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Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Wood Elves

2020-04-30T02:45:34Z

2600:1700:7D0:60B0:78A8:5C3E:90B8:C917: /* Core Units */

==Why Play Wood Elves==
Wood Elves have been redone and almost completely rewritten. Everything has been turned on its head and old Wood Elf players have to adapt to the new changes. However they have recently not only reclaimed the title of being the fastest army but being arguably the best shooting army too. Wood Elves appear to be of equal parts of light and dark outlooks. They are the middle ground for elves. This is shown by them having magic arrows which are keyed to wounding forces of order and destruction respectively and with their best wizards having access to High and Dark magic. Wood Elves still have access to their old free wood.

Wood Elves are an army almost completely made up of trees, bowmen, or fast cavalry. They rely on speed, shooting and picking their fights. Wood elves still lack war machines but have in exchange a megaton of poisoned weaponry.

The name of their game is speed and maneuverability. By the end of turn 2 you can be behind the enemy lines, ready to unleash deadly co-ordinated flank charges, and against slower armies you can quite simply run circles around your enemided as some of the best archers in the game, the wood elves' possible greatest strength is not in their shooting, but in their prowess fighting in forests. They combine the best of both High Elves & Dark Elves when defending areas of wood. They are formidable in combat but lack staying power. You will need to use your maneuverability to ensure that you win the first combat resolution. If the elves get bogged down, they will quickly end up on the losing side.

Lastly, they have the widest variety of spells to chose from amongst the three Elf factions.

The Wood Elves require perhaps the most skill and nuance to play well, but this directly translates into them also being one of the most rewarding armies to play. Plus they're bad ass vengeful guardians of the forest, so that's pretty cool too.

Be warned that they aren't a good starter army.

In short, play Wood Elves if you want to play an army that requires a lot of skill, strategy and tactical thought to do well. You can't rely on Armor nor Warmachines or crazy shenanigans. Only a quick aim, a steady eye and a hungry forest will aid you in Athel Loren.

''(Matt Ward did have a hand in working on this book. However, GW decided to stop putting author's name in the book, most likely to preserve Watt Mard's tender feelings. What is known is that this was his last army book with GW and after having a hand in End Times:Nagash and End Times:Khaine he has now left).''

==Army Rules==

Wood Elves have four new army rules. They are the following:

'''Blessings of The Ancients''': Any model with this special rule (IE your wizards) gets a +1 to all casting attempts if they are inside a forest. ONLY when they're in a forest.

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Spellweaver''', '''Spellsinger''', '''Shadowdancers''', '''Branchwraiths''', '''Treeman Ancients''', '''Durthu''', and '''Drycha'''''

'''Ambush of the Worldroots''': You may place a single forest (of any type, you decide) anywhere on your half of the table. It must be placed before any units are deployed. It ''must'' be wholly within your half of the table. If it can't fit, move the other terrain pieces to make room. If it still can't fit, or you're in a scenario where you don't have a deployment zone, you don't get a forest.

''See '''Army Composition & Tactics''' for ideas and recommendations on how to use this rule''

'''Forest Spirit''': Models with this rule has Forest Strider, Magical Attacks and Immune to Psychology special rule and a 6+ ward save. A weaker save, but no longer mundane like in the previous army book. Mounts do not get the ward save.

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Unicorns''', '''Great Stags''', '''Dryads''', '''Branchwraiths''', '''Tree Kin''', '''Treemen''', '''Treeman Ancients''', '''Forest Dragons''', '''Durthu''', '''Hounds of Orion''', '''Drycha''' and '''Ceithin-Har'''''

'''Forest Stalker''': Models with this rule have the Forest Strider special rule. If at least half of a unit with this rule is inside a forest, it will be able to do the following:

* They may fire with one more rank. For the purpose of Volley Fire, this means a full three ranks may shoot, before you have to round down the following ranks.

* They may fight in close combat with one extra rank than normal, just like High Elves. This is cumulative with other similar effects.

* They may reroll to wound any rolls of 1 in close combat, just like Dark Elves. Their mounts, however, may not.
**''Basically, in terms of special rules, all your elves are worse than high elves and dark elves in the open, but equal to both of them combined while in forests. (In truth Eternal Guard is more effective than Spearelves/Dreadspears, Glade Guard beats HE Archers and Glade Riders are Ellyrian Reavers on steroids; but they all cost much more. Model for model - WE are better. Point for point - WE are worse.)''

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Glade Lord''', '''Glade Captain''', '''Spellweaver''', '''Spellsinger''', '''Eternal Guard''', '''Glade Guard''', '''Deepwood Scouts''', '''Glade Riders''', '''Warhawk Riders''', '''Wildwood Rangers''', '''Wardancers''', '''Shadowdancers''', '''Sisters of the Thorn''', '''Wild Riders''', '''Waywatchers''', '''Waystalker''', '''Orion''', '''Araloth''' and '''Naestra & Arahan'''''

==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.

* '''Orion, The King of the Woods:''' Orion is what in general is refered to as a Glass Cannon: Incredibly expensive, requires a massive tax on your resources, can be incredibly powerful and yet is very fragile. Orion costs 600 points. He can also beat in almost anyone's face (9,8,8,6,5,5,9,5,10), comes with a Bolt Thrower and machine gun and is Unbreakable and Frenzy, regains a wound on a 6 at the start of each of your turns. Also comes with two War Beasts (for 20 pts) that share his Frenzy and Unbreakable rule. Here's the downside: He's only T5 with a 5+ Ward and MR 2, making him somewhat less durable than a Treeman, but more durable against spells. He's a Monster, so he has Thunderstomp too, however, he doesn't have the Large Target rule. He will drop like a fly to high volume S4 and above attacks. He also has Always Strikes First but will have trouble winning combats against large units (he'll probably tie or grab a minor win on round 1 and then start losing from then on, not that it matters so much anymore). Not great but has potential. He is basically a Greater Daemon with leafy clothing that gives units within 6" of him Devastating Charge (Everyone of your units gets DC. Including mount)) every turn. Charge him along with your Wild Riders or Warhawk Riders into something. Anything. Then watch the mother hurt of ALL the People's Elbow decend upon your foe. Nothing bar the Dice Gods will stop you. That, or Phoenix Guard. Giggle like an Elf if you get to fight in a forest.

* '''Drycha:''' Orion is fighty, the Twins are shooty, Drycha is weird. She's rather expensive for a Hero, at 255 points, but she doesn't come with nearly enough stuff to justify this. For starters, she's a Level 2 caster and only has access to Lore of Shadows. While she's reasonably fighty (she gets +2 attacks per lost wound, no life shenanigans), T4, 3 wounds and only a 6+ Ward means she's easy to drop. She needs units with the Forest Spirit rule to be effective, but while her kinda ganky Deep Strike ability seems fun, you're only guaranteed d3+1 Woods max (IE the one you brought, sitting in your half of the table, and the acorn of eternity if you buy it) it's probably easier to just have them join her from the front. Don't bother.

* '''Araloth, Lord of Talsyn:''' This is Skaw the Falconer reborn. Sadly, Matt Ward clearly hates him and has not only changed his name but made him the only Wood Elf whose sole purpose is to be repurposed for conversions. 260pts for a 4++, stubborn, unbreakable on his own (don't let him go on his own EVER), Glade Lord with a 6+ armour (Seriously. He doesn't even have Light Armour, even though his model is wearing it. Wild Riders, meanwhile, [[Derp|go around bare chested and count as wearing them]]), armed with an amazing-looking spear that is...a regular Asrai Spear, and who comes with a bird. At least 60pts overpriced. The bird is a free S4 hit on one model within 18", and functions like a weird Killing Blow that causes blindness instead of death (somehow it makes the model worse in combat but not at shooting... go figure). Cute, I guess? This model's only use is to troll Tomb Kings, but with End Times taking away crumble he can't even do that anymore. Don't buy the model to play Wood Elves.
**''Note: Actually, I have found skaryn to be a pretty effective character hunter. The six to wound comes up much more often than you might think (one in three chance of any sort of wound blinding a T 4 model) and if your opponent skimped on armour for that bsb then they just became a lot less effective. Also, this guy combined with a waystalker or two can make a trolltastic wizard sniping team. Still overpriced, but not entirely useless.

* '''Durthu:''' Once again a recycled character from the far distant past which is bad. At first his stats don't look bad; Ws 7, str 6, t6, w6, 6 attacks, frenzy, hatred. But he only has a 3+ armour with a 6++ ward save and is flammable. The greatest of the Treemen can die from a single flamming bolt thrower if it gets lucky, let alone a flaming cannonball. To add salt into the wound he is only a level 1 Lore of Beasts wizard, has a pretty hand weapon of no significance save fluff, and a 2d6 str 2 killing blow ranged attack (which is awesome since he has BS7). All of this is for 385 pts. If you have already ordered the Treemen kit make a basic Treeman instead and convert a Wraithknight/Wraithlord. If you really want to play with him, get him into combat, any combat, as quickly as you can and either get '''The Savage Beast of Horrors''' to make him eat Greater Daemons/Monsters or go with the default '''Wyssan's Wildform''' to make him do 7 WS7 (rerollable to hit) S7 attacks. 666 is the name of the Beast, but 777 is carved on the Tree.

* '''Naestra and Arahan, The Sisters of Twilight:''' Anyone who makes a 'Twins are hot' joke gets kicked out of Athel Loren. As for the girls, they can be hilarious. You don't only take them to win, you take them to [[troll]]. For 275 points you get the pair on the back of Gwindalor the Great Eagle and for a few 220 more can have them ride the forest dragon Ceithin-Har. Why you ever would take them on a dragon is a mystery since the eagle gives them more wounds and t4 thanks to it being monstrous cavalry, while also allowing them to reroll failed to hits. Their Dragon is 80pts cheaper than the glade lord's since gwindalor is clearly 80pts. They have the Always Strikes First, Forest Stalker, Conjoined Destiny, and Sisters of Twilight special rules. The Conjoined destiny rule means that they must always stay together if their mount dies and that if one of them dies then she is revived at the end of her phase with all of her wounds, while the Sisters of Twilight makes Naestra gain a +1 to wound forces of destruction units in combat and Arahan gain a +1 to wound forces of order in combat. They also have 2 special bows. Naestra has a str 5 d6 wound long bow which gives her mount a wound back if she wounds with it and Arahan has a bow which fires 2d6 str 1 poisoned shots. Between them have good shooting and survival thanks to their previous rules and weapons and stats: M5, WS 6, BS 6, str 4, t 3, w2, 3 attacks, i7 and Ld9. These compete badly with the waystalker, lvl 1 spellsinger and BSB in the Heroes section so chose wisely. Pitty you can't take these guys on foot though...
**''Alright, someone explain this to me. Since N&A are now MC on Big G, isn't the Conjoined Destiny rule quite worthless if you get shot? Since the three birds are counted as one model, have practically no saves AND you have to use the profile with the most wounds (which is 3 for Big G), how does this work? Are they able to survive a cannon ball to the face, or does the entire model die after 3 wounds?
***''To counter that which is below, if you stick near 5 Warhawk riders you can get a 4+ look out sir, you can seriously boost your survivability. So long as one twin survives then your foes cannon ball was for naught.
***''A single cannonball won't kill them - and certainly it won't kill Gwindalor, since, according to MC rules, it can't be targeted (yes, this means that the rule that lets the mount regain wounds is useless for G). When N&A are hit, you have to randomize, according to their rules. Then you wound, then the sister that was hit probably dies; then she pops back to full life if the other hasn't been killed by the end of the shooting phase. In melee, you have to allocate attacks, as you would do with two normal characters. N&A can indeed take risks that would be suicidal for other wood elven characters. Quite worthy of the points you pay to field them.''
''

====Generic Characters====
'''Note:''' While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

* '''Glade Lord:''' Generic combat lord, reasonably fighty but you'll pale in comparison to most other Lords. (Basically, he is identical to High Prince or Dark Dreadlord, but the army's style and racial items work against making him a similar meatgrinder) He can be kitted out in a variety of ways to be more fighty and can be given magic arrows which is a plus, he also dishes out a LD10 bubble. He also got an extra point of BS, probably to compensate for the loss of free moving and shooting. One new rule, The Arrow of Kurnous, lets him deal a auto str 3 hit on your opponent's general if they are within 36" of a character with the rule and in line of sight. If your foe has a caster lord as his general then I guess it will force him to deploy further back so not bad. Should not be your first Lord choice, but is by far not the worst. One popular choice is to give him Daith's Reaper and the Armour of Destiny for a stabtastic warboss.

* '''Spellweaver:''' This should be your first Lord choice. Level 4 at 220 points now, a variety of magic items to make her better, the only character who can take the Acorn of Eternity (technically, the Glade Lord can take it too, but naked combat lord suffers much more than naked wizard lord) and most importantly, access to all rulebook lores and Dark and High Magic. Plus she can buy an Asrai Longbow for 5pts, which means that while she's hanging in the back with your Glade Guard, she can ping off the odd casualty herself, which is hilarious by the by. If you want a Lord choice, this is the one you should go for in (almost) every situation.

* '''Treeman Ancient:''' While Treemen are alright, Treemen Ancients fail for many reasons. First off, they're 290 points, don't get spites any more, are lvl 2 life wizards only (who can upgrade to level 4) have a 3+ 6++, can buy magic levels, can tree whack and have the kind of melee stats that make cherubs cry. Ws4, Str5, A3, I2. I guess old age shows? Also, being an old coot, he gets the 75mm long side of his base pointed forwards for some insane reason. The best thing that can be said about them is probably that they are large targets with Ld 10. Actually, against anything that hasn't got a particularly threatening shooting phase, the ancient will be basically immortal unless it gets killed in combat. 3+, 6 wounds, 6T and lore of life means that light shooting will be almost useless against it, and even bolt throwers will struggle to down him.

* '''Glade Captain:''' This is the generic combat and battle standard bearer character for wood elves. And actually comparing him to other non-elf race's characters he isn't too bad. He can't buy anything armour-wise better than a shield and light armour but then he is a wood elf and he does have some decent combat stats and a bow to make up for it. Also he shares the Arrow of Kurnous with your general so you are not punished for taking a caster lord. Overall, while not having as much access to armour as the Dark Elf Master, this hero is a decent battle standard bearer, especially if you spend a few points to make him tougher. Consider adding a dragon helm, helm of the hunt or any cheap magic armour to make him less squishy. Keep in mind, that most Wood Elf lists are quite mobile (if not outright full-cavalry) and have good Ld, so BSB might not be the best investment.

* '''Shadow Dancer:''' Your Wardancer character. Worth consideration. For 100pts you get a ws8 s4 I8 a4 (two hand weapons) Always Strike Firsts combat character, with the amazing new wardancer dances. You have a 25 points magic weapon/item allowance and for 60pts become a lore of shadow wizard. Sadly she doesn't have a way of moving any more quickly, without switching her across the battlefield with lore of shadows lore attribute and also doesn't have a better save than a 6++, unless you use one of the dances to give you a 3++ for 1 turn. Hit hard, hit fast.
** '''Note:''' For those enterprising gentle...elves, a Shadow Dancer can be used as a pretty nifty rank breaker for a close combat army. Use the Dance of the Woven Mist to rob a horde of their rank bonus and watch them lose instantly.
* NEVER put her into Wardancer unit, their dances do not stack. Put her with Eternal Guard or, better, with Dryads - her attacks and dances will help them overcome their downsides.
** Good items to give her are Glittering Scales (most core will hit her on 6+, with most elites hitting on 5+), Bow of Loren (making her pretty shooty) or Helm of the Hunt (making her [[RAPE|RAPE]] things on the charge).
*** Arguably, making her a level 1 wizard is a pretty bad choice, as you can no longer take magical armor. This leaves you with 25 points to either make her your walking dispell scroll slot or give her the Bow of Loren. Also, as she is only a level 1, you get one spell, and there is no grantee you can actually get it off (On the other side, give her Mystifying Miasma and watch a unit of Chosen get slaughtered at M1 by your archers with starfire arrows). Unless you are really in need of saving points, you are probably better off buying a Level 2 Spellsinger if you want the Lore of Shadow.

* '''Waystalker:''' Is a hero version of the Waywatchers. Just think of this guy as the replacement for the waywatcher kindred hero (sadly there is no replacement for the alter kindred). He has bs 7, a bow and a 25pts weapons allowance. Bow of Loren is an option that allows you to fire 2 ignores armour shots which can also be combined with the Savage Beast of Horos from the Beasts lore to grant 5 ignores armour sniper shots that do suffer from multiple shots penalty (though with BS7 will you care). An interesting combo if you're going to be running with the beasts lore. The guy is dirt cheap, only 115 points with the bow of loren, 90 without.

* '''Spellsinger:''' One word. Amazing, when compared to the old wizards. Five points cheaper than the high elf equivalent, +35 for a level 2, and 5 points for a bow. Now has access to all battle rule book lores but not to the Wood Elf specific lores (ie the opposite of its sixth edition form). Shame. Take a dispel scroll and the lore of shadow or fire on this hero since their spells are the most effective at level 1/2.

* '''Branchwraith:''' The Branchwraith has 2 advantages: 1, she's fairly effective (WS6, S4, T4, I7, A3, 6+ Ward). 2, she's cheap. She is 75pts and a level 1 Lore of Life wizard. She's a cheap way of beefing up a Treekin or Dryad unit. It is also of note that if you're taking the Lore of Beasts for your casters, and you're running a Branchwraith, you can use 2 of the spells to buff her up to insane levels.

====Mounts====

* ''Elven Steed:'' You know it, you love it. M9 Forest Strider, 20pts for lords, half that for heroes, and allows you to keep pace with all your cavalry. Take it for your mages to hide with your cavalry.

* ''Great Stag:'' Really, why aren't you taking it? Better stats than it's closest cousin (IE the Eagle), you can still join units, you get a monstrous mount. One of the better mounts. [The reason not to take it, is that you don't get look-out-sir when joining units (because no units you can join are MC)]

* ''Great Eagle:'' Worth taking to make your models more mobile for 50 pts. I wouldn't take it on every hero but on a lvl 1 mage without the scroll or the bsb it should be worth some consideration.

* ''Unicorn:'' Unicorns are weird. They seem to be designed to deliver a Hero/Lord directly into combat, but it's only available to Casters and all it really does for them is make them a tiny bit more durable. A mage on a unicorn may be able to scare away some chaff. It gives you movement 10 and still can skewer some models but is outshone by the elven steed easily. Magic Resistance (2) may seem nice, but it is better to just put your mounted wizard with Sisters of the Thorn and give them Lichebone Pennant.

* ''Forest Dragon:'' It's a Dragon, what do you want? Considering that this funky-looking dude with wings is a green, environmental-friendly lizard who smokes faeries, makes others stupefied and dumb when they inhale (presumably from forcing the enemy to second hand smoke whatever herbs the elves use to mellow out the dragon), and is a beast when he thinks you're going after his stash, he's actually just that little bit better than most Dragons. Also, there's only one poser who's cool enough to hang with him, and that's the Glade Lord (who, if you don't kit out for combat, really '''''is''''' a poser; the GL has same statline like Prince and Dreadlord, and his dragon is tiny bit stronger than Black/Moon Dragon for same points, so it's not a much worse investment than any other Elf Lord of Dragon. Plus, Helm of the Hunt). Still, if you are running MSU, a dragon equal a giant target with "SHOOT ME!" written all over it in dwarven runes.

===Core Units===
Currently, all Wood Elf Core units are kind of sub-optimal and are no no-brainers. But on the other hand, none of them are precisely duds either, and most can find uses (and you might as well, since you HAVE to take them). Tailor your tactics and choose wisely. Ironically, our Core units now feel more like Specials, role-wise.

* '''Dryads:''' Why Matt Ward! Dryads went from being overpowered to good to one of the weaker units in the game is the initial impression, but in reality Dryads are just trash if you try to use them in their old role. (People tend to judge them based on their old profile, understandably.) They can't take anything other than a champion and cost 330 for 30 of them - then again, they cost as much as Witch Elves and cheaper than Plague Monks, while fulfilling the same role. The Dryads can still be good, and do have a place in combat armies (which are a thing these days and we now have 10 lores of magic to back them up. Seriously, you can make them tough or strong - they work well with either buff). Most armies would kill for toughness 4 core with a ward save and 2 attacks. For 11pts you get WS 4, S3, T4, A2, I5, Ld8, hatred, immune to psychology and a 6++ save (in the forest). Though they have no armour save to mitigate the lower ward save (though they can now take it against magical attacks), and no more skirmisher, they are basically our assassins, crashing into enemy flank and tearing it shreds, while taking not so much damage in return. They are not so useful in a shooty or cavalry army, but if you are running a combat wood elf army, which can actually do well in this book, dryads and eternal guard are what you're gonna take.

* '''Eternal Guard:''' 11 points WS 5 armour piercing, ASF, stubborn, elven spearmen, who can fight better in forests. They can also buy shields too and have a 5+ armour save. Considering that the more well protected units in the wood elf army get just a 4+ and 6++, these guys have a pretty good save. Don't get me wrong, their save will be laughed at by every army out there, (apart from beastmen) but for wood elves, it's respectable. At the first glance their cost - 270 points for 20 of them with shields and a full command squad and 390 for a horde - is a high one, but comparing them to other spearelves, for measly 3 points they gain Stubborn, Armor Piercing, +1WS and +1LD, making them an incredible anchor - almost unbreakable when within BSB range. Also, you don't take them in such big units - small units (10-15) can hold off pretty long even against elites. Many people don't like them, since these generally do not fit in with the traditional Wood Elves' Hit and Run or Run and Shoot style of play. Also, they are incredible in the now-viable melee Wood Elf lists and are one of the better places to hide your wizards.Also so durable because of ws5 If you don't kill all of them then you'll have to face them again.

* '''Glade Guard:''' Glade Guard are of debatable worth. For 12 points you get a bs 4 model with no armour, an armour piercing long bow, the option to take full command and a magic standard worth 25 points. In forests they get to reroll ones to wound in close combat and can fire and fight in 1 extra rank. They also can buy any of the magic arrows (discussed in magic arrows section). It is up to you whether you chose to deploy them in multiple small units or in one horde, though generally msu is better since they will have more time to fire. All in all, Deepwood Scouts do same job better for just 1 point more (except of course, they won't fill up your manditory 25% core).

* '''Glade Riders:''' Out of all the core choices, this is perhaps the only unit which has been priced correctly. For 19pts you get m9 fast cavalry with a Asrai Bow and Asrai Spear, who have to ambush (Being forced to ambush can sometimes be an issue, keep this in mind when taking Riders.), that can take the magic arrows. They can also take a magic banner worth up to 25pts which is neat (I would recommend Gleaming Pennant - cheap and nice for fast cavalry). Generally you will want to take these in multiple small units that can come up behind the opponents and cause havoc. In a pinch they also make good warmachine hunters. A downside of this unit is that you cannot depend on them to act early in the game, since they can only move onto the board from turn 2 onward. If you have a treeman that you don't want to get hit by artillery that could kill him in one phase, you may not want to use these guys as warmachine hunters. However, it can be incredibly fun in friendly games and is inevitable in full cavalry lists.
** ''And no, they cannot choose Vanguard deployment over Ambush deployment, because you Vanguard-move ''after'' you have deployed - which you don't with Ambush. Feel free to Vanguard-move in the model case, waiting for your ambush roll.''

===Special Units===

* '''Deep Wood Scouts:''' Don't let their fancy new name fool you. These are the Glade Scouts of the past, simply moved and renamed. For 1 point more than a Glade Guard they gain scout and skirmish and still keep the option to buy magic arrows. They can also buy a full command interestingly and can be taken in units as small as 5. Pity that you can only have so many special unit duplicates. Whenever you feel the urge to buy glade guard that don't contribute to your core allowance, choose Deepwood scouts instead. If anything they are one less unit you have to deploy at the start of a game before the roll off thanks to scout. As a side note; 12 of these armed with '''poisoned arrows''' will kill a warmachine each turn, on average, without a modifier.

* '''Sisters of the Thorn:''' The Wood Elf alternative to Dark Elf Warlocks. While wildriders rock out with their cock out and kill and get killed in a blaze of gory glory, the sisters are more subtle and indirect with their attack. For 26 points they get a 4++, T3, BS5 and a poisoned javelin. They can buy full command and a 50pts banner. They also count as a lvl 2 wizard with the Shield of Thorns and Curse of Anraheir spells, with a +1 to cast with equal to your rank bonus (maxing out at +3). You can pull some crazy stunts with these Druidic Elven Nuns, but they are pricy, have one good spell and one mediocre with great lore attribute, though both will be difficult to cast with less than 3 dice. One thing that is really good about them is that despite their massive cost, they are tough, they do look awesome and they are one of two cavalry units you can deploy your mounted characters in and that they don't have frenzy when compared to the Wild Riders. They are an awesome retinue for a mounted Spellweaver. Get them a Lichebone Pennant and you can laugh at both enemy spells and any miscasts (Edit: as per the errata, MR doesn’t help with miscasts). They also can help/substitute a Lifeweaver or a Branchwraith, providing healing with Shield of Thorns (with thorns themselves being just a little bonus). They ain't a no-brainer, but can be very effective with proper application.
** ''Doomfire Warlocks:'' These guys are often bench-marked a against SotT. For just one point less you get a Dark Elf version of the sisters in the rare units (or more correctly, the sisters are a Wood Elf version of the warlocks since the DE book came out first). These guys don't throw poisoned javelins and they don't get the lore of life attribute on one of their spells. If you find yourself in a friendly game where you two decide to do unbound lists (somehow), the sisters are probably worth considering over warlocks.

* '''Treekin:''' Treekin are the younger brother of Treemen and not the force they once were. With the unit size limit removed, treekin can now be taken in hordes and with a 20 point reduction, they won't eat up as much of your points. Compared to an O&G troll for the same price, treekin suffer from a distinct lack of S5(that the troll has), but they also benefit from a distinct lack of stupidity(that the troll has). Overall treekin are evenly matched with river and stone trolls as they should be for the same point cost. They are the best of the forest spirits the wood elves have to offer but still are no longer a must-take. For 45 points you get S4, T5, 3 wounds, 3 attacks, Stomp, 4+ armor, 6++ Ward, and flammable. Beware they are vulnerable to Great Weapons, fire and high volumes of S4 attacks and have trouble overcoming large amounts of static combat res, so be careful to not send them into battles they can't win.
** ''Additional Thought:'' Proper use of these guys is against large S3 units (Spearelves of all flavors, Clanrats, Empire Spearmen, Skeletons...the list goes on). Your archers won't be able to bring the unit down to size very effectively, and most of your CC units will just bounce off, but Treekin have enough attacks (2 ranks have 18 attacks) and high enough toughness to grind them into powder. It's a niche, but it's one not filled very effectively elsewhere in the army. Combine with a flank charge from your Wild Riders for great success.

* '''Wardancer Troupe:''' Wardancers are still a reasonably good unit let down by a few flaws and a fairly high cost of entry. They cost 15 points a pop and with T3 and a 6+ Ward, they're still about as hard as tissue paper, but that's par for the course with Wood Elves and Skirmishers in general. They no longer gain +1 S on the charge and have 3 new dances. The first gives you armor piercing and killing blow, second one gives you +1 attack, another gives you a 3++ and the final dance [[AWESOME|strips your foe of their rank bonuses]]. What lets these guys down is the fact that because they're not Scouts, they have to start in your deployment zone, and M5 does not let them cross the board very quickly, as well as being unable to repeat any of their dances the turn after it is used. To overcome this take a small unit of 5 and hang them back, then proceed to laugh as you charge them into an on-going combat and win it by a landslide due to the -3 combat res. If the dice gods are high that day and the combat goes on for another turn, your shadow dancer can do a different dance if it is not in the wardancer unit (which it should never be).
** Keep in mind, both War Dancers and Shadowdancer are very useful due to disruption dance and are located in very contested sections. Choose well, whom will you use (unless you use both).
*** As a side note, any models in the squad '''(not the whole squad - you can choose)''' can replace two weapons with an Asrai Spear. Which is kinda useless, since if you are taking more than 5 Wardancers in a single squad, you are doing it wrong.
**''It is also highly disappointing that taking a musician does not do more to help the unit of dancers. How did Matt Ward not see the connection between music and dancing?''
***''He must like dubstep. It would explain a lot of things.''

* '''Warhawk Riders:''' You think your Glade Riders are fast? Think again. These guys are one of the best units in the Army Book, acting troubleshooters, since they can bring down War Machines like they're not there, punch out shooting units, ping wounds off lightly armored units and even help out in large combats (this is only for emergencies though). For 45 points you are getting fast flying monstrous cavalry with the Asrai Bows, W3, T4, Asrai Spears, and killing blow on the charge. They deal out 1 str 4 AP with ASF as well as 2 str 4 AP killing blow hits and a stomp. Possibly, the best flying unit in the game with the exception of the frost phoenix and pegasus knights. Take as many units of 3 as you can. Also they make Great Eagles look very sad and useless.

* '''Wild Riders of Kurnous:''' While they may be quite fragile for cavalry, Wild Riders of Kurnous move like an arrow and hit like a ton of bricks (glass bricks). Similes aside, they are the only fast cavalry in the game with the potential to get a 4+ 6++ and they eat monsters(or damn near anything) for breakfast. For 26 points you get a WS5, S4, T3, model on stagback with light armour, which can buy a shield for 2 extra points, Full Command for 30, and a magic banner up to 50pts. In combat they dish out 3 str 5 AP, ASF and 2 str 4 attack on the charge, thanks to frenzy (which also applies to the mounts) asrai spears for +1 strength on the charge and devastating charge for an extra attack on the charge. Conveniently they also have fear, <s>which is always nice when facing something else with terror</s> You do know that Frenzy makes you Immune to Psychology, right? A unit of 5 on the charge with a champion will cause an average of 12 wounds with -3 to armour and 4 Wounds with -1 to anything at T3 with less than WS5 - that unit is looking a lot less threatening with 15 less guys now isn't it. Also have a lot more staying power than most other cav, retaining 4 st4 attacks per model until you lose frenzy. That's better than having lances. Also, they keep their spears in following rounds, so their attacks still have AP. Bear in mind, they're reliant on a 4+ 6++ (one of the best saves the wood elves get is still not that good), so don't get them charged, or they will die in troves. ''Ironically enough, they are no longer Forest Spirits, but their new models actually look like forest spirits, unlike their older models of regular elves.'' (Don't let them get charged, they suddenly hurt a lot less. 2 S4 armor piercing attacks per is just "ok")

* '''Wildwood Rangers''' New to the Wood Elf Army Book, 11 points per model gets you light armor, Eternal Guard stats, immune to psychology, and a great weapon. They are slightly more resilient than Gnoblars but do carry a Great Weapon. What makes these guys special is that if they're in combat with a unit that causes fear or terror they get an extra attack (good against Chaos, Undead and Ogres). On the upside they are better than Great Swordsmen(In forests and against fear causers), but are worse than almost every other race's Great Weapon elites (however also cheaper per model). With the End Times bringing undead-summoning for everyone, these fellers become more useful, easily clearing freshly-summoned shamblers with their special rule.

===Rare Units===
*'''Great Eagle:''' They would be reliable, cheap and versatile for 50pts. However, Warhawk costs 5pts less, has KB and a rider (who can shoot), and only loses 1WS. Take Eagles only if you are full on Warhawks, otherwise Hawks will give you much more for less points. Also they can't be upgraded like High Elf eagles. Don't bother. If you insist on using your Great Eagle models, stick a Glade Rider or Glade Guard with spear on it back and have yourself a Warhawk.
** Counterpoint: you would want to take a great eagle instead of a warhawk if you had less than 135pts to spend on flying dudes. Warhawks need to be taken in units of at least 3, and have enough whoopass to draw more attention from the enemy than the eagle. A pair of eagles is great for topping off the last hundred points in your list. Place one of these between your enemy death star and your death star so your death star can get the charge next turn. The eagle is one of the cheapest chaff units in the game. Skaven could probably field a unit of slaves for less than 50pts, but those slaves won't give you the same coverage as an eagle.

* '''Treeman:''' The best that can be said about this unit is that it is priced correctly, but it is nowhere near the monster it was in the past. It is still quite tough with T6, W5 and a 3+ scaly skin and 6++ ward. It also has 5 attacks at WS6 S5 in combat with the option to swap them all for a tree whack which deals d6 armour ignoring wounds to a model if your enemy fails his initiative test (each wound must be saved seperately in case of ward saves). Also, Thunderstomp. It also appears that the strangle roots have become a better ranged attack. Str 5 d6+1 attacks may not seem like much but every little counts I guess. ALTERNATE OPINION: Strangleroots are 20pts for an average of 3.5 S5 shots a turn, which against something anything glass cannon, like Witch Elves or Swordmasters, can easily make back its points. While the treeman is not amazing and necessary for most armies, sadly it is the best value monster we have and, perhaps, our best monster killer.
**Side note: The current Treeman model is mounted on a 50X100 mm chariot base. The 50mm short side goes at the front/rear based on the way you are supposed to assemble the model. This can be seen in GW images in their online store. I believe that the base is 75x50mm with the longer side being the front and the 50mm sides being his flanks.

* '''Waywatchers:''' This is potentially the best unit in the Army Book, so place your bets now on how 9th ed will nerf these guys (9th? We wish). For 20pts you get a BS5 skirmishing scouting archer who can chose whether to add the multiple fire 2 rule to his bow or to ignore armour saves with his shooting. They also come with 2 hand weapons for some mild protection against chaff units in combat, but don't expect them to be able to take the enemy head on with T3 and no armour. Everything they do is very wood elfy. They shoot well, avoid the enemy well and die easily if the enemy puts any real firepower on them. Take a unit of 5 and annoy the living hell out of your opponents. For 100pts you can thin out the enemy if they ignore them, or distract what ever the enemy sends to stomp these guys down. It actually isn't a bad idea to fill your rare allocation up with these. Keep in mind, their bows are still S3 only, so pick your targets carefully and use Withering (lore of shadows) or you're going to be sorely disappointed. Calculation of disappointment can be seen on the talk page.

==Building Your Army==
===Buying Your Army===

The battalion set was a good value. You could get a fairly decent army out of it. ''It is still mighty cool if you manage to find it at some backwater hobby shop (I even managed to get one with discount "'cos no one wanted it for long time" from, apparently, completely ignorant shop assistant).
The battalion shared models with regular kits, so following old guidelines still apply.

From the Glade Guard sprues, you can build Waywatchers. If you have some spare High Elf or Dark Elf spearmen/warriors, giving them a Glade Guard head can turn them into Eternal Guard. You get a ton of heads with the Glade Guard, so you're spoilt! Especially now, when they look like High Elves.

The Glade Riders you can build as Wild Riders with the spears. Or even Sisters of the Thorn.

For your Lords/Heroes choices, you can build them out of the sprues provided. You can make a mounted Glade Lord or Captain (even a BSB), as well as a Waystalker and, with a bit of imagination, a Spellweaver.

Otherwise, for the Spellweaver, the Dark Elves' plastic Sorceress is a good alternative if you don't want old/metal models.

You could make a Treeman with the LotR Ent as it's cheaper, but the two have different dimentions, so be warned.
It is taller, but can fit on a 50x50mm base that you can buy seperatly.(and still be cheaper than a treeman.)
Especially now, when Treemen are taller, slimmer and look more like -Men, than Tree-.

Dryad bits are awesome in making Wild Riders, Sisters of the Thorn and characters. Their back-branches make pretty cool saplings to add foresty clutter on elf bases. You can also glue the extra dryad arms together to make treekin looking things. It will take some patience but you can build three or four sleek looking treekin from a box of a dozen dryads. The ghetto treekin don't look as tough or macho as the GW treekin, so it is easier to picture them as just strength 4 instead of the strength 5 they used to have.

If you want Dryads and Treemen (though they've been nerf-sawed) - you should hurry to grab the Guardians of the Deepwood box, which contains three Treemen and 36 Dryads - and is actually cheaper than cost of those models combined. Either GW are trying to be kinder, or their head manager made a typo. Most likely the latter. Hurry, it is limited edition and stuff.

If you are OK with using mediocre models made from shitty resin, D&D Treant and Roc miniatures make pretty good Treeman or Great Eagle/Warhawk. Be advised, D&D resin is crappy and bendy, but they come pre-painted. The Guardians of the Galaxy Heroclix version of Groot could fill the roll of your treeman easily.

==Equipping Your Army==

'''Asrai Bow''': Just like an ordinary Longbow. 30" range, but now comes with AP.

'''Asrai Spear''': Follows the same rules as regular spears, except for having AP.

Basicly, all Wood Elf spears and bows have AP. Because inch-thick armor is of little use when there's an arrow sticking out of your eye and a spear in your throat.

===Magic Items===

No more Spites, no more Kindreds. Matt Ward, after having given High Elves a meta changing item and Dark elves at least some decent ones, he decided to balance out his previous mistakes by not giving Wood Elves any good items. He even made sure to prevent broken combos this time. It's especially surprising as Wood Elves are reputed to be Matt Ward's favourite elf faction.

'''The Spirit Sword:''' 85 points for ignoring armour saves (as if Wood Elves didn't have enough of this already), and if you cause an unsaved wound on a character/champion/monster, you and your foe both take a leadership test. For each point you beat your opponent by, it causes a wound. If you lose the test nothing happens(Though it can hurt the wielder if you want to use the more amusing 6th ed rules for the sword). I guess it is neat and will kill monsters like hell, but this weapon is overpriced and relies on you hitting/wounding your target. Rely on the rulebook's magic items instead.

'''Daith's Reaper:''' This weapon would be amazing for almost any race but Wood Elves. For 50pts you can reroll to hit and to wound and force your opponent to reroll successful armour saves. Considering you can only take this on a hero who is likely to get to hit rerolls from ASF and that 8th favours ward saves rather than armour saves, this weapon is only slightly better than useless. Buying great weapon or sword of +1 str wound be a far better/cheaper alternative.

'''The Bow of Loren:''' For 20 points you get a bow that fires your character's attacks +1 shots. You can use it on the Waystalker to get 2, armour ignoring, sniping shots or on the Glade Lord to fire 5 bs7 shots. Note that these are Multiple Shots (so -1 to hit and can't stack with Waystalker multiple shots and don't get any bonus from extra hand weapon). The best that can be said about this bow is that it is properly priced. All other races ranged magic items aren't though...

'''Helm of the Hunt:''' For 20pts you get a dragon helm which instead of giving you a 2++ vs flaming attacks, gives you the devastating charge special rule and +1 ws on the charge. Cute I guess for Wood Elves but is it really worth it? Basically, it allows you to make a Wild Rider Noble from older editions (especially with Wild Riders wearing noticeable horned helms now)

'''Acorns of Ages:''' This is the item that Wood Elves have been waiting for. For 100pts you get d3 forests in addition to the starting one, which all have to be the same type and are deployed like drop pods, since they scatter but can't land on other terrain. Lots of tactics are circulating around this item, Drycha/Moonstone of Hidden Ways for teleporting units or almost deep striking treemen. See Talk page for tactics and stuff. As for the item - if nothing else, it's fluffy.

'''Moonstone of Hidden Ways:''' This item's potential power is immense, while it's actual usefulness is varied. For 40pts you can teleport your unit at the end of a movement phase, from one forest to another. The only restriction on what can be teleported is whether it can fit wholly inside the forest. The "forest walking" unit can't be placed in another forest that is too small and counts as having marched. While interesting this item makes you a sitting duck for 1 turn and either relies on the luck of the terrain deployment table or the Acorns of Ages. Buy another gimmick.

'''Hail of the Doom Arrow:''' If only this item was 5 points cheaper so Waystalkers could take it (This does prevent the abuse from being able to hail of the doom arrow snipe combo - <strike>almost</strike> guaranteed dead wizard. Seems like it could have been fixed better with a 'cannot be used in conjunction with the sniper special rule' as opposed to just making it too expensive to take). For 30pts, you get a 1 use str 4 armour piercing arrow that causes 3d6 hits. Some people swear by these things since they can instantly mince lightly armoured units though there are dissenting opinions. Still it is the best magic item Wood Elves have. Sadly, Asyndi's Bane was removed as a magic item, so you can no longer use the HoDA to take out an enemy unit and the guy who fired the arrow in the same turn.

'''Calaingor's Stave:''' Such a depressing item. For 20 points you get the privilege of swapping a spell for Tree Singing. Tree Singing is cast on a 8+ now and can move an empty forest d6+1 inches, which is not much more than the forest moves by being accidentally bumped. If the forest is partially occupied, then instead you can deal 2d6 str4 hits on an enemy unit that is at least partially within the forest. You can improve the spell so that, when cast on a 16+ it affects all forests within 12". If the spell could be cast more than once, was given as an additional spell, had a lore attribute, could be cast on all forests on the board instead of those within 12", cast on a 4+, to name a multitude of reasons, then it would be worth taking. Otherwise, unless you wish to move the destination forest of the moonstone of hidden way's unit or Drycha's helpers, it is the worst magic item in the game.

'''The Banner of the Eternal Queen:''' For twice the cost of the Banner of the World Dragon, this banner provides Magic Resistance 3 and for 1 turn the ability to be unbreakable. No thanks. The traditional overpriced banner does not fail to disappoint me even if you don't compare it to the Banner of the World Dragon.

'''The Banner of the Hunter King:''' Another banner which gives to it's unit vanguard and, that allows you to reroll the first failed charge of the game for 75pts. Dwarfs get these rules for 35pts and 15pts respectively. Also almost everything that can take this banner has Vanguard already. Competes with Calaingor's Staff for being the worst magic item ever.

====Enchanted Arrows====

(Note, all arrows have AP and volleyfire, 30 inch range). All of these are available to Glade Guard, Scouts, Glade Riders, Glade Lords and Glade Captains.
They replace the profile of regular bows wielded by models and count as magical attacks. <s>Note, that until we get a FAQ, they are ''not'' Asrai Longbows and prevent using Hail of Doom Arrows!</s> The enchanted arrows are Enchanted Items which do not prevent you from holding a second Enchanted item. As such they are NOT weapons, and do not prevent you from using the HODA.

'''Arcane Bodkins:''' 5 pts per model, confers ap -3 instead of normal armour piercing. Expensive for what they do. I prefer to do more wounds than reduce armour saves but these arrows kill cavalry like nobody's business. All the same, if your plan is to screw over enemy armour, just use Waywatchers instead. For three more points waywatchers can spite that guy with a 1+ re-rollable armour save while the arcane bodkins have a 50/50 chance of beeing saved. And they can also fuck up light infantry like nobody's business, if no heavy cavalry presents itself.

'''Hagbane Tips:''' 3 points per model, confers poison attacks. Amazing. This will probably be your go-to magic arrow, since wood elves have troubles vs monsters. It is nice to have Skink-like firepower on the move at 30" (With BS4+ throughout most of the shooting units, your problems will probably lie in wounding. Might as well turn those 6's to hit into wounds, and save yourself the possibility of connecting a hit that won't wound anything)

'''Trueflight Arrows:''' 3 points per model, confers no penalty to shooting whatever you do. This is probably going to be the second most used arrow. Best taken on your Glade Guard as they will suffer the most penalties. These should be your first choice against Skaven and their shenanigans.
*''As of now there are many opinions about the merits of these arrows which should be shared on the talk page.

'''Moonfire Arrows:''' 4 points, confers flaming and +1 to wound versus Forces of Order. Great against warmachines, which almost all Forces of Order have. BUT against war machines, poison is still better (and cheaper) unless buffed by magic.

'''Starfire Arrows:''' 4 points per model confers flaming and +1 to wound versus Forces of Destruction. Great against monsters and repeater bolt throwers. The better choice of the "...fire Arrows" duo as almost everything with Regen in the game is from a Forces of Destruction army. If you buy a unit of 10-12 this in stead of the flaming banner you can make OK monster hunters out of them.

'''Swiftshiver Shards:''' 4 points per model confers multiple shot, making your Glade Guards into Dark Elf repeater crossbowmen. Interesting, but Waywatchers have this basic and do this better than any of the other unit. One recommendation is to fill your core with a big block of swiftshiver shard glade guard (fun to say) and then buff them with hand of glory from the high magic. Your swiftshiver shard glade guard should eviscerate anything that is not protected by the high elf banner of game breaking.

==Magic==

Wood elves have gone from being, magically, the least diverse race with the least choice of all when it came to spells, to the most. All Wood Elf wizards now have access to ALL rulebook lores, which is amazing for them, and the Spell Weavers are the only models who now have access to the new Wood Elf specific lores, the Lore of High and Dark Magic. Yes both are directly stolen from the High and Dark elves (this is confirmed by the fluff) but have different lore attributes (this can be seen as good and bad). As such a Spellweaver can now choose 10 lores with a chance to pick 3/4 of 72 different spells.

The following overviews are in my eyes, in the order of importance. However that is up to debate and which most important is dependant on your list and situation.

===='''Lore of Life'''====

This Lore is really good for Wood Elves as you can restore wounds on your best units (ie:Warhawks and arguably Treekin). It provides you with a way to give your Glade Guard saves, revive your most expensive units, kill your foes with a characteristic test, and has a safety net for you, if you miscast. It is best taken on a lvl 3/4, so you can get throne of vines up and not have to worry about any more miscasts.

===='''Lore of Shadow'''====

The Lore of Shadow allows you to switch and save the most important characters while debuffing your foes. It helps your shooting by reducing your opponent's toughness and weakens them in combat by reducing their strength, weapon skill and intiative. Withering is the must-have spell for Wood Elves, as it solves their greatest weakness - Str 3 bows. By using Melkoth's Mysitifying Miasma you can slow down your foes, giving you more time to fire. It can make one your heroes fly but that isn't as useful as the others. It also comes with a semi-cannon ball and a blast initiative test spell which can destroy your enemy's tougher units. Finally it comes with a buff that allows you to shred through tougher units. It is useful since it works on any wizard of any level. The Lore attribute can be good but it is very situational.
Some calculations can be seen in the Talk page.

===='''Lore of High Magic'''====

This Lore is really quite neat. It has a wide variety of cheap to cast spells which give you a better shorter ranged fireball as a signature spell, a buff the complete opposite of the MMM importantly buffing your BS, a spell which dispels all effects (very useful against any foe dependant on magic) as a signature spell, a small blast, the ability to redeploy one of your units 10", to dismantle magic items and to deal a str 4 hit to all your foes in one unit. Matt Ward has also given a good lore attribute which stacks well with it's multiple low level spells. Every time you successfully cast a spell you gain a counter. If you suffer an unsaved wound, then the counter nullifies the wound. Great if you are hiding your General anywhere, but especially with the sisters of the Thorn. I feel it is very much like a proactive version of the lore of life, preventing damage rather than repairing it.

===='''Lore of Metal'''====

The Lore of Metal is mostly aimed at helping armies like the wood elves deal with heavily armoured foes. It can debuff your foe's armour, pick off standards, has a 5+ pit of shades which causes stupidity and can give your troops a 5+ scaly skin save and +1 to hit (almost everything has armour piercing already). It isn't bad but the other lores often help more.

===='''Lore of Beasts'''====

The Lore of Beasts lets you run train on things that you normally would not be able to run train on. Arguably, it has the best signature spell of the 8 base Lores. +1 Strength and Toughness make even glade guard dangerous in hand to hand. They are still rubbish, but they may hurt someone. If applied to Treekin, they will each have Dragon-like stats, and go from being 'decent' to 'good' super fast. It really shines on wild riders and warhawks, though, since it takes them from squishy, to survivable, and from dangerous to just death. High initiative Strength 5 will scare anything. It will also give you the amber spear which helps you deal with monsters and a couple of character buffing spells which can help your shadow dancers. Curse of Anraheir has great synergy with all the forests you might bring along (Acorn of Ages). Making a third of an enemy unit that follows you into a forest die is pretty great.

===='''Lore of Heavens'''====

The Lore of Heavens is a mixed bag.You get 2 of the spells with the largest areas of affect and potentially the biggest damage output in the game, 1 high strength magic missile, 2 debuffs which synergise well, preventing your foe from ever getting poisoned or killling blow attacks or -1 to hit and a 50/50 chance to put warmachines out of commision for one turn, a buff which makes you reroll all ones (which Wood Elves do in woods anyway) and a very situational knock back spell. Also it's lore attribute turns all of it's spells into lvl 1 fireballs when cast at something with wings. Not bad but it is often outshone. Still, can be used as a monster-hunter lore (since its damage spells inflict low number of very strong hits).

===='''Lore of Death'''====

The Lore of Death is good for situations when the enemy has some tough (literally) Lord or Hero, who laughs off your S3 sniping shots and has a chance to wreck your game - like a T4 Grey Seer with the Dreaded 13th ratifying your MSUs. Doom and Darkness also has nice synergy with Fear of your Dryads and Wild Riders, while Soulblight does a fine job equalizing some S4 T4 brutes with your fragile elves. Just a pity you can't cast Aspect of the Dreadnight on enemies (to exploit Wildwood Rangers' special rule).

===='''Lore of Fire'''====

The Lore of Fire is best for level 1s since it comes with the best guaranteed magic missile in the game. If you lose your lvl 4 then go and pump all your dice into a super fireball. Beyond that the only spell of great use for wood elves is the Flaming Sword of Rhuin, which you sadly can't guarantee.

===='''Lore of Dark Magic'''====

Pity you can't take it on a level 1. On a level 4 it isn't bad but is beaten by almost all the other lores.

*'''Power of Darkness''':
**'''''Augment'''''. While it does give your unit a much needed strength bonus and extra power dice it will eventually wear you down ( you take a wound with no armor saves if you roll a 3 for power dice) unless you protect yourself with a decent ward save. Often, you'd be best served not getting bogged down in combat. For a stupid elf trick, use when your caster is with Sisters of Thorn and watch those javelins get nasty.

*'''Doombolt''':
**'''''Magic Missile'''''. Always take it. It gives you a much needed high strength shooting attack.

*'''Chillwind''':
**'''''Magic Missile'''''. Is an easy spell to cast, is good against low toughness units and will help you against other shooting armies.

*'''Word of Pain''':
**'''''Hex'''''. Good against shooting/high WS armies that seek to match you prowess. The boosted version will save a lot of your elves in combat, ''especially'' since you don't have much, if any, armor.

*'''Bladewind''':
**'''''Direct Damage'''''. Is a good choice for big blocks of infantry, like the always pleasant Slavebus or Zombietrain or even some tougher units.

*'''Shroud of Despair''':
**'''''Hex'''''. Simply fantastic when you get into combat. No Inspiring Presence and no Hold Your Ground! for you enemies. This will make breaking enemies easier, which is good, because you don't wanna hang around for Round 2.

*'''Soul Stealer''':
**'''''Direct Damage'''''. Once again, great against big horde units/busses/trains. If you get this off, place the 3" template anywhere of the wizard within 18". You can go nuts with '''Power of Darkness''' and never worry about it, if it lands right.

*'''Arnzipal's Black Horror''':
**'''''Magical Vortex'''''. Oh baby. This thing is crazy. Like warpstone-laced cocaine. No wonder Ariel got hooked on this Dark Magic stuff... Anyway, should you get this off, pop it down and sing ''"Snitches's gonna die/This bitch is gonna fly/My wizard's rollin' high/Or she's gonna fry"''. It will then travel anywhere between 6"-40" in the form of a 3" template in a straight line (of your choice) depending on your wizards magic lvl and how much you roll on the arty dice. Everything hit must pass a strength check or die (ward save allowed). As with arty rolls, should you misfire, place it on top of your wizard and scatter it D6. It ''Remains in Play''. Every turn, it jollies around randomly, spreading more laughter and happy thoughts with another arty roll. Misfire and it will stop working. Boost it and you get to use the large 5 incher, then pray to Isha that you don't screw up. Not as powerful as the '''Lore of Death''' version, but still good fun.

It's lore attribute is best likend to that of the '''Lore of Fire'''. Everytime you cast it on an enemy unit, it creates a vengeance counter (on the unit) which activates when damage is next applied through a spell to that unit. It causes d3 extra hits when it does so, for each counter on the unit. If you can take 2 lv 3/4 mages then this is a good secondary lore but beyond the Storm of Magic I doubt it will see much use. Try it out and see how useful it is to you.

===='''Lore of Light'''====

It's quite good against Undead and Daemons and could still be considered against Elf armies. Against most other armies, it sadly won't be of much use, as many of the other lores gives you better options. High strength flaming attacks, superb WS, exellent skirmisher [[Troll|trolling]] and M10 A4 Tree Kin is nice when playing the mirror match, but again, other lores give you a better selection of choices all-round.

==Army Composition & Tactics==

Build your tactics around your army.
Basically Wood Elves need to ambush, pick their fights carefully, and throw multiple units into every combat they fight if they want to win. One unit on its own is not going anywhere unless it's Wild Riders vs a monster or if the unit is charging the enemies flanks or rear.

Currently, there are four main methods of building your army:

*A) '''Shooty army.'''
**Don't get charged and keep on shooting. Circle around your foes, slow them down, and don't be afraid to sacrifice a unit if it saves your army.

*B) '''Fast combat army.'''
**You could take an entire horse army. Very hard to use but pays great dividends. This army should always get to choose when and how it fights. Abuse the Wood Elves' superior movement to ridiculous levels.

*C) '''Infantry army.'''
**Units of 5 or 6 Treekin have high Strength and Toughness, multiple wounds, good weapons skill and nearly 20 attacks per turn. Spearelf units are expensive but good for holding characters and is now stubborn even without a glade captain or lord. The enemy will need to kill everyone, so they are not going anywhere for some turns. However this army will die to anything stronger than a stiff breeze.

*D) '''Hybrid army.'''
**A mix of any of the above.

'''Ambush of the Worldroots'''

''To once again clarify, for future reference, the precise wording of the rule is "'''This forest is not mysterious terrain - declare it's type when you place it'''"

''With "Mysterious" being a fancy word for "Random type", no?''

*The most obvious tactic for this is to chuck one in the middle of your Glade Guard. However, for an interesting option, to cater towards more close combat orientated armies, you can stick it between your big unit of Eternal Guard, etc and the most likely enemy deployment to mitigate a lot of return shots and hopefully force a fight in the woods. Or simply hamper the enemies movement towards you, forcing them to trudge through the forest or having to split around it

*Pick a Venom Thicket since your entire army (except Eagles) ignores Forest DT tests, but do notice that a Venom Thicket won't grant Poisoned Attacks to your shooting attacks. The rulebook specifically states that Poisoned Attacks from Venom Thicket only applies to close combat attacks.

*Abyssal Wood imposes no penalties and serves as a perfect place to station your Glade Guard, Eternal Guard or Wildwood Rangers. Fear will grant them an edge in melee (which all WE badly need), and luring an enemy far enough into the Abyssal Wood will give it Fear as well - directly empowering your Rangers when hacking them. An Abyssal Wood with a bunch of Rangers stationed in it (with just enough space to accommodate an enemy unit) can be quite effective in a choke-point.

*The other woods should NEVER be considered for two reasons:
**1) Strider only stops Dangerous Terrain checks, so Abyssal Wood/Venom Thicket are the only forests you can survive in while still doing damage to your enemies.
**2) You don't really want to use your guaranteed forest as barrier. You want to stand in it and gain bonuses distilled from HElf and DElf tears.

'''Tips'''

''Many of these tips might seem redundant, but one extra reminder is better than forgetting a small detail that might help you later ''

*With the introduction of Enchanted Arrows and generally improved shooting units, Wood Elves favour a mix between Shooting and Fast Combat armies. As a general rule, avoid putting any more points into core than necessary, always take a Level 4 wizard, 2 Great Eagles, some Waywatchers, and try to avoid any foot based combat unit. This is not to say that you should never take footsloggers, but most of your units will have neither the toughness nor the saves to match other armies.

*Most, if not all of your army has M5 or more. Use this maneuverability to it's utmost to ensure that you stay alive and pick your fights with care.

*Remember that units fighting in forests lose their steadfast rule (this goes for your units as well). This could make a difference when fighting big blocks of Skavenslaves or other similar units that relies on keeping your units tied up until help arrives. Eternal Guards (Stubborn LD9) can shine here, even in relative few numbers.

*Beware of Monsters or units with high toughness! Unless you have units with Poisoned Attacks, Wild Riders (S5 on the charge) or Wildwood Rangers, it's gonna be difficult to wound most of the time when you're in combat. Almost every other Army has access to Warmachines to pick off your Treemen/Treeman Ancients, but you won't have the same luxury.

*[[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|DISTRACTION FAERIE]]: You need at least one of these. Either a Treeman, a Forest Dragon or some Waywatcher. Why? Because you need something that is gonna rob your enemy of his reason and make all his Empire/Skaven/Bolt Throwers/Leadbelchers warmachines go "''Huuuurr... Dat's a purdy unit yoo's got there mate... Be a real shame if sumfink hap'n to it, roight?'', so that the rest of your army survives and gets into position.
**''Bear in mind that against Dwarfs this will be less of a distraction and more 220 points of free victory points for their Flaming Cannon.

*What's that? Having trouble with High Elves and their ''Banner of The World Dragon'' on a beefy cav unit you say? What you're actually saying is that you don't have enough Waywatchers in your army, am I right?

*Seriously consider the ''Recipe for Success''
**You will need the following:
***1) 5 Wild Riders
***2) 1 Forest
***3) Flank Charge on the Enemy

Mix it all together, add command, a War Banner if you like it thick and put it in the oven for about 1 Magic and 1 Shooting Phase at 200 and ''voilà'': 16 Fear-causing ASF S5 AP attacks (reroll 1s to wound) + 10 S4 attacks with no enemy parry saves, supporting attacks or steadfast. The cost? 160-195 points. (Add more Wild Riders to really hurt those 40+ man units)

{{Warhammer_Tactics_Races}}
[[Category:Warhammer/Tactics]]

Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Lizardmen

2020-04-29T23:11:18Z

2600:1700:7D0:60B0:78A8:5C3E:90B8:C917: /* Special Units */

==Why Play Lizardmen==
Let's face it, because you like Dinosaurs and you like great looking models.
Lizardmen Core is extremely good. Saurus being tough and hard-hitting, Skinks filling many roles, acting as charge redirectors, harassing, shooting, scouting. Their elite infantry, Temple Guard, are complete murder in large packs and will roll over any infantry except the strongest units of Chaos Warriors. They have diverse and extremely powerful monsters, one of the best spellcasters in the entire game and Saurus characters are perfectly designed to destroy enemy Lords and Heroes in a quick, confusing and bloody fight, all the while riding a T-Rex or a raptor.

Lizardmen used to dominate by sheer magic power, as Slann were incredibly overpowered, stealing the light from the mainstay of a good Lizardmen army: infantry that simply refuses to run away and deals terrible damage.

Most Lizardmen units benefit from one or more of the following 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 now do gain a 6+ Scaly Skin which is a nice buff considering they went down in Leadership.
*Predatory Fighters: Most Saurus and Kroxigors gain this new rule which allows them to gain more attacks by rolling 6's to hit. The downside is that these extra 6'es don't generate further attacks and the unit must Pursue unless there is a Skink Character within 6". Luckily they don't have to Overrun so there are very few downsides to this special rule. Thanks blessed Vetock. Be warned that this rule affects Temple Guard, which might drag a Slann Mage-Priest with them into a trap!
*Aquatic: Skinks have Marsh and River Strider, gain the ability to become Steadfast in that terrain, and gain a -1 to hit against shooting. A great way to use the terrain to your advantage for flanking and general disruption while not getting bogged down (I see what you did there) in terrain.

Last but not least, Lizardmen are one of the greatest sights in the game because they usually consist of very colourful units, the minis are great with almost no exception, and the mix of reptilian Aztecs with giant blood-hungry dinosaurs is the tightest shit ever.

==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.''
----

====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 trough 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.
**The ugly: sporting a pricetag of 300 fucking point vanilla, he is expensive as all fucks and Magic Items and Disciplines only worsen the situation. Mind you, he still does repay every single point you invest on him if you are careful not to make sub-par decisions.
::'''Another take''': ''300 is a lot of points but think about it, he has two of things as standard most characters don't have:''
::*''4+ Ward built in (45 points from the rulebook) ''
::*''lv4 as standard (roughly a lvl3 character is roughly the 185 mark so adding 35 points to them makes them with no gear 220 points)''
::''See? We are already at the 265 mark without accounting for his palanquin (counting as on foot but not on foot for Pit of Shades, etc which is amazingly good) and his ability to cast spells out of Skink Priest models. This plus his statline is why I think he is a relatively good purchase for 300 points.''

*'''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 fucking take this, I repeat, TAKE THIS IN END TIMES 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. This is immense! Just remember it works only if you have the The End Times book.
** 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 5 points and get Fear instead.
***'''Alternative Opinion''': ''This can be very good when facing low LD armies, as it means they might run away and not bog down your TG bunker - Still situational, mind you.''
** 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. 35 points are 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 fucking 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. Can ride a Cold One or a Carnosaur. Can be tooled up to either assassinate Lord characters and Daemons, or solo regiments of infantry. 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. A very powerful build for the Old Blood is giving him the Armour of Destiny and the Fencer's Blades. This means he gets 6 S5 attacks at WS10. The build also gives him great survivability with a 2+ Armour Save and 4+ Ward. Guaranteed to make opponents rage, especially in smaller point games (such as 1000). The drawback to this build is that it cannot be a mounted Oldblood due to using two hand weapons so no extra armour from a Cold One or Carnosaur sadly.

*'''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. Only take this guy mounted as 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 your general should be someone else. Not a solid General choice but nice as a supporting character and a means to getting another big dinosaur on the table. Like the Scar Vet, he can be the BSB. You could use him against an opponent for tying down a monster- 5 dead Skinks a turn isn't much and tying down a 250pt model for 4 turns is surely worth 145 points (20 Skinks + Chief).

*'''Skink Priest:''' Good low-level Wizard. 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. They're limited to the Lores of the Heavens and Beasts but they have enough Magic Items to maximize their usage. 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 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.

===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.
*'''Skink Skirmishers:''' Always take javelin and shield. Blowpipes are useless on a mobile unit as you'll be needing 7's to hit after -1 Long Range, -1 moving, -1 Multiple Shots which means no poison! Javelins are Quick to Fire, so hit on 5's if you move with them and shoot from Long Range. Blowpipes are for the higher BS Chameleon Skinks. They keep their poison AND you gain a 5+ 6++ in close combat, which makes them infinitely better against chaff. ('''alternative opinion''': ''+1 Armour Save isn't much. As a small unit of artillery hunters with blowpipes are brilliant - march for 2 turns then shoot at close range. Blowpipes have 12" range, and since you can opt out of Multiple Shots, you can just use them as extra range javelins'')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. <strike>Most elite units cost close to 30 points a model,</strike> [[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 it's a lose-lose situation, and in the wider context of the battle this leads the opponent to be inefficient with his units.
::'''Alternative Opinion''': ''Actually, Skink spamming is considered to be a particularly tasty form of [[powergamer|cheese]], 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. 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 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. When rolling To Hit have a chance of generating more Hits, and they must pursue unless near Skinks. 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 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. (This actually isn't very useful as MindRazor only uses Ld for rolling to wound, which would not reduce armor saves, while the poison makes you not need to roll for wounds.)

*'''Temple Guard:''' Improved Saurus. They get light armour and halberds. 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. Lizardmen list usually field at least a pack of 20 TG along with a block of Saurus, and these serve as the main hitting force or tarpits of the army. You can really cheese out your opponent here, because a 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 - hey 10X10 Skavenslave unit, fancy a combat? (don't do this, you will never ever break them, and the Skaven will remain Stubborn forever)

*'''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. 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.

*'''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 the competition of the other Specials which are almost invariably better.

*'''Stegadon:''' The main Lizardmen monster. Few lists do not include a Stegadon, or even several of them. Stegadons are crewed by 5 Skinks who man the Giant Bow (a ballista in all but name), which can shoot even while moving. The Stegadon causes Terror and benefits from a handful of nice rules plus all the things which come with being a Monster.

===Rare Units===
*'''Ancient Stegadon:''' You thought the above was awesome? This guy is tougher, hits harder in combat and does 4D6 blowpipe shots! 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. 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.
***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 although it's murder vs Dryads.
***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.

*'''Salamander Hunting Packs:''' This unit can do some serious damage, and it's good for stopping Regenerating faggots. 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. These guys are absolutely amazing! They can halve a unit's size with a single shot. These things work miracles!

*'''Razordon Hunting Packs:''' 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:''' What a piece of shit this thing is. 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.). 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+. Best fielded 4' off the ground in a display case.
::'''Alternative Opinion:''' ''What I believe this guy MEANT to say was: TROGLODONS ARE AWESOME! M7? Awesome: I'm in your face turn one with Arcane Vassal spells (btw take this, and take the Discipline that grants you all the Signature Spells on your Slann and laugh as you snipe your opponents general with Lore of Death turn one). Its shooting is craptacular yes, but why are you shooting with it? Charge flanks with it and when crunch time comes, drop the Roar and watch your Saurus RIP AND TEAR the opponents a new pie hole. This, if enough punch is delivered, will knock seven shades of crap out of most armies, even giving Warriors of Chaos a run for their money. All this pain train for 200 points, oh and its Aquatic for extra lulz.'' (ONLY TIME IT'S SEMI SCARY is when it runs up on a suicide charge into the most populated spot and Lord Kroak channels through it. Otherwise it sucks, go with the original opinion)
::'''Original Opinion:''' ''I am pretty sure the "Alternative Opinion" was posted by Vetock himself. The Troglodon is terrible. Absolute fail in every phase. He seems to think the Arcane Vassal is good when in fact most spells don't even need it. As for his genius tactics of charging flanks with it, well I have been playing Warhammer for years and I can tell you now that it will never survive long enough to hit a flank in combat. As for the 5+ Roar thing: again, your opponent wont really care. Its just 200 points of pure fail. Take an ancient Steg instead.
''

==Building Your Army==
===Buying Your Army===

As always, the Battalion Box is a good start. It comes with 10 Temple Guard, 20 Saurus Warriors, 8 Cold One Cavalry and 12 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 you might want to get another box to get them up to strength. This gives you a total of 20 Temple Guard, 52 Saurus Warriors, 8 Cold One Cavalry and 32 Skinks. Mainly this gives you a smattering of units for a lower cost than buying the boxes and the amount you get in the boxed sets 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.

*2 Battalion: 20 Temple Guard, 40 Saurus Warriors, 16 Cold One Cavalry and 24 Skinks. 132£
*The other option: 20 Temple Guard, 52 Saurus Warriors, 8 Cold One Cavalry, and 32 Skinks. 152£

Aside: it's a very minor thing, but the Cold One Cavalry sprue has decorative bits that can be used as jungle swarms (2 per 8 CoC, if you can rustle up some bases). So if you want jungle swarms the 2nd Battalion may be better. Also, the excess Cold One Cavalry can be modified into a pair of Scar Vets on Cold Ones. Can give you some cheap hitting power and a way to hit a points limit in your initial games until you figure out what you want to buy to flesh out the army.

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.

If you want to start an army cheap and build up slowly, buy 1 box of Saurus and convert the 16th one to be something else (eg Scar Vet). This is a small army of about 250 points. After that, buy another box of Saurus unless you want to go all Skink.

===Army Composition===

Some people (you know who you are) think Lizardmen (and specifically Saurus), are a defensive army. This, however, is not true. Take 2 blocks of 30 Saurus, with spears if you're a taker (or have Gor-Rok to lead them). These are your main hitting force. Next, take 2+ units of Skinks. Blowpipes used to be better, but now take Lustrian Javelins. Next, your block of Temple Guard. 20 MINIMUM! No cheaping out here: these bad boys are gonna keep your Slann safe so may as well go all out. Buy a magic standard, Flaming is always handy in a pinch. Then you need to get some support...here is where your aquatic friends come in handy. No Flounder or Sebastian up in this shit, hell no! We got lizards who breathe FIRE (<s>despite being water dwelling reptiles...?</s> they spit acid which goes on fire when it comes into contact with the air) and ones that carry a shotgun of spikes to down insects (bring bug spray to Lustria). Two units of any mix well, however a Razordon is 65 points to a Salamander's 80 points, but now they are S4 so slightly better. Use this to hit the enemy, take ranks and warmachines out. They can also flank charge in a pinch (use them to chase down). Do all you can to make that hammer blow fall hard and fast.

That's your base, now your Slann. Ok here is what you want: Becalming Cogitation, Wandering Deliberations, Reservoir of Eldritch Energy and any other one of your choosing. Make the guy a BSB (hey, if he's so expensive as is, may as well make him worth it) Banner of Discipline ftw!

After that it's entirely up to you what to take. Terradons are a good answer to warmachines yet not as good as Ripperdactyls. Bastiladons in both forms are only worth their points if you have a specific plan for them, it's not a unit you can plop down and expect it to work wonders (i.e. you must actually think harder about your battle plan when using these, ditto for Ripperdactyls). GW again trying to push the newest box by making its model the cheapest. Bloodcrushers anyone?

Just remember if you are only taking units of 30 Saurus in a horde with spears, you won't get any real benefit of the fourth rank so consider taking them 7 across for the added lulz.

===Alternate Opinion===

Let's start with the Slann. Becalming Cogitation and Reservoir of Eldritch Energy are fine. It seems, however, that our friend who wrote the above (and messy) composition forgot about High Magic's Lore Attribute, which allows you to forget a spell of High Magic and replace it with one from any of the Eight Battle Magic Lores. These spells will automatically use their associated Lore Attribute and can always be the Signiture spell as per usual spell generation rules. That means, if you're in a bit of trouble, you can cast a High Magic lore spell, switch to Lore of Life, generate one from there, depending on what it is either keep it or swap it for 5+ Regeneration Signature Spell and then cast that. That not only gives a unit a nice Regeneration save (<S>which I believe counts as a 'Ward Save'</S> there are some differences - vulnerability to fire damage comes to mind) but it also gives the Wizard (or any other character in range) a Wound back. You can do this for any Lore. Wandering Deliberations is also good, as mentioned.

Next, as I am sure the above person knows, your General is automatically the character with the highest Leadership. Since Slann have Ld9, that means they are automatically the Army General unless you have more than one Slann or somehow have another Lord with Ld9 or above. Oldbloods have Ld8. This isn't a problem until you give the Slann the Banner of Discipline, which not only turns it into the BSB but gives it Ld+1. That means the Slann will have Ld10. Amazing for casting the Death Lore Signature spell. <strike>However, the Banner of Discipline also states that the Banner wielder cannot be used for Inspiring Presence. Meaning you have lost the ability to use the Slann to rally. This is a important seeing as many of the Lizardmen units are Ld5-6. Coldblooded helps, but is not always sufficient</strike>. As per the BRB FAQ, a General in a unit with the Banner of Discipline may use his Inspiring Presence with the +1 bonus. This gives any Lizardmen under the eyes of a Slann a 99.98% chance of success for all leadership tests. This is so stupidly good for the price that only an idiot would not take it.

Next, mixing Razordons and Salamanders is a fun idea, but they are both different firing types. Firstly, the Salamanders are Slow to Fire and fire as a Flame Cannon, while the Razordon are Quick to Fire and fire as Grapeshot from cannons. It would therefore be better to keep them separate. Yes, there is the bonus that the Razordons will be able to protect the Salamanders, but it's still a mess.

Bastiladons are worth their price. If you take Jungle Swarms, the Ark of Sotek is useful for a chance on a free base every turn, but the key worth is in the Solar Engine. The gem not only gives every Cold Blooded creature within range +1I (which is <s>stupidly useful</s> does nothing for I1 Saurus on protecting them against Pit of Shades for example) which also stacks with Hand of Glory for a potential +4I (and half of your Magic Phase), it's the Gem's power which is the real useful part of it. The spell is Power Level 3, meaning you need only a 3 to cast it (and your opponent needs only a 3 to dispel it). You've got a 66% chance of doing it with one die. Throw two and you're going to be unlucky to not cast it. The spell itself not only causes 1D3-2D6 S3-6 Flaming Hits, but also a 1/6 chance to reduce WS and BS skill by 1 for a turn. The fact you're going to be forcing your opponent to either accept the chance of the spell being powerful and causing damage OR using a couple of dice to dispel it (this is idiotic, Bound Spells are shit in 8th ed, and easily dispellable even by a lvl2 mage). If they do dispel it, you then simply laugh and use your remaining dice to cast some High Magic or Battle Lore spells which your opponent will struggle to dispel (except that they will use the same or even less dice than you used to cast it, since they get their Caster Level bonus to dispel and you do not get it to cast). The Bastiladon is also the proud owner of the only 2+ Scaly Skin Special Rule, meaning you're going to be resisting plenty of attacks. Yes, its Toughness is terrible (and a surprising number, <s>it should be errated IMO</s> it sucks, deal with it) but imagine a Skink Priest casting Wildform from a Lore of Beast on it, giving it +1S and +1T, or even +2/4T from Lore of Life. Making it the true tank it should be (why not cast it on a Stegadon instead?)

===Magic Items===

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

====Magic Weapons====
*'''The Blade of Realities:''' A new version of this and still pricey as hell but now ignoring Ward AND Armour Saves. The only downside is that it now takes up all of a Lord's points for magic items and thus robs you of the ability to take any Ward Saves of your own. As such it should probably be left at home for friendly games. On the other hand, since it means that opponents Lords/Heroes will have to rely on Toughness and Weapon Skill to avoid dying, it means you can use it on an Oldblood to go and destroy a specific target. If you put the Oldblood on a Cold One or Fuck-You-A-Saur, you can get a 1+ Armour Save (4+ Scaly Skin + Shield = 3+ - add the Cold One's or Carnosaur's +2 and you're up to 1+. Light armour can be added in case your mount dies so you stay at 2+). You then head straight for that Lord/Hero and unleash hell. Lore of Life's +2/+4 Toughness will make you even more resilient. Lore of Lights Weapon Skill/Initiative augment means you're going to hit more often. Lore of High Magic Movement/Initiative/Weapon Skill at +D3 is useful, but when you can make it so you improve all three it means your Oldblood and his Mount are going to get there quicker and when they do, they're going to be more likely to hit. +3 Movement will mean 9-10 Movement for the Mounts, +3 Initiative will mean your Oldblood is at Initiative 6 (and 7 if near Solar Gem) and +3 Weapon Skill means hitting at Weapon Skill 9. So, while Elves, Vampire Lords and Chaos Lords will still out-Initiative you (and Elves most likely will get re-rolls too) everything else will be hitting after you or at the same time. With WS9, you're likely to hit (bar specific specific Vampire Lord builds, named Elves and certain Elf and Chaos Lord builds, who will also be around WS9... Also any unit with Fencing Blades) and S5 means you're not too bad when it comes to wounding and since you're packing 5 Attacks, you're very much capable of killing any Lord/Hero in one go (though the likes of Tyrion, it'll be difficult). That's ignoring your Mount and the buff it got from the spells. A T9 Fuck-You-A-Saur is pretty fun. So is one with WS6, especially since it has 5 attacks and each one is D3 Wounds. Being able to smile when you tell your opponent that his Lord/Hero or Special Character can't make any saves would be glorious. The best bit, though, would be against the likes of Malekith, who has a 2+ Armour Save (when on mount) and 2+ Ward Save (against non-magical attacks) or against 1+ Armour Save and 3+ Ward Save Chaos Lords. All those points, wasted as you cleave through them. However, many people won't take named characters or spend so many points on a Lord, so the Blade of Realities has very limited uses in competitive play. However, against WAAC's in friendly games, it's delicious. Try this with a Slann just for the lulz (only once though). Laugh as you chew through tanks and still have a Ward Save!
*'''The Piranha Blade:''' Still a little bit expensive but now getting the bonus of reducing enemy armour. Against monster and Heroes probably a good idea but a hefty price to pay. Although as the Armour Piercing stacks on Impact Hits this item should be used on an Oldblood with the Stegadon Helm on a Carnosaur with Swiftstride. This combo is fucking hilarious, and leaves some points for other magic items.
::Another use is to give it to a Scar Vet on foot and challenge as it allows you to rack up the combat bonus with Overkill. With only 4 attacks you have the potential to get one Wound to kill the champ and the +5 Overkill bonus for a total of +6 to combat res. Pretty good for only 4 attacks. On average you'll get around +4ish which is still like Hitting and Wounding AND having your opponent fail all saves.

====Magic Armour====
*'''Sacred Stegadon Helm of Itza:''' The only Magic Armour the Lizardmen get but what an armour! For its bonus to Toughness and Impact Hits it's fricking cheap and your Saurus can also play mini-Minotaur on a Carnosaur for the lulz. For those who don't know, it gives +1 to Armour Save, +1 Toughness AND +D3 Impact Hits. Impact hits don't benefit from your weapon though. Your weapons stats only affect you when striking with it.

====Enchanted Items====
*'''The Cloak of Feathers:''' Yes, the same old thing that was in the <S>Codex</S> Armybook for like 10 editions. Still makes a flying Skink but now with a little bonus of some extra Magic Resistance. As it's cheap, you can use it to get the Priest in nice positions for the Arcane Vassal rule to help get in range for the shorter ranged spells a Slann may have.
*'''The Horn of Kygor:''' A musical instrument carved from a long dead dinosaur. When your Hero blows it, all Monsters and Beasts in your army within range, will gain the Frenzy rule for one turn. As it will not affect the riders and is extremely expensive for a One Use Only item that does fairly little, it's best to leave this at home.
*'''The Egg of Quango:''' Again a little dinosaur souvenir, but this still has life in it. You can summon the ancient dinosaur from its egg and with a little luck (on a 4+) he will clobber your enemies. As a One Use Only and requiring quite a bit of luck this should probably be left at home, but when you like dinosaurs (and that's why you're playing Lizardmen) then it's not bad. Although if it doesn't get so lucky, the poor bird inside dies :'( While it's 'fun' it's also rather silly. The whole point of the Quango was that it was some rare, mystical creature which could change the outcome of the War against Chaos, with Mazamundi deciding when it should be opened... He's decided it is now and it doesn't do anything to help the War in terms of fluff. But it is an amusing item.

====Arcane Items====
*'''Cube of Darkness:''' Basically a 5 point more expensive Dispel Scroll that works on a 2+. In addition, you roll a die for each Remains In Play spell on the board (including your own) and on a 2+ it ends. After taking a Dispel Scroll this is a near "must take" (if you can). Be careful as this item, by RAW, can dispel also your spells!
*'''Plaque of Dominion:''' A Bound Spell that makes enemy mages Stupid. If your opponent has his mage parked within range of a General/BSB leave this at home. If not... probably still leave it at home. Dispel Scroll first, Cube second.

====Magic Standards====
*'''Skavenpelt Banner:''' This banner grants the Frenzy and Hatred (Skaven) rules, and all other Skaven gain Hatred when attacking the bearer. As it is more than 50 points this banner can only be used on the BSB, and taking a Magic Banner on a BSB is a shitty idea as he can't take any other magic items for protection. Except the Slann, who can take much better banners at a cheaper price (e.g. Banner of Discipline) and still take magic items. Skip this item as a smart general will have you're unit chasing chaff as they are frenzied.
**'''Alternative Opinion:''' ''Ignore the special person who wrote above this. Put it on your Slann and watch 3 Attack Temple Guard madness roll across the field. You don't need to worry about hording with this shizzle as it is the cheese. And I don't see you ever failing a Leadership test with Cold Blooded and BSB and Stubborn with Reroll so you will never chase units across the field (wrong, their special rule states they ALWAYS have to pursue, unless they have a Skink with them).''
**'''Alternate Alternative Opinion:''' The Skavenpelt Banner will let you have a stupid amount of fun with your Temple Guard with a Slann BSB. However, the mandatory Overrun will screw over your Temple Guard if your opponent has any sort of chaff unit, or even a unit they don't mind feeding to the blender (which I really cannot imagine being fielded by Skaven, /irony). Also, if you lose combat you may not run, but your BSB is now holding 65 Points of Hatred(Skaven). Fun, but certainly not worth it.
*'''Jaguar Standard:''' Just cheap enough to be used by a unit of Temple Guard, the Jaguar Standard gives the unit Swiftstride. It's an OK choice for a banner but there are others that could probably work better. Nice way to make sure that if the Temple Guard run off after a unit due to their Predatory Fighter rule, they catch and kill whatever fled.

====Summary====
The ones to seriously consider are Cube of Darkness, Piranha Blade, Stegadon Helm, and perhaps the Cloak of Feathers. For any serious lists, don't bother with the rest though they have their uses.

----

Remember the BRB also has some nice items.
Let us say you have a Slann, what should you buy it? Well, Banner of Discipline is one option, but that still means 100 magic points left! So, what else to get? Seeing as Vetock nerfed the Discipline that gave Magic Resistance (3) to Magic Resistance (D3) each turn, it would seem as if there was little in the way of magical protection for your Slann.... Except there is! For 40(or 45, I forget) points, you can buy an Obsidian Lodestone, this gives you Magic Resistance (3), guaranteed! This means not only do you not need to spend points on the Discipline (although it's cheaper but vastly inferior) but it means you've always got Magic Resistance (3) and therefore your unit of Temple Guard have it too!

:'''Alternate Opinion:''' ''A Slann already has a 4+ Ward Save, so on a 3+ you get a 2+ Ward against spells. Take Channeling Staff and Harmonic Convergence for Power Dice spam, and have the Obsidian Lodestone somewhere else.''

What else, you ask? Well, it seems as if writers have been slowly changing the way Fear and Terror works. You can now have just one model with the ability and everybody else in the unit has it. Although the BRB says this isn't the case, newer Armybooks are mentioning it. In the case of Lizardmen, it says that models in base contact with a Slann gain the cause Terror or cause Fear rule, so basically the unit causes it. So what does that mean? It means you buy a Shrieking Blade! For a mere 10 points, your Slann now causes Fear, therefore your Temple Guard unit now causes Fear! You could buy the Terror Discipline, but it's way more expensive. This is around 55 points (or 50, as I said, I forgot).

Spend the rest of your points on Cube of Darkness and Dispel Scroll ''(you cannot, just 1 Arcane Item per a character, and you already took the Channeling Staff).'' This means you have a Slann with 3+ Ward Save against Magical Attacks/Spells, which also affects your Temple Guard, but also the Slann causes Fear, making it possible for any unit charging your Temple Guard to be reduced to WS1, allowing your Temple Guard to have an even higher chance of survivability!

===Magic===

Yes please.

Now after the new book, the Lizardmen have gotten High Magic (the High Elf 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 cast, 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 Daemons? Light magic is there. Fighting against Chaos Knights? 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 it's 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)''': <strike>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.</strike> Slann can only be a Loremaster in High Magic as of the most recent Armybook. Life is still awesome but Slann can't count on always having the Throne anymore. 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 Below is possibly one of the most ridiculous spells in the game and can nuke 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 so 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' 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 in power (that's 3 attacks and 8 movement by the way) . 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) can all be cast as 12" bubble buffs that can affect 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 Daemons) and help stop your opponent from getting dangerous flank charges (The Net of Amyntok). All in all probably the second best lore for Lizards. One other thing to note is if you get some lucky rolling you can cast bubble Speed of Light and Phas Protection. The astute among you will notice that means most core (WS4 and lower) will be hitting your mighty Saurus on 6's. This is obviously huge and the fact that more people don't do this makes me sad.

'''Lore of Shadow''': The Lore Attribute is probably the most important part to the use of this Lore for lone Slann. Allowing the Slann to switch with any other character within 24" after a successful casting is a great way of getting him out of combats and switching in an expendable Skink or a fighty Saurus Character <strike>(assuming you are not in a Temple Guard block where you can't leave the unit</strike> 8th Ed book no longer states he must remain or even join TG). On the casting side of things Shadow is the most expensive lore to cast in the game <strike>which shouldn't be a problem for a Slann with the Discipline of Ruination for the extra Casting Die each spell</strike> - no ruination anymore in 8th. Otherwise most of the spells are Hexes that lower the capability of your opponent's units. 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. This spell allows you to level the playing field and hopefully start hitting on 3's. This Hex can also be used for hilarious effect with Purple Sun in the Lore of Death.
* '''(1) Steed of Shadows''': I guess it's cheap to cast but I've never seen a use for it as a Saurus leader is useless without 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 lore Slann in the hilarious dual Shadow/Death Slann list but otherwise it 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 so they don't really need it. Could be okay versus Monsters and keeping your high Armour Saves.
* '''(3) The Withering''': The true winner of this lore in my opinion. Lowering you're opponents Toughness is one of the best Hexes in this game...

'''Lore of High Magic''': The signature Lizardmen lore, shared with High Elves(the Slann did teach them how to use magic after all). It is a pretty well balanced Lore for Lizardmen and much better suited for them than for High Elves. Hand of Glory gives +D3 Initiative/Movement/Weapon Skill, with its High Casting option giving +D3 to all of the stats, not just one. This counters Lizardmens average Weapon Skill (Saurus, warmachines created to fight, have WS3, unless they're on a Cold One or are Temple Guard, then you have WS4, Skinks have WS2) and Initiative. The Movement buff is just gravy. This is much better for Lizardmen than High Elves, since High Elves are rocking WS4 on their basic troops, and WS5/WS6 on their Rare/Specials. Walk Between Worlds is also useful for Lizardmen, especially for units such as Fuck-You-A-Saurs, Kroxigors, Cold One Cavalry and, most importantly, Salamanders. This allows you to move into perfect flanking positions, allowing your units to dish out some hurt while the opponent is tar-pitted against Saurus. The Salamanders are perfect for this spell as you can have as many as you want, a unit of 5 Salamanders shooting five S4 Flame Cannon Template shots over a horde of something or a tough unit to weaken them for your Saurus, is golden. Vaul's Unmaking is useful for removing powerful magical items from Lords/Heroes, especially named/special ones. I'm looking at you Tyrion (+3S sword, 1+/4++ Magic Armour, Gem) or Grimgor Ironhide (+2S ASF axe) and so on. The final High Magic spell, Fiery Convocation, is useful as it will constantly cause hits on the unit, regardless of how big it is. That 40 block horde? They all take a hit. It can whittle them down for your units to finish them off.

There are other viable Lores, such as Fire, but you can't get Loremaster any more, making it a bit of a problem. Even with Lore of Life, you're still only getting 4 spells out of 6.

Heads up people! With the new End times Khaine book, Slann are stupidly strong. If they know one spell from a lore then they know the entire lore now! Meaning the signature spell discipline they can take? Yeah can know all spells from all the basic lores now... And if they are Loremasters of a lore then they get to Reroll Casting attempts of that lore! So you can stick to High Lore and have a higher chance of casting all the spells you need! And ONE MOOOOORE THING!(Shush Uncle!) When the Slann use the High Magic Lore attribute then the moment they get a spell from a Lore they learn the '''Entire Lore'''.
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==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. Imagine if Dwarfs lacked their warmachines and ranged units. No one would play Dwarfs 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 and crush anything that tries to stall you.

While some units can really move around compared to your Saurus, those units are all skinks, which means they're dead if you opponent looks at them with raised eyebrows. The exception is Cold One Cavalry which is pretty pricey and therefore will never be fielded in the numbers necessary to play them in a super-effective way.
:'''Alternative view''': ''Cold One cav cost 35 points each whereas Saurus cost 11. Saurus on foot get 2 Attacks whereas Cold Ones riders get 3 and 2 of those are at Strength 5 on the charge. They also have M7, a base 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 S4/5 on the charge and COC won't die easily. 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. All in all COCs are situationally more point cost effective than Saurus, generally against WS3, S3/4 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 out the offending unit (unless it's a half decent one like a Hammerer dart with a Dwarf Lord running a 1+ rerollable Armour Save and a 4++ in front or sword and board Grave Guard), 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.

<strike>Warmachines are the most annoying things for Lizardmen players. You have 2 options to deal with them quickly. Players who rely on warmachines to win are pussy bitches or Dwarfs, 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 Dwarfs this is doubly so. In fact during a Dwarf player's Deployment Phase while they look to place their lame ass contraptions play this clip from Community where Senor Chang perfectly describes warmachine-heavy armies: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVneqqeyO2M] </strike>

The most annoying thing for Lizardmen players has to be Purple Sun of Xereus (just ask my mate Jed). You're marching along, merry as can be, when some poncy spellcaster decides to royally fuck up your plans. Bye-bye to TWO-THIRDS OF YOUR ENTIRE FUCKING ARMY IN ONE GODDAMN PHASE. They'll six-dice it every turn, so either fuck them up before they do the same to you or carry a Dispel Scroll and hope the poncy prick shoves his staff where the Purple Sun doesn't shine.

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[[Category:Warhammer/Tactics]]
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Lizardmen (Warhammer Fantasy)]]