8th Ed. Whoa hey guys!

[Himan]

So I'm thinking about dropping Dwarfs and going with Lizardmen just because they are damn dinosaurs. Besides the magic and less shooting how else are they different from them?

Also I'm thinking about going with a paint scheme similar to one of the lava turtles in wow.
http://wowinwc3.forumcircle.com/viewtopic.php?t=5432&

Something like that. Is that a bit to ambitious maybe? Any advice how I would go about that? Thanks a bunch guys. :3

 

[Caneghem]

Welcome to the race more ancient and ill-tempered than dwarves! That was my first army too.

Lizardmen have a good deal more variety than dwarves, you have light infantry in the skinks, skirmishers, flying terradons, and a nice big monster. The salamanders make a good warmachine substitute, and are highly mobile.

That lava turtle scheme would look pretty cool on some saurus, and I imagine it would be doable. Just get the deep cracks painted the lava color and then take care of the outer layer of "rock." I am not the one to make color recommendations, though I am sure someone around here will be more than happy.

 

[Himan]

Thanks a bunch Cane. I'm going to take my time and try to figure out how I'm going to paint these bad boys like that.

What would you suggest I grab first? Probably the Battalion and a character maybe? Also do Lizardmen ever horde up? I know a lot of people are saying that dwarfs should start going into hordes and to be honest I'm not a huge fan of that which kind of turned me off. Also being limited to mostly a gunline did that as well. =/

 

[Caneghem]

The battalion is a good start, though the saurus cavalry aren't as useful in 8th edition. If you wanted to work with just the battalion box you could make a mounted scar-vet out of one of the saurus cav, just do a bit of conversion work and you've got your general. A skink priest works well for smaller games as well.

As to Lizardmen going to horde formation, you are in luck, we don't really have any troops that are worth putting into horde formation. The only unit you might think about is Temple Guard in a no-Slann list, but they are quite pricey points-wise (and $$ wise), although I would like to see someone with the models do that experiment. Have a couple skink priests just for the harmonic convergence and curse of the midnight wind, that block would be killer. The skinks aren't worth putting into horde formation because of their lackluster attack power, and saurus of any kind on their 25mm bases won't really add that many attacks which are only str 4 WS3.

Dwarf warriors with great weapons make a decent horde unit.. of course all of my dwarves are proudly carrying their shields and hand weapons :/ I'll probably wait for the next dwarf book to give my dwarves another look over, since that will likely entail a whole list redesign anyway.

 

[Himan]

Thank you very much Cane. Just one more question if I may. Do Lizardmen rely on magic heavily? I know having a Slann is a HUGE bonus, but is it possible to make a list without one? Or do the troops need the buffs that a Slann can give them? Thank you again, I think I'm going to get my Lizards started next week. Shelf my Dwarfs for a bit so I can play a bit more straight up CC rather than blowing people up from afar.

 

[Lingbei]

They don't need the slann as such, but I don't think the list will be as powerful without him, I haven't ran a list without a slann (or a few skink priests in smaller games) but it is doable with the old blood and scar vets. I think if your going to be playing tournaments your more likely going to need a slann, but otherwise you can play how you want, a basic beasts slann with lots of cc heroes works wonders with the right spells

 

[Eladimir]

I have to be honest here but Lizardmen without a slann is like dwarves without warmachines. Sure you can do it but why would ya. The TG really aren't a good use of points unless they are with the Slann and get the free stubborn. Skink priest barely cover the magic roll and then you have no choice but to go with heavens.

If you feel thats too restrictive you'll still get to play slann free lists for all battles 1500 and lower.

And Dual slann lists at 3k+

 

[Lingbei]

I have to be honest here but Lizardmen without a slann is like dwarves without warmachines. Sure you can do it but why would ya. The TG really aren't a good use of points unless they are with the Slann and get the free stubborn. Skink priest barely cover the magic roll and then you have no choice but to go with heavens.

If you feel thats too restrictive you'll still get to play slann free lists for all battles 1500 and lower.

And Dual slann lists at 3k+

Agreed but if your a friendly player you don't need one, and as I said before get beasts with a pretty much basic slann and then you can go cc heavy and have fun as your scar vets tear through everything Any list is winnable with so he isn't a neccesity as such ( I won with a archer heavy HE force vs a bigger Chaos force two weeks ago )

 

[Guardian of Hexoatl]

I have to be honest here but Lizardmen without a slann is like dwarves without warmachines. Sure you can do it but why would ya. The TG really aren't a good use of points unless they are with the Slann and get the free stubborn. Skink priest barely cover the magic roll and then you have no choice but to go with heavens.

Agreed! I NEVER leave home without my trusty Slann Its just not a true Lizardmen army without one!

 

[Caneghem]

Another huge reason to take the Slann is that he can be your BSB, and he has the highest leadership in the army. Add to that the fact that he will usually be centrally located, and in the midst of a nearly unbreakable unit, and you have a very solid army. That said, having a Slann will sort of encourage you to have a fixed battle line, whereas if you went with the Oldblood you could probably be a bit less predictable.

You'll definitely want the Slann... you will find you can build entire lists around the lore you have chosen, with the army complementing your spells and vice/versa. The magic phase is one of the Lizardmen's strongest phases, so it's time to get your thinking out of runesmithing. Took me a while as well. Also 8th edition has increased the relative importance of the magic phase by a large degree, since many of the spells are now buffs and curses, and those have a huge impact on the new combat system.

Lizardmen are fairly solid in CC, but not the best. You will need to use distracting units to set up combats to your advantage, use salamanders to blast the big blocks, and use the Slann (or possibly skink priests) to make sure combat goes your way.