October 7, 2025 • 9 mins
Hot take time: the Lizardmen might be Total War: Warhammer 3’s most boring campaign—not because they’re weak, but because they’re too complete. In this episode, we break down how tanky Saurus frontlines, early pseudo-artillery (Solar Engine/Stegadon), top-tier magic, and a huge, well-rounded dinosaur roster erase early tension and decision pressure.
What you’ll learn
-
Why Lizardmen’s early game has no real hurdle (Saurus stat sticks, Skink tools, dinos)
-
How the Geomantic Web, rites, and blessed spawnings add power more than choices
-
The “solved battle” template: Saurus hold, skirmish chip, dinos + magic delete targets
-
Map/start safety and auto-resolve bias that trivialize campaigns
-
Fair counterpoints (skink micro, subfaction variety) and self-imposed challenges to make them fun again
Keywords: Total War Warhammer 3, Lizardmen guide, Saurus, Geomantic Web, Solar Engine, Stegadon, dinosaur roster, campaign strategy, faction tier list, boring faction.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hot Take Eman are boring, not because they're weak, but because they're so complete that the campaign rarely asks you to solve interesting problems.
(00:11):
Welcome to Gman Gaming and Reviews.
Today we're gonna talk about why Eman are kind the most boring faction in total War, war Hammer three.
Let's get into it.
So we're gonna first define boring.
Uh, there's basically four bullet points that I have here for boring.
(00:33):
The first thing is low early tension.
There is very little risk or decision pressure in turns one to 30, which makes them remarkably different from most of the other factions in the game.
Most of the other factions have glaring weaknesses that you have to.
(00:53):
Work around, especially in the early campaign, or you could, especially on high, on high limited difficulty levels, or you could get completely destroyed.
They have very few roster gaps, which means there's no need to improvise counters or cheese.
They have a very linear power curve in that.
The same answers that work in the early game work in the mid and the late game as well for the most part.
(01:17):
And campaign mechanics just add numbers, not decisions.
So next we're gonna talk about the early game.
So the early gamer has no hurdle to clear, right? So first you have the Sora stat stick wall.
The Sora have amazing base mal stats, high armor leadership.
They win most line fights with minimal micro early access to skirmish in the, in the.
(01:41):
In the type of S skins and chameleons plus armor piercing diners, you already have the tools for every enemy type.
Your bastard, ladon.
Solar engine and stagger on give you artillery range, like artillery, like ranged punch in the early to mid, so you're not forced into risky siege plays, and you have magical supremacy out of the gate with the land, the law of life, heavens and high, the law of life, heavens and high magic.
(02:09):
So you have safer battles and fewer comebacks needed.
Next we move on to their roster.
It is just too good problem.
Now, to be fair, this isn't something that I'm gonna say because even in the original tabletop game, the lizard men in some regards were actually considered too good.
(02:30):
But.
In the game of to war, to war.
Ham three, they have answers to everything.
They have shields, they have armor, they have mass, large, anti large terror, poison, stealth, skirmas, skirmishes, artillery analogs, flyers, monstrous Cav and elite halberts in the Temple Guard.
(02:52):
You have the auto resolved bias, which often favors you because you have takey front lines plus monsters reducing the incentive to manually fight interesting battles.
And then you have dino dooms stacks that just trivialize many matchups at once online.
Then we're gonna talk about the campaign mechanics where you have more numbers than actual choices.
(03:15):
So the Geo Man web is mostly a buff slider gameplay, which is about optimizing provinces, and then forget rarely changes your strategic route.
Blessed spawnings slash sacred units.
High.
High because of the high rules that remove scarcity.
So if you need anti large, just spawn it.
(03:35):
So, I mean, a lot of people will just spawn the sacred units, but you're better off just having them there to replenish your armies as you need to.
And they're so good.
They're like, uh, even though you can't re recruit them endlessly, like the empire can recruit their regiments of renowned, the fact that you could spawn such large numbers early on.
(03:55):
Really means that in the early game it just becomes even easier.
And then you've got the rights EC, primeval glory.
They have huge power in they basically huge power injections on timers, not dilemmas, that force trade-offs.
And then you have the technology tree, broad linear gains, few this or that, forks that define a run.
(04:18):
So next we're gonna talk about map and start positions.
They're just safe and comfy.
Many lizard men starts have defensible geography, jungle choke points in nearby climate.
They're like lowering expansion friction.
The public order econ slash econ are forgiving.
Once web commandments settle in less govern a juggling fewer rebellions to manage.
(04:40):
And the battle gameplay loop is just solved early.
You know you have the template fight, so you have sous hold, chameleons and salamanders harass dinos and ancient steaks plus magic delete priority targets.
Their micro sealing is significantly lower than example, the glass canon elves or the squishy caven or combined arm factions that need coordinated timings and sieges just get answered by solar.
(05:05):
Solar engines.
Slash Stakes plus magic.
No need for creative breach plans.
So we're gonna talk about comparisons and why others feel spicier.
So first, we have the Tomb Kings, where we have tight economy and army caps, forced project choices.
We have the beman with the herd stone, AP mechanics.
Push aggressive time box.
(05:25):
Play the vampire coast with gun line angles, ammo, and summons.
Making positioning puzzles every battle.
The SCN with fragile power spikes food tech and debt dilemmas.
In fact, learning to play the SCN was actually what was incredibly difficult, but one of the really most rewarding things, uh, that made the faction so fun because their play style was so different and you had to literally play to their strengths in order to win, which when I first encountered them, I thought they were crap.
(05:56):
But they actually got a lot of fun.
And then you have the Warriors of Chaos, who they have marked rosters and vassal juggling create divergent runs.
But it's not just that the rosters in, in the case of the Warriors of Chaos can be incredibly unique depending upon which Lord you're playing to make the gameplay experience really different.
(06:17):
So we'll talk about some counterpoints to be fair.
So there is a high skill ceiling exists with skin kite and terra kiting and comet timings and multi DNO micro right.
There is sub faction variety.
There's Mazda's Magic Spam and Crop Cars Monster Rush.
That cars hor puzzle can feel different and style matters.
(06:40):
Some players enjoy the power fantasy of a rock solid army that just works, right? So in order to make the Lisbon interesting, some self-imposed spice, you could try a no Soray challenge.
So skins.
Dinos Chameleon ambush plays.
No artillery analogs, no solar engine stake shooting wind sages I maneuver slash summons.
(07:02):
Geo mantic web balls only expand along web nodes.
Route planning becomes a puzzle.
Right restrictions use rights only on crisis slash major wars.
Theme lists, ec pos and swarm Cold one.
Cavalry focus.
Sacred sporting only manual.
Every battle decision threshold ban order resolve on field fights.
(07:25):
Now when we talk about counterpoints, one thing that I will say is you may say, uh, some people may say that the dwarfs are boring, and to be fair.
They can be, but the dwarfs have one major weakness in that they have no calf.
The dwarfs really, for the most part, have no fast moving elements, which can actually mean that they do which is why they're not the fact that the, even though the limen don't have the same amount of artillery and ranged units, that the, that the dwarfs have, the fact that they have.
(08:05):
Um, cavalry units and flying monsters.
Uh, not flying monsters, but they have dinos means that they're a lot more well-rounded because not having cavalry sucks, especially when you're trying to chase down fast moving units, right? It just sucks.
Closing Take The limen are boring because they're too complete.
(08:28):
They have elite line units, monsters, pseudo artillery, and top tier magic compressed decision space.
If you wanna add drama, add constraints, or pick a faction with sharper weaknesses.
This was uh, G-Man Gaming and Reviews episode on why the lizard men are boring.
I'd love to hear your feedback slash comments on this one.
(08:49):
Do you agree? Do you disagree? Which faction do you think is the most boring? Which faction do you think is maybe the most fun? Love to hear your comments.
This was G-Man Gaming and Reviews Signing Off.
Hot Take Eman are boring, not because they're weak, but because they're so complete that the campaign rarely asks you to solve interesting problems.
(00:11):
Welcome to Gman Gaming and Reviews.
Today we're gonna talk about why Eman are kind the most boring faction in total War, war Hammer three.
Let's get into it.
So we're gonna first define boring.
Uh, there's basically four bullet points that I have here for boring.
(00:33):
The first thing is low early tension.
There is very little risk or decision pressure in turns one to 30, which makes them remarkably different from most of the other factions in the game.
Most of the other factions have glaring weaknesses that you have to.
(00:53):
Work around, especially in the early campaign, or you could, especially on high, on high limited difficulty levels, or you could get completely destroyed.
They have very few roster gaps, which means there's no need to improvise counters or cheese.
They have a very linear power curve in that.
The same answers that work in the early game work in the mid and the late game as well for the most part.
(01:17):
And campaign mechanics just add numbers, not decisions.
So next we're gonna talk about the early game.
So the early gamer has no hurdle to clear, right? So first you have the Sora stat stick wall.
The Sora have amazing base mal stats, high armor leadership.
They win most line fights with minimal micro early access to skirmish in the, in the.
(01:41):
In the type of S skins and chameleons plus armor piercing diners, you already have the tools for every enemy type.
Your bastard, ladon.
Solar engine and stagger on give you artillery range, like artillery, like ranged punch in the early to mid, so you're not forced into risky siege plays, and you have magical supremacy out of the gate with the land, the law of life, heavens and high, the law of life, heavens and high magic.
(02:09):
So you have safer battles and fewer comebacks needed.
Next we move on to their roster.
It is just too good problem.
Now, to be fair, this isn't something that I'm gonna say because even in the original tabletop game, the lizard men in some regards were actually considered too good.
(02:30):
But.
In the game of to war, to war.
Ham three, they have answers to everything.
They have shields, they have armor, they have mass, large, anti large terror, poison, stealth, skirmas, skirmishes, artillery analogs, flyers, monstrous Cav and elite halberts in the Temple Guard.
(02:52):
You have the auto resolved bias, which often favors you because you have takey front lines plus monsters reducing the incentive to manually fight interesting battles.
And then you have dino dooms stacks that just trivialize many matchups at once online.
Then we're gonna talk about the campaign mechanics where you have more numbers than actual choices.
(03:15):
So the Geo Man web is mostly a buff slider gameplay, which is about optimizing provinces, and then forget rarely changes your strategic route.
Blessed spawnings slash sacred units.
High.
High because of the high rules that remove scarcity.
So if you need anti large, just spawn it.
(03:35):
So, I mean, a lot of people will just spawn the sacred units, but you're better off just having them there to replenish your armies as you need to.
And they're so good.
They're like, uh, even though you can't re recruit them endlessly, like the empire can recruit their regiments of renowned, the fact that you could spawn such large numbers early on.
(03:55):
Really means that in the early game it just becomes even easier.
And then you've got the rights EC, primeval glory.
They have huge power in they basically huge power injections on timers, not dilemmas, that force trade-offs.
And then you have the technology tree, broad linear gains, few this or that, forks that define a run.
(04:18):
So next we're gonna talk about map and start positions.
They're just safe and comfy.
Many lizard men starts have defensible geography, jungle choke points in nearby climate.
They're like lowering expansion friction.
The public order econ slash econ are forgiving.
Once web commandments settle in less govern a juggling fewer rebellions to manage.
(04:40):
And the battle gameplay loop is just solved early.
You know you have the template fight, so you have sous hold, chameleons and salamanders harass dinos and ancient steaks plus magic delete priority targets.
Their micro sealing is significantly lower than example, the glass canon elves or the squishy caven or combined arm factions that need coordinated timings and sieges just get answered by solar.
(05:05):
Solar engines.
Slash Stakes plus magic.
No need for creative breach plans.
So we're gonna talk about comparisons and why others feel spicier.
So first, we have the Tomb Kings, where we have tight economy and army caps, forced project choices.
We have the beman with the herd stone, AP mechanics.
Push aggressive time box.
(05:25):
Play the vampire coast with gun line angles, ammo, and summons.
Making positioning puzzles every battle.
The SCN with fragile power spikes food tech and debt dilemmas.
In fact, learning to play the SCN was actually what was incredibly difficult, but one of the really most rewarding things, uh, that made the faction so fun because their play style was so different and you had to literally play to their strengths in order to win, which when I first encountered them, I thought they were crap.
(05:56):
But they actually got a lot of fun.
And then you have the Warriors of Chaos, who they have marked rosters and vassal juggling create divergent runs.
But it's not just that the rosters in, in the case of the Warriors of Chaos can be incredibly unique depending upon which Lord you're playing to make the gameplay experience really different.
(06:17):
So we'll talk about some counterpoints to be fair.
So there is a high skill ceiling exists with skin kite and terra kiting and comet timings and multi DNO micro right.
There is sub faction variety.
There's Mazda's Magic Spam and Crop Cars Monster Rush.
That cars hor puzzle can feel different and style matters.
(06:40):
Some players enjoy the power fantasy of a rock solid army that just works, right? So in order to make the Lisbon interesting, some self-imposed spice, you could try a no Soray challenge.
So skins.
Dinos Chameleon ambush plays.
No artillery analogs, no solar engine stake shooting wind sages I maneuver slash summons.
(07:02):
Geo mantic web balls only expand along web nodes.
Route planning becomes a puzzle.
Right restrictions use rights only on crisis slash major wars.
Theme lists, ec pos and swarm Cold one.
Cavalry focus.
Sacred sporting only manual.
Every battle decision threshold ban order resolve on field fights.
(07:25):
Now when we talk about counterpoints, one thing that I will say is you may say, uh, some people may say that the dwarfs are boring, and to be fair.
They can be, but the dwarfs have one major weakness in that they have no calf.
The dwarfs really, for the most part, have no fast moving elements, which can actually mean that they do which is why they're not the fact that the, even though the limen don't have the same amount of artillery and ranged units, that the, that the dwarfs have, the fact that they have.
(08:05):
Um, cavalry units and flying monsters.
Uh, not flying monsters, but they have dinos means that they're a lot more well-rounded because not having cavalry sucks, especially when you're trying to chase down fast moving units, right? It just sucks.
Closing Take The limen are boring because they're too complete.
(08:28):
They have elite line units, monsters, pseudo artillery, and top tier magic compressed decision space.
If you wanna add drama, add constraints, or pick a faction with sharper weaknesses.
This was uh, G-Man Gaming and Reviews episode on why the lizard men are boring.
I'd love to hear your feedback slash comments on this one.
(08:49):
Do you agree? Do you disagree? Which faction do you think is the most boring? Which faction do you think is maybe the most fun? Love to hear your comments.
This was G-Man Gaming and Reviews Signing Off.
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