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7th Ed. Best use of Saurus

S
Jungle Swarm

Seth the Dark

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I'm currently in the developement stage of a Lizardmen army and really want to make use of Saurus but they are just so expensive that I can usually only fit one group in a list after I have everything else I want to use (Terradons, Salamanders, Stegadon, Saurus cavalry, etc.). How should I go about using them? What is their role?
 
i've been going through the same thing latly mainly due to funding constraints.

at the moment i'm experimenting with 12 strong units with champion and musician and having them support my saurus cavalry. they make use of a single javlin skink screen and have done pretty well so far. one unit managed to bring a unit of dark elf spearmen down to a single model before the unit got charged in the flank by cold on knights. and the game shortly after they assisted in the destruction of a 600+ point unit of dwarf longbeards.

they're a solid unit all round and are able to cause tremendous damage against the right opponents and act as a buffer for your hard hitters.

i also plan to have my slan lead a unit as his bodyguard ^_^ (double spawned)
 
I would rate them as one of the top 5 infantry in the game for a number of reasons.

1) They not only have very good leadership for core rank and file troops but they also have cold blood to boot. This gives them the best ld of any rank and file troop in the game (statistically trumping a dwarf's ld of 9). With their high toughness this makes them extremely resilient to enemy charges. If the BSB is nearby then this is increased even further.

2) They dish out a lot of s4 attacks over their frontage. 6 wide with a champ gives you 13 s4 attacks. So they can generate a good number of CR with kills. Add a scar-vet or oldblood to the fray and it gets even nastier.

3) They can be made even better with blessed spawnings. You can make them immune to psychology, give them a 3+ save in CC, an additional attack on the charge (making it 3 s4 attacks per model) and many more!

In short they are a great unit :)
 
I love Saurus. They can both deal and take a lot of damage. A tactic that Ive seen done befor eis to use them as anvils. Let a unit charge them and they should hold due to T4, 4+ save and cold blood. Then you have a unit of Krox can fly into the flank of the unit and destroy them.

Saurus are the best infantry in the game, now if only Gav Thorpe can give em ASF hehehe...
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I always thought that you should go 20 strong or higher but I do see that a smaller unit can do pretty good too.
 
I guess im late to the discussion but i couldnt resist throwing in my cap ;) . Let me first warn that I have an extreme bias against Saurus.

That said, I find that their only use is that of an anvil (the only problem being that most opponenets have longer range weaponry, meaning that you'll be the one attacking). They are vicious on the charge, but unfortunately at m4 you'll often not be getting the charge off. At that point, one must always consider that their resiliancy is reduced by the WS 3 that they bear. Against a WS 4 opponent, it is just as likely to kill a Saurus as a imperial swordsmen (hitting on 3s and wounding on 5s rather than 4 across the board). But to return from that tangent, I find that a unit of 20 is best for their role as an anvil so that they can benefit from a full CR, and Tla. spawning is useful against the plethora of fear causing troops out there (skinks fill core up well)
 
I find that i am the worst enemy my Saurus have and it is because of the way i move them.

They are the slowest unit in our list, so they tend to get assigned to the 'anvil' role. When i remember to move my army around my Saurus they tend to get a whole lot more charges in. Otherwise they spend all game chasing my krox and stegadons.

If you take them, make them the main trust off your offensive they cost to much not to. Keep the faster elements as reactionary.

Cheers

Origin
 
I love using saurus units. I came from using dwarves and I always wanted two things that dwarves could never get, spears and more than one attack. I always outfit my saurus warriors with both spears and the blessing of sotek, if you are fighting things with heavy calvary, such as brettonia, spawning army (not sure the acctual name here) of Sotek is a lot of fun, (Provided you get beast cowers with priests).

After you have saurus with sotek you can put a BS bearer in the front rank, with the scimitar, also blessed with sotek, and that gives you 29 attacks on the charge and 19 attacks if you keep them in ranks of 5. Which deffinatly trumps the dwarf 5 attacks in ranks of 5.

That being said they are expensive, but they are deffinatly worth their points, although it would be nice to be able to equip them with gw sometime.

On a side note could someone explain what ASF and Tla stand for? Thanks.
 
ASF is Always Strike First
Not sure what Tla

As for Saurus, whats the best number to take them in? 20 for defensive roles, and lower for offensive? Or what?
 
Size... It always comes down to size.

I believe that there is nothing below 15 (1000points or under) or 20 (1500 points and over). Although i have tried really hard to get saurus to work in say units of 10 or 12 they are just not cost effective. When used in these kind of numbers they get worn down but missile fire to easily and the role changes from classic infantry to more MSU. They can do it BUT they cannot do as well as Krox and thats the problem.

So, i reckon that 20 is about right, 25 if you can afford it for either offensive or defensive.

Cheers

Origin
 
Shame you can't give Saurus additional hand weapons, maybe they could pull it off a bit better. I could see small units of 12 working SOMETIMES, but I agree - I guess it'd be too easy to magic/shoot them. Although, most of the guys I game with are shooting/magic light.
 
It is easy to counter the magic/shooting attrition with a skink screen. In doing that you further the advantages of taking Krox as they have a unique synergy with skinks.

I have usued a unit of 12 saurus with a musician and the blessed spawning of huanchi. Surprise a unit with a flank anchored against a wood. But it is a bit, iffy.
 
With the advent of celestial shield, protecting saurus blocks from missle fire has become a great deal easier. But yes, as mentioned the skink screen works quite well generally. The question becomes, however, why it would not be simply better to have a unit of Kroxigor behind a skink screen and relegate Saurus to the role as anchors. If missle fire is a concern, the m6 of krox + their skink screen ability will generally mean that they reach an enemy 2 turns faster than a unit of saurus. Even if a skink screen works well with a block of saurus, for the saurus to charge the enemy the skinks will still have to move aside for one turn (ensuring that the static CR which Saurus provide is cut down by atleast 1)
 
Hit the nail on the head, there is nothing a small block of saurus can do that a similar costing unit of krox cannot do better.

20+ is the only way (15+ in low point games). Although the role of anchor is a little limiting. Saurus pack a punch and charging is what they should be doing. Placing your expensive rank and file troops in a postion where the enemy will take out your front rank before you strike is a waste of a lot of points.

Assist your saurus blocks with "Hunanchi's Totem" and "Unseen Lurker".

Or how about this, a single jungle swarm placed in front of a block of spear weilding Saurus. Allow they enemy to charge the swarm, wipe it out and overrun into your aforementioned block, supported by a scar-vet carrying the "gleming pendent of chotec". I never thought about it before but swarms are perfect for the overrun bait now that they crumble. As long as the enemy unit has enough static CR.

That being said, i think saurus should never be fielded alone, at least two units. And character support is critical, or "bear's anger" on champions in a pinch.
 
Origin said:
Hit the nail on the head, there is nothing a small block of saurus can do that a similar costing unit of krox cannot do better.
Click to expand...
Except Saurus do not take up a special slot. I already use 2 units of Kroxigor, 1 Saurus cavalry unit and a Terradon unit.

I use MSU Saurus (units of 10-12) because I find paying 60 points for a Rank Bonus that other races can get for only 30 points is not worth it (as, if you both took full ranks, you would end up having half the unit numbers of the opposition and would be hopelessly outflanked) and because Saurus have high combat stats and high leadership (both excellent qualities for MSU units as shown by our enemies the Druchii).
 
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