Lustrian Tactics

Taken with permission of Skavenblight

Lizardmen armies have many strengths, but within the Army Book lies several weaknesses that opponents who have taken the time to read it will uncover with some thought. Lack of strong cavalry, no war machines of mention, and short missile range. However, with proper foresight, the Lizardman player can bring his army to victory time and time again, and put fear into the little softskins once again.
For those of you that have trouble reading between the lines in the Army Book, or are just starting a Lizardman army, the following guidelines of troop types will give a few details of how they fare in battle.

Slaan Mage/Priest
When you first notice the points cost of these toads, you'll think that there was a typo somewhere along the line. But think carefully about what the Slaan is. General. Mage. Army Standard Bearer. All of these wrapped up in a package that can sustain many wounds and still fight off the best of them. His hand-to-hand abilities, though not up to the par of any other races general, are still formidable. The Slaan generals are an oddity in the Warhammer universe, allowing a Lizardman player the option of a level for him. The lowest level is relatively cheap, and can be beaten by regiments of troops, but the mighty fourth level mage-priest can take on that same regiment and possibly rout it.
With a 4+ special save, and High Magic to boot, the Mage-Priest is likely to stay in the fight. However, he is not unkillable. Instant death cannot be saved, for instance. A Curse of Years or a Frostblade is the doom of your general and most likely your army. You can get around this by not being where the fighting is (i.e. in the back) and just cast spells. If you do take the Slaan-Mage into combat, make sure it is against troops that you know the abilities of. Don't go charging that unit of Goblins until you find out if that is Gork's War Banner in there! A Skull Staff in your army will allow you to determine the magic items of your foes within charge distance. Choose your fights carefully!
Take a level of Slaan that you feel comfortable with. A level of Mage-Priest for each 750-1000 points is more than enough. Make your general the Standard Bearer as well! The ability to reroll using the Slann's Leadership within 12" is a phenomenal power (see the chart below). For magic items, the Amulet of Xapati and the Plaque of Dominion are musts. Make the Battle Standard magic if you want (Banner of Sorcery is nice). Other options are Skull Staff, Bane Head (only use it if the opponent is character-heavy, as it can backfire), and the Amber Amulet.
One other note. If you decide to take another Slaan-Mage, consider giving him Battle Magic spells. Purely offensive, send the one that is not your general into hand-to-hand and let the spells fly. Try to keep this one alive somehow, so that when the time is right, you can trade him the Banishment to use at close range.

Saurus Heroes
These creatures are able to take on some hard characters or troops in hand-to-hand. With 4 Attacks, a Strength of 5 and a Toughness of 5, other armies heroes will be hard put to fight this guy without the use of magic items. Generally, the opponent will get to strike first in hth against you, because of the low Initiative. Items that give you bonus Initiative or the ability to strike first are useful, as well as weapons that give extra attacks. A particularly nasty combination is Sword of Swift Slaying and the Cloak of Feathers. Charge (or be charged), get your attacks, and teleport out before being hit back. Enemy will soon learn to fear this "Ghost Warrior" and will try to take him out with missile fire or spells. DonÕt let them. When you teleport, try to keep him out of fire arcs (i.e. behind cover, other troops, etc.) and out of possible spell range of the opponents mages.

Skink Heroes
Useful when leading units of Skinks, giving them the higher Leadership needed, as well as the extra shot at a higher BS. Magic items for consideration are anything that can keep your skinks alive longer, such as Ruby Chalice (-3 to be hit/-4 in water!) or the Amulet of Fire. Items that allow you to attack enemy at range are useful too, since your Movement can get you in range sooner.

Skink Shaman
Level 1 Battle Magic spellcaster with two magic items, and all of the abilities of a Skink. Cheap for twice the price. Putting this guy in a Stegadon or larger units keeps him alive to make sure he gets to use his spells. Magic Items: Dispel Scrolls, to free up the Slaan for better items, or items that only mages can use, such as Staff of Lightning, etc.

Saurus/Skink Champions
Take as many as you can get. Lizardmen aren't the best fighters in the game, and they need all the help they can get, especially attacks to get rid of pesky enemy. Magic Items suggested: anything that allows your units to survive longer.

Temple Guard
Your elite regiment, these guys can handle pretty much anything but enemy characters. With an effective Strength of 5 in hth, 2 Attacks, and Leadership of 9, these guys are suited exactly for what they are designed: protecting your mage. Since they are the only foot regiment allowed to take a magical standard, do so. Standard of Shielding is useful, since it will give you a 3+ save.

Saurus
Not much to say here. Your basic foot troops, capable of beating up on enemy troops, but not in extended combats. Since charge range is 8", spears are sometimes useful if you are playing a defensive battle. The bigger your rank bonus, the better, since most enemy troops will have a tough time causing wounds to you, and any troop that can is usually much more expensive than these boys.

Skinks
Never, ever, ever take these guys as foot troops or javelin throwers. Javelins have too short of a range, and have the same Strength as a bow with poison, but you will lose more guys getting there. Foot troops, with the ability of having Kroxigor right in the middle of the regiment, look like a good bet, but they are not. Any opponent worth his salt will kill many Skinks with his troops, and kill Kroxigor with heroes. In return, the Kroxigor will kill a few, but the Skinks will do little damage. In the end, chances are that the Skinks will lose and flee. Now, if the Skinks have many ranks, they will hold up that enemy unit for a turn or two, until another regiment gets there, and possibly win. But by that time, most of the Skinks will be gone. If you do decide to take this route, make sure you have many ranks (possibly ten, so lost ranks won't have an effect for a while), and as many Kroxigor as the unit can hold. Without the Kroxigor, the Skinks are doomed with their Leadership of 6. Another option is to take the Skinks as archers with Kroxigor, and use the Kroxigor for the Leadership bonus and to receive charges.

Cold One Riders
Again, Skinks are not good in hand to hand, but these guys are a little different. If charging into an enemy standard regiment (not an elite), they have a good chance of causing enough damage to route them and chase them down. This will be a tricky thing though, since the Skinks still don't fight very well, though the Cold Ones themselves are fair. The fact that the Cold Ones are stupid doesn't help, and with a Leadership of 6 for Skinks, the Cold Ones will be milling about for 32% of the time. If you take them, an option is to use them to chase down fleeing foes, harass enemy from the flanks, or take out war machines. If you are considering Special Characters, Inxi-Huinzi is the one to lead this unit.

Kroxigor
The Ogres of the Lizardman army, with two-handed weapons. Choices for this guy are to take a small unit to help out other units, or to intersperse them with Skinks. Either are viable options; the hard hitting power and Leadership of the Kroxigor lend a bit of leverage to either of these.

Terradon Riders
The flyers of the Lizardman army, they have a few special rules that make them indispensible in appropriate fights. Against armies with war machines and many archers, these troops excel, being able to fly high and then charge down on machines and drop a rock on them. Against armies with flyers though, the Terradons can hold their own, but because of their high points cost, the other army will probably have more flyers and be able to do away with your terradons. Use these troops wisely; attack war machines, engage units from the flank or rear, chase down fleeing foes. Any other encounter will probably end in disaster.

Stegadons
A high points cost model that costs a lot of money to buy. But for the money, you cannot beat the Stegadon. They come from the regiments allowance, have impact hits like chariots, a couple of Skinks on the back, good armor, and incredible Toughness, Strength, and Wounds. Most other armies have to take a monster to get this kind of firepower, whereas your entire army could be these monstrosities! I have never lost a Stegadon in a battle, but I have no delusions about its abilities. Do not send this guy off on his own. He will be quickly attacked by heavy cavalry, war machines, magic spells, and all other sorts of nasty things. The one thing that is wrong with Stegadons is their low Leadership. Even if the enemy causes no wounds, if they have any ranks, standards, or musicians, the Stegadon will probably flee if beaten. Avoid this by putting a banner on the back (Jaguar standard is nice), keep him near you General for the re-rolls and higher Leadership, and wait to charge him in until your other troops have tied up opposing units. Just use the giant bow and skink arrows while waiting; that is what they are there for.

Salamanders
The war machines of the Lizardmen. Very expensive for what they do. Chances are that you will never hit with one, but sometimes they can surprise you. The neat thing about them is that there is no save against the hit, so shooting at large blocks of well-armoured units is a pretty good tactic, though only one Salamander has a limited effect. Try to field in packs to add a little punch.

Monsters
Most of the monsters in the Lizardman list are weak, unappreciated monsters. The Lizardmen don't even get dragons! But if the monsters allowed are used well, they can help out your army tremendously. Use creatures with huge wound scores but are relatively cheap (swarms, giant spider, giant scorpion). These creatures can proceed in front of your army, scuttling at full speed, absorbing missile fire and tying up enemy units until your Lizardman units get there. After a few times of this, your enemy will learn how to deal with this and then you should probably just take more skinks with the points.

SPECIAL CHARACTERS

Once you get past the silly names, the characters are useful, but in limited situations. If not used properly, they will just be a big waste of points. Below I discuss their strengths and weaknesses.

Lord Kroak
You are only able to take Lord Kroak if you have another Slann Mage-Priest in your army. You may be tempted to take a Level 1 General to take him, but this limits your magical abilities. Instead, only take him in high point cost battles (at least 3000+). Lord Kroak excels in hand-to-hand combat, particularly against Undead, but against troops with huge combat bonuses from ranks, standards, etc., he will be hard-pressed. Use him to attack weak units. A good option is to give him Amethyst spells, and trade these with the other mage, possibly giving him the chance to teleport, have toughness ten, or something else disturbing.

Lotl Botl
A Saurus Hero that helps a lot in hand-to-hand. Put him in a large unit of Saurus, and watch him go. With fear and the +1 combat resolution, your Saurus are one step closer to winning. The bad thing about him is the lack of magic weapons or armour.

Kroq
A useful character to take or issue challenges in hand-to-hand. Do not do this against very powerful opponents, since he will not live to get his d3 damage bite. The armour re-roll is extremely useful to attempt to have him survive, but do not rely upon it. Again, lack of magic weapons and armour hurt, but not much.

Itzi-Bitzi
A Skink with a powerful ability. Keep him behind your troops, moving him up to stay behind any of your units that are in hand-to-hand. Use his ability to get rid of annoying enemy, or wait until the last turn and use it so that you get victory points for the broken troops!

Oxayotl
A useful general/mage killer. Make sure you position him right though. Too close and the enemy will turn him into sausage, too far and he isn't effective. He's probably a good choice to take care of other infiltrators, too.

Inxi-Huinzi
Take him, take him, take him! If you are planning on having Cold One Riders, this guy should definitely be there. With the ability to negate stupidity in Cold Ones and the power of his darts and Horned One, he is a must for your army.

Tenehuini
Great to use against Skaven. Against other troops, he is fair. The Totem of Sotek can be used to really annoy your opponents huge units.

Lord Mazdamundi
A Slaan Mage on a Stegadon! Fully capable of devestating hand-to-hand combat, but weak magically. Sure, he has unique spells, but they are of limited use to you, unless playing a campaign. Magic items are nice, but not extraordinary. Spend your points elsewhere for one-off battles. In campaigns, if he is allowed, take him! Destroying castles will point a serious dent in your opponents morale, and make Lord Mazdamundi a target for all sorts of nasty things. Let it happen. While they are trying to beat up on him, beat up on them with your other troops.

Below is a chart that shows the percentage chance that a unit will make a Break or Panic test with various modifiers. This is based upon average rolls, and has no bearing upon the real world. If you consistently roll low or high, then disregard this.

As you will note, even with the three dice Leadership test, the Lizardmen are likely to turn tail and run. Combat bonuses such as standards, musicians, ranks, etc. will help make the penalties less severe and increase the chance that you will continue fighting. Also note that with the Crown of Command in any unit, they use the Leadership 10 line and it is always unmodified. You will only run 2% of the time. This fails you when you least expect it though, so make sure you win the combat! Skinks with Kroxigor use the Leadership 9 line, increasing their tests dramatically. This chart is put here to help you with your army design and fighting style, turning your Lizardman army into an unstoppable force.

TACTICS

You will probably have seen many versions of attack for Lizardmen from various sources. I have used some of these and have met with mixed success. It all depends on who you are fighting and how lucky your dice rolls are. There is one battle plan, however, that has always done well for me though, regardless of who I am playing against and how well I roll. I call this tactic the Flower.

 The setup consists of putting two to three very large (30+) units of Skink archers arrayed across the front, with up to two Saurus warrior units immediately behind. The Mage-Priest is kept towards the middle to insure range for spells, and to his immediate right and left I put a unit of Kroxigor or Stegadons. If I have other units, such as Terradons or Salamanders, I put these where they can move quickly into position to fulfill their battlefield roles.

 Once the game starts, the army moves forward at the fastest speed possible, marching if allowed. The Salamander moves to a position where it can start shooting (i.e. a hill), and the Terradons either fly high or move towards enemy war machines. You have to be careful with this though. If the enemy has flyers that get up high before you, do not fly high. Your Terradons will then be sitting ducks for the enemy. Instead keep them inconspicuous while going towards your enemy's war machines. Hopefully your opponent will charge some other unit. Remember that if a unit of Terradons is charged, they drop their rocks, which are helpful in taking out war machines. Any war machine has the capacity of wreaking havoc on your army, so donÕt give him many chances to do so. When you do attack war machines, donÕt drop the rocks on the machine; drop them on the crew. It is easier to kill the crew than the machine.

 After they have moved far enough ahead, the Flower then starts to bloom. The Skink cover units then move to the flanks and take up positions for shooting, doing so if possible. If your Terradons have been delayed by being charged, do not hesitate to use one of these Skink units to run ahead and try to kill the war machine crews. Skinks archers are very expendable at 5.5 points a piece. The Saurus units still move towards the enemy, always moving at top speed to get into melee. DonÕt worry about charge distances for the enemy. Other than Undead and Dwarves, pretty much anything can dictate when they want to charge you, and you want to be in hand to hand regardless of who charges. The tertiary units Mage-Priest, Stegadons, etc.) move up behind these units, usually to the sides a little bit to provide some support in the next turn.

 If all has gone well, you should be in hand to hand already. Your Saurus have probably taken a beating (while dishing some out themselves), and a lot of Skinks are probably dead. Skink archers should follow the following line of targets to kill: war machines, archers, mages, foot troops, cavalry. This will take care of most of the threat to your force. If you happen to see a character off by himself though, let fly. You may have some luck.

 The Sauruses in hand to hand should need some help; give it to them. Charge Stegadons/Kroxigor into the flanks of units, which causes immense damage and negates Rank bonuses too! (if you have enough models. You need at least 5; so the Stegadon will not do it, but the Stegadon causes enough damage not to worry about it) This should help you rout these units, causing them to flee, and getting your troops even closer to the rest of the army. (When playing Lizardmen, I never try to hold back from pursuing, unless I see some obvious deathtrap waiting for me.

 This battle will eventually end, with you as the likely victor; once the Lizardman steamroller gets going, it is tough to beat. Your opponent may try some odd thing to stymie this attack, but they are usually easy to deal with.

 If your opponent charges one of the Skink units and causes it to break, they can destroy a huge part of your army at once. You may therefore wish to take the Skinks in smaller units (say 10 each) which means that when one unit breaks, the pursuers will clash with the unit behind them, allowing the others to escape. If you use this option however, keep some hard hitting troops near the Skinks to fight off these attackers, since the Skinks can't.

 Your opponent may try to attack the back of your army with flyers. Let them. You can keep any number of cheap troops behind the general to help fight off these attackers. A few swarms, a couple saurus or Kroxigor, a unit of Skinks, even a hero or two can keep these flying things out of your hair.

A Few Other Notes

 I have found that knowing exactly what opponent's armies are capable of is extremely useful. Read their army books. More than once if possible. Read it like you were planning to make one of these armies for yourself. This gives you an idea of what your opponent is likely to do, so you won't be surprised. Knowing that Dwarf Slayers don't break so you don't charge them can mean the difference between a win and a loss.

 It has also been pointed out that Chaos is a sort of thorn in the Liardmans side. The high Weapon Skills, Toughness, Strength and Armour all make them difficult, but not impossible to beat.

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