I’ve wanted to build a Lizardmen army list from near the beginning of my Warhammer career that started in 2002. I looked through my brother’s 6th Edition Big Red Book at the color pictures section. Back then, the Lizardmen looked pretty funky, and they didn’t quite catch me. I was more enthralled with the Chaos Daemons and Beastmen, especially Dragon Ogres and the mighty Shaggoth! But Lizardmen were always a pipe dream. My Father-in-Law ended up getting a Lizardmen army, and then a roommate in college, so I felt like I didn’t need one for years. Eventually, I bought a Stegadon when the new plastic kit came out to paint it as a ‘display’ piece. We all know how those go. I got a fair bit of color on it, but I find it very difficult to be motivated to paint a model when it’s not destined for the table top. So on the shelf it went, partially finished. 

Then Warhammer Fantasy Battles was killed off and I thought I missed my chance. I tried Age of Sigmar a few times, but never fell in love with it. As the Host/GM of “A Grim Podcast of Perilous Adventure,” people heard my love of Warhammer and desire to build a Lizardmen army eventually. One listener, Aaron, was kind enough to send me a Skink Priest for Christmas one year (Thanks, Aaron!). Skink Priest got painted up in the pink scheme I had decided on so long ago. I decided to give the Lizardmen, now Seraphon, a try in AoS. I bought the Start Collecting box, or whatever it was called at the time, and assembled with glee. Except for the Cold One Knights, those might be the worst models GW has ever produced! But eventually I got them all assembled and primed. I threw some paint on the Carnosaur, but the rest got forgotten about in the priming area. Another edition of AoS came and went, but this time with some amazing Seraphon *cough, Lizardmen, cough* models. I looked at them longingly, but had no room in the hobby budget or time to get more models that I would never roll dice for.

But then our savior “Warhammer: The Old World” jumped out at us with a release I certainly wasn’t expecting. Free PDFs of “Legacy” armies! While it’s sad that the Lizardmen won’t be getting chunky releases (however slowly the ‘main’ armies are), at least they had up-to-date rules! They lost some of the deep flavor they had in previous editions, but like all of the Legacy army lists, seemed competent. So I decided on one of the first episodes of our podcast “Beards, Ears, and Skulls,” that I was going to make a Stillmania list for the Lizardmen!

For those that aren’t aware (or missed it just above), Stillmania is kind of like Warhammer Nuzlocke. Rules you set for yourself that you can change at any time. But you won’t, because you’re a gentleman like the man that came up with the rules- Nigel Stillman.

Da Rulz (if you don’t want to read them on the image): 

• 2000 Points. No more. You build a 2000 point army and that’s what you’ve got. 
• Name all your characters and units. Give them some backstory. You need to really feel it when they’re slain on the table top. 
• You always take the same magic items. That’s what they have!
• Never tweak the list. 
• Learn from losses. 
• Don’t let list building be a crutch to fall back on when you lose. 
• Rise to glory with your chosen army!

So, without further ado, here is my 2000 points of Stillmania Lizardmen:

++ Characters [839 pts] ++

Saurus Scar-Veteran [304 pts]

(Cavalry spear, Heavy armor (Scaly skin), General, Carnosaur, Venom Of The Firefly Frog, Spellshield)

Skink Priest [395 pts]

(Hand weapon, Light armor (Calloused hide), Level 2 Wizard, Ancient Stegadon [Engine of the Gods], Glyph Necklace, Earthing Rod, Battle Magic)

Skink Priest [140 pts]

(Hand weapon, Light armor (Calloused hide), Level 2 Wizard, On foot, Talisman of Protection, Power Scroll, Elementalism)

++ Core Units [515 pts] ++

22 Saurus Warriors [351 pts]

(Thrusting spears, Shields, Heavy armor (Scaly skin), Spawn Leader (champion), Standard bearer, Musician)

12 Skink Skirmishers [82 pts]

(Hand weapons, Blowpipes, Light armor (Calloused hides), Scouts)

12 Skink Skirmishers [82 pts]

(Hand weapons, Blowpipes, Light armor (Calloused hides), Scouts)

++ Special Units [644 pts] ++

8 Cold One Riders [301 pts]

(Cavalry spears, Shields, Heavy armor (Scaly skin), Pack Leader (champion), Standard bearer, Musician)

5 Cold One Riders [196 pts]

(Cavalry spears, Shields, Heavy armor (Scaly skin), Pack Leader (champion), Standard bearer, Musician)

3 Kroxigors [147 pts]

(Great weapons, Heavy armor (Scaly skin))

Created with “Old World Builder” [https://old-world-builder.com]

First of all, yes, I’m a filthy American and changed all of the ‘armour’ to ‘armor.’ It’s just a thing we do, get over it. Second, is this the best 2000 point army you’ll see out there? NO! There’s no Slaan, no Oldblood! I had to make some concessions due to restrictions in the Lizardmen army rules and with what I bought/received (and what I like).

Let’s talk about the characters first. The General is indeed a Scar-Veteran on a Carnosaur, not an Oldblood. This is because the Grand Army rules for Lizardmen includes: “0-1 Saurus Oldblood or Skink Priest per 1,000 points.” So if I take an Oldblood on the Carnosaur, I can only take one Skink Priest in addition. “No problem,” you might think, “just take one Skink Priest then.” The thing is, I already have the Skink Priest on foot and a Skink Priest on an Ancient Stegadon with the Engine of the Gods, so they had to be included! No tweaking!

So the Carnosaur rider had to be downgraded to a Scar-Veteran to fit in the list legally. Not great, but ok. Next, I wanted to make him as killy as possible. The Venom of the Firefly Frog gives him poison attacks, which is my favorite special rule- less dice means less chance for failure!- and the Spellshield gives him some protection from magic. Now, I know he’s not very defensive- he’s got 4+ armor and 5+ against some magic. But the thing is, he’s only a Scar-Veteran, he can only take 50 points of Magic Items, and Lizardmen characters can’t wear magical armor! (because they don’t have the option to take mundane armor, only a shield)

The two Skink Priests took more items to keep them alive. The Stegadon rider got the Glyph Amulet to give him a 5+ Ward and Magic Resistance (-2), as well as the Earthing Rod to reroll miscast results- don’t want to hurt that big boy he’s riding if we can help it! The Priest on foot was given the Talisman of Protection for more Ward save goodness as well as a Power Scroll to get that important spell off when needed.

As for the Core of the army, I had 12 Saurus Warriors from the army box, so that was easy to fill out. I got a box of the new Saurus for my birthday and had a healthy unit of 22 ready to go (well, the first 12 are painted so far. Progress!!). Next were two units of 12 Skinks. This is mostly because my LGS, The Bearded Dragon had some used ones for sale in sets of 24. I’m not taking a huge unit of 24 Skinks, so two units of 12 it is! They’ve done amazing for me so far.

After core was special, and we have a short list here. Eight Saurus Knights, five Saurus Knights, and three Kroxigor. The Knights were easy to fit in because, again, eight came in the army box, and then BD had five of them for insanely cheap! (I won’t tell you how much, cause you’ll get jealous). The Kroxigor I added just because I love the new models, I got that box for Easter (my wife is pretty awesome, and pretty!) so I had to include them with their dope alligator heads. 

So there’s 2000 points. Is it great? I dunno. Will I have fun with it? Of course! I’ve played one game so far with this list, and here are some of my takeaways (this was against a Bretonnian Exiles list from their Arcane Journal):

1. Saurus are great in all forms. My block of Saurus infantry, six wide, held against numerous charges. Even forced back Pegasus Knights that charged in the rear while Knights of the Realm charged in the front! Saurus Knights ate a Baron BSB like he was nothing, and would NOT flee. 

1. Skinks are GOATED already. 12 Skinks with blowpipes have so many shots, and once they’re in range, can poison anything down, including heavily-armored knights. You opponent is bound to roll a few 1s and 2s if you force them to roll enough saves
2. Scar-Vet needs to charge. My Carnosaur didn’t get to do much, as he got killed before he could attack in combat by a Royal Pegasus mounted Duke with a weapon that did 2 Wounds per failed save! Even with the whole bunch the Scar-Vet has on the Carnosaur, he just couldn’t hold up. If he had gotten the charge off though, probably a different outcome. 
3. Kroxigor need help. Being outnumbered by more than 2-1 and losing combat is easy for a unit with only nine Unit Strength. Keep your Monstrous Infantry with some help, like your Heavy Infantry or Cavalry.
4. Engine of what gods? My one game so far saw the Engine of the Gods move up turn one, fail to cast its bound spell, then die to two Bombard shots. Sadly I didn’t get to see what it could do, but I’m determined to get this thing into combat (ideally with some Saurus to back it up) and squish some baddies!

I’m sure readers have all kinds of suggestions to ‘fix’ or change the list, but keep them! If you have tactics, unit names, or deployment ideas, I’d love to hear them in the comments! Otherwise, keep coming back here for more Warhammer content. What would you like to see next?