Intro
Lizardmen are one of the most unique teams in Blood Bowl. They start with few skills, and their positionals’ stats are geared to make them specialists in particular areas and weak in others. On the one hand that makes the purpose and use of each player relatively obvious, on the other hand it means that the team must be carefully managed to ensure each player is doing the thing they are best at.
That said, Lizardmen are unequivocally one of the best teams in the game, as their combination of strength and speed is completely unrivalled. With a little team development they have everything they need to challenge in all formats of the game.
If all that wasn’t enough they also have some lovely minis and one of the most distinctive aesthetics in the game. Let’s jump in and take a look at one of Blood Bowl’s most interesting teams in more detail.
Pros
- Incredible Strength and Speed
- Need relatively few skills to reach their best
- One of the best big guys in the game
Cons
- No skills to mitigate blocking and ball-handling failure
- Ball handlers are only Strength 2 and Stunty
- Starting League builds in BB20 are weaker and require tough choices
The Roster
Saurus Blockers
The Saurus is a fantastic natural blocker, with high ST and high AV. Unusually for such a player, it also possesses great MA, but with abysmal AG it sometimes struggles to leverage it. Nevertheless, by being able to field six of these, Lizards possess one of the most powerful blocking lines available to any team.
Saurus become exponentially better as soon as they are able to take Block. Mighty Blow, Tackle, and, in limited amounts, Frenzy, are also great options, and you might want to aim to create a “killer” who can be your primary blitzer with some combination of those skills. Guard tends to be less useful because of their naturally high ST, but with many high strength opponents in the meta it can still be of value. In previous versions of the game, Break Tackle was a strong mobility skill, but with the changes to that skill in BB20, it is no longer a good option.
Skink Runner
The Skink is your default lineman. Skinks have astonishing speed and mobility thanks to the MA8/Dodge/Stunty combination, but they are equally vulnerable to injury. Clever opponents will target them and try and chip them off the pitch whenever you give them the chance, so they must be used sparingly and carefully.
Skinks have quite a few options in their Secondary skills, with Block and Wrestle both good for ball carriers and ball strippers respectively. You will generally want to build the first of those types as a priority. Sure hands is also an option for a carrier. Skinks can certainly benefit from additional MA or AG, and they are certainly capable of accruing enough SPP to take stats.
Chameleon Skinks
The Chameleon Skink was a GW addition in BB16, and has since been refined slightly in the BB20 update. As a slightly slower, pricier skink, it can be hard to see their value. They do have potentially interesting development options with skills like Diving Tackle and Sidestep to combo with Shadowing and become annoyance pieces (though Shadowing got a nerf in BB20), and On the ball has multi-purpose applications. They also have a PA of 3+, which in combination with their strong movement and that of their team-mates, means they can actually spring surprisingly effective passing plays.
Kroxigor
The Kroxigor has long been known as one of the best big guys in Blood Bowl. Bonehead is the “least worst” negatrait; Prehensile Tail is a great tool for keeping pesky dodgers under control; and it generally functions as a fantastic roadblock and anchor for the rest of the team.
The Krox is an auto-take as soon as it is a prudent time to buy it in your given play format, and like most Big Guys he benefits hugely from Block. Guard and Stand Firm are also strong skills. One of the new BB20 skills, Arm Bar, has a good synergy with Prehensile Tail.
Star Players
Lizards have the Lustrian Superleague region to select stars from, though there are almost no Lizards in it. Lizardmen tend not to be in the market for Stars in Tourney play, but in the event you find yourself down TV in league play, this gives you access to a couple of cheap and good human stars, The Mighty Zug and Karla Von Kill. Zolcath and Grmnbrindal are also potentially interesting options.
Tactics and Playstyle
As we noted in the intro, Lizards have fairly definite roles for each player on the team, so creating blocking walls with your Sauruses, and using your Skinks behind them for ball handling on offense and screening on defense is the order of the day.
On both sides of the ball, Lizards have incredible movement, but Sauruses are extremely vulnerable to being tied up by cheap fodder like zombies, as they cannot reliably dodge away. You will often find you use your blitz each turn not to cause damage but to push opponents away and then reposition your Sauruses. On the flip side, the sheer strength of Sauruses means they can often occupy two ST3 players themselves for multiple turns, giving you an advantage elsewhere on the field.
Your Skinks meanwhile, are a terrifying offensive threat because their movement and Dodge/Stunty allows them to switch flanks or penetrate gaps with ease. If you are able to drive your Saurus wall forward centrally, your opponent will be forced to cover the whole width of the field to respect your Skinks’ movement. On defense, though Skinks should mainly hang behind Sauruses and stay out of the firing line, they excel at coming together collectively to pick off ball carriers that break free or to create emergency column screens.
Early in team development, you will have very few mitigation or reroll skills other than Dodge, so be mindful that they can be a reroll-eating and turnover-generating team. They are particularly vulnerable in the early turns on offense, where failed ball pickups can be crippling versus agile teams, so ensure you adequately protect and screen any potential ball carrier.
Starting Team Builds
Lizards used to have relatively straightforward and strong starting rosters, but the costing changes introduced in BB20 have created some considerable problems for them, particularly in League play.
League Play
Builds with a Kroxigor become very difficult in terms of starting rerolls and Sauruses, so I would suggest buying one later. The following build starts with all six Sauruses as they are your most important development targets.
- 6 x Saurus
- 5 x Skink
- 2 x RR
= 950k
This build has 50k spare with which you can either save for the third RR or Krox, use to spend on Dedicated Fans, upgrade a Skink to a Chameleon Skink, or spend on an Apo. I would recommend saving, or buying DF, depending on your particular league ruleset.
Another starting option would be to drop a Saurus for a 6th Skink and gain a third Reroll. This build comes to 995K, and is attractive for the crucial extra reroll, but will set back your development elsewhere.
League Development
Depending on how you built your Lizards, your main goal will be to fill in your particular gaps to reach all of the following:
- 6 Saurus
- 1 Kroxigor
- 3 Rerolls
After this, Apothecary is a decent investment, and a 12-13 man roster will stand you in good stead for a league campaign.
Tournament Play
With normal Tournament packs being 1.1m gold, Lizards can get everything they want, in fact the following build is 1.1m on the nose:
- 1 x Kroxigor
- 6 x Saurus
- 4 x Skinks
- 3 x RR
If your tourney goes to 1.15m then apo is an easy extra choice. If it goes to 1.2m you can think about an extra rr, an extra Skink of some kind, or Apo + Bloodweiser keg if this is allowed. Apo is strong in tourney play for the ability to prevent Saurus or Krox KO’s, which can be quite tough losses otherwise.
Tournament Skills
Lizardmen tend to have a simple focus for skill allocation: get Block on every Saurus you can. If you have any Secondary choices or spare skills then Block on the Krox is also a strong option, or you can look at the odd skill on a Skink. If skill-stacking is allowed, then Mighty Blow or Tackle make fantastic additions to Block on a Saurus.
Tier
Lizardmen are an undoubted Tier 1 team. They will normally see the worst of any skill pack, but despite this they remain one of the top Tournament teams. The changes to their former worst matchup opponent, Wood Elves, have also helped them somewhat.
Outro
Lizards are a very fun and powerful team that give you a lot of options on both sides of the ball, and are one of the most competitive teams in all formats. They are also relatively simple to understand and play, and have clear development priorities, making them a good beginner team, even though they lack the skill safety net of some teams out of the box. Developing and mastering them is a really satisfying journey, and I wish the best of luck to any aspiring champions of the Old Ones!
Thank you very much for reading, we will see you in the next one! As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, drop us a line at Contact@Goonhammer.com.
