Flying Skink, Leaping Saurus

Submitted by Someone2040 - Mathew Weiss

Introduction

This here article, is all about the many types of Flying Skinks of Doom (FSoD) and Jaguar Saurus of Death (JSoD) that you may come across, or find yourself making. Historically, the Flying Skink of Doom came first. The Cloak of Feathers was in our 6th edition list before we actually got our book, and as such, the FSoD has been around much longer than the Jaguar Saurus.

As a note, all Flying Skinks of Doom are assumed to have the Cloak of Feathers and scouting. The Jaguar Saurus' of Death are also assumed to have purchased the Charm of the Jaguar Warrior. Most of the Jaguar Saurus' are based on Scar-Veterans unless specifically noted.

Flying Skink of Doom

Standard FSoD
Equipment : Light Armour, Shield, Sword of Might, Blessed Spawning of Sotek

This is in general your standard Flying Skink of Doom. The Sword of Might versus Two Hand Weapons debate has been silenced via mathematical equations, and it turns out the Sword of Might is better overall. Not only do you get the extra defense from the shield, but you also wound more often due to the higher strength. This is quite important when you are facing those nasty Dwarven crews. However in turns after the first, the two hand weapons start to pull ahead due to the extra attacks. Two turns though should get you through most crews unless they have an engineer with them. The mathematics can be found here by and old member of the Vault called Ordrek. The other upside of having a Sword of Might is that it affects ethereals.

Two Hand Weapons FSoD - Cheap FSoD
Equipment : Light Armour, Shield, Two Hand Weapons, Blessed Spawning of Sotek

This is a cheaper FSoD by about 10ish points. As mentioned previously, it's got slightly poorer stats due to having less strength, and you're more vulnerable since you're not using a shield. I honestly do not suggest using this build for that reason. A toughness 3, weaponskill 4, armour save 6+ hero character is not good for you if they manage to get attacks back. 10 points isn't very much, do yourself a favour and drop a few skinks so you can purchase that sword.

Other FSoD's and Comments

With the release of the Lustria book, there are more opportunities for FSoDs. Since Chief's can take 75 points of items, it makes many more options accessible. We can only hope that in our 7th edition book, we will get some kind of merge between Lustria, Southlands and Red Host list so we can use the best of all worlds. With the Red Host Chiefs, after paying the 30 points for the Cloak, you still have 45 points to spend. This can be spent in various ways. Unfortunately the Staff of the Lost Sun still isn't viable due to low Ballistic Skill, but many other options open. Dagger of Sotek and Maiming Shield, just to name a few. Unfortunately we don't get access to the Venom of the Firefly Frog. Dagger of Sotek is a potential character killer, but quite suicidal if the character is alone.
Back in 6th edition, it was also somewhat viable to throw the Cloak of Feathers on a Skink Priest. This way he could zip around the battle field with relative ease for aiming spells from the Slann, or casting his own spells. Some people liked to hope to get the Storm of Chronos spell and throw the Skink Priest in suicidely and try and get destroy large parts of armies with it.
As a last thing to consider is giving your Flying Skink of Death javelins. Blowpipes are out of the question due to moving around a lot. The thing to consider here is, if there are lone characters open that you don't think you can charge, fly your Skink up and throw a javelin at him. If it's a mage, well you may just take a wound.

Jaguar Saurus of Death

Standard JSoD
Equipment : Great Weapon, Light Armour, Shield, Blessed Spawning of Sotek, + Other Items

The standard Jaguar Saurus of Death... well isn't particularly standard, because there are variations even in the normal. You have your base items, then you have the option of taking another Spawning, and 30 points of magic items left over. Whether or not you use these points, is really up to the user and how your army plays. In general, most people will take Quetzl to get the bolstered armour save. You really can't go wrong with Quetzl. As for the 30 points, most people will either choose to take the Aura of Quetzl or the Glyph Necklace. If you choose the Aura of Quetzl, beware strength 4 hero's who have no-armour save weapons.

Anti-Monster JSoD
Equipment : Light Armour, Shield, Piranha Blade, Blessed Spawning of Sotek and Quetzl

Good at taking on armies that rely on monsters and troopers that have multiple wounds. Ogres are one particular army that comes in to mind quite obviously. The Scar-Veteran already has a high base strength to negate most if not all the armour of the bigger creatures. Can also tear up unfortunate characters to shreds if you decide to go up against heroes.

Anti-Infantry JSoD - Scar Veteran version
Equipment : Light Armour, Shield, Maiming Shield, Blessed Spawning of Sotek + Another spawning

This build shreds through infantry. On the charge, you will get 6 attacks at a nice strength. Generally you will take Blessed Spawning of Quetzl for the extra armour in case your attacks flop and you get attacked back. Personally though, he shouldn't be leaping at units alone in Scar-Veteran form, as he probably won't kill enough to make the enemies break.

Anti-Infantry JSoD - Oldblood version
Equipment : Light Armour, Shield, Scimitar of the Sun Resplendant, Maiming Shield, Blessed Spawning of Sotek + 2 other spawnings

This is the real deal. With 9 attacks on the charge, the only thing better would be if he was on a Carnosaur. Now, this time you have a very good chance of doing some real damage to the infantry. Personally not a favourite of mine since the Oldblood could be doing other stuff instead of running solo. Again you may not break the units, but you can hold them down for a few turns until reinforcements arrive. Otherwise, have fun hacking and slashing away at the infantry until they finally decide to turn tail.

Anti-Armour JSoD - Oldbloods only
Equipment : Light Armour, Shield, Blade of Revered Tzunki OR Burning Blade of Chotec, Blessed Spawning of Sotek + 2 other spawnings

This build isn't particularly common. Many people do not like it as you're spending extra points on magical weapons when the Great Weapon does a brilliant job on it's own. Obviously the Blade of Revered Tzunki has it's bonuses against things that have incredible armour saves (pretty much below the 1+ or 2+ line) but comes at a steep steep price. This item, althought decently priced just isn't really worth it against the cheap great weapon. The same is pretty much true for the Burning Blade, which doesn't get the +2 strength bonus either. Remember that these are in respect to foot sloggers though, these magic items do have more uses when mounted.

JSoD Comments

Overall, the Jaguar Saurus of Death is generally best... when you don't try and spend on all the magical items and such. He will be charging, if you're not charging with a JSoD then you're playing him wrong. Due to charging, you will be making the most out of Sotek and a Great Weapon. The Great Weapon is also good because it destroys chariots in one hit. Adding any magical weapons is just increasing the points cost, which could be spent elsewhere in the army.

Closing Comments

The Jaguar Saurus of Death is seen in almost every single Lizardmen army. This is because it's such an excellent thing to use, and can be deadly even in the hands of the inept. For those who do know what they're doing, the JSoD is a frightening thing for the opponent. Unfortunately his Skink Compatriot falls somewhat short. With poor combat stats, and before Lustria, only access to a few other items when using the Cloak, he is generally used for taking out warmachines and lone mages. Still, there is nothing more amusing and heart warming than the thought of one of our fellow scaled brethren flying around like Superman.

Helpers

TzaTza - Scaled brethren of Old. He used to make a lot of good posts on the old board. I took from his posts a lot about the Jaguar Saurus of Death types.
Kai-Loq - Moderator although rarely seen these days. Maybe if you look behind that bush over there you might catch him lurking! In old posts on the old board, he made contributions to FSoD types and JSoD types.
Ordrek - Yet another member of old. Made very well thought out posts on the previous board. I linked his post above about the mathematics behind the 2 hand weapons versus Sword of Might debate.