Clayman on Lizardmen. Part 1.

Hey folks, I am damn sorry about the lack of activity but I've been at my friends' flat for pretty much the weekend. However this does mean you get to pick their brains on Warhammer. So, tonight we have Clayman on Lizardmen. I can't in any way vouch for, sanction, or even say I approve of anything that follows and I apologise in advance. He's kind of abrasive in the same way an exit wound is gory. Still, he's a very good player and he definitely knows more on the subject than myself. So take it away.

*As translated by The Lieutenant. Clayman is a maths student. He's not so good with the words.*

Hi folks. I'm Clayman, I'm more of a 40k player than fantasy, but apparently I'm better at WHFB than I thought.

The only army I have a decent amount of experience playing is Lizardmen, since our group all started new armies for 8th edition, and previously I'd never played Fantasy.

I considered Beastmen but even as a novice I could tell that they weren't the army for me, so I turned my attention to the other races WHFB presents me with. I asked myself: 'What do I like? What characteristics am I looking for?'

And I answered myself, somewhat schizophrenically: 'Big hard blocks of infantry, big monsters the size of my fist, and last, but definately not least, pure magical face-breaking awesomeness.'

Under these conditions, the armies which jumped at me were Daemons and Lizardmen. Tie-breaker: Which army do I think is cooler? For me, its Lizards all the way.

After playing twenty or so games with my Lizardmen, fighting foes ranging from High Elves to, well, Dark Elves, I, and many of my comrades have come to a vital conclusion: Teclis is a wanker. No, in all seriousness, he is a wanker.(Interjection from The Lieutenant: I'm okay with it.)

Really, though, Lizardmen are a top tier army in WHFB, and the remainder of this article will be me trying to explain why I think this. I'll look at my army and explore why it works. First things first, the Almighty Slann.

I equip mine with the Focus of Mystery, The Focussed Rumination, BSB and the Standard of Discipline. This comes to 365 glorious points. Magically, he knows every spell in the lore he chooses(In my case Life, so thats important) and gets 1 free power dice on every spell he casts. I hardly need to mention the fact he's a level 4 wizard. As the army General, LD10 re-rollable. Cold Blooded and the aforementioned points essentially means my army doesn't fail LD tests. Its very hard to kill through anything with a S value, or anything that gives me my 4+ ward. He's in a unit of Temple Guard, which is a major contributing factor to his utter inkillability.

His vulnerability is to spells which require a characteristic test(Dwellers, Crack's Call), and, should one of these spells reach him, I've just lost my General, my BSB, and my Lv4, which causes an irreparable amount of damage to my army. Fortunately, he's never died, seeing as I seem to be incredible at passing those occasional characteristic tests.

So, onto the Engine of the Gods section.(Hero section. But really, Engine of the Gods section.)

Mine has a bare-bones, Lv1 Skink on an Engine.Despite having no bonus equipment, this is only 10pts cheaper than my Slann. On more than one occasion its Gungan Bubble shield(Portent of Warding) has saved my scales, and earned all of those points back. Burning Alignment is, by the way, hilarious to activate in the middle of an MSU Skaven army. (Interjection by Archnomad: And by hilarious, you mean fuck you.) Arcane Configuration. I've used this once, and that was just to prove a point, not because there was any tactical purpose. On top of these cool-ass abilities, it is still an Ancient Stegadon. This means it can take fire at range, but in combat the Skink priest is hugely vulnerable. And of course, if the Priest dies, I lose all of the cool-ass abilities mentioned above.

Onto the wonderfully convenient Core.

I'm Blue, If I Were Green I Would Die.

I didn't realise when I chose Lizardmen that 20 Saurus+Command would be 250pts exactly, but I'm sure as hell glad it is. As you can imagine, my mandatory core is two blocks of these. S and T 4 and 2 Attack each and a 4+ save, these guys pack quite a punch, but they can also take damage in return. However, low WS and I don't help the unit. They're convenient, fairly sturdy and can dish out some decent hurt in combat.

The Temple Guard, on the other hand, were originally put in as an anti-hydra unit (we really really don't like hydras). 2 S5 attacks each and the Banner of Eternal Flame(Flaming attacks) meant they fulfilled this position admirably. As an added bonus, the Slann becomes Stubborn, gets a Look Out Sir, and can't be hit in CC. They're also Immune to Psychology, which means the Slann is safe from stuff like LD bombs, terror (ha!) and fear, but they can't flee. In addition they benefit from Earth Blood(Regenerate). A 3+ save from shooting is nice. This unit is very expensive, and still suffers from low I, but hey, they kick absolute arse in combat as well.

Rare choices, well, lets have another Ancient Stegadon. That's always fun. Combine Impact hits and Thunderstomp, and this baby will crush any infantry into the ground, from Chosen to Skavenslaves. It doesn't care about I, T or armour save in this scenario. It is aptly equipped to deal with any infantry my Saurus aren't.

Finally, last but in no way least, my unit of 3 Salamanders. These guys have amassed a kill-count unforeseen in any game system ever played. The unit gets three flamer templates which are more accurate than the rules would let on, and with the rise of 20mm base armies can be hitting 12 (or more) models a turn each. S3 is a downside, but mass of hits, and -3 to the armour save makes up for this entirely. Since now they can march and shoot, that 12" move up the flank +8" template +Artillery dice means they have a longer range than you might think. They aren't too shabby in combat either, but given that they never get into combat, that doesn't really matter.

Well, I've gone through my army and explained the huge amounts of win which seep out of every pore. Lizardmen are a great army to play, I have a lot of fun with them, and I'd heartily recommend them to anyone.

The one unit I'm dying to try out is Chameleon Skinks, but, children, thats a story for another day.

>>Archnomad here.

Righty folks, there you have it. Clayman's lengthy summary of his Lizardmen Army will have hopefully provided you with an insight to how the thinking player plays Lizardmen, perhaps Warhammer in general. At any rate this is an army which is very different from my own, in that it beats people up in close combat and can't run MSU very well. It can bloody noses with magic like mine (read: better than mine) as well but because of the default (no really) lore choice of Slann it tends to take a more supportive role in the game. Actually it's more like denial than supportive. Go read my lore of life article (http://kavzar.blogspot.com/2010/10/matter-of-life-and-death-part-one.html) for more on it.

In any case Lizzies are definitely an army you should be worrying about if you see your opponent setting them up across from you. Maybe later we'll have an article on how to beat them (it involves purple sun, a shot glass of whisky and a shotgun) but as Clayman says that's a story for another time.

Hope you guys (and girls) enjoyed the article. Also Jurassic Park.

Na na na na na, na na na na na....

;]
Edit;

To clarify, here's the list:

The Lizardmen Army

Lord
Slann Mage Priest
Battle Standard Bearer
The Focussed Rumination
Focus of Mystery
Standard of Discipline
365

Hero
Skink Priest
Engine of the Gods
355

Core
20 Saurus Warriors
Full Command
250

20 Saurus Warriors
Full Command
250

Special
15 Temple Guard
Champion and Standard Bearer
Standard of Eternal Flame
274

Rare
Ancient Stegadon
275

3 Salamanders
225

1994