Southlands Lizardman Warband

Southlands Lizardman Warbands

v 0.1 19-Aug-2011 by Balrog the Buff

Designers Note: This warband is purely selfish. I started Warhammer Fantasy with the 5th edition box set that came with Bretonnians and Lizardmen. I recently started trying to update my Lizardman army but was shocked when I found out Skinks could no longer use shortbows and my LGS was WYSIWYG only. That was the last straw before I totally quit 40K and Fantasy and went back to Mordheim only. It should be obvious this is based on the Lustria Cities of Gold Lizardman Warband.

SPECIAL RULES
Scaly Skin: All Lizardmen have a natural save thanks to their thick scales. Skinks have a 6+. This save cannot be modified beyond 6 due to Strength modifiers but any result of ‘no save’ on the injury chart will negate this 6+ save. Light Armour adds +1 to the save, as does the addition of a shield.

Armour: Armour is rare amongst the Lizardmen and the cost of light armour is always 50 gc, even if you are buying it from Equipment chart.

Cold Blooded: All Lizardmen are slow to react to psychology, they may roll 3D6 and select the lowest two dice when taking a psychology test or Rout test. This also applies to any pet using a Cold Blooded model’s leadership.

Aquatic: Skinks may move through water terrain with no penalty, and count as being in cover whilst they are in the water.

Jungle born: All Skinks can move through jungle terrain without penalty. In addition Skink heroes may reroll failed tests to resist jungle based environmental hazards.

Vengence of Sotek: All Skinks in a Southlands Lizardman Warband Hate Skaven models. Clan Pestilens Skaven Hate all Skinks in a Southlands Lizardman Warband as well.

Poisoned Weapons: Skinks are experts at extracting and refining poisons from poisonous frogs, spiders and snakes. Skink Heroes may buy Dark Venom at a cost of 20 pts and Black Lotus at a cost of 10 pts, both of these items are treated as a common item. Unlike their Lustrian cousins Southlands Skink heroes may apply these poisons to their hand-to-hand weapons as well as their missile weapons. Skink henchmen may buy low-strength Reptile Venom for their missile weapons at a cost of 5 pts per model. This poison is a common item. This adds +1 to the Strength of the
weapon but does not grant the -1 save modifier. The poison only lasts for one battle and remember that all the henchmen in a group must be armed in the same manner.

Choice of warriors
A Southlands Lizardman warband must include a minimum of three models. You have 500 gold crowns (or the Lizardman equivalent) which you can use to recruit and equip your warband. The maximum number of warriors in the warband is 20.

Skink Chief: Each Southlands Lizardman warband must have one Skink Chief: no more, no less!
Skink Priest: Your warband may include up to one Skink Priest.
Skink Brave: Your warband may include up to two Skink Braves.
Chameleon Skink: Your warband may include up to one Chameleon Skink.
Skink Cohort: Your warband may include any number of Skink Cohort.
Skink Skirmishers: Your warband may include any number of Skink Skirmishers.
Skink Handlers: Your warband may include up to five Skink Handlers.

Starting experience
A Skink Chief starts with 20 Experience.
A Skink Priest starts with 11 Experience.
A Skink Brave starts with 8 Experience.
A Chameleon Skink Starts with 8 Experience.
All Henchmen start with 0 Experience.

Skills:
Skink Chief: Academic, Combat, Shooting, Speed, Special
Skink Priest:, Academic, Speed, Special
Skink Brave: Shooting, Combat, Speed, Special
Chameleon Skink: Shooting, Speed, Special

Skink Warrior equipment list
Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st free/2 gc
Stone Axe (counts as a club). . . . . . . . . 3 gc
Axe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 gc
Sword (Heroes only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Spear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 gc
Two Handed Weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 gc

Missile Weapons
Shortbow (Heroes only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Bolas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Javelins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Throwing Knives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 gc

Armour
Bone Helmet (Chief and Priest only) . . .10 gc
Buckler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 gc
Shield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 gc
Light Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 gc

Skink Skirmisher equipment list
Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1st free/2 gc
Stone Axe (counts as a club) . . . . . . . . 3 gc
Axe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 gc
Spear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc

Missile Weapons
Shortbow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Bolas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Javelins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 gc
Throwing Knives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 gc
Blowpipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc

Armour
Shield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 gc

HEROES
1 Skink Chief - 50gc
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
6 3 4 3 3 1 5 1 7
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Skink Warrior equipment list.
Special Rules: Leader, Must take a Sacred Spawning

0-1 Skink Priest - 45gc
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
6 2 3 3 2 1 4 1 7
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Skink Warrior equipment list.
Special Rules:
Wizard: The Skink Priest is a Wizard and may use Lizardmen magic. They start with one spell randomly generated from the appropriate list.

0-2 Skink Braves - 30gc
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
6 3 3 3 2 1 4 1 7
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Skink Warrior equipment list.

0-1 Chameleon Skink – 45 gc
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
6 2 4 3 2 1 5 1 6
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Skink Skirmisher equipment list.
Special Rules:
Chameleon Skin: Chameleon Skinks are hard to spot. Initiative is halved to detect them when hidden. However they do not benefit from Scaly Skin.
Shifting Pattern: Chameleon Skinks always count as wearing an Elven Cloak (-1 to hit at range).
Special Spawning: Chameleon Skinks already are a rare spawning and may not be given a scared spawning other than Poison Glands.

HENCHMEN
0+ Skink Cohort -25gc
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
6 3 3 3 2 1 4 1 6
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Skink Warrior equipment list.

0+ Skink Skirmisher - 20gc
Tusk Warriors are the younger warriors who are still new to combat. They usually fight on the flanks of the Chest Warriors harrying and wearing down the foe before coordinating a combined charge.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 2 3 3 2 1 4 1 5
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Skink Skirmisher equipment list.

0-5 Skink Handlers - 25 gc
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
6 2 3 3 2 1 4 1 5
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Skink Warrior equipment list.
SPECIAL RULES
Mark of the Snake: The warrior may now purchase a single Tree Snake from the Pet list. Any Tree Snake within 6” may use the warrior’s leadership. If a Skink Handler is promoted to a Hero this is replaced by the Mark of the Beast skill from the Beastmaster set.
Handlers: Skink Handlers that get promoted to Hero status MUST take Beastmastery as one of their two chosen skill sets.

Southlands Lizardman Special Skills
~ Infiltration: The Skink is a great hunter and is an expert at sneaking upon his prey unnoticed. The Hero may set up anywhere on the table but no closer than 12" to an enemy and he must start the game in hiding.

~ Great Hunter: The Skink Great Crest is adept at making the most of the cover available and imposes an additional -1 to hit the Skink if he is in cover, IE a -2 to hit penalty.

~ Poison Master: The hero always counts as having Reptile Venom on all of his ranged weapons. This works even with the venom in a blowgun!

Sacred Spawning: Many Skink and Saurus warriors are born with distinct markings or mutations. They are regarded as being blessed by the gods and often rise to become leaders. A Hero may only
have a single Sacred Marking and these may only be bought when you recruit the Hero, not in the middle of a campaign.

~ Poison Glands 40 gc: The Skink has been gifted with glands that produce a deadly poison. He may choose to make any number of attacks with his teeth instead of his weapons. This bite attack uses the Skink’s own Strength to wound and receive no penalty for not using a weapon. The Bite attack always strikes last, regardless of who charged or which weapon is used. The Bite even attacks after Double-Handed Weapons These attacks at +1 save modifier, regardless of the Strength of the Skinks, in addition add +1 to the roll on the Injury table as well.

~ Mark of the Old Ones 50 gc: This is the greatest mark a Lizardman can be born with, for these Albinos are destined for greatness in the eyes of their gods and other Lizardmen. The Hero may change one of his failed dice rolls into a successful one; this mark may only be used once per battle and only on actions that the Hero is making himself. You may use this mark on a failed Rout test if you wish. Only one may be taken per warband.

~ Blessed Spawning of Itzl 5 gc: The Hero may learn and use Beastmastery skills.

~ Blessed Spawning of Tepok 20 gc: The hero dispels any hostile spell affecting him on a 4+.

~ Blessed Spawning of Tzunki 15 gc: +1 Initiative and +1 M when in water.

~ Blessed Spawning of Haunchi 20 gc: The model is immune to movement impairing natural environmental and weather effects, other than from cold or snow.

~ Blessed Spawning of Chotec 15 gc: The model adds D3” to total range when charging.

~ Blessed Spawning of Sotek 20 gc: The model gains +1 Attack when charging.

~ Blessed Spawning of Quetzl 50 gc: The model gains +1 to his Scaly Skin save.

~ Blessed Spawning of Tlazcotl 20 gc: The model is Immune to Psychology.

Nice list so far.

I think your Skink Skirmisher have M of 6 instead of 4 right?

I believe 20 skinks with range attack weapons are difficult to catch fo a close combat specialised warband.

Have you playtested it in some games so far?

Haven't had a chance to look at the Spawnings... will when I get the chance.

Chameleon: He has the potential to be COMPLETELY impossible to hit. May I recommend, instead of the "cloak", have him start with the skill Great Hunter? That way he's good at hiding, but it doesn't stack.

Skirmishers: How about this:

"Tag Along: If you have a Hero with the Skill Infiltration, you may deploy a Skirmisher within 3" of him when he is placed on the table. He still follows the same rules as the Infiltrator (i.e. may not be visible to enemy, etc.) You may only deploy one skirmisher for each Infiltrating hero, and that Skirmisher must be within 3" of that hero that vouches for them."

I also experimented with the idea a Razordon or Salamander for my Wee War Skinks... I'll see if I can find the file.

SerialMoM - Yes M6 is correct, and no playtesting for this list yet.
Styro - I was trying to base it on the abilities from Warhammer Fantasy, but I do agree that would be a good way to make it more balanced. As for the Skirmisher ability, I like it. Should their cost be increased due to that? A razor or salamander would be an interesting addition. They are able to keep up with the Skinks' mobility so fluffwise it could work for parties that feel the need for some more 'Umph'. Would probably require a handler near it or suffers stupidity maybe?

For someone familiar with the Lustrian warband your Southlands band is confusing.

Shortbows which are the default missile weapon for Lurstria are limited to Heroes and skirmishers (?).

Skink Braves are the common skinks in Lustria, here they are heroes. Greatcrests?

Quote :

0+ Skink Skirmisher - 20gc
Tusk Warriors are the younger warriors who are still new to combat. They usually fight on the flanks of the Chest Warriors harrying and wearing down the foe before coordinating a combined charge.

WTF?

I'm assuming that if I was familiar with all the warbands I would understand the reference to Beastmastery skills? For snakes? There are rules for wild Salamanders in the Lustrian Hazards.

Where is the Krox?

Ok, major fluff goof up there with the Tusk Warrior quote.

I based mine off the lizardman army books which Braves are the unit champions. Beastmastery skills are from the other southlands lists and i forgot to repost them.

Fluffwise the Southlands have very few Saurus, Kroxigor and other creatures Lustria enjoys so many of. The armies are primarily skinks and the creatures skinks herd.

Skink Cohorts in the Southlands are aggresive skinks that fight in ranks while skirmishers are bowmen and fight in loose formation.

So my overall concept for this warband is aggresive war-like skinks rather than the Lustra Band which is skinks supporting the Priest and Saurus.

Skirmisher:

Well, if you want them to be the fast mobile troops they are in WFB, how's this:

Scatter: If the Skink Skirmished has decided not to declare a charge this turn and there is an enemy model within 8" of him, he may take an Initiative test: if successfully, he may run this turn, regardless of the enemy model. If he fails the test, he may not move this turn at all.

That makes him a fast, mobile unit that, 2 out of 3 turns, can move 12"... one of the 3 turns, he's a sitting duck. Sounds fair and won't increase the cost, the way I see it.

Or as an alternative, on a failed I test, he flees 2D6" away from the enemy. still moves quick, but leaves him open to attack.

I think the panic works better.

Scatter: If the Skink Skirmished has decided not to declare a charge this turn and there is an enemy model within 8" of him, he may take an Initiative test: if successfully, he may run this turn, regardless of the enemy model. If he fails the test, he counts as failing an all alone test and flees 2D6" away.

The Shortbows are an odd item since current fluff Lustrian forces cannot get them, and Southlands lists were phased out. I went no bows for the cohort henchmen for fluff reasons, not balance. For gameplay should they be made available?

Bows: Give 'em to Heroes and Skirmishers, I think.

Found them!

0-2* Cold One Beasthounds; 30 Gold Crowns to hire
*A warband may only field a Cold One if it contains a Beastmaster. If you have a Cold One in your warband, you may not own a Salamander or Razordon.

A relative to the Cold One, Beasthounds are fierce creatures that the Skinks herd into battle.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
6 3 0 4 4 1 1 1 4
Weapons/Armor: Cold One Beasthounds are animals and do not need any weapons save their claws and massive jaws.
Special Rules:
Animals: Cold One Beasthounds are animals and all animal rules apply to them, they never gain experience.
Stupidity: Suffer from Stupidity. If within 6”, they may use the Leader’s leadership, or the leadership of a model with the Beastmaster skill.
Scaly Skin: Cold One Beasthounds have tough scaly skin, and are considered to have a 6+ armor save. This save cannot be modified beyond 6 due to strength modifiers but any result of ‘no save’ on the injury chart will negate the unmodified 6+ save.
Fear: Cold One Beasthounds cause Fear. .

0-1* Razordon Pup 75 gold Crowns to hire
*A warband may only field a Razordon Pup if it contains a Beastmaster. If you have a Razordon in your warband, you may not own any Cold One Beasthounds or Salamanders.
Note: Due to their younger age, a 20x40mm Cavalry base works for the Razordon just fine.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
6 3 3 4 3 1 4 1 4
Weapons/Armor: Razordon Pups are animals and do not need any weapons save their claws and massive jaws.
Special Rules:
Animals: Razordon Pups are animals and all animal rules apply to them, they never gain experience.
Stupidity: Suffer from Stupidity. If within 6”, they may use the Leader’s leadership, or the leadership of a model with the Beastmaster skill.
Scaly Skin: Razordon Pups have tough scaly skin, and are considered to have a 6+ armor save. This save cannot be modified beyond 6 due to strength modifiers but any result of ‘no save’ on the injury chart will negate the unmodified 6+ save.
Prod: If a friendly Beastmaster within 6” does nothing during his Shooting Phase but “Prod” the Razordon, the Razordon may use his Spines shooting attack. A Beastmaster may not prod an animal that failed its stupidity test, nor may an animal be prodded more than once a turn.
Spines
Range: 16” – Strength: 4, Special Rules: Biological Weapon, Move or Fire, Rapid Fire, Shoot into Combat
Biological Weapon: The Spines are a physical part of the Razordon. They may NEVER be stolen, lost, or given to another warrior.
Move or Fire: A Razordon may not move and shoot in the same turn, other than to pivot on the spot.
Rapid Fire: If the Razordon fires in the Shooting Phase, he may fire not 1 but 1D3 spines. Roll each turn to determine the number of shots, and roll to hit for each Spine. These shots may be divided between any enemy within range.
Shoot in hand-to-hand combat: A razordon may shoot 1D3 spines in the first round of a hand-to-hand combat and these shots is always resolved first, before any blows are struck. These shots have an extra -2 to hit penalty. Use the Razordon’s Ballistic Skill to see whether each shot hits or not. This bonus attack is in addition to any close combat weapon attacks.

0-1* Salamander Pup 75 gold Crowns to hire
*A warband may only field a Salamander if it contains a Beastmaster. If you have a Salamander in your warband, you may not own any Cold One Beasthounds or Razordons.
Note: Due to their younger age, a 20x40mm Cavalry base works for the Salamander Pup just fine.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
6 3 3 4 3 1 4 1 4
Weapons/Armor: Salamander Pups are animals and do not need any weapons save their claws and massive jaws.
Special Rules:
Animals: Salamander Pups are animals and all animal rules apply to them, they never gain experience.
Stupidity: Suffer from Stupidity. If within 6”, they may use the Leader’s leadership, or the leadership of a model with the Beastmaster skill.
Scaly Skin: Salamander Pups have tough scaly skin, and are considered to have a 6+ armor save. This save cannot be modified beyond 6 due to strength modifiers but any result of ‘no save’ on the injury chart will negate the unmodified 6+ save.
Prod: If a friendly Beastmaster within 6” does nothing during his Shooting Phase but “Prod” the Salamander, the Salamander may use his Breathe Fire shooting attack. A Beastmaster may not prod an animal that failed its stupidity test, nor may an animal be prodded more than once a turn.
Breathe Fire: Place the small teardrop shaped template with the narrow end at the Salamander’s mouth (from the Chaos in the Streets article). Any models under the template will be hit by flames on a dice roll of 4+. A model hit by flames takes a single S3 hit. Normal armour saves apply. Do not worry about any buildings the template may cover; the Salamander’s fire is too weak to set them alight without prolonged exposure. Use the same flame template from the Chaos on the Street’s article.

I like the beasthounds the best, and I think they would fit the feel of the warband best. I may modify them to make them Horned One Beasthounds as Horned Ones are the creature of the Southlands if I remember correct. The newer book just makes Horned Ones a magic mount, but the older ones they were mounts for Skink Riders.

Makes sense. What if you made it ONE Horned One - stronger and faster than the normal Cold One?

Stat wise, it'd be the equivalent to the Bear in the Kislev warband... High Strength & Toughness, but only W2.

That would work, but then i would want to use my model of the special character riding a horned one, so it would be a ridable mount, similar to the goblin warbands! Maybe Tehiniheni is back!

Sounds good. Make him suffer Stupidity unless the Beastmaster is within 6". (This INCLUDES when he's mounted!)

Here's the Lustria uber stats for Cold ones, might work well for the Horned One:

M WS BS S T W I A Ld
8 3 0 4 4 2 1 2 6
Special Rules
Scaly skin – Natural armour save 5+ and causes Fear.

Although, if he's mounted needs to be worth at least 100gc (the price of the Cold One mount form blazing saddles.) It seems fair that you could pay 100 gc for a Horned one Mount that is MUCH better than a Cold One Mount which is at the same price, but it doesn't seem just to pay LESS for better. If need be, raised the Cold One's stats to justify the 100gc cost.

They are only 100? I would make it not suffer stupidity when mounted, but only be ridable by a hero with the correct sacred spawning. But also If I remember correctly they are not as armored as a COld One so it would not be +2 to armor, only +1.

It would suffer stupidity when not mounted no matter what model is near it. Although maybe a special Beastmastery skill for them that allows the Horned One within to act normally?

Stats for a Horned One that I found were:
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
8 3 0 4 4 1 3 1 3

Thinking I may raise the Ld to 5, and W and Attack to 2. Thinking the Horned One would be ~120 gc. Very expensive, but could be quite useful for a warband.

Balrog: Mounts as CRAZY expensive. An animal that would cost 15gc as a henchman costs 90ish as a mount.

Spawning: I LIKE. Short and sweet.

Stats: Well, for a cold one, I like the I1, as it gives them a slow, lumbering feel. Of course, Horned Ones are supposed to be faster, so I can see it changing.

Now that I think of the fluff behind the list I'm starting to think maybe the Horned One is not the best idea, maybe a HS or DP. But the team is really supposed to feel like a small mobile team sent for recon, harassment and recovery of artifacts.

I want the whole team to be aquatic and somewhat stealthy. Are Salamanders or Razordon aquatic? I can't remember, and don't have my books on me.

Don't think they are. Only Skinks and Kroxigors.

Not to say you can't pull out something else, like a giant frog. What are some African animals that fit well with the team? Maybe it's a newt creature that crawls up walls & cliffs. It'd have the Wall Walk ability, like the Giant Spiders:

Wall Walk: Giant Spiders (and their riders) may walk up and down walls without making Initiative tests. They may only jump up to 2" across or down, but this does count as a diving charge. When a spider jumps, its rider must make an Initiative test; if this test is failed, something has gone wrong – roll on the Whoa Boy! Table. Note even if the rider has the Running Dismount skill, the maximum diving charge is only 2".

So, that would be the roll of the Skinks... not to spend much time on the open savannahs, but to patrol the jungles that surround the sacred temples and mountains of the Slann.

What about a War Strider or such? Like a Basilisk from real life, a lizard that can run on water. It would basically be like a Cold One but with 2 wounds and the abilitiy to run across water for one turn without penalty. After the first turn it would be forced to swim as anyone else.


Thinking:
War Strider 140 Gc
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
7 3 0 4 4 2 3 2 5
Natural Armor: 5+ Scaly Skin
Unpredictible Gait: If the War Strider ran on it's previous turn it gains the skill Dodge until it's own recovery phase. If the Strider is charged Dodge is removed (in case of a multiplayer game mostly)
Run on Water: If the War Strider begins its turn not in water terrain it may move across the water as if it was open ground.
Sluggish: War Striders suffer Stupidity unless a friendly hero with access to Beastmastery skills is within 6".

Cold-Blooded.
Fluffy and in line with the WHFB version, but I wonder how much it has a place in Mordheim.
With only Ld 7, you still have an 81% chance of passing, compared with 58% without it and better than most warband's 72% with Ld 8 and only a fraction under the 83% with Ld 9.
At Ld 8 it goes up to 89%.

Then add Blessed Spawning of the Old Ones.

It would be essentially your choice to break, rather than something you opponent could force. Could be a bit boring to play against/with when there's little risk of the warband legging it other than voluntarily.

Good point. What do people think of Cold Blooded only working on Psych tests? Due to the nature of the team as a hit-and-run opr ambush specialist it does make sense they would be always ready on the retreat if needed.

Comparatively, it fits to have the Skinks fight at a good LD (about 8.5, really.) So, having a leader with Ld7 is not unfair in my opinion.

Of course, you might want to lower either the braves, the shaman, or both to ld6, but other than that, I see no prob. If Ld 7 wasn't too strong for the old Lizardman warband, I don't think it's too strong for this band.

War Strider: not working for me at the moment.
Fluff wise: his name doesn't fit the Razordon, Stegadon, and other lustria critters. I guess you could call him a Baselisk, but that makes people wonder why he doesn't turn people to stone. As he's described now, he's just a vague, generic lizard, with no flare or flavor.
Rules Problem: He's odd enough that his rules are awkward, without being odd enough that he's any fun.

Fluff suggestion: base him off of the Frilled Lizard, with a slight Jurassic Park Dilophosaurus twist. It's an odd and awkward shaped thing with a frilled neck that can stand on 2 legs or 4. For a name, something like Dilophodon.

Rules Suggestion:
Dodge: The Dilophodon is a fast and odd creature. It has the skill Dodge.
Unpredictable: The Dilophodon does not move in a traditional way. On any given turn, the creature moves 1D6" in the direction of your choice, unless it is trapped in combat or injured. If the Dilophodon is making a charge, fleeing, or running, it moves 3D6" instead. If this brings it into contact with an enemy, it is considered a charge.
Run On Water: The Dilophodon, if he starts his turn on dry land, may ignore penalties for moving in water whenever he is running or charging. This represents the creature running at top speed over the very surface of a body of water! If he cannot make it all the way across the surface, he must wakl or run during the following turn as normal.

However, maybe we should take it from another angle... what if instead of having one big monster, what if the Skink braves could ride the weaker animals?

Consider the following:
-Give the Skinks a strong, but not invincible animal - ex. Cold Ones for 40-60gc.
-To make up for the difference in price (ex. a cold one moun costs 100+), give the heroes a purchasable item that covers the difference in cost - ex. Saddle & Bridle - 50ish
-Include with the Bridle rules that any missile against the target are randomly rolled - if the mount has 1 wound, it's 50/50 chance, if 2 starting wounds, then 13rd/2rds. In combat, it's chosen.

This way, you pay the same for the mount, but if the bridle stays with the hero, rebuying another cold one would only cost 1/2 the normal price. Also, they are fine on their own, should you not want your heroes to be easier targets.

Ok, I like both of those ideas. THe critter as the 'big one' could be really fun, and a 0-5 creature that can be ridden by a hero is awesome. Although it would need to be something new to really add any value. Maybe like you said before and add the wall walk. or the mount is move 6, but has sprint and/or leap?

The skinks have amazing speed (12" normal, 18" with sprint), and ignore both jungle and water terrain. There are three uses for a big creature, really:

A screen - If you include the "randomize hits" rule, a creature with a high toughness and/or wounds acts as a natural barrier against attacks for the Skink. You might even add the rule that a "saddled" mount that loses it's rider is not removed from the game- it may stay on the board, although it suffers Stupidity. (you may also choose to take him with you, in the rare chance that you WANT to rout.) The Cold One or Horned One works well (and adds an offensive edge), but if you want a REAL tank, maybe an ankylosaurus type creature?

long range - a creature such as the salamander or razordon. They provides a good mid-range, powerful weapon, and should they be attacked, they're pretty tough. Sadly, they don't make much sense as mounts.

mobility - the ability to go places the skinks can't. Speed isn't a factor, it's more of a matter of navigating the terrain. The wallcrawlers would add a fun angle, increasing the already fast range of the Skinks and making sniping them a dangerous game. Likewise, Terradons might change things also, plus can add the "throw rocks" rule.

I suggest think:
Tree-crawlers- Long, thin slimy creatures that can survive in every time of Jungle terrain... the marshiest bogs, the tallest trees, the rockiest outcrops. So long as it has water, shade, and plenty of food to steal, these opportunistic crawlers can be a helpful resource for the Skinks, allowing them to scout any terrain they come across.

M WS BS S T W I A LD
8 3 0 3 3 1 1 1 3
Cold Blooded, Wall climb, ignores water and jungle terrain
Or better still, when randomizing hits:

If the mount has only 1 starting wound, any missile attacks are resolved against the Toughness of the rider OR the mount, whichever is higher.


This would justify paying 50-60 for a Cold One beast, and another 50-60+ for a saddle... you've effectively increased your toughness by +2!