3000 point game vs an unknown army

Out of these two lists, I'd probably play the Lizardmen list.

I think that it has more potential to deal with these armies and unlike the Dwarfs, who would totally rely on their cannons to win them the day. Plus, the Dwarf list is trying to mix a high-offensive with gunline build. Once your Slayers are gone, not much holding the enemy back from your guns.

The Lizardmen list needs a little work though.

I have found the best build for my Oldblood on Carnosaur is this:

Oldblood (140) - Carnosaur (220), Loping Stride (15), Bloodroar (25), Other Trickster's Shard (15), Glittering Scales (25), Dawnstone (25), Fencer's Blades (35) = 500

That will give you Terror, make him reroll successful ward saves, -1 to Hit, WS 10 and a re-rollable armor save. This means he'll only be able to hit you on 5s and then have to wound you on 4s most of the time. There MIGHT be a few Ogre Tyrants with GWs that could reduce your armor save significantly, but most of the time, it'll be just fine. The WS10 will also make it really hard for him to even land a hit. Add in the fact that you'll be causing Terror, that can make you a VERY hard target! He will have a natural 4+ from Scaly Skin, +2 from being mounted on a Carnosaur, +1 for the Glittering Scales (and make you -1 to Hit). That brings you to a 1+ armor save. It also frees up your hands for the Fencer's Blades (paired weapons - NOT additional hand weapon) which will give you WS10! The one thing that this build lacks is a ward save, but I've found that most people who have a character capable of actually harming this guy will have kitted them out with the Other Trickster's Shard as well, significantly reducing the effectiveness of a ward save. Those kind of character are designed to kill and the best way to stop them is to make it really hard to even hit you. They usually rely on high strength or ASF and rerolls to kill you. They don't usually think about not being able to even hit.

Something else to consider is switching your Skink Priests to Lore of Beasts. A spell like Pans' Pelt can make your Oldblood a nightmare. Plus, Heavens won't really be effective against Ogres or WoC. They can laugh off a Comet blast and if he brings Skaven, your monsters and normal troops can more than deal with their numbers or low leadership values (Terror anyone?) Besides, you already have Tetto'eko in your list.

Which brings me to my next point. Where will Tetto'eko go? You'll want to have him protected well. Your Slann will be ethereal (Watch out for Deamon Princes!) so you've got him covered (but be careful with your placement of him), but the placement of Tetto'eko as well as your two Skink Priests could leave you thin on your available units for cc. You are already rather low on combat units. Hopefully you will have some heavy magic phases and can do a good bit of damage with them. The Oldblood should be able to deal with your problematic characters.

Fencers blades is cool but usually means no shield and ward save. I realllllly like it on a Slaughtermaster :-)
Ahum...not your army

I'm a fan of the fencers blades. It's a great piece of defensive kit (yes, I consider it a defensive weapon) for something like a wizard especially, as making them harder to hit is a way you can bypass the "take no armor" limitation.

On the oldblood though; I would argue that being T5 with a 1+ armor save is pretty tanky as it is and instead take a great weapon or an ogre blade. It's more important to use those types of characters to shore up deficiencies in your existing list, one of those things being a source of high strength attacks for dealing with knights and tanky characters. I would much rather be S7 than WS10, but that's just me. If your opponent has more heavy armor than a single character or cowboy can handle then a slann with high magic can swap a spell for the signature from lore of metal to help out.

I love lizardmen high magic btw. Incredibly versatile.

Likewise, I appreciate your comments defiantly food for thought especially when people (like me) seem to be set in a style of play ergo the slayers which I never use!

Cheers

Greg

Well I went with Lizards, actually played 5 complete turns before it hit midnight when we called it a day. I took my usual notes of the magic phase winds of magic and channelling but didn't write as a report. 




I vangaurded a few units forward but ended up going first stopping any charges. Not sure I should bother with combat units rather shooting units maybe. 




I lost out on the large combat by the fact I lost the rank advantage and stopped being steadfast, if I had been steadfast and held in the combat I was planning on flanking with the carnosaur and ancient steg. 




The game wasn't a total loss, magic was pretty pants, only my opponent rolled a 5,5 with most phases being 8 power dice maximum. not good when you've 4 mages on the table. I miss cannons, trebuchets and screaming skull catapults... 

I haven't figured out Lizards yet, I'm not sure my budget would allow for it either. I bought an army and I've added a few units to it. I liked Tetto and to be honest he's the first named character I've wanted to include for years. I don't think he cast a single spell all game. Sure he's a loremaster but I'm not sure about the Cohort either, the fact you can target the Krox just seems wrong when you cannot hit Ogre characters in the second rank but they can fight. Given that fact I can save 455 points, that's a combat unit - OK , I've only got Saurus armed with spears but it's better than nowt. 

My monsters are getting the crap shot out of them and now I know what it feels like having the boot on the other foot. I discussed the fencers blades with my opponent and he's happy with the ruling but I may well just stick him on a cold one as the dino gets beaten up too easily. Maybe sub it for the other dino I have, the steg with the engine of the gods. This in turn lends another problem though. I like the fact I can have wandering deliberations or access to loremaster of high, I've not really come to terms on what magic lore I prefer. If I had temple guard then life is a good choice but I can't rely on the other skinks with beasts or heavens. If I went with wandering deliberations the arcance configuration only works with a single spell, OR I just pick heavens to help the skinks. 

"Help me Obi-wan Kenobi you're my only hope..."

I'm actually liking the fact I've a limited model selection, I also don't want to spend loads on this, I've my Dwarves, Tomb Kings and Brets that all need that final touch to get them finished, I also have a Vampire count list on the back burner. I only purchased these as a mate at the club wanted to get rid of them. 

Answers on a postcard to the usual address.

Greg