8th Ed. ETC 2,4k Lizardmen - Saurus Warrior Hype Train

[Agrem]

Hello,

there's been now quite a lot of discussion revolving around the saurus warriors and their usefulness. So I decided I must have a go and see if they really are the new black. I actually really liked the idea from @protector of running MSU styled list with saurus. However I still could not really let go of the style of the list that I've been usually running with. This list is also for me to test out multiple things that I don't usually do. I rarely take high magic but I think it can work well with the saurus warriors. I also prefer terradons over rippers but for this time I'm also including rippers. So here's the list:

Slann Mage-Priest: General, Battle Standard Bearer, Focus of Mystery, Harmonic Convergence, Channeling Staff, Obsidian Amulet, Banner of Swiftness
Saurus Oldblood: Great Weapon, Cold One, Glittering Scales, Talisman of Preservation, Other Tricksters’ Shard
Saurus Scar-Veteran: Great Weapon, Cold One, Armour of Destiny
Skink Priest: Heavens, Dispel Scroll
3 x 15 Saurus Warriors: Musician
4 x 10 Skink Skirmishers: Javelin & Shield
24 Temple Guard: Full Command, Razor Standard
3 Terradon Riders: Fireleech Bolas
3 Ripperdactyl Riders

Pretty much the standard all skinks core with TG bunker. I've just replaced the cohorts with warriors this time. I have also agreed a game against my friend for today so I'll be sure to report back how that went down with the warriors.

C&C welcome as always!

BR
Agrem

 

[Agrem]

Right, well that didn't go so well...

I faced off my friends Chaos Dwarves with Kdai, Hellcannon, Iron demon and one other warmachine. Level 4 with hashut and flying cow. Couple of centaurs and a centaur hero. The core filled with goblins. I lost my cowboys early in the game and it was uphill all the way. I didn't really get anything killed and despite throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the Kdai it remained with one wound left at the end of the match.

I lost most of the skinks, cowboys, one unit of saurus and fliers. Evened up 16-4 at the end for him.

About the list then... let's start from the easiest: Ripperdactyls. Those are just not for me. Granted I did play them poorly and lost them to stupid combat. They hit like a truck but with WS2 go down quite easily. I need more practice with them to be more efficient.

Lore of high magic... didn't like it before and don't like it after this game either. There are some nice spells yes and the attribute is great. However I didn't feel it helped me that much during the game. However CD might not be the best suited opponent against this lore but I think I'll go back using the signatures.

Saurus warriors: I do see the potential in them and they are resilient. I would have swept the floor with goblins but the big issue was that with movement 4 I was never going to reach them through Kdaii and iron daemon. Also the centaur hero would have been (and was) able to tie them up for all the game.

I think I'll still be testing out the saurus warriors but high magic I'll be ditching again.

BR
Agrem

 

[Mr Phat]

Try the saurus horde instead.
Great point denial, harder to outbeat.

I could never run MSU in my meta, as I am bound to face either Wildriders, Skullchrushers or Demigryphs every tournament who would outright kill a small unit = Free points.

A horde would take the hit and strike bac.
Also easier to buff with spells.

 

[Qupakoco]

I am also disliking High Magic more and more each time I try it. Thanks for the batrep! Saves me the trouble, haha. I like my big units of Saurus <3

 

[borkbork]

Lore of high magic... didn't like it before and don't like it after this game either. There are some nice spells yes and the attribute is great. However I didn't feel it helped me that much during the game. .

It takes an awfull lot of practice to get the most out of high magic and its lore attribute.

I am also still strugling to get it right, but coming from Orcs and Goblins i just like the access to ALL the BRB lore and having a loremaster way too much to give up on it yet. The key, i think, is to have a pre-designed strategy for swapping, and stick to it. Do not let yourself get tempted by nice oppurtunies in turn one or two, just stick to the plan, because you will regret it in turn 3.

And I also dont understand this Saurus MSU (and haven't tried it yet to be honest). I think both my standard orc and goblin, and lizardmen list can deal with it.

 

[Mr Phat]

ahm....whats to not like about HM magic?


EDIT: So...I wrote this to make you all aware how wrong you are

http://www.lustria-online.com/threa...le-forget-about-high-magic.16378/#post-131224

 

[Pinktaco]

Right, well that didn't go so well...

I faced off my friends Chaos Dwarves with Kdai, Hellcannon, Iron demon and one other warmachine. Level 4 with hashut and flying cow. Couple of centaurs and a centaur hero. The core filled with goblins. I lost my cowboys early in the game and it was uphill all the way. I didn't really get anything killed and despite throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the Kdai it remained with one wound left at the end of the match.

I lost most of the skinks, cowboys, one unit of saurus and fliers. Evened up 16-4 at the end for him.

About the list then... let's start from the easiest: Ripperdactyls. Those are just not for me. Granted I did play them poorly and lost them to stupid combat. They hit like a truck but with WS2 go down quite easily. I need more practice with them to be more efficient.

Lore of high magic... didn't like it before and don't like it after this game either. There are some nice spells yes and the attribute is great. However I didn't feel it helped me that much during the game. However CD might not be the best suited opponent against this lore but I think I'll go back using the signatures.

Saurus warriors: I do see the potential in them and they are resilient. I would have swept the floor with goblins but the big issue was that with movement 4 I was never going to reach them through Kdaii and iron daemon. Also the centaur hero would have been (and was) able to tie them up for all the game.

I think I'll still be testing out the saurus warriors but high magic I'll be ditching again.

BR
Agrem

Your list seems somewhat messy and I think the MSU list Protector uses require more practice. He also don't use a slann so keep that in mind because it allow him to have 2 more combat characters.

It good you're giving saurus warriors a chance and should you find your own way to use them please feel free to write about your experience in the saurus tactica thread

 

[Agrem]

Thanks all for the comments. I'll try to summarize a response in no particular order.

Yes the big horde of saurus could be able to take the beating and even after that strike back. However the area of effectiveness of the unit is much smaller than with two smaller or medium sized units. With one horder your opponent can just avoid it pretty much the whole game as it is much slower to move it around the table if you are forced to wheel it even a little bit. I think that with the curret state of the game the smaller blocks should work better. (This doesn't apply to elite infantry though) After the couple of games though my dislikes against the saurus still remained. They are rather too slow to pick their fights even with the help of the skinks. And when they do eventually wind up in a close combat you'll be hitting _everything_ on 4+. I rolled poorly on the game to further emphasis my frustration and almost started throwing the dice onto the goblins to make more damage on them.

I'll try to comment the high magic on the other thread more in depth but I think Pinktaco has summed up it pretty well. It is quite the situational lore for me and I would like more well rounded slann - that's why I prefer the wandering deliberations.

BR
Agrem