1.5k Lizardmen List For Starter Game

[ElectricPaladin]

I first got into Fantasy about a year ago, and then promptly stopped playing. I think it has something to do with living in the shadow of the Leadership 2 crew, who are really, really good. It makes it a hard meta to break into.

Anyway, I've got a new buddy who's starting Wood Elves, which means that my interest in Fantasy has a new lease on life. Finally, an opponent I stand a chance of beating! Anyway, we've got a small game scheduled for the Thursday after next. This is also my first attempt using the new army book.

Anyway, here's it goes: questions and comments are welcome.

Lords
• Slann Mage-Priest (BSB) (High Magic) w/Lichebone Pennant, Higher State of Consciousness

Heroes
• Skink Priest (Lore of Beasts) w/Dragonbane

Core
• 40 Saurus Warriors (Full Command) w/Spears
• 20 Skink Skirmshirs w/Blowpipes

Special
• 8 Cold One Riders (Full Command) w/Spears

Rare
• 2 Salamander Hunting Packs

Well... nobody's commented yet, so I guess I'll outline my thought process here. It's pretty basic, though.

The Saurus horde is my anvil, the cold one riders are my hammer, and the skink skirmishers are my harassers/charge redirectors. I picture the priest as marching with the Saurus, though I suppose he could hang out with the Skinks if I felt like it. The Slann is meant to just hang out in the back and sling spells. He's got Higher State of Consciousness because I didn't want to fit temple guard in at this points level. The lichebone pennant is meant to help protect him from the one thing that could weaken him: magical attacks. When I boost the list to 2k, I'll probably drop the Higher State thing and have him ride with a temple guard bus.

[Chronowraith]

It's a pretty solid list for 1.5k. I would suggest that you split the skink skirmishers up into 2 groups of 10 and the Saurus warriors into 2 groups of 20... points permitting though since you'll need more command on the Saurus warriors for two full units.

I'd be hesitant on taking the lichbone pennant. While I understand your reasoning and it seems pretty solid... your biggest threats aren't from actual spells... it's from ranged weapons or skirmishers that count as having magical attacks and the lichbone pennant does nothing against those. So things like the Flamer chariot, khorne cannon, warp-lightning cannon, jezzails, Daemon fast cav, etc will be able to get around the effectiveness of the pennant. For an ethereal Slann, I'd suggest no special banner on him at all. Either take magic items, additional disciplines, or nothing at all to keep him on the cheap.

Other than that, the list is great and should play well on the tabletop against most generalist lists.

The key with the skink priest is to keep him wherever the Slann needs him. In some games this may be with the Saurus unit(s)... in some games it will be with the skinks... Being able to channel spells through the skink priest will aid your Slann in staying out of the fight.

[MAVV]

My buddy plays Lizzies and he has not been having much luck with the Slann. This is usually the case of poor luck, but every game the Slann has either blown up, destroyed his own unit, or eaten a Purple Sun turn 1 (hehehe). I've actually beaten him more often when he uses the Slann than when he uses a tooled up Oldblood to mess me up, but against WE you should probably do pretty well with this list. Any idea what your friend is going to run with?

[ElectricPaladin]

Interesting... if I split the Saurus units, the best way to get those points would probably be to drop one of the two salamanders. That - and dropping the Dragonbane Gem, which was really just a points sink anyway - leaves me with 72 points to spend. What do you recommend? Looking through the army book, I don't think there's much of anything that could buy, so should I just upgrade everything I can?

Wait a minute... I spent points on making the Slann a BSB. I don't need to do that. That means I have 97 points left. That changes everything. I can do a lot with those points, including put the second Salamanders back in... interesting. I'll be right back.

[ElectricPaladin]

Ok, here's what I got.

Lords
• Slann Mage-Priest w/Higher State of Consciousness

Heroes
• Skink Priest

Core
• 20 Saurus Warriors w/Spears (Full Command)
• 20 Saurus Warriors w/Spears (Full Command)
• 10 Skink Skirmishers
• 10 Skink Skirmishers

Special
• 8 Cold One Riders w/Spears (Full Command)

Rare
• 2 Salamander Hunting Packs

[Chronowraith]

Looks good. That gives you a decent number of drops, some chaff/redirect units, anvil units (saurus), a hammer unit (cold ones), some artillery for thinning out herds of infantry like Skaven hordes (Salamanders), and then obvious magical support.

For bumping up to 2000 points, I'd definitely add the BSB back onto the Slann but for 1500 you probably don't need it since everything is cold-blooded.

[pgarfunkle]

Against wood elves I would recommend that you go for lore of heavens on the skink and hope for midnight wind or go for the signature as this will hurt the elves shooting against you. Also the lore attribute will be nice an helpful against the eagles you will likely face. Also as it's a lower points list I've found that life is more useful than the more offensive lores as it with flesh to stone, rebirth and the lore attribute you keep your models on the table.

Having 2 units of skirmishers and Saurus is good as it will force the elves to choose whether to split their fire or focus on 1 unit leaving the rest to advance. Your skirmishers should try to scoot round the side of any treemen or treekin to make best use of their poison. You will need to watch out for dryads as the other tree folk getting near the Slann as they have magical attacks.

Good luck and let us know how the game goes (Lizards and Woodies are my 2 favourite armies)

[ElectricPaladin]

Against wood elves I would recommend that you go for lore of heavens on the skink and hope for midnight wind or go for the signature as this will hurt the elves shooting against you...

We'll see... I know that this is good advice, but I am really happy to get Lore of Beasts on my skinks priests in the new army book. I really want to roll up the spell that lets my skink turn into a freaking dragon. I dunno... it seems like a fun spell to abuse. And the rest of the lore is full of awesome support spells that would really help a Saurus block.

Additionally, I don't want to list tailor. Not only is it vaguely evil - especially in a first game, when it's not like I'm struggling to net a win against a backdrop of horrible frustrating losses - but it would be unfair in this case. Both my opponent and I are pretty inexperienced, but I am marginally more experienced - having played a couple of games - and I don't want to beat him too badly .

[ElectricPaladin]

Here's the new version of the list for this Thursday's game. Q & C welcome!

Lords
• Slann Mage-Priest (Lore of High Magic) w/Higher State of Consciousness

Heroes
• Skink Priest (Lore of Beasts)

Core
• 20 Saurus Warriors w/Spears (Full Command)
• 15 Skinks w/Javelines (Full Command)
• 10 Skink Skirmishers

Special
• 10 Cold One Riders
• Stegadon

Rare
• Salamander Hunting Pack w/+1 Handlers

As you can see, I have removed one of my Saurus units and replaced it with a cheaper Skink unit, as well as removed one of my two salamander teams. This has allowed me to include a stegadon, as well as increase the number of cold one riders to the point that, should they reach the opponent without taking casualties - not too unlikely, truth be told, they managed it last time - they can benefit from rank bonuses. I'm hoping that the increased shooting options - a giant bow, more skinks - will give me more tactical flexibility than my last list enjoyed.

What do you think?

[jberrysf]

I'm really not looking forward to more poisoned attacks and more of the cold one riders. Not to mention the stegadon. This should be ugly. Does this include the upgrade to make the javelins poisoned in CC also?

On the bright side, there's less fire spitting to worry about.