Talk Fantasy Football

Hi eveyone, this is my first post here and I thought I'd ask for some tips playing with Lizardmen.

I've played quite a bit with amazons but other than those I've not really got any experience with any other teams. I'm going to be joining a league and wanted a team that doesn't get beaten up as much as the amazons do so have chosen lizardmen (nothing to do with my obsession with reptiles, honest). There seems to be plenty of information about how to build the team but not all that much on how to actually play them.

My build is going to be 6x saurus, 1x kroxigor, 4x skinks and 2x rerolls. I know most people advise starting with less big lizards and an extra reroll but I quite like the idea of taking all the big lizards, it just looks more fun. The league is going to have a mixture of different races, all at different team values.

So... how do people play them? I've heard some people say to put the skink into a cage and push forwards until he can score. Others say to form a sort of wall along the side line for the skink to run down and others say that it's best not to use the sauruses to block at all and instead just use them to tie up the opposition players.

I've played a few games with them against friends and didn't think that the rerolls were too bad but I haven't been able to find the best way to play them.

I'd love to hear what people think.

By no means an expert with Lizards, only been playing them recently but here are my thoughts:
- You need the extra re-rolls for pick-up, catches and all the two-dice blocks you'll be throwing with your Saurus
- You need spare skinks as they will die. Often.
- I'd suggest dropping the Krox and taking another re-roll and skink. Bear in mind the re-roll will cost double if you don't buy it now.
- Depending on how your first few matches go, you'll want to buy an apo and another skink before trying to save for the Krox. If you do lose Skinks, you can survive with Journeymen until you can afford the Krox. Keep the Apo for protecting any Saurus who skill up.

On offence, you need your saurus to protect your skinks who'll be the ball carriers. Ideally you also want to be dishing out as much damage as possible. Remember you can blitz with a saurus to get rid of his marker before moving him where you need him. I tend to cage with five skinks (or four skinks and a saurus) and use the rest of the team to try and shield the cage from the opponents. Can be worth moving a skink upfield to threaten the hand-off and touchdown. May well end up with an injured skink, but can tie up a couple of the opposition marking him if they can't put him down.
If your saurus get separated from your skinks you'll suffer.

A mid to long term strategic factor is skilling up the saurus.

Without block or damaging skills they may not get many casualties and if MVP is random then it can take a long time for them to get up to their first skill.

If the game is certain to be won (2-0 up with a few turns to go vs a slow team and in possession of the ball) then always try to score with a saurus. At other times you may have to gamble long term vs short term growth. You need to ask yourself if it is worth risking a draw or loss to get some much needed spp's on them?

There are 2 common ways to score with a saurus:
Picking up the ball after the kick off, this works best vs slow teams when the ball is deep in your half as you can have a couple of attempts and not need to use a re-roll if you fail. The good thing about this is can be harder to get the ball off a ST4 player, but you do lose MA and mobility.
The 2nd is near the opposing endzone handing off with a skink, ideally in a cage with a couple of other saurus next to him in the hope of having another go to catch the scatter. You can do this on turn 8 if you are already ahead, but might want to try earlier if the game is a draw as you can always use a skink on T8.

Here was my 1st Lizardman team - https://fumbbl.com/FUMBBL.php?page=team ... _id=679383
You can check out the replays for match tactics. I found them incredibly easy to win with at low TV and now I know how to set up to counter blitzes I reckon I would do much better with them, they went off the rails after the first 30 games.
7 strong boys is the best start by far and you can use loner Skinks no problem, you only need one to win and sometimes not even that.

That is the same lineup I use and as long as it isn't a short season you should be fine. The third reroll should be your top priority, followed by an extra skink or two. Be prepared to accept some skulls when blocking, especially if its just a saurus on the LOS, you need the rerolls for picking up the ball and potential handoffs.

As for how to play them:

Offense against slow teams - after a couple turns of hitting with your big guys and keeping the ball safe try and sneak a skink or two free in scoring range and look for a handoff to them to score.

Offense against agile teams - cage up with saurus's and just moved down the pitch slow and forceful. If things get dicey its nice to still have a skink in scoring range to bail out some bad dice. If you are putting the krox in the cage, make sure to move him early in the turn in case he boneheads and you have to put another saurus to fill his spot.

On defense use your saurus's to bash and your skinks to cover. The saurus's 4STR should put alot of pressure on the cage and it's nice to sneak a skink into their back field to pressure the ball, but don't do it too early or they will just target him.

Try not to let your Saurus's get isolated, if two saurus's are within a tile from one another you can often block the other free, sometimes you may need to use a skink to tie up a square so you can chain push your saurus free. This is especially useful early before you have any break tackle.

One last piece of advice with Lizardmen is I alway prefer to kick if I win the toss. Your high movement forces your opponent to always make sure they have a strong cage which leads to a lot less pieces they can use to hunt your skinks, which is the usual playbook against Lizardmen. Your LOS should be able to take the early blocks with high armor and 4,5,4 STR.

Have fun! and remember to stick your krox next to as many dodgey elves as possible!!!

Have you read the various playbooks? http://www.thenaf.net/resources/playbooks/

If you're so inclined, here's a match of mine with lizards, with me chattering away in the background: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MksUcvK ... 1pJ9s2wAun

The most difficult Lizzie teams I have played against have had 1 or 2 players with Break Tackle.

I too suggest you need 3 RRs at the start. You have no Block and no Sure Hands.

Hope that helps.

I like to think of them as an Ogre team, except.....

The Saurus are better than Ogres because they don't have Bone Head and can have G skills. They are also worse as the have no Mighty Blow and only AG1 (but Ag1 and AG2 are very similar in terms of playing them, you wont rely on them to dodge or catch etc) and they have 1 less ST (but its still 2 dice against a standard S3 player).

The skinks are better than Snotlings as they are super fast and ST2. But they are also more expensive and don't have the ability to be thrown.

Other than that the general tactics for the 2 teams are similar. block with the Ogre/Saurus and score with the Snotlings/skinks.

IMHO

Yep, what these fine upstanding dudes said (kiwis representing!)

Also I'll chuck in:
- i like to screen with the strong guys. That looks more like a line than a box, with skinks acting as corners on the offside part of the cage. Take care not to isolate your Saurus though, as above!
- If you move a skink up to act as an assist, make sure that you do so in a way that he's not in base contact if you roll a push!

Here is a good tip that I use sometimes.
Early in the game I like to leave a Skink blitzable but in a spot where if your opponent blitzes him they take themselves out of position. If they take the bait you know they are one of those guys who always blitz a Skink, which is good info for later, and they have also weakened their position for the drive.

Thanks so much for the tips. The league's a 9 match league but players can keep the same teams into the next season so plenty of time to get the skills if I wanted to. There's likely to be quite a mixture of races, everything from khemri to skaven and team values ranging from rookie 1000 teams up to 2000+ but most will be around 1400-1500.

Thanks Sann, I'll have to watch that video.

There always seems to be a disagreement about starting with the kroxigor or the extra reroll, I'm still not sure what's best.

One thing I was thinking about was where to start skinks on offense. In my practice games I've been keeping them deep in my own half but what do you think about putting a couple of them close to the centre line? I'll keep them protected by a saurus so they can't be blitzed easily but would it be a good idea to have some in that position so that they can get into the opponents half if the fall goes loose or to try to get to the ball carrier? I guess this would work better against slow teams than elves or skaven though.

The best starting roster is Kroxigor, 6 Saurus, 4 Skinks and 2 rerolls.

Having 7 strong, armored players vs 6 makes a major difference for lizardmen. I'd argue the 2 RR build is better. If you lose a skink, loners are fine. You really only need 2 skinks anyway - a ball carrier and a handoff threat.

Yeah it's not even close between the two builds, I can't understand why anyone would even mention the possibility of no Krox.

MattDakka wrote:The best starting roster is Kroxigor, 6 Saurus, 4 Skinks and 2 rerolls.

This.

Also, try to score with the Sauri; getting them all Block is vital, and once they get a 2nd skill (Break Tackle, Guard or Mighty Blow) your life will become so much easier!

I recommend the 'carry with a Skink, hand off to a Saurus near the opponents' endzone' method, when you have a cage/screen around these players and your opponent cannot (watch out for Stunty, Leap and/or Agility 5!) get to the ball even if you fail the hand off (or pickup in subsequent turns), the ball cannot go out of bounds or onto a square next to the sideline/backline, and you have at least one more turn left. When in doubt, score with a Skink, unless the game is already in the pocket.