8th Ed. 2400 point first timer lizardmen

[fasell]

Hi iam really new with lizardmen always played elves and demons, but now i finnaly tried LM this is the first list i made it for 2400 point i still have 172 point left and am willing to drop a unit of terradon riders or a salamander if you got some better idea's.

Slan
Focus rumination
Beaming cogitation
cupped hands
Bsb

Skink chief
Acient stegadon
Warspear

30 Saurus
FC

10 skinks

10 skinks

10 skinks

10 skinks
All with blow pipes

4 Terradon riders

4 terradon riders

20 TG
FC


3 Slamanders

 

[Taipan]

First off, why 2,400? 2,500 is more the norm

Slan
Focus rumination
Beaming cogitation
cupped hands
Bsb

You're on the right track. 'Becalming Cogitation' really isn't that good, people will just stay out of range and hit you with longer-range spells anyway. I'd take 'Focus of Mystery' over 'Rumination', the free cast dice per spell is simply amazing. I'd recommend taking 'Unfathomable Presence' on him as well, it makes his Temple Guard highly resistant to magic. If you take a 'Plaque of Tepok' on him, you can get almost as many spells anyway. 'Cupped Hands' is a good choice, and I'd also make him the General.

Seeing as this is 2.5k, a bodyguard for your Slann isn't a bad idea. I like the following build;

Old-Blood w/Sword of the Hornet, Talisman of Preservation

Attach him to your Temple Guard, and he'll take care of most enemy champions pretty readily. He's also quite tough to kill, and due to the Slann's 'Unfathomable Presence', he's got a 2+ ward vs spells (great for blocking character sniping spells like 'Golden Hounds' or death magic).

Skink chief
Acient stegadon
Warspear

Just no. An Engine of the Gods gets you the same beast, but it's generating a shield, reducing spell cast costs, or generating a 360 degree laser beam into the enemy. A Skink Priest also lets you cram more anti-magic gear. Here is what I usually take;

Skink Priest, dispell scroll, diadem of power, EOTG

30 Saurus
FC

Might wanna downgrade them to 25, then use those points to contribute towards another block of Saurus. Two is enough to guard the flanks of the Temple Guard+Slann Deathstar, and they're pretty decent fighters in their own right, so investing in a sizeable number is worthwhile (especially when backed up with buffs or hexes from your Slann nearby).

10 skinks

10 skinks

10 skinks

10 skinks
All with blow pipes

I'd drop one unit, then use those points (as with before) to build the second Saurus unit. Otherwise, good choice, you avoided the Skink+Krox trap people fall into.

4 Terradon riders

4 terradon riders

I'd give these guys a miss to be honest. They're quite expensive but very easily taken out, and their 'Drop Rocks' ability turns them essentially into a bomb to drop on enemy warmachines. If you want anti-warmachine dudes, take a unit or two of Camo Skinks.

20 TG
FC

Drop the Champion (the Old Blood can take care of challenges much better), and take Banner of Eternal Flame on the Standard Bearer. Flaming attacks have a lot of applicability (cavalry don't wanna come near you, Undead and beasts also hate you), and it's extremely cheap. Your other alternative would be a Standard of Discipline, but Lizardmen don't usually have many problems with Leadership so I'd go Flame Banner.
Other than that, I'd drop one dude out to fit in the Old Blood, and take a Musician (so you can manoeuvre more quickly, and you can nullify enemy musicians).

3 Slamanders

Good choice, I'd maybe drop one of them to afford the above changes.

Overall, it's not a bad list, I'd probably drop the Terradons but the rest is just personal preference.

 

[fasell]

Does any1 else have some tips or flaws in the list so i can try to make it better?

 

[wbarobinson]

2400 is the norm... Especially now that ETC Rules are made for 2400.

 

[Taipan]

2400 is the norm... Especially now that ETC Rules are made for 2400.

Weird, just seems quite arbitrary

 

[Paul Brown]

I agree about not taking the Ancient with a Hero a simple Ancient Steg (or even regular Steg) Does almost as good a job. Engine is another option although it changes how you want to use the unit.

I don’t know what the Skink Krox Trap is but they are a decent unit (if a little pricey) that adds more variety to your battle line as they are good at dealing with different things from the Saurus. Worth considering definitely but not a must have. A lot of good players I know swear by them but I have never quite seen them as quite so brilliant but definitely a decent choice.

Quick question what magic lore are you using?

Terradons are a cracking little unit IMO. At first I wasn’t so keen on them (also a lot of Lizardmen Players I know weren’t keen at first either) but after a while I put them back in and have been really impressed with them (as have the other Lizardmen players I know). Now I run two units of 3 to keep them cheap, they are very useful to have around your opponents back lines. I would fairly rarely drop rocks on War Machines, Javelins and threatening to charge are enough (they can also get there much quicker than Chamos) you can either drop rocks early on against small units you want to get rid of (which is hand as it tends to take a few turns for your shooting to get into position) or save them for when you really want to concentrate firepower on such as a depleted unit with a mage in. Keeping them behind the lines can really pay dividends in a recent game they scored over 1000vps for me by charging off a fleeing unit and rear charging a Chaos Sorcerer lord on disc and breaking him in combat (an extreme example but one that illustrates the point it’s very handy to have stuff behind the enemies lines). They are also a quick re-director and if you keep them at 3’s they aren’t too expensive to do this job.

I agree about getting some Chamos though try swaping out 10 Skinks with blowpipes for 6 Chamos if you can spare the core %. They just have some nice benefits.

Ideally I like to keep champions in units as I would tend to prefer my characters smashing up units or targeting characters rather than having to fight challenges with champions. However, often the champions are dropped to find points for other things.

For your extra points dropping 2 terradons would give you about enough points for another 20 Saurus which would be a nice addition to bulk out your army. I’d probably split your Salamanders into a 2 and a 1 to give your more flexibility as well (depending on what comp restrictions if any you face).

Also I’m a big fan of Scar Vets mounted on Cold ones but you would probably have to change your list a lot to fit them in.

Oh and 2400pts neatly splits into even hundreds for %. 2500pts, being chosen because it is two a half thousand seems more arbitrary to me.