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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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