8th Ed. Starter army, 1500 points

[SilverFaith]

Hey, completely new WHFB player here, and I finally settled on the only army that really appeals to me: Lizardmen.

Now, I plan on starting my collection hard - Going straight for 1500 points, a level my local group often plays at. I'm just not sure how to do this most effectively (And cost-effective). As the group is friendly and non-competitive, I am not looking for a cheese list, or whatever is "the most powerful", just something that is actually possible to stand up against DE, HE, and VC. Vampires and those Great-Weapon guys are just so ridiculously powerful that I at least want a feasible way to not get crushed by them. Another thing is, we have this "fairplay" rule that says that Lords in games that are below 2k points are off-limits. Seen it tried several times, and especially things like the Vampires, are just ridiculously impossible to kill.

Now, my current plan is to just get 2 battalion boxes. My idea is to use some of the Cold Ones as salamanders (Stand ins are perfectly fine in my group), and at least 1 as a Scar-vet. Other than just that, I want to buy at least 1 Skink Priest.

Heroes: 275 points
Saurus Scar-Veteran
-Cold One, Great Weapon, Light Armour, Sacred Stegadon Helm of Itza

Skink Priest
-Level 2 Wizard, Dispel Scroll

Core: 648
Saurus Warriors x 20
-Champion and Standard Bearer
Saurus Warriors x 20
-Champion and Standard Bearer

Skink Skirmishers x 12
- Javelin and Shield
Skink Skirmishers x 12
- Javelin and Shield

Special : 465
Temple Guard x 20 (To protect the Skink Priest)
-Revered Guardian with Gold Sigil Sword, Standard Bearer

Rare: 240
Salamander Hunting Packs x 3

Total: 1478 points

Any suggestions for changes/upgrades, etc, are very welcome. Is there something else I should get, or is there something I really should leave out, and in either case, would two Battalion boxes actually be worth it? Just, as I can get a good deal on everything in my local store next week, I can get all of this for 160£ or about 210$, which seems pretty damn cheap, compared to my 40k army.

 

[Qupakoco]

Welcome to L-O!! Glad to see you found your way here from the grim darkness of the far future.

If you're trying to save cash, that army is a pretty decent one. No Lords means you'll get to miss out on a lot of the nasty casters and combat characters in those armies. You could streamline your Scar-Veteran a little more if you tried. If you were to kit him out with the Armor of Fortune you might see him surviving a little better. But that's sort of nit picky since he'll be represented by the same model in play.

It's almost always beneficial to have the musician in your units if you're taking upgrades. I would say that the musician is more important than the Champion in a lot of cases. With your spare handful of points I would buy one for the Temple Guard and one of the Saurus units. Can't go wrong there.

For the Revered Guardian I am partial to giving him the Sword of Might instead. Remember if you take away his halberd he won't hit at strength 5 anymore. The Sword of Might keeps him at that strength plus give him the benefit of using his Shield in close combat, giving him a superior save to his fellow Temple Guard. Makes him sort of like a mini-Scar-Vet IMO.

But yeah, that's a pretty good start! I run with units of Cavalry pretty frequently and I enjoy using them. I'd suggest modeling at least 2 of the Cold One Riders as Scar-Vets and saving at least 5 for a full unit so you can at least try them out. It would be nice to have a BSB in the army somewhere, but I'm not sure what you would want to shave off. (Maybe one of the Salamanders so your friends are begging for mercy)

EDIT: Gor-rok is a pretty solid character and so is Tetto'eko or however you spell it. I'd consider adding either of them if you like they're options.

 

[SilverFaith]

Thanks for the reply!

Musicians giving free re-forms (Right?) just didn't seem all that valuable on such a slow army, but on second thought, it could save me getting flanked by some of the significantly faster units in the game.

As for the magic items, I've read through the core book about them, but I just don't see what is actually useful, and what isn't. And since they already have shields, aren't they used already? Halberds sure sound like 2-handed weapons.

As for the BSB, I've looked at it, but nothing looks really "Good". Could throw it on my Temple Guard Unit, since I plan on having that as the center unit in my army, but I just don't see any of them being all that useful, considering the amount of points I'll be throwing at it.

 

[Qupakoco]

Yeah, musicians make it easier to maneuver your units around. They ALSO count as a tie-breaker in close combat, assuming your opponent doesn't have one. In your case, if you and your Saurus got into a fight and ended up with a draw after combat resolution is counted up, the enemy would win if they had a musician and you didn't. Just something to think about. Also if your unit is fleeing, the musician increases their leadership by 1 to help them rally easier.

40k and WHFB are totally different animals. The fact that our core moves 4" isn't really too bad. We can easily block routes of march with our Skinks to get the Saurus into good charging positions. Being able to reform on a whim is pretty nice.

The BSB is a really vital part of your army in a lot of cases. Play a couple games with and without it and see what you think. Experience is best learned by gaining experience, right?

I can understand your initial look at the rule book items. Just remember that they are also options you can pick from and sometimes are better than the options in the Lizardmen book.

 

[SilverFaith]

Ah, right. So Musicians sure seem to be worth the points. But the BSB just seems awfully expensive. But of course, getting re-rolls on top of Cold-Blooded doesn't exactly sound bad, especially not against our VC player.

Aside from that, are there any units I should strongly consider aside from those already listed?