Hi guys, here's two army lists for you to rate. Here's the first:

Oldblood Tezla-Kar- Burning Blade of Chotec, light armour, Enchanted Shield, Glyph Necklace, Sacred Spawning of Quetzl- 228
Scar-Veteran Ara-kor- great weapon, light armour, shield, Charm of the Jaguar Warrior, Aura of Quetzl, Sacred Spawnings of Quetzl & Sotek- 178
Skink Priest Tlacepotl- level 2, 2 dispel scrolls- 150
20 Saurus- full command- 270
19 Saurus- full command- 258
10 Skinks- blowpipes- 60
10 Skinks- javelins- 60
10 Skinks- javelins, Scouts- 70
15 Sacred Saurus- full command, Sacred Spawning of Quetzl- 210
3 Kroxigor- 174
3 Terradons- 105
3 Salamanders- 195

Total: 1958 (I think I typoed on the final points count: it should be 1998 or so)

This list is pretty much your basic straightforward “Saurus block” army, with the three Saurus units marching towards the enemy while the peripherals (Skinks, Kroxigor, Terradons and Sallies) take care of eliminating enemy artillery, countering enemy peripherals, etc. The only real downside to this list is that it’s vulnerable to magic (only 3 dispel dice, sadly enough), and if I’m not careful, a firepower-heavy army like Elves, Dwarfs or Empire might mulch my poor Saurus before they get into combat. As such, I’ll probably be using my faster units to weaken the enemy enough for my Saurus to get into the fray and finish them off.

(And yes, I know, Saurus tend to struggle against rock-hard combat armies like Chaos and Dwarfs – I’ve found this out firsthand. In those cases, I’ll be trying to give them the full support of my Kroxigor and JSOD)


List #2:

Oldblood Tezla-Kar- Burning Blade of Chotec, light armour, Enchanted Shield, Glyph Necklace, Sacred Spawnings of Quetzl and Tepok- 248
Scar-Veteran Ara-kor- great weapon, light armour, shield, Charm of the Jaguar Warrior, Aura of Quetzl, Sacred Spawnings of Quetzl & Sotek- 178
Skink Priest Tlacepotl- level 2, 2 dispel scrolls- 150
Skink Priest Ixcotl- level 2, Cube of Darkness- 140
19 Saurus- full command- 258
19 Saurus- full command- 258
10 Skinks- blowpipes- 60
10 Skinks- javelins- 60
10 Skinks- javelins, Scouts- 70
3 Kroxigor- 174
3 Kroxigor- 174
3 Terradons- 105
3 Salamanders- 195

1837

Pretty much the same concept, with Saurus blocks forming the core of the force (I’m trying to keep my lists friendly, so no “skirmishy horde of doom” for me). However, I’ve eliminated the Sacred Saurus in favor of another Skink Priest and some more Kroxigor, and added a Spawning of Tepok to the Oldblood for an extra dispel dice. This way, 6 power dice and 5 dispel dice give me decent magical power, and the Kroxigor are pretty good as fast-moving sledgehammers on my flanks. I was tempted to take a second unit of Terradons instead for eliminating enemy skirmishers, fast cavalry, artillery, etc, but I just figured that the JSOD could already fill that role anyway.

One quick question: what do you think I should add to the list to fill up the remaining 163 points? One thing I was thinking of doing was getting rid of a unit of Krox and throwing two units of 10 Saurus (for a total of 240 pts) to give me some MSU flexibility. Any thoughts?

Oh, and a quick question: what do you think is better, keeping your general on foot or making him a JSOD? I’m asking, because I’m beginning to realize that most of the Lizardmen units tend to range far ahead of the Saurus, and having a JSOD general to generate LD8 for them can come in handy. On the other hand, a lone JSOD is much more vulnerable to enemy attentions than one backed up by a full unit of Saurus: with no “look out sir” roll, it’s a lot easier for any sniping cannon or bolt thrower to bag a rather expensive Oldblood. What are your thoughts?

The first list is 1958. I checked. I’d recommend spending the 42 points left over on bulking out your skink units, as more skinks are always nice. Conversely, the second list on my calculator comes to 2070pts, so needs cutting down.

On both lists: I would avoid a footslogging Oldblood at all costs, for one overriding reason: the enemy can and will do the same. With M4 and pinned in a cumbersome, broad-based regiment that is already expensive and a very tough proposition in combat, he makes his unit desirable to avoid, and it was already very easy to avoid as well. People don’t take on Saurus characters in units, or if they do, they do so on their own terms.

Making the general the JSOD lets you get that Ld8 out where it can do some good; it makes the JSOD a scarier proposition (with T5, A5, an extra wound and an extra 50pts of magic item allowance, an Oldblood JSOD is most opponents’ nightmare, as he is much harder to take down and quite a lot more dangerous in hth than his Scar-vet counterpart). Most bolt throwers etc. will just bounce off his T5 and ward save, or else only do 1 or 2 wounds before he closes with their crew and cuts them down like dogs – the only weapons that really stand a chance of taking him down are cannons, and not only are they only usable by two armies, but they also tend to have a tricky time hitting such small targets with the cannon shooting rules. It also frees up that Scar-veteran to do a vital job that should be done in all Saurus block armies – Battle Standard Bearer.

Seriously, if you are using more than 20 Saurus, I would say you should ALWAYS take a BSB. It’s a 25pt upgrade that makes your units’ effective Leadership somewhere in the realm of 15, and makes up for the fact that, without Temple Guard, your Saurus will be outclassed by the real elites of other races, as you really couldn’t give a monkey’s about losing combats by one or two – they have to win by three or four before you’re even breaking a sweat. On top of that, the BSB gives you a combat character to enhance your Saurus blocks who the enemy will probably not be so terrified of as to avoid entirely, but who still lends you 4 (or 5 with Sotek) S5 attacks, and the ability to plonk Huanchi’s Blessed Totem or a War Banner in your Saurus unit. Add that to the fact that in 7th the Battle Standard bonus stacks with the unit standard bonus… and you realise you have a big bucket full of reasons to take him.

So, my recommendation would be this:
1. Modify the first list, not the second. Two units of Saurus do not form a line: they form an easily outmanoeuvred blob. Three units are broad enough to keep the enemy in front of you. Plus, it’s under points, whereas the second list is over.
2. Change the Oldblood to a JSOD: Glyph Necklace, Jaguar Charm, Light Armour, Shield, Great Weapon, Sotek, Quetzl, Tepok. Costs 20-odd points more, but you have the spare points, and now he smashes chariots and is practically bulletproof.
3. Change the Scar-vet to a BSB: Banner of Huanchi, Sotek, Quetzl, Light Armour. Again, a little bit more expensive, but we still have enough spare points to cover the expense.
4. Change the Spawned Saurii to Sotek, and stick the BSB with them. The BSB bonus means they now have the same static CR as your other units, and the magic banner means they will actually be pretty dangerous as they will be able to pull surprise charges, deploying a hideous number of attacks.
5. Play around with whatever space you’ve got left to see if you can fit any more offensive peripherals in to back up the Saurii, as right now you have a good core of warriors, but perhaps not enough troops that can pull counter-charges (hammer and anvil usually being the tactic that Saurii are best suited for). I would have my eye on the Terradons, whose role is perhaps a little superfluous what with them thar scouts and the JSOD, and perhaps the Level 2 upgrade on the Priest (remember, 7th ed… your dispel caddy shouldn’t really be casting unless he likes being blown to tiny pieces when he rolls a double one). If you can, a second unit of Krox would be grand; even better would be a Steg (although for that probably some more significant sacrifices would have to be made).

Hmm, good advice, Chili. I'll try switching around to the JSOD Oldblood and Scar-Vet BSB and post the revised list.

On the Sacred Saurus: yes, I could go for Sotek, but . . . .fluff-wise, my temple-city leans more towards Quetzl. Plus, I like 3+ save infantry.

Well, if you do stick with Quetzl the War Banner would probably be a better bet than the Blessed Totem on the BSB - what with the stacked banner bonuses for the unit standard and the battle standard, that would give a lot of static CR, which emphasises their defensive strengths.

Aight, here's the revisions upon following Chili's advice:

Oldblood Tezla-Kar- great weapon, light armour, shield, Glyph Necklace, Charm of the Jaguar Warrior, Sacred Spawnings of Quetzl, Sotek & Tepok- 262
Scar-Veteran Ara-kor- battle standard bearer, light armour, War Banner, Sacred Spawnings of Quetzl & Tepok- 172
Skink Priest Tlacepotl- 2 dispel scrolls- 115
19 Saurus- full command- 258
20 Saurus- full command- 270
10 Skinks- blowpipes- 60
10 Skinks- javelins- 60
10 Skinks- javelins, Scouts- 70
15 Sacred Saurus- full command, Sacred Spawning of Quetzl- 210
3 Kroxigor- 174
3 Kroxigor- 174
3 Salamanders- 195

2015

As you can see, I'm quite a few point over: I'll have to either drop a scroll, a Saurus or two, or (gasp!) maybe some unit champions. Either that, or I could always drop a unit of Krox and bring the Terradons back.

Even though the idea makes you gasp, I think dropping unit champions is the best choice. Champs are in my opinion much overrated, especially considering that Saurii already have 2 attacks each. On the other hand, a scroll can be tide-turning and so can one full rank.

Yes, but they do have great utility in challenges... to shield characters, stop big monsters from taking huge chunks out of your unit, and generally mess about with the enemy's heroes. And an extra attack is always handy.

Myself, I would drop the musicians, if I had to drop anything. Dropping two musicians (say on the BSB's unit and the unit of 20) would sort things out.

Incidentally, I would move one of the Saurii from the spawned unit to the unspawned unit of 19, so that that unit can keep its full rank bonus once the JSOD leaves it.