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So, I've been reading through my Lizardmen Army Book the past few days, and several of the pictures include imagery featuring the Coatl, a mythical creature that's essentially an intelligent winged serpent. It even has a little blurb included on page 16, describing it. Being bored and procrastinating studying for finals, I decided to come up with a quick little ruleset for it. Here's what I've come up with.

Coatl

The Coatl is one of the most venerable and mysterious creatures of the Lustrian jungles, the center of many legends and mythical tales in Lizardmen culture. When one appears in a battle, it is a herald of great fortune to the Lizardmen, and decimates the foes utterly, using its innate magical abilities and the confusing domain of the Lustrian jungles to trick intruders to an untimely and gruesome demise.

The only way that a Coatl will willingly aid a Lizardmen army is if it is convinced by a highly ranked Skink Priest, or more likely, one of the Slann themselves, which commune with the highly intelligent creature through magical means. If successful in their plea, the Coatl will accompany the army to war, aiding greatly in a battle that is sure to become legendary to any survivors.

Cost: 200 pts
Monster
Rare Army Choice for Lizardmen Armies

M: 2 WS: 4 BS: 0 S:5 T:5 W:4 I:5 A:3 LD 8

Special Rules: Cold-Blooded, Fly, 4+ Scaly Skin

Primordial Defender:

The Coatl has a 4+ Ward save. Additionally, attacks made by the Coatl have the Multiple Wounds (D3) special rule.

Avatar of the Jungle:

The Coatl is a level 2 wizard that uses the Lore of Shadows. (Note that while it is able to use the Lore Attribute Smoke and Mirrors as described, it may not swap places with characters attached to a unit, such as a Slann in a unit of Temple Guard.)
In addition to the two normal spells it gets for being a level 2 wizard, it also knows the spell The Blessing of Lustria.

Blessing of Lustria (cast on a 10+)
This augment spell has a range of 18” and targets a single friendly unit. All models in the unit have their Weapon Skill, Strength, and Initiative improved by 1 until the start of the caster's next Magic Phase, as the Coatl instills them with some of the boundless magical energy that resides within its body. The Coatl can choose to increase the casting value to 16+; if it does so the spell type changes to Augment, Remains in Play.


Edit: Increased Wounds and Attacks by 1, reduced Movement to 2, added disclaimer/note about using Smoke and Mirrors with characters in units.


I decided on choosing Lore of Shadow because although the Lore of Life seems to fit, a lot of Lizardmen players will choose that anyway if they get a Slann, and Lore of Heavens is already used by the Skinks. Lore of Shadow makes sense to me because the Coatl are described as using the jungle to trick and lure unwary or hostile invaders to their deaths by warping the space and imagery around them. The Blessing of Lustria is included because they are supposed to be creatures of high magical prowess, and seem to be considered as a holy portent to the Lizardmen. Not sure about the cost or points, but I don't think it's horrendously OP or undercosted at the moment. Again this was just for fun and to see what people thought.


Thoughts?

I really like these ideas. The cost seems fine to me for what you get and I agree with the lore of shadow choice. I also really like the buff spell, saying that when you combine it with the slanns life bunker it could lead to some really nasty units.

-Kredic

A good idea with fair stats and points.
Sadly I have missplaced my rulebook so the following is written from what I call find in my memorybank, so if I fail in with some rule please do point it out.
Though a possible problem I see is how the Lore of Shadow effect "Smoke and Mirrors" will work with this unit, what base size will it have? if its the same size as a caurnosaur then you could use this to redeploy a old blood, or that special character for some nasty rear charges the following turn or whatever you can think of. or will how will this work with a Slann? will the Coatl join the temple guard when it swaps places with the Slann.
Another possible lore would be Light, since Lore of Light is about got several time "warping" spells and such.
Also maybe give it one more attack? just so it will be slightly more threatening in combat, even with d3 wounds per attack its quite possible to miss with just two WS 4 attacks

Just field a Slaan on a flying carpet, and model it up as the Coatl.

You've got your flying spell caster, with 4+ ward.

Take a skink priest with a cloak of feathers, and you can even have a baby Coatl.

Take lore of shadow, and you can swap places with the priest in a pinch (as long as the priest leaves the unit before you cast).

-Matt

HawaiiMatt wrote:Just field a Slaan on a flying carpet, and model it up as the Coatl.

You've got your flying spell caster, with 4+ ward.

Take a skink priest with a cloak of feathers, and you can even have a baby Coatl.

Take lore of shadow, and you can swap places with the priest in a pinch (as long as the priest leaves the unit before you cast).

-Matt

slann cant take the flying carpet, check the FAQ, so thats out.

Nice ideas, really like the blessing of lustria.

Iratus Custodis wrote:A good idea with fair stats and points.
Sadly I have missplaced my rulebook so the following is written from what I call find in my memorybank, so if I fail in with some rule please do point it out.
Though a possible problem I see is how the Lore of Shadow effect "Smoke and Mirrors" will work with this unit, what base size will it have? if its the same size as a caurnosaur then you could use this to redeploy a old blood, or that special character for some nasty rear charges the following turn or whatever you can think of. or will how will this work with a Slann? will the Coatl join the temple guard when it swaps places with the Slann.
Another possible lore would be Light, since Lore of Light is about got several time "warping" spells and such.
Also maybe give it one more attack? just so it will be slightly more threatening in combat, even with d3 wounds per attack its quite possible to miss with just two WS 4 attacks

I'd imagine it to use the 50 x 100mm Chariot/Large Monster base, but I see what you mean about the swapping problems - perhaps limit it so that at least it isn't allowed to use that in conjunction with a Slann in a unit of Temple Guard? After all, it wouldn't make sense to allow it to do that both in fluff and rules.

I was debating Light, but I really did want the Coatl to have it's own signature spell, and The Speed of Light would pretty much negate the minor buffs you get from Blessing of Lustria. Still kind of on the fence on that one.

I might add another attack to the profile - I didn't want it to basically turn into a magical flying Carnosaur, however, so I think reducing the number of attacks is the best way to help differentiate between the two. It's meant to be used as a fast-moving wizard, but should be able to survive in combat if it charges/gets charged.

Glad everyone seems to like it! Just came up with it on a whim, so I'm pretty pleased with it.

A way to possibly "fix" the smoke and mirrors issue would make it unable to switch places with characters but instead give the Lizardmen player like d3 "Trick" tokens that can be placed anywhere on the table aslong as they are in terrain and the Coatl can "switch" places with them, removing them from play in the process. *shrugs*
A d3 tokens might be a bit low but I think a d6 would be to much if you get 5-6 tokens. so maybe d3+1 or a set amount would work better.
Also if it will be on a quite large base maybe give it another wound? Since the current stats reminds me of a great eagle(50x50 base unless I'm recall it all wrong?) with higher strength, toughness and extra rules. Just to make it more in line with the "larger" monsters.

I think as a Lord of the Jungle the Lore of Beasts might be more appropriate. Less helpful, but possibly more thematic.

Updated it a bit, increased the Wounds/Attacks but reduced Movement (it has Fly, so it makes more sense.) Also added in a note about how to use Smoke and Mirrors with characters in units.

Changed the casting value a little bit for The Blessing of Lustria; it's now 10+/16+. Decided to reduce it a little after reading through the other Lores of Magic and seeing how the other ones were laid out - it felt like the 12+/18+ was a little high for what it did in comparison to a few of the other spells in the book. Still, didn't want to make it too much lower, so just reduced both by 2.

Really nice.

Maybe make it it's own magic spells, like call down lighting and jungle swarms.

Remember they are rare beyond belief,so only one in your army as a special character.

Wow, me and my friend made pages after pages trying to make up rules for these.

Yours is much better non the less!!

The unbosted blessing of lustria has no ruling on when it ends, that could be a problem

Whoops, just noticed that too. Fixed!

Good ideas, but it's underpriced for what it does. This should be at least 250 points, though 275 would be more reasonable.

SkaerKrow wrote:Good ideas, but it's underpriced for what it does. This should be at least 250 points, though 275 would be more reasonable.

Compare this guy to a level 2 daemon prince for pricing.
Both are T5 S5 W4, only the lizard version has a better base ward, more spells, and armor.
2 less attacks, but D3 wounds is pretty much a wash.
Colded Blooded is nice, but you don't have terror or stubborn, so the prince is a little better on that end. Honestly, this should cause fear at the very least, it is a monster after all.

So you get much more survivability against shooting (armor and better ward), better magic (since you have the bonus spell with is awesome), and a wash in combat (D3 wounding is awesome, and if you don't need it, you still thunder stomp).
I'd add fear, and bring it in at 350 points. A level 2 daemon prince is landing at 380, so that's a bit of a discount rate.
Also, this guy is RARE, so he doesn't cut into any of your lord or hero space at all.
You could still run an engine of the gods, and 2-3 Old Bloods if you wanted crazy hitting power.

Smoke and Mirrors lets you swap with another non-fleeing character of the same type. This guys a monster, so unless you take two of them, you can't swap at all.
If you want to be able to swap with any character not in a unit, you should specify.

-Matt

Also the fluff says that when a Coatl flies its winds buffet the jungles, what about an alternative spell option of some type of hurricane that reduces the accuracy of anyone shooting at it or a unit within a certain range.