# Saurus- hand weapon or spear? Needed ASAP



## kiro the avenger! (Nov 8, 2010)

Not sure if this Is in the right section so feel free to move it If needed but what's best to give my block of 20 saurus out of hand weapons or spears?


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Do you mean hand weapon and spear (as the title) or hand weapon or shield?
I assume you mean hand weapon and shield vs spears.

I would say it depends on how you use the unit, if you have slaan support and what lore the slaan takes.
Generally I would say take shields if you are looking to advance and charge or spears if you want to defend. But all that changes if you have a slaan since different buff spells make different things better/worse...


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## Troublehalf (Aug 6, 2010)

I thought Spears were one handed anyways. Why? Because why allow sheilds to be equiped with spears? Next point, historically, people, humans, could fight with spear and shield... Spartans, Greeks, Carthagians.... so on, so forth.

Furthermore, the Spear does not have the "Two-Handed" description like, say, a Halberd does. So, if I was playing with them, I'd assume they had Shield + Spear, and used them acordingly.

If that isn't the case, it's stupid and an insult to both historical accuracy and the power of the models in the game. There is no major bonus for having a Spear.... you fight in another rank, great, but you also have a shield... wow, an extra armor save.

I got by what is in the Offical Rule Book, and no where does it say a Spear is a two handed weapon, so I assume they thrust with one hand and block with the other.










And that's HUMANS! Saurus are not only bigger, stronger... but they are breed/spawned purely for war. So... they can't hold a shield and thrust with a spear? <_< 

If I ever played a game, I'd ask the opponent to allow it, if it isn't already allowed.


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## mahavira (Jan 10, 2010)

Hand weapon and shield is better, in my experience (from the other side). They already have as many attacks most infantry with spears because the front rank has two. Having fought both wiht spears and without, I have to say that my opponent never said "I wish I'd taken spears with this unit" and has said "I wish I had that ward save".


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## kiro the avenger! (Nov 8, 2010)

For clarfication it's hand weapon VS SPEARS they always have the shield- it must been a miss print Andover corrected it now
And looks like hand weapons now


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## coke123 (Sep 4, 2010)

Spears are better in my opinion, a properly built Lizardmen list is survivable enough, and they need as many attacks as possible in order to mitigate their poor WS.


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## IanC (Sep 3, 2010)

I've been thinking this over actually.

Its extra possible attacks, vs parry save.


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## Ravion (Nov 3, 2010)

I would have to go with hand weapon and shield. Gotta love those parry saves. :biggrin:


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## Grimskul25 (Feb 17, 2009)

Depends on your formation of your saurus unit, if its 5 wide, 4 deep, I would say stick to hand weapon, saurus already hit pretty hard as it is, since ultimately 5 extra attacks won't make that much of a difference and is going to be wasted points most of the time if you're the one who gets the charge since you don't get the attacks, meaning you have to wait for others to charge you.


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## BozlyLittle (Jul 3, 2011)

hand weapons aren't really useful on a saurus warrior regiment not saying useless just not preferred. You have a 4+ Armour save and cost as much as a dwarf that's pretty cheap so judging by that and that alone your going to survive and your going to onslaught with 20 attacks to the front A ROUND! but going back to size a 20 man unit in my opinion not big enough you lose one you just lost 3 combat res take them in 30s and see the effect.


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## Ratvan (Jun 20, 2011)

if you are going lore of life (which to be honest you should be) go spears as you can always resurrect the saurus that perish due to lack pf ward/parry save


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## Mundungu (Jul 23, 2010)

I find that saurus are more about defense than offense and for that reason I use HW/Shield. First, it costs less which allows you to put more models on the field. Second, fewer will die in combat. 12.5% fewer on average, which is not small potatoes. While resurrecting units is possible, odds are you will have multiple units you want to regrow losses from and can only cast it once per magic phase. The shield can make the difference between that second block surviving long enough to be revived or not.


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## blackspine (Jun 9, 2010)

Normally, I'd say 
HW&sh. hands down.

But it depends on the unit and the magic you're taking.

If you take lore of life and give them the regen the lore offers, you'll outperform the 6+ parry save easily. 

To many factors to say, in a vaccum, I'd go w/ HW&Sh as you can get more of these bad boys on the field. 

If you're not taking lore of life w/ slaan, go HW&sh. If you are, you have more options, but as pointed out, you can field more lizards w/ HW&Sh.


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## Troublehalf (Aug 6, 2010)

I have about 140 Saurus Warriors, so it's a bit of a non-question for me.

But it depends, Spears are great at helping block off tough units or annoying ones as you get the rank bonus to help win. However, HW I see more as offensive units, as the extra ranks you get to fight in don't get to use their 2 attacks, they only get to use one. HW units, buffed with LoL allow you to really hold and beat the tough elite units of other armies. Spears are more of a blocking unit IMO. But as I said, I have so many xD


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