DA LIZ-ORCZ Army (Closed) List

So this weekend I will be playing a 2500pt game with Lizards against Mike and his Dark Elves, in a practice game for the Scottish Open in a few weeks. I have shown the list below in closed format so Mike isn't forced to shun the blog in the meantime! As this is part of my Liz Orc army I have shown the "counts as" equivalent model on the list to make it nice and clear for Mike and if I do take the army to a tournament further down the line then it is is crystal clear what each unit is :).

Lords:
Slann Mage-Priest: (Savage Orc Shaman On Palanquin)
Lore: Lore of High Magic LVL4;
Misc: Battle Standard.

Heroes:
Saurus Scar-Veteran: Cold One; great weapon; light armour. (Gorbad Ironclaw on Boar)
Saurus Scar-Veteran: Cold One; great weapon. (Warboss on Boar)
Skink Priest: LVL 1 Lore of Beasts. (Goblin Shaman)
Skink Priest: LVL 1 Lore of Beasts. (Night Goblin Shaman)

Core:
10 Skink Skirmishers: javelin; shield. (Night Goblins with Spears and Shields)
10 Skink Skirmishers: javelin; shield. (Night Goblins with Spears and Shields)
10 Skink Skirmishers: javelin; shield. (Night Goblins with Spears and Shields)
10 Skink Skirmishers: javelin; shield. (Night Goblins with Spears and Shields)

24 Skinks Cohort Warriors: Musician; Standard Bearer. (Night Goblins with Spears and Shields)
• 3 Kroxigor (River Trolls)

24 Skinks Cohort Warriors: Musician; Standard Bearer. (Night Goblins with Spears and Shields)
• 3 Kroxigor (River Trolls)

Special:
20 Temple Guard: Musician; Standard Bearer (Black Orcs)

Rare
2 Salamander Hunting Pack (Black Orcs with Flame Throwers)
Ancient Stegadon (Boar Chariot)

2,499 points
Fortitude: 6
Number of Shots: 68 + 4D6 + 2 Salamanders

My aim with the list in general is to try to develop a balanced all round army which has the appropriate amount of typical lizard poison shooting filth but also some nice combat units in the form of two scar vets, 2 skrox units (I'm interested to see if these are as bad as the internet says!), 20 temple guard and an Ancient Steg. I used an ancient steg a few weeks ago and was really impressed by its survive-ability, shooting output and combat punch. As the blow pipes have an 18" range you can place it behind a skirmish screen and still reach your enemy at max range. An nice tactic I used was to double flee the skirmish skinks through the Immune to Psych Steg who then in the following turn charges through the now cleared space. This also works well with scar vets but with the added bonus that if the enemy doesn't fall for the bait then you can still shoot em up nicely!

Regarding the Skrox I actually dont think they are all that bad if buffed correctly. Now some will say that never rely on buffs yad yada... but using simple buffs/debuffs like ice shard blizzard, miasma and wildform in combo or individually you can really swing a combat for very little magic dice outlay. I'm toying with the idea of changing the skink priests to heavens for this very reason, hopefully double ice shard a target unit dropping them to -2 to hit and -2 leadership, with any luck they will also fail their fear test and be hitting the skrox on 6s. Alternatively the list can double or even triple wildfrom the skrox bumping them up to str9/10 and T6/7 with S5/6 javelins on stand and shoot! I know that isn't very likely but with a good magic phase (eg lucky channels, winds roll and storing a dispel dice) it isn't out of the realms of possibility. 

Now the big test for this game is Lore of High Magic. Initially the internet exploded with cries of this being the go to option but now after a few tournaments I think people are more reserved in their judgement. Im on the fence at the moment, I can see the potential and incredible flexibility but as one who has never been super lucky with magic I'm skeptical of the reality. In truth I'm beginning to think Wandering Deliberations (Loremaster of all Signature Spells) may actually work better in a list like this. Lizardmen are very much a turn 4-6 army where you slowly whittle down your opponent while losing little yourself and then push for the killing blow late game. The Signature spells can really aid in this with so many magic missiles, death snipes and debuffs on low casting levels you can chip away turn after turn. High magic on the other hand has some incredibly possibilities in swapping depending on the match up (eg Facing Empire 1+ Steel wall = Searing Doom) however it's the ability to draw out dispell scrolls turn 1 that can really scare your opponent. Arcane unforging (destroy magic items) can deal with a lot of "difficult" characters (Pendant Peg Lords, Deamon Princes etc) that the army would otherwise struggle with and no one wants Walk between worlds cast on salamanders turn 1!!

Anyway let me know what you think of the list, I will post up my full Open list and do a battle report after the game :) Wish me luck as I face the last ever outing of Dark Elf Filth!!!