8th Ed. My New Lizard Army (around 2400+ points)! Advices for a newbie 8th edition player

Hi guys! New young lizard here! I’m new to this army, i’m still reading the online guides tutorials and munching through the army book, so bear with me if i still have noob questions. I also came from experience with Woc and a litle bit of dark elves, so i know i’ll have to change my tactics and mindset here. Been playing for 1 year or so, but not regularly ( job, women, life .... everything in the way of nerds)


My Army so far:


1 saurus leader/oldblood on foot


1 oldblood “cowboy” on cold one


1 skink starpriest


10 cold one riders + maybe 3 more (i have to check on the bits and blisters i received)


17 temple guards


3 terradon riders


3 ripperdactyl riders


40 saurus warriors


6 kroxigors


1 stegadon

EDIT: just ordered 30 skinks!


also i just ordered a slann mage priest, i will probably get it in 1 to 2 weeks shipment


Keep in mind that i basically play with 2/3 people here, and the other main armies are HE hardcore fanatics, some dwarves, VC and Dark Elves. One of my friend has also a Orcs and Goblin crazy army who can win with the most unpredictable tactics.

I guess the points range is around 2400 or more, if we also add magic items, powers, wizard levels etc... But i would like to start lower, like a 1500 pts list or 1000 pts, just to get the gist of it.

Do You have any special reccomendations on how to improve my army? How to set up and get started on building a strategy around the units i already have? I’m planning on getting some skinks (around 30 maybe more?) cause i think they might help with chaff and being able to move more freely on the battlefield. I feel that with the units i have i’m kinda stuck with elite/costly units, or am i wrong? Should i go all skinks and swarm the battlefield with little lizards or chamaleons?


The more probable incoming matchups will be against : High Elves mainly, 2 friends/2 different HE lists: one super heavy magic and with Dragon Princes/banner of the world dragon, 1 phoenix- t

the other more tactical HE player goes hard with lots of heavy units and soldiers and maybe some RBT.


Other possible opponents/matches: Dwarves (heavy cannon and gun line, organ gun and cannons, 1 or 2 elite units like slayers and ironbreakers), maybe VC with the usual necromancer spamming skeletons, some bood knights and a damn terrorgheist.


Dunno about points and level of play, i will probably ask my friends to play like 1000/1500 points in the beginning just to test and try out my new army, and then as i keep adding new units, also i will also increase the difficulty and points of battles…maaaybe i can try a 2000 pts match, but i don't know about it, unless u guys persuade me that for my units and sizes bigger matches are better!


TBH i’m pretty scared of going against Dwarves. They seem solid and able to whitstand magic attacks, and to be able to just gun down all of my lizards without much trouble, decimating them before i get the change to charge. Should i be concerned? Also, of course, HE, which is an elite army, and i know damn well how nasty they can be with their magic and elite units, but if i get to go into the fray and avoid their first ASF attacks, i know i can chop them off with our superior strenght and beasts.


Thank you so much Lizard people if u had the patience to read, and may Sotek bless you if you can reply and give some advice to this small skink noob

 

@SotekNewbie my man!!! Welcome brother of the 8th!!! Please post on this thread.

Ooof...

High Elves are widely regarded as top tier. They have a fantastic army list, good shooting, decent artillery, great magic (obviously same as ours, but with a better Lore Attribute in my opinion), so they are going to be hard to beat with a Lizardmen Army.

Without rehashing what some great minds have already done, go look at the Warhammer Fantasy tactics thread. You can find it here.

One thing I can say immediately is that you should definitely get some Skinks. Their Skirmisher with Javelins option is one of the almost always auto-include on an army list. With M6, Skirmisher (can March and still fire), Quick to Fire (no penalty for moving and shooting), you can March and Fire with your Poisoned Attacks Javelins and can always stand and shoot as an option no matter the charge difference. They can be really effective anti-Light Cavalry, War Machine/Monster hunters, anti-chaff, etc.

I would also say that it's definitely worth investing in a decent block of Temple Guard due to getting Stubborn with a Slann and being able to have him in the second rank and unattackable until they've worn down the unit (or Unbreakable and -1 to hit in CC if you stick Lord Kroak with them).

I'll have a bit more of a think about it!

 

Thank you for your reply. Will for sure buy some skinks , maybe around 30 could be ideal? Also, are 17 temple guards not enough for a slann blockage/defense?


I am perfectly aware that against HE it's going to be a hard match, i can barely beat them with Woc. Do u think we have better chances against dwarves and VC?

 

@Lizards of Renown quick question if you don't mind me bothering you... I might be able to get lord kroak and 32 skinks for 100 euros ('im from Europe). Do u think it might be a good purchase? Or should i just stick to the slann i already have and just the skinks?

 

Your match against VC is definitely going to be easier as you won’t be dealing with tons of high armour and Lizardmen were born to deal with Fear and Terror causing enemies.

Dwarves is tough due to their default tactic of shoot the crap out of people and wait for them to come to you. Lots of Chamo Skinks, Skirmishers and if you can take Tik-TaPq-To and so a squadron of Ambushers Terradons to cause havoc in the back lines.

Stick with Slann and use as you want for proxy Kroak. Definitely get lots of skinks and Chamo skinks.

No problem on the questions! I love hearing from other 8th players.

 

Quick update just bougth 30 skinks wih bows for a very cheap price, not sure how they are treated in 8th edition since skinks don't have bows. Should i consider them either with javelins or blowpipes, and i just tell my opponent every match how they are armed?

Also, i'm trying to find chamaleon skinks but they're pretty rare and not cheap. Is 1 unit of chamaleon skinks going to be useful and have an impact on the table or do i have to buy 2 units ?

 

Yes and yes. Just tell your opponent their loadout. Unless you've got a really picky opponent, should be totally fine. 30 is a good number, but I'd say you'll want at least 40 so you can do 4 units of 10 Skirmishers and go play havoc with your enemies.

Remember Skirmishers get free reforms as well!

1 unit will definitely have impact. In a pinch, just paint some of the Skinks a different colour so you don't have to buy expensive models.

Either way, 1 will make a difference. Check out the Scouts rule and you'll see what I mean.

 

Great!
I think I will buy some more skinks if they're cheap and then buy a single unit of chameleon. What about temple guards? Should I have more than 17? I dont know why the guy sold me just 17 and not 20

 

Personally I'd get enough so that, with a Slann occupying 4 slots (due to base size) that you can do minimally 5x5 formation (25 total). You may want more, but I'd get up to 21 minimally.

Just my opinion. you could do the minimum 3 ranks thing, but inevitably you're going to lose some to missile fire and then you're down on rank bonus for when you hit combat.

 

Hi there! Cool that you are still playing 8th out there as well. I second what the others said, more Temple Guard is good. Maybe you can even just use some normal Saurus Warriors in between the Temple Guard to buff up their ranks a little bit for now . 21 for a 5x5 blob including the Slann sounds like a good start for larger games. If you want to play smaller games, going full Skink is better. You just need Skirmishers plus a few Cowboys and perhaps a Stegadon and a few Salamanders, that is the strongest setup i feel like in 1K-1.5K.

Don't be too afraid of the Dwarven anti magic! It's seems good that they get a "free" +2 to dispel, but they have no way to get a 4+ to dispel, while a Slann gets 4+ to cast. Normally you are fighting against other lvl 4 wizards who do have the 4+ to dispel, but you don't against Dwarves, which funnily enough makes them weaker against magic than you would expect in larger games.

30 skinks are great, and an absolute necessity. Play them in 3 blocks of 10 as skirmishers with javelins, and watch them shine. Chameleons are generally not worth it i have found. Chameleons are warmachine hunters generally, but as you do not have a lot of monsters and you already have the terradons and rippers, they should do that job better.

Against what you are saying, especially Elves and VC, Salamanders are great. Nothing burns like Elf in the morning.

I would try to not play your Cold One Cavalry, they are not that good for their points. Converting one of them, maybe a champion into another cowboy, will be very strong. You can run one with the Dawnstone and the Gamblers Armor for a 1+ re-rollable save plus a 6++ and another one with the Armor of Destiny for a 2+ with a 4++. Cowboys with loadouts like that will also not need a bodyguard to keep them save, most arrows will just bounce of of their 2+ save and T5, and you can probably hide their small models from enemy war-machines. Also give them Great Weapons for that sweet S7. Don't fall into the trap thinking that they need a bodyguard to survive, they really do not need one.

In short, get Salamanders, get Temple Guard, and if you want to go cheesy go get another cowboy.

 

I second this. Also, even with the Soul of Stone, you are going to lose some of your Temple Guard to miscast. If you have 20 and you lose 10 you at least still have a somewhat functionable unit, if you have 15 and you lose 10 your Slann gets very close to having to be in the front rank again .