Tournament Competitiveness - Part 3b

My number three army are the Lizardmen. They can often get overlooked when considering the top armies but to mine, that is a real mistake.

So what do they have that makes them so good?

Well first of all the best Mage in the game. If comp is very light you have the potential to take a Slaan that is great offensively – Loremaster, extra dice per spell, bounce miscast – and also defensively – Becalming Cogitation. Yes, he is expensive but what a platform! Using “Life” magic you get a deck that melds both attack and defense. He can even be your BSB.

In terms of other characters you can build self-sufficient Scar Vets who can fight small to middle sized units on their own. An alternative is the engine which again gives you both offensive and defensive capability.
You also get great Core troops – poison skinks, Saurus blocks, the Skrox units that can’t be stomped – and good special choices such as the rock dropping Terradons that decimate small units (including skirmishers).

The most common Rare choices are double single Salamanders – a steal at 75 points each. The bane of horde units and eaters of chaff. If the comp allows it I would always buy two units.
On top of all this the army is cold-blooded giving you almost total reliability.

So overall, and more than with any other army (Dark Elves are close), I think you get the total package. Complete combined arms ability backed by near certainty. Lizardmen are always my choice of army for new players to the game. Virtually anyone can pick up this army and be competitive in a couple of months.

It’s major disadvantage against the Top 2 is the low initiative of its fighting troops.