So as you may have guessed from the title, this post is going to be a quick count down of top 5 favorite spells from the 8 standard lores of magic in WHFB. Now I'm just going to make one thing very clear. The spells you may think are the best spells in warhammer may no be on this list. Hint hint Purple Sun and Pit of Shades. So, let's get going with this list and hope all you Shadow and Death fans don't hunt me down with torches and pitchforks!
#5: Wyssan's Wildform
Yeah, you know it was coming, everybody in the world knew this was coming. Arguably the best signature spell in all of warhammer fantasy, this little gem from the Lore of Beasts is very nearto my heart because of how much it helps both my Lizardmen and Bretonnians compete with other nasty high S and T stuff like Monster Cavalry and elite infantry units like Greatswords and Ogres. The spell is an Augment that has a base casting value of 10+, pretty steep for a Signature Spell but not something that's too big of an issue to deal with. It's also nice that Lore of Beasts is a very effective lore for Level 1 and 2 Wizards, so it frees your Level 4 to take a more direct lore like Death or Life. There are no combat situations that can make this spell ineffective. Especially for hordes, making their quality of their striking power as deadly as the quantity of their hits. One of the first things I do in my magic phases when my army starts to get into combat is put up and/or maintain Wyssan's on my Saurus or Knights. Suddenly S3 and T3 knights on a charge with lances and Wyssan's look a lot scarier than they did a second ago. I guess I'm just going to put it bluntly, for a 10+ casting value, you can boost a targeted unit within 12" gets +1S and +1T. This can be boosted to have a range of 24" for an increased cating value of 13+. Great spell, very accessible and very common in the tournament scene.
#4: Net of Amyntok
The Lore of Light is a very common lore to see, particularly with the Empire able to bring the "Banishment Rape-Train" as it is commonly called. However, I feel like this spell gets overlooked so very much when people discuss the Lore of Light. Sure, Banishment, Bironna's Time Warp, and Shem's Burning Gaze are all great spells that reap serious rewards in terms of what can be measured. Net of Amyntok is not that kind of spell. It's not a spell that inflicts serious damage, but it's what it does to your opponent that makes this spell one of my favorites. Spells like Net and Fulminating Flame Cage are not direct spells, they are tactical ones. These spells, with focus on Amyntok because it's slightly better than Flame Cage I feel, give your opponent a difficult choice. Do nothing with an entire unit for the Movement Phase, or move, shoot, cast spells, etc, and have every model in that unit pass a S test in order to do anything like that. If they fail, the unit takes D6 S4 flaming hits. And if your opponent is Undead or Daemonic, that number skyrockets to 2D6 hits. This is all for a casting value of 10+ and a range of 24". Boost it to have a 48" range for a 13+. My suggestion is too boost in in the 1st magic phase you have to shut down your opponent's early movement phases. It gives your opponent a choice, move to seize or fulfill a tactical necessity or get a bloody nose from a very annoying spell. Also is an effective way of shutting down units acting as bodyguards for casters. This spell and Flame Cage are actually not too aggressive on paper, but they really mess with your opponents head. If you know you're opponent is aggressive, he will move and take the damage. If he's a bit more cautious, he'll stay put and figure a way around it. But it puts a sense of fear into him, making him indecisive if but for a moment. An enemy afraid to act is even better than an enemy who acts too rashly. And that is why I like this spell. This spell has helped me defeat opponents who could have waltzed right over and pounded me to a pulp, but feared taking the damage and did not commit his forces. Even in reality, this failure to act has lead to the defeat of armies that should not have been defeated in the manner in which they were. For more information, look up every general before Ulysses Grant in the American Civil War and for a more world renown example, Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. BTW, use this on Elves, S3 is piss poor to try and make a Strength test.
#3: Searing Doom
If you watch SkavenAZ's channel, he has a segment where he discusses the Lore of Metal and why he finds it ineffective. I understand why he believes this, but I disagree wholeheartedly with him. First off, he plays Skaven, an army not known for having that many impressive armor saves. Against armies like this, yes Lore of Metal is not the most effective lore to use. However, against some of the most competitive armies like Empire, Dwarves, and Warriors of Chaos, Lore of Metal really comes in handy to help kill off the things you don't want to get into combat with. Searing Doom is really the only cut-and-dry spell that outright targets and causes wounds. Basically, this spell wounds on the armor save of the target. So, against Wild Riders and Clan Rats, this has at most a 1/3rd chance of wounding. Against Demigryph Knights and Chaos Knights, it has a 5/6th chance of wounding. In addition, you can't armor save wounds caused by the Lore of Metal and the attacks count as flaming. This now makes Treemen, Tomb Kings, and other such things very very vulnerable. This spell is really my end all and be all solution for Steam Tanks, Demigryph Knights, Chaos Knights, Bretonnian Knights, and all of those other +1 and +2 armor save things, preferably with no ward save. I really like running a Slann on the Lore of Metal. It feels better than just taking High Magic or Life Magic, and leads to some pretty funny things happening when he starts sniping characters and giving Saurus a 2+ armor save. As a Signature Spell, it's worth taking in case you roll up some of the stinkers in this lore. It takes a 10+ to cast and inflicts D6 hits with an impressive range of 24". It can be boosted for a casting value of 20+ for an increased wound infliction of 2D6 hits. Another spell I really like to have, even when playing Skaven. No disrespect meant to SkavenAZ, just disagreeing, and if you would like to disagree with my disagreement, please post below and get a cool debate starting in the comment section.
#2: Okkam's Mind Razor
That's right ladies and gents, it's copout time! I know, I know, this spells is everybody's favorite spell at one point or another. But I mean, come on! Think of it for a minute! You get to use your Leadership as your Strength value in close combat! This totally solves the problems with the Elves. Instead of hitting at S3, you know to get hit a S10. Suddenly you have Lothern Sea Guard just butt-raping things like Steam Tanks and Kadai Destroyers. This also why just another reason on the long list of things I hate about Elves. With a casting value of +18 and range of 18", this spell is definitely a difficult one to cast. especially if you're caster is 36", in which case you'll need to boost it and then cast it on a 21+. Basically you're going to need to 6 dice this spell, and at the right moment. Casting this spell too soon will give your opponent ample time to deal with your forces from a safer distance. The rewards it reaps are totally worth any risk to the caster. This spell can singlehandedly turn the tide of combat like no other. Sure, Wyssan's can help out a lot in grinding situations and when some douche bag Life Wizard is throwing out Dwellers left and right. However, there is a big difference between S4 or S5 and a Strength level equal to your base Leadership. Saurus going from S4 to S5 are not nearly as dangerous as Saurus at S8 or S9. People are terrified of this spell, and it's pretty much the crowning achievement that the dastardly Lore of Shadows has. It's one of the few things that will draw out any amount of dispel dice your opponent can muster. Experienced players who see you roll this spell up will save the dispel scroll until that spell is cast, it's really that powerful people. The only reason I put it at #2 instead of #1 is because unless I'm playing as my girlfriend's Dark Elves, I'm really not too comfortable using Shadow. It's just like Death to me, I never feel quite comfortable using it for some odd reason. However, I am terrified of what this spell can do and if you aren't too, you should be. You should be.
#1: Comet of Casandora
This is the only spell I feel I can effectively argue is the best one in all of warhammer. Now, disclaimer time, I am biased. As a Lizardmen player who started in 7th edition, this was the lore that Skink Priests were pretty much locked into this lore unless you took a special character. As a result, I became very comfortable with using the Lore of Heavens. Don't get me wrong, getting access to Lore of Beasts was the best thing that the 8th edition Lizardmen book gave us, but I was so used to using Lore of Heavens that I started taking my Level 4 Bretonnian Prophetess on Heavens, something many Bretonnian players consider sacrilege. But, hey, it's me people, expect the fucking unexpected, eh! This spell is really my answer to Gun Lines. Playing Bretonnians and Lizardmen, it's often frustrating to deal with people lobbing cannonballs and/or enchanted rocks at you from across the board. At least with my Bretonnians, my Trebuchets and Bowman allow me to at least return a little bit of fire. But what Comet does is defiantly equalize the playing field. Artillery is not meant to be mobile in fantasy, making a fixed impact for a comet a perfect way to destroy enemy artillery pieces. Particularly with the line of sight rules being as they are in 8th, the popular tactic of grouping all the artillery pieces on a hill makes for a deadly mistake when Comet is around. Even in a list with no artillery it's still effective! Need to delay an enemy advance? Plop a marker in front of that nasty horde of enemies. Wanna start a chain reaction of failed panic tests? Hit a unit of Rat Ogres on the flank that causes a brick of slaves to explode. For a 12+ casting value, their is almost no disadvantage to this spell other than a steep learning curve. It's not like any other spell in the game, and thus makes for an intimidating piece if paper. It's difficult to reason through, but when you finally figure it's odd mechanics, you come up with a spell that's second to none. 2D6 S4 hits, at the minimum, within a 2D6" range will kill just about any artillery piece in the game and do some pretty hefty damage to anything else. Especially if the comet doesn't land. Once, twice, when it fails to land two times in a row you can actually pinpoint the location of each drop of perspiration on your opponent's neck. If you need the comet quick fast and in a hurry, 6 dice it for the boosted version. Makes for an increased chance of landing for landing and with more power behind it. Either way, one of the most effective spells for me in all of warhammer and definitely my favorite.
So that's it folks. my first Top 5 List, and definitely not my last. Please comment below if you differ with my opinions and why. Please recommend this blog to any WHFB player you know.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Lizardmen SWOT Analysis
So watching a video of the Sustainable Center doing a SWOT analysis I realized that my favorite army, Lizardmen, need a SWOT analysis of their own in order to help clarify a few things. With Elves dominating the overall meta, the children of the Old Ones place in the game has been thrown into question quite a few times, so I hope that my fellow Lizard players will help benefit from this article and I hope I don't get an angry post from Anthony telling me to stop doing SWOT's, because I really do like the format and organization. However, my lists will not be in any kind of order. They're just there, and if one reason is more important that the others, I will say. So, here it is, my first (and hopefully not the only) SWOT analysis.
Strengths
S1: Core
S4 T4 infantry in the core section. Need I say more? Lizardmen core is deadly to any army because of what exactly it is. Saurus infantry is often comparable to Warriors of Chaos. With a 4+ armor save, 2 attacks, and the option to take hand weapons or spears for no cost at 11 points a piece, Saurus Warriors are a damned steal. Even in the era of Witch Elves and White Lions dominating the land of rank-and-file infantry, Saurus still have a ton of respect from people. Seeing fifty Saurus in horde formation has made a lot people I've played look very nervous. Plus, with the new Predatory Fighter special rule, we get to pump out even more hits! All this, plus Cold Blooded. You might as well be fighting elite Dwarves like Hammerers or Ironbreakers. People often compare Saurus to Warriors of Chaos, but to me, they're more comparable to Longbeards in my humblest of opinions. However, they're not the only thing in the core section of the book. Skinks (both rank-and-file and skirmish) and Jungle Swarms occupy the core section. Skink Cohorts (rank-and-file Skinks) can make a cheap tar pit horde with poisoned range capabilities and if the mixed Kroxigor and Skink unit is your thing, your wlecome to rock that too. Skink Skirmishers are feared widely due to their poisoned ranged capabilities. Skirmishers make great chaff, war machine hunters, and excel at taking out enemy fast cavalry and chaff. In fact in a 5000 point 2 vs 2 game, a unit of 10 Skink Skirmishers I had took out three units of five Ellyrian Reavers on stand and shoot reactions. You can say it was luck, but twenty poisoned shots means something people. Truly, there are no truly poor core choices for the Lizardmen as a whole.
S2: Magic
Oh yes, you know it was coming and for exceptionally good reason too. Even with the Slann taking a huge whack with the nerf-bat, he is still the most powerful generic caster in the game. With access to all 8 standard lores and High Magic (with Contemplations as the Lore Attribute), the flexibility of magical availability is a key aspect of any Lizardmen army. Additionally, the different disciplines available to the Slann make him extra powerful in the magic phase. He can re-roll his first failed dispel attempt each Dispel Phase, save an unused dispel die for the following Casting Phase, and even generate a possible 3+ to a 2+ Ward Save against Magical Attacks just to name a few. While the Slann may have been reduced a bit in terms of power, the Skink Priest definitely got an upgrade in terms of usability. Instead of just relying on Heavens for your level ones and twos, they now have access to Beasts, making it now useful to take multiple Skink Priests. Multiple Skink Priests now means a double increase in range for Direct Damage and Magic Missiles from the Slann. Yes, the Slann can still cast through Skink Priests, provided it is one of the two kinds of spells listed above. Frees you Skinks up to do more than just deal with bullshit chaff and scouting units. In fact, the Slann's ability to project his offensive magic via satellite Skinks can make up for a lack of artillery pieces in the army. Even High Elf Level 4 Lords with the Book of Hoeth know they have met their match when a Slann is across the board from them.
S3: Charcters
Much like Bretonnians, Vampire Counts, and Warriors of Chaos, Lizardmen generic characters are used to do a lot of the heavy lifting that our monsters and Saurus blocks can't do on their own. To be fair, there isn't a generic Hero or Lord level character in the army book that's a bad choice. Slann, Oldbloods, Scar-Vets, Skink Priests, and Skink Chiefs all fulfill a certain niche in the army that when used correctly can reap massive rewards. Oldbloods are insanely good combat lords, and is one of the few generic Combat Lords worth his points. Scar-Vets are an equally good choice, especially now that you can field him on a Carnosaur! Across the board, all the characters have been dropped significantly in point cost, making the Skink Chief an excellent little surprise to stick in a group of Terradons or Ripperdactyls when going artillery hunting! And of course, where would we be without the humble level 1 and 2 wizards casting Wyssan's and Comet like there's no tomorrow? Yes sir, all the generic characters in this book are not only affordable but incredibly utilitarian as well. I've also found that Skink Chiefs work well with block of Saurus. They're able to relatively hold their own in combat and can help mitigate the negative effects of Predatory Fighter in addition to being able to hold magic standards which will free up more points in combat gear for your Oldbloods and Scar-Vets. We also don't have the problem of a multitude of fluffy but non-efficent choices, like Lord level Slayers and Dark Elf Beastmasters. Simple and effective, how Lizardmen like to roll when not using magic!
S4: Monsters
Yes, monsters. Despite being in a very heavy artillery filled meta, monsters still play an important role in the armies of the Old World. Especially if you're an army with arguably no artillery. Lizardmen do not have Great Cannons, we have Salamanders. We do not have Organ Guns, we have Razordons. We do not have Hurricanums, we have Engines of the Gods. We do not have Steam Tanks, we have Bastiladons. Yes, while indeed the army is a bit lacking in terms of the technological department, it makes up in that for bringing biological equivalents to battle. Our monsters, for the most part, are intimidating to see on the battlefield. Stegadons, Bastiladons, Salamanders, and Carnosaurs will terrify the opponent across from you. Monsters mean impact hits and lots of offensive potential that will even put a dead stop to a horde of units. Or for even more destruction, use them to come in support of Saurus blocks. Plus, many units like the Bastiladon, Razordons, and Salamanders act as a portable form of artillery, toting flaming pulses and tons of spikes to use as ranged weapons to wear down enemy units. Bring enough of these, and your opponent will have a difficult time deciding what dino to blast off first. It's not a full proof solution to dealing with artillery, but it's the best thing we have in the current army book. Dragons? Bitches compared to the Carnosaur. Mount an Oldblood on it and revel in the total destruction it wreaks on the enemy!
S5: Special Items
While the newer books have an unfortunate habit of getting rid of most of an armies unique items and severely nerf-batting whatever's leftover, Lizardmen still have a few tricks up their nonexistent sleeve. Like being able to take double dispel scrolls for instance. Okay, it's not really two dispel scrolls, but place a Dispel Scroll on a Skink Priest and the Cube of Darkness on your Slann and viola! Double dispel scrolls. Bretonnia eat your heart out! The Cloak of Feather always seemed to be a good item for a Skink Priest. The little guy can then zoom around the board buffing units with Wyssan's or using Comet to blow up artillery pieces. The Scared Stegadon Helm is also pretty bitching, giving an Oldblood or Scar-Vet D3 impact hits plus adding +1 to his armor. There are lots of other good items, but there (like all 8th edition books) are always going to be a few stinkers. Egg of the Quango, Plaque of Dominion, and the Skanvenpelt Banner are pretty shitty, but we still have a lot going for us in terms of special items that can really help us do things like one-shot enemy characters or shut down magic phases. I will also say this before we go on the Weaknesses section, I miss Cupped Hands of the Old Ones so much! Please Games Workshop! Bring it back in the 9th edition Lizardmen book!
Weaknesses
W1: Initiative
There is nothing in the game, besides Zombies and units with Great Weapons that go after Saurus Warriors. Initiative 1, really? I mean, these are ancient warriors made out of muscle and thick ossified scales who were designed to kill daemons and have been fighting since the beginning of time, who have Initiative lower than Ogres. Just pray to God you're opponent doesn't role up Purple Sun or Pit of Shades, then all your battle line is going to get the shaft because there's no way you're going to roll all 1's. To top that off, they don't even have access to Great Weapons! Really? You're telling me that the Slann, in their infinite god-like wisdom, never thought; "Hm, these Saurus are slow as shit. Maybe we should give them really big weapons that can cause a lot of damage that compliments their slower nature." Temple Guard and Cold One Riders are I2, but that's still slower than most things going into combat anyways. Great, you charged in and are ready for savage smack-down, but by all means allow the opponent to hit first. Against Elves, this is really a problem, because army-wide ASF coupled with ridiculously high I means army-wide re-rolling to-hit. The only thing that protects Saurus is their high T, but against monstrous cavalry and monstrous infantry? That advantage is minimized severally. Either way you look, Saurus are not going to be going first, and as such will have kind of a hard time in combat with faster opponents with higher WS, like Elves.
W2: Range
This one may come out of left-field for some people. I mean don't Lizardmen have those sinister toxic blowpipes and deadly poisoned javelins? Well, yes, but what I mean more is that Lizardmen shooting is lacking very much so in the sense that there is very little that can shoot more that 18". Blowpipes and javelins are 12" weapons, half the range of Dwarf Handgunners and a third the range of Bretonnian Peasant Bowman. The Blowpipes on the Ancient Stegadon are 18", as are the Razordons barbs. The Salamander has a range of an artillery dice (2"-10"+ the length of the flame template) and the more laughable options like the Bastiladon's Arc of Sotek or the Fireleech Bolas used by the Terradon Riders aren't even worth talking about. Only the Bastiladon's Solar Engine really stands out with a range of 24", and that's a bound spell, so it's not really even shooting! Yes, once Lizardmen shoot at you that's when you need to worry, because it's most likely either going to be poisoned or flaming. However, getting within that range is the issue. Cannons, bowmen, and riflemen will just blow your Skinks to bits before you get within range much of time. Making them skirmish and putting them in water terrain can help mitigate this. Still, it's a serious problem not being able to compete with other armies in the shooting phase in the traditional manner. Even armies like Demons and Warriors of Chaos laugh at Lizardmen shooting abilities while they blast us with their damned Hellcannons and Khorne Cannons.
W3: Monster Cavalry?
For an army that incorporates dinosaurs into it, it seems kind of strange that they have no elite shock cavalry on top of big scary dinos, doesn't it? The closest thing we get is Cold One Cav, but they have their own issues and identity crisis to handle with. Lizardmen have no equal to Demigryph Knights or Mournfangs. However, that doesn't mean we don't have an answer for it. For Lizardmen, the answer is almost always magic. Take Metal, or High Magic and swap for Searing Doom, and then blow those nasty cav units to kingdom come. Technically, Terradons and Ripperdactyls are Flying Monster Cavalry but ask a Bretonnian player about how closely Pegasus Knights are related to Demigryphs or Mournfangs. It's comparing apples to shoes and that's the God's honest truth. I really wish GW would've given us some kind of monstrous cavalry in between a Cold One and a Carnosaur to fulfill a much needed role in the army. While for some people who prefer infantry lists, this might not be that big of a deal, but in an overall competitive sense, it raises a few concerns for me as a player.
W4: Rare
The strength of this book lies in the Lord, Hero, Core, and occasional Special sections of the book. The Rare section, that's pretty much a big letdown. When most people are maxing out their allotted point expenditure in the Rare section, Lizardmen just take another horde of Saurus Warriors and be done with it all. The Rare section is comprised of Ancient Stegadons, Razordons, Salamanders, and the Troglodon. If you don't take it as a mount for a Skink Priest or you really like the 4D6 Blowpipes and have the points, the Ancient Stegadon is the only 100% correct choice to make. However, he's very expensive, and as such takes away from the points you may use to buff up some characters or add some nasty surprises from the Special section. The Slamanders and Razordons are unreliable at best, but there will be that one point in the game where they're usable and you'll really wish you had them. Take them if you want, but be warned they will most likely not work out in your favor. I'm not even going to touch the Troglodon because the only thing it's good for is looking pretty. That's it. Seriously, worst thing in the whole fucking list. Or the whole fucking army for that mater. If you see one of these across from you, there are only three reasons your opponent is totting it. A) It's a really nice model and he has it more for personal preference or fluff purposes than anything else. B) Your opponent was high/drunk/retarded when making his list. C) He's making fun of you. Regardless, our Rare section is pretty weak overall, and is definitely a problem I would like to see fixed in the 9th edition book.
W5: Artilley
Lizardmen are clearly supposed to be like the Aztecs and Mayans of the Old World, meaning that in the technological department they are seriously lacking. Lizards do not have catapults, bolt throwers, or cannons of any kind. We have monsters that act as very close ranged artillery. Razordons have Grapeshot abilities and Salamanders act like ghetto Magma Cannons. Much like Monster Cavalry, it's not that Lizardmen don't have the ability to deal with them, it's simply that we completely don't have it in our army's list. We can send Terradon Riders or Skink Swarms or other shit to go war machine hunting with a lot of success. However, we have no shooting for the first round of combat that can take out Daemon Princes or whittle down blocks of Chaos Warriors. This severely hurts Lizardmen when every competitive list has a minimum of two artillery pieces. In fact, apart from Vampire Counts and Beastmen, every other army has war machines of some kind or enough Ballistic Skill shooting to compensate for a lack of war machines. While the lack of war machines does allow us to spend points elsewhere, it is kind of a drag when your at a tournament and the guy next to you is using his Organ Guns to level an Ogre Gutstar while you're unable to accomplish that yourself. Not having artillery is a total drag, but the way Lizardmen play, it's not something that absolutely cripples the army's ability to compete.
Oppurtunities
O1: Skinks and Kroxigor (Skrox)
Before you storm my castle with torches and pitchforks allow me to explain. I hate this unit. To me, it's a one-trick pony that you almost never see in a competitive army list. However, I do see it's potential in certain lists. If for some bizarre reason you want to run an all Skink army, a Skrox unit can make up for not having bricks of Saurus Warriors or Temple Guard to add that extra punch. It also works as a fantastic way to eat up core points. Given you need 8 Skink Cohorts (at 5 points apiece) to get a 50 point Kroxigor, you can very easily eat away 25% of your points with that. In addition to that, it makes Leadership 5 Skinks actually usable. Provided you give them a metric fuck-ton (which is slightly more than an ass-load) of ranks, you'll have a Core unit that's steadfast on Leadership 7, a big improvement over Leadership 5. Plus they get Fear, which for free, that's not too bad. I mean, there's always that one game where Fear totally fucks your opponent. However, what gels all of this together is that both Skinks and Kroxigor are both Aquatic, meaning the best way to use this unit is to get into combat when your enemy is in a swamp, a lake, or better yet, a river. This allows the Skrox unit to remain steadfast while your opponent is not as lucky in this endeavor. Plus, when you're in a river that's constantly damaging whoever is in it, the Skrox unit doesn't care, because it treats it like open terrain! Now, this is getting into the Wood Elf I-need-to-be-in-the-forest hypothetical situation, but it is possible and there is almost always going to be some kind of water terrain that you can stuff this big unit into. Again, I don't personally condone this unit, but I can understand people taking it in certain situations. It's just a lot of points put into a unit that's not going to be 100% effective all the time.
O2: Synergy
Lizardmen have a natural synergy built into them that I can only compare to Orcs and Goblins. Saurus are much like Orcs, both have S4 and T4, with low initiative that make for effective fighting blocks with little skill in terms of shooting. Skinks are like Goblins, relying a lot on their ranged capabilities and numbers to make up for their ineptitude in close quarters combat. This makes for a two-fold army that can be used to put your enemy into a state of confusion. Go after the Skinks and get ripped to shreds with javelins and darts, or go after the Saurus and be in for a long a haul with the bigger tougher lizards. Uncertainty and confusion are really the two main tools you need in your mental Warhammer toolbox. Warhammer is as much a psychology game as it is anything else. Giving your opponent an impossible choice? That's a great thing to be able to do. Regardless, having this in-born synergy between Skinks and Saurus is really a great thing. Instead of just having Elves armed with bows and Elves armed with spears, Lizardmen have two different species designed for doing exactly what they do. It's like having Dwarves for combat and Elves for shooting, it's just wonderful this synergy that Lizardmen have.
O3: Combat Characters
A lot people will tell you that combat characters are dead, and for the most part, they're right. However, that's only true for the so-called "top tier" armies like High Elves, Empire, Ogres, and Dark Elves. Armies that can have Level 4's and level 2's act as huge power players on the board. However, some other armies like Bretonnians, Vampire Counts, Dwarves, and Lizardmen enjoy the luxury of being able to effectively put combat characters in their armies to help mow through enemy units. Lizardmen Oldbloods and Scar-Vets have a ridiculously high stat line for the amount of points. Unlike most armies who at 2000 points and lower are locked into having only one Lord option fully kitted out and equipped with a stat line high enough to bother with turning into a blender, Lizardmen have the ability to do so. One of my favorite kit outs for my Oldblood is what I call the Inverse Bretonnian Lord. He's an unmounted Oldblood with the Armor of Fortune, a shield, the Piranha Blade, and the Other Trickster's Shard. So he's an Oldblood with 1+ Armor Save, a 5+ Ward Save, a -3 to the armor save with every successful wound doing +D3 wounds, and making any successful ward saves rolled against the Oldblood be re-rolled. The total cost comes in at 246 points. So it's a model that can inflict a possible 20 wounds. That will chew the shit through a horde of dudes! He's affordable in a 2500 point list in addition to a Slann Mage Priest. He's also great at one-shotting enemy characters. Sneak in two wounds and bye bye Dwarf Lord. I love it when I go into challenges against Bretonnian Lords or Chaos Lords, because with 1+ Armor save and 5+ ward, it's going to be very difficult to hurt the Oldblood where all he has to do to kill you is simply touch you. I'm sure you'll find a thousand different ways to trick out your Oldblood Scar-Vet on Warseer, but the thing is that the key is their base stat line is really strong enough to go without augmentation from items, items that cost a metric shit-ton of points to field.
O4: Cavalry
While a lot of people think the Lizardmen to be an army based around infantry and magic, and for the most part they would be right. However, Lizardmen cavalry is unique because our terrestrial cavalry acts as both shock and melee cavalry. I think the big thing that scares people regarding Cold One Riders is the Stupidity rule, except Leadership 8 Cold Blooded kind of completely negates Stupidity all together. What you get for 34 points is a Saurus at Initiative 2 and WS4 with a 2+ armor save hitting on S5 on the charge (that's with spears) with 2 attacks mounted on a beast that hits with S4 at WS3 for 2 attacks. Ten of them with full command means 16 S5 attacks (with Predatory Fighter) followed by 10 S4 attacks when on the charge. Cold One Riders are a force to truly be reckoned with because of just how devastating cavalry is. True, it's not as powerful in 8th edition, but unlike weaker cavalry unit in other armies, Cold One Riders can engage enemy units unsupported and still be victorious. Even the Flying Monster Cavalry we have is good! Terradon Riders can bomb the shit out of enemy units with the ability to drop stones and Ripperdactyl Riders are able to inflict lots of casualties very quickly with Killing Blow and Frenzy. Hard to argue with sold logic like that!
O5: Scenarios
Yeah, Lizardmen are pretty flexible as an army when handling situations that may come up in the tournament scene. Don't believe me? Then post below a scenario you can think of that Lizardmen can't handle. Watchtower? Skink Swarms in the tower with Cold Ones and Saurus Hordes backing them up. Battle for the Pass? Line up two hordes of Saurus and one horde of Temple Guard and just march forward. Steamroller baby! Pitched Battle? Bitch please! Lizardmen are an army designed to be flexible. Apart from pretty much artillery and monster cavalry, Lizardmen have a unit/model specifically fit for almost every role. As a result, we can pretty much formulate an army to be effective in a tournament, regardless of the situation. Unless you roll with Lizards like Malorian does with Orcs, then even the dreaded Watchtower scenario shouldn't bother you too much. Personally, the guy who's across from me and doesn't groan when they announce that Watchtower is going to be scenario for this round of the tourney, that's the guy I'm terrified of. Particularly if that guy's rocking High or Dark Elves. Especially if bring my Bretonnians to the tournament (which by the way never going to do that again! Thanks Dave, you smug bastard!)! However, again, Lizardmen can handle tournament scenarios very well because of the inborn synergy in the Lizardmen army.
Threats
T1: Death and Shadow Magic
You know, there's always that guy who brings a Troll Horde from either the Warriors or Orcs book, and then proceeds to bitch and moan when a Skaven Brass Orb, a Pit of Shades, or a Purple Sun takes out every point of his Special/Rare section (Stone Trolls from the OnG book are in the Special section, right?). I hate that guy. I really hate that guy. Why? Because he at least has the option to take a more effective choice in the form of Black Orcs or Chaos Warriors. Me, MY FUCKING ONLY COMPETITIVE CORE CHOICE IS INITIATIVE 1!!!!!... Sorry, just needed to cleanse my rage a bit. Okay, back to the issue. We are one of the few armies that can be destroyed by a single irresistibly cast bomb spell. One can argue that VC's are the same way. I beg to differ because I can't regrow 2D6 Saurus three or four times in a single magic phase. Even with Life Magic, provided your I2 Slann survives the spell, there is no way in hell you are coming back from that. This is something that really makes me mad. I mean, I've played other table top games, and I'm aware that sometimes the dice are just going to fuck me and there's nothing I can do about that. I get that. However, when a single Initiative targeting spell completely destroys a half of my entire army in the first turn of the game, three times in a single day, it can really just grind your gears. Too make things worse, 8th edition has not helped this issue. In fact, it's only made things worse. Now all Elves, Beastmen, Ogres, Vampire Counts, Tomb Kings, Empire, Warriors of Chaos, and Daemons of Chaos can all now just rape me up the ass with magic. Probably more, but I'm too pissed off right now to think of it clearly. Just, just so frustrating. And there's really nothing you can do but give your Slann Becalming Cogitation and pray for the best. It's also not like Shadow and Death are uncommon lores. Those are two of the most powerful lores in all of WHFB. Just, just pure unmitigated frustration.
T2: Defensive Armies
Now, I will eventually post a whole thing on the differences in advantages and disadvantages of playing offensively and defensively. Some armies are designed specifically for one of those styles and some just depend on what your army is comprised of. Lizardmen play counter-offensively. We need to be charged. Our Saurus with spears need to waltz up as close as possible to the enemy, stare him in the face, and wait for him to charge. We're too slow as an army to get into combat on the first, and most likely second turn as well. Offensive armies, like Beastmen and Ogres have a hard time dealing with Saurus hordes because we can drown them in attacks with hordes armed with spears and the Predatory Fighter special rule. We can also outlast them because of Cold Blooded. However, against armies like Tomb Kings and Dwarves, we're suddenly in an uncomfortable situation. Lizardmen can win in combat. However, it's hard for any army to win in a combat after 2-3 rounds of shooting and magic. Especially when there's almost no way to return fire in a similar manner. Gun Lines give Lizardmen a really hard time, and for a number of reasons I've already mentioned, but I just want to warn all those playing Lizardmen and advise those playing against Lizardmen, Gun Lines are no bueno for the Lizards.
T3: Lack of Great Weapons
I love Great Weapons. In this era of Elves where the little bastards are hitting first and re-rolling missed hits anyway, there's no reason to compete with them that way. Instead, of going against ASF high Initiative re-rolling high Weapon Skill Elves, go after their T3. S4 and S5 stuff will just eat Elves. Warriors of Chaos have access to Great Weapons with a lot of their stuff, and thus can still compete against the pointy eared pricks. Units like Tomb Guard and Grave Guard will eat Elves. Lizardmen, not so much. If I could have Saurus at S5, I would take human life for this. Seriously, I would kill for this. And there's no reason not to have it for Saurus. True, our Kroxigor have them, and thus kill almost anything against them with S7. Saurus and Kroxigor are both Initiative 1 anyways. Going last is a forgone conclusion with anything that can kill in combat for Lizardmen. Seriously, GW, give us Great Weapons on Saurus. It would help bring us back into a more competitive light. Or just our Temple Guard. Hell, Tomb Guard and Grave Guard, the Undead equivalent version of Temple Guard, have access to them. I guarantee that if we have access to them in the 9th edition book, that's all you will see is Temple Guard and/or Saurus Warriors with Great Weapons. Unless we get higher Initiative. Hint, hint if you're a GW CEO.
T4: Predatory Fighter
If I didn't mention this, I would probably be hunted down with torches and pitchforks by die hard Lizardmen players and then staked through the heart. Predatory Fighter does have a downside to it. If a unit and/or model has the rule, it cannot choose to restrain from pursuing a fleeing opponent. Unless of course a Skink Priest, Chief, or special Skink Character is within " of the unit. Opponents who plays Lizardmen or know them very intimately will probably be smart enough to exploit this weakness. My suggestion is to keep a Skink Priest on an Ancient Stegadon close by to your engaging Saurus block that will be exposed when it pursues a broken enemy unit. Saurus are tough, but nothing is tough when hit with a flank and/or a rear charge. I've never personally had a problem with this little clause in an awesome rule, but there is the potential for it to be exploited. Word of warning. All those playing against Lizardmen, use this Catch 22. It may come in handy once in a while.
T5: Army Design
In my mind, there are three kinds of armies. Hordes, MSU's, and Gun Lines. Hordes, Lizardmen can do hordes very easily, with huge blocks of Saurus ready to bog anything down with 50+ attacks. MSU, if you're crazy enough to fill your army with Skink Skirmishers for your entire core and your special section maxed out with Terradons and Ripperdactyls, then maybe you can make an annyoing list, but not one that's going to be very competitive. How you can make a Gun Line out of an army designed around no artillery and 12" ranged weapons, I will never know. In essence, Lizardmen are ideally a horde style army specializing in block on block combat grinding action. However, when they try to compete in any other way they face an uphill battle. Armies like Ogres and Elves who best compete with smaller sized elite units give Lizards a harder time. Dwarven and Empire Gun Lines who can just punish Saurus blocks and pick off much needed support units like Slann, Skink Priests, and Skink Chiefs to help reign in our Saurus from effects like Predatory Fighter and help provide nice little perks like Wyssan's Wildform and Hand of Glory to help boost them in combat. Regardless, the backbone of the Lizardmen army are Saurus Warriors. The less and less of them you deploy, the harder time you'll have in a competitive sense. However, fortune favors the bold, so if you come up with an ingenious way to incorporate an MSU style list, then good for you.
So that's all I've got about that folks and please comment bwlow if you have any comments, questions, concerns, or anything else. Sorry I've been gone so long, regrettably real life caught up with me so, yeah, it sucked, but I'm back now!
Strengths
S1: Core
S4 T4 infantry in the core section. Need I say more? Lizardmen core is deadly to any army because of what exactly it is. Saurus infantry is often comparable to Warriors of Chaos. With a 4+ armor save, 2 attacks, and the option to take hand weapons or spears for no cost at 11 points a piece, Saurus Warriors are a damned steal. Even in the era of Witch Elves and White Lions dominating the land of rank-and-file infantry, Saurus still have a ton of respect from people. Seeing fifty Saurus in horde formation has made a lot people I've played look very nervous. Plus, with the new Predatory Fighter special rule, we get to pump out even more hits! All this, plus Cold Blooded. You might as well be fighting elite Dwarves like Hammerers or Ironbreakers. People often compare Saurus to Warriors of Chaos, but to me, they're more comparable to Longbeards in my humblest of opinions. However, they're not the only thing in the core section of the book. Skinks (both rank-and-file and skirmish) and Jungle Swarms occupy the core section. Skink Cohorts (rank-and-file Skinks) can make a cheap tar pit horde with poisoned range capabilities and if the mixed Kroxigor and Skink unit is your thing, your wlecome to rock that too. Skink Skirmishers are feared widely due to their poisoned ranged capabilities. Skirmishers make great chaff, war machine hunters, and excel at taking out enemy fast cavalry and chaff. In fact in a 5000 point 2 vs 2 game, a unit of 10 Skink Skirmishers I had took out three units of five Ellyrian Reavers on stand and shoot reactions. You can say it was luck, but twenty poisoned shots means something people. Truly, there are no truly poor core choices for the Lizardmen as a whole.
S2: Magic
Oh yes, you know it was coming and for exceptionally good reason too. Even with the Slann taking a huge whack with the nerf-bat, he is still the most powerful generic caster in the game. With access to all 8 standard lores and High Magic (with Contemplations as the Lore Attribute), the flexibility of magical availability is a key aspect of any Lizardmen army. Additionally, the different disciplines available to the Slann make him extra powerful in the magic phase. He can re-roll his first failed dispel attempt each Dispel Phase, save an unused dispel die for the following Casting Phase, and even generate a possible 3+ to a 2+ Ward Save against Magical Attacks just to name a few. While the Slann may have been reduced a bit in terms of power, the Skink Priest definitely got an upgrade in terms of usability. Instead of just relying on Heavens for your level ones and twos, they now have access to Beasts, making it now useful to take multiple Skink Priests. Multiple Skink Priests now means a double increase in range for Direct Damage and Magic Missiles from the Slann. Yes, the Slann can still cast through Skink Priests, provided it is one of the two kinds of spells listed above. Frees you Skinks up to do more than just deal with bullshit chaff and scouting units. In fact, the Slann's ability to project his offensive magic via satellite Skinks can make up for a lack of artillery pieces in the army. Even High Elf Level 4 Lords with the Book of Hoeth know they have met their match when a Slann is across the board from them.
S3: Charcters
Much like Bretonnians, Vampire Counts, and Warriors of Chaos, Lizardmen generic characters are used to do a lot of the heavy lifting that our monsters and Saurus blocks can't do on their own. To be fair, there isn't a generic Hero or Lord level character in the army book that's a bad choice. Slann, Oldbloods, Scar-Vets, Skink Priests, and Skink Chiefs all fulfill a certain niche in the army that when used correctly can reap massive rewards. Oldbloods are insanely good combat lords, and is one of the few generic Combat Lords worth his points. Scar-Vets are an equally good choice, especially now that you can field him on a Carnosaur! Across the board, all the characters have been dropped significantly in point cost, making the Skink Chief an excellent little surprise to stick in a group of Terradons or Ripperdactyls when going artillery hunting! And of course, where would we be without the humble level 1 and 2 wizards casting Wyssan's and Comet like there's no tomorrow? Yes sir, all the generic characters in this book are not only affordable but incredibly utilitarian as well. I've also found that Skink Chiefs work well with block of Saurus. They're able to relatively hold their own in combat and can help mitigate the negative effects of Predatory Fighter in addition to being able to hold magic standards which will free up more points in combat gear for your Oldbloods and Scar-Vets. We also don't have the problem of a multitude of fluffy but non-efficent choices, like Lord level Slayers and Dark Elf Beastmasters. Simple and effective, how Lizardmen like to roll when not using magic!
S4: Monsters
Yes, monsters. Despite being in a very heavy artillery filled meta, monsters still play an important role in the armies of the Old World. Especially if you're an army with arguably no artillery. Lizardmen do not have Great Cannons, we have Salamanders. We do not have Organ Guns, we have Razordons. We do not have Hurricanums, we have Engines of the Gods. We do not have Steam Tanks, we have Bastiladons. Yes, while indeed the army is a bit lacking in terms of the technological department, it makes up in that for bringing biological equivalents to battle. Our monsters, for the most part, are intimidating to see on the battlefield. Stegadons, Bastiladons, Salamanders, and Carnosaurs will terrify the opponent across from you. Monsters mean impact hits and lots of offensive potential that will even put a dead stop to a horde of units. Or for even more destruction, use them to come in support of Saurus blocks. Plus, many units like the Bastiladon, Razordons, and Salamanders act as a portable form of artillery, toting flaming pulses and tons of spikes to use as ranged weapons to wear down enemy units. Bring enough of these, and your opponent will have a difficult time deciding what dino to blast off first. It's not a full proof solution to dealing with artillery, but it's the best thing we have in the current army book. Dragons? Bitches compared to the Carnosaur. Mount an Oldblood on it and revel in the total destruction it wreaks on the enemy!
S5: Special Items
While the newer books have an unfortunate habit of getting rid of most of an armies unique items and severely nerf-batting whatever's leftover, Lizardmen still have a few tricks up their nonexistent sleeve. Like being able to take double dispel scrolls for instance. Okay, it's not really two dispel scrolls, but place a Dispel Scroll on a Skink Priest and the Cube of Darkness on your Slann and viola! Double dispel scrolls. Bretonnia eat your heart out! The Cloak of Feather always seemed to be a good item for a Skink Priest. The little guy can then zoom around the board buffing units with Wyssan's or using Comet to blow up artillery pieces. The Scared Stegadon Helm is also pretty bitching, giving an Oldblood or Scar-Vet D3 impact hits plus adding +1 to his armor. There are lots of other good items, but there (like all 8th edition books) are always going to be a few stinkers. Egg of the Quango, Plaque of Dominion, and the Skanvenpelt Banner are pretty shitty, but we still have a lot going for us in terms of special items that can really help us do things like one-shot enemy characters or shut down magic phases. I will also say this before we go on the Weaknesses section, I miss Cupped Hands of the Old Ones so much! Please Games Workshop! Bring it back in the 9th edition Lizardmen book!
Weaknesses
W1: Initiative
There is nothing in the game, besides Zombies and units with Great Weapons that go after Saurus Warriors. Initiative 1, really? I mean, these are ancient warriors made out of muscle and thick ossified scales who were designed to kill daemons and have been fighting since the beginning of time, who have Initiative lower than Ogres. Just pray to God you're opponent doesn't role up Purple Sun or Pit of Shades, then all your battle line is going to get the shaft because there's no way you're going to roll all 1's. To top that off, they don't even have access to Great Weapons! Really? You're telling me that the Slann, in their infinite god-like wisdom, never thought; "Hm, these Saurus are slow as shit. Maybe we should give them really big weapons that can cause a lot of damage that compliments their slower nature." Temple Guard and Cold One Riders are I2, but that's still slower than most things going into combat anyways. Great, you charged in and are ready for savage smack-down, but by all means allow the opponent to hit first. Against Elves, this is really a problem, because army-wide ASF coupled with ridiculously high I means army-wide re-rolling to-hit. The only thing that protects Saurus is their high T, but against monstrous cavalry and monstrous infantry? That advantage is minimized severally. Either way you look, Saurus are not going to be going first, and as such will have kind of a hard time in combat with faster opponents with higher WS, like Elves.
W2: Range
This one may come out of left-field for some people. I mean don't Lizardmen have those sinister toxic blowpipes and deadly poisoned javelins? Well, yes, but what I mean more is that Lizardmen shooting is lacking very much so in the sense that there is very little that can shoot more that 18". Blowpipes and javelins are 12" weapons, half the range of Dwarf Handgunners and a third the range of Bretonnian Peasant Bowman. The Blowpipes on the Ancient Stegadon are 18", as are the Razordons barbs. The Salamander has a range of an artillery dice (2"-10"+ the length of the flame template) and the more laughable options like the Bastiladon's Arc of Sotek or the Fireleech Bolas used by the Terradon Riders aren't even worth talking about. Only the Bastiladon's Solar Engine really stands out with a range of 24", and that's a bound spell, so it's not really even shooting! Yes, once Lizardmen shoot at you that's when you need to worry, because it's most likely either going to be poisoned or flaming. However, getting within that range is the issue. Cannons, bowmen, and riflemen will just blow your Skinks to bits before you get within range much of time. Making them skirmish and putting them in water terrain can help mitigate this. Still, it's a serious problem not being able to compete with other armies in the shooting phase in the traditional manner. Even armies like Demons and Warriors of Chaos laugh at Lizardmen shooting abilities while they blast us with their damned Hellcannons and Khorne Cannons.
W3: Monster Cavalry?
For an army that incorporates dinosaurs into it, it seems kind of strange that they have no elite shock cavalry on top of big scary dinos, doesn't it? The closest thing we get is Cold One Cav, but they have their own issues and identity crisis to handle with. Lizardmen have no equal to Demigryph Knights or Mournfangs. However, that doesn't mean we don't have an answer for it. For Lizardmen, the answer is almost always magic. Take Metal, or High Magic and swap for Searing Doom, and then blow those nasty cav units to kingdom come. Technically, Terradons and Ripperdactyls are Flying Monster Cavalry but ask a Bretonnian player about how closely Pegasus Knights are related to Demigryphs or Mournfangs. It's comparing apples to shoes and that's the God's honest truth. I really wish GW would've given us some kind of monstrous cavalry in between a Cold One and a Carnosaur to fulfill a much needed role in the army. While for some people who prefer infantry lists, this might not be that big of a deal, but in an overall competitive sense, it raises a few concerns for me as a player.
W4: Rare
The strength of this book lies in the Lord, Hero, Core, and occasional Special sections of the book. The Rare section, that's pretty much a big letdown. When most people are maxing out their allotted point expenditure in the Rare section, Lizardmen just take another horde of Saurus Warriors and be done with it all. The Rare section is comprised of Ancient Stegadons, Razordons, Salamanders, and the Troglodon. If you don't take it as a mount for a Skink Priest or you really like the 4D6 Blowpipes and have the points, the Ancient Stegadon is the only 100% correct choice to make. However, he's very expensive, and as such takes away from the points you may use to buff up some characters or add some nasty surprises from the Special section. The Slamanders and Razordons are unreliable at best, but there will be that one point in the game where they're usable and you'll really wish you had them. Take them if you want, but be warned they will most likely not work out in your favor. I'm not even going to touch the Troglodon because the only thing it's good for is looking pretty. That's it. Seriously, worst thing in the whole fucking list. Or the whole fucking army for that mater. If you see one of these across from you, there are only three reasons your opponent is totting it. A) It's a really nice model and he has it more for personal preference or fluff purposes than anything else. B) Your opponent was high/drunk/retarded when making his list. C) He's making fun of you. Regardless, our Rare section is pretty weak overall, and is definitely a problem I would like to see fixed in the 9th edition book.
W5: Artilley
Lizardmen are clearly supposed to be like the Aztecs and Mayans of the Old World, meaning that in the technological department they are seriously lacking. Lizards do not have catapults, bolt throwers, or cannons of any kind. We have monsters that act as very close ranged artillery. Razordons have Grapeshot abilities and Salamanders act like ghetto Magma Cannons. Much like Monster Cavalry, it's not that Lizardmen don't have the ability to deal with them, it's simply that we completely don't have it in our army's list. We can send Terradon Riders or Skink Swarms or other shit to go war machine hunting with a lot of success. However, we have no shooting for the first round of combat that can take out Daemon Princes or whittle down blocks of Chaos Warriors. This severely hurts Lizardmen when every competitive list has a minimum of two artillery pieces. In fact, apart from Vampire Counts and Beastmen, every other army has war machines of some kind or enough Ballistic Skill shooting to compensate for a lack of war machines. While the lack of war machines does allow us to spend points elsewhere, it is kind of a drag when your at a tournament and the guy next to you is using his Organ Guns to level an Ogre Gutstar while you're unable to accomplish that yourself. Not having artillery is a total drag, but the way Lizardmen play, it's not something that absolutely cripples the army's ability to compete.
Oppurtunities
O1: Skinks and Kroxigor (Skrox)
Before you storm my castle with torches and pitchforks allow me to explain. I hate this unit. To me, it's a one-trick pony that you almost never see in a competitive army list. However, I do see it's potential in certain lists. If for some bizarre reason you want to run an all Skink army, a Skrox unit can make up for not having bricks of Saurus Warriors or Temple Guard to add that extra punch. It also works as a fantastic way to eat up core points. Given you need 8 Skink Cohorts (at 5 points apiece) to get a 50 point Kroxigor, you can very easily eat away 25% of your points with that. In addition to that, it makes Leadership 5 Skinks actually usable. Provided you give them a metric fuck-ton (which is slightly more than an ass-load) of ranks, you'll have a Core unit that's steadfast on Leadership 7, a big improvement over Leadership 5. Plus they get Fear, which for free, that's not too bad. I mean, there's always that one game where Fear totally fucks your opponent. However, what gels all of this together is that both Skinks and Kroxigor are both Aquatic, meaning the best way to use this unit is to get into combat when your enemy is in a swamp, a lake, or better yet, a river. This allows the Skrox unit to remain steadfast while your opponent is not as lucky in this endeavor. Plus, when you're in a river that's constantly damaging whoever is in it, the Skrox unit doesn't care, because it treats it like open terrain! Now, this is getting into the Wood Elf I-need-to-be-in-the-forest hypothetical situation, but it is possible and there is almost always going to be some kind of water terrain that you can stuff this big unit into. Again, I don't personally condone this unit, but I can understand people taking it in certain situations. It's just a lot of points put into a unit that's not going to be 100% effective all the time.
O2: Synergy
Lizardmen have a natural synergy built into them that I can only compare to Orcs and Goblins. Saurus are much like Orcs, both have S4 and T4, with low initiative that make for effective fighting blocks with little skill in terms of shooting. Skinks are like Goblins, relying a lot on their ranged capabilities and numbers to make up for their ineptitude in close quarters combat. This makes for a two-fold army that can be used to put your enemy into a state of confusion. Go after the Skinks and get ripped to shreds with javelins and darts, or go after the Saurus and be in for a long a haul with the bigger tougher lizards. Uncertainty and confusion are really the two main tools you need in your mental Warhammer toolbox. Warhammer is as much a psychology game as it is anything else. Giving your opponent an impossible choice? That's a great thing to be able to do. Regardless, having this in-born synergy between Skinks and Saurus is really a great thing. Instead of just having Elves armed with bows and Elves armed with spears, Lizardmen have two different species designed for doing exactly what they do. It's like having Dwarves for combat and Elves for shooting, it's just wonderful this synergy that Lizardmen have.
O3: Combat Characters
A lot people will tell you that combat characters are dead, and for the most part, they're right. However, that's only true for the so-called "top tier" armies like High Elves, Empire, Ogres, and Dark Elves. Armies that can have Level 4's and level 2's act as huge power players on the board. However, some other armies like Bretonnians, Vampire Counts, Dwarves, and Lizardmen enjoy the luxury of being able to effectively put combat characters in their armies to help mow through enemy units. Lizardmen Oldbloods and Scar-Vets have a ridiculously high stat line for the amount of points. Unlike most armies who at 2000 points and lower are locked into having only one Lord option fully kitted out and equipped with a stat line high enough to bother with turning into a blender, Lizardmen have the ability to do so. One of my favorite kit outs for my Oldblood is what I call the Inverse Bretonnian Lord. He's an unmounted Oldblood with the Armor of Fortune, a shield, the Piranha Blade, and the Other Trickster's Shard. So he's an Oldblood with 1+ Armor Save, a 5+ Ward Save, a -3 to the armor save with every successful wound doing +D3 wounds, and making any successful ward saves rolled against the Oldblood be re-rolled. The total cost comes in at 246 points. So it's a model that can inflict a possible 20 wounds. That will chew the shit through a horde of dudes! He's affordable in a 2500 point list in addition to a Slann Mage Priest. He's also great at one-shotting enemy characters. Sneak in two wounds and bye bye Dwarf Lord. I love it when I go into challenges against Bretonnian Lords or Chaos Lords, because with 1+ Armor save and 5+ ward, it's going to be very difficult to hurt the Oldblood where all he has to do to kill you is simply touch you. I'm sure you'll find a thousand different ways to trick out your Oldblood Scar-Vet on Warseer, but the thing is that the key is their base stat line is really strong enough to go without augmentation from items, items that cost a metric shit-ton of points to field.
O4: Cavalry
While a lot of people think the Lizardmen to be an army based around infantry and magic, and for the most part they would be right. However, Lizardmen cavalry is unique because our terrestrial cavalry acts as both shock and melee cavalry. I think the big thing that scares people regarding Cold One Riders is the Stupidity rule, except Leadership 8 Cold Blooded kind of completely negates Stupidity all together. What you get for 34 points is a Saurus at Initiative 2 and WS4 with a 2+ armor save hitting on S5 on the charge (that's with spears) with 2 attacks mounted on a beast that hits with S4 at WS3 for 2 attacks. Ten of them with full command means 16 S5 attacks (with Predatory Fighter) followed by 10 S4 attacks when on the charge. Cold One Riders are a force to truly be reckoned with because of just how devastating cavalry is. True, it's not as powerful in 8th edition, but unlike weaker cavalry unit in other armies, Cold One Riders can engage enemy units unsupported and still be victorious. Even the Flying Monster Cavalry we have is good! Terradon Riders can bomb the shit out of enemy units with the ability to drop stones and Ripperdactyl Riders are able to inflict lots of casualties very quickly with Killing Blow and Frenzy. Hard to argue with sold logic like that!
O5: Scenarios
Yeah, Lizardmen are pretty flexible as an army when handling situations that may come up in the tournament scene. Don't believe me? Then post below a scenario you can think of that Lizardmen can't handle. Watchtower? Skink Swarms in the tower with Cold Ones and Saurus Hordes backing them up. Battle for the Pass? Line up two hordes of Saurus and one horde of Temple Guard and just march forward. Steamroller baby! Pitched Battle? Bitch please! Lizardmen are an army designed to be flexible. Apart from pretty much artillery and monster cavalry, Lizardmen have a unit/model specifically fit for almost every role. As a result, we can pretty much formulate an army to be effective in a tournament, regardless of the situation. Unless you roll with Lizards like Malorian does with Orcs, then even the dreaded Watchtower scenario shouldn't bother you too much. Personally, the guy who's across from me and doesn't groan when they announce that Watchtower is going to be scenario for this round of the tourney, that's the guy I'm terrified of. Particularly if that guy's rocking High or Dark Elves. Especially if bring my Bretonnians to the tournament (which by the way never going to do that again! Thanks Dave, you smug bastard!)! However, again, Lizardmen can handle tournament scenarios very well because of the inborn synergy in the Lizardmen army.
Threats
T1: Death and Shadow Magic
You know, there's always that guy who brings a Troll Horde from either the Warriors or Orcs book, and then proceeds to bitch and moan when a Skaven Brass Orb, a Pit of Shades, or a Purple Sun takes out every point of his Special/Rare section (Stone Trolls from the OnG book are in the Special section, right?). I hate that guy. I really hate that guy. Why? Because he at least has the option to take a more effective choice in the form of Black Orcs or Chaos Warriors. Me, MY FUCKING ONLY COMPETITIVE CORE CHOICE IS INITIATIVE 1!!!!!... Sorry, just needed to cleanse my rage a bit. Okay, back to the issue. We are one of the few armies that can be destroyed by a single irresistibly cast bomb spell. One can argue that VC's are the same way. I beg to differ because I can't regrow 2D6 Saurus three or four times in a single magic phase. Even with Life Magic, provided your I2 Slann survives the spell, there is no way in hell you are coming back from that. This is something that really makes me mad. I mean, I've played other table top games, and I'm aware that sometimes the dice are just going to fuck me and there's nothing I can do about that. I get that. However, when a single Initiative targeting spell completely destroys a half of my entire army in the first turn of the game, three times in a single day, it can really just grind your gears. Too make things worse, 8th edition has not helped this issue. In fact, it's only made things worse. Now all Elves, Beastmen, Ogres, Vampire Counts, Tomb Kings, Empire, Warriors of Chaos, and Daemons of Chaos can all now just rape me up the ass with magic. Probably more, but I'm too pissed off right now to think of it clearly. Just, just so frustrating. And there's really nothing you can do but give your Slann Becalming Cogitation and pray for the best. It's also not like Shadow and Death are uncommon lores. Those are two of the most powerful lores in all of WHFB. Just, just pure unmitigated frustration.
T2: Defensive Armies
Now, I will eventually post a whole thing on the differences in advantages and disadvantages of playing offensively and defensively. Some armies are designed specifically for one of those styles and some just depend on what your army is comprised of. Lizardmen play counter-offensively. We need to be charged. Our Saurus with spears need to waltz up as close as possible to the enemy, stare him in the face, and wait for him to charge. We're too slow as an army to get into combat on the first, and most likely second turn as well. Offensive armies, like Beastmen and Ogres have a hard time dealing with Saurus hordes because we can drown them in attacks with hordes armed with spears and the Predatory Fighter special rule. We can also outlast them because of Cold Blooded. However, against armies like Tomb Kings and Dwarves, we're suddenly in an uncomfortable situation. Lizardmen can win in combat. However, it's hard for any army to win in a combat after 2-3 rounds of shooting and magic. Especially when there's almost no way to return fire in a similar manner. Gun Lines give Lizardmen a really hard time, and for a number of reasons I've already mentioned, but I just want to warn all those playing Lizardmen and advise those playing against Lizardmen, Gun Lines are no bueno for the Lizards.
T3: Lack of Great Weapons
I love Great Weapons. In this era of Elves where the little bastards are hitting first and re-rolling missed hits anyway, there's no reason to compete with them that way. Instead, of going against ASF high Initiative re-rolling high Weapon Skill Elves, go after their T3. S4 and S5 stuff will just eat Elves. Warriors of Chaos have access to Great Weapons with a lot of their stuff, and thus can still compete against the pointy eared pricks. Units like Tomb Guard and Grave Guard will eat Elves. Lizardmen, not so much. If I could have Saurus at S5, I would take human life for this. Seriously, I would kill for this. And there's no reason not to have it for Saurus. True, our Kroxigor have them, and thus kill almost anything against them with S7. Saurus and Kroxigor are both Initiative 1 anyways. Going last is a forgone conclusion with anything that can kill in combat for Lizardmen. Seriously, GW, give us Great Weapons on Saurus. It would help bring us back into a more competitive light. Or just our Temple Guard. Hell, Tomb Guard and Grave Guard, the Undead equivalent version of Temple Guard, have access to them. I guarantee that if we have access to them in the 9th edition book, that's all you will see is Temple Guard and/or Saurus Warriors with Great Weapons. Unless we get higher Initiative. Hint, hint if you're a GW CEO.
T4: Predatory Fighter
If I didn't mention this, I would probably be hunted down with torches and pitchforks by die hard Lizardmen players and then staked through the heart. Predatory Fighter does have a downside to it. If a unit and/or model has the rule, it cannot choose to restrain from pursuing a fleeing opponent. Unless of course a Skink Priest, Chief, or special Skink Character is within " of the unit. Opponents who plays Lizardmen or know them very intimately will probably be smart enough to exploit this weakness. My suggestion is to keep a Skink Priest on an Ancient Stegadon close by to your engaging Saurus block that will be exposed when it pursues a broken enemy unit. Saurus are tough, but nothing is tough when hit with a flank and/or a rear charge. I've never personally had a problem with this little clause in an awesome rule, but there is the potential for it to be exploited. Word of warning. All those playing against Lizardmen, use this Catch 22. It may come in handy once in a while.
T5: Army Design
In my mind, there are three kinds of armies. Hordes, MSU's, and Gun Lines. Hordes, Lizardmen can do hordes very easily, with huge blocks of Saurus ready to bog anything down with 50+ attacks. MSU, if you're crazy enough to fill your army with Skink Skirmishers for your entire core and your special section maxed out with Terradons and Ripperdactyls, then maybe you can make an annyoing list, but not one that's going to be very competitive. How you can make a Gun Line out of an army designed around no artillery and 12" ranged weapons, I will never know. In essence, Lizardmen are ideally a horde style army specializing in block on block combat grinding action. However, when they try to compete in any other way they face an uphill battle. Armies like Ogres and Elves who best compete with smaller sized elite units give Lizards a harder time. Dwarven and Empire Gun Lines who can just punish Saurus blocks and pick off much needed support units like Slann, Skink Priests, and Skink Chiefs to help reign in our Saurus from effects like Predatory Fighter and help provide nice little perks like Wyssan's Wildform and Hand of Glory to help boost them in combat. Regardless, the backbone of the Lizardmen army are Saurus Warriors. The less and less of them you deploy, the harder time you'll have in a competitive sense. However, fortune favors the bold, so if you come up with an ingenious way to incorporate an MSU style list, then good for you.
So that's all I've got about that folks and please comment bwlow if you have any comments, questions, concerns, or anything else. Sorry I've been gone so long, regrettably real life caught up with me so, yeah, it sucked, but I'm back now!
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