Lord Mazdamundi:
With a stat line of 4 2 3 3 4 5 2 1 9 and riding atop his trusty Stegadon Zlaaq who's rocking out to a stat line of 6 3 0 6 6 5 1 3 6, Mazdamundi comes with a couple of cool special rules and items that trick him out more than the typical Slann Mage Priest. He's still Cold Blooded, has a 4+ Ward Save, and posses the Telepathic Confabulation (allows Slann to swap spells with each other) special rule like other Slann. However, that's about where the similarities end. He comes base with the following Disciplines of the Ancients: Becalming Cogitation (Slann re-roll's his first failed dispel attempt), Harmonic Convergence (Slann rolls a total of three dice when attempting to channel power or dispel dice), Soul of Stone (Slann can subtract or add one when rolling on the Miscast table), and Transcendent Healing (Rolls a D6 for each missing wound, and on a roll of a 6, he regains it). He also comes with the Mage-Lord of Hexoatl rule, which makes him a loremaster of whatever lore he has access to (the 8 standards and High Magic). He's also Stubborn, and comes with two magic items. The first is the Cobra Mace of Mazdamundi, which makes him ASF and have Poisoned Attacks, in addition to making every enemy model in base contact with him reveal their magic items. If Mazdamundi scores one or more hits on a model that has a magic item(s), then on a roll of a 6 on a D6, all of the model's magic equipment is destroyed and cannot be used for the rest of the game. His second magical item is a Magic Standard called the Sunburst Standard of Hexoatl. This banner automatically makes Mazdamundi the BSB in your army but he can still be the army's General as well. Additionally, once per game at the beginning of the Enemy's Shooting Phase, the standard can generate an ability that makes Mazdamundi and any other friendly models within 12" of him -1 to-hit when shooting at. This effect lasts until the end of the turn. Now, recently there's been a large debate in the Lizardmen community regarding Mazdamundi in End Times rules. Even with our new book, Mazdamundi is still clocking in at 390 Skaven Slaves, meaning in pre-End Times era, he never came out unless Lizardmen were going into a Grand Army. Now, he's become a bit more viable. His magical weapon is amusing, but not really all that viable since he has to actually hit with his abominable Weapon Skill of 2 and only 1 Attack, but Poison does ever so slightly of make up for this. ASF does mean he's negating re-roll to-hit on him though, so something to keep in mind. Him being the BSB is actually something I like, since he's so many points that you have to allocate, it saves you the cost of kitting out a Scar-Vet to do it and allows you to bring some more rank-and-file troops into the army. The Sun Standard is kind of cool, but it's not Razor Standard to be sure. Now another quick thing I want to note is that the few times I've seen Mazdamundi make a tournament appearance, I see him played incorrectly. High Elf and Vampire Count players love taking characters like Teclis and Mannfred Von Carstein because they are very adaptable and can prove to be useful regardless of what army you play, which makes them super competitive in tournaments. Mazdamundi is not. He is a loremaster of a single lore, which means he is going to be more of a chisel and less of a jackhammer in terms of magical performance. If you're taking him to a tourney, then rock him out to High Magic so he can swap for whatever he may need. With his 4+ Save he's pretty well protected, and Zlaaq is going to kick some serious ass in combat, especially on the charge! So he's not the flimsiest character, but he's not Archaon to be sure. If he goes up against a Gun Line, he's probably dead, and he's just so damned expensive! Now he's a badss in the magic phase, don't get me wrong. Mazdamundi can absolutely punish people if they don't stop him, but stopping him is much easier when his ass is on top of a giant target of a dinosaur, and not safely protected behind a wall of Temple Guard. If he were 500 points and not on top of Zlaaq, I would take him more often then I do. The problem is right now, he's too expensive, and just too much of a target for me to fully justify taking him. Which is a shame, because this guy is awesome. He's like Skynet, on a dinosaur, that uses magic! Think about that!
Lord Kroak:
Sitting at 200 Skaven Slaves in cost and having a stat line of 4 1 1 3 5 6 1 1 9, Kroak is an interesting choice. He's got a couple of really weird rules that make him almost viable. He's a Level 4, but only knows one spell, The Deliverance of Itza. It's a DD spell that does 2D6 S4 hits to the target, unless it's Undead, Nehekharan Undead, or Daemonic. Then it does 3D6 hits. It has a range of 12" and a base casting value of 10+. It can be boosted twice, once for 18" at 18+, and again for 24" for a 24+. In addition, he can never lose, forget, or have the spell stolen. He's Cold Blooded (yet dead, and therefore has no blood), causes Fear, has the Mage-Priest Palanquin (look it up if you care), is Unbreakable, and is Flammable. He also has 4 unique special rules that makes him one of the best magical characters in the game. Eternity Guardians makes any Temple Guard he's put in Unbreakable. As if being Leadership 9, Stubborn, Cold-Blooded, and with a re-roll wasn't enough, now Temple Guard will just pulp for days. First Generation Spwaning means he can ignore miscasts on a D6 roll of a 2+, and instead suffer a Strength 6 hit and lose D6 power dice. If he used a Skink Priest as an Arcane Vassel (allows Slann to cast Direct Damage and Magic Missile spells through Skink Priests) it suffers a Strength 6 hit as well. Spirit of Lord Kroak means his Wizard level can never be reduced to below 1. And because he wasn't pimping enough in life, in the afterlife he wears the Golden Death Mask, which is a magical talisman that makes all shooting and close combat attacks directed at Kroak or any unit he is in -1 to-hit. If you were to ask me to chose between Kroak or Mazdamundi as a Slann choice. I personally rather would rick-roll with Kroak. Here's why. He's almost half as many points, is significantly better protected (barring Flaming Attacks of course), and makes Temple Guard really really scary to fight against. Yes, he doesn't actually have any good spells, but Skink Priests bopping around and casting Wyssan's Wildform, Curse of Anrahier, Comet of Casandora, and a ton of other very useful spells can make up for it. Plus, Kroak can use these Skink Priests to target enemies with his spell to whittle them down a little. He's also cheaper than a kitted out generic Slann and has more wounds and Toughness. If you like fluffy lists or running the Kroak-Skink laser beam combination, then this is certainly a character to consider. I like taking him, and when I want to be a little different, I sometimes bust out the greatest of the Slann Mage Priests.
Kroq-Gar:
The one named Combat Lord in the book, Kroq-Gar has an awesome model, can open some serious cans of whup-ass, but he is no longer the tactical powerhouse he was in 7th edition. His stat line is 4 6 0 5 5 3 3 5 8, and he clocks in at 260 Skaven Slaves. He is accompanied by his faithful Carnosaur, Grymloq, who's rocking a stat line of 7 3 0 7 5 5 2 5 5. Kroq-Gar comes base with Light Armor, the Hand of the Gods, and the Revered Spear of Tlanxla. He also has the special rules Scaly Skin (4+), Cold-Blooded, Predatory Fighter, and Sacred Spawning of Xhotl (he and his mount have a 5+ Ward Save as long as Kroq-Gar is alive). Grymloq has the special rules Cold-Blooded, Large Target, Multiple Wounds (D3) Scaly Skin (4+), Swiftstride, and Terror. He also has the rule Attuned to Beasts, which means Grymloq automatically passes his Monster Reaction test if Kroq-Gar dies and becomes subject to a Frenzy that can never be lost. The Hand of the Gods is just an item that allows Kroq-Gar to cast Shem's Burning Gaze (from the Lore of Light) as a power level 3 spell. The Revered Spear is a Magic Weapon that makes wounds caused by it to count double when calcualting combat resolution. There are three big reason you never see Kroq-Gar in a Lizardmen army anymore. First, he is expensive. If you take this guy, you're severely cutting into your Lord allotment. This cuts into problem number two. He is competing with the Slann. As many people may know, Lizardmen players worship the ground their Slann hovers over. To take points away from him is not only a bad tactical decision, but also really bad karma. Thirdly and finally, he no longer makes Cold One Riders a Core option. Back in the day it was possible for Lizardmen to play like Bretonnians. Now, that is no longer possible. He's a great Lord choice if you like combat characters, but he's an investment. He should be taken in a Monster Mash list to make it so he's not the only target that cannons are going to shoot at. I like him, I've played a little with him, but he doesn't always fit into my style of play. Take him at your own risk.
Tehenhauin:
The only Skink option in the entire Lord section, T (I am not fucking typing that name over and over again!) is a very fluffy but pseudo-usable character. He's a Level 3 Wizard who casts out of Beasts and comes with Aquatic, Arcane Vassal, Cold-Blooded, Hatred (Skaven), Immune to Poison, Master of Snakes (T can join Jungle Swarms, becomes Unbreakable if he does this, and allows Jungle Swarms to ignore their Squish! rule), Prophet of Sotek (can upgrade Skinks to have Hatred (Skaven) for 1 point per model), Scaly Skin (5+), Tide of Serpants (He makes an extra D6 Attacks at Initiative 1, Weapon Skill 2, and with the Poisoned Attacks special rule), Blade of the Serpent's Tongue, and the Plaque of Sotek. His stats are 6 6 5 4 3 3 6 3 8, and he can be mounted on an Ancient Stegadon with an Engine of the Gods (the Stegadon can have the upgardes Sharpened Horns and/or Unstoppable Stampede as well). So first off, T's main purpose is to make the Skinks in your army anti-Skaven (never a bad thing in my opinion). It's a very limited and not all that competitive choice, but in a campaign, it can be pretty fun. One of the bad things about T is that he's not quite too sure what he wants to be. Is he a casting character who can sort of fight or is he a fighting-ish character that can kind of cast magic? WS 6 isn't bad, but he's only Strength 4. He's also only Toughness 3 and has a 5+ Armor Save when not mounted. He also does have a 5+ Ward Save in the form of the Plaque of Sotek. His dagger also gives him +1 Strength on the charge and Poisoned Attacks. I've seen him run with a lot of Bastiladons (Ark of Sotek), Jungle Swarms, and Skink/Kroxigor units for a pretty fluffy and difficult to deal with list. However, he violates one of my core rules of Beasts magic. Never take anything above a Level 2 when running Beasts. At this point, his magical potential is wasted, and if you take him over a Slann he cannot stop magic as well as a Level 4 can. On the plus side, he's only 115 Skaven Slaves, meaning he is pretty damned affordable if you want to experiment with taking him. Unless I'm running my Double Trouble Lizardmen Skink List (T and Tetto in the same list), then I usually leave at home. That does it for the Lord section though, so let's move on to the Heroes.
Chakax:
Our first hero and a majorly big disappointment here, Chacky clocks in at exactly 135 Skaven Slaves, and has the following stat line: 4 5 0 5 5 2 3 4 8. He comes with Light Armor, the Star-stone Mace, the Helm of the Prime Guardian, and the Key to the Eternity Chamber. He also comes with the special rules Cold-Blooded, Eternity Warden (re-rolls failed to-hits in combat), Guardians (Temple Guard special rules), Predatory Fighter, Scaly Skink (5+), and Ultimate Bodyguard (if he's with a Slann, the unit is Unbreakable). His Star-stone Mace is a Great Weapon and at the start of ever Close Combat phase the enemy must reveal all their magic items. If Chacky here scores one or more hits on the targeted model with the items roll a D6. On a 5+, one item is randomly selected and then destroyed. His helmet gives him +1 to his Armor Save, and any unit with the Scout special rule cannot move up to within 20" of Chacky. If there are any hidden enemy units (Assassins, Night Goblin Fanatics, Goblin Nasty Skulkers, etc.) their presence must be announced if they come within 20" of Chacky. His magical car keys give him a 5+ Ward Save and his opponent ASL in a challenge. If you are dead set on having a Scar-Vet kitted out for challenging other characters and/or you really want your Slann to have a last line of defense, then Chacky here is your man (or Lizardman for all you haters out there). Other than that, he is REALLY expensive for what he does. Now, as Lizardmen players, we can afford a lot more in our Heroes section because we don't have to take BSB points out of our Hero section. So, we can afford him rather easily. But for what he does, and for the points he costs, he simply is not worth the investment. If he came with a standing 1+ Armor Save, he would maybe be worth his points. As is, I just use his model as the champion in my Temple Guard unit.
Gor-Rok:
More like Gore-Rocks! Seriously, I love this dude! Besides Tetto'eko he's probably the best Hero choice in the book. Coming in with a whopping stat line of 4 5 0 5 6 2 3 4 9, he costs 92 and one half of a Skaven Slave(s), and he is worth every point. In addition to his kicking stat line, he also comes with Cold-Blooded, Predatory Fighter, Stubborn, ITP, and Scaly Skin (4+). He also comes with the special rule Resilient (allows him to treat anything that hits him with Killing Blow, Heroic Killing Blow, or Multiple Wounds as just a single wound on a roll of a D6 on a 2+). His magic items are the Mace Ulumak and the Shield of Aeons. Let's start with the mace, this weapon allows him to re-roll all failed to-hits and his Predatory Fighter rule works on a roll of a 5 and a 6. This makes him better at landing his 4 attacks, and having a chance to do even more damage! The Shield of Aeons gives him +2 to his Armor Save instead of the usual +1, and any enemy model that makes a successful charge against Gor-Rok and ends the Movement Phase in base contact with him must take a Dangerous Terrain test with a -1 modifier. Meaning they fail on a 1 or 2 if they're infantry, or 1-3 as Cavalry. Gor-Rok is the opposite of Chacky, he is designed to wade into his rank-and-file enemies and just slaughter. The amount of attacks he has, the ability to re-roll failed to-hits, and the fact that he has a 2+ Armor Save and a Toughness of 6 that will just laugh at most rank-and-file stuff trying to touch him. I always have a hard time dealing with Undead attrition style armies, which are coming back into popularity with End Times buzzing about. Gor-Rok is a great way to eliminate a horde of Zombies or Skeletons in two turns like it's nothing. Stubborn on top of Cold-Blooded Leaderhsip 8 means he will almost never run from combat, especially in a horde of Saurus.
Tetto'eko:
Here we go. Besides Gore-Rocks, this guys is probably the best possible choice for special characters in the entire book. Tetto'eko clocks in at 92.5 Skaven Slaves and he is a boss. He comes with the following stat line: 6 2 3 2 2 2 4 1 6. He's also a level 2 caster on Heavens magic. Now, the best part of this guy is everything I'm about to explain right now. He has the following rules. Aquatic, Arcane Vassal, Cold-Blooded, Loremaster (of Heavens Magic), and Scaly Skin (6+). So, hold onto your butss folks, because this is where shit gets crazy with old Tetto. First, he has the Herald of Cosmic Events special rule, which makes him do the following. Roll a D6 at the start of each friendly magic phase. On a 1, all friendly wizards must re-roll any power dice that rolls a 6. On a 2-6, all friendly wizards get to re-roll power dice rolls of 1. He also has the Minor Shield of the Old Ones, which just gives him a base 5+ Ward Save. Very, very nice, for reasons we're going to get into later. He's also got the Palanquin of Constellations, which basically means he's like a Slann on a floating recliner, but he joins Skink Cohort units the same way a Slann joins a unit of Temple Guard. In addition, he's got the Eye of the Old Ones, which gives D3 of your units the Vanguard special rule after deployment. Last but not least, he's got the Stellar Staff. This magical piece of wood gives him the ability to re-roll the dice the determines when the comet arrives for the Comet of Casandora spell. Where do we begin? So first of all, let's look at his point cost. Is actually less then a fully kitted out level 2 Skink Priest. So for starters, hell fucking yes! Secondly, this guy is supremely well protected with his 5+ Ward Save and palanquin rules. Now, my only gripe was in the older editions of the army he could go with Temple Guard, but I guess I can't bitch too much. Thirdly, there is so much stuff that this guy does in terms of supporting your army that just more then pays for his point cost. I've moved up 2 units of Skink Clouds with the Eye of the Old Ones, and popped a Daemon Prince the top of Turn 1. Also, the re-rolling the comet arrival is awesome. I've made Gun Lines really suffer because of the immobility of their artillery pieces. If you get the option to, I highly suggest taking this guy. Just don't take him and Gore-Rocks in the same list. Your opponent will punch you. In the face. And you will have deserved.
Tiktaq'to:
Haha! I get it! It's a pun, because it's like the game tic-taq-to!... Jokes like this is why 40K outsells Fantasy by over five times in North America alone. Regardless, this guy is your token flying character. You know, most races have a badass on a flying mount. Louen Leconceur, Karl Franz, Malekith, Drazoah, this list goes on and on. Unfortunately, Tik (again shortening the name, sue me) doesn't even come close to being as useful or as good as any of the guys I've just mentioned. But, he does have one redeeming factor, he's only 65 Skaven Slaves. However, as your about to find out, that's still a little pricey, even at that level. So, his stats: 6 4 5 4 3 2 6 3 7. However, I mentioned he's got a flying mount, and that would be Zwup his, uh, "special" Terradon. Zwup's rocking out to 2 3 0 4 3 2 2 1 3. He comes with the rules Ambushers, Cold-Blooded, Drop Rocks, Fear, Flying Cavalry, Forest Strider, and Scaly Skin (6+). He also comes with the Master of the Skies special rule. This allows you to upgrade one unit of Terradon Riders in your army to have the Ambusher special rule. Eh, we'll talk about it later. He's also got two magic items, the Blade of Ancient Skies and the Mask of Heavens. So first with the sword. This weapon allows no armor saves to be taken against it and in addition when fighting a model with the Fly special rule, you get +1 to-hit. That's an okay weapon, I'll admit it. The Mask of Heavens allows the unit of Terradons that Tik is in to use his own WS, of 4, instead of their own and in addition all enemy models suffer a -1 to-hit penalty when shooting at Tik and his unit. Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and say this. If you have a hard on for ambushing units that can come on, swoop in, and possibly do some damage to an enemy unit then he's a good pick. However, I'm going to point you to two different units. First off, Chameleon Skinks because, well duh! Second off, Ripperdactyl's baby! Now, another really shitty thing about this guy. He has a BS of 5, fucking 5! Does he have any ranged potential at all? Nope! Not even the Fireleech Bolas that other Terradon Riders can get. So, the other thing, the no Armor Saves and +1 to-hit Flying Models? Yeah, let me tell you something right now. Against any of the characters I just mentioned above, or god forbid a generic character on a flying mount will absolutely kick the every living shit out of the All in all, not a big fan. He has some potential. But I'd rather pay 5 points more for Ripperdactlys and take Chameleon Skinks then bother with this guy.
Oxyotl:
Last but certainly not least, this guy, who will go by O because I am not too lazy for all of you. Ha, ha, haha. That and can anyone even pronounce this name? I mean, I know Archwarhammer (look him up, amazing youtuber for warhammer lore and upcoming Total War Warhammer stuff) complains about Archaon being difficult to pronounce, but honestly this is the killer for me. Whatever, I'll just get fried in the comments section below by people who actually bothered looking up the correct pronunciation anyway. O's rocking a stat line of 6 4 6 4 3 2 6 3 7. He's also got the special rules Aquatic, Cold-Blooded, Chameleon (-1 to-hit with ranged attacks) Scaly Skin (6+), Scout, and Sniper. In addition, he has the special rule Master Predator, no, I know what you're all thinking your fucking perverts. This means if Oxyclean here (what? It's still better then Tiktaq'to) doesn't move before he fires his blow pipe (which also has a horrible fucking name) he automatically wounds on a successful roll of a 5+. Basically if he doesn't move, super poison. Sigh, here it is. His only magical item is the Golden Blowpipe of P'Toohee.... Just, just Jesus Christ. Basically, it's a 12" ranged, S3, Poisoned Attacks, Multiple Shots (3). Blowpipe. What do I think? Well, he's a Sniper, and that combined with the Master Predator special rule I think that has the potential to be a threat to characters. He's also only 60 Skaven Slaves, so, not too pricey. But here's the kicker. He's a T3 model with a 6+ armor save in a unit that any sane player is going to try and get rid of early with some kind of Fast Cavalry option. Only, and I mean only, if you play in a meta where people just ignore your Skinks (and good fucking luck to you in that endeavor my friend!) then take him. Other then that, resign yourself to maybe droppping a character or two and most certainly a few artillery pieces and simply pray you took down more then you were with.
So that was it folks, The Good, the Bad, and the Never Used, and to be honest. I really enjoyed doing this one and I hope you like it. Now however that I got my hands on some more army books, I'll be going back to the In a Nutshell series with things like Gut Magic, OnG magic, and Undead magic. Until next time, keep the comments a commin'!
