Hey everyone. Been considering getting into Lizardmen for a while, with the arrival of 8th edition I'm seeing a lot of positives for the army (good basic infantry, excellent wizard, cool units and items). Also, being a 40k player, I like the allusions the background makes to higher powers creating the Lizardmen to 'take care of things' until they return. Plus, an army of dinosaurs is always awesome.
So, with that in mind, here is what I'm considering for my full army. Naturally, it would change depending on the points level, but this is what I envision fielding at 3,000pts (I find small games frustrating, because you are kinda forced to field certain units, and some of the more awesome combo's are harder to pull off).
Lords:
Old Blood w/Blade of Realities, Jaguar Charm, shield, light armour
Slann w 'Focus of Mystery', 'Focused Rumination', Bane Head, Cupped Hands of the Old Ones, BSB, Banner of Eternal Flame, Lore of Light
Heroes:
Scar-Veteran w/Gold Sigil Sword, Enchanted Shield, Dragonbane Gem
Scar-Veteran w/Burning Blade, Dragonhelm, light armour, Potion of Speed
Engine of the Gods w/Level 2 Skink Priest, Plaque of Tepok
Core:
(2) 18 x Saurus w/hand weapon+shield, musician, standard bearer
(4) 10 x Skink Skirmshers w/blowpipes
Special:
16 x Temple Guard, standard, musician
(2) 4 x Terradons
Rare:
(2) 3 Salamanders
Tactics:
- Old Blood: Pretty awesome statline, so he's the best choice for the Blade of Realities. Even with a decrease in uber-characters and deathstars (cos of composition restrictions), it's still awesome to completely bypass all defensive measures and one-shot people. (His background is that he is the most dedicated enforcer of all the Saurus in the city, intensely xenophobic towards outsiders. His master granted him the Blade of Realities as a gift, so that he might better slay Daemons, who remain a constant threat to the city). With the Jaguar Charm, I can reposition him where he's needed, and use him almost like an interceptor missile. He will most likely be attached to the Temple Guard, so he can stay close to the Slann when it hands out buff powers.
- Slann: Obviously, he'll be rolling with the Temple Guard, in a phalanx with the Saurus protecting the flanks. Banner of Eternal Flame will make the Temple Guard lethal against models reliant on Regeneration (like Undead).
- Scar Veterans: These guys will attach to the Saurus blocks and provide support. Both of them have good armour and an excellent defense against Flame attacks (my background for them is they are a lone twin spawning, coinciding with the arrival of a wounded drake in their city. Tli is the one who actually killed the monster, and now wears it's skull, Zec killed its Dark Elf rider and now wields its sword. They act as lieutenants to Kor Xa, seeking out the most deadly monsters and heroes to slay). I'm still amazed at how cheap these guys are for what they do. Were I not fielding an Engine of the Gods, I might consider taking another two to further improve the hitting power of the Saurus.
- EotG: I love the model and the rules for this thing, so despite it's high cost and vulnerability to warmachines I'm taking it. The defensive aura it gives off will help keep the phalanx alive I hope, and when battle is joined it can rack up a lot of kills at close range with the 'Burning Conflagration'. The Skink Priest is not so bad as a caster, knowing three spells and at Lvl2. I'll just have to figure out what he'll do at the start of each battle (unlike Slann he has to roll for his spells), but the Lore of Heavens has some pretty decent spells now.
- Saurus: Mainstay of any Lizardmen army, and from what I can tell spears aren't what they used to be, so hand weapon+shield it is. They'll hang around the Temple Guard block so to benefit from the Slann buffs (both normal and magical) and hopefully tie up dangerous units until the Slann or EotG nukes them.
- Skinks: I've seen a lot of debate about Kroxigors mixed in, the merits of normal Skink units as assault units. In my mind, T2 models aren't going to stick around long, and Kroxigors seem kinda expensive when compared to Saurus. Blowpipes still seem pretty awesome and straightforward, cause a heap of wounds and the enemy will fall over. Multiple small units lets me string them out in staggered formations to block flank attacks on the Saurus, and also potentially shield the Salamanders from getting tied up in close-combat.
- Temple Guard: Pretty awesome for what they do, not much has changed here really. I was considering a 20-strong unit, but after considering how much space the Slann will take up, I cut out four of them.
- Terradons: I figure these will be good warmachine hunters, with their ability to drop a big pile of S4 deep in enemy lines. Rather like the Skinks, I don't expect them to stick around for much longer after that, so they're pretty sacrificial.
- Salamanders: Downright terrifying how much death these guys can rack up on big light infantry blocks, and even heavy infantry won't like getting set on fire. I figure if they do get tied up in close-combat, it'll be better if they're in packs, as they can take more damage and not get picked off one by one. The idea here will be to send a pack up each flank in conjunction with the Skinks, to provide fire support (literally lol). Hopefully they can also tie up enemy flank attacks on the Saurus, allowing me time to reposition and then either counter-charge or nuke with Slann/EotG.
So, with that in mind, here is what I'm considering for my full army. Naturally, it would change depending on the points level, but this is what I envision fielding at 3,000pts (I find small games frustrating, because you are kinda forced to field certain units, and some of the more awesome combo's are harder to pull off).
Lords:
Old Blood w/Blade of Realities, Jaguar Charm, shield, light armour
Slann w 'Focus of Mystery', 'Focused Rumination', Bane Head, Cupped Hands of the Old Ones, BSB, Banner of Eternal Flame, Lore of Light
Heroes:
Scar-Veteran w/Gold Sigil Sword, Enchanted Shield, Dragonbane Gem
Scar-Veteran w/Burning Blade, Dragonhelm, light armour, Potion of Speed
Engine of the Gods w/Level 2 Skink Priest, Plaque of Tepok
Core:
(2) 18 x Saurus w/hand weapon+shield, musician, standard bearer
(4) 10 x Skink Skirmshers w/blowpipes
Special:
16 x Temple Guard, standard, musician
(2) 4 x Terradons
Rare:
(2) 3 Salamanders
Tactics:
- Old Blood: Pretty awesome statline, so he's the best choice for the Blade of Realities. Even with a decrease in uber-characters and deathstars (cos of composition restrictions), it's still awesome to completely bypass all defensive measures and one-shot people. (His background is that he is the most dedicated enforcer of all the Saurus in the city, intensely xenophobic towards outsiders. His master granted him the Blade of Realities as a gift, so that he might better slay Daemons, who remain a constant threat to the city). With the Jaguar Charm, I can reposition him where he's needed, and use him almost like an interceptor missile. He will most likely be attached to the Temple Guard, so he can stay close to the Slann when it hands out buff powers.
- Slann: Obviously, he'll be rolling with the Temple Guard, in a phalanx with the Saurus protecting the flanks. Banner of Eternal Flame will make the Temple Guard lethal against models reliant on Regeneration (like Undead).
- Scar Veterans: These guys will attach to the Saurus blocks and provide support. Both of them have good armour and an excellent defense against Flame attacks (my background for them is they are a lone twin spawning, coinciding with the arrival of a wounded drake in their city. Tli is the one who actually killed the monster, and now wears it's skull, Zec killed its Dark Elf rider and now wields its sword. They act as lieutenants to Kor Xa, seeking out the most deadly monsters and heroes to slay). I'm still amazed at how cheap these guys are for what they do. Were I not fielding an Engine of the Gods, I might consider taking another two to further improve the hitting power of the Saurus.
- EotG: I love the model and the rules for this thing, so despite it's high cost and vulnerability to warmachines I'm taking it. The defensive aura it gives off will help keep the phalanx alive I hope, and when battle is joined it can rack up a lot of kills at close range with the 'Burning Conflagration'. The Skink Priest is not so bad as a caster, knowing three spells and at Lvl2. I'll just have to figure out what he'll do at the start of each battle (unlike Slann he has to roll for his spells), but the Lore of Heavens has some pretty decent spells now.
- Saurus: Mainstay of any Lizardmen army, and from what I can tell spears aren't what they used to be, so hand weapon+shield it is. They'll hang around the Temple Guard block so to benefit from the Slann buffs (both normal and magical) and hopefully tie up dangerous units until the Slann or EotG nukes them.
- Skinks: I've seen a lot of debate about Kroxigors mixed in, the merits of normal Skink units as assault units. In my mind, T2 models aren't going to stick around long, and Kroxigors seem kinda expensive when compared to Saurus. Blowpipes still seem pretty awesome and straightforward, cause a heap of wounds and the enemy will fall over. Multiple small units lets me string them out in staggered formations to block flank attacks on the Saurus, and also potentially shield the Salamanders from getting tied up in close-combat.
- Temple Guard: Pretty awesome for what they do, not much has changed here really. I was considering a 20-strong unit, but after considering how much space the Slann will take up, I cut out four of them.
- Terradons: I figure these will be good warmachine hunters, with their ability to drop a big pile of S4 deep in enemy lines. Rather like the Skinks, I don't expect them to stick around for much longer after that, so they're pretty sacrificial.
- Salamanders: Downright terrifying how much death these guys can rack up on big light infantry blocks, and even heavy infantry won't like getting set on fire. I figure if they do get tied up in close-combat, it'll be better if they're in packs, as they can take more damage and not get picked off one by one. The idea here will be to send a pack up each flank in conjunction with the Skinks, to provide fire support (literally lol). Hopefully they can also tie up enemy flank attacks on the Saurus, allowing me time to reposition and then either counter-charge or nuke with Slann/EotG.
