Killer Saurus:
- Normal: Block, Mighty Blow, Piling On, Frenzy, Tackle
- Doubles: –
- Stat Increase: +ST +AV
With general and strength skill access and being ST4 it seems rude not to build a player in this build, perhaps not best early on though that isn’t really a worry with their slow development. Getting opposing players off the pitch can really let you run riot with all the movement on your team and put your stronger front line in control. So Block first as already outlined, Mighty Blow next to speed up the development and help injure opponents. Piling On next to really push this home and cause the pain and Frenzy after that (or perhaps before Piling On if you like) to get as many blocks in as possible. Tackle could be a good choice next to hurt those Dodge players, especially if you find opposing teams don’t leave him tied up and he is free to go and blitz without dodging.
Doubles aren’t needed and I’d ignore them, it will just slow down getting a more useful normal skill roll. +ST is a no brainer though and you might perhaps take +AV late on to make fouling him harder after he piled on, though I don’t think it is needed and would take a normal skill instead.
Lizardman Saurus Summary:
Saurus are really key to a good Lizardman team though their slow development can be an issue so any chance you get to grab them extra SPP try and take it (though not at the risk of not winning). Other skills to take on the general build are quite numerous and you need to build a rounded team with a mixture of them all. If you just go all out in one way there will be games that you really struggle with. Obviously if the league you are playing in is skewed towards certain team types you can adjust skill selection to deal with those instead. While I would suggest to try and avoid handling the ball with them, if you find yourself in a situation where a Saurus is the most practical player to use to pick up a loose ball then certainly consider it.
On your killer saurus, doubles can be used for jump up if you’d like.
Even with agility 1 it means a 4+ to be able to stand up and block without using your blitz.
If you’re planning on using piling on consistently, this is definately worth it.
Just a thought: what do you think about getting Block – Grab on several Saurii?
A find it a decent alternative, being based on only 2 skills (good for the slow progressing Saurii), and allowing all kinds of nastiness including opening holes in the defense, breaking open cages, and especially freeing up other Saurii so that they can move/blitz without having to rush Break Tackle on top of their other skills.
For my Lizardmen team my goal is to have:
2 X Line of scrimmage Saurii:
Normal: Block, Guard, Mighty Blow/Stand Firm/Break Tackle/Tackle
Doubles: Dodge
Stat Increase: +ST +MV
2 X Winger Saurii: (crowd pushers)
Normal: Block, Break Tackle, Frenzy
Doubles: Dodge/Side Step
Stat Increase: +ST +MV
1x Ball carrier:
Normal: Block, Break Tackle, guard, tackle
Doubles: Dodge/Side Step
Stat Increase: +ST +MV
1x Ball carrier guard:
Normal: Block, Break Tackle, Guard, tackle
Doubles: Dodge, Side Step
Stat Increase: +ST +MV
I enjoy all your writes coach they help my team get better and better every single time they hit the pitch! =)
Good article. But you might want to review your claims of Saurus being the fastest S4 and Lizardmen being the only team with six s4 players in light of Chaos Dwarves and Vampires.
Centaurs are only faster if you count in sprint and doing go for its, as an advocate of minimising those they are the same speed. There are also only two of them which makes them much easier to tie up, 6x MV6 is faster than 2x MV6 with Sprint.
Vampires play totally differently from all the other ST4 players who all on the whole tend to be used much in the same capacity, so while you are technically correct I don’t class them in the same player type, which is what I was comparing them against.
@Popper
For the crowd pushing saurus I would recommend Stand Firm as a third skill above all. Otherwise you are in grave danger of getting pushed out yourself. Even better would be Side Step of course, though that takes doubles. I was lucky and got it on one auf my Saurus. Would take that before Dodge anytime again. Especially as a Saurus can’t really use the re-roll except in combination with break tackle. That is of course also a great skill to have, but on players with Frenzy I find Stand Firm far more important. And you won’t have more than two of them anyway, so your other players can still get break tackle.
Grab is certainly useful to have on a saurus. Combined with stand firm it can make for excellent flank-holders. There are obviously many MANY different ways to develop your sauruses. There are hundreds of ways of developing your six sauruses, and each one has interesting pros and cons.
Also – You’ve missed out the rather interesting ball carrying saurus. While skinks are the obvious choice for ball handling if you roll +AG early on in a sauruses development they can turn into quite reasonable ball handlers.
I’d suggest:
Block, +AG, Sure Hands, Break Tackle, Fend.
Doubles: Dodge
Stats: +ST/+AG.
Obviously this is a lot less good if you don’t roll +AG, but it’s still an option.
I’m going to refer people to the excellent lizardmen LRB 6 playbook by Garuib if anybody wants any further reading: http://www.plasmoids.dk/bbowl/playbooks/Lizardmen.pdf
Has anybody tried shadowing on Saurus? Seems like there one of the only players who can really cause some havoc with it.
Plus, just think of all the jurassic park jokes you can make with shadowing Dinosaurs.
i find it odd wahy there are barely any lizardman passing guides, i made one of my sasurus a passer and some of my skinks able to catach and it worked out fine
That would be because passing is generally a risky ploy even with AG4 players. When you try to do it with AG1 players who start with no skills and need doubles to get passing ones, it generally isn’t the most effective route to take.
Feel free to document your team and experiences with it on the forum though, I’m sure there will be interest in reading about it.
I got a -1 ST injury for one of my Saurus with Block, Guard, Tackle skills 🙁
This is a good-skilled player with Str 3 now…
What is your advice keep or throw out?
Thx,
Greg
I guess it depends on if you find him useful or not. Generally for these specific type of questions a lot of it comes down to what the rest of the team looks like and what races you are playing against. The best thing to do would be to create a thread on a forum posting your entire team roster and listing the other races in your league.
I know this is depend on the team members skills but what do you think generally about it?
I think-
Pro: 3 useful skills
Con: player with ST 3 is bad for a Lizard team efficiency
Thx,
Greg
If it isn’t a clear cut choice to get rid of a player with an injury then I would keep them on the team and see how useful they are during a game. Usually though it is clear to me when I want to get rid of a player. Think about how you use him and if he can still do that job with the strength decrease, if you don’t think he can then I would get rid of him.
I would have thought the strength decrease wouldn’t hurt a Lizardman team much as you will typically have 6x ST4+ players in addition to the injured one. There will be the odd occasion where you will wish he still did have ST4 but depending on his role on your team you may often have assists in place anyway.
what you think about Kick as 2nd or 3rd skill for an Utility Saurus?
Love this skill, but didn’t think it’s worth a double on a Skink.
Yeah I always like to try and shoehorn Kick somewhere on the team, though you are right in thinking to load up on those core skills first in my opinion.