In this topic I hope to lay out the basic tactics and stratagems a Lizardman player can utilise, both in building his army and playing the game. I'm not writing any today, having already written about 5,000-odd words for the SOC AOD at Rezephua, but will include an index to begin with and work around that. If you have comments on what I've said, or your own ideas and tactics, please feel free to post them!

Index

• Characters and Their Options - Expensive but painful!
• The Grunts - Core Choices and How to Use 'Em
• I Have a Big Axe... Do You? Special Choices
• Reptiles with Halitosis - Rare Choices
• Weakling New Ones - Dogs of War and Why Not to Use Them
• Basic Army Types
• On-Table Tactics
• (On request of Benedictus) Personalising your army - Individual Lizardman 'fluff'

Characters and their options - expensive, but painful!

The Lizardman army has three kinds of character - Saurii, Skinks, and - of course - the Toad. I will in this post explore each of these kinds, in turn.

Saurii
There are two kinds of Saurus character - the Oldblood and the Scar-veteran, or, as he will henceforce be referred to, Scar-vet. Your basic fighting lord and hero - with a twist. With low initiative and the same Ld as your base troops, they don't give your actual troops too much boosting - so all of their (high) points cost is invested in making them insane killing machines as individuals.

Point 1: they weigh in with 1 more attack than 90% of characters in their class.
Point 2: they come with what is effectively heavy armour, and can upgrade to the equivalent of full plate for a mere 2 or 3 points.
Point 3: they have access to 2 or 3 spawnings, and therefore a great deal of customization is allowed.

With a base S of 5, this makes them truly deadly in combat. Although our magic item list is most definitely poor as far as regular items go (plaques rock!), their base stats and spawnings make up for this. We're also one of the 2 armies that can afford to entirely dispense with magic-users in favour of these monsters, as the wunnerful Spawning of Tepok allows as to wield a bucketful of dispel dice (up to 6 in a 2,000pt game, with no wizards at all!).

One thing I'd advise is to remember your Initiative when equipping these chaps. Never fear for the old Great Weapon, for even the mighty Oldblood is slower than most enemies even without a cumbrous great double-handed axe, so you're not doing him any harm. Oldbloods and Scar-vets come into their own when you begin to get a measure of your enemies - an all-round Oldblood is fine against an all-cav Chaos Mortal army - but when you give him the Blade of Revered Tzunki, the Jaguar Pendant and the blessd Spawning of Sotek he becomes a whirlwind of devastation that the Chaos player is unable to match. Make sure your Oldbloods and Scar-vets are optimised against your opponents to get the most out of their high points cost and weak magic items - it's often worth getting out the calculator and working out just what you can, on average, expect from any one combination.

Speaking of combinations, there is one which is so widely used that it deserves a place in any Lizardman Tactica - the JSOD - the Jaguar Saurus of Death. Usually a Scar-vet over a more expensive Oldblood, the standard configuration is a Great Weapon, the Spawnings of Sotek & Quetzl, Light Armour, and the Jaguar Pendant. This gives him M9, a 3+ armour save and 5 S7 attacks on the charge, and if you want to be safer he can also afford our standard 5+ ward. He destroys chariots, skirmishers, heavy cavalry and mages with equal ease, and is definitely a force to be reckoned with for his points cost - especially as when he's hunting that Sorceress he can also march-impede the enemy - or in extreme circumstances, hurl himself into the flank or rear of an enemy unit in combination with your troops in the front, slaying 3 or 4 and adding a hefty score to your combat res.

Speaking of characters taking on units, I'll just take a moment to speak about the lovely Carnosaur. While no flying, flame-breathing death machine, it does pack a hefty punch, and an Oldblood with a high number of attacks can actually fight ranks head on with this beast (on the charge, it's possible for an Oldblood to get his claws on 9 attacks - this is one of the best combos on a Carnosaur). It slaughters enemy cavalry, enemy monsters (even Dragons, with the awesome rider and the Ultimate Predator rule) and, as I said, can carve up grunts quite nicely. Terror is a great bonus, as is M7, allowing you to pursue and flee 3D6. The Carnosaur can actually be used as a very effective, even perhaps more effective, substitute for Cold One Riders, as it actually packs a very high punch over a very small area, has a similar points value, and is not Stupid.

Skinks
I'll say it straight out - these characters aren't as impressive as Saurii. I love skinks, I really do, they are hilarious and as a troop type very effective, but as characters they don't hold up so well.

Firstly, the useful ones - Skink priests. Average mages with a couple of changes - M6, great for avoiding enemies, and T2, scary for the user when it comes to getting hit. They only have access to Heavens, but it's a decent lore, and they're not too expensive at 100pts for a level 2 or 115pts for a 2-scroll dispel caddy.

Now, the useless ones - Skink chiefs. With a meagre BS of 4, they don't even approach being a shooting hero. They can make you a budget JSOD if you buy them some combtat gear and the Cloak of Feathers, allowing you to fly, but Terradons can do this job far better for less points. No skink unit should ever be engaging in combat if it can help it, so these guys really don't help your other skinks at all. Despite the beautiful 5th edition models, I'm afraid I'm going to have to advise you to leave these guys on the shelf.

The Toad
The first thing you will notice about the Slann is his cost. Yup, buying this guy is going to take a huge, meaty bite out of your army, but it's our only way to get a good magic offense.

My first tip - never buy a Slann without Skink Priest and Plaque backup. "He costs 325pts!" you cry. "Without equipment! Surely he can hold a magic phase by himself?" Well, I'm afraid I have to inform you that the following points are where most of that huge cost lies:

1. A Ld9 general in a Cold-Blooded army.
2. Access to stubborn, 2-attack heavy infantry with S5.
3. Last but probably most expensive, an inherent 4+ ward save and 6 wounds.

To make him the magic monster his points costs suggests, you actually have to expend 135pts further and make him 2nd Generation - clearly not an option for everyone. Therefore put that little extra investment into Skink Priests and the hideously effective Plaques to make him significantly more powerful. A non-Plaque item that functions well on a Slann is the Rod of the Storm, which combines nicely with the Plaque of Tepok and either the Plaque of Divine Protection or the Plaque of Dominion - all very worthwhile purchases.

My second tip - 5th and 3rd Generation are, in proportion, not as cost-effective as 4th and 2nd. If you're going for a Slann, immunity to Miscasts is really important for the low cost of 4th gen, and if you're going for a powerful Slann, 2nd only costs a bit more than 3rd and packs about twice as much punch.

My third tip - you pay dearly for his generalship: his Ld9 and his access to Temple Guard. A Slann who does not use this has wasted abotu a third of his points cost. Keep him in Temple Guard if you possibly can, a fully-ranked unit if possible, and keep him central to the line to get that nice spread of what is effectively Ld11.5. Making him a BSB is both cheap and effective in this role, so I recommend you do so. Use the skink priests backing him up to spread a more effective LOS using the Telepathy rule.

Finally, remember never to let him die! The Plaque of Divine Protection is a MUST if your enemy has multiple-wound or high-strength shooting, as ol' Toady is a Large Target and will probably ensure your enemy a win if he gets splattered all over the scenery.

So, that's all from this post. I hope you've enjoyed it, and there is more to come!

The Grunts - Core Choices and how to use 'em

In this post, I'm going to analyse each core choice available to the Lizardman army, starting with the best and working down to the worst. However, first I'll give a short paragraph on our core in general:

Lizardman core choices can be said to be either our army's strength or our army's weakness. Strong, because for the most part they are dangerous (especially for core choices) and good value. Weak, because they are not too flexible - all our core choices are infantry. This means any Lizardman army must necessarily play a game revolving around their superior infantry, making cavalry and flyers sort of an extra. Whether you use the skirmish powers of skinks or the strong phalanxes of Saurii, or a mixture of both, is up to you, but the fact remains that infantry are what will win or lose a Lizardman player the game. So pay attention :)!

First and best: Temple Guard. 0-1 per Slann, these are what make the Toad worth taking! They are the only heavy infantry we possess, and with 2 WS4 S5 attacks, a scaly skin save akin to heavy armour and the option for shields they out-fight almost all other heavy infantry and tear a bloody path through less evil troops. Plus, they're stubborn, making them a great anvil unit or even a tarpit while your Slann blazes away over their heads, being a Large Target and able to see over them. Oh yes, and also the Slann fills out those ranks for you quite nicely, without having to buy too many expensive Temple Guard...

First things first: always buy the shields. If they go with hand weapons and shields they still put out 2 WS4 S4 attacks, but they have a 3+ armour save instead of a 5+ - trust me, you will cry when the last surviving clanrat in the front rank takes out one of your Temple Guard, so take shields. Protection against missile fire is also to be valued very highly. I'd recommend using halberds if you're charging T4 or well-armoured troops who you can expect to break in the first phase of combat - otherwise go for your shields.

Secondly, never fear for the Slann. If you make him a BSB, this stubborn, Ld8, cold-blooded unit (making it effectively Ld11.5) will be able to re-roll its break tests, so you won't be going anywhere in a hurry. If you really want to be safe (and turn the unit into an even nastier killing machine) you can stick the Totem of Prophecy on the Slann, making them cause Fear. Now the only way to break you is to win the combat and outnumber you with a Terror-causing enemy... a bit difficult, wouldn't you say *evil grin*? Use these guys aggressively and they are actually quite capable of getting their exorbitant points back, as they literally tear apart any kind of ranked opposition. Make sure to guard their flanks, though, so that they don't get bogged down and waste their potential - it's a good idea to have either some monsters or some solid blocks of Saurii to either flank, forming a really dangerous battle line.

Thirdly, it's often a good idea to put a Scar-Vet in the Temple Guard. Not only can you give him the Gleaming Pendant of Chotec, making them into an even more deadly killing machine (here's a trick for you - stick a cheap unit of skinks DIRECTLY in front of your Temple Guard, and advance as usual towards a powerful enemy. To engage your TG, the enemy will have to charge the skinks and pursue/overrun into the big guys - which means he engages you in your turn - which means you can activate the Pendant, making you strike first and whip him back to the sorry hole he crawled out of...), but he also provides a good failsafe as the only infantry that can actually take Temple Guard are people with a juicy character in the front row, ready to kill three or four of your halberd boys each turn and consistently win the combat until they grind your unit down. My favourite combo for this is the spawning of Quetzl, Light Armour, a Great Weapon, the Gleaming Pendant of Chotec and the Talisman of Protection. This gives him a decent chance of surviving a character assault in case of a challenge, a good chance of killing a character with 4 S7 attacks, and, of course, the invaluable 'All my Temple Guard are striking first - I must warn you that if you do not look away you may suffer psychological trauma' effect, which is also great in event of a challenge, as those Great Weapon strikes can really annoy people when they demolish the Elven Lord before he even gets to draw his sword.

My second favourite unit: while nowhere near as wonderfully killy as Temple Guard, skinks are little wonders in their own right. I'll sum them up in a few points:
1. Missile skirmishers, best used in a disruption role but also good at mage/warmachine hunting.
2. Fragile
3. Short-ranged
4. Extremely fast
5. Cheap
6. Able to scout
Now, so long as you grasp these, especially the first point, you can really make your opponent weep when the skinks are placed on the table. Going back to my precious numbered points, here is a list of what a) a small unit of scouters and B) a cheap throwaway unit are most frequently used to do. There isn't much difference between them, so one lot can do the other lot's job almost as well if you're on a budget and can't afford multiple units of skinks.

A) Kill Mages
March Impede from Turn 2
Kill Warmachines
Inflict constant casualties on the (slowly) advancing enemy via javelin fire
Kill enemy monsters (provided they have little in the way of armour)

B) Divert frenzied troops
Obstruct enemy movement
Kill enemy monsters (provided they have little in the way of armour)
Do the Gleaming Pendant trap
March Impede from around Turn 3 or 4
Dance around, annoying people, and gain a psychological advantage as your opponent watches what can be a veritable swarm of enemy troops come out from the Lizardman deployment zone and completely encircle him with very little effort
Draw off enemy disruption units such as fast cavalry and shred them with missile fire.

Since these units will rarely cost more than 100pts, you can see how useful they are.

My advice when using skinks:

Don't use too many. Big units become unwieldy, and while you can afford to lose 'em, you want to keep them alive if you possibly can. The unit size I've found to be best is 12 strong.

Don't buy a brave. He's terrible value for his points. Save the points for better things.

Don't use blowpipes. Most of the time you will be moving and shooting at long range, meaning you hit on 7s and lose the wonderful Poison Shots ability. With M6, the reduced range a javelin grants is not a problem, and what's more, javelins hit on 4s or 5s most of the time, and even on 3s against Large Targets (which will be most susceptible to your Poison), so are a far superior weapon for no additional cost. Plus, javelins come with shields, which actually allow your skinks some degree of protection.

Now for the Saurii: Don't be fooled by the way these guys are third on the list. I told you at the beginning, our core choices are INHERENTLY strong. These fellows are the cream of medium infantry, and also function as superb shock troops when backed up by a deadly Saurus character. With the option for spears, they become truly deadly.

The great advantage that Saurii hold is 2 S4 attacks. Although their T4 is great, their armour save is average at best, and becomes poor when you start breaking out the spears, so they're not anywhere near as well-protected as shield-wielding Temple Guard. However, 2 S4 attacks for only 12 points is a real bargain. Enemy troops will be absolutely shredded if these guys get the charge. Used as shock troops is where they really excel, and - good news - you won't need to buy too many expensive warriors to fill out ranks in this role, as a Standard, one or two ranks and the sheer number of kills should easily carry the combat for you, and you don't need to buy spears as they won't get used - but this role is difficult to use them in with their meagre movement value of 4".

The far more common way in which Saurii engage is as rank-and-file cohorts, slamming against enemy infantry. This is where their cost, low armour save and biggest disadvantage - Initiative 1 - begins to tell. If you think your Saurii have got a good chance of engaging in this way, make sure you have full ranks, a broad frontage, command, and preferably spears so that after the enemy have struck (I1), probably killing a couple out of your front rank, there will still be the fearsome number of S4 attacks that Saurii are famous for.

Finally, what I feel comes at the bottom of the pile: the Jungle Swarm. Pretty expensive and pretty mediocre as Swarms go, the Jungle Swarm is a nice tarpit but is a bit too expensive for my tastes, especially with a Strength, Weapon skill and Toughness of 2 which effectively makes it just a big skink, unable to kill anything much at all. 5 Jungle Swarms costs you 500pts, while 20 Saurii with full command and spears costs you 310 - and I know which I'd rather have. However, in a skirmish army these can provide some very valuable staying power, so please don't think they're useless - I just feel that, for points, they are the worst core choice we have.

I Have a Big Axe - do you? Special Choices

I'll lay out this post in the same manner as the one before, first giving a word on our special choices in general and then moving on to a rated list of our special choices.

Firstly, our special choices: excuse me while I grin manically at the mention of the words 'Special Choices'. Lizardman special slots are bloody brilliant, if you will excuse my French - cost-effective and killy, with a couple of notable exceptions.

No.1: Terradons. The least 'killy' of our special choices, but one of the most cost-effective and with incredible strategic uses. They out-fight all other flying units bar Pegasus Knights. They have S4 poisoned javelin shots. They are very cheap, at a mere 35pts a pop, and also have the awesome Hit and Run rule.

Let's go into this rule a bit further. If you declare you are 'Hitting and Running' on a turn in which you charged (you must declare before break tests), you may flee, even if you win. The enemy may not pursue, and you rally automatically, causing no panic. In my opinion, this rule goes quite a way into making up for our horrible deficiency in the way of cavalry - it allows them to perform the role of Fast Cav quite well.

Here's a couple of brilliant uses for Hit and Run:

1. Charge a unit with a mage in, direct the attacks of 2 Terradons (one of which should be a Brave) against the mage for 7 S4 attacks. The mage should most definitely die - now you can flee without a chance of failing to rally or being run down, probably having got the points of the unit back in that one kill.
2. Charge a ranked unit (hopefully in the side or rear) with quite a large unit of Terradons, where your high number of S4 attacks should kill a lot (if we take a unit of 4, which is all you can fit in against an enemy frontage of 5 bases, that's 13 S4 attacks!). Their ranks and standard will allow them to hold, but you are likely to take no wounds in return and can simply flee, having seriously depleted their numbers and ranks.

You get the idea? Of course, this is nothing like the limit: Hit and Run is useful in a whole plethora of battlefield situations. What makes it great is that it's a very flexible ability, so can be used in many different ways, and goes quite away towards keeping the initiative in your hands, putting the enemy on the back foot. To increase this effect, buy two units *evil grin*. Just be sure to steer clear of getting charged, and even more of being shot at with auto-hitting weapons, as, although offensively strong, Terradons are pretty fragile.

My Number 2 Special Choice: Kroxigor. Brilliant flankers, these are the brightest and best troops we have when it comes to cracking armour. M6 and the skirmish screen rule makes them quite capable of dealing with cavalry - where even a frontal charge will do. They work very well in conjunction with Saurii, where the ranks of the Saurii and the high number of S7 attacks of the Kroxigor can crack open even the hardest of enemy heavy infantry. Fear is also a huge bonus in this situation, as it won't be too infrequently that this double attack reduces your enemy to US9 or below, making them Outnumbered by a Fear-causing enemy.

My advice when using Krox - always use them in conjunction with a skink screen. The skirmish screen rule, while not really that effective, has quite a big psychological impact on most enemies, and the skinks also help keep their big brothers screened from most of the nastier kind of missile fire. Make sure that your Krox never engage frontally and alone against outnumbering, ranked troops - except against cavalry and the likes with one rank - and do your best to make sure these expensive ogre-types always get the charge, where their Great Weapons can come into their own, striking first.

Weighing in at Number Three are Marked Saurii. A single mark is a very nice way to boost your regular Saurus regiments - the Mark of Quetzl in particular makes Saurii the closest thing you can get to Heavy Infantry without going for a Slann and his elite guard. The marks of Tlazcotl and Tzunki are also useful in specific situations, and the mark of Tepok can be great in boosting your dispel power. The Mark of Sotek is extremely dangerous, especially when the Saurii in question are used as shock troops, but is a bit of a gamble as these guys are still only M4 so charging is by no means certain. It's often good to stick a character in there, just to make sure the expensive unit won't go kaput when it fails a charge or you misjudge how far the enemy can charge - a very good character to use is a Scar-veteran BSB with the Banner of Huanchi, boosting both their staying power, their fighting power and their ability to charge the enemy.

Number four: Saurus Cavalry. These guys are pretty overpriced for what they do, especially considering that they seem to have had no points reduction for their Stupidity. Although they hit hard, as a Heavy Cavalry unit that's nothing new - what is new is a unit of 35pt Heavy Cavalry models having only 3+ saves. Twinned with spears instead of lances and our old friend, Initiative 1, this is a unit I'd advise you to leave at home unless you have lots of points to spare. One thing that can increase their potential drastically is the Banner of Huanchi - but then again, I could stick that on a BSB in my Sotek-marked Saurii instead...

Number five: the worst of the lot IMHO, Chameleon Skinks - or 'failure skinks' as they have been dubbed in my gaming group. BS4 skinks with some extra scouting rules and a -1 to hit modifier against missile fire, these are most definitely not worth their exorbitant points cost of 14pts a model - the same as a Saurus Warrior with a spear! Their fragility is hardly reduced, and they are extremely easy to kill with auto-hit weapons, combat skirmishers or magic missiles - landing a massive bucketload of points right in the opponent's lap. Your opponent will definitely suss out how easy they are to kill after a couple of games and start going for that free 140-odd point reward with his relatively inexpensive anti-Chameleon troops. Scouting skinks cost half as much as these guys - two units of skinks instead of one unit of failures will probably do the job twice as well.

Reptiles with Halitosis - Rare Choices

The Lizardman has only 2 Rare Choices of its own - the Stegadon and the Salamander Hunting Packs. As before, we'll do the evaluated list - not that it's really too relevant with only two choices to differentiate between.

Number 1: Salamanders. Beautifully cost-efficient, these guys are pretty much all we've got against certain types of disruption troops, and also the closest thing we have to serious ranged hitting power. At only 7pts more than a Kroxigor each, you can get three for a Rare slot.

Their first, and most important use, IMHO, is as guards for your line. Dark Riders, Pistoliers and the like can afford to ignore skinks, which means that if you don't have Sallies you don't have an effective way to deal with these guys. Salamanders have a 360 degree line of sight, so form an excellent rear-guard without actually having to stand there, facing your rear - they can also threaten troops in front of your line, as your enemy has no idea as to which way they'll fire. They also cause Fear and pack 2 S5 attacks, so are capable of chasing off Fast Cavalry or skirmishers in combat - but it's the flame assault that really comes into its own here. Against lightly-armoured disruption troops, the flame attack hits automatically, and has the potential to absolutely wipe the unit out. If it survives, it's probably not going to be in a position to threaten any of your units any more.

The second use for Salamanders is to space them between your infantry and to use them to wither the enemy lines, knocking off ranks and reducing your enemy's fighting capability. They can pull back as the enemy moves forwards, and when the two lines of infantry clash you can throw the Salamanders in for some S5 help, not to mention Fear.

Number 2: Stegadons. While nice, in my opinion the Stegadon isn't as good as the Salamander simply because it's far less cost-effective.

First things first: Stegadon = expensive. A Steggie is a big commitment, and weighs in at 1/8th of a 2,000pts army. I'd say if you're taking one, you're already committed, so consider taking two - the psychological impact will me immense.

Secondly: Stegadon = easy to break. It's Stubborn, yes, and immune to panic - but here's my biggest gripe with it - while a 205pt Giant is Stubborn with Ld10, our 235pt Steggies are Stubborn with Ld5. Therefore you've got to be careful - don't get charged, and try to engage where you won't be taking Break Tests. With only M6, this can be quite difficult.

That being said, Stegadons are a very useful troop type. Being Stubborn Terror-causers, they're pretty good at anchoring flanks, and become extremely scary when used in conjunction with large Saurus blocks. They have the bonus of a portable bolt thrower, and do a horrendous amount of damage when they charge. When used in combination with a Carnosaur and Terradons, they can also go a way towards making up for our lack of decent cavalry.

Weakling New Ones - Dogs of War and why not to use them

Dogs of War have one distinctive purpose: to patch over weaknesses in an army. Perhaps unfortunately for us, there's very little DOW can do for us that we can't do better ourselves. Almost all the Regiments of Renown are, for their usually exorbitant points cost, actually worse fighters than Saurii. Similarly, even the best regular DOW combat troops can't out-fight their Lizardman equivalents. On the cope of manouvreability, DOW cavalry and fliers do not function as well as Terradons, skinks, Krox and Stegs in this capability, and, if you really want heavy cavalry in this infantry-orientated army, Saurus Cavalry are significantly harder-hitting to the DOW tin-can men.

The only place were DOW might conceivably be useful is in providing more missile fire - cannons and the like can be extremely dangerous. However, we don't possess any serious firepower other than Salamanders - oh yes, they're rare slots too. Cannons or other missile troops will find themselves both unsupported and more importantly are an extremely powergaming, unfluffy choice (yeah, gunpowder+humidity+monsoon=functional cannon. Sure) - as a matter of fact, all DOW are unfluffy, as Lizardmen consider gold as a sacred perquisite of the Slann and therefore will not give any to New Ones.

In conclusion: don't use DOW.

Basic Army Types

In my opinion, there are three basic types of Lizardman army: three blueprints that can be merged together on a sort of sliding scale to create a vast variety of different forces. In this article, I'll go into them all, one by one: note, there is no ranking involved in this list, as before: all these armies are equally viable.

No. 1: The Slann Bastion. This army focusses around magic and staying power. A strong Slann makes both General and BSB in the centre of a line of large-ish Saurus Blocks, which should almost always include the awesome Temple Guard (with shields - this army is not particularly well adapted to a speedy charge). A couple of skink priests are good to back the big guy up - preferably at level 2 - and if you can afford one, get a Scar-vet to back up your infantry (stick him in the Temple Guard and buy one less Temple Guard, saving 18pts!). Some peripheral troops such as skinks, Kroxigor and/or Terradons/Salamanders form march impeders and flankers.

This army advances slowly, laying down a lot of magical nastiness as it does so. The heavy line of infantry should be able to grind most enemies down, but when you see an enemy elite unit, you need to bring in your peripherals (Kroxigor, hopefully) to flank and destroy it. A nice way to make this army very scary (pun intended) is to give the Slann the Totem of Prophecy - making your US22 Temple Guard unit cause Fear. If there's a scar-veteran in the front rank, this unit will now beat most anything it faces by at least 1 or 2 points of CR and outnumber them, causing them to auto-break - this is a great trick to pull on someone who thinks their Black Guard/Greatswords can keep you out of the game, or on someone who is just trying to wear down and kill your Temple Guard with a high-Ld, high-attack unit such as Chaos Knights. It also prevents a clever Undead player from taking down your Slann.

No. 2: The Saurus Legion. This army has an extremely heavy core of Saurii, headed up by an Oldblood and some Scar-Vets. Dispel power will probably only materialise in the form of Marks of Tepok, as all your points are going into solid combat killyness. This is the army where Saurus Cavalry and Carnosaurs would make their most frequent appearance, lending serious hitting power to the solid strength of the Saurus blocks. Marked Saurii would form something approaching heavy infantry in the line, while monsters like Salamanders, Carnosaurs or Stegadons are used to anchor the flanks. One or two units of skinks, used as scouts, can be used to march-impede and disrupt the enemy. Alternatively, they can work in tandem with Kroxigor, terrifying the opponent and throwing him off-balance as he sees a huge wall of scaled warriors coming towards his front while, instead of anchored flanks, the flanks detach into fast-moving swarms of S7 killyness and encircle his army.

The base idea with this army, as you've probably worked out, is to slam the enemy right up against the board edge and grind them down, breaking them one by one and throwing flankers into the mix to precipitate a wholesale collapse of their battle-line. It's a simple stratagem, but effective, and opens an element of psychological warfare - the sheer number of A2, S4 Saurii you'll be fielding will really put the frighteners up the opponent.

No 3: Skink Skirmish Horde. This army fills out its core slots with a hideous amount of cheap skinks, with a scout:normal ratio of about 2:3. The 50 to 60-odd crested dudes will absolutely destroy the enemy's battle plans just by dancing all around him, pelting him and immediately leaping on any vulnerable targets presented. Meanwhile, the majority of your army (in points terms) has been selected from Special and Rare slots, and is therefore extremely killy. Stegadons and obscene amounts of Kroxigor slam into units from all directions (a GREAT combo is 3 Krox in the flank, Steggie in the front), Terradons take out warmachines or rear-charge enemies in combination with your heavy hitters, Salamanders destroy the light, manouvreable elements of the enemy army that are effectively his only way of attacking the horde of skinks. Even Cold One Riders can be effective here as a 'mobile anvil' - with a decent-sized unit you can charge the enemy, win the combat slightly (being outnumbered without enough ranks, you won't win by too much), and pin the enemy block in place, setting him up for an evil flank/rear charge. Tactically, this army is very flexible, as, with small/skirmishing units, almost universally M6, it can react with lightning speed to battlefield changes.

A word on characters in this army: This is the one army type which can use either a Slann or an Oldblood. An Oldblood - especially a 'JSOD' - can prove a very effective general, extending LD8 to Kroxigor, Stegadons and skinks, as well as smashing chariots or just leaping into combats to help out his mates. Similarly, Saurus characters can really boost Cold One Riders into something dangerous, as even with the inevitable losses, a Scar-vet and his two surviving drinking buddies can still take a meaty bite out of an enemy unit. On the other hand, a Slann should be relatively safe from the enemy if he hangs back, as your Salamanders/skinks and the sheer size of your army should pin down enemy troops enough to prevent them getting to him.

On the subject of magic, a Slann isn't necessary for good magic in this army. Buy an Oldblood and 3 Level 2 Skinks and you have the best of both worlds, with 8 power dice! Add in the Rod of the Storm and some Power Stones. and you have a highly mobile magic offense, in addition to deadly combat power. However, make sure you don't over-spend on characters - the essential things in this army are the troopers themselves.

On-Table Tactics

Before I start, I want to say one thing (unless that counts as starting... does it?): There is a big difference between tactics and strategy, which has recently been kindly and repeatedly explained to me until I finally understood. Here it is again:

Strategy: Long-term plans, including army selection. 'The Big Picture' - how you think your army will try to win the battle.
Tactics: Short-term traps/reactions, working with whatever you have to hand. Micro-management: how you think your army will look to be in a better position in the next turn.

Clearly, a well-executed strategy includes tactics. However, I'm just going to illuminate a few well-known tactical tricks here that most Lizardmen players have up their sleeves in one game or another. Having these beauties memorized can really help as strategic pointers - or, if in a 'Eureka moment' you realise you can use one regardless of your strategy and adopt a new, more nasty strategy, can win the game for you. Note: these are only Lizardman-specific ploys. Stuff like drawing out Frenzied troops with skirmishers is obvious and applies equally to all armies.

No. 1: The Funnel-Web Scar-Veteran.
The Funnel-Web Spider is a highly venomous arachnid, which waits in incredible alertness until its unsuspecting prey walks by the trapdoor-covered hole it builds for itself, then leaps out and eats the surprised little insect. This scar-vet ploy is very similar, and is very easy to execute.

It's simple: you have a JSOD. Your opponent has chariots, and knows a JSOD when he sees one (great weapon wielding Saurus on foot outside a unit...). You stick the JSOD in a unit of Saurus - he now looks like a standard infantry-booster. That lumbering great chariot now feels safe, and will start grinding forwards towards your infantry. Bingo! It comes into charge range (if you think it's going to get closer without charging, wait for it, like the spider itself - insure against flee reactions) and you pounce, smashing the chariot into flinders, picking up the model and hurling it against the nearest wall before tossing your head back in a long, ululating howl of triumph... or maybe that's too much. ANYWAY, you now have a 5-attacks-on-the-charge-I-think-I-may-just-smite-ye-with-my-massive-axe-at-S7 Scar-veteran behind their lines... hunt mages, throw him into enemy cavalry flanks, whatever. This should be completely unexpected, so your opponent will not be ready for the Bouncing Uber-Saurus at all if you've played your cards right, and you are free to wreak havoc.

No. 2: Skink Sacrifice

There is a very nice item in the Lizardman inventory - the Gleaming Pendant of Chotec. Activate this (you do it in your combat phase) and your otherwise I1 Saurii or I2 Temple Guard strike first. Problem: your combat phase. Not so great against enemy charges then, eh?

Wrong. Stick a line of cheap ol' skinks in front of your unit - if you have no skinks you need to whack your head against a wall until you snap out of it - and now the enemy's overrun/pursuit move will mean they hit your unit in your combat phase, and you can activate the Pendant. Make sure the character with it is in contact with all possible charging units, as a unit not in contact with him will still strike first due to charging. Now you should be able to tear him apart.

What's more, this ploy works even without the Cube. I'll give you an example

CHARGERS
CHARGERS

SKINKS SKINKS SKINKS

SAURII
SPEARS KROXIGOR

Now the Chargers break through the skinks and stick into your Saurii. It's your turn - before they even get a chance to strike the deadly Kroxigor slam into their flank, triggering a fear test, a panic test and lending their S7 might to the contest. They should flee in Phase 1 - you have 2 units with which to pursue, so stand a decent chance of catching even enemy cavalry - speaking of which, this ploy really gives enemy heavy cavalry a kick in the teeth. Make sure you only use this when the chargers are something really worth killing - Kroxigor are expensive and if it's just a mob of Orcs your Saurii should do fine in any case.

If you use a version of this ploy on either flank, your battle-line should be perfectly capable of taking the enemy charge and immediately folding their flanks, your liberated Saurii smashing into the sides of the central chargers.

No. 3: The Surprise

For this, you'll need either a unit of COR with the Banner of Huanchi, or a unit of Krox joined by a Cold One-riding BSB with aforesaid banner - it depends on your target, as Krox will be far better for munching cavalry. Throw a Saurus block against the front of a unit of enemy heavy infantry - usually entering a protracted combat like this is death for I1 Saurii, but no so! Your Krox/Cav move round the flank, then use the Banner of Huanchi to propel themselves directly in. Nothing can survive that. Alternatively, if you have a Slann hanging around somewhere, use The Wolf Hunts (Beasts) or Unseen Lurker (Shadows) for the same effect.

Wow this is great chili :clap: :thumb: :thumb: :clap: :lol:

Individual Lizardman 'fluff'

Lizardmen are perhaps a more difficult army to personalise fluff-wise than most others: the Slann are really quite characterless, and as they hardly ever speak you can't really break out of the generic mould GW sets. All Saurus care about is war, and they can barely speak outside military terms; the only guys with personalities are skinks and they don't exactly play a role of extreme importance within your army's 'fluff' structure.

The first thing to consider when personalising your army's background is the models and list. Lizardmen probably offer the best capability to make your on-table presence reflect a background without going for a one-sided theme. For example: do your temple-city's spawning ponds favour skinks or Saurii, or maybe even Kroxigor? Your army makeup can reflect both the nature of your city and what the Old Ones intended for it. An army without many skinks could have a majority of Saurus who emerge from its spawning pools, as the temple-city lies to the North and warriors are constantly required to beat off Druchii raids.

Another thing directly linked to the models themselves is colour. Most temple-cities have a 'patron' Old One or two... so reflect this in your colour scheme and the spawnings you select for your Saurii - as a matter of fact, you can also reflect this in your magic items! For example, an army whose primary patron was Chotec might have:

A bright colour scheme
Orange and red feathers on their totems
At least one unit with the Spawning of Chotec
The Scimitar of the Sun Resplendent
The Burning Blade of Chotec
The Gleaming Pendant of Chotec
The Sun Standard of Chotec

D'ye see?

Another thing you can personalise greatly is the history of your characters. While you can't assign too much character to a Slann or an Oldblood, you can actually illustrate what sort of personality they've got by what they've done over the course of their extremely long lives. For example, a Slann may take an agressive or a passive stance over the interference of New Ones along the Lustrian coast, either lobbying other Slann for the shanty towns to be destroyed or declaring that the humans are doing no harm and should not have energy wasted on them. Either kind of character could have participated in countless famous wars, since they live so long, or could have met famous people: I would really recommend trying to get a hold of some of the 5th ed. army book background material for this, as it's really great and contains a lot of in-depth stories which are only passingly mentioned in this spangly, newfangled 6th edition rubbish :P

*poke* Chili....you are required to at least admit that the new 6th edition rules are much much much much better than 5th. And they're not new anymore- only to us old fogies (says the 20-year-old to the 16-year-old...).

Bah! Humbug! I have a mental age of 102 and I'm not admitting anything.

Now where are my pills, dangnabbit?

This is great Chili but you must have put alot of effort into it.

To each their own, I suppose. Me, I'm rather fond of not having to deal with guys in leotards anymore. :)

Silly WWF-hammer.

Great stuff Chili! Twill help me a lot.

what about tichi huichi's raiders (great crested skinks). there not "un-fluffy" and are the hardest cavalry available to southland armies.

:lizard: :lizard:

Feh, a technicality :).

This is mainly a Lustrian tactica, but I'm going to say one thing: don't buy TH either. Horned One riders have access to Spawnings and are cheaper.

don't want to flame your itemguide, but try to avoid L337sp33k and such and correct your spelling...

and in your guide you forgot "Blade of the Revered tsunki", the best can opener in the game, and didn't write about the "Charm of the Jaguar Warrior", the best item in the army, a scarvet with jaguarcharm, GW, BS of sotek and Quatzl and your set for a great magehunter and allpurposechar: NEVER leave home without him.
and a skink chief with jagcharm and dagger of sotek, BS of sotek and scout, you've just made yourself one mean assassin...

This is a Lizardman Tactica, not a Orcs & Goblins pronunciation guide. Please post in English - edit your post to be at least semi-comprehensible or else I'll probably delete it (I can't be bothered to edit it for you, it's too long).

EDIT: Too late... it's gone.

5 jungle swarms cost 300 points

:unsure:

Of course... just... testing you...

Great thxs for the help i really look forward to using some of these things in battle, but it takes a long time to read you know.

Yep. I am thinking of starting a Lizardman army for the Lustria campaign. It'll be my third army, but I don't have much experience playing against Lizzies, as none of the players in my gaming group play Lizzies <_<

- Loran

that is very helpful to know for lizardmen veterans or newbies alike, how long did it take to type ? ^_^