Hey guys. I'm starting up Lizardmen and I just need a few opinions on a few things. First of all I'll detail what models I've got so we can base recommendations on that for now. Bear in mind that none of them are assembled or painted. 24 x Skinks 24 x Saurus 10 x Temple Guard 8 x Cold One Cav. 1 x Skink Priest 3 x Salamander Hunting Pack Basic questions are; Should I go with Spears or hand weapons on my 24 Saurus? I know this has been asked countless times but I'm asking what suits more to my play style. I'm not particularly good at manouvering units if I'm honest, I'm still a fairly new player and my other army is Ogres which are difficult to manouvre well IMO and thus I've not really developed that skill yet. Therefore I was thinking of going down the spear route for my first unit (6 x 4), as I'm not gonna be getting off the charge often, so the extra attacks may come in useful at the expense of the parry save (also I think Saurus are durable enough against most armies due to their T4 and 4+ AS). J&S or blowpipes on my Skirmishers? Again I know this has been asked many a time but once again I'm asking you guys if you think my choice suits my logic. First off I'm not a fan of 7+ to hit and beyond. I have a tough enough time getting 6's as it is without having to then get another 4+! I also like to be safe in the knowledge that a 6 to hit is poisoned whereas 7 to hit and beyond isn't poisoned. Also factor in that I like every unit I have to have some kind of save if possible and I think the J&S is more suited to me? Scar-Vet on Cold One, viable? I'm just wondering if a Scar-Veteran on Cold One is viable to run alongside a 5 man Cold One unit (with musician only) to make a hard hitting 'fast response' unit. I know Cold Ones are generally seen as overpriced and I do agree, but I do think they could come in useful at times as they're fairly fast, have pretty good armour saves and could hit quite hard. In small games the only thing I worry about is that this model would be my General in lower point games and wouldn't be in the middle of my battleline. On the contrary he would be hard hitting and well armoured. Any thoughts on this guys? Thanks for your time and sorry for the essay, I just want some opinions on my choices and reasons for said choices, before I get started! Thanks again guys!
For Saurus warriors, I prefer HW, but that is because I often play WoC and a slayer-themed dwarf army, and I have found the 6+ parry save more useful than spears against those CC heavy armies. most people go with blowpipes on their skirmishers, but javelins are almost as effective and sometimes more useful in certain situation. As for the CoC, they sadly are not so good. You can put your Scar-Vet on a cold one and run him in a unit of saurus on foot, you will get more saves but you won't get any look-out-sir rolls, which can bite you in the arse if you face an army like dwarves or empire.
I typically run mixed. 1-2 blocks of hw/shield and another block of spears. Your opponent will either ignore the difference, or overly concentrate on it. Either way is good =)
Should I go with Spears or hand weapons on my 24 Saurus? I like hand weapons. Cheaper + better save > more attacks in very specific circumstances (What fool is charging into 3 ranks of Saurus from the front with a unit that isn't going to kill at least a rank of them?) J&S or blowpipes on my Skirmishers? Blowpipes. Always. Scar-Vet on Cold One, viable? Nope. To expensive.
IMO you should run your saurus with HW. They only have a WS of 3 so they get quite a few hits on them vs better than average infintry. Dispite the T4 and scally skin they give up a lot of combat resolution when the enemy has a WS of 4 and are hitting the saurus on a 3 up and the saurus hit back on a 4 up. I find that the parry safe is much better even when the enemy charges me because they get to pick the unit that engages me, and nine times out of ten it's something that can blow a hole through the suarus. Also if you plan to run the CoC you should save the pionts you used on the saurus spears and add a unit champion to them. Then add your hero and use them as the hammer and your saurus /w hw as the anivil. The sarus should be able to hold for a turn while you slam them in the flank with your CoC and you'll want as many attacks as you can get in that CoC's front rank. IMO Jav's aren't worth it on the skinks. I use them as screens and distractions more than anything. Most of the time if anything is charging my skinks, they flee. And if they are getting hit with ranged attacks, it's because I'm using them as a screen or the enemy is wasting their attacks anyway. They are 70 pts. Tbo, it's hard not to get 70 pts worth of value out of them. Adding a champion and javs only makes it harder to get value out of them. If you are going to put the pionts into skinks and want javs, go all out and get all the upgrades. Put them in a skrox unit w/ command and hammer some more. A skrox unit /w command would be ideal to keep your skink priest safer too if it ended up being your general. Not sure if you have been told this yet, but untill you get a slann, save the pionts and run your gaurd as regular saurus. +1 I will hardly ever be useful. And +1 WS and +1 to armor save with the extra pionts for light armor aren't really worth the pionts. Unless these slightly increase numbers give you the edge in some tactic you scheme vs a particular army, not worth it. +10 saurus for the time being.
For Hero choices i always go with an ancint stegadon with skink chief with stegadon war spear. Also if you take it with a slann with lore of life and cast soul to stone you have a strength 6 toughnes 8 and 2d6 impact hits. Almost can take out anything.
The rules allow the unit to have a majority of the type it counts as and the rest as something different. As HW are currently better you need to have at least half modelled as HW, you can then choose to have up to half modelled as Spear. This allows you to have all units fronted by HW counting as HW or some/all units fronted by Spears and counting as Spears.