WM Noob - advice needed for Chaos

[schwager]

Hello all, WM Noob here in desperate need of advice for fielding a Chaos army... against Lizards.

After years of procrastination I'm now only 3 units and 1 character away from completing the first 2000 points of my Nurgle-themed Chaos army (I'll post some pictures as soon as I manage to get some decent photos taken).

I my first few games (other WM players are hard to find in Auckland, New Zealand) I will be facing the infamous Christian Burnett and his Lizardman army. I expect to learn a lot from him, as I know how well he knows and plays these games (he's a regular in our Blood Bowl league). However, I don't want to just walk into any old trap he sets from me in the first game, so I thought I'd ask for some advice.

What follows is what units I have available so far. Except for where noted, it's currently not possible to change the general composition, as this is really all I have right now. In the future I plan to expand the army well beyond 3000 points, though...

General (with Orb of Majesty)
Wizard (with Dispell Scroll)
Wizard (on Chaos Dragon)*

3 Units of Chaos Warriors
3 Units of Marauders
2 Units of Chariots
2 Units of Marauder Horse
2 Units of Chaos Knights
2 Units of Chaos Hounds
1 Unit of Harpies*

Comes to a total of 1980 points (according to the WMAB), which leaves room for one or two more Magic Items. Breakpoint of 8.

* I might replace the Wizard on Dragon with a Hero on Dragon, or drop the Dragon all together and get a second unit of Harpies instead. Not sure, yet...

As for a plan... well, I've read through the rulebook (but not the current one, yet) and plenty of articles I found online, in Fanatic and Warmaster Mags. Without having ever played the game (or even witnessed one live), however, I still feel a bit lost.

I guess my first question would be how to brigade the units I have to get the most out of them.

I was thinking of 2 infantry brigades (CW, CW, M, M & CW, M) and 2 cavalry brigades (CH, CH, MC, MC & CC, CC, CK, CK). Use the light cavalry to scout ahead and shield the main advance, keep the heavy cavalry back a bit to hit home combined with the infantry and/or counter charge. The Harpies to take care of stragglers and to cut off retreats.

What's the best way to advance infantry, in columns or on a wide front?
How far apart should brigades be when advancing?
Chaos Warriors or Marauders in front?

Oh dear, as you can see, I have so many questions... and so many more that I haven't even thought of, yet.
Sorry for the rant. Any tips you may have would be very much appreciated

[Lex]

Having played Chris more then once.....  at ALL cost, avoid attaching characters to units, ANY character, but most assurdly your general ....  Chris is highly addept to force you to do this and then kill the unit      that said

Remember that a dragon attaches to each and all stands of a unit, so can add to your S&S attacks for stands still out of contact with enenemy when charged.

Remember that a infantry unit with a dragon attached retreating into dense terrain/woods will force the dragon to relocate, now WHERE is that combat in range for the character+dragon to give them a hand too.........

[spiritusXmachina]

You're probably playing against one of the best Warmaster players in the world (at least once he was) - so at your first games against him just lean back and relax! 
No really, whenever I watched Chris play against beginners he explained a lot and helped wherever he could. And you can learn a lot of him. He was a great analyst of armies and always tried to find new approaches.
At the first games you will need to learn so much about the game, its mechanics and your army list anyway that the list you presented above is as good as any other. Still here some advice.

About Chaos:
It's a good choice as a first army as it is tough and forgiving.

In my eyes the most cost-effective troops at Chaos are Marauders, Chariots and Ogres. I would recommend you take more of them at least when aiming towards your 3000 pts - this should improve your breakpoint.
(Chris will maybe tell you about Trolls being very cost-effective too, especially when assembling 3-4 units of them into a brigade - but don't listen to that  . He might be right, but it needs a very experienced player to handle this idea as the -1 on command is obstructive. I would only take them at defensive games or Sieges.)
Chaos Warriors and (especially) Chaos Knights indeed are one of the toughest units in WM but their point cost is also a lot higher than it should be so don't use too much of them.
Hounds are one of the cheapest cavalry units you can get in the game - only drawback is that they are also the easiest way for your opponent to get to your breakpoint. I like to use them as cannonfodder but if possible pull them back when reduced to one or two stands. But they are also good for getting weak enemy units.

Brigading: After a lot of games and lot of experimenting with positioning the units I found out for myself that there is no simple answer. Sometimes columns are better, sometimes lines - left aside irregular formations (which are overestimated imo). Just for the beginning I recommend you to form lines (as it's the easiest) - marauders in the front and warriors or ogres in the second, third or even fourth line. When being charged the marauders maybe will die but your tougher troops are ready to make the counter charge. Though your first intention is to charge first of course! And that with the toughest troops you can get there. 

Your considerations about when to use which troop types are good imo
Another hint: the one who attacks always has the advantage  This is especially true for Chaos. But also keep together your army so you can easily catch up and take revenge for any destroyed units. Keep it together especially if you only use two wizards as commanders (have in mind their 20cm command restriction).

But mostly I would recommend: read my advice and then forget it again to find your own style. And then play a few games and read those hints again.

Hope I could help. Have much fun - Warmaster is a great game.

Greetings,
Gerald

P.S.: And when you're more experienced and Chris begins to rant about your lucky dice - just suggest you both use the same set of dice or he shall stop ranting! 

[schwager]

Thank you so much for your replies, Lex and Gerald... really appreciate it!

Some very helpful advice indeed and answers a lot of the questions I had.
Do either of you happen to have any specific tips for going up against Lizards?

It seems that ChrisB is one of the best at whatever he plays... I can certainly bear witness to that from the Blood Bowl perspective.

And no worries, Gerald... ChrisB already calls my average dice rolling luck jammy, so that should be entertaining 

I'll keep you all posted on how it goes.

Oh, and one other thing:
What do you guys think of Dragon Ogres?
I don't plan to use them at 2000 points, but once I get to expand my army beyond that, I definitely wanna include some. Got some conversions in mind, involving Epic scale Squiggoths...

[Lex]

Do either of you happen to have any specific tips for going up against Lizards?

Look at the selectors and compare your units to his, both statwise and pointwise, that should give you a fair idea of WHAT you need to exchange, then do the math...

In general you will often see players "hunting"  for the easy to kill units on the battelfield, but it is seldom real "cost" effective....  if you kill eg. 2 units of skinks, but loose a unit of CW in the process, then who is better off???

Focus is everything !! and if you played BB against Chris you KNOW how he applies focus to his games !!