8th Ed. New to Lizardmen

[Tellos]

Hello all,

First a short introduction. I'm new here and have bought a small lizardmen force last week. I'm new to warhammer fantasy but it's not unknown to me. I play wargames for about 15 years now, started with warhammer 40k 3rd edition. Looked at fantasy then but some bad advise from GW made me choose the wrong army and never got into it. Play other games but now try my chances with fantasy.

Anyhow i bought the following for the beginning, it's 600 points total.
Skink Priest
2x 10 Skink Skirmishers
15 Saurus Warriors with hand weapon/shield
Bastilodon

I'm going to paint this up and learn the game with. I have some questions though for expansion.
1. Is 15 saurus enough for a unit or do they need to be 30 or so for the steadfast rule?
2. I really like the Troglodon, does he work well on the battlefield?
3. I also plan to get a stegadon, but which is better, the normal one, the ancient or the skink priest mount(really like the last one)?
4. Any other advise you can give me?

Cheers

 

[Pinktaco]

24-25 saurus warriors should be a fine size for a start.
Troglodon is kinda mediocre so for a start I'd take something else.
Ancient stegadon all the way. No priest and no engine of the gods, but do get the sharpened horns.

Other advice would be to buy the battalion box. It includes a lot of good stuff and you really need a scar vet hero (which can be made from that box).

So to move into the 1000pts range you'd need a scar vet (on cold on) and some more saurus warriors along with the ancient stegadon.

For 1000pts your potential armylist could be:

Scar vet on cold one.
Priest with dispel scroll.
24 saurus warriors.
10 skink skirmishers.
A bastiladon.
An ancient stegadon.

Just to give you an idea

 

[Tellos]

Why is the ancient stegadon better then the normal one? I see he has a better scaly skin but also less initiative, Attacks and a shorter ranged weapon.

And why do i really need a scar vet? Was already planning on having one but just curious.

Which Lore is better for the skink priest, beasts or heaven?

Thanks for the advice. I'll make sure to get some more saurus warriors as my first expension.

Cheers

 

[hdctambien]

Why is the ancient stegadon better then the normal one? I see he has a better scaly skin but also less initiative, Attacks and a shorter ranged weapon.

Both of their Inititives stink. I2 isn't going to get you any farther than I1. But Str6 is better than Str5, especially since most of your damage is going to come from Impact Hits and Thunder Stomps. And the better Armor Save will help much more than the extra (Str 5) attack.

The Giant Blowpipes have a Shorter Range than the Bolt thrower, but you get to roll 4d6 Blowpipe Shots vs 1 Bolt Thrower shot. You're probably hitting on 6's most of the time, so the Blowpipes should get 2 (poisoned) hits on average vs 0.16 (poison) hits from the Bolt Thrower.

And why do i really need a scar vet? Was already planning on having one but just curious.

Scar Vets are a really good fighting unit, and probably the best value model in the book.

Which Lore is better for the skink priest, beasts or heaven?

Depends. I think most people lean towards Heavens because it is cheaper (so you can successfully cast more often) and has some really useful spells. If you're going Monster Mash then Beasts can work really well, though.

Beasts really shines when you can get spells off on a couple of Scar Vets and/or Old Bloods. If you're running a Slann and lots of Skinks you may be underwhelmed by Beasts (I do love me some Str4, T7 Skinks when I run a Life Slann and Beasts Priest, though!)

 

[Tellos]

Thanks for the reply. Just getting to grip with the game and the army.

Now to get the stuff painted.

Cheers