I still think of the Lizardmen as “the new Warhammer army”, though ironically, the lore paints them as the oldest race in the Warhammer world. I’ll admit, I didn’t know anything about the old Slann armies, prior to Warhammer 5th edition’s release in 1996.
Back in the mid 90s, a friend of a friend had picked up 5th edition and I was fascinated with these “new guys”. I was a big Orc/Ork fan back then too. I obviously had a bit of a thing for green skin. I swiftly drew up plans to start collecting my own Lizardmen army.
This force was pulled out of a box in the attic recently, along with my Warhammer 40k Space Wolves. It took a good few years to build it, from what I can remember. One thing that sticks in my mind is how much fun I had painting them. Above is a Salamander and his ‘keepers’. I still love this mini.
The Lizardmen Saurus regiment were mainly made up of the plastic minis you got in 5th edition. I bought a box or two of them over time, and added in the metal command figures. It always used to frustrate me that command figures would sit more diagonally on the bases, like they were heading in a different direction from the rest of the gang.
Two or three of the plastic troops are missing their shields. Life’s tough in the attic.
The Kroxigors were two other minis I relished painting. I spent a bit of time on the bases, too. I used a varnish designed for Fimo clay, which made minis very shiny. But I figured this worked well on Lizardmen anyway. It certainly saved them from chipping when they spent a good couple of decades piled into a box.
This Lizardman Champion was a little damaged when I found the army. He had a snapped off arm (which I found, and fixed), and his base was missing too.
The Temple Guard were minis I enjoyed back in the day. These metal regiments you had to assemble by buying 2-3 in blister packs at a time were incredibly expensive to build. That’s probably why there’s only 8 of them here.
More of the Kroxigors, with some skink archers skulking in the background.
The bases were some form of clay (potentially Fimo, but possibly even window putty) with pieces of roughcasting stones pressed into them. I used to pick the stones off the wall of the house and get in trouble for it. What a bloody martyr.
These skink archers had a metal command group. The standard bearer is very top heavy. I never considered putting weights in the bases back then. He always fell over back then, and it turns out, he still does.
More Temple Guard. Looks like I used to enjoy painting colourful feathers.
Another fully metal regiment, Lizardmen skink javelin throwers. I painted the hero as an albino because I saw a few in White Dwarf. It probably could’ve gone another coat or three. The standard bearer here is one of the casualties of life in a box. His little standard is broken off and missing. At least it stops him falling over.
The Lizardmen army in all its glory – complete with one of the original pieces of terrain I made for them, courtesy of my Monster in My Pocket collection.
Lots of fond memories here, and the army is bigger than I remembered. I must give a respectful nod to childhood me for another fully painted force. The trade-off was an abject performance at school, but who needs school when you can play fully painted?
Despite this being an enjoyable trip down memory lane, much of this Lizardmen army was surplus to requirements. I stuck the majority of it on Ebay, and it looks like they’ve found a loving new general who’ll get them back on the battlefield!
