM and OP because LM have the luxury of having the best wizard AND one of the best infantry unit in the game. But after a while I realised that you can really only play a LM army in one of several ways. That makes LM quite predictable.
Hello, You won all the games, because they were at little point values Saurus are nice at low point games. but at larger games, I prefer Skrox units and cowboys. White Lions shread us to bits. Dwarfs with S6 are tough enough to win Cr etc. Oh are saurus are way to expensive! they should cost 9 points, or 10 at the most.
Yeah it has been said but I'll add my $.02 Part of why they seem so amazing is that you are at low levels and TK just don't get their synergy going befor 2k points. Also, against TK your one major issue with saurus (Initiative 1) isn't as big an issue since TK are also crap initiative. Once you have taken saurus against other players elite infantry once or twice (or god help you against chaos warriors) you will be sure they cost 1-3 points too much for what they are. That said, the book was pre 8th edition when initiative didn't matter that much. I am as big a GW pessimist (realist) as the next guy but I suspect with the importance of initiative and the general move towards making massed infantry more important and more viable we may get a small points drop on them if and when we get a new book. I do wonder if we will get one late next year, running out of non 8th edition books to redo, and maybe they will pass over brets and woodelves again since lizards sell way better.
Great replies here, and I don't really have anything to add other than it's nice to see some activity on Lustria-Online! So to turn the conversation to the next logical place, what are the best ways to deal with that low initiative? My strategy has been to try to kill enemy wizards as quickly as I can with solo Scar Vets on Cold Ones (but once you do this to your opponent, he will learn to counter it), and things like the Feedback Scroll. Also make sure you have some Skrox in the mix so your entire core doesn't suffer from the low Init problem. Other ideas? Magic items...spells...?
I will use the lore of light to help with the problem. Lore of Life to a lesser extent. I really try to control (eliminate) the other players magic phase. I take a scroll and a cube of darkness skink priest. That way, if I need to kill his first two magic phases to get my becalming cogitation within range, I can.
So what's the big problem with low initiative? I know it makes you a target for I tests, and with always strikes first the enemy will get re-rolls to hit, but in general, what's the major issue? The step-up rule made it a lot less important, right? Hmm, I suppose when you're attacking a small unit of elites (eg trolls) it would be good to go first to thin out their numbers.
Yeah it isn't always a problem but against elite infantry it can make a real difference over time. Especially true if they are a smaller unit.