8th Ed. terradons

[The Hunted]

Another useful terradon trick is to play them as naked skink chiefs on terradons. They'll cost you 85 points a pop and eat into your hero allowance but they open up a HUGE range of possibilities. Basically, they become slightly expensive High Elf great eagles. If you're interested, the HE forums have a wealth of strategies, here's a useful one;

http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=33028 (Try to ignore the elf-specific advice!)

I've had great success with 'The Run Down' (using terradon to run down a fleeing enemy to free up your hard-hitting units), 'The Speed Bump' (the trick that got me using solo-chiefs on terradons; place your terradon 1" away from an enemy unit, but way off to the side so you block their movement but would force a turn to charge you. In their turn they can either charge (and you run away) and pull themselves out of position, or not move at all and fall behind their battle-line) and 'The Double Block' (similar to the last but with two terradons placed slightly apart. You opponent charges the first, flee, and then re-directs to the second, flee, leaving him even further out of position!). There are many more options still to try!

It's not for everyone, but as my hero section is usually a little empty they fill a neat little slot! I recommend taking two if you plan on trying them out. They can really be a pain in the ass for just about any army and can still perform most of the actions a unit of three normal terradons can do.

That link is really golden. It sums up all the movement uses of our terradons, and even our skink units. And it does that in a nice, understandable short article! Love it.

Terradons are btw pretty darn good against eagles themselves, 3d3 rocks (on average 3 hits) do 1.5 wounds and then 3 javelins might do a wound too. So 1-2 wounds on an eagle, right before you charge his RBT or you keep following the eagle with your terradons. You can drop rocks, throw javelins and then chase him with javelins. Or, drop rocks, throw javelins and try to charge him the next turn, you will pin his great eagle in place for a while and have solid odds on killing it.
Also, the 1-2 wounds you do with your terradons will help your skinks greatly in killing it if he goes after them. A S&S poisoned wound might kill it or bring it down to 1 wound and then you can finish it in CC (hopefully).

Terradons are also better vs light cavalry, skirmishers and small units of shooters than great eagles. Because they can drop rocks, throw some javs and have more (stomp) attacks!

You can, as already explained by BeardedDragon, use their feigned flight rule to great effect.

'Reform prevention'
This can also be achieved by moving them very close to your enemy. Instead of charging them into the CC (where they will die a horrible death).

EEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEE
...SSSSS...
...SSSSS...
...SSSSS...
...SSSSS...

E=Enemy
S=Saurus

You are afraid that your enemy might reform into a longer column with more ranks, instead of his horde formation. This would negate your steadfast and thus you are way more likely to break.
The solution?

TerTerTer

EEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEE
...SSSSS...
...SSSSS...
...SSSSS...
...SSSSS...

TerTerTer
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
...EEEEE...
...EEEEE...
...EEEEE...
...SSSSS...
...SSSSS...
...SSSSS...
...SSSSS...

!!: No more space for your opponent to reform, thus this is not possible.

By parking your terradons right behind your enemy (1" away), he cannot reform into the column. Simply because your Terradons are in the way! This tactic works to prevent any reform, for instance:
Your opponent wants to reform his unit so it can squeeze between impassable terrain features, park them behind the unit to deny this.

If your opponent wants to go wider, you will have to use 2 units to either side. Regular skink, skirmisher, chameleons and even Salamander units will help you to block his reform!

The Hunted

Edited to get the coded part right.

 

[brokbrok]

Fluffly speaking, terradons are not always flying. They land after every movement, and I think they charge on foot as well. That last part I have to look up. But yeah, they, and any other flying creature, fight on foot.

 

[Syltaryn]

Yes, I see that the HE eagle is in fact a monstrous beast...but then again it isn't cavalry, is it? I suppose the better question would be to ask whether WE hawk riders or Bret Pegasus riders have stomp.

In the bestiary at the back of the rule book terradons are classified as Monstrous Cavalry. In the section on Monstrous Cavalry is where they get the stomp rule.

 

[Goat1of4]

There are two main things Terradons have over Eagles that make several of these tactics even more effective.

1. per the fly rule (Pg 70) flying units that have more than one model count as Skirmishing. Thus our Terradons are Skirmishers.

2. They are fast cavalry. That means that they get a vanguard movement. For these tactics an extra 12” move can make quit a difference.

I am particularly a fan of the vanguard movement as it can really change a battle line. I have recently been using the “Lateral Shift” to great effect. You set up your Terradons first at one end. You then set up your other fast units more toward the middle. You finish by having your big blocks at the other end.

During vanguard you move your Terradons to the other side of your zone. Between your vanguard and flying as well as the 6” move of most of your other units you can be to the other end of the table in a turn or two. Then you are ready to hit a strung out enemy with little to no backup at that end.

 

[T`hinker`er]

O.k., then to sum up, Terradons are Forest Striders, Fast cav (vanguard move, feigned flight, free reform), have Stomp (monstrous cav), drop rocks and use poison javelins. The riders get a 6+ save for being mounted too.

Are they really skirmishers? If they are Monstrous Cav, a unit of 6 could get ranks...not seeing the reference to skirmishing in their rules...

Pretty amazing unit all in all. Glad I am taking the time to put mine together. They are one of the more difficult blister packs to assemble and one of the few metal minis that I have that I actually wish were plastic or even finecast.

 

[Syltaryn]

The terradons are a pain in the butt in terms of assembly. I've got three of the newer terradons and three of the older terradons. The newer ones look slightly better but come in so many pieces it's painful. I ended up pinning everything. Now the only problem I have is the flying stands. I magnetised them but I don't think I put the internal magnet deep enough as the magnet attached to the flying base doesn't take much to break off. I'm thinking of scrapping the flying stands altogether and just using a solid piece of thick wire or something.

One more thing I've found annoying is it's near impossible to rank them up because of their wings so I recommend making every second flying stand a second height so you can put them next to each other with their wings overlapped.

 

[Zakharov]

Are they really skirmishers? If they are Monstrous Cav, a unit of 6 could get ranks...not seeing the reference to skirmishing in their rules...

They are skirmishers because of the 'Fly' special rules. As stated in the BRB p70;

"In addition, because of their loose fighting style, flying units consisting of more than one model have the Skirmishers special rule."

They truly are a versatile and deadly unit!

 

[T`hinker`er]

They truly are a versatile and deadly unit!

Yeah, definitely. Once they are loose in the enemy's backfield you can have all sorts of fun! I can see them being the first target of an Organ Gun volley or getting jumped by High Elf Eagles before they have a chance to drop their rocks. You definitely need to be aggressive with them and use that Vanguard Move to your advantage. Or just accept that their role in such games is to draw fire away from your Steggadon

Assembly is a real pain with the new ones! I'm having nightmares filling in all the gaps and getting good strong bonds on the wings and so on. I resorted to a pin last night on one of them, but so far I am finding that I can use a combination of glue and putty to get a decent enough bond. I'm not even going to waste time on the flyer stands, as has been pointed out, doing so will ensure that they never rank up and GW flyer stands are notorious for breaking anyway. And frankly a thin brass wire painted black is a lot less visible than a clear plastic tube that reflects and distorts light.

 

[T`hinker`er]

O.k., here's something I just found out today about Terradons attacking war machines - the fact that they are Monstrous Cavalry actually hurts as much as it helps - yes, you get a stomp attack, but if you read the rules for monstrous cav attacking a war machine, you are only allowed to get 2 into combat at a time - even though you can physically line up 3 x 40mm bases with 3 x 20mm bases, this is not legal under the rules. So you give up a skink and a terradon attacking in exchange for 2 stomp attacks. On balance, this is a plus, as the stomps auto-hit, but it sucks to have a 30 point model have to sit out combat...

 

[Bush_Craft]

@Syltaryn: I just did 8 of them, and I feel your pain. Not to hijack the thread but here's some quick tips:

-You're gonna need green stuff. Probably have to pin them, too. You can use rubber bands to hold them together while drying.

-I hate flying stands. I bought some clear 3/8" plastic rods from FLGS, drilled out the old hole in the terrys to that size. LIGHTLY glued 3/8" wood dowels into the new holes on the terrys, then same size holes into a scrap board from the garage. Take the 40mm base and do it up nice, glue the clear rod into it. You can stick them on the board as a holder, prime and paint, then pop out the dowels and glue the "for real" plastic posts into them when done. Ta da! Hope it helps.

Also, thanks for that HE link , Zakharov!

 

[Landjorden]

O.k., here's something I just found out today about Terradons attacking war machines - the fact that they are Monstrous Cavalry actually hurts as much as it helps - yes, you get a stomp attack, but if you read the rules for monstrous cav attacking a war machine, you are only allowed to get 2 into combat at a time

And whats even more sad is that you can´t stomp a warmachine at all, only infantry, war beasts and swarms may be stomped.

 

[Zakharov]

Also, thanks for that HE link , Zakharov!

No worries, I play those bastards often enough that it makes me smile every time I use one of their tactics against them! Last game I pulled a horde of spearmen out of position, won the combat (three terras vs massive numbers of elves) thanks to some incredible rolling and then got a flank and rear charge with saurus. Was beautiful...

@Landjordan, that is a very good point. I had always assumed that they could stomp as they were attacking the people crewing the machines, but you're right. Guess I have some apologising to do to some HE bolt throwers...

 

[T`hinker`er]

Ugh! So no stomp then... Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

I'm considering starting Lizardmen and was curious about having a terradon theme. I was wondering about how many terradons would be considered too many? What's the minimum I should take, and possible maximum? Only other special I'm looking to run is a block of 30~40 Temple Guard.

Thanks!

 

[heuningby]

Just got my Terradons in the post and was wondering if a unit of 10 Terradons was viable. Imagine 10D3 strength 4 hits with dropping rocks...

 

[Putzfrau]

There are more recent threads discussing rippers/terradons.


No need to necro a thread thats 2 years old.

 

[VampTeddy]

There are more recent threads discussing rippers/terradons.


No need to necro a thread thats 2 years old.

He posted in a thread that is pointed towards by the tactica index. Not necroing as far as i am concerned.

The idea seems fluffy at best, you're paying a LOT to get those missiles, and while you can do serious damage with it, can you achieve 350 pts of damage with it everytime, to weigh out the costs?

I don't believe so.

The usage of 3 terradons stem simply because of their tying up potential, AND the added bonus of dropping rocks onto some chaff, which may or may not die, not solely for chaff hunting with a one trick pony.

At a maximum 10 terradons (who will fill a hellish lot) will drop 30 rocks. That's 30 str 4 > hits < (correct me if i am wrong, my book is hidden somewhere in the mess). Though it's a one trick pony, and not reliable, as it could be 10 hits.

Now 30 Saurus in horde formation, coming in at 360 pts does 30 str 4 attacks, with roughly 15 hits to wound off. These attacks however can be buffed by magic, the terra's cannot. The terra's however is "sorta" maneuverable, if you don't consider it's huge space needs.

I'd rather buy the 30 core units, and save my 350 pts, maybe buy 3 units of 3 terradons instead ^^

 

[Putzfrau]

There are more recent threads discussing rippers/terradons.


No need to necro a thread thats 2 years old.

He posted in a thread that is pointed towards by the tactica index. Not necroing as far as i am concerned.

The idea seems fluffy at best, you're paying a LOT to get those missiles, and while you can do serious damage with it, can you achieve 350 pts of damage with it everytime, to weigh out the costs?

I don't believe so.

The usage of 3 terradons stem simply because of their tying up potential, AND the added bonus of dropping rocks onto some chaff, which may or may not die, not solely for chaff hunting with a one trick pony.

At a maximum 10 terradons (who will fill a hellish lot) will drop 30 rocks. That's 30 str 4 > hits < (correct me if i am wrong, my book is hidden somewhere in the mess). Though it's a one trick pony, and not reliable, as it could be 10 hits.

Now 30 Saurus in horde formation, coming in at 360 pts does 30 str 4 attacks, with roughly 15 hits to wound off. These attacks however can be buffed by magic, the terra's cannot. The terra's however is "sorta" maneuverable, if you don't consider it's huge space needs.

I'd rather buy the 30 core units, and save my 350 pts, maybe buy 3 units of 3 terradons instead ^^

Ah, i see. My mistake then! I do think there are some current threads that have a more recent conversation but /shrug.

To answer the initial question, terradons are larger used as chaff and diverters. Running 10 kind of defeats that purpose. There is really no need for a potential 30 strength 4 hits from a 300ish point unit in a current lizardmen army. You get that kind of offense from your standard saurus block.

Flying chaff that comes in at an easily disposable ~100 points is hard to come by for any army.

 

[heuningby]

I see. Thanks, that makes sense also, killing 3 of them with shooting wouldn't be so hard and in a unit of ten, would probably cause 7 to flee as their LD is quite low.

I did look for newer threads but I must've missed them. My bad.

 

[Putzfrau]

I see. Thanks, that makes sense also, killing 3 of them with shooting wouldn't be so hard and in a unit of ten, would probably cause 7 to flee as their LD is quite low.

I did look for newer threads but I must've missed them. My bad.

No worries I shouldn't have called you out like that