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Returning home for the holidays, I found a few lizardmen from when I was a kid and want to make them into som ething given my recent re-taking of the hobby. I found Kroq'gar on his carnasaur, 8 cold ones, 20 sarus and 18 skins (1 priest) as well as a pterodactyl rider and shelob from LoTR.
Here's a few ideas I've had on what to do with them, paired with some pros and cons to help me decide. I just wanted input from this community to see what yous think

Option 1) Lizardman Fantasy
I don't have a fantasy army, so I could just use these as the foundations to starting one. Trouble is I have no friends that play fantasy, and I have no idea about the rules. I'd still consider myself learning 40k so taking up fantasy would potentially confuse me. However, this would let me use the lizardmen as what they are... awesome dinosaur armies. I wouldn't have to convert or change anything I've found, and I'll have a decent army the second I decide to start it.

Option 2) Lizardman 40k
A codex would be needed to make this work, but lizardmen units on round bases as an entirely new army. A race that's only recently entered the outward galaxy, and got there through magical and spiritual ability over tech. They don't make faster engines, they bless their engine with the wind... that sort of thing. They go from planet to planet, fighting for the old ones (maybe) ideologies and to protect nature. Yup, dino eco warriors. "Your species is unsustainable and a burden on nature. Prepare for the end." For this I'd either use CSM for the fact marks of chaos could be re-named marks of blood and trickery etc. I WOULD use them as feral orkz but my 40k army IS orkz, and my GOD do I have plenty of orkz (I run a green tide). Plus, I know GW are sketchy with the use of conversions in store, and we want to play there a fair bit.

Option 3) Lizardmen Orkz
With my green tide, the only units I don't possess are bikers, a boss biker, and battlewagons. This gives me the chance at snakebite style allies for the speed freak section of my army My cold ones could become bikers, kroq could be the bikerboss, my sarus could be the another ork mob that then fits into trukks, and use the big creatures as battlewagons. This would mean I'd have a literally FULL ork army. While I love the idea, I'm scared of just overfilling the army to the point where half my units are useless because of the sheer number of stuff I have. Also, there's heavy fluff behind my ork army as freebooters and lootas, would a race of lizards join them when they still prefer enchantments to armour?

Well, there's 3 of my ideas. I know people make them Tau etc. but I have no interest in Tau. The best I've done for tau is stealing a few units for looted mekanobz and wagons. If anyone has any suggestions of a way to flesh out the ideas please don't hesitate. I'm here for feedback, so.... yeah

Skyy wrote:
Also, there's heavy fluff behind my ork army as freebooters and lootas, would a race of lizards join them when they still prefer enchantments to armour?

Fluff is easy for Orks, they just like to fight...

twj wrote:

Skyy wrote:
Also, there's heavy fluff behind my ork army as freebooters and lootas, would a race of lizards join them when they still prefer enchantments to armour?

Fluff is easy for Orks, they just like to fight...

Yeah, but it's not so easy for the lizardmen I want to include. It doesn't seem right to have eco-warriors fighting alongside an army that adds extra exhausts just for the fact of smelling more petrol. Like I said in the first post, they wage war with people over sustainability. While they'd like the way the ork culture is incredibly sustainable given their simple desires, they wouldn't stand for the amount of unnecessary strain they put on the ecosystems they arrive to.

The best way of incorporating them would mess with my Orkz fluff, as I'd prefer to say the lizardmen are USING the orkz as an unknowing slave race. They give the orkz the war they want as it destroys the race they want gone from the planet. This would then mess with my fluff as Big Boss Goldteef is no longer the guy in charge, and he's just a pawn for a lizard guy.

They would make some interesting count as for kroot.

What about an Inquisitorial army led by the Ordo Xenos? Codex: Inquisition is cheap and leaves you free rein when it comes to modelling - Those Saurus could make good Crusaders or DCAs with little to no conversion work.

Ralis wrote:They would make some interesting count as for kroot.

yeah, I considered this but I'm not big on the Tau. Plus, the few Tau units I got a hold of were instantly looted.

Agent_Tremolo wrote:What about an Inquisitorial army led by the Ordo Xenos? Codex: Inquisition is cheap and leaves you free rein when it comes to modelling - Those Saurus could make good Crusaders or DCAs with little to no conversion work.

I quite like this idea, could you help me understand their place in the fluff a bit better? From the glimpses I've read it would seem the Ordo Xenos would try and kill these lizardmen, If I just made them humans/ SM that have evolved or mutated, The Ordo Heriticus would see them as enemy too.
Am I just confusing myself by viewing them this way? Like, despite the ordo heriticus hating mutation, would the ordo xenos still accept them because they're good at what they do and don't answer to other ordos?

Ork codex, possibly as a race that works with Exodites? I've been thinking lately that Exodites should come back with some friendly lizard-people friends...

Most Ordo Xenos inquisitors spend some time living amongst aliens, learning of their strenghts and weaknesses, sometimes subtly manipulating them for the best interests of mankind. It's not strange for an Inquisitor to use captured alien tech, and some even take aliens in their retinues or as mercenaries.

Now I think of it, Hernan Cortes used large numbers of native allies in his conquest of the Aztecs, exploiting the hatred and rivalry other neighboring nations had for the Empire. It's a dirty, morally questionable tactic, but also the kind of things the Imperium of WH40k would do.

Perhaps you should get your friends into Fantasy as well, or find some new ones that do play Fantasy.
Two games are better than one, and you already have the beginnings of an army.

Alternatively, you could use them as 'counts as' for some 40k codexes.
You could also make up your own house rules, but that is iffy.

In an old codex for IG there is a regiment of scaly lizard like people with classified information. They also had lizard riders. They could be the secret legion of xenos/mutant guard deemed far too useful to destroy.