8th Ed. Lizard questions - yep, another new player

[CaptScott]

Hi guys, long time Empire player (10 years) and recent convert to lizards (looking forward to actually being able to do some damage in CC!).

I'm planning a a saurus heavy army, with only a scattering of skinks. Could you guys help me with the following?

1. How many skinks? I've read poison shooting skinks can be a good counter to high toughness targets. How many (blowpipes or javelins) would be good at 2000-2500 points. Also given that our Saurus units will likely be in CC by turn 2 in 8th, do we really need dedicated warmachine hunters?

2. Salamanders. Love em, great for fluff/painting/gaming. I've read that most field them in groups of 2-3. However with the move to percentages, wouldn't it be better to field multiple units of 1 instead?

3. Slann. Seems golden in 8th. Will Focused Rumination allow him to go beyond the 12 dice limit? I'm kind of hoping not as this will start removing the balance from the new magic system. Lads over at warseer seem to think it will.

4. Cold one Cav. From what I've read most don't rate them, though compared to my ST3 1A Empire knights these guys rock! I was thinking of taking small 5 man vanilla units for flanking (to provide extra combat res) or to run off small opposing units. Any good or leave them at home?

Thats all for now, I'm sure I'll be back with more.

Cheers!

ps - love your smileys

 

[Kurlin]

Hi guys, long time Empire player (10 years) and recent convert to lizards (looking forward to actually being able to do some damage in CC!).

I'm planning a a saurus heavy army, with only a scattering of skinks. Could you guys help me with the following?

1. How many skinks? I've read poison shooting skinks can be a good counter to high toughness targets. How many (blowpipes or javelins) would be good at 2000-2500 points. Also given that our Saurus units will likely be in CC by turn 2 in 8th, do we really need dedicated warmachine hunters?

2. Salamanders. Love em, great for fluff/painting/gaming. I've read that most field them in groups of 2-3. However with the move to percentages, wouldn't it be better to field multiple units of 1 instead?

3. Slann. Seems golden in 8th. Will Focused Rumination allow him to go beyond the 12 dice limit? I'm kind of hoping not as this will start removing the balance from the new magic system. Lads over at warseer seem to think it will.

4. Cold one Cav. From what I've read most don't rate them, though compared to my ST3 1A Empire knights these guys rock! I was thinking of taking small 5 man vanilla units for flanking (to provide extra combat res) or to run off small opposing units. Any good or leave them at home?

Thats all for now, I'm sure I'll be back with more.

Cheers!

ps - love your smileys

1 - A minimum of 2 units of 10(either cohort or skirmishers), and chameleons are great now too in addition to the 2 units, for war machine hunting. Yes you will want war machine hunting as they are super accurate now with no guess range, and you want your saurus in combat with as many models/ranks as possible. Saurus are by no means speedy, and combat turn 2 is by not a given if the enemy turtles.

2 - Well you can only have a maximum of 2 packs under 3k(all rares are limited to 2 each, and 3 each for specials), so I personally am going to run 2x2. Since they all have to fire at the same unit I find 3 a tad overkill.

3 - No you can not go over the 12 dice limit initially. But rumination can refill the pool. If you start with 12 dice then you can't use rumination for the first spell. After that your golden.

4 - I am still up in the air about them in 8th, in 7th I liked them but now with the inability to negate ranks without spending a ton of points for 10 of them, and the step up rule + init fighting, I just don't know. In 7th they could wipe out the first rank on the charge and just roll through and enemy line. Now not so much. I would say go for it if you like the models are are keen on cavalry, personally I am trying out skrox units for flanking as they also get decent shooting. All cavalry took a hit in 8th and I personally feel the points are used better elsewhere. I would say try them out if you got the models or proxies, and decide for yourself.

 

[lazylizard]

welcome to a new world.

to help you out:

skinks will be up to you but it is wise to bring about 2-3 units to the table. its always nice just incase there is some great big giant walking around or something.

i feel personally that salamanders have become a must have in your army. i like to run them as lone salamanders so that they can shoot at anything or even help support killing what didn't die. you must remember that everyone now is going to be taking big blocks of infantry so that should be more of an encouragement for you to bring salamanders, including the fact that there is no more partials, makes it all better.

the slann is always a great choice. i feel like the lore of life was taylored to lizardmen. with toughness boosters and bringing back the dead is really what we need. as for rumination, i still do take rumination beacuse its not like you're always going to get 12PD everytime for magic.

as for cold ones, i like them. they still have their uses in this new edition. whenever i bring them, i use them for supporting attacks in the flank. even though you don't take away ranks, you still do get a flank bonus so that still good enough. but in the end, you still need a little trial and error to figure out what it is that you want.

 

[CaptScott]

Thanks for the replies guys.

For now I'll be running my salamanders in groups of one (only got 2 at the moment, will likely buy a third). They seem more versatile this way, and will add another combat drop.

As for Cold Ones, hmmmm... unfortunately I've got 12. In my mind I've got 2 options, first run them as 5 man vanillas to flank and generate extra CR. Alternatively one big unit with scar-vet and the banner that lets them charge an extra D6, with the idea of being in combat by turn 2 (Turn 1: 14" march, Turn 2: 7" + 3D6 charge).

The only other major decisions (before purchasing/painting) is to run TG or not. Given they can't use their shields in CC anymore (is that right?), and the slann might nuke them, I think I might go the whole ethereal route.

And finally, man I wish I could get one of those last edition 'frog' slann models.

 

[Maedhros]

8th edition calvary all get the swiftstride rule. So, with Huachi's you'd get to charge 7" + 4d6 discarding the lowest d6. Every little bit helps

 

[Maxus]

8th edition calvary all get the swiftstride rule. So, with Huachi's you'd get to charge 7" + 4d6 discarding the lowest d6. Every little bit helps

But with Huachi's you add a d6 flat, so with the Cold One Cav, on a charge you would get 7" + 3d6 drop lowest (swiftstride) + d6 (Huachi's)

-M

 

[vapor]

For now I'll be running my salamanders in groups of one (only got 2 at the moment, will likely buy a third). They seem more versatile this way, and will add another combat drop.
.

Remember that under 3k points you can only have two rares of the same type (so if you had three sallies you would have to run them all in the same pack or two in one pack and one in the other)