Loreful Commanders, Armies and their locations - Lizardmen

TheWattman#7460

Lizardmen are my favourite race in the setting and thus I spent many campaigns on uniting Lustria to complete the plans of the Old Ones and to stabilize the Vortex. And during that time, I've evolved a pattern of ultimate army leadership and positioning with respect to the lore of the Lizardmen. By that I mean what to name my commanders, what type of commander that one should be and also where to station him on the continent to reflect the lore. And I thought I would share my setup with you all, if you would like the inspiration.

Now first and foremost, I have 2 distinct types of armies refering to their range of use. They are either Garrison or Field Armies. Garrison Armies are connected to a specific city, like Itza or Hexoatl and tend to be more defensive and less mobile. Field Armies on the other hand are offensive armies that can range anywhere the campaign requires. As for the army compositions, I typically standardize them, but that's optional for you. Now lets begin, assuming you play either Hexoatl or Itza, the two primary Lizard cities:

Location: Hexoatl

Garrison Army - Mazdamundi: Obviously the Lord of Hexoatl should stay in his own city, but has a range to any of the nearby provinces (Forest of the Viper, Coast of Squalls, Settler's Coast). As he is one of the mightiest of Slann, he should be entitled to an army of blessed units.
Garrison/Field Army - Inxi-Hunizi: Inxi-Huinzi is a Skink Commander famous for containing the Norse at Skeggi and preventing them from expanding and has an affinity for Cold One Riders and rides a Horned One himself. So in-game, put a Red Crested Skink Chief on a Horned One and either have him range around Hexoatl or garrison Skeggi if you don't let the New World Colonies take it. Oh and give him poison attack stuff if you can, that's loreful for him, plus of course lots of Cold Ones and Horned Ones in his army.
Field Army - Tiktaq'to: If you can manage to bring home Tiktaq'to from the Southlands, he should also be stationed around Hexoatl. Obvious theme on his army.

Location: Pahuax

Garrison Army - Slann Fire Mage Priest Pocaxaln: We have a named Slann Mage Priest from Pahuax and that is Pocaxaln. Specifically a Lore of Fire Slann, because during the Great Catastrophe, he tried to summon forth a "nova-blast of energy" to banish the Chaos attackers. Just ignore the fact that he failed and died during that battle and you're good to go! Standard units on him.
Field Army - Oxyotl: Oxyotl was spawned in Pahuax, but was thrown into the Realms of Chaos after the death of his Slann. He has since been all over the world, so he is less connected to his city than his Slann master. Just make sure to rescue him from Naggaroth before Taurox smashes him alright?

Location: Tlanxla

Field Army - Nakai: This is optional really, you can send Nakai pretty much everywhere, but he was spawned in Tlanxla, west of Tlaxtlan, so if he's feeling homsick, you know where to send him.

Location: Tlaxtlan

Garrison Army - Slann Mage Priest Adohi-Tehga: Adohi-Tehga is the Slann seemingly in charge of Tlaxtlan and thus it makes sense to have him stationed close by. He doesn't have a specific lore per say, but he is of the Second Spawning, so make sure that trait is present when you recruit him.
Field Army - Tetto'eko: Granted Tetto'eko sticks around Tlaxtlan most of the time, but he seems to appear in battles outside the city, lets say more than Adohi-Tehga does. Obviously you'll run Mixu's mods here until we get him officially from CA. Make sure to have a couple of Coatl's in this army for that extra Tepok feel.

Location: Xahutec

Garrison Army - Slann Mage Priest Tenoq: Just north of Xlanhuapec lies Xahutec, the City of Echoes. Unluckily, it houses a Chaos Rift, which regularly spits out Daemons, so be careful when retaking it. And when you do, its guarding should be the job of Lord Tenoq, who holds the inherited rights to that city. No special requirement beyond that.

Location: Huatl/The Awakening

Garrison Army - Slann Mage Priest Hua-Hua: When you reclaim the Vampire Coast from the Pirates, first you should rename the capital back to Huatl. As for guarding it, in the lore Huatl is in the process of being rebuilt by forces and Slann from Xlanhuapec. Thus one of that city's names should be used for the army here on the coast. Hua-Hua might be the prime candidate, as the other Slann are **** at him for winning the debate on what to do with the lesser races. Other potential names would be Uxicuxi or Tenuchli, you're free to choose either one.

Location: Xlanhuapec

Garrison Army - Lord Huinitenuchli + Chakax: Here is another one of Mixu's lords, plus a hero and you'll want to keep the prominent Lord Huinitenuchli in-and-around the City of Mists. You'll also want to keep Chakax and the ROR Star Chamber Guardians here for even more thematics.

Location: Axlotl

Garrison Army - Skink Chieftain Hui-ixxen: Axlotl may just serve in capacity as Itza's port province, but there is a named character from here as well. The Skink Chief Hui-ixxen leads the Red Shields regiment in the lore, a force of Red Crested skinks who joined Tehenuain's forces. In-game, you'll want to have a Skink Chief, on foot, leading lots of Red Crested Skinks (and other sotek units added by various mods).

Location: Chaqua

Field Army - Tehenuain + Skink Chief Poqenichi: Chaqua is Tehenuain's home base, but he has campaigned all over Lustria in the lore, so you can place him pretty much anywhere. Keep him in the south if you want. Just make sure to attach a Skink Chief named Poqenichi to his army. Poqenichi was the standard bearer of the Skavenpelt Banner.

Location: Pillars of the Unseen Constellation

Garrison Army - Slann Mage Priest Tenuchli (+ Chakax): Once you break into western Lustria, you can establish a couple of loreful armies on the coast. One is Lord Tenuchli (and if you want Chakax too) stationed at the Pillars. Tenuchli is subordinate to the Lord of Xlanhuapec, but you don't need another army over there, so you may as well station a Slann of your choosing, named Tenuchli, here. Here he and Chakax fought against resurgent Daemon Slaa'Ulaan. A pyrrhic victory at best, only Tenuchli and Chakax survived it, but its your best shot at a loreful army in this region.

Location: Sentinels of Xeti

Garrison Army - Slann Mage Priest Arexibo: The other army on the western coast should be stationed at the Sentinels of Xeti. Lord Arexibo, originally from Itza, erected this celestial listening station, searching for messages from the Old Ones. If you can find a mod that re-adds Slann with Lore of Heavens, that might be the preferable lore.

Location: Xhotl

Garrison/Field Army - Kroq-Gar: We all know the Last Defender of Xhotl, but that city is pretty easy to get back up and running again, especially if you play Itza. So send a scout over to the Southlands and bring Kroq-Gar and Grymloq home, easily done. But if you want him as a field army elsewhere, just pretend its ruined and send him elsewhere.

Location: Itza

Garrison Army - Skink Prophet Ten-Zlati + Lord Kroak: This army requires the AOV519's Skink Prophets mod, which add Lord-level Skink casters and this for the simple reason that you need a lord to embedd Lord Kroak in. And that is not really Gor-Rok's job, no matter what CA says. Ten-Zlati is the Tiktaq'to of Itza, in fact he may just be an outdated version of Tiktaq'to, as they share names of their Terradon mounts, Zwup. But regardless, this is a Skink Priest who has touched Lord Kroak's mind and serves him closely. So get this mod, put Lord Kroak in his army and himself on a Terradon and you have the defense of Itza all set.
Field Army - Gor-Rok: As for the in-game Lord of Itza himself, he is better suited as a field army. Bring lots of tough Saurus warriors and smash all the rats you want!

Location: Oyxl

Garrison/Field Army - Lord Xlotc: Believe it or not, there is actually a non-playable legendary Slann in the Lizard ranks by default. Lord Xlotc is the leader of the Wardens of the Living Pools, but in actuality he was a Slann of Itza, who defended the area around Oyxl from Luthor Harkon and his pirates. Xlotc beat him in a brutal war of attrition. So there you have the commander that should take up residence in Oyxl once you crush Clan Pestilens.

MiniaAr#5798

Wow nice. I'm also a Lizardmen fan, playing thematic armies whenever I can.

This is a lot, I don't know how you get the economy to get all of that running. I might try a LM campaign with Mixu's mod to get the missing 2nd generation Slanns.

By the way, did you consider Lord Quex of Itza as an alternate Lord for Kroak's army? He should still be alive right? That's the Slann who had such a telepathic dispute with another Slann that he destroyed the latter's pyramid and actually killed the other Slann.

And you haven't mentioned the Southlands. Lord Xuaxmul in Zlatlan as a Garnison Lord and Ynniminhi as a skink lord (RCS should be fine as Sotek worship is strong in Zlatlan) for the field army would be ok right?
Those two were the characters involved in Ibn Jellaba story of when he met the LM of the Southlands. I don't have info on the other LM Southland's cities though.

Any input there?

TheWattman#7460

MiniaAr said:

Wow nice. I'm also a Lizardmen fan, playing thematic armies whenever I can.

This is a lot, I don't know how you get the economy to get all of that running. I might try a LM campaign with Mixu's mod to get the missing 2nd generation Slanns.

By the way, did you consider Lord Quex of Itza as an alternate Lord for Kroak's army? He should still be alive right? That's the Slann who had such a telepathic dispute with another Slann that he destroyed the latter's pyramid and actually killed the other Slann.

And you haven't mentioned the Southlands. Lord Xuaxmul in Zlatlan as a Garnison Lord and Ynniminhi as a skink lord (RCS should be fine as Sotek worship is strong in Zlatlan) for the field army would be ok right?
Those two were the characters involved in Ibn Jellaba story of when he met the LM of the Southlands. I don't have info on the other LM Southland's cities though.

Any input there?

These are names I hear for the first time I must confess, I was under the impression there were no named Slann in the Southlands. In my version, the Southlands would be defended by Lord Uhla'up, a mad Slann that quit Lustria to teach the ways of the Old Ones upon the world. Him and then Tichi-Huichi and his raiders from Enxilada.

As for Quex, sure if you want to, but having two Slann in the same army might not be the best idea, from a pure gameplay perspective.

MiniaAr#5798

Ok the story is from the 5th edition LM armybook (page 8-10):


Below are the two passages with the characters I mentionned: the reigning Mage-Lord of Zlatlan "Xuaxamul" and a Skink hero and leader of the armed forces sent to Nekkhara "Yiniminhi".

It's a good read and a nice change if you only had stories about Lustria and nothing about the Southlands.

Ok, in 6th edition it was mentionned that the Lizardmen of the Southlands kind of devolved and that only Slanns of the 4th and 5th generations remain in the Southlands (and none in the Dragon Isles). But my personnal theory is that this passage is written with a POV of the Lustrian Slanns, having lost contact with their Southlands counterparts. This would be demonstrated by the fact that Zlatlan is named as the "Lost City of Zlatlan" and not the "Hidden City of Zlatlan" like in other editions.



In 7th edition, the only passage about the Southlands mentions that there are still a few Slanns of the older Generations living in the Southlands. And thus the Mage-Lord of Zlatlan, Xuaxamul, might very well still be alive (as the city is considered hidden.



I am using Mage-Lord on purpose because in 5th edition, Slann-Priest had ranks as per the below. If a Slann is described as a Mage-Lord as Xuaxmul is, then one can reasonably assume that in newer editions, he would be of the second or third generation.

Captain_Rex#1635

Wow what a great thread! Thanks for sharing that mate! This will help me to make my next LM campaign more immersive and thematic.

Seems like I have to play another Gor-Rok campaign after I finished Oxy.

Or should I play Tiktaqto?

Ah I’ll play both!

TheWattman#7460

MiniaAr said:

Ok the story is from the 5th edition LM armybook (page 8-10):


Below are the two passages with the characters I mentionned: the reigning Mage-Lord of Zlatlan "Xuaxamul" and a Skink hero and leader of the armed forces sent to Nekkhara "Yiniminhi".

It's a good read and a nice change if you only had stories about Lustria and nothing about the Southlands.

Ok, in 6th edition it was mentionned that the Lizardmen of the Southlands kind of devolved and that only Slanns of the 4th and 5th generations remain in the Southlands (and none in the Dragon Isles). But my personnal theory is that this passage is written with a POV of the Lustrian Slanns, having lost contact with their Southlands counterparts. This would be demonstrated by the fact that Zlatlan is named as the "Lost City of Zlatlan" and not the "Hidden City of Zlatlan" like in other editions.



In 7th edition, the only passage about the Southlands mentions that there are still a few Slanns of the older Generations living in the Southlands. And thus the Mage-Lord of Zlatlan, Xuaxamul, might very well still be alive (as the city is considered hidden.



I am using Mage-Lord on purpose because in 5th edition, Slann-Priest had ranks as per the below. If a Slann is described as a Mage-Lord as Xuaxmul is, then one can reasonably assume that in newer editions, he would be of the second or third generation.

Going by the opening logic then, you can either field 3 or 4 armies in the Soutlands, depending on if you want Yiniminhi as a Field Army Lord or a Hero for Xuaxamul. That plus Lord Uhla'up and Tichi-Huichi.

ArneSo said:

Wow what a great thread! Thanks for sharing that mate! This will help me to make my next LM campaign more immersive and thematic.

Seems like I have to play another Gor-Rok campaign after I finished Oxy.

Or should I play Tiktaqto?

Ah I’ll play both!

Thank you very much for the compliment!

steam_165171714789pPAEKOH

I just love how much detail and passion you have put into this list and all the descriptions.

This entire list, or at least something very close to it, would make such a wonderfully thematic game objective to the Lizardmen. Something a little similar to the Elector Counts for the Empire. Imagine if we had an actual in-game campaign objective to "Restore Lustria and the Southlands to their former glory" and for that to work you had to gather all the lords necessary into your faction through alliances and confederations, and then properly place those lords and heroes into their proper places.

This could also involve questlines to awaken deeply slumbering named Slann, along with finding the more far-flung wandering heroes like Nakai and Oxyotl.

Essentially this would be more of a "Build Tall" campaign objective where restoring cities, finding named lords, and getting armies and factions to their proper size and power would be the objective.

This concept could even then be extended into the Lizardmen also making sure that other factions are "in their proper places" which is a very loreful objective that the slann try to follow from the Old Ones. Things like making sure the dwarfs are only where dwarfs should be, elves are only where elves should be, ect.

TheWattman#7460

endikux said:

I just love how much detail and passion you have put into this list and all the descriptions.

This entire list, or at least something very close to it, would make such a wonderfully thematic game objective to the Lizardmen. Something a little similar to the Elector Counts for the Empire. Imagine if we had an actual in-game campaign objective to "Restore Lustria and the Southlands to their former glory" and for that to work you had to gather all the lords necessary into your faction through alliances and confederations, and then properly place those lords and heroes into their proper places.

This could also involve questlines to awaken deeply slumbering named Slann, along with finding the more far-flung wandering heroes like Nakai and Oxyotl.

Essentially this would be more of a "Build Tall" campaign objective where restoring cities, finding named lords, and getting armies and factions to their proper size and power would be the objective.

This concept could even then be extended into the Lizardmen also making sure that other factions are "in their proper places" which is a very loreful objective that the slann try to follow from the Old Ones. Things like making sure the dwarfs are only where dwarfs should be, elves are only where elves should be, ect.

Thank you sir. This is actually to a large extent how I play my games, keep everything in its own place. For example, the Lizardmen would have no reason to expand into Naggaroth lorefully, because its just a cold wasteland (and unfortunately, there is no terraforming feature in the game where you can magically change climates, like Mazdamundi did on Albion) that would make most Lizards freeze to death. Better to either just leave them (but destroy Morathi first to be rid of her corruption) or to burn everyone that's not you and then just sit in your jungles eternally.

MiniaAr#5798

Well I kind of play in a similar fashion.

For Oxyotl however I made an exception and played Mortal Empires instead of the regular Vortex for all other LM lords (because I want a full Lustria & Southlands). I did that for the following reasons:

- There is more Chaos to fight in ME than Vortex: On top of the whole of Norsca, you also have many more Skavens on ME as well as Mannfred for whom given what happened in The End Times, I consider him a facilitator of Chaos and thus he had to go. Vlad however I didn't actively act against him, but the Empire killed him anyway. Also the actual Chaos invasion (set to Legendary in my game) happens in ME and not Vortex, I found it was more indicated to have Oxyotl stop the End Times himself than just doing the questline against Taurox in Vortex.

- I kind of conquered the North of Naggaroth with Oxyotl, meaning the starting province, Grond, Har Ganeth and of course Naggarond. I left the rest to the Exiles of Nehekk, the Sisters and Hexoatl who pushed North. I based my reasoning on the fact that the Frozen City is actually a model sanctum for the Northern polar gates and that Oxyotl consider that the great plan is to have a line of Sanctums in the North defending against the Old Ennemy and that Dark Elves should have nothing to do in this endeavor (they cannot be trusted to fight Chaos properly and some of them even align with Chaos). Thus Dark Elves had to move to Ulthuan where they belong or disappear (spoiler alert, they disappeared).

- I did the "burn everything that is not LM territory" in Norsca though. It's pretty nice up there now, without all that Chaos taint.