Lizardmen Review: Special Characters Tactica

 Here I give my thought and opinions on the Lizardmen's Special Characters as part of my Lizardmen Review/Tactica article series.

Special Characters

Kroq-Gar

The named Oldblood on Carnosaur. He weighs in at only slightly more than a tooled up Oldblood on Carnosaur which is promising. 

He himself is pretty typical for an Oldblood. No changes to the stats, so he’ll need to be judged based on his gear. He only has three pieces of gear and a 5+ Ward from his Sacred Spawning of Xhotl. The first piece is Light Armour. Combined with his 4+ Scaly Skin and mount, this gives him a 2+ save. 2+/5++ isn’t terrible, but when a D.I.Y Oldblood can be a 1+/1+/4++ for cheaper it’s a bit unimpressive. The next piece of gear is his Revered Spear of Tlanxla. This is a magic spear and each wound caused by it, counts as two for purposes of combat resolution. This is okay but, again, it is just a bit unimpressive. The third piece of gear is the Hand of Gods. This is a Power Level 3 Bound Spell that contains Shem’s Burning Gaze. Essentially its just the Ruby Ring of Ruin but better against Daemons and Undead. Handy enough to have. Another source of decent ranged flaming magic missiles is always welcome.

His Carnosaur, Grymloq, is better than a regular Carnosaur as it forgoes the Blood-Frenzy special rule in place of having an extra attack all the time. It also gets a 5+ ward save thanks to Kroq-Gar’s Sacred Spawning of Xhotl which is actually pretty good; usually mounts do not gain their rider’s Ward Saves. Grymloq comes with Swiftstride but does not have the Blood Roar ability.

Kroq-Gar is a very disappointing character. He is meant to be our big combat Lord and the fluff portrays him as the most badass Dinosaur to ever roam Lustria but the rules just do not reflect that at all. In previous army books he has unlocked a unit of Saurus Cavalry as Core and I could maybe see him being used if he still had that. But he doesn’t, so I can’t. If you want an Oldblood on Carnosaur just build your own.

Lord Mazdamundi

The Slann who rides an Ancient Stegadon. Right off the bat we can see that Lord Mazdamundi is expensive. So expensive that you will rarely even be able to consider fielding him in games. He does provide your army with quite a bit however. 

He is a Level 4 Loremaster who can choose his spells from High Magic or any of the BRB Lores. This is of note as he is the only Slann who can be a Loremaster of non-High Magic Lores. He also has a Magic Banner and Weapon. The Banner causes him to always be the armies BSB and he can unleash it once a game to give enemies shooting at him or a unit within 12” a -1 to hit. His item gives him Always Strikes First and Poisoned Attacks. It reveals any magic gear in base to base contact with him, and enemy models hit by him have their gear broken on a D6 roll of a 6. This is fine, but he only has the one attack at WS2 and it only destroys gear on a 6 so you really shouldn’t expect it to do anything.

He also comes with four Disciplines; the adjust miscast roll one, the two extra channel dice one, the regenerating wounds one, and the re-roll the first dispel a turn one. Not a bad selection though I’d rather he had less and was cheaper.

As he is riding an Ancient Stegadon a lot of what I wrote there applies here. However, it doesn’t have the howdah weaponry or any of the upgrades so bare that in mind. It gives you a bigger range for General/BSB but also makes makes him a big target for cannons etc. He does have a ward save and Transcendent Healing to help mitigate this but his Ancient Stegadon has no such protection.

Lord Mazdamundi provides a decent amount to a list, but he is just way too expensive and easily picked off. Almost 800pts on one model is rarely a good start to a list.

Lord Kroak

The Relic Priest character. Surprisingly, Lord Kroak is around the same cost a Slann normally would be. He has even worse offensive stats than a regular Slann, but is tougher. He has an extra Toughness, Wound, and a one better Ward Save, but does is Flammable. He is a Level 4, but only knows one spell and can never lose it or go below Level 1. 

The spell he has, The Deliverance of Itza, is a direct damage spell (so can be cast through Arcane Vassals) that targets all enemy units within 12”. Each target suffers 2D6 Strength 4 hits, or 3D6 if it is Undead or Daemonic. It requires a 10+ to cast and it can be pumped up twice, each increasing the range by 6”, and the casting value to 18, then 24. He can cast it as many times as he likes a turn, and if he gets Irresistible Force, he rolls a dice. On a 2+ he doesn’t roll on the Miscast Table but instead takes a S6 hit and loses D6 Power Dice. Either way, the Arcane Vassal takes a S6 hit.

He doesn’t come with or have any access to Disciplines but does come with a Magic Item. It causes all shooting and close combat attacks against him or his unit to suffer a -1 to hit penalty. If this unit is Temple Guard he also makes them Unbreakable. This essentially gives his unit of Temple Guard the Mark of Nurgle which is great.

Bringing this all together, the way I see him being used is in a large block of Temple Guard with several Skink Priests to cast his spell through (maybe even a Troglodon). His special rule, high toughness, wounds, and good armour save mean that he really doesn’t care too much about miscasting so feel free to throw six dice at his spell to ensure the opponent can’t stop it. Also remember that he can cast it multiple times. Three dicing the smallest version twice will often be better than six dicing the larger versions. A Skink Priest with the Cloak of Feathers seems particularly useful to get into the best position for Arcane Vassal.

I can definitely see him being used often. He isn’t as versatile or adaptable as a regular Slann, but allows you to build a powerful Temple Guard block and can throw out a lot of AoE direct damage at a reasonable cost.

Tehenhauin

The Skink Lord. The Prophet of Sotek is a cross between a Skink Chief and a Skink Priest. He has an improved Skink Chief statline, but is also a Level 3 Beast Wizard (the only Level 3 we have access to). 

He can purchase an Ancient Stegadon with the Engine of the Gods or you can take him on foot. On foot he has two extra Special Rules. The first allows him to join Jungle Swarms, granting him the Unbreakable rule, and negating the Jungle Swarms Squish! rule. The second gives him an extra D6 I1 WS2 S2 Poisoned attacks.

He is also Immune to Poison and comes with two Magic Items. The first is his dagger which gives him +1S on the charge and makes his attacks Poisoned. The second gives him a 5+ Ward Save.

The main reason to take him is in a fluffy list making use of his Prophet of Sotek rule. This allows you to give any Skinks Hatred (Skaven) for 1 point. Against a Clan Pestilens Skaven army this makes for a very thematic battle. Can’t see much reason to use him apart from that.

Chakax

The Temple Guard Hero. The Eternity Warden has the statline of a Scar Veteran and is built around protecting a Slann via challenges.

When in a unit of Temple Guard with a Slann, he makes the unit Unbreakable. He must always accept and issue challenges if able, but he does re-roll failed hits while in a challenge. His Key to the Eternity Chamber also gives him a 5+ Ward Save in a challenge and his opponent gains Always Strikes Last. This would be great if he wasn’t also Always Strikes Last himself thanks to his Magic Weapon. It gives him 2+S and Always Strikes Last. In addition, Magic Items in base to base must be revealed and any opponent hit gets a random Magic Item destroyed on a 5+. His Helm gives him an extra point of armour and prevents Scouts from deploying within 20”. Hidden units that move within 20” must also be revealed.

This all sounds good until you realise he is just shy of 300pts. That’s a lot of point to pay for a 2W model with a 3+ save who is built for challenges. He should be able to handle any mid-low tier characters but won’t be able to stand up to any that are worth talking about. He’s just too expensive for what he does so I don’t think he is that great.

Gor-rok

The Saurus Warrior Hero. Unlike the other Saurus Special Characters, Gor-rok does get a few stat upgrades over his generic counterpart. He has a Scar-Veteran profile but with one more Toughness and a 4+ Scaly Skin rather than a 5+.

He has the Immune to Psychology and Stubborn Special Rules which makes him great for attaching to a block of Saurus Warriors. He has one Special Rule of note and two Magic Items. His Resilient rule allows him to only take one wound from Killing Blow, Heroic Killing Blow, and attacks with the Multiple Wound special rule on a 2+.

His Magic Weapon allows him to re-roll all failed to hit rolls and grants him an extra attack from Predatory Fighter on a 5+. This effect allows him to reliably hit with his attacks and usually gets him an extra two or so from Predatory Fighter. His Shield grants two points of armour rather than one and any models that make a charge and end in base to base with him take a Dangerous Terrain test on a -1. This is pretty good as it should inflict at least one more wound on the enemy and gives him a 2+ armour save. He may only have 2Ws but T6 is respectable. 

At just under 200 points, he is much more reasonably costed than the other Saurus Special Characters. He really highlights just how overpriced Chakax is as he is pretty comparable and roughly 100 points cheaper. With him getting a model at last, I reckon you’ll see a fair amount of him. He is fairly strong for a cheap price and I’d rate him highly. Slightly better than Kroak in my opinion.

Tetto’eko

The Slann Skink Hero. He has the statline of a Skink Priest with one less Strength but rides a Slann’s palanquin. This allows him to join the second rank of a Skink Cohort unit. At the same price as Gor’rok, he is also pretty affordable.

He is only a Level 2 Wizard but he has the Loremaster (Heavens) special rule. This is great. Skink Priests take Lore of Beasts as they are guaranteed to get Wyssan’s. Loremaster Heavens insures that Tetto’eko gets all the desired spells in Lore of Heavens. He has two other Special Rules of note and two Magic Items. The first rule is a 5+ Ward Save and the second requires the roll of a D6 each of your Magic phases. On a 1, you have to reroll any Power Dice that get 6’s. On a 2+, you can reroll all Power Dice that get a 1.

The first of his Magic Items allow you to Vanguard D3 of your units after deployment. This is great as it allows your monsters and salamanders to get into good positions early in the game. His other Magic Item allows him to reroll the dice to see if Comet of Casandora arrives. As Comet of Casandora is one of my favourite spells, I love this item. 

If you decided to not take a Slann I would definitely suggest taking Tetto’eko as your main caster. If you are taking a Slann I would probably skip him. He won’t have enough Power Dice to throw at all his spells with a Slann present. His ability to give D3 units vanguard is amazing but it alone isn’t worth his price tag. Definitely a great character. I consider him the Lizardmen’s best Special Character.

Tiktaq’to

The Terradon Rider Hero. The Master of Skies has an extra Leadership compared to a Skink Chief but is otherwise identical. He is mounted on a Terradon.

He can upgrade a unit of Terradon Riders to get the Ambusher Special Rule for 5 points a model and has two Magic Items. His Magic Weapon ignores armour saves and gets +1 to hit against Flying models. The bonus to hit will not come up much but is neat when it does. The ignoring armour saves is great. Kroq-Gar wishes he had a Magic Weapon that good. His second Magic Item allows all Terradons in his unit to use his WS4 rather than their own WS3. It also provides an additional -1 to hit from ranged attacks at his unit. This is an example of Games Workshops great rules writing. The Item makes reference to his unit but he is not actually able to join a unit. Assuming they release a FAQ that says he can, it’s a nice little perk but nothing amazing.

Tiqtaq’to is nice enough but he is too fragile for his cost. It would have been nice to see him updated to have a choice of Terradon or Ripperdactyl and the ability to buff both but hey. As it is, he isn’t great. A generic Skink Chief on mount will fare better.

Oxyotl

The Chameleon Skink Hero. Oxyotl is the cheapest Special Character in the book. He has a Skink Chiefs profile but with an extra point of BS. He has the Chameleon and Scout rules like Chameleon Skinks.

He also has the Sniper special rule. This is good as it allows him to split fire and pick out enemy characters. If he stands still his Poison works on a 5+ rather than a 6+. His Magic Weapon is a Blowpipe with an extra shot. He won’t often get to use his 5+ Poison as he will generally be moving around a lot. 

For his cost I don’t think he is too bad. He is very fragile and can be killed very easily but he has the potential to more than make up for his points against the right opponents; Death Hags and Mages being the two that spring to mind.

Summary

• Tetto’eko, Gor-rok, and Lord Kroak are all great characters in my opinion and definitely worth using.

• Oxyotl can work but he is very fragile and hard to use effectively.

• Don’t bother with the rest. They’re just too expensive to be worth it and you can often make a similar but better character for less.

That's it for Special characters. I'll give a final overview of the book and create a few sample lists that I think will work well tomorrow or Monday. Thanks for reading. I hope it was helpful in some way.