7th Ed. A few questions...

[walach]

First of, apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, or is in the wrong part of the forum

Right, a few questions have been rolling around in my head, wondering if you can help:

1. Ancient Stegadon vs. Normal Stegadon - Obviously the ancient offers +1S, better saves and different howdah weapons, but at -1A compared to the normal. Is it worth the extra expense? In particular, the howdah weapons seem vastly different. Having played lizards for a long time, i can't say i ever had much success with the giant bow... are the giant blowpipe things any good?

2. Terradons - I dismissed them as rather useless for some time due to thier high points cost and rather low survivability, but in the new codex with the abilities to enter woods and drop rocks, they seem a lot better... but i'm still not sure i can get past the negatives i mentioned. How should i be using them? (i.e. unit size? where to deploy/move?)

3. Saurus - I think i already know this one, but anyways; are spears always worth it? I think i'm still used to the old predatory fighters rule where they only got 1A in the rear rank, but now it seems far to tasty to ignore.

4. I'm thinking of getting myself more into tournaments, and i was poking around and noticed several tournaments allow the use of special characters - are any of the lizardmen ones worth even thinking about? THey all seem rather expensive...

 

[novatomato]

1. I think the ancient steg is great, as a mount. I wouldn't play him as a rare choice unless it was a huge points game. Why? Because I like the Sallies and Razors, and there are not many rare slots.

2. Terradons are great in packs of four. A unit of four can usually fit in a forest and is just that much more survivable than three. plus 4d3 drop rocks is very tasty.

3. Spears are definitely a must for your big saurus units. If you have a unit of 10-12 where there is only one extra rank I probably wouldn't bother with the spears as there role is going to be counter offensive rather than defensive.

4. Special Characters I would save for fun fluffy games. In tournaments we can get the same effect, or better, from our standard hero and lord choices. The only exception to this rule would be Chakax in 2500 point games and up.

I'm sure others on this forum would be able to give more and probably better advice, but these are my thoughts on the matter.

 

[The Hunted]

I'm sure others on this forum would be able to give more and probably better advice, but these are my thoughts on the matter.

C;mon man, don't be so shy!
In fact, you gave the right answers to all 4 questions. Ancient steg is better as a mount than by itself. The ordinary stegadon is probably better on it's own than it's ancient counterpart. If you prefer the strenght over the attack; the choice is simple.

Terradons are most effective when you have 4, they can survive a war machine crew and do something else. Although 2x3 Terries is also very nice.
1 Unit is just almost mandatory, these guys can do so many things! Read some tactics on how to use them, and try them out a few times. After some games, you get the hang of it and know why they are so good.

Yes, spears are a must to Saurus warriors. Minimum unit size to consider spears: 12. And even then, it's not totally necessary. Above 12, spears are just too good to leave at home...

Special characters...For a tournament: no (if they are allowed that is). You'd probably be better of using a 'normal' Slann or Oldblood which you can customize. As for the hero-level special characters...only Gor-rok and Chakax are any good; and they are vastly overpriced.
SO, still a no. Unless (as novatomato said), you're playing a fluffy battle.

There you have it, same answers as novatomato. Just using some more text

The Hunted

 

[Bibamus]

i like the skink caster guy... he seems usefull

 

[Enigma]

You're probably refereing to Teto'eko (Tenehauin knows spells as well ), and I agree. But as others have said, he's a bit too pricey for what he does. Though I'd like to try him out my self as I like the idea of modelling him ^^

...am I the only one who hates writing lizardmen names? I never know if I get the spelling right

 

[Bibamus]

guess why i called him "skink caster guy".
yeah hats the one i meant, i'm not fond of a huge skink with a dead rat on his base, not to menion the lore of beasts is rather circumstantial in a LM army and i'd rather have slann who can have other lores aswell as a lord choice

 

[erians]

1. Personally S6 impacts is a pretty big improvment to S5. S5 will still allow some units 5+/6+ save and there are a lot of T4 out there, while S6 almost always wound on 2+. If you have the pts for it, get an ancient, if you need to shave off some pts somewhere Id take a normal steg. I also like the mass poison blowpipe better than the seemingly anti-homing giant bow. I never take them without characters tho. If you put a chief on them with War Spear (you wan't War Spear, its packed full of win) you definitly want the S6, and the priest can only ride ancients anyway.

2. Terradons are pure awesomeness. Marsh block, harass, shoot/drop rocks, war machine / mage hunting, you name it, these guys can do it all and they are dirt cheap. I play with 4 if I got the spare pts but 3 is fine aswell.

3. Personally I always take spears. 1 pt per model is a very small cost for twice the attack power. Keep in mind that just because you have spear doesnt make it a must to use them ! If you want to kill stuff then go for spears, but if you want to survive as long as possible or gets charged by anything with S5 impact hits shield can be very effective. The option of getting twice the number of attacks or getting a 3+ save makes them very versatile.

4. Never taken any of them.

 

[hellbreaker]

[The answers below are completely personal and not official in any way]

1. The Ancient stegadon is predominately a mount, it's not worth the rare slot, Salamanders are more desirable there. If you're not using it as a mount go for a normal Stegadon, hitting with that bow messes up units a bit, totally worth it.

2. [no experience using them]

3. A mixture of Spear saurus and regular Saurus is fine. Keeping the two close to eachother is also a great way to get flank charges. The regular Saurus are though more desirable to have charged/charge with.

4. No.

Cheers!