Building up Lizardmen

[Alarantalara]

After watching several of my games, my son got interested enough to want to play for himself. Since I had a small 500 point Lizardmen army that I wasn't overly interested in, I suggested that as a starting point. We've now played a few games and he's set his sights on bigger games like I play with others (he's borrowed a unit of dwarfs for Dogs of War to push numbers on occasion).

The initial 500 points was:
Skink Chief
12 Skinks with blowpipes
12 Skinks with javelins
2 jungle swarms
3 Kroxigor

To that, we've added:
2 skink priests
3 terradon riders
1 jungle swarm (made by him from epoxy putty)

We've also acquired but haven't yet assembled the old Seraphon start collecting box, granting
12 saurus warriors
8 saurus cavalry - these are next
2 jungle swarms (the snakes that come with the cavalry)
1 saurus oldblood on carnosaur (not really useful yet given the Lord and that above needing to really stretch to reach 2000 points)

He's expressed interest in a stegadon for the bolt thrower and terror as well as Lord Kroak (I'm hoping he settles for a more normal Slann) so those will likely show up eventually. His favourite parts of what he has at the moment are the large numbers of attacks, especially if they're also high strength or poisoned (which is conveniently everything).

He's been reasonably successful, with the caveat that large blocks of infantry are pretty good at grinding down all his units since he hasn't mastered getting flank charges with the Kroxigor yet and the saurus aren't yet available.

So given all that, what would you recommend to round out the army in a way that's fun? He doesn't seem very interested in saurus warriors, though I'm hoping the 12 might help him change his mind, so getting a bunch of them is probably not going to go over well yet. Ideally I'm looking for about 200-300 more points of units to allow him to make some choices about what he wants to take rather than just taking everything every time.

Addendum: I know what I would get, but I'm not him, which is why I want more opinions. Ideally any suggestion would include a reason for why it would be exciting to use.

[Just Tony]

I'd recommend Salamanders. And after that? Salamanders.


Seriously they are one of the best units in the Lizardmen army as far as return on points investment.

I'd also recommend bumping the Swarms up to full if you can find the models for it. Chameleon Skinks are also a rather great unit.


And for me personally? I'd have no less than 2 20 man Saurus regiments armed to taste. Once the Slann shows up, then Temple Guard are a must.

[Alarantalara]

Still no salamanders.

Ended up with the old Lord Kroak model (hooray for unexpected made to order) which will hopefully be mostly used as an ordinary Slann, and chameleon skinks. These are what he found exciting, so since it's his army, that's what we got.

So it's now:
Lord Kroak
skink chief
2 skink priests
oldblood on carnosaur (currently missing a base—I'm lazy about finding these things)

12 saurus warriors with hand weapons
12 skinks with blowpipes
12 skinks with javelins
5 jungle swarm bases

3 terradon riders
8 saurus cavalry
3 kroxigor
10 chameleon skinks

His personal desires are currently some temple guard and a stegadon. I think if salamanders are ever going to make an appearance, he's going to need a reason other than, "they're really good" and instead a reason why they're exciting. Keep in mind that exciting so far has been overwhelming magical power on the most expensive character in the game, rolling lots of dice (kroxigor/blowpipes/swarms), Terror and a bolt thrower for the stegadon (the dwarf army he plays against frequently takes 4 bolt throwers and the dark elves have them too, so they're rather a model here—the organ gun hasn't really shown up to let him see that version of a war machine).

[Just Tony]

Show him that batrep where I scored 26 hits on one of Ashley's units with my 3 pack Salamander unit.

[Alarantalara]

I'll just add a link to that here so I don't have to look for it when the time comes: https://www.classichammer.com/viewtopic.php?t=52

[Kakapo42]

It sounds to me like your son already knows what to get next and you should trust his instincts - Temple Guard and a Stegadon are definitely the best choices to go for next, because they're clearly going to bring him the most joy.

Hunt down a few of them and then get started on the adventures of Lord Kroak as they lead the defence of Lustria, since he is also clearly happy following that particular special character. Maybe throw in a challenge from Thorgrim or Malekith in the next few games, it sounds like he'll probably have a great time with two special characters duking it out.

The only thing I would recommend on top of what he's expressed interest in is to start working on a big temple fortress for the next birthday so he can start defending it in some epic siege games.

[Alarantalara]

It's not quite a fortress, but there will be some Lustria-centric terrain:

IMG_6284.jpg (323.97 KiB) Viewed 3050 times

Getting some temple guard and a stegadon does end up with 1 of almost everything at this point, though the saurus warriors seem to be a bit disappointing without the ranks to decisively win. Ah well, odd box sizes can do that.

Given that, I think my focus is shifting a bit towards suggesting magic items. He's not (yet) a person who will pore through the army book looking for interesting combinations, so ideas for things that do something would be appreciated. Mostly he's been using the diadem of power for bigger magic phases against dwarfs, but I imagine suggestions for what to give the oldblood on the carnosaur to make it more fun (regardless of practicality) would go over well.

[Kakapo42]

The only impractical magic items are the Common Magic Items and ones like the Amulet of Pha-Stah which prohibit taking more. Since there don't seem to be any of the latter in the Lizardmen book you should be OK as long as you avoid the former.

My own recommendations for an Oldblood however:

1. Burning Blade of Chotec - a blade that burns with sulfur, edges so hot the air around them shimmers, smoke trails from the tip, and when the sword strikes it blackens and buckles armour and scorches the body beneath, roasting the Oldblood's foes alive.

2. The Piranha Blade - a sword of living Piranha teeth. 'Nuff said.

3. The Blade of Realities - a blade so sharp it cuts through reality itself.

4. Staff of The Lost Sun - the character levels this deceptively innocuous staff at an adversary and utters the magic word, and zaps them with a beam of burning light.

5. Sacred Stegadon Helm - not applicable for Oldbloods but giving this one to one of his Skink characters seems pretty obvious given he loves Stegadons.

6. Shield of The Mirrored Pool - A shield of dark living water that mirrors and reflects spells thrown at it.

7. Blood Statuette of Spite and Bane Head - two forms of deadly voodoo poppet that he can curse opposing characters with.

8. Dragonfly of QuickSilver - a living metal dragonfly friend that flies forward to spy and scout ahead for its owner.

9. Glyph Necklace - the best Lizardmen Talisman, weaponised bad luck is always useful.

[Just Tony]

https://www.classichammer.com/viewtopic.php?t=36

https://www.classichammer.com/viewtopic.php?t=34

Both of these also highlight the potential of Salamanders. There were more that showcased but I'm possibly behind in typing them up again after the old site data loss.

[Augrimm]

Yep. Salamanders are terrifying. Great at ranged and good enough in CC to eat most hunter units alive.

As for equipping a Carnosaur Rider, we like making him a Hero hunter with: Aura of Quetzl, Blade of Revered Tzunki, light armor, shield, Blessed Spawnings (able to ride, +1 armour save, +1 attack on the charge).