# so many armies so little cash...



## bob3472 (Feb 20, 2008)

I play empire but I've been thinking of starting another army, (as some of you know, i was leaning strongly towards tomb kings for a while. Sofar TK, Skaven, and Lizardmen have caught my interest. From you wise and experienced players out there, which is the most fun to play?


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## Pandawithissues... (Dec 2, 2007)

Skaven are absolutely awesome to play.

They have so many drastic differences and mechanics to other armies that they are very original to play (if tricky to get a hold of)

Weapons galore, and some hilarious magic lead to a quality experience for both you and your opponent. (Keep on popping those warpstone tokens!)

I couldn't recomend skaven enough. You should read Bill King's gotrek and felix books to really get into the skaven mindset (esp skavenslayer and daemonslayer, so soooo funny).

Lizardmen, well I've never found them much fun to play with or against. They lack a certain je ne cest quois (sp) and have a disappointing likelyhood to be a slann delivery mechanism, which makes for a shit game.

Tomb kings, i've only ever faced. They do appeal in a tactical sense, but I'd ask hespithe/wraithlord (who play TK's) for an educated opinion.


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## asianavatar (Aug 20, 2007)

Lizardmen are totally not a slann delivery mechanism. If you want to play magic heavy than yeah go that way, but its totally not required. You can go all hard hitting fast movement taking coldones and kroxigors, you can even get coldones as core if you take a special character, play the more traditional strategic static lines with saurus blocks in the center and skinks being used for bait and flee as well as screens. 

I have played them for a long time and found that with a few unit swaps they play completely differently. They are also pretty easy to start playing and don't have a huge learning curve, but you can't just charge forward and expect to win.


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## Hespithe (Dec 26, 2006)

My area has some pretty hard armies to contend with, and my son's Lizardmen do very well.

2nd Gen Slaan
Lvl2 Skink Priest
2x20 Saurus w/ Full Command, SoQuetzel
1x10 Temple Guard w/ Full Command
3x12 or so Skinks
1x3 Salamanders

Between the Magic, Shooting, and defensive properties of the Saurus, the army is quite hard, but I would not call it OTT. The local games are usually very very close.

Skaven was my 2nd army in WHFB. It has a ton of good going for it, to include an awesome magic phase, excellent special units (assassins, weapons teams), and some special rules that make the most of the Skaven storyline. A Horde army backed up with Magic and a bit of Shooting can take on nearly any enemy.

Tomb Kings are a flavour all their own. With Incantations instead of the usual Magic Cast/Dispel system, the TKs can be a very very magic heavy army. Using these incantations in synergy with the rest of the armies strengths (Undead = unbreakable and immune to psychology, Fairly Cheap, Relatively Fast for Undead) can make for an army that is in your opponents backfield on turn one destroying his war machines and loose mages. The army works very well both offensively and defensively and like any other army in Fantasy, can be quite stunning.


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## Pandawithissues... (Dec 2, 2007)

I do agree that lizardmen can be played a variety of ways, but the only one that I seem to see is that of a high level slann and little else.

Thanks for pointing out the other lizardmen options AA!


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## Hespithe (Dec 26, 2006)

The other options available to Lizardmen are quite limited. If you want a large centerpiece, you choose a Slaan (competitive, too), Carnosaur (nice, but easily killed), or Stegodon (ok unit, and also easily killed/avoided). If you want a competitive army the Slaan definitely fits, but otherwise you need to stick with Oldbloods and ScarVets on foot with Skink Priest backup. If you want a visually striking army with a nice centerpiece model and a competitive edge, you end up with the Slaan. This was our situation. The other cool models, being both large targets with little to no ward save, made for easy Victory Points and the loss of an expensive unit, usually within the first two turns of the game.

The larger models for Tomb Kings are NOT really their Lords/Heroes, but rather their combat units, such as their Chariots, Tomb Scorpions, Ushabti, and Bone Giants. Any of these units will work well within most lists and can make for an attractive and competitive force.

Skaven really have only a few options for cool centerpiece units, being mostly a horde army. Rat Ogres are always an option, and a small unit on the flank is usually a good idea. The Screaming Bell and Warp Lightning Cannon are both sweet models, but both are iffy in their usage. They can be devastating, or completely worthless, and the Bell ties up a unit of Clanrats or Storm Vermin as well as a Grey Seer to boot. Against an Undead army, the Bell can be usefull, but will rarely be worth the points invested into it. It's best against human armies with lots of Cav and Flyers. The WLC will be off the table on turn one against Tomb Kings with very little problem.

Many people do complain about the abundance of Slaan armies about, but there will continue to be more Slaan than not until the Lizardmen have something equally valuable as both a Character and a Model to compete with it.

Just FYI... I've faced various lists from the Lizardmen Army Book.... most of them with Slaan. I've never been defeated by them either. I can't say the same for Orcs, Daemonic Legions, or High Elves, lol.


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## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

I dont know much about the lizardmen as ive only played them once. I've tried the tombkings but with my inability to remember the magic phase and disorganised mind and over complicated order of magic i wasnt that sucsessful.I was a skaven player for ages but got frustrated with the gw way of the horde armies must have no regard for life whatsoever and loads of rules that ruin careful planning. my main opponent at the time was orc and goblins and our games generaly became a contest to see who could "accidently " kill the most of their own troops


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## Hespithe (Dec 26, 2006)

The top level Skaven spell 'PLAGUE' is my fave, lol. It's right up their with Indigo Fire from the Tzeentch list. With the Plague spell, you have such a destructive spell with which to smite your enemies, but you never know which unit, yours or your opponent's will feel the burn next!


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## jordan_darko (Mar 26, 2008)

imo lizardmen are the most fun to play, because they have lots of really cool fluff for them. JD


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