Stegadon

Stegadon is a Lizardmen war beast unit in Total War: Warhammer II. From atop enormous and reverent Stegadons, their crew fire enormous bolts from giant crossbows, decimating enemy ranks.

Description
Stegadons are mighty beasts that have dwelt within the primeval jungles since long before the coming of the Old Ones. They are bulky creatures whose heads are covered by armoured crests, out of which project massive horns. With bony scales and spikes shielding their bodies, there are few predators that dare challenge them. Reared by teams of Skinks who stay with them throughout their lifetimes, Stegadons grow to become very protective of those they have known since they were hatchlings. Large howdahs are attached to the beasts' backs, and from this protected vantage point the Skinks hurl a storm of poison-tipped javelins or fire huge arrows from the mounted great bows known to the Skinks as 'Sotek's Curse'.

Strategy
The Stegadon is an expensive artillery unit with the specified purpose of being the best of the few armor-piercing artillery in the Lizardmen unit roster. A standard range artillery that shoots a single poison armor-piercing bolt in in arc. The small splash damage of the projectile causes it to be less impactful to infantry as other artillery. However, being the only artillery with standard range that is armor-piercing sets it far above the rest, matching in performance with artillery in other factions. The Poison! Contact Effect adds to its usefulness by reducing the enemies' damage output. With it's high armor, weapon strength, charge bonus, and armor piercing melee attack, it is also a powerful melee combatant should the situation arise.

The only issues the Stegadon has is with its price and its small projectile. In general, Bastiladons are cheaper than Stegadons. So, despite the lower stats of the Bastiladons, the Bastiladon (Solar Engine) deals significantly more base damage with a larger splash attack at equivalent cost comparison of 3 Bastiladon (Solar Engine) units vs. 2 Stegadon units. The Bastiladon (Solar Engine) also has a higher combined health pool, giving significance to the extra 20 armor it has over the Stegadon. On the flip side, the Stegadon still deals far greater armor-piercing damage at a similar price, and at a much greater range than the Bastiladon (Solar Engine).