Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Lizardmen in 8th edition: Rare

Not much in the way of options in this category.

Ancient Stegadon:
These are a better option than the normal stegadon. Extra strength to make the Thunderstomps and impact hits even better. Extra armor save for a little extra shooting and magic protection. I also like the double blowpipes more than the bolt thrower. Unfortunately, it still gets destroyed by cannons and other warmachines. The real problem with this selection is it uses up your rare points that I personally would prefer to spend on Salamanders. I think these might make it into my list occasionally.

Salamander Hunting Pack:
Love them. 8th edition has made them absolutely fantastic. A unit of skirmishing multi-use breath weapons that can march and fire, hit on partials, and give a -3 to armor saves? Take them. Take more of them. Then take even more of them. These guys are going to wipe out blocks of infantry like nobody's business. They are also useful for getting guys out of buildings. Each template that touches the building is going to inflict D6 hits on the unit and since the attacks are flaming, you'll get to reroll the to wound roll. Not to mention the panic attacks for any wounds caused. They are also slightly more survivable now with the monsters and handlers rule giving them an effective 5+ ward save.

I like unit sizes of 2 as they don't get too expensive for a unit at that point so you can use them as a bait/redirect if you have to. They are also going to be charged because your opponent is not going to leave these guys in his flank to flame him all game. So the smaller units of 2 helps to minimize the points loss when these guys do inevitable end up in combat. I plan to always field at least a unit of two.

Razordon Hunting Pack:
Like them. I don't think they're as good as salamanders but on a good roll, they do have a lot more damage potential. On a bad roll though, they are going to do nothing, and they have the potential to get really hosed on the charge. It's a real trade off with these guys, you'll either get complete crap, average, face meltingly good.

Like the salamanders, at 75 points a pop, I'd run them in units of two. Though three is really tempting for that once in a million turn when your opponent charges them and they unload 60 shots. The main advantage these guys have over salamanders, is they won't necessarily keel over and die when they get charged in combat. With their stand and shoot reaction, you're probably going to take some of the enemy with you. They are also better than salamanders at dealing damage to smaller blocks. Salamanders really only excel if you can get the template on a lot of enemies. The main disadvantage is they aren't nearly as good as salamanders at forcing panic tests or dealing with high armor targets. These guys will probably see themselves show up in my lists as an occasional complement to my salamanders.

This concludes my breakdown of the units. What are people interested in seeing next? A run through of magic items or the magic lores?

6 comments:

  1. Glad to hear someone else is enjoying them!

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  2. Thanks for the overview. Been playing 40k for 5 years, just getting into WHFB, and getting a nice concise overview of the lizardmen choices is really helpful.

    For magic items, I would just highlight the better ones, and some nasty combos-like bane head w/ cupped hands/feedback scroll.

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  3. sallys are definitely back with a vengeance. personally, I love the razordons, but you have to pick and choose your targets. Scouts or fast cav just get absolutely chewed up. Sallys are great for anything that ranks up with decent armor, i.e. dwarves or chaos. you can actually get a lot out of the lizardmen book for 150 points.

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  4. Great series...I'd like to see an analysis of the magic lores when you get a chance. Thanks!

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  5. @mr. blank
    I've never had much luck with razordons myself but I've been meaning to give them more of a shot. We'll see how it goes.

    @Kevin Barrett
    your wish is my command, I'll see what I can do about covering the magic lores next week.

    @Nuclear
    that's a pretty nasty combination! I approve.

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