First attempt at Lizardmen: 2,000pts (Throne of Skulls)

[Pawn of Decay]

Fantasy Army: Lizardmen

Last year two of my friends and I decided that we were going to attend the March UK Throne of Skulls tournament. We gave ourselves 6 months to build and paint an army. It was great fun, both making the army and playing in the tournament. In fact it was so much fun, that we are going to do it all over again.

The three of us last year took a Slaneesh themed ogre army (mine), a Dwarf army and a Troll monster Warriors of Chaos army.

I wanted to do something reasonably different to my Ogre army, yet not too different... With the time scale that we have and various other factors in mind I have ended up settling on Lizardmen. The idea behind the army is to try and have quite a striking force that should hold its own against most of the armies. A possible theme for this army is Julius Caesar and the 10th Roman Legion. (The Slaan being the emperor of Rome). Colours would be around Reds, Purples and Greys.

Having never looked at Lizardmen before I did a bit of research before writing my army list, and I have come up with the following.

Lord:

Slaan Mage Priest – 450pts
- 3 Disciplines
- +1 power dice with each spell
- Lore master
- Enemy Wizards dump 6’s to cast
- Cupped hands of the Old One
- Battle Standard Bearer
- Ironcurse Item

Core:

Saurus Warriors (24) – 300pts 6 wide and 4 deep
- Standard bearer
- Spears

Saurus Warriors (24) – 300pts 6 wide and 4 deep
- Standard bearer
- Spears

Skink Skirmishers (10) – 70pts
- Blowpipes

Special:

Temple Guard (20) – 370pts 6 wide and 4 deep with the Slaan
- Full command
- Standard of Discipline

Stegadon – 235pts

Rare:

Ancient Stegadon – 275pts

This comes to exactly 2,000 points.

Any help that people can offer would be greatly appreciated. The style of the army is certainly appealing. With the theme in mind I have the idea of the Skinks as Roman Scouts, Saurus Warriors as Roman Auxiliaries, Temple Guard as Roman Legionnaires, the Slaan as Caesar and Stegadons.... Well Stegadons because they are cool.

I am not sure how well this army would perform though, so any ideas and tips would be brilliant. One thing I am really unsure about is which lore of Magic I should look at for the Slaan. I am currently thinking lore of Shadow.

[EcoWarrior]

I can see your doing the multiple stegadonthingy but you only have 1 unit of chaff; wouldent dropping a stegadon or dropping both get you more chaff and more other stuff ? i mean dropping 1 of them you could get 2 units of skinks and 2 units of terradons. Maybe im wrong but otherwise i cant see it been that difficult to kill units of 20ish

[Moss]

They're not just units of 20ish. They're units of 20ish saurus, and 24 is plenty big. And there really aren't very many units who can easily kill a unit of 24 saurus, especially one that's been buffed by the lore of light.

Which leads me to my next point, the obvious choices for this list are lores are light and life. Life is good all around (especially since you can heal those stegadons), but I personally like Light best since you have all those units of saurus to buff.

Just noticed that you don't have any salamanders. I know you're tight on points, but I urge you to find points for at least one. If you want to be competetive, more. Not sure how you'd tie them into the theme, though the Romans were known to hurl balls of flaming something (I have no idea what it was they were actually hurling) in battle.

[EcoWarrior]

they might be units of "24 saurus" but whats stopping them being tied up ? I only see one unit of skinks which could redirect (chaff).

[Moss]

I guess I don't understand the problem. Other than ethereals, what do you see tying them up?

[dhagi]

hordes of zombies/skeletons, clan rats...typical 2000 point games the problems I run into are less "oh god oh god we're all going to die" and more "oh come on, get finished with this combat already"
Low initiative and attack numbers means that the "free" horde of zombies that a necromancer raises are going to stop one of those units in its tracks.
I'd suggest dropping one of the stegadons for salamander. I tried a dual steg list against a handful of my friends armies and while they're wonderful at dishing out damage they're not wonderful enough to get out of combat and tend to have 3 flanks occupied by enemy units. one stegadon for a pair of salamanders would help eat up enemy models.
Also, have you contemplated chameleons? I've found them to be quite useful, especially against warmachine armies.

[Gaargod]

Better question, IMHO - do you need three blocks of saurus (TG count)? With 2 stegs, I've found you can run just 2 blocks of saurus very easily. Especially if you take Lore of Life - stegs become nigh unbreakable and unkillable roadblocks within 12" of the Slann. It's also worth noting you only have 2 defensive buffs with Life.

Dhagi's comments mostly work on the problem that you have very little support. This is true, and a serious problem. However, dropping a unit of saurus and taking a few units of skinks / chameleons / salamanders will probably do you a better job.

[Pawn of Decay]

Hmm I suppose having used Ogres up until now as my Warhammer Fantasy foray, I have never understood the need of these 'chaff' units. Blocks of things usually get the job done fairly nicely. In way of Support units... What better way to support a unit of Saurus, but with another unit of Saurus?

However I will always listen to people and take on board advice. Lore of Life sounds like an interesting option which I hadn't really thought about, and I will try both Life and Light out. The Lore of magic will be a trial and error thing in getting right I believe.

EcoWarrior
I can see your doing the multiple stegadonthingy but you only have 1 unit of chaff; wouldent dropping a stegadon or dropping both get you more chaff and more other stuff ? i mean dropping 1 of them you could get 2 units of skinks and 2 units of terradons. Maybe im wrong but otherwise i cant see it been that difficult to kill units of 20ish

Units of 20ish Saurus are not so easy to deal with. Experience in watching games play out etc. shows that the buggers are resilient and can hit resonably well themselves. The low iniative is just not an issue... (i have been playing Ogres. We only have low iniative... I know its not the same, but it changes little). I like the idea of multiple Stegadons. They are threatening and good supportive units for the blocks of troops.

Anyway lets give version 2 a go. Here is what I am thinking, taking on board what other people have said.

Lord:

Slaan Mage Priest – 450pts
- 3 Disciplines
- +1 power dice with each spell
- Lore master
- Enemy Wizards dump 6’s to cast
- Cupped hands of the Old One
- Battle Standard Bearer
- Ironcurse Item

Core:

Saurus Warriors (24) - 306pts
- Standard bearer
- Musician

Skink Skirmishers (10) - 70pts
- Blowpipes

Skink Skirmishers (10) - 70pts
- Blowpipes

Skink Skirmishers (10) - 70pts
- Blowpipes

Special:

Temple Guard (22) - 402pts
- Full Command
- Standard of Discipline

Stegadon - 235pts

Stegadon - 235pts

Rare:

Salamanders (2) - 160pts
- 2 Handlers

Total points: 1,998pts

I can figure some Roman Style theme to bring the Salamanders into the army I am sure . I am not 100% sure that this theme will work until I start trying. If the theme doesn't hold up, I will still be doing the Lizardmen anyway. Having some Giant pet Lizards being proded by sticks and Roman styled Skinks to hurl giant balls of fire could work...

[EcoWarrior]

The saurus have what 5+ Scaly skin and shields righ, so 4+ sv they are baisically chaos warriors. Dont put to much faith into that 4+ T4... Just from experience with the way units are fielded now 20 doesnt last long without the chaff; a few turns of shooting at them and a few averages hit and they will be lower on numbers negating their rank bonuses for combat thus leaving them alot more vulnerable. I know i know they are cold bloded but what about when you lose combat by alot because of your numbers ? This is why you need those chaff units to piss them off so they target the small cheap units so you can hit them with that full 20man units not 10-15 of them.
About magic ive allways seen lizardmen players in tournies use light/metal. Life is nice dont get me wrong but your already quite high toughness; all you will be doing is giving them that little resilience boost, dont you want to make them hit harder instead ? or hit first. Metal gets rid of those knights you dont wanna throw any of your units into and isnt to shabby against any expensive units imo especially when you have a slann casting them, which leaves the rest of your army to mop up those weaker units which they can definatly do.

Do you need 22 temple guard? 19 ranks up just fine with the slann

[Pawn of Decay]

19 Temple Guard rank up awful... when I am looking at being 6 wide. lol. I pushed the unit from 20 to 22 because I had some points left over and no idea what to spend it on. Lore of Light would be something to think about. Life and Light have both been suggested a few times as an option. It would come time to preference and play testing when it comes to which magic lore to use.

I think the revised army list is better... Again I am not sure as I have had very little experience in Warhammer Fantasy in general, let alone using Lizardmen, What would you suggest instead of the additional 2 Temple Guard for the 34 points available.

[Moss]

Hmm I suppose having used Ogres up until now as my Warhammer Fantasy foray, I have never understood the need of these 'chaff' units. Blocks of things usually get the job done fairly nicely. In way of Support units... What better way to support a unit of Saurus, but with another unit of Saurus?

This has always been my way of doing things. Three big blocks of saurus/TG slowly advancing and being careful not to leave one another's side. Instead of needing one or two support units for each block, I'm able to use the same two or three units for all three blocks. I just have to be careful to keep my units together so that they don't get surrounded or lured away from magic/general/bsb/salamander support.

I realize this way has some weaknesses and doesn't do well against some builds, but more often than not it does well and wins (especially against your run of the mill standard "balanced" list). My point is that if you want to take a crapload of infantry blocks, do it and you can do well enough with it, as long as you play to your army's strengths.

I just really liked what you said there.

[dms505]

Here is my 2000 pt list. possibly moving things around for another unit of skink skirmishers. But I like multiple big blocks of Saurus and I really don't feel Temple Guard are worth it this edition so I just go lone Slaan. Lone Slaan sounds scary but it isn't bad at all. With
Higher state and the plaque almost every opponent just ignores him with small units and war machines. You just have to keep him away from the bigger units that can rack up Combat res on him. I've only lost him once in the last 8 games and it was a sacrifice to keep another unit from gaining advantage over the rest of my army.
Between the 2 stegs and the two saurus units people aren't sure where to focus.


Slaan Mage-Priest (Light Lore or Life) (BSB)
Higher State of Conciousnous
Focused Rumination
Divine Plaque of the Protection


Saurus Scar-Veteran (Lt Armor, Shield)
Gold Sigil Sword


Skink Priest (Heavens Lore)
Dispell scroll
Ancient Stegadon - Engine of the Gods


Saurus Warriors (w Spears 12pt per) FC
24


Saurus Warriors (w Spears 12pt per) FC
20


Salander Hunting Pack (75 pt per)
Skink Handlers (1 Extra)


Salander Hunting Pack (75 pt per)
Skink Handlers (1 Extra)


Skink Skirmishers (7pt per)
11


Chameleon Skinks (12pt per)
6


Stegadon