Lizardmen in 8th edition: Special

I'm not sure how much I like Lizardmen special choices in 8th. They all have a use but only in a support role. I'm not sure you can really build an army around any of them.

Chameleon Skinks:
I think these guys got a pretty good boost with 8th edition. They can deploy anywhere at least 12" from the enemy now, line of sight doesn't matter. In 7th, I used to have a hard time finding a place I could actually put these guys that wasn't my own deployment zone. Now it's easy to place them and in some scenarios, it's incredibly easy to drop them in the opponent's backfield. They can march and shoot now making them an immediate threat from turn 1 that your opponent has no choice but to deal with. As scouts they can also be used to prevent placement of your opponent's scouts and hinder your opponent's vanguard moves.

These are the only skinks that can move and double shot without losing their poison. They are twice as effective as the regular skirmishers (with regards to damage output) and only 5 points more. They're also at an additional -1 to hit making them difficult to kill once they get around behind your enemy's blocks. That's a steal and I'd recommend taking at least one unit of 10-12.

Terradon Riders:
These guys got a mixed bag of changes with 8th edition. Since man sized no longer matters for the skirmisher shooting penalty, these guys are now harder to shoot at. The line of sight changes however mean it's a lot harder to hide them from enemy shooting though so you're going to need it. One thing to keep in mind is that wings don't count for line of sight purposes. Your opponent needs to be able to draw line of sight to the body of the model. The vanguard move they get also helps negate the line of sight issue by helping them reach the opponent's backfield much quicker than they could have in 7th edition. With proper planning and if your opponent isn't careful, you could be dropping rocks on turn 1. I think these guys are still useful but I don't know that I'd take more than one unit

Temple Guard:
I like these guys in 8th quite a bit. In 7th edition I always had trouble with the front rank dying and not getting enough attacks back. That isn't a problem any more. They are better than saurus warriors with higher weapon skill and also higher strength. Since they can't use their shields in close combat and with their light armor, they have the same armor save as saurus warriors in close combat, even though they can't use their shields.

Like the Saurus Warriors, these guys are a great target for a lot of the new spells your Slann can field. Taking them with a Slann makes them virtually Unbreakable though non-combat resolution leadership modifiers are something you will need to be aware of with the changes to Stubborn. Immune to Psychology makes this less of a problem but it is still a concern. The other thing to keep in mind is that this unit will be demolished if your Slann miscasts. Be VERY wary of this as the miscast not only wipes out the expensive temple guard, but it will leave your slann undefended.

Cold One Cavalry:
Heavy cavalry is a bit of a mystery to me in 8th edition. I'm not really sure they're any good. I personally will not be taking these guys very often. There are a few things that are clear though. These guys will not break infantry blocks by themselves. They just don't have the damage output on their own and they are too expensive to ever negate Steadfast. I can see pairing them up with infantry blocks of your own. Run these guys into the flank, an infantry block into the front, and hope your block is able to negate steadfast. These guys do have quite a bit of killing potential (especially with spell support) so I won't rule them out yet.

I think they should be run in units of at least 5. Possibly go to 7 wide as they will be striking last and are bound to take missile fire on the way as well. I think they might also be a great melee character delivery system for some extra oomph in combat.

Kroxigor:
Everything I said about Cold One Cavalry also applies to these guys with the exception of character delivery. They have extra strength from their great weapons so are better against heavily armored infantry and heavy cavalry. They will always strike last but have extra wounds to help them weather your opponents attacks. However, they have the same toughness and a worse armor save than cold one cavalry.

The key advantage these guys have over Cold One Cavalry is Skinks. Stick these guys in a unit of skinks and suddenly most of their downsides disappear. Your opponent is going to get extra combat resolution from killing the skinks, but now you have a flanking unit that can negate ranks and possibly help negate steadfast. Your kroxigors that you took for damage output are fully protected in combat and have excellent protection from shooting. While I'm not sure it will work, this is the only way I see these guys being useful.

Stegadon:
I don't like Stegadons at all. It's a big giant target that your opponent is going to fire everything at. If he has warmachines, the crew is as good as dead, and so is the stegadon. It comes with a bolt thrower, which can be incredibly useful, but I really don't think you'll get a chance at more than 2 shots with it.

It does have Thunderstomp now which is very nice. It means that once it's in combat, it's actually going to do some damage. It's also never going to flee from combat due to Cold Blooded and Stubborn so once you hit something with it, that unit will be there for a while. I personally won't take them.