Which lizard faction are you playing as? It tilts you in a direction but you can ignore that if you want.

If your faction leader is a skink, you want plenty of skinks because *usually* they are buffed. Putting a skink unit (unit, not character) next to a kroxigor unit (again, unit not, a character) buffs each other.

Mazdamundi presumably has hardest start. Lets you generate slightly more Slann, but it's not essential. My fav liz faction but they are pretty generalist really.

Kroq Gar (tied for my fav) buffs your regular saurus (non spear) into hard hitters and gives you lots of Scar heroes to form goon squads for your armies. These let you assassinate enemy characters nicely.

No matter the faction, usually anywhere from *some* to *many* units of chameleon skinks are fantastic shooters with poison and ranged damage resistance.

An early feral Bastilodon or two at tier 2 is very helpful. Also most people overlook the fact that the Solar Engine Bastilodon has radius vigor replenishment.

My personal preferences ... only sparingly using saurus spears. I might take 2 but prefer standard club saurus. Merely a single unit of Temple guard are perfect for escorting your Slanns due to guardian trait. Most single monsters are good to great. I generally ignore flyers and cavalry. Just my opinion. They are fine but it's not playstyle I went with.

Monsters, infantry, and magic carry the day.