8th Ed. 2000 pts game vs Bretonnia coming up. What to bring?

[Kinslayer]

I have not played Lizardmen since 6th edition, and I have no played more than a handful of 8th edition games and none at all for a while, but I have my first 8th edition game with the Lizardmen next week. It will be a 2000 point friendly game against Bretonnia, and I know my opponent will be bringing pretty much the same as what he used when we last played (when I was using vc).

From memory, he used a lord with some sort of magic lance and 1+ save, a BSB Paladin, and 2 damsels on foot as characters. He then had a small men at arms unit and about 3 lances of knights, which I think was 2 knights of the realm and 1 knights errant. There was also a unit of grail knights. I can't remember the exact list and as it's not a competitive game I am not too bothered.

But I have no idea at all where to start list building to oppose this army at 2000 points, I planned for larger games.

I will take the Slann, but which lore... would metal work? Or stick to light so I am striking first?

I'd like to throw in 2 scar veterans as well, hopefully one I can use as a character killer.

Would one unit of 40 saurus be too much / would 2x 20 be better?

How many units / what size of skink skirmishers, I will want to do a lot of charge redirecting I think.

I have no models yet for kroxigor, chameleons, terradons salamanders or razordon... but I can buy some before the game (in fact I intend to) as I am guessing I will definitely need salamanders.

What about chameleons / kroxigor?

Also I own 16 cavalry, but I'm guessing Lizardmen cavalry don't match up against Bretonnian knights?

 

[Jediknight620]

Well from my experience with Bretts, your best bet is to tarpit them because once they're past that first round of combat, they're in trouble. Being an alpha strike army, they're going to do everything they can to charge you with multiple combat blocks.

I would imagine he'll take lore of life, because it has great synergy with their army. Taking light would work great for you considering how much the net spell will slow him down, he'll practically -have- to dispell that, leaving you with a great selection of spells to directly counter him.

It may make sense to take a couple of deep saurus warrior blocks to keep steadfast. Spears could be great because he's going to charge you turn 2, probably. But if you'd rather survive the onslaught, HW/S might be a better option for the extra parry save. Try to avoid bringing anything str 5 or higher, because his prayer (ward) save will actually improve to a 5+ with anything above str 4.

Since his combat blocks are longer to gain extra attacks on the outside ranks, he's easy to flank once he's dedicated a charge. Lucky for us, we have mobile skrox blocks to hit him hard on the sides. Bretts only have trebuchets for warmachines and they're your typical stonethrower, so make sure you put an iron curse on your Slann. You might get shot at with peasant bowman, or the trebuchet but you'll also have Pha's Protection which could prove to be useful.

Either way he's going to have great saves, great movement, and great strength on the charge. Just make sure you stay steadfast, stubborn, or win combat and he's toast. Keep an eye on his mutiple dispel scrolls, one of which will make your caster suffer a str 5 hit. Other than that, they're just human's on horses.

Also, sorry for the information being run together lol. I'm at work and I'm trying to post this inbetween customers.

 

[Jediknight620]

Hi! I have a bit more time to answer (to the best of my knowledge) some questions about the different units to bring.

At the lower point value, you'd probably be best bunkering your Slann in Saurus Warriors with a Crown of Command instead of splurging on the Temple Guard. On top of that, considering bringing another block of warriors and you can drop your combat hero in there. You could probably field a small unit of skinks with 2 krox and a skink priest as a cube caddy.

Salamanders could work well here but to maximize the damage you're going to need to have them in front, or flanking 2 side by side units. They'll certainly be gritting his teeth at the -3 armor save, though.

Skink skirmishers and camo skinks are gonna be great for taking out his trebuchet(s). Also, I've seen players put a lady (caster) in a group of skirmished peasant bowman on a corner of a battlefield, so you could have fun with scouting camo skinks.

I would seriously recommend buying Kroxigors, Camo Skinks, and Salamanders. They tend to be a staple in most larget point lists.

 

[Kinslayer]

Thanks for the tips. So I'll work on a list taking two pairs of Salamanders and a Kroxigor/Skink unit backing the Saurus blocks.

I like the Temple Guard fluffwise so I might go ahead and include them even though it will be a pricey unit.

The other option is do a Carnosaur list, but I might do that on game 2.

 

[Jediknight620]

2 pairs of salamanders will wreck his saves. Sounds nasty.

To be honest, I like bringing TG even though they're expensive. The models are great, their stats are solid, and I like the fluff as you do.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Kinslayer]

Ok I've just ordered a unit of 10 Chameleons, 3 Kroxigors and 4 Salamanders (all in the new finecast, ouch that cost £160)

I'll start building a list featuring those. Thanks for the input.

 

[Scalenex]

Ok I've just ordered a unit of 10 Chameleons, 3 Kroxigors and 4 Salamanders (all in the new finecast, ouch that cost £160)

I'll start building a list featuring those. Thanks for the input.

I didn't care for the chamo skinks models so I painted regular plastic skinks with blow pipes in chamoflage color patterns. Works for me and stands out well from my other skinks.

 

[Stormfrog]

Yeah, a mate of mine used normal skinks, but added balls of greenstuff for their eyes to make them look more like chameleons, looks both good and rather comical.

To topic. Against bretonnians a large unit of temple guard are good. Yes, they are streangth 5, allowing for a 5+ ward from the knights, but they almost cannot be broken, and if you give them the razor banner, they will cut through the bretonnians just fine. Their stubborn will weather the charge (so long as you have the numbers to still be dealing damage the next round, or lore of light spells to do it before they strike), and once they are stuck in prolonged combat versus temple guard, they are in serious trouble.

 

[sixclaw]

my brother uses bretts and i tend to use metal with the slann as he always hates it when i melt 7 grail knights turn 1, the final transmutations pretty good against large blocks of pesants too. the temple guards stubborns great aswell.