8th Ed. HW or Spears? Help Needed

[Forsak3n_Oldblood]

my armylist WIP post seems to have alot of views but no replies

so i figured i'd try my luck here with one of my biggest questions i need help with.

i already have 16 saurus warriors modelled with HW and shields for the parry save

but the question is how should i model the 20 saurus warriors from the battalion box?
spears would give an extra rank of attacks, but cost more then HW's....but is the parry save worth it?

i need the help of experienced Lizardmen Generals

C&C greatly appreciated

 

[novatomato]

Some of both is always a good choice.
In my current list I'm using for upcoming tournaments I have a unit of 20 with hand weapon and shield and another unit of 24 with spears.
The Parry save is useful but it is only a 6+ save so the exchange between that and the extra attacks is really a toss up so I bring it down to a couple questions.
1. How wide is the unit going to be (generally)? If the unit in question is going to be five wide normally then the extra attacks are not going to be optimal. Six or more wide then those extra couple attacks start to show the difference.
2. How deep is the unit going to be (generally)? Three deep and you will lose attacks for every casualty. Four or more deep and you will have an entire rank that needs to be chewed through before you start to lose attacks.
3. What is the primary purpose of the unit? If you are building a rock solid anvil then that 6+ parry save is just that little bit more useful. When building a grinder unit then the extra rank of attacks pays incredible dividends.


So in short my philosophy is the more saurus you have then it is generally better to spend the extra points to maximize its killyness. It may seem a bit counter intuitive, spending more points on an already expensive unit but it has served me well (mostly).

 

[Arli]

I actually modeled all my saurus with spears and hand weapons. On some, the spear is in one hand, the shield in the other. On the ones that have a hand weapon, they have the shield and I have mounted a spear to their back. This way, I can go either way (according to my army list). I almost always go with hand weapons though.

 

[Forsak3n_Oldblood]

thanks for the advice and the modeling tips for hw/spears

i am mainly going to field them 5x4(with Scar-vet and bsb) and 4x4 or 6x3(i have 2 extra models giving me the option to make a unit of 16 or 18)

seeing as those are smaller units then most and i want to increase their chances of survival ill just leave them with HW's for the extra save. if i feel like the parry save isnt helping, or i need a larger block of warriors and can spare the points for those additional attacks i will pick up a few boxes of them. it wont be for awhile though, i have plenty to paint and build....and tons of games to get under my belt before i hit tournement sized games.

thanks again for the help

 

[novatomato]

one thing to keep in mind is that you will not be getting rank bonuses for any unit that has less than 5 models in its ranks, and no steadfast either. Keeping that in mind I would say go for the eighteen strong unit as opposed to the sixteen.

 

[Forsak3n_Oldblood]

thats definitly something that i had not thought of before, and more warriors in the unit would be better anyways.

 

[vapor]

A quick and handy rule of thumb is for 20 saurus or less use HW+S, for 21+ use spears.

 

[Batu]

Since 6th Ed I have run a Saurus heavy list and many hundreds of games. While 8th is a whole new game compared to 6th - 7th I still run my saurus 6x4. In this formation I have never had a saurus unit run. I have had them die tot he last saurus...but never run. Typically they win for me.

I am a very attack/offensive oriented and aggressive player so I run spears. I would rather have additional attacks to a 6+ WS. Only time I pull back to a 5 wide is if I am facing a horde formation of something I feel is similar in quality troop wise. Doing this to mitigate the Horde formation special rules while still maximizing my own.

So far in 8th spears have done me well and taken my saurus to victory in every game so far.

However, you MUST run your (army) and saurus supported not as individual units. This is the primary mistake I see people making. They take units and maneuver them individually instead of in maneuver elements. These individual units simply get taken out, well individually.

There is no "correct" way to equip a unit really. Outfit them per your style of play and you will fair better then outfitting a unit and changing your style of play to that unit.

I do like Vapor's suggestion on Spears 21+ HW/SH < 21. But unless your playing small games (2kish) below 24 the unit becomes combat ineffective so quickly, IMO it is not worth the few points you save not running them 24.

 

[Forsak3n_Oldblood]

spears in my larger unit would help with the extra rank of attacks,
and the smaller unit with HW's would be used against units that are more hitty but not as great of an AS, thus not needing as many attacks to make a dent in them.

taking Viper's suggestion i'll probably have a unit of 30 w/ spears and a unit of 20 or so w/ HW (which means i'll be picking up an extra box of warriors)