Originally printed in Citadel Journal #22 and Blood Bowl Compedium #1

Long before Sigmar forged his Empire, before the first Orcs started hitting each other, when Elves and Dwarfs were infant races, the Old Ones ruled the world. Their genesis, rise and fall are shrouded in mystery, but their legacies remain. The warp portals linking the world’s poles to Chaos are one such legacy. Blood Bowl is another…

In the current year, the jungles of Lustria remain largely unexplored by the Old World. However, the lands of the Old World do not hold any mysteries to the Slann, indeed they refer to the countries as the New World in reference to the young races who inhabit the area. There has been Slann infiltration of the World since it’s origin, but these past years have seen the beginning of contacts between the two worlds. As with many first contacts, sports are often a common reference point, and the sport dedicated to Nuffle is always a favorite.

The Skaven have known of the existence of the Slann for many centuries, in fact when Clan Pestilens were chased from Lustria they brought with them knowledge of a game which the Old World was just discovering. The Plaguelords, (later to form Clan Rigens) were already at an advantage in the new-formed leagues, showing off plays picked by by their brave spies.

Providing an odd blend of dexterity and strength, the Lustrian team can almost last the distance against a power team such as Chaos, while remaining able to pull of the running plays of the Skaven.

Reroll counter: 60,000 gold pieced each.

No team in either Blood Bowl or Death Zone comes without a Star Player card – although this point could be argued in the cases of the High or Dark Elf teams! The Lizardmen below cannot fail to enhance your team, although you might have to make some sacrifices to pay their wages!

As with the team lists in Death Zone, the Lizardmen are harder to play successfully than Humans or Orcs – but they are ultimately worth the challenge.

Stars are always welcome on a new team as they can add an element of reliability to your game plans early on. However the basic players are expensive, therefore the Coach must make choices between Strength and Agility to balance the team. Coach playing style comes to the fore when hiring players and ultimately one Coach’s dream team will be another’s bag of Squigs (not much use unless you’re a Goblin).

Below I have listed one of the more successful starting teams which was used when playing through the rules:

If I had to start the team again I would be tempted to have a Fan Factor of 8 instead of the Apothecary; after all I could afford to hire one after the first game given a high gate. However, memories of my last Skaven team washed over me putting the team together and I opted for the ‘Save the Skinks’ mentality – the Saurus can look after themselves!

So you’re on the pitch, facing off against your first opponent. You’d better hope their team isn’t more experienced than yours…

It’s not that bad, but you will have to get used to your players and their blend of statistics before a winning streak can be formed. Things to watch out for are the Skinks Agility – they are pretenders to the Gutter Runner, but the lower AG means that you have to tread carefully at times. The Saurus prove that you can get players less agile than a Black Orc, but the MA more than makes this up. The Star Kroxigor has to be one of the most intimidating Stars in the game with a high ST and an even higher MA he can outrun Morg, but packs just as large a punch! Just remember that he does not have Block…

On the subject of Star Players, Katchmi’ifyukan is something of a terror of the backfield – have Sokitoomi toss him downfield and watch him tear through your opponent’s safeties. You should never score with Stars unless the situation calls for it, as they cannot advance from SPPs. Which brings us to skills…

The team should be formed into specialist groups that will play on either offense or defense or in some cases – both.

Due to the number of Skinks available and given their ability to score, these are the players who will advance the fastest on the roster. Spreading Touchdowns will see many players gaining at least one skill within a handful of games and specialization beginning to take shape. Basic skills to concentrate on include Sprint, Sure Feet, Catch and Pass Block; on ‘double’ rolls Passing skills are advised. If statistic increases are gained then these Skinks should be coveted (Tip: Magic Helmet? – paint their crest gold!) and their future skill choices based around this upgrade; Leap for AG increases; Strip Ball and Tackle for ST increases or Jump Up and Sprint for MA increases.

Skinks used on offense should be developed around their speed, while a defense should be built around players who can cause or capitalize on turnovers. Upgrades in the latter case depend more upon statistics increases than for Offense as skills such as Strip Ball are of limited use on a ST 2 player!

Saurus are most likely to play when kicking and receiving as they are tough players and will likely gain skills so slowly that specialization seems like an ice age away. Favored skills consist of Block, Tackle and Frenzy as they build on the ST 4 of the player. On ‘double’ rolls – and barring stat increases – Strength skills such as Break Tackle or Agility skills like Diving Tackle will turn the Saurus into a formidable player.

If your league has adopted Jervis’ Big Guy rules from issue 13 of the Citadel Journal, then you’ll want to put Kroxigor into the team so that you can ‘grow your own’. They follow all the standard rules for the Big Guys. The full team is listed below:

The winning coach of the little known (in the Old World) Lustrian "Quetzocoztl" trophy is generally given up as a sacrifice to the ancient Slann gods. This practice generally destroys team cohesion and only the oddly named Jurrasik Park Rangers have won the trophy two years running (in 2320 and 2321) – much to the consternation of the replacement coaches!

They have, but they’ve cunningly disguised them as the Warhammer Fantasy range. However this means that it requires a little bit of work on your part before your new team can take to the field.

Essential components for any conversions are the modeling knife (the sharper the better), a bottle of liquid poly, superglue and some files. Although not necessary, I would strongly recommend a pair of clippers and a junior hacksaw as well. Other components you may be able to make use of are glasspaper, P.V.A. glue, a small table vice or modeling putty.

By far the easiest conversions are the Saurus players and Star Players. Starting with these will get you used to handling the tools (Oo-er – Ed) necessary for the more complex conversions – being comfortable with your tools makes conversions easier and faster.

The Saurus were based on the plastic models found in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle boxed set, but can be bought in smaller numbers either form a store or via Mail Order. The Star player had to be the Saurus Temple Guard Champion and it’s an eye-catching figure to the baby Stegadon skull-helmet. The various picks and sickles were clipped from the Saurus’ arms and tidied up using the knife (filing plastic can become quickly irritating) and that was it. I left the clubs attached to their left hand side and tail as it would have meant some nifty cutting at this stage and I was just getting warmed up (Besides, who’s going to argue with a 350lb reptile wielding a large stick?)

On the Temple Guard Champion the weapon and shield stub were clipped and the remains were filed down. If you are careful here you can remove the shield stub and file the contours of the fingers onto his hand.

Tip: If using clippers remember to place the flat side of the clippers against the edge of the component that you want to keep – the angled edge will distort whatever it clips!

Surprisingly the conversion of the largest figure proved to be almost as simple at he Saurus! I chose the Kroxigor wielding his club overhead so that when the arms were repositioned he would have pose befitting of such an imposing player. Carefully saw between the hands holding the massive axe, be warned that the hacksaw will inflict a thicker cut and remove a part of the hand – so make sure that the blade cuts exactly between the hands. Once separated, the remaining parts of the axe can be clipped away and the hands filed down. Again use the files to add a natural curve to the fingers and fists. The figure can now be assembles as normal, but at this stage I chose to move the right arm from in front of the body – giving a unique and menacing pose to the figure.

Tip: If using a table vice to hold the component, be sure to wrap the part held in the vice in tissue paper or cloth to prevent distortion of the axe or hand.

Why are the smallest guys the hardest to convert? Perhaps it was my choice of figure – the plastic archers from the Warhammer Fantasy Battle boxed set (also available in stores or via Mail Order). Clip off the bows. You can leave the bow part which merges with the Skink’s loincloth as it is tricky to remove – paint it in a suitable metallic color (bronze). The quivers require your full attention as they obscure the back and arm of the Skink. When removing these don’t cut too close to the body as you will need some room for mistakes when sculpting the figure’s back and arm. It must be emphasized here once again that you should use a sharp knife when you are sculpting the quiver from the body, as this will give added accuracy and safety. The quiver straps can be left on the model; once the quiver is removed the straps can either be sculpted or painted on – the latter being easier, but not as effective as the former.

I chose to use Lizardmen of the same spawning to provide a cohesive feel to the team through skin and scale color. Combined with the red and blue color scheme on the loincloths and weapons this has produced players who will be instantly recognizable as being on ‘my side’.

Tip: Properly basing your figures with flock or sand will improve the whole look of the piece.

The figures don’t lend themselves to being numbered easily as there are no shoulder pads, but there are a few options available to you:

1. Place a number on the loincloth by painting (using a contrasting color) or by waterslide transfer (if you have any to spare).
2. Number the base by painting or by gluing on a numbered piece of paper.
3. Add shoulder pads using modeling putty will give you truly unique figures (and make me jealous).

I prefer option 2 as I use this on my other teams as it allows me to tell which player is which without having to squint at the shoulder pad!

Tip: Using a PC to print 8 point Ariel or Helvetica font will give you suitable numbers to glue to your figure’s base.

So how do the rules fare within the confines of Blood Bowl? Until I got my hands on Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (advance order can be a handy thing!) my team was Saurus-heavy. While this gave me a playable team I found that it didn’t ‘feel’ like the Lustrians I was now reading about The Skinks should have more of a presence on the field as they are the ones more capable of independent thought after all! (Imagine how stupid a team full of Trolls would be – now think about a field full of Saurus!) The new combination played very differently from my original draft, but now feels Lustrian. Like the Chaos and Chaos Dwarf teams I decided to allow only two typed of player on the roster. This means that there is little ‘middle ground’ when putting your team together and in play you have to identify your weaknesses and make sure that your opponent cannot exploit them. If that’s not a challenge to a Coach, I’d like to know what is! The Star Players, like the cards in Blood Bowl and Death Zone, are included to compliment the team and add a little ‘zing’ to your games – although they do make the team easier to play in the same way the Orcs become a breeze when you add Varag and Morg!

Well I hope that you agree with my interpretation of the Lizardmen; it certainly got a vote of approval from the Internet community. It should pose a challenge to play, but above all I think that you’ll enjoy playing with them – and you’ll have a great time converting yourself a team!