Editing Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Lizardmen (section)

==Unit Analysis==
===Lords & Heroes===
====Named Characters====
'''Note:''' Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced. You can pretty easily emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

*'''[[Lord Kroak]]:''' Story wise, he used to be [[God-Emperor of Mankind|the World's greatest magician, but then after a few thousand years or so he became a super-powerful corpse attached to a Magic Throne]]. He has a raft of special rules, including Unbreakable, Causes Fear, a 3+ Ward Save, -1 To Hit for any normal attacks directed at him, and the very powerful spell ''Deliverance of Itza''. However, he's '''400 points''', ''only'' knows that one spell, and is Flammable. Although fluffy and occasionally fun, you're almost always better off with an ordinary Slann (although he can make an awesome [[Counts As]] Mage Priest).  Incidentally with The End Times Kroak can now take the Lore of Undeath, since it says that ALL wizards can generate spells from it (and with him being dead himself you can certainly argue he's more in tune with Death Magic than most Necromancers), so now he has a proper lore again!  Though this is probably going to be FAQ'd out pretty soon. 

*'''Lord Mazdamundi:''' Currently the most powerful Mage Priest, Mazdamundi rides a Stegadon. Like Lord Kroak, he has a massive raft of rules: four Slann disciplines, Stubborn, a 4+ Ward Save, Loremaster in any lore he wants, Always Strikes First with Strength 5 Poisoned attacks, destroys other magic items, owns a Battle Standard, and a mount that has a 2+ Scaly Skin save and grants Mazdamundi a 2+ armor save. If the Stegadon is killed, he can still use his Palanquin to move around. Yes, Mazdamundi ''sounds'' pretty awesome, but he costs a whopping '''780 points''', meaning he's impractical in all but the biggest battles. He also lost some of his godly 7th ed rules such an unlimited amount of dice when casting, a super-powerful spell, and the ability to re-roll Miscasts. Also his supposedly awesome weapon hits at WS2. To make matters worse, Zlaqq, his Stegadon, described as the biggest in Hexoatl (the most militarized City, with entire herds of them) has the profile of a normal Ancient Stegadon. It doesn't even get Sharpened Horns (Impact Hits causing D3 wounds) or Devastating Charge. Overall grossly overpriced for what he does, and this is sad since he is supposed to be one of, if not the, strongest wizard alive.

*'''Kroq-Gar:''' The pinnacle of Saurus carnage, mounted on the pinnacle of giant predators, all this represented by a wonderful model. Fluff-wise, Kroq-Gar is the absolute perfection of the Saurus race. One of the greatest warriors currently alive and simply the one you can trust to protect Lustria against invaders. Among his accomplishments are: fighting an unending horde of Daemons for 1000 years, being 8000 years old and still one of the best warriors of his entire species, being the sole survivor of a destroyed city, being entrusted to lead the crusade against Chaos by Lord Mazdamundi himself, and much more. He rides Grymloq, a massive Carnosaur, and together they pack a 5+ Ward Save. If Kroq-Gar or his mount is killed, the surviving one gets Frenzy. His spear gives him +1S on the Charge and deals two Wounds for the price of one (and he has 5 Attacks). For unknown reasons, despite millennia of fighting and winning against every kind of foe and being the strongest Saurus alive, he is still WS6. His Hand of the Gods is a Bound Spell casting 'Light of Shem' from the Lore of Light. Grymloq is also the only named mount to retain an improved stat line over 'basic' mounts in the Lizardmen book. However, the same problem as Lord Mazdamundi apply: at 520 pts, he is restricted to large battles, and Grymloq cannot have any of the upgrades normal Carnosaurs have. He doesn't even have the Blood Frenzy rule (unending Frenzy after causing the loss of 1 hp) which is standard on the basic version.

*'''Chakax:''' Once upon a time, Chakax choked a Daemon Prince with his bare hands, fought hundreds of wild jungle creatures for 2 days straight, guarded his unconscious Mage-Priest for weeks in the middle of the jungle, etc. When both he and a Slann are in a unit of Temple Guards, the whole unit becomes Unbreakable (until one of the two is killed). At the beginning of the Close Combat Phase, his mace forces the enemy to reveal all their Magic Items, and if he hits with it, he destroys a random one on a 5+ (only one roll per turn, alas). When fighting in a Challenge his Key grants him a 5+ Ward Save and afflicts his opponent with the Always Strikes Last rule, but since he shares it too (his weapon being basically a magical Great Weapon) and is only I3 he is not very likely to hit first, while his Mask prevents enemy Scouts from being placed within 20" of Chakax, and forces the enemy to revealed all hidden units when they are within 20" of Chakax (Skaven assassins, Night Goblin fanatics, etc.). Best used for defense, but unfortunately not very useful otherwise. Overall the worst named character in this book.

*'''Gor-Rok:''' Gor is his name, Gore is his game, and oh Old Ones, he Rocks at it. If you're making a model of him and at least one half of him isn't drenched in blood, you are doing it wrong. He is Stubborn, rerolls failed To Hit rolls (generating Predatory Fighter attacks on a 5+) and can ignore Killing Blow, Heroic Killing Blow and Multiple Wounds on a 2+, losing only 1 Wound if successful. Units charging him have to take Dangerous Terrain tests with a -1 modifier. At a new and improved cost of 185 points, he is interesting even in small games where he can hold your main line, while he can make a pack of Saurus really fearsome in larger battles. This is a character you want to put in a larger unit and wait for the enemy to charge. Very resistant, with T6 and an Armour Save of 2+, he is the perfect guy to take and hand out Challenges. However, he only has 2 Wounds, making him too frail to fight strong characters by himself. A lesser Gor-Rok can be emulated by spending 40 points on Sacred Helm of Itza on a Scar-Vet or Oldblood.

*'''[[Tehenhauin]]:''' The cheapest Lord the Lizardmen have (at 230pts), he is a Level 3 Wizard who uses the Lore of Beasts, is Immune to Poison, Unbreakable, has Poisoned Attacks, gains +1S on the turn he charges, has a 5+ ward save, and he makes all Skinks (and only skinks, not Mounts, Kroxigors in Skink units, etc.) hate Skaven. He rides a Tide of Serpents but can ride an Ancient Stegadon with an Engine of the Gods (for a bonus 280pts) like any normal Skink Priest. Though of little interest in most scenarios, he is a must-have in an all-Skink army or when fighting a Skaven army.

*'''Tetto'Eko:''' The only Skink Priest to ride a Palanquin, he is a Level 2 Lore of Heavens Loremaster. He can be accompanied by Skinks like Slann with their Temple Guard and can predict the future. In short, a buffed-up Skink Priest but without the upgrades or mount. When he is present, he lets you roll a D6 at the start of your turn: on a roll of a 1 you have to reroll all your 6's when casting, 2+ lets you reroll all 1's when casting. Not only do your casters get to reroll their 1's, this also affect the magic machines carried by Stegadons and Bastilladons, which improves them ten-fold. After deployment but before determining who gets the first turn, you may Vanguard D3 of your units because of his ability to predict the future. This may allow you to get your Stegadons and Carnosaurs into your opponent's face right off the bat, possibly avoiding a round of artillery fire. If Tetto'Eko successfully casts the spell ''Comet of Cassandora'', you may re-roll the dice at the start of each player Magic Phase to see if the comet arrives. His Palanquin gives him a 5+ Ward Save. In short: he is the missing link between the Skink Priest and the Slann. In larger battles, a Slann is more interesting, but because he is a Hero you could run both. His very reasonable point cost combined with always useful abilities make him (arguably) the best named character in the book.

*'''Tiktaq'To:''' A silly name, but a balanced character. Anyone shooting at him or his unit suffers an additional -1 To-hit, he has a 6+ Ward Save and Magic Resistance (1) as protection. His blade ignores Armour Saves and the unit he is with can perform a sort of Deep-Strike. He is as useful as a Skink special character can get. He can also upgrade a unit of Terradon Riders to have Ambush. However, thanks to the 8th Edition BRB, Flying Characters CANNOT join Flying Units, so he's fucked. In 7th, there was a special rule for Terradons allowing Characters to join Flying Units. It's no longer there. One can assume that it's changed in 9th (and thus written as such) or was assumed he could join but others could not (his special rule says him AND his unit benefit from it. He can join units).

*'''Oxyotl:''' Fluff-wise, like Kroq-Gar, Oxyotl belongs in the incredibly tough 8000 years survivors category, as he spent millenia in the Chaos Realms assassinating Greater Daemons before finding his way back to the normal world. On the tabletop however, he is nothing impressive. His only tricks being Sniper and a blowpipe that fires 3 times a turn instead of 2. He may be the cheapest Special Character the Lizardmen have at 160pts, but he is still only useful in small battles, where he is in fact devastating. In larger games, he does not perform anything a unit of normal Chameleons cannot do.
::'''Alternative''': ''No- what about VS VCs and TKs? Then the Sniper rule comes into play. Level 4 Necromancer- stay still then, at 6" shoot 3 shots- these need 4s to hit and are Poisoned on 5+. Watch your opponent cry as this orange devil runs around sniping characters until they waste time in killing him- like normal Skink but better.''
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====Generic Characters====
''Note:'' While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

*'''[[Slann]] Mage-Priest:''' Big Pappa Toad, the core of most armies.  
**The good: a Slann is a powerful Level 4 caster with an in-built 4+ Ward Save and can be both general and BSB at the same time. It has the ability to ignore terrain and is never considered on foot while still being Infantry, has five Wounds, the ability to swap spells with other Slann and to cast through friendly Skink Priest models. He also has a lot of synergy with Temple Guard: units joined by a Slann are Stubborn, Immune to Psychology, and allow the Slann to auto-pass Look Out Sir! Additionally, since he is fielded in the second rank rather than the first he is never going to be involved in actual combat and can cast spells even while his unit is busy fighting in melee. A choice of Disciplines (see below) helps to make Slann one of the best generic wizards of the game.
**The bad: being the BSB means he drops dead if his unit flees from combat. Thankfully in a TG block and with the Banner of Discipline this is highly unlikely to happen. While TG benefit defensively from teaming up with a slann (and so does the slann itself) they also lose on the offensive side as the slann replaces two Guards on the second rank, and the Slann's meager single attack carried out by a skink retainer is pretty pitiful.
**The ugly: sporting a pricetag of 300 fucking point vanilla, he is among the most expensive lords vanilla, and Magic Items and Disciplines only worsen the situation. Mind you, he still does repay every single point you invest on it: most notably be comes stock with a 4+ saves, which you would otherwise need to grab with an expensive amulet, putting his effective points cost to 250. 


*'''DISCIPLINES''' 
** Reservoir of Eldritch Energy: Can carry over an extra Dispel Dice on the roll of a 2+ to next Magic Phase. Nifty and cheap at 20 points. Though not a first pick, it is a close second.
** Soul of Stone: Can add or subtract 1 to the Miscast Table results. Will save your life sometimes but not that awesome. Still, it is only 25 points.
** Becalming Cogitation: Re-rolls its first failed dispel attempt in each Magic phase. Cheap at 25 points and good pick.
** Wandering Deliberations: Can learn Signature Spells from all 8 battle lores. Can't use with the Loremaster one. The eight signatures are nothing to sneeze at and each of them benefits from the Lore Attribute. It is kinda sad that we need to spend 30 points on this while a level 2 High Elf Lord with Combat Lord stats has it by default, though. If playing The End Times just take this because with the new rules it will allow your Slann to know every spell of the eight battle lores (confirmed for the Loremaster of Hoeth so no reason to doubt it will work for the Slann). Yes, you heard right: for 30 points you get 64 spells (7 from each lore + each of the End Times spells for the BRB lores) and 4d6 dice from the powered-up Winds of Magic rolls. Good luck finding anyone who wants to talk about the End Times nowadays, though.
** Harmonic Convergence: Roll two additional dice whenever attempting to Channel Power or Dispel dice. Nothing impressive until you notice the existence of Channeling Staff: suddenly you are Channeling three times a turn on a 5+. 30 points (plus 15 for the staff) rarely tasted so good.
** The Harrowing Scrutiny: Slann causes Terror. Meh... 30 points of overpriced garbage. Take the Shrieking Blade for 10 points and get Fear instead. While it can be very good when facing low LD tarpits and chaff, as it means they might run away and not bog down your TG bunker, skink spam is already good enough at keeping things you don't want near your TG away from them.
** Transcendent Healing: Roll a d6 for each wound Slann has lost. On a 6 he regains it. Not bad, but not reliable enough to be good at 30 points.
** Unfathomable Presence: Can get Magic Resistance D3 each Magic Phase. Skip this one. If you are willing to spend 30 points on this you'd better pay the same 30 for MR2 with Obsidian Amulet and get the 2+ Save against spells, unless you truly need that Dragonbane Gem on your Slann.
** Focus of Mystery: Becomes a Loremaster in High Magic. Can't use with the Signature Spell one. Are 35 points worth it? High Magic is a great lore that can do a bit of everything. Has two Signatures (you get both of them with this Discipline, obviously) so you get a grand total of eight spells. Great synergy with the Lizardmen army and don't forget its awesome Lore Attribute, Contemplation, that lets you forget a High magic spell after you cast it and roll for a new one on any other lore, which carries its Lore Attribute with it and can be swapped for the Signature. You can swap your less useful spells and tailor your list to better suit the situation during the game, so yes, it is absolutely worth it. Overall one of the best Disciplines, even more so now that Slann can't Loremaster any other lore.
** Higher State of Consciousness: Slann becomes Ethereal and Unstable but can't join units. Costs as much as two other Disciplines, clocking in at 60 points, so take it only if you are absolutely positively sure about what the fuck you are doing. Used to be popular in 7th edition, but has not been seen around much lately. Can be deadly to your Slann, as losing combat will cause unsaveable Wounds.


*'''Saurus Oldblood:''' Killing machine, specialized in wiping units for breakfast with his 5 str 5 attacks and predatory fighter. Can ride a Cold One or a Carnosaur. Given how expensive a Slann is, he shows up in smaller battles as a general or in larger battles as a second Lord choice. Old Bloods have a 4+ Scaly Skin by default and a lot of Attacks before you buy any upgrades. However, these upgrades are expensive: the Carnosaur alone costs almost as much as a naked Slann (and the figurines themselves are not cheap either): the main downside is how hard it is to use both an Old Blood on Carnosaur and a Slann, because of their cost. One bad cannonball and you're down around 400 points. While excellent in all other fighting aspects, Oldbloods suffer from a low WS of 6 which could cause one to suffer in a challenge against a duelist character. Consider investing in the sword of striking or the fencer's blades to shore his hitting rates up. Since Oldbloods have a natural 4+ armor save, taking the glittering scales is also adviced in conjuction with a cold one and the talisman of preservation will also make for an extremely hardy lizard.

*'''Saurus Scar Veteran:''' A lesser Old Blood at an affordable price. He can now even ride a Carnosaur. It still dishes out that Saurus melee butchery that makes people cry and it can ride a Cold One if you want him mounted but don't have enough points to take a Carnosaur. If your Slann is not your BSB, a Scar Vet can and take a magical banner. In larger games where you can afford a few Scar Vets (or a a couple of them and an Old Blood), equip them and use them like missiles: send a kitted-out Scar Vet after one thing and watch it get maimed. In smaller games they're more useful sitting in Saurus units to chew through infantry. Solid choice as a General at low level games and good in larger battles for supplementary killing power. If you take a Slann and a Scar Vet, you can have a very nice combo: a Carnosaur and your magical toad!

*'''Skink Chief:''' Cheaper now and with more mounted options this guy is a little more viable. Requires thought and purpose to his use, but can be very helpful. Can go on foot, or take a Stegadon, Ancient Stegodon, Ripperdactyl, or Terradon. On foot, his use is quite limited; he's just too frail to hold up in combat, and making him more durable usually just makes him a more expensive, but still worse Scar Veteran. He's fine as a BSB (and is our go-to to cheaply add one) or support item caddy, just don't expect him to actually contribute besides his items and reeling in Predatory Fighter. Terradons or Ripperdactyls are the most interesting; these gear him up to run interference, tie up monsters, and assassinate vulnerable characters or warmachines, with the Terradon being more annoying and disruptive, while the Ripperdactyl makes a good assassin platform, with extra items. The Stegadons are either to get a nice, juicy 18 inch command range for your BSB, or else just to smuggle a Stegadon into your command budget, and use it accordingly. He requires a plan to be used effectively, and won't bring home the same MVP status as your Saurus characters or Slann, but can put in serious work as a team player.



*'''Skink Priest:''' Good low-level Wizard. You are almost always taking them, with or without Slann. Can act as a range extender for Slann allowing them to send Magic Missiles or Direct Damage spells as if the Slann was where the Priest is standing. Can take the Engine of the Gods if mounted on a Stegadon, which makes a combination of a killing machine, maximum safety for the character and very powerful support to nearby units. Can alternatively stay nice and cozy in a big ball of Saurus, or be shuttled out deep by Skink Skirmishers, all are good options. They're limited to the Lores of the Heavens and Beasts but these are very good lores for Lizardmen anyways, and they can cast the important spells well. They support the Slann or are used in large numbers to spam spells down the enemy's throat, and can shoulder some of the weight of the Arcane items this army craves so much. Do not underestimate them as they have access to Comet Of Cassandora and Lizardmen are the only army that can reliably spam that spell. Wyssan's Wildform is a spell tailor-made for making Lizardmen rape machines. As of The End Times, they can also technically take Undeath. While rather jank overall, finding an extra unit of disposable chaff or archers can always be handy, not to mention surprising, and dinospam armies might appreciate the chaff.

===Core Units===
*'''Skinks:''' Cheap and spammable light infantry. Kroxigors can be taken in the second rank of the unit and are allowed to attack normally over the front rank of Skinks. This gets some heavy hitters in there. Overall, Skink units are a good place to put these thugs. They have a higher Ld and pass on the effect of causing Fear to the unit. Despite weak (native) Leadership and terrible Toughness, Skinks can be surprisingly effective against non-elite infantry and cavalry for one turn, in part thanks to their relatively high Initative. Stand and Shoot combined with the Poison rule enables their shooting attacks to auto wound. However, Skink Cohorts can be upgraded to have Poisoned melee attacks. Cohorts are not bad with this as Javelins can be <s>shot</s> thrown before going into melee. The price you're paying is incredibly low for what they can do. Most any army comp is benefitted by a bare bones unit or two of these little guys, or their commando brothers below.

*'''Skink Skirmishers:''' Can keep the javelin and shields, or replace them with blowpipes. Both have their pros and cons- 'pipes are longer ranged and multiple poisoned shots are devastating, but javelins are quick to fire which greatly bolsters the mobility and threat range of the unit and the shield affords them a much appreciated defensive bonus. Skinks can be great for kiting enemy units and being an all-around thorn in their sides. Put simply, if the Skink Skirmishers manage to inflict wounds on any unit, your opponent will be compelled to either shoot at it, commit a unit to charge it, or try to ignore the damage they're doing. The first option is bad because damage spells and shooting units are overkill against Skink units that size, making it a waste of resources when other, more dangerous units, are around. The second option is bad because most close combat units are significantly more costly than Skinks and are much better suited to stopping/slowing your Saurus bricks from smashing through the battlefield. This gets even worse if the Skinks are able to shoot at the unit prior to the melee and inflict wounds. However, with cheap units like Skaven Clanrats, this is less of an issue, except that large Clanrat units shouldn't chase down half a dozen Skinks, and no one fields those kinds of units with an equivalent cost to your Skinks. With elite units, the problem is further exaggerated because any damage done to the Skinks is pointless. Most elite infantry units run from 12-16 points, and heavy cavalry or monstrous infantry are even more expensive, which means that more than 2 ranged casualties is a lose-lose tradeoff at best.  Ignoring the Skinks, as some players do, is even more stupid because that leaves them free to pick off other skirmishers, violate war machine crews, and chip off wounds from other important units or characters. In summary, Skink Skirmishers are suicide units that force bad tradeoffs for the enemy. They'll die when they're attacked, but it's a lose-lose situation, and in the wider context of the battle this leads the opponent to be inefficient with his units. Skink spamming is surprisingly viable at competitive levels, since you can literally flood the battlefield in cheap, fast moving little units with an array of poisoned weapons redirecting, shooting, and irritating your opponent's units to a not-quite-metaphorical death and beautifully supporting your heavy hitting saurus cowboys. If you can get Walk Between Worlds and Hand of Glory off on these, it's funny as you don't technically move them, but go 20" forward- then shoot at BS6 with blowpipes needing 3s to hit- on a unit of 20, 40 poisoned shots brings [[lulz]]''

*'''Saurus Warriors:''' The backbone of many Lizardmen armies, Saurus Warriors pack a 5+ Scaly Skin save, shields, spears/hand weapons, 2 base Attacks, are Cold Blooded, and are WS3, S4, & T4. When rolling To Hit have a chance of generating more Hits, and they must pursue unless near Skinks. They can freely swap between hand weapons & shields, or spears; the former is better for MSU or units you otherwise do not plan on supporting very much due to the shield, while Spears shine when the unit is going to recieve a lot of attention from your Skink Priests or Slann. While the unit has some great stats for a hand-to-hand unit, their god-awful Initiative of 1 ensures that they don't leave combat unscathed, and their cost per model, spears included, is higher than just about any other rank-and-file core choice. These two key issues are mostly irrelevant though, because Saurus Warriors are the best fucking brick infantry in the game. Chaos Warriors may be better per model, but they cost a good bit more.  Besides, no other faction can field R&F infantry as effective as yours without crippling their army size, or support their R&F infantry as often or extensively as we can. Saurus being able to go toe to toe with elite infantry isn't some unreasonable pipe dream, but a very real possibility with one of the several spells you will be casting every turn. Units that engage Saurus Warriors that have the misfortune of getting flanked by another unit of them might as well have never been deployed. Saurus Warriors either smash straight through the enemy lines, or end up in a slow grinding combat that leaves either half a unit of Saurus or a few dazed and bloodstained enemies left, ready to be swept away by the rest of your army. They can realistically tarpit any infantry unit short of Dragon-Ogres and the like, and even they still won't [[Anal Circumference|get through cleanly or untouched]].

===Special Units===
*'''Jungle Swarms:''' 35 points per base, minimum 2 per unit. Previously core units, they were rarely seen. They have now been moved to Special and given a few bonuses making them an interesting if specific choice. The great thing about these is that whenever some Jungle Swarms are in base-to-base contact with an enemy unit, all other Lizardmen units fighting this same unit get Poisoned Attacks! Suddenly your Saurus's 6's auto Wound while still generating new attacks through Predatory Fighter. A Shadow lore Slann casting Okkam's Mindrazor on the Jungle Swarms, making their Strength the same number as their Ld value, makes them devastating as they have 10: this gives them 5 attack S10 per swarm base with Poison Attacks. 

*'''Temple Guard:''' Improved Saurus. They get light armour and halberds, and are very good at bringing down tough targets with their 2 ws4 sr 5 attacks each. When combined with a [[Slann]] (who is no longer forced to join them), they automatically pass Lookout Sir tests, become Immune to Psychology, Stubborn and cause Fear. These guys are easily a must-have if you have a Slann in your army, and are often worth taking even if you don't have a one. They cost a lot more than the Saurus warriors but hit much harder. Remember that due to the way Temple Guards and Slann rank-up, they get relatively few attacks and most combats against rank-and-file will be a slow grind unless you can break the enemy's morale, although luckily their 2 base attacks and predatory fighter can salvage some of it. They do tend to accrue decent static combat resolution - BSB Slann with Banner of Discipline and another Magic Banner is +3 Combat Resolution - a Horde of 30 is another +2, another +1 for Charging and so on - but don't think this means you should waste their time chewing through skavenslaves and trying to break hordes. 

*'''Cold One Cavalry:''' Lizardmen cavalry mounted on buffed raptors. They currently get no love because of their high price, making them one of the less cost-effective cavalry option this edition. Cold One Cavalry is in a weird place even regarding their abilities: the rider has a Temple Guard profile with a better Armour Save, as he has no light armour but gets +2 armour points from being mounted on a Cold One. He has no halberd but his spear gives him a +1S on the turn he charges, after which he fights with a normal Saurus Strength but still with better armour than a TG. The Cold One itself has the same profile as a normal Saurus, which means a Cold One rider and his mount are basically a Saurus and a weird TG, cause Fear and move at double speed while having a Stupid mount (which is not too much of a problem thanks to Cold Blooded). Point-wise, they are 30 each without spears, at which point a single one costs more than 2 TG but gets an intermediary profile between 2 Saurus and 1 Saurus + 1 TG. This price factor overshadows anything they can bring to the table as you will generally want more TGs or more Saurus instead of cavalry. They can be extremely useful, but will shine only in specific situation where their speed makes them the perfect hammer to a Saurus unit's anvil. Most people disregard COC entirely and will bring either more infantry or another monster, but these guys are not bad in themselves. A general who knows what he does might decide to field a few of them. However, this will be at the cost of the overall size of the army. Where COC excel is when serving as a delivery system for one or several Scar Veterans or Old Bloods armed to the teeth with magic weapons. They are solid enough to hit hard, soak up damage, and mounted Saurus characters are terrifying. They also provide a flanking unit that can withstand damage.

*'''Terradon Riders:''' Excellent for harassment tactics: hunting warmachine crews, isolated models and skirmishers. Their ability to drop rocks is also handy for softening up something tough before the Saurus or TG can deal the real damage. The ability to drop rocks and the Bola upgrade are interesting and give some punch to a unit which is otherwise quite weak.

*'''Ripperdactyl Riders:''' Competing with Terradon Riders for about the same role on the table, they are 40 pts each (5 more than Terradons) and more combat-oriented: they have Frenzy, but being flying cavalry means you get a free reform at the end of their movement to make sure they point in the direction of something you want to charge anyway. With Armour Piercing and 2 Killing Blow Attacks they are an interesting choice. The Lustrian Bloat Toad allows you to select one enemy unit per Ripperdactyl unit in your army. Against the chosen enemy unit, any Ripperdactyl unit will get an additional D3 Attacks per model generated by Frenzy. Mind you, the Skink riders have WS2, which means they will hit nothing. This make the spear of Rippderdacyl riders a bit useless: the mounts will be dealing the damage.

*'''Bastiladons:''' First unit to receive a 2+ Scaly Skin Armour Save, the Bastiladons only get T5 and will go down quite easily in combats against large infantry blocks. However, Bastiladons are exactly similar to tanks in that you want to use them as support for blocks of infantry. Their true power is in trotting alongside a big block of warriors, protecting their flanks. The +1I bonus of the Solar Engine is nice but only brings normal Saurus to I2, which is not enough to be a game changer. The Chotek spell, however, can really bring some hurt and deals flaming damages, forcing the enemy to either waste dispel dice on it or endure potentially heavy damage. Their second option, the Ark of Sotek, can shoot a weak projectile even when moving or marching, and can generate additional swarms in any Jungle Swarm unit in a 6" radius, which can go beyond the starting number. This is a funny ability but not critical unless you have a good number of swarms.

*'''Kroxigors:''' Giant crocodile-men. They are strong but not numerous enough, and Saurus warriors are a better option as they can absorb more wounds and deal more attacks. That said, they're not a dead unit but will usually serve as support, not as the main hitting force. With a Scaly Skin save of 4+, they're basically in Heavy Armour + Shield and they have S5 and Great Weapons, so that they hit at S7. Kroxigors have 3 Wounds each, 3 Attacks each and cause Fear. They can make pretty handy use of the buffs your wizards are slinging to hit some downright heroic statlines. Because they are Monstrous Infantry, they can use all 3 of their attacks from the second rank. They can be combined with a Skink Cohort and occupy the second rank, dealing all their attacks. Unfortunately, they can also be attacked even if there is a first rank of Skinks, which means you cannot use the Skinks as shields for them. These guys are very handy catch-all answers to monsters or lone characters out to perforate your flank or trying to clap Papa Toad's cheeks, and are often best deployed late as a result. They'll get their scaly asses handed to them in any sustained combat against infantry, but they can act as a quick haymaker to put down something threatening (or perhaps distracting) while leaving your Saurus cowboys or Fuck-You-Asaurs free to concentrate on their jobs. Their lives are likely to be short and brutal, though, so make the time you have with them count. Make sure you don't skip the unit champion. 10 points for a statline like that is incredible, the Kroxigor Ancient can occasionally pull off some downright impressive wins in challenges, and can absolutely clobber a Hero BSB or wizard, while often escaping the notice of players due to his lowly status as a unit champion.

*'''Chameleon Skinks:''' Your only Scouts option and great warmachine hunters. Their higher Ballistic Skill allows them to still get Poison on their blowpipe shots, unlike any unit of Skinks which moves. Regular Skink skirmishers require 7's to hit anything outside 6 inches if they move which means no Poison. They have their place in any thematic or fine-tuned army but unfortunately they suffer from "just bringing more skinks". 

*'''Stegadon:''' The main Lizardmen monster, it's cheap enough that you can afford to bring it alongside other large threats. Not that warmachines won't be gunning for your Slann since turn 1 anyway. (they won't, if he's in Temple Guard, as he should be, he's immune to artillery) Stegadons are crewed by 5 Skinks with poisoned javelins who also man the Giant Bow (a ballista in all but name), which can shoot even while moving, making it a rather well rounded monster. The Stegadon causes Terror and benefits from a handful of nice rules plus all the things which come with being a Monster, chief among which is the combination of Impact Hits and Thunderstomp. As such their most common role is flanking and hitting a unit that's already engaged in combat, hopefully smashing right through it.

===Rare Units===
*'''Ancient Stegadon:''' You thought the above was awesome? This guy is tougher, hits harder in combat and does 4D6 blowpipe shots from the giant blowpipes replacing the ballista. Again you will see infantry die with this angry old bastard. Then there is the special version mounted by Skink Priests... 
**'''Engine of the Gods:''' In the previous book you were only able to take these as a mount for a Skink Priest, however they can now be taken in the rare section. Taking it replaces the blowpipes, trading away most of the stegadon's firepower. It has 3 different effects: 
***1. it gives all your units within 6" a 6+ Ward Save. This means you can go with spears on your Saurus, and still have a 6+ Ward Save. This is solid if you're relying on big Saurus blocks to get the most out of that ward save, just mind the price you're paying for this support.
***2. it can cast a Bound Spell, that does D6 S4 Flaming hits to units within 4D6. Mostly used for clearing chaff, but is just a nice thing to have in the back pocket, and it's murder vs Treekin.
***3. each magic phase you can choose 1 lore from the main rulebook, and the Casting Values of all spells in that lore goes down by 1. Nice in a Beast lore Skink Priest spam list, because it will allow you to have an easier time casting Wysans Wildform on your Saurus. Can be nice for some lores of Slann to vomit out even more spells per turn, but you're not usually hurting for casting value on your Slann anyways. 

*** Overall, it's good for what it does, but you have to actually be making good use of the Ward save and casting buff to make it worth the cost and loss of the blowpipes.

*'''Salamander Hunting Packs:''' You know the dwarven flame cannon? Now it comes with legs! This unit can do some serious damage, and it's good for stopping Regenerating targets; amphibious just like their skink handlers, so moving them into the perfect position is rather easy. The salamanders got changed quite heavily with the new book. First of all they can no longer march and shoot, meaning you probably wont be shooting first turn anymore. Second they no longer give -3 to Armour Saves with their shooting attack, but it instead got strength 4. Bring enough of them and they can halve a unit's size with a single shot. 

*'''Razordon Hunting Packs:''' The organ gun to the Salamander's flame cannon, each of these are able to make an Artillery Die amount of shots with a range of 18" each turn. They can move and shoot but they can no longer march and shoot. They are pretty terribad at hitting, so unless you have a Slann able to buff them with Hand of Glory you won't be hitting with many of the shots. However since they put out such a large amount of shots, at least some of them will hit. Now that there is no limit to the amount you can pack into a single unit, you could take a unit of 8 and just stick them into your enemies face and just dare them charge these guys. Even if he does he will surely come to regret it. Keep in mind that for both hunting pack units, the Skink handlers cannot be targeted by attacks but can dish out a couple of weak attacks back, which has a couple of situational anti-character uses.

*'''Troglodon:''' Ah yes I was wondering what was wasting so much spruce in the new Carnosaurus' kit. 200 points for a good looking model that can't do anything well. It's designed to be useful in any phase but M7 isn't anything to to write home about. Its Magic support is an upgrade you have to pay for that lets the Skink rider channel and it has the same rule that Skink Priests have, Arcane Vassal (Slann can cast through them.)... but it doesn't actually make the rider a wizard, nor you can put a skink priest on top of a Troglodon. The shooting attack is the lamest attempt to make its point cost: 1 S5 poisoned shot with D3 Wounds, with a short range and BS3... You might hit once or twice a game if lucky. In combat it will wilt faster than an erection after seeing goatse: 3 attacks from the beast and 1 from the Skink. The monster is only S/T 5 with a 4+ Scaly Skin save so any S4 infantry can kill it before the Thunderstomp comes. Its Primeval Roar is the only possibly useful thing this unit brings (but you aren't bringing it are you?). Once per game the Troglodon roars and boost all Predatory Fighters within 12" to get extra attacks on a 5+ instead of 6+. It only really needs a little more to be a neat addition to a list, but for now, it's best fielded 4' off the ground in a display case. 

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