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8th Ed. 8th Ed Terradons...Use them or not?

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Jungle Swarm

Horus1976

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I played the first battles with 8th edition rules around a month ago and I really had a hard time
using my terradons as I used to. The TLOS thing plus the Initiative thing and the new movement rules
have some how gave me the impression that they are not of much use anymore.
What do you guys think about them?
 
I think they are still good war machine hunters. Stick a skink chief on a terradon to ride along and you are good. However, you have to look at the changes and adapt to them.

The good:

Vanguard move! Awesome. 12 inch free move before turn 1. Cannot charge if you go first. Can charge if you go second.

Stomp attack because terradons are classed as monstrous infantry. This is good. Makes up for some of the drawbacks.

The bad:

90 degree arc for front facing LOS. This one sucks. In my first or second 8the edtion game, I failed to face these guys toward the unit they dropped rocks on, could not charge the next turn.

Speaking of dropped rocks, you cannot drop rocks on the turn that you charge! Bummer.

True line of sight. This one sucks the most. It also makes it essential to tuck these guys behind something on the vanguard move. That way, you at least get a hard cover save and block the LOS of casters.

At 90 pts, the unit of 3 terradons will pay for itself just by drawing fire for two rounds. I like to run a group of 5 plus a skink chief to character hunt/war machine hunt (in larger games). Besides salamanders, these guys are the MVPs of my army almost all the time.
 
I used 4 terradons in my list. I may try to field 3 just to familiarise more with the new tactics. But against most war machines (excl. Organ Guns) I have found cameleons more useful due to better modifiers vs shooting. Now that you cannot draw LOS to crewmen only its more difficult to charge a machine with terradons.
 
You're mention of chameleons made me think of an interesting question. If you cannot draw line of sight to the war machine crew, could a character with the sniper ability (oxycotl-pick out a model at -1 to hit) pick off the crew?

Also, with the new rules, the chameleons can be deployed in the open 12 inches away from the target.
 
Arli said:
Stick a skink chief on a terradon to ride along and you are good.
Click to expand...

Disagree. In every game I have used Terradons, all Terradon-mounted Skink Chiefs do is die. I would highly recommend spending those points elsewhere, especially since Terradons now have Stomp.
 
Xlcontiqu said:
Disagree. In every game I have used Terradons, all Terradon-mounted Skink Chiefs do is die. I would highly recommend spending those points elsewhere, especially since Terradons now have Stomp.
Click to expand...


Interesting, in all the games that I have played, the skink chief usually lasts the entire battle. My normal skink chief build being:

Terradon
Staff of the Lost Sun

My terradon riders all die, but usually the skink chief holds on.
 
Mine is almost identical to yours, with the exception that I add the Bane Head and go character hunting. He always dies without fail. Maybe it is just how I use him, I have just never found him worth his points.
 
I only charge after I have used him to shoot several turns. Plus, I make sure that I drop rocks before I charge. If something charges me, I will flee (usually) unless I am close to a table edge.
 
I find that his shooting just is not worth it. Three shots that suffer from moving, multiple shots, and short range, usually just leave him hitting on 6s. Just not worth what you pay for him.
 
I was a big proponent of units of 4 terradons in 7th edition, but this was due to the change that effects them the most. Unit strength is gone. Table quarters are gone. "Crossfire" is gone. So there is nothing to stop you from taking minimum sized units of 3 now. I wouldn't put too terribly many of them in one place, because they shouldn't be so expensive that they are worth charging.

So it changes the purpose of Terradons. They are a purely harassment unit, good for dropping rocks on missile troops, charging warmachines, and running down fleeing units. I'm thinking two units of 3 might be good, though they are by no means the "must have" choice they were in 7th.

Chameleons on the other hand... I don't think I'll write a list without em!
 
Chameleons are the reason I chose Lizardmen. I currently have 10 of them. A few made from skinks and green stuff. Including one that is modeled to be Oxytl (oxy-whatever). I will try to use him soon.
 
Yeah, last edition I though chamo skinks were rubbish. Maybe I was harsh, but that's okay. Now, I have to find some and find some quickly.

I'm going to run a Skink chief on terradon for a bit, and want him to have a bodyguard, i.e. meat shield. So, I may take upwards of 5. Doubt it will be that many, but it might be.
 
I played a 1000 pt game yesterday against Brets and I can definitely vouch for terradons being good, the vanguard rule helped just enough for them to fly over a cavalry unit, drop rocks, kill 2 of them, and still be facing their rear ready to charge the next turn.
 
I did not know they had the stomp ability, I have not been able to afford the rulebook, and so have relied on people explaining them to me and letting me see their copy, if I had known lknown that on thursday my terradons could have stomped a herald of Tzeentch on disk and may have not fled from him a turn after charging. Does anyone know if they are good against Dark Elves?
 
Scarvet Quetzalcoatl said:
I did not know they had the stomp ability, I have not been able to afford the rulebook, and so have relied on people explaining them to me and letting me see their copy, if I had known lknown that on thursday my terradons could have stomped a herald of Tzeentch on disk and may have not fled from him a turn after charging. Does anyone know if they are good against Dark Elves?
Click to expand...

Dropping rocks on dark riders and charging warmachines are perfectly reasonable activities for Terradons. They certainly are a bit more limited in 8th edition though.
 
So I've been thinking a lot about what I want to add to my army list and been looking at putting a chief on a terradon. I think that the jungle frog poison has been over looked with the ability of the chief to take the javilin (Long range) and the blowpipe (short range) and since they are already poison the ability to reroll seems like they would be a lot more to worry about. Plus with warmachines crews using the toughness and not having to worry about hitting the machine poison is mean.
 
Sorry, can you just explain to me how you drop rocks on a unit and then charge the next turn. Do you have to fly over the target, and then in your remaining moves, turn around to see them?
 
Larinus said:
Sorry, can you just explain to me how you drop rocks on a unit and then charge the next turn. Do you have to fly over the target, and then in your remaining moves, turn around to see them?
Click to expand...

Yes. Remember that they are skirmishers so they get unlimited reforms during their move.
 
In 8th edition, it is very important to make sure that you make that reform to face the opponent that you want to charge. I learned that the hard way in my first few games.
 
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