8th Ed. 1200 with a Slann

[Dust]

Good afternoon Lustria!

Been lurking around for a month or two now, gathering and growing my little collection of lizzies and now I come to you with a question. Well, two questions actually.

I've signed up to a local 1200 point tournament that's going to run next month. I've been playing about with my list and I was hoping you guys might have some suggestions or thoughts for me. At present it looks like:
Slann (see below for his setup)
20 Saurus HW&S with standard and musician
2x10 Skirmishers
20 Temple Guard with full command
2x1 Salamanders both with extra snacks

I feel like with a Slann I need to take advantage of the melee buffs he can give out and run a slightly more saurus heavy army than I usually would which led me to drop the chamo skinks I normally field at 1000. I have been considering switching the Saurus block to a Skrox block to allow for a little more maneuverability and some higher S hits. What do you guys think?

Secondly, how would you kit up a super discount cheapo Slann at this points level?
So far, from what I have gathered from having a little poke about the forum, the main recommendation seems to be to go with a BSB and Focused Rumination. The most common alternative seems to be ditching the BSB in favour of a plaque for an extra spell, but I'm not entirely sure this would be worth it.
Lore-wise there seems to be a bit more to consider. Firstly, the list needs to be a take all comers one, as I have no idea what I'll be going up against. Most, from what I have read, argue the case for Life, though I wonder how much I could be messed up by only having 4 spells. Light seems a pretty strong choice, the low casting values mean I don't have to worry too much about blowing my stuff up (as I won't have any miscast protection) and it provides strong combat support for my saurus blocks. That and I don't have to worry so much about missing key spells, they all seem pretty versatile. Again, any thoughts or experience at this level?

Apologies for the wall of text And thanks for reading!

 

[Qupakoco]

Welcome to the forum! Looks like a fairly solid list as-is. You should do ok against most armies with it. I think you nailed most of the common issues with building a Lizardmen army. What lore, what gear, and Saurus vs Skrox.

Skrox vs Saurus is a tough one. Skrox units excel against elites and are rather poor against regular rank and file. They are also good for taking on nasites like the Hell Pit, which I would definitely expect to see in a tourney. Though Saurus can take usually on anything that comes your way with no problem, especially if they are buffed a bit. I'm leaning towards Skrox since TG can do the same thing as Saurus.

As for the Lore I would go towards Life. With only two fighting blocks you can easily prioritize who should be getting what and making your army rather difficult to stop.

The build for your Slann is a little tougher. As a default I would pick the set-up you said, Rumination and BSB. But since your TG are already LD9, Cold-Blooded, and Stubborn I might forgo a BSB in this army. With those points you could get the Plaque of Tepok, giving you 5 spells and increasing your odds of rolling at least one double to let you pick and choose the ones you want, and the Venom of the Firefly Frog for your TG Champion to deal with the odd ethereal. Though you do have 7 points leftover, so maybe a 5 point magic weapon would be a better choice for the Champ. If that's the case then you can spring for something like the Ironcurse Icon with the Slann as warmachines will definitely be targeting your TG.

Kind of a side note, but if you go with Skrox you need to do your best to keep them from being flanked. Kroxigor are the main reason you want the unit but they cannot deliver their supporting attacks to the side or rear. Saurus handle flank attacks much better. If you think you are going to be outnumbered Saurus would be a much better choice.

 

[Dust]

Thanks for the feedback, certainly a lot to think about!

I must admit that at present the whole Skrox vs Saurus is a little bit moot as I don't have the models yet, but it's definitely something I'm hoping to pick up relatively soon. I'll definitely keep in mind that they aren't so great when flanked.

As for the Slann, what you're saying sounds pretty logical, I guess Ld9 with stubborn should be pretty reliable. I'll probably have a chance to give it a couple of goes before the actual tournament begins to see if it works or what I feel most comfortable with. For arguments sake, if you didn't go with life, what would you recommmend? Light? Or something different?

I had actually already given my TG Champion the iron curse icon, forgot to mention that. Though I do like your idea of giving it to the Slann instead and giving the champion the venom. Feels a bit strange not having a tooled up scar-vet! Either way, like you said, the whole unit is going to be a giant bullseye for cannon and the like so I'm sure it'll come in handy.

 

[vict0988]

I would say that the bsb is very much worth it, you do not want to roll that 1/40 chance and loose a game in turn 2, its just too risky.

Here is how lores for the slaan usually goes:

1 lore of life: this may be tied with light, but is taken in a lot of lists. It just gives some insane buffs along with making your caster unable to blow himself and the unit up. i think this is the best choice when you have templeguard, and definitely when you dont have the cupped hands.

2 lore of light: It makes all of the weaknesses of the saurus go away, and make them worth 25 points a model. The only reason why the saurus can be priced as low as they are, is because of low I, M and WS which light changes around, making all of those your strong points.

3 lore of death: It is just a very good lore + the slaan is a very good caster = deathly combo. (get that? because its like the lore of death ...)

4 lore of shadow: Same as death

5 lore of metal: Extremely strong but the catch is that it is only strong against high armour save armies, otherwise it kinda falls apart, and becomes number 7 or 8.

6 lore of beasts: Kind of the same as metal, exept here it is your army that counts. If you have a lot of scar vets, (3+) within range of the slaans buffs, this can be very good.

7 lore of fire: Can cause a lot of damage to smaller units with a big fireball, and bigger units can also be dealt quite a blow but just not quite as good as the other lores.

8 lore of heavens: it functions kinda well with stegadons and cavalry, but life is better with stegadons and light is better with cavalry. The only good thing is that skinks can take it, so if you want all the spells in a lore and dont have points or whatever for loremaster, you could take it. also tetto eko could make your slaan cast a lot of irresistable forces, but you dont really even need a slaan for that. In a carnosaur/fast list with no slaan it is still very good, but we are talking about slaans sooo...

Safest thing is just be the bsb and take lore of life, which is pretty much what i would do.

 

[Dust]

Thanks a lot for the lore breakdown, very informative indeed. Having never actually used a caster other than a skink priest due to the size of the games I've been playing it's a bit daunting to have a choice of all the lores! I think I'll probably look to mostly use lore of life based on the stuff you guys have been saying. I still have just under a month to go before the tournament, so I should be able to try out a number of loadouts for the Slann in that time. I might play around a little with light, but I think I'll try to give life a good number of tries.

 

[Dust]

Apologies for the double-post, but I was suddenly struck by an idea this morning.

As an alternative to taking the BSB on the Slann, what if I instead went with the plaque of tepok and gave the Temple Guard a standard of discipline? This would, if I understand the item correctly, give me a Ld 10 bubble on the Slann which combined with cold blooded should be pretty reliable, especially with the stubborn TG unit.

If I was going to do this, I would have to find some points to drop from somewhere as it takes me a few points over the limit. Perhaps drop the TG unit champion and add in an extra Saurus Warrior instead? I would lose the venom, but I will still have the iron curse on the Slann. Maybe instead drop the snack from one of the sally units?

 

[newscales]

sallies aren't as snack dependent as the razordons.

I don't know how challenging the slann works in the TG unit. if you decline, where he goes and so forth. if he is the bsb, you lose the reroll i believe if I am recalling the FAQ correctly.

metal is a solid lore just for getting a skink a 4+ armor save . Life and light are also strong picks. 5 spells is nice, but I think you can get by with 4 no problem.

 

[vict0988]

You could also take both the bsb and the +1 ld banner. If you are going for life the plaque may be a good idea, as life is very dependent on throne of vines, and having it in 1/3 games would be bad. You could consider taking a dispel scroll instead. The temple guard should probably have +1 ld banner no matter what, the only other option is the flaming banner for dealing with regen.