Lizardmen Core Choices

The Lizardmen Core choices are very very basic. Infantry and weak infantry. Saurus Warriors are arguably the best point per point infantry in the game and they are core. Sweet! unless you are facing them. The only option for Saurus is spears. Take em or leave em doesn't matter a bit, thanks to the support attacks rule. Saurus are a great core choice but have some short comings. M4 and low I1 will allow them to strike b4 ASL weapons and average mobility on the battlefield. The Strengths of a Saurus warrior greatly outways the weaknesses easily. 11 Point stock for S4 T4 A2 and 4+AS plus a HtH 6+WS these guys are anvils and hammers.

Skinks are the option for core. M6 and I4 Skirmishers and Block Units are the versatility of the skinks. With all their weapons coated in poison it is a nice feature for the fragile newts. Skirmisher Skinks have blowpipes so they can be screening or a distraction unit, not much else. I prefer to use Chameleons Skinks from the special units over the core skirmisher skinks. Ranked up skink units is a cheap and viable Horde unit for Lizardmen. With the ability to add a Kroxigor for every 8 skinks helps the T2 WS2 skinks greatly. A single Krox with increase the LD to 7 and also cause Fear to the models in BtB contact. The S6 with a Great Weapon Krox help the damage output of the unit. T4 W3 and a 4+AS fills out the stats and survivability of the Krox. I recommend a horde of 36 skinks with S and M with a single Krox. 249 points this unit has mobility, ranks, hordeability, and a throw away unit against elites, cav, and flankers. Steadfast on Ld 7 (thanks to a Krox) on 3D6 this unit has the potential to hold a unit up for 2 turns easily when it is ranked up 5x8. Lizardmen players remember that you get your 6+WS in HtH thanks to Hand weapon and shield(I forget all the time).

To sum up the Core choices for Lizardmen is very simple as said in the beginning. Saurus; standard issue tank grunts that you cant go wrong for taking to the battlefield. Skinks serve a different role and have some limited uses. Skirmishers are decent for harassing and shooting. If you are looking for a cheap point horde unit go with a skink with a krox unit. Low in points and better than average move it is a good all around unit to through at enemy elites to hold up or slim down their ranks before a flank charge. Until next time what it your favorite setup with saurus units? 30 5x6 , 25 5x5, or a nasty horde of 40 10x4? I only been running 30 5x6 and seems to be working well.

Lizardmen from 50,000 ft.

Lizardmen was the first army I started to play after our 10 year layoff of Warhammer. Back in 3rd edition there wasnt many models or players of the race, but there was high interest in the oldest race of the warhammer world. Now with 7th in the past and 8 in the present some of the units scene on the battle have changed slightly. A brief breakdown of the Lizardmen can be summed up in one sentence. No matter what army choices you take, you have a good shot at winning. PERIOD! (oh that's a exclamation point after the word period-sarcasm)

Despite the armies ultra low Initiative except for skinks, their toughness and armor saves rival the elites of other armies. One of largest race specifics from high above the Lizardmen is there Cold Blooded Leadership. The gift to roll 3D6 on any leadership test is a huge advantage comparative to any other army. To Slann or not to Slann; is not that big of a question thanks to the engine of the gods. You can have magic defense with the engine and still pack some punch in your magic phase due to the engines powers. The Lizardmen can be competitive in every phase of the game due to their range of units. From Horded skink/kroxigor unit to a pack of devastating salamanders you can strike fear into the belly of a Greater Daemon or bring a proud High Elf Prince to his knees. Over the next weeks I will be breaking down the Lizardmen into their primordial ooze as a guide to the first race of the Old Ones.

Empire Army Results/Insight

Ok with the first launch of my empire army. I learned more strengths than weaknesses. First off I made a mistake with my points on my list. (to be adjusted before the battle or just take the time to figure out) I played against arnie's Beastmen which he was testing out alot of options with his army. He had no magic, experimental, and I used Shadow magic with my lvl 4. Shadow magic ROCKS! with this army. Lowering Toughness and/or Strength on units is powerful. The Outriders shot at his T2 reduced Minotaurs and chewed them up first turn. Shadow is a strong magic to take with any shooting army to reduce T and then fire away at the unit. Cannons are great even if they both blow up second turn, hurt the confidence a'lil. Griffon General is ok but not a big monster/character killer, more of a unit supporter or to take out fast cav, chariot, or single monsters with no riders. Never got my knights into combat to try out. I fled when a giant and a chariot charged them. The new 8th rules on fleeing and rally really hurt. Once you rally from fleeing you cant move or shoot at all for the rest of that turn, unless you are fast cav(i think). Hordes are nice cause you can go 10x4 or reform to go 5x8 to go at it for the long haul of combat. I possibly may change the list to have a unit of 15 cav core with full cmd just to experiment with non bretonnia cav unit. Until next time, enjoy the weekend!

New Lease on "Life"

Just thinking a little about the list K and I have for the Brets. The thing they all have in common is the few number of wounds they have. This army is more "elite" then my High Elf army with around 80 models where as the High Elf has close to 100. Other then Ogre and Daemons I can't think of an army that will have less models. An Ogre Army can expand their numbers with noblars, some of their spells heal, and they have a multi-wound army. So when losing 10 men in a Bret army we lose 12.5% of our fighting capacity where the High Elves would only lose 10%. So keeping people alive is huge. The 2+ or 3+ armor saves and the ward saves help but I think the real key is to be able to bring them back or make them almost unkill-able. I think the best way to do this is through magic.

Lucky the Prophetess has access to 2 great lores for that. Life is the best and Beast is not bad. Give that life is the only way to bring models back I see it as huge for Bretonnia. If you lose the ward save on a unit of knights or put her with peasants the Regen spell is useful. Giving +2 or +4 toughness to any unit is huge for keeping it alive and Shield of Thorns is like giving a breath weapon to a unit. People will be less likely to want to fight a unit that has an extra 2D6 attacks. Beast's usefulness is held in it's signature spell. Making Men-at-Arms toughness 4 is great. Making a knight unit strength 4 after the first round of combat is huge. I can see the uses of Heaven but I find life to have more upside. Heavens is more about making someone re-role or just out right killing them so it really doesn't keep you alive as much as just out right kill them. The Damsel has Life and Beast. Life on the Damsel is tricky, with 1 spell making the others better it's hard to want to take a level 2 knowing the one spell you might end up with only makes you 1 other spell better. Beast is the better choice give that it's Signature spell is great. +1 Toughness and Strength at 10+ @ 12" or 13+ @ 24"

I guess tomorrow i might have another game to support this.