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Hey Lizardmen players (and other interested parties)
 
I was wondering what comparisons have been drawn on the Terradon vs Ripperdactyl Riders units.  I have two boxes of them which I got on release day and to date haven't a clue which one to go with.  I've been leaning to the Ripperdactyls with a Skink Chief on one as they seem to have alot of attackng power, though I'm worried that the low leadership and Frenzy rule cause them to be more of a hinderance.  I have fairly large Lizardmen army, but no flyers to date and would like to hear about your experiences with either of these units.
 
Many thanks in advance!

Rippers by a long shot. With two units you'll get two toad rage markers, which work regardless of which ripper unit makes it into combat with them. Between their decent initiative, killing blow/armour piercing, and their extra D3 attacks they can utterly shred all sorts of units that could give you a hard time. A guy in my club uses 3 units of 4, and with the help of an irresistible wyssan's they shredded a 6-man unit of necroknights AND a unit of skeleton chariots in a single turn.

Frenzy is an annoyance for sure, but with smart deployment and vanguard (flying cavalry count as fast cav, which get vanguard for free) you should be alright.

Sold. Rippers it is. Thanks for your help.

Rippers are trash

Sneaky_Gobbo wrote:
Rippers are trash

Because...?

Sneaky_Gobbo wrote:
Rippers are trash

/\ He got eaten by them.

Rippers are fantastic but they are a bit tricky to control. However these wonderful beauties can chew through anything. However i would lean towards buff magic on your magic users as they will occasionally need some help dealing with some units.

Don't expect them to perform miracles, and don't expect them to come out of combats alive. They can dish out a silly number of attacks against their chosen target, but elsewise are fragile and die easily to shooting. So you need to be smart about how you use them.

If you have two units of them, it's probably a good idea to load them both up on the same unit. Hopefully they'll shred enough of whatever they're fighting to kill it and overrun into something else.

Just don't throw them in against elves, or anything else with ASF. Their strength is shredding enough enemies that they won't get hit back (and if they do, that they wont get hit back hard). Fail that and they're going to die quickly and won't perform well for you.

Just don't throw them in against elves, or anything else with ASF. Their strength is shredding enough enemies that they won't get hit back (and if they do, that they wont get hit back hard). Fail that and they're going to die quickly and won't perform well for you.

Because of this, you can essentially count on them getting hacked apart before they can go against way too many armies. When unbuffed they are only really only able to deal with low WS/As/I infantry (not much of this around in tournaments) and to a degree cavalry (but not elven Cavalry as they will hack them apart before you even swing). In my meta Skaven, Warriors, Daemons and Empire rule the roost and Rippers don't bring much to the table there, then add in their terribleness against Elves and bazinga, they're a liability in 7/16 match-ups (5 of which I'll need to be decent in to compete). Sure they can hack through OnG, Brets, Empire Infantry etc. but those things are easy to deal with anyways and the problem is they're so likely to give up their 120 points to do it.

If I'm building a combat lizard army which needs all the help it can get from magic as the Saurus are so inefficient, I don't see the dice being around to buff these guys to be able to do anything. If I'm building a cloud they are a massive liability due to their inability to flee, clogging the 12" radius of the Slann to avoid frenzy, or the 50/50 to fail a frenzy test if on the flanks. Furthermore in most comp systems where I live you're only allowed 3-4 Flying units so they compete with Terradons, who can pick up War Machines nearly as well, clear Chaff with rocks effectively and help you control the movement phase.

You make good points too hence why I've put this post up, it is a difficult decision to make. I haven't heard many people mention Terradons as being very effective (or not). Most of my games are against OnG, Empire, Skaven, HE and VC's. I'll have to consider it a bit more but appreciate everyone's input.

Jade Empire wrote:
You make good points too hence why I've put this post up, it is a difficult decision to make. I haven't heard many people mention Terradons as being very effective (or not). Most of my games are against OnG, Empire, Skaven, HE and VC's. I'll have to consider it a bit more but appreciate everyone's input.

No worries mate, apologies for the useless initial reply.

I think Terradons are amazing, their rocks can smash up enemy chaff no problems and properly used 3 units of them can dominate your opponent's movement phase for the whole game.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

Jade Empire wrote:
You make good points too hence why I've put this post up, it is a difficult decision to make. I haven't heard many people mention Terradons as being very effective (or not). Most of my games are against OnG, Empire, Skaven, HE and VC's. I'll have to consider it a bit more but appreciate everyone's input.

No worries mate, apologies for the useless initial reply.

I think Terradons are amazing, their rocks can smash up enemy chaff no problems and properly used 3 units of them can dominate your opponent's movement phase for the whole game.

I disagree, I have found that Rippers work fine against Elves, Skaven, and even Ogres, Though not as much the last. The think about them is they are a Support unit; they cannot take things on head to head. but in tandem I have had them reek havoc. Put that Toad marker on a big block. Get a rear/flank charge, and watch Elves fly off the table. But Yes you have to pick your battles. I have started taking two unit of Rippers, two toad markers. WEEEE. Hit one unit, each model has 5-7 attacks. They have eaten through blocks of spearmen, witches, even a block of Warriors went down with a lucky few KB attacks. Without a Toad in the Unit they are not as good for sure, The extra attacks, the re-rolls. Plus the ability to vanguard to flanks/rear striking positions. Hit a unit with the toad in the front with a block of Saurus, and rippers in the side/rear. And you can basically consider it an auto win round of combat. Flank charge and get the extra three attacks and watch our opponent cringe

If you could drop stones more than once, I could see where Tarradons would be better. But as it is, so far the Rippers have done way better at least for me.

Terradons were nice, but to my eyes, they have lost a lot for two reasons.

Their price has increased unjustifyingly, they were not that good, and moreso, their leadership is lower, which is a problem for a fast cavalry unit with no access to a musician. Now, their chance to regroup is very low.

Before the new codex, I played them from time to time, not every game, but frequently, in units of four, and I was happy with their job as chaff-killers (with the rocks dropped), then as redirecters.
But now, I've tried them twice since the new codex, and I've been disappointed a lot.

I've yet to try the Ripperdactyls.