Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Lizardmen

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Why Play Lizardmen

Most Lizardmen units benefit from one or more of the following three awesome special rules:

  • Cold-Blooded: All Lizardmen units can roll three dice and choose the two lowest for Leadership tests.
  • Scaly Skin: This is an armour save of some description, which combines with other armour. Most models have the 5+ version, but a few have 4+. Skinks even get this, though only as a 6+
  • Jungle poisons: non-magical shooting attacks made by units with this rule have poisoned attacks.
  • Predatory Fighter: Saurus who roll a 6 to hit get to make another attack. No, these extras do not generate further free attacks.

Also, they have dinosaurs and some of the most balls out powerful spellcasters in the entire game.

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 Mazdamundi: The one Mage Priest that isn't lazy and actually gets stuff done, Mazdamundi rides a Stegadon (because he fucking wants to!) and makes it rain flaming frogs (because why the fuck not?)! He, like Lord Kroak, has a massive raft of special rules, including Stubborn, a 4+ ward save, the ability to reroll results on the Miscast table, an unlimited amount of dice when casting, a super-powerful spell, Loremaster in any lore he wants, Always Strikes First (with a Strength 5 Poisoned attack that destroys other magic items), a Battle Standard, and a mount that has a 2+ Scaly Skin save and grants Mazdamundi a 2+ armor save. Also, if the Stegadon is killed, Jabba Junior here can still use his Palanquin to move around instead. Yes, Mazdamundi sounds pretty awesome. However, he costs a whopping 620 points, meaning he's impractical in all but the biggest battles. He can be funny in a large Storm of Magic game, but as a a regular character to field, he's probably a pass.
  • Kroq-Gar: This guy is so awesome, Lord God Mode Sue and Failbaddon may only dream to be as awesome he is. Among his accomplishments are: Fighting an unending horde of Daemons for 1000 years, live for 8000 years and still be able to cut down an entire army with only a few dozen warriors, taming not just one but several Carnosaurs as his mounts during his life time (including Grimlock), and many more. If his mount is killed he gains Frenzy, if he is killed his mount gets Frenzy, can bring a unit of Saurus Cavalry as Core, has a 5+ ward save (if he fails it, the guy who hit him in CC suffers an automatic S5 hit), his spear gives him S +1 on the charge and deals two wounds for the price of one (P.S., he has 5 Attacks). You WILL take this guy, you WILL immediately charge the enemy and you WILL revel in your opponents misery. (Fun-Fact: he is the most expensive Lizardmen model when it comes to both points and money.)
  • Chakax: Once upon a time, Chakax choked a Daemon Prince with his bare hands and then fought hundreds of wild jungle creatures for 2 days straight. When both he and a Slann are in a unit of Temple Guards, the whole unit becomes Unbreakable (unless either he or the Slann are killed), when his Mace hits something, the opponent must tell you every magic item that unit has (if it has any), when fighting in a challenge his Key grants him a 5+ ward save and Always Strikes First (even though his mace is great weapons and has the Always Strikes Last rule), while his Mask watches you while you sleep prevents enemy Scouts from being placed within 20" of Chakax, and all hidden enemies (like Night Goblin Fanatics) must be revealed when they are within 20" of Chakax. Best used for defense. That's about it though.
  • Gor-Rok: Gor is his name, Gore is his game. If you're making a model of him and at least one half of him isn't drenched in blood... you're doing it wrong. Seriously, read his fluff and you'll understand. He is a Stubborn, in the first round of close combat he re-rolls any failed To-hit rolls, any successful rolls To-wound roll against him must be re-rolled, is immune to the effects of Killing Blow (such attacks only cause a single wound which may be saved by armor as normal), and is (quite literally) a walking obstacle in the opponents way (or, his shield makes him count as protecting an obstacle to be precise). Taking this guy would be smart in smaller battles, although he isn't that good in bigger ones, you should take an Oldblood (or Kroq-Gar to be precise) instead.
  • Tehenhauin: He is the most notable Skink in the entire Warhammer world, his story is long, yet interesting, read it. Heck, he even got his own novel, named Temple of Serpents which is ironically, the only novel the Lizardmen have. It's a Grey Seer Thanquol novel, doofus. He's not even in it. There's an entirely different Prophet of Sotek in that novel. He is the cheapest Lord the Lizardmen have (costing 250pts), heck even an Oldblood can cost more then him when fully upgraded. He is a Level 2 Wizard who uses the Lore of Beasts, he is Immune to Poison, Unbreakable, has Poisoned Attacks, gains S +1 on the turn he charges, has a 5+ ward save, and he makes all Skinks (excluding Mounts, Kroxigors in Skink units, etc.) hate Skaven. He rides a Tide of Serpents which I'm not going to mention when you can simply replace it with an Ancient Stegadon with an Engine of the Gods (for a bonus 290pts). In short, when your making an all-Skink army and you're fighting Skaven, you should definitely bring this guy.
  • Tetto'Eko: He is an ancient (Level 2, Lore of Heavens Loremaster) Skink Priest who rides a Palanquin, can be accompanied by Skinks and can predict the future. In short, a buffed-up Skink Priest but without the upgrades (including the Ancient Stegadon, you've got Tehenhauin for that). He can make a 2d6 roll in the Magic Phase and if he gets 3+ he buffs your wizard's Lore of Heavens till the next turn. After deployment, but before determining who gets the first turn, you may redeploy d3 of your units (subject to normal deployment restrictions). 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. Also, his Palanquin gives him a 5+ ward save. Now he is a great wizard and all, but in larger battles, a Slann is better. Though because he is a Hero you could run both.
  • Tiktaq'To: OK, his name is kinda silly, but as a commander, he is not half bad. His Terradon gains the Killing Blow special ability after using the Drop Rocks special rule. 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 armor saves, and the unit he is with can deep-strike (or something like that). He is as useful as a Skink special character can get, put him in a Squad of Terradons and use him for Tank-Hunting.
  • Oxyotl: You might like his story, about being able to sneak around the Warp for over 8000 years and survive, assassinating Greater Daemons as he goes and then returning to the Warhammer world with an group of Chameleon Skinks. But on the table, he is not so good. Sure, he is the cheapest Special Character the Lizardmen have (160pts), but he is still only useful in small battles, where he is in fact very devastating, but in larger models, he could cause a lot of trouble to the enemy and act as a fire magnet (unless you bring a lot of Stegadons, which you should). He is a great assassin, but it's not like a unit of ordinary Chameleons can't do the exact same job just as good. Also, his model is pretty old and pretty ridiculous.

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: Best wizard in 7th Edition and shaping up to take the title again in 8th. The main downside with a Slann is cost, in 7th these guys were like Batman and Superman; people kitted them out with all kinds of magic bling of awesome that could handle any situation like Batman, but if things went wrong you could rely on its sheer magical power like Superman. In 8th, where Lord points cost now really means something, the Slann is nearly unplayable in the way he used to be; he still is the best wizard though. Slann get access to disciplines that are major boosts, a Slann needs to take at least 1 but can take 3 additional Disciplines for a hefty price. These things range from Regenerate, Magic Resistance 3, to generating free power dice and bleeding an enemy wizard of any 6s rolled whenever they cast a spell, even if it's Irresistible Force. There are two ways to build a Slann: offense and defense.
    • Offense: Slann take the two disciplines that let them know all the spells in a given Lore and roll extra power dice when casting, this plus a Cupped Hands of the Old Ones make them pretty good at being usable and cheap. There's a few magic items you can pick up but due to the cost restrictions its limited making this the only viable build.
    • Defense: Slann get a lot of tricks up the flabby rolls that pass for sleeves, they can be in a Temple Guard unit, unable to be targeted in melee, Regen save, 2+ ward save from ranged attacks and magical ranged attacks, Magic Resistance 3 which is shared with the Temple Guard unit, -2 to shooting hits inside 12" and -1 to shooting outside 12", immunity to any "attack" (Spells are fine provided the word attack isn't mentioned in its description) not coming from a magic weapon, all wizards within 18" must take Stupidity tests every turn and all 6s rolled by enemy wizards on their power dice when casting are drained away if its within 24". You can also Cause Terror, but it takes up a Discipline slot. This isn't even combining the effects of the Temple Guard unit that block LoS to the Slann but allow the Slann to draw LoS to anything the unit can as well as the unit being Unbreakable if the Slann is with it.
      In summary the biggest magical bang for the biggest buck in WFB, Slann need Temple Guard, but more importantly GW needs to give them a major price cut in order for them to be played with any magic items. But seriously, they're still really awesome!
  • Saurus Old Blood: Killing machine. Take that lovely Saurus and make him more Badass. Gets a Fuck-You-A-Saur (Carnosaur) mount which is a like a mini T-Rex, can be tooled up to either assassinate Lord characters and Daemons, or solo regiments of infantry. In light of the Slann's expensive point cost, take this guy for Lord-level asskicking. Comes with a 4+ Scaly Skin by default and a lot of attacks before you buy any upgrades. Single purposed and perfect at it. Be warned, however; these things are freaking expensive: the Carnosaur alone costs almost as much as a naked Slann. They also cost huge $$$, especially if they get made in Finecast. The main problem is that Slann are really good and you usually won't be able to take both in an army. 1 bad cannonball and you're left with a max lvl 4 wizard and you're down around 400 points (though if you let this happen then obviously you haven't kited him out to be a rape train with no breaks and deserve to lose those 400 points). A very powerful build for the old blood is giving him the armor of destiny and the fencer's blades. This means he gets 6, S5 attacks at WS 10. The build also gives him great survivability with a 2+ armor and 4+ ward (and you can always throw him on a cold one to increase that armor save to 1+, not that you'll really need it). Guaranteed to make opponents rage, especially in smaller point games (such as 1000).
  • Saurus Scar Veteran: The Old Blood at an affordable price, while not as a scary and NEW!!! access to the fuck-you-a-saur. It still pays out that Saurus melee butchery that makes people cry and it can take a Cold One mount. Can be the BSB when you're not sticking that on your Slann. It's a good idea in larger games where you can afford a few of these or a pair of Scar Veterans and an Old Blood, to equip them and use them like a missile, send it after one thing and watch it get maimed. Don't try this in smaller games because they're more useful sitting in Saurus units so they can get their teeth into infantry and really turn the tide. Solid choice as a General at low level games and good in larger battles for keeping things killy.
  • Skink Chief: Only take this guy mounted, really; he's way too soft compared to the Saurus characters and Skinks in general suck as proper ranked units. Can take Stegadons, Ancient Stegadons and Terradons as mounts, which is what you should be doing. On a Terradon it can do some good character hunting and screw warmachine crews as well as provide a leadership buff to that Terradon unit, but it means you're general should be someone else. On either Stegadon its basically an excuse to have more Stegadons on the field and the Stegadon War Spear is nice because of the boost it gives their Impact Hits. Not a solid General choice but nice as a supporting character and getting another big Dinosaur on the table. Like the scar vet, this character can be the BSB.
  • Skink Priest: Good low-level Wizard, can act as a range extended for Slann allowing them to send Magic Missiles (Not Spells or Magical Ranged Attacks but Spells that are called Magic Missiles) as if the Slann was where the Priest is standing. Can take the Engine of the Gods if you want to be banned from playing, can take a few nice bits of gear like the Black Cube. They're limited to the Lore of the Heavens but they have enough magic items to maximize their usage. Pretty much they support the Slann or are used in large numbers to spam spells down the enemy's throat. Do not underestimate them as they have access to the Comet Of Cassandora and Lizardmen are the only army that can reliably spam that spell.

Core Units

  • Skinks: Cheap and spammable light infantry which can either be equipped with Blowpipes and hand weapons, or for the cost of 1 point, they can take javelins and shields This is only true for skink skirmishers, ranked skinks get hand weapons, shields, and javelins standard. Blowpipes are the best offer as they both out-range and have the same range and out-shoot the javelins with two shots each. However, both choices are still quite short-ranged and, for a unit that is so weak in close combat, the extra shots at charging enemies greatly helps in actually hurting them. Kroxigors can be taken in the second rank of the unit and are allowed to normally attack over the front rank of Skinks. This gets some heavy hitters in there, but 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, one Kroxigor is cheaper than a Skink Chief, packs more punch, causes fear and enables you to fill out the ranks quicker for rank bonuses. Despite weak (native) leadership and terrible toughness, they can be surprisingly effective against non-elite infantry and cavalry for one turn, with a relatively high initative, the stand and shoot and the new poison rule enabling their close combat attacks to auto wound.
  • Skink Skirmishers: On the other hand, as a small skirmishing unit with blowpipes, 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 units that size, making it a waste of resources when other, more dangerous units, are unharmed. 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 needless. Most elite units cost close to 30 points a model, Derp, maybe really powerhouse heavy cavalry, but most Elite Infantry runs from 12-16 points, 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 its a lose-lose situation, and in the wider context of the battle, leads the opponent to be inefficient with his units.
  • Saurus Warriors: The backbone of any Lizardmen army, Saurus Warriors pack a 5+ Scaly Skin save, shields, spears/hand weapons, 2 base attacks, are Cold Blooded, and are WS3, S4, & T4! 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. 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 they still won't get through cleanly or untouched. Overall, not taking a Saurus unit or two is sign that the army isn't intended for anything other than giving the other guy a very easy win.

Special Units

  • Bastiladon: Giant ridable Ankylosaurus... FUCK YES! Available with a Solar engine or the Ark of Sotek. The solar engine grants an increase to initiative to the lizardmen around it, it also shoots a massive death laser of death. The ark of Sotek is a big spawning machine, any jungle swarm units in a certain radius gets a dice roll and on a 4+ they get a new jungle swarm. Whichever you choose, choose one, with a scaly skin bonus of 2+, a tail attack that has a strength 10 hit and no flanks for only 150 points, this shit is good.
  • Jungle Swarms: Iffy choice here. They skirmish like Skinks, have poisoned attacks, and, with an unbreakable 5 wounds, can be a very effective tarpit at times. Your points might be better off with another small squad of Skinks though.
  • Temple Guard: Saurus with stat boosts, Light Armour and halberds. Plus, these guys when combined with a Slann (mandatory if both are on the field) as the BSB, have access to some great buffs (not including whatever spells and magic items the Slann takes). TG 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 then the Saurus warriors, but honestly, these guys are pretty fucking awesome. Nothing fights this unit without taking horrible damage. Nothing. Though remember that due to the odd way that Temple Guard 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. The unit has stubborn under the eyes of a Slann, and if that is the BSB you pretty much get this rock solid blob of nigh-unbreakable fuck you in the centre of your army that gives all units around it the boost to Cold-Blooded, the Slann's Leadership, the buffs from the BSB etc...
    • Also, if you're taking Slann with Temple Guard, take the Lore of Life, because Flesh-to-Stoned Temple Guard are a war crime.Especially with the Throne of Vines buff!
  • Cold One Cavalry: Nice heavy cavalry option for the Lizardmen, the riders are Saurus, so copypasta the Saurus Warrior stuff over here, albeit they don't benefit from the spears as much, because cavalry spears are +1 S instead of +1 A. But still, the unit is pretty useful, good for a hammer/anvil combo with Saurus Warriors and it's fucking amazing if you do it with a Temple Guard unit. Nerfed with 8th Edition's anti-cavalry attitude, but still a fast and hard-hitting unit in an otherwise slow and steady or fast and weak faction. Not an essential unit like other Saurus units, but a unit of 6 with a musician is a cost-effective way to bring fast-moving pain to the table. Multiple units can tag-team effectively, but at the cost your army's overall size. Kroq-Gar can make one unit of them Core choices. They're still good (despite 8th Edition), but aren't the sledgehammer they used to be. Also DINOSAWZ.
  • Terradon Riders: Excellent for harassment tactics, hunting war machine crews, solo models, and skirmishers. Their ability to drop rocks is also handy for softening up something tough before the Saurus or TG lay the smackdown on it. The Arboreal Predators rule used to make it better then any hippie Wood Elf flyer because none of them could fly unhindered through trees, but this will probably change. Also, as they are technically light cavalry, they get a vanguard move. Not the best unit in straight up combat but, because the riders are Skinks with their poison attacks, expect them to be effective at wounding. Nice, a bit pricey, but good at doing their job. Also DINOSAWZ.
  • Kroxigors: They are good in close combat, but point for point, Saurus warriors are a better option being able to absorb more wounds, and deal more attacks. That said, they're not a dead unit, but it's best to keep them close to something and have them flank whatever that unit charges.
  • Chameleon Skinks: The Little Reptiles That Could. Costing, being Special and simply being more of the same doesn't help Chameleon Skinks when compared to Skink Skirmishers. That's not to say they're terrible (they are your only scouts option and great warmachine hunters, for example, and absolutely fuck up dwarfs), it's just that while they do the same job but a lot more effectively they take up space and points that are needed to a lot of the other more expensive units. In an all-Skink list or any list they will earn their place, but if you're choosing between these guys and any of the other Specials you will always do better with the others. They have a special character that isn't really worth mentioning, unless GW gives him the ability to make Chameleon Skinks a Core unit, don't expect to see him or the unit much.
  • Stegadon: Fuck Me. Its a bolt-thrower mounted on a DINOSAUR! This unit is fucking fun, but also effective, put simply its a two-in-one package, you get a bolt-thrower that can move and shoot, even when in combat, and a big monster that can crush things under its... paws? Crewed by Skinks because you need a BS above 0 to fire anything, its AWESOME. It can shoot while in close combat, meaning you can either fuck up whatever is about to get crushed, or you can fire at other units as a way to say "COME GET SOME BITCHES!". Also it can be taken as a mount by a Skink Chief who can then take the Stegadon Warspear to ensure it does 2d6+1 impact hits when it charges ZOMG! Its pretty good, but its defenses are a little weak for such a massive fire magnet. A good choice and a fun one, every time.

Rare Units

  • Ancient Stegadon: You thought the above was awesome, this guy is tougher, hits harder in combat and does 4d6 blowpipe shots, again it can do this in combat. 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: I'm putting this here because its basically an Ancient Stegadon with an upgrade that requires a Wizard. The EotG or "THAT FUCKING CHEESE SHIT" was broken until 8th Edition's rules for army structure came round. Basically it had 3 things it could do, a ward save bubble for all allied units within a radius from any ranged and/or magic spell or magic attack from outside of the bubble, boosting the Skink Priest so he can gain power dice as if he were a higher level and finally one of the coolest things ever: a Magic Pulse that does random hits to all enemies in range of it Strength 4 for normal units, but Undead and Daemons take Strength 5 hits. Lists with 2 of these things below 2,000 points were universally reviled in the tournament scene because they would break most armies in 2-3 turns. The new point percentage per slot type rule prevents you from seeing this ever again. Great broken cheesy thing that should be taken when you can. Use against Daemons players to give them a long deserved taste of their own medicine.
  • Salamander Hunting Packs: This unit can do some serious damage, and it's good for stopping Regenerating faggots, penetrating armour like a rapist. However, it has a few drawbacks; the first is that its flaming attack is only Strength 3, it can't Stand And Shoot as a charge reaction, and fragile Skink crews are required to control them and are eaten in times of poor rolling. The problem with discussing this unit is that there is a debate between the two Hunting Pack units and what they do. Any given Warhammer forum will be filled with fags that get butthurt if you say they're equal or one is better than the other, so naturally expect Trolls when either unit mentioned. 8th Edition made this worse thanks to a few things that buffed the Salamander further. Salamanders can spew nice flaming goodness to further range, hold better in close combat and causing a single wound on a unit prompts a panic test. In 7th this meant that no one used Salamanders because Daemons and Undead don't panic, 8th has changed this part as well by nerfing vampires so hard it's like the opposite of a Matt Ward codex write. Overall they win because despite being S3 and no Stand And Shoot charge response they have a -3 to armour which makes them that much better at dealing with heavy armour and the unit itself can be taken as a solo reliably and has less unpredictability then the Razordons.
  • Razordon Hunting Packs: The other half of the Salamanders vs. Razordons debate. While the Salamander has its nice anti-armour feel, the Razordon gets a nice S4 ranged attack, but only 12", they aren't penalized by range or movement for the shooting, they shoot a number of shots determined by rolling 1 Artillery die and they can Stand And Shoot when charged which is part of the problem. Razordons work best with 2-3 in a pack, which increases the cost to use them compared to the Salamanders, however they eat their crew more often because the roll two artillery dice at time. The make and break of this unit is its special rule that applies when it opts to Stand And Shoot as a charge reaction... YOU ROLL DOUBLE THE ARTILLERY DICE TO GENERATE SHOTS! 2 ARTILLERY DICE PER RAZORDON!!! Obviously this is so fucking awesome, I mean what the hell is going to take that and live? Oh forgot something we did... nobody charges these guys. Nobody would ever do that, unless they had never played against before Lizardmen and you don't mention this special rule. While this is clearly the coolest thing ever to see in a game, and also the rarest, it does allow you to use the Razordon as an area-denial weapon, stick a pack on a flank or blocking a charge lane and nothing will happen, that area is yours, no unit will charge them to try removing them and anything shooting at them isn't shooting at something important. Overall, its nice if you could take both units but because the Salamander isn't crippled by its greatest advantage, Razordons don't see much action now, some people will take them and the random chance doesn't make them unplayable, its just that Salamanders have more consistent performance.
    • 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.

Building Your Army

Buying Your Army

As always, the Battalion box is a good start; it comes with a small unit of Temple Guard, a big unit of Saurus Warriors, some Cold One Cavalry, and some Skinks.

After that you will need to buy probably 2 more Saurus warrior Boxes unless you're going light on saurus due to crippling fear of victory. Also the skinks you get aren't really enough to run more than a single unit of skirmishers, so buy box of skinks. The TG are also undersized so again might another box to get them up to strength. Mainly this gives you a smattering of units for a lower cost than buying the boxes and the amount you get in the boxsets will be slightly less than what you need so there is no overflow... or by the sounds of it might just be easier to buy a second battalion.

Getting a Slann is mandatory, no you can't just say screw it, even if you never play with it, not having a Slann will get you laughed at by every neckbeard who hears of your foolishness. After that its up to you really. Due to the restrictions on army size an Engine of the Gods will not be worth buying until the Lizardmen army book is released and we can get everything recosted for an acceptable price that actually works with the new army rules.

Army Composition

Saurus.

Ok, you want at least 3 blocks of Saurus Warriors with spears/Temple Guard. Adding more is perfectly fine. Remember that while slow, they are fucking murder compared to say Empire state troops or anything from Bretonnian. 10 wide Hordes are excellent, nay, excellently mandatory. Take at least one as a horde and use it as the solid brick of fuck you for your army. If it goes, you concede, but it won't and if it does you've lost anyway. If you're expecting to fight tough opponents add more Saurus units of 25+, packing Spears.

Skink Skirmishers make great screening units, harasses and general annoyance, have at least 3 units of the minimum 10. This gives your opponent three opportunities to fail at strategy. Don't overload on them though, your priority is the sea of Saurus killers.

BSB is mandatory in the centre of your formations. Keep it off the Slann as we can't drop 40% of our points on him these days. With Cold Blooded and a Slann in a TG bunker you will have a very tough group of saurus units surrounding the Slann's unit of goddamned terminators.

In large games dedicate 1 or 2 Scar Vets on Cold Ones as trouble shooters, at 3k you can take 3+ of them, they can hunt a target like a wizard, warmachine crew or an annoying character and beat it to death or at least make it incapable of surviving the next round of combat. Have at least one Scar Veteran and/or Old Blood with your main force to lead and be all general like even though the Slann is technically the general. They're great for basically slaughtering up anything the unit charges and keeping one with the Slann is useful as the toads will struggle against spammed Challenges.

Take 2 fast units to do all the warmachine hunting, in lower point games take only 1 as the skink skirmishers can fulfill this role, but in anything at 2k or above they will be too busy attracting attention to kill warmachine crews. Good candidates are the Terradon riders. Very good candidates, add a Skink Chief and they will murder crews while he can then break off hunt solo characters with the Bane Head and piranha sword combo. Chameleon Skinks are also pretty good, but again see their entry about why they lose to Terradons. Cold One Cavalry can do this role quite well, in addition to their main role of flanking anything that's in its 3rd round of combat against your Saurus warriors. You will do this as anything that's still in combat after 4 rounds against them is going to be something you really want dead now and a flank charge will help that, not guaranteed though.

Stegadons are always fun, whichever one you want is dependent on your need for the howdah weapon. Both are nice and taking a skink chief with the Stegadon spear is good buy on an Ancient. They're great as line breakers for the rest of your army, and if you have two, put them on one flank and have them work their way to the centre of your opponent's army, its great for splitting attention from your main force and getting your units enough time to move into charge range.

With magic, take a Slann. Take Cupped Hands of the Old Ones. If cost is really not an issue go to fucking town on gear for the toad. Lizardmen are easily in the top tier for magic right now, with rape-tastic gear and a character who exists to spam the Comet of Casandora, you should consider the magic phase as either nothing (no slann) or EVERYTHING (everything yes). That said taking more than 1 Skink Priest is a bit risky as they can't share the same spells and they're all stuck using Lore of Heavens (COMET FOR THE WIN).

Magic Items

Yes the Lizardmen have some of the best gear available, unfortunately you will pay heavily for that advantage.

  • Magic Weapons

Blade of the Old Ones A new version of this and still pricey as hell but now ignoring ward- and armorsaves. With the new rules it might be feasible with a Saurus Old blood (don't give it a Slann!!)

Piranha Blade: Still a little bit expensive but getting now the bonus of reducing enemy armor. Against monster and heroes probably a good idea but a hefty price to pay.

  • Magic Armour

Holy Stegadon Helmet of Itza The only magic armor the Lizardmen get but what an armor. For its useability its fricking cheap and your Saurus can also play Mini-Minotaur.

  • Enchanted Items

Feathercloak Yes, the same old thing that was in the Codex for like 10 editions. Still make a flying Skink and now with a little bonus.

Horn of Kygor A musical instrument carved from a long time dead dinosaur. When your hero blows it every beast in your army will go enrage, works best with many monster, beasts etc.

Quango-Egg Again a little dinosaur souvenir, but this has still life in it. You can summon the ancient dinosaur from its egg and with a little luck he will clobber your enemys (on a 4+) One use and luck defined is a bit critical but when you like dinosaurs (and that's why you'r playing Lizardmen) than it's not bad.

  • Arcane Items

The Black Cube: Basically a 5 point mor expensive dispell Scroll, has seen a cost decrease as well as a use decrease, since it only ends in game spells. Oh and everything (even the dispel) is on a 2+ so not everytime...

Tablet of Dominion A bound spell that makes enemy mages stupid. With many enemy Mages or a low morale it's probably ok.

  • Magic Standards

Magic

Yes please.

Now after the new book, the Lizardmen have got High Magic (the Highelf magic) for their Slann. Well not bad at all but the real thing is in the Lore Attribute: Contemplation. It allows you to forget a spell you successfully casted and generate a new one out of High Magic or any normal Lore. This means you can drop Spells you don't need and get new ones. Playing against Demons? Lightmagic is there. Fighting against Chaosknights? There you go Searing Doom.

With magic, one of the biggest choices is which Lore for the Slann. Generally Life is regarded as the best for Slann, as it can prevent miscasts from nuking your Mega-Toad. Plus, who doesn't like Toughness 6 Saurus? Aside from your opponent, I mean. Generally its best to take a lore based on your opponent's army. Metal and Shadow are pretty good choices. Heavens is a big No as you already have Skink Priests to cast that one for you.

  • Typically, people opt for either Life or Light, with Life being more popular of a choice.

Lore of Life (Recommended) : With the Loremaster discipline on a Slann, and thus allowing you to get every spell from the lore, this is probably the best choice as Earth Blood, Flesh to Stone, and Regrowth keep your Warriors in the battle and help mitigate their relatively small numbers. Throne of Vines helps make your Slann from killing himself and lets Flesh to Stone buff your Saurus to Toughness 8 (As well as buffing the effectiveness of the other spells)! Finally, Dwellers is possibly one of the most ridiculous spells in the game and can nuke out entire units with no looking back. Generally this is probably the best of the lores to use for a balanced or defensive list. Remember that any good opponent will packing at least 1 scroll, never depend on your first dwellers working, in fact depend on it not working.

Lore of Light (Recommended): Although Life is probably better in a large tournament game Light can be devastating in Saurus-heavy armies with a Slann in the center. Birona's Timewarp and The Speed of Light are probably the best spells as they make up for the Saurus's low Initiative and mediocre Weapon Skill. The Timewarp will also give you an extra attack and double the movement turning the Saurus into something more akin to Ogres than Saurus. (That's 3 attacks and 8 movement by the way) . And best of all is that both of them and their little cousin Pha's Protection (an augment that will help against shooting and getting hit in combat at a -1 to hit) all can be cast as 12" bubble buffs that can effect all units allowing an army with a Slann in the center to be twice as effective. On another note the lore has some pretty good utility spells that can clear chaff (and also get a bonus versus the foul undead and Dæmons), and helps stop you're opponents from getting dangerous flank charges (The Net of Amyntok). All in all probably the second best lore for Lizards.

Lore of Shadow: The Lore Attribute is probably the most important part to the use of this Lore for lone Slanns. Allowing the Slann to switch with any other character within 24" after a successful cast is a great way of getting him out of combats and switching an expendable Skink or a fighty Saurus Character (assuming you are not in a Temple Guard block where you can't leave the unit). On the casting side of things Shadow is the most expensive lore to cast in the game which shouldn't be a problem for a Slann with the Discipline of Ruination for the extra casting die each spell. Otherwise most of the spells are hexes that lower your opponents units capability. The rest are either direct damage and 2 augments. Now a rundown of Each Spell:

  • (Signature) Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma: Lowering your opponent's WS, BS, LD, or I is great with Saurus as they have poor Initiative and a poor WS for elite troops n this spell allows you to level the playing field and hopefully start hitting on 3's. This debuff can also be used for hilarious effect with Purple Sun in the Lore of Death.
  • (1) Steed of Shadows: I guess its cheap to cast but I've never seen a use for it as a Saurus leader is useless with out his unit and Skink Priests and Chiefs have other ways to get flying. It could be lolzy for a flying Carnosaur or switching around with a Death Slann in the hilarious dual Shadow/Death Slann list but otherwise seems to lack any use other than switching for the Sig if you don't have Loremaster (which you should).
  • (2) The Enfeebling Foe: Minus d3 strength is okay for your Saurus but they are probably tough enough already that they don't really need it. Could be okay versus monsters and keeping you're high armor saves.
  • (3) The Withering: The true winner of this lore in my opinion, lowering you're opponents toughness is one of the best debuffs in this game...

Lore of Fire: The real kicker here is the low casting costs, with Rumination (if it isn't comped) and Loremaster, it's actually probable you will cast 5 spells with 5 dice and if you rolled 3,2 on dice the other guy might dispel 1. This is nice against armies that pack 3+ scrolls because the sheer volume of mediocre spells makes their scrolls less than cost effective. Fire is nice because it counters some fairly rare but painful tactics: Ethereal units? My block has magical attacks and +1 to wound. Your block has ward saves against fire? Well my block no longer has flaming attacks. Flammable? LOL! You have a tough 10 creature? Well Rhuin gives +1 to wound not strength so my skinks are wounding on 5s and you don't get regen saves. You're running a 5 file 10 rank unit? Meet piercing bolts. Finally Flame Storm does metric(not imperial) craptons of damage and Flame Cage makes them choose between a lot of damage(bad) and not moving at all(worse) or just combo with wind blast. Additionally if you do roll doubles 6s for magic dice just start juicing them for extra damage or take a lvl 1 skink priest to carry scrolls and maybe iceshard their block. Finally if you take this lore, take Cupped hands of the old ones.

Tactics

There's a school of thought that stipulates that in order to win in WFB you need to be control 2 out of the 4 phases in a turn. Lizardmen have magic and combat handed to them, so choosing to not take a Slann is really only useful if you're sure that its power as a magic user is unnecessary in the battle to be played. Lizardmen don't have the mobility to control the movement phase and we really don't have any truly dedicated ranged units like Elves or Empire.

Because of the lack of mobility on Lizardmen units and lack of long-ranged firepower, one should not play defensively, say imagine if dwarves lacked their warmachines and ranged units? No one would play them because you could shoot the crap out of them for 3-4 turns and then run around behind them and flank the survivors. Lizardmen can't just stand there and shoot, the whole army needs to grind forward. Grind is really the best word here, if you're doing it right you should be making steady progress forward and crushing anything that tries to stall you.

While some units can really move around compared to your Saurus, they're all skinks, which means they're dead if you opponent looks at them with raised eyebrow. The exception is Cold One Cavalry who are pretty pricey and therefore will never be fielded in the numbers necessary to play them in super-effective numbers. An alternative view; Cold on cav cost 35 points each whereas saurus cost 11, Saurus get 2 attacks whereas Cold ones get 3, 2 of which are at strength 5 on the charge, they also have M7 and an unmodified 2+ armour save and 1 extra WS which helps a surprising amount. The big thing is that with 1" bases you reach critical mass very easily, basically with 210 points you'll get 12 hits from COC against WS3 at str4-5 on the charge, 210 points of Saurus gives you 9 hits or 12 with spears if you run them 6 wide which you should at that point cost, and COC won't die. Basically COC are situationally more point cost effective than saurus, generally against WS3, Str3-4 units. Either way in a standard list run 5 COC to flank charge an existing combat.

Against mobile armies like Bretonnia, Wood Elves or people who still think cavalry is good, don't wait for the knights or warriors to charge your flanks, get a skink skirmisher unit to stand in the way or charge them. Mobile armies will be a pain in the butt, especially if they have ranged cavalry as you will never catch them without carefully noting terrain placement etc.

Tarpits are something to avoid, even though your Saurus units will probably wipe the offending unit (unless it's a half decent one like a hammer dart with a Dwarf Lord running a 1+ rerollable and a 4++ in front), it wastes time and options. That said if you do get tarpitted, don't worry 90% of tarpits won't do much to your Saurus and very few have a real chance of beating 40+ Saurus warriors (you did take a Horde right?). Try to avoid tarpits getting to your Temple Guard as you want them to be free to deal with issues not bogged down playing whack-a-mole.

Warmachines are the most annoying things for Lizardmen player, hence you must have 2 options to deal with them quickly. Players who rely on warmachines to win are pussy bitches, or Dwarves, and should be mocked as such. Stone Throwers are absolute cunts when they hit and several bolt throwers will chew through a unit quickly. Against Dwarves this is doubly so, in fact during a Dwarf player's deployment phase while they look to place their lame as contraptions play this clip from Community where Senor Chang perfectly describes warmachine heavy armies: [1]

EDIT# If your opponent can take lore of death be very aware of Purple Sun as it can end your army, so if you know the have it save some power dice or a scroll to dispel it.

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