So I'm getting back into 8th with a few friends after a long hiatus (I didn't really take to AoS so kinda dropped everything fantasy related for a while). Now I distinctly remember struggling to win in my youth due to a tendency of spending every point I could on some stupidly expensive combat lord, putting him on a dragon and charging him into the enemy. This is obviously a very bad idea with Lizardmen, Our magic is good and we have plenty of ways to buff it, Slann are very powerful and excellent force multipliers. Meanwhile, Carnosaurs cannot fly and are WS3 with 4 attacks - that's only two hits on almost all basic units. Having said all that, T-rexes are cool and Slann are for nerds so screw cowardly concepts like 'logic' and 'mathematics' and lets get to murdering Cool and Interesting Lords + Heroes: Saurus Oldblood (481): sacred stegadon helm, talisman of preservation, sword of striking, shield - Carnosaur, loping stride Saurus scar vet (333): charmed shield, opal amulet, ironcurse icon, spear, light armour - Carnosaur Lame and Cowardly Heroes: Skink Chief (67): BSB, shield Skink Priest (100): lvl 2 (lore of beasts) Core: Saurus Warriors x38 (448): hand weapons Skink Skirmishers x12 (84): blowpipes Special: Bastiladon (150): Solar engine Ripperdactyl Riders x3 (120) Stegadon (215) 1998pts total Ok the basic idea is that the BSB and the priest sit in the skirmisher squad hiding behind the saurus for the -1 to hit them and ablative wounds. Carnosaurs buddy up on one flank supported by the stegadon, Saurus tie up the middle to let the monsters do their thing, Bastilodon sits back and shoots (at least I'll have the magic dice to fire it's laser) - maybe ties up things that threaten the skirmishers, and the Ripperdactyl's go war machine hunting. As you might have realised I literally took one of each big dinosaur and threw them together (the trogolodon was sacrificed for carnosaur number 2). I'll be going up against a wide variety of armies so this will have to take on a bit of everything. Any thoughts? advice? therapist recommendations? I really wanted to get the Egg of Quango on the scar vet to help against static combat res but I was stifled by the 25% hero allowance (we aren't playing the 50% end times FAQ thing) - heroes are at exactly 500pts. Thanks for any advice! should be good for a laugh if nothing else
First off, I’m a huge fan of your double Carno layout. Not for gaming purposes, but just for the sheer T-Rexiness of it! Okay, back to reality. Who are you playing first off?
Well my first couple of games will be against Orcs with all the artillery (3 spear chuckas, 2 doom divers, couple of rock lobbas), and maybe another game vs high elves (i expect 3 bolt throwers minimum but not sure about what else he'll bring). We aren't sharing lists beforehand so I'm not sure about all the details.
I love the fact you're going for a thematic monster list as Lizardman armies should be, rather than gunning straight for the most competitive builds - in my eyes this always marks out a good, respectable member of the Warhammer community as it shows you just want to have fun and not worry about winning. My own army is rather similar to this, though with just one Carnosaur, Terradons rather than Ripperdactyls (so I can use them in 7th too), some Temple Guard and some Saurus Cavalry. A very nice army in general. Personally I would break the Saurus horde down into two smaller units to be able to deal with multiple threats (particularly in the case of your Greenskin opponent who will inevitably have a huge number of units), though I do have a subconscious bias against Hordes in 8th Edition (hated the mechanic, particularly when it encourages having a massive unit of elite troops like Dwarfs, Elves, Saurus or Chaos Warriors when such warriors would naturally be in smaller bands because of that elite status). Also unless you want to run the Chief and Priest in the Skirmisher unit (which personally I wouldn't recommend because you're putting your Priest right at the front of your lines where he'll be vulnerable) I'd suggest either replacing them with a foot Scar-veteran to boost the Saurus unit or having a cohort unit to fit the Skink characters into. Otherwise though, I look forward to seeing the results of your games! Post pics when you've finished!
Thanks a lot for the advice (and kind words)! i chose a skirmisher unit to put the skink characters in so that enemy missile units are at -1 to hit them, rest assured they will be hiding safely behind a wall of dinosaurs, not exposed on the front lines. It's awkward really, I dont want to drop the priest because i feel like the lore of beasts will be very handy to have access to, and i dont want to drop the BSB because the general will probs be off on a flank somewhere and our monster's leadership isn't great. That's why i was hoping they could just hide at the back with some ablative wounds. Ideally I'd 100% take another Saurus scarvet on foot as the bsb and stick him in with the Saurus but there's just no way to do that AND take the wizard AND take the Scarvet on carnosaur. The advice to split the Saurus might be a good idea actually - i can get two squads of 18 with full command if i drop a skink skirmisher too. Tradeoff would be 2 less bodies, less effective magical buffing and less attacks from no longer being a horde. But the tactical flexibility could make it completely worthwhile. I'll think about it. I'll be sure to! unfortunately it might take a little bit before we get the chance to properly throw down - which sucks because I am really keen to just play a game right now, but c'est la vie.
It's more risky, but you could make your Scarvet on Carnosaur the BSB and save the points for the Skink chief - Granted it's not a lot of points, but you could upgrade your Stegadon to an Ancient for that - just a thought. I'm also just gonna leave this nice little link to another thread here: Nice Little Link
That's a super interesting post thanks for linking it! lots of useful tips in there and honestly it does make me feel a lot better about making the Carnosaur Scarvet my BSB, in fact sod it, I'm doing exactly that (I might magnetise it so i can take the standard off just in case this turns out to be a terrible idea ) I thought of three possible builds for a BSB scarvet to try and make sure he survives as long as possible: Scarvet: carnosaur, BSB, spear, shield, armour of fortune, ironcurse icon, luckstone 1+ with a reroll, 5++, and the carno gets a 6++ Scarvet: carnosaur, BSB, spear, light armour, charmed shield, talisman of preservation 2+, 4++, ignore the first hit on a 2+ Scarvet: carnosaur, BSB, spear, light armour, charmed shield, opal amulet, egg of quango 2+, 4++ vs the first wound, ignore the first hit on a 2+, egg for combat resolution Any thought's on what's better? im edging away from the third option because the other two seem more survivable (thinking about it maybe i should actually put the egg on my Oldblood but idk). The only real thing that worries me about the charmed shield is some random archer wasting it right before all the cannonballs hit home. I guess another option is the armour of destiny, you sacrifice ignoring the first hit to get a 1+ rather than a 2+. Thoughts? I'm really rather torn /
Personally I favor items that grant permanent bonuses rather than one time uses, but that's just me, the one use only items can certainly be powerful. I also favor the 3rd build the least. I simply don't think he needs the egg and if he does he is on trouble anyway and I doubt it would save him, although not impossible. Regarding 1st or 2nd option: If I had to choose I'd go with the 2nd, just try to be mindful of the situation you mentioned with the archers. The 2+ is just better at keeping the character alive and by that save your BSB, which can be crucial, from Artillery a lot more reliably then the Ironcurse Icon will. Now I don't know if it will be the case in your games, but in my own playgroup the Artillery usually shoots first, and any Archers or the like mostly try to clean up and pick away at targets.