8th Ed. 2000 SoM list

[Kadris]

The list is made for general play on boards with a wide variety of terrain (we even have a swamp board!!).

Slann Mage-Priest, Cupped Hands, Obsidian Lodestone, Mystery (life), Rumination, Becalming - 465

Saurus Scar-Veteran, BSB, light armor, shield, Plaque of Dominion - 168

20 Temple Guard, full command, Sword of the Hornet, Sun Standard of Chotec - 420

Skink Priest, Cube of Darkness - 105
Skink Priest, Cloak of Feathers - 90
Skink Priest, Dispel Scroll - 90

25 Saurus Warriors, mus, std - 293
25 Saurus Warriors, mus, std - 293

1 Salamander pack - 75

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SOM 500 points

Dark Emissary, L3 - 245
Truthsayer, L3 - 245


Its basically 3 units with a salamander pack having most of the points into magic stuff.
The skinks take fulcrums if they don't start on them, the slann's unit messes with magic users (enemy casters with LOS and 18" are stupid and thats horrid if i pull off the domination shadow spell).
Made the slann life mainly to regenerate troops but also to force some dispel dice. I was thinking of making him metal but the throne of vines ignore miscast is very potent. I figure I can force my opponent to use up dispel dice on the truthsayer and emissary spells along with heavens from skinks and let the slann then summon a high elf mage with metal. There are only a few players who use heavy ranged where I play and with the terrain it's never been a huge problem, but if that changes I may end up with a metal mage.

Thoughts, recommendations, insults?

 

[zenoren]

Thoughts:

Plaque of Tepok is a cheap way to get Focus of Mystery, if you are so inclined. With Life as your Lore of choice, I understand the need to Loremaster it however I have been enjoying other Lores more now. Don't get me wrong, Life was where I started when I first started using Slann.

If shooting isn't a big deal, you could save some points by dropping the Sun Standard and giving the Temple Guard the Plaque of Dominion instead. Then the Scar-Vet can do other things or drop out for more points saving.

Recommendations:

With all the points saving going around, you might be able to turn your Slann into a BSB and then give him the Standard of Discipline. This makes him Ld 10... oh yes... cold-blooded with a re-roll. And anyone within Inspiring range will be too.

Insults:

Yer mother was a newt!

 

[Taipan]

Slann Mage-Priest, Cupped Hands, Obsidian Lodestone, Mystery (life), Rumination, Becalming - 465

You overcosted him, he's actually only 415 (your first Discipline is free). As a marginally more expensive alternative, I present;

Slann w/Lore of Life, 'Rumination', 'Unfathomable', Cupped Hands, Plaque of Tepok, General and BSB, Standard of Discipline
(425 points)

This guy generates a Ld10 re-roll bubble, and his TG are also Ld10. 'Unfathomable' makes him almost impossible to snipe with magic, and his TG get a 4+ ward against it as well. You have 5 spells (which should get you all the important ones). Not bad for a tiny increase in cost. If you still wanna budget for 465, just add 'Becalming' back on.

Saurus Scar-Veteran, BSB, light armor, shield, Plaque of Dominion - 168

Drop BSB and Plaque off him, lets get some killing happening;

Scar-Vet w/Sword of the Hornet, Gamblers Armour, shield, Potion of Speed
(138 points)

Cheap, you'll easily slaughter most unit champions and even most characters will wanna steer clear (S5 with re-rolls to hit, going first virtually all the time). And he's dirt-cheap as well.

20 Temple Guard, full command, Sword of the Hornet, Sun Standard of Chotec - 420

Drop the unit champion, Scar-Vet will do the job anyway. Sun Standard is quite expensive, why not go for the cheap and nasty Banner of Eternal Flame? Cavalry and beasts don't wanna charge you, and you deny Regen. This is especially nasty when stacked with your Scar-Vet's already lethal close-combat prowess.

Skink Priest, Cube of Darkness - 105
Skink Priest, Cloak of Feathers - 90
Skink Priest, Dispel Scroll - 90

Good stuff.

25 Saurus Warriors, mus, std - 293
25 Saurus Warriors, mus, std - 293

Good stuff. You could drop 5 from each to fit in a Skink Skirmisher unit (for cheap anti-monster shooting), but otherwise this is fine.

1 Salamander pack - 75

Good stuff. Pity you can't afford another, but you can always 'Summon' more I guess

Dark Emissary, L3 - 245
Truthsayer, L3 - 245

With these two powerful caster, you might wanna consider taking an EOTG instead of all three Priests? If you drop them all, take the EOTG, and shift a dispel scroll to the Slann, you can afford it. With the EOTG and these two, you should have enough Wizards to teleport onto Fulcrums.

 

[zenoren]

You overcosted him, he's actually only 415 (your first Discipline is free).

The price was correct, he has 3 Disciplines: Focus of Mystery, Focused Rumination and Becalming Cogitation.

I still agree with Taipan, you could shave some points off him.

EDIT: Also remember that the Truthsayer and the Dark Emissary will be unable to join any of your units, because they are "Bound Monsters"... so they will be on their own. Oh, so alone!

 

[Kadris]

Thanks for the inputs, and even the insult. The truthsayer and emissary are meant from the beginning to be pure support and the only one that might mount a fulcrum is the emissary for Bridge of Shadows.

The thing is if i make the slann something other than a loremaster the truthsayer will suffer and i like the idea of 2 life mages for life buffs.

I also don't want to make the slann the BSB. The main reason is, you'd be surprised how often i have issues with rolling low, and if they break the slann auto-dies even if i get away because he is a BSB.

The three skink priests are there simply to be on the fulcrums. They are cheap and fill the roll of babysitter and caddy, which is the main goal for them. if they accomplish something else its pure gravy.

I like the eternal flame banner, there is a death star VC who runs a regen graveguard and some ethereal units. I may or may not remove the champion... the reason being that i need a BSB and i don't want to risk the slann, but i find the unit is challenged often and if i know i can't win the first round i need something to absorb the blow so to speak.

I would absolutely LOVE to add in an EoTG, but the points and 25% restriction prevents it, so it will go in larger lists which will appear later.

For now i've trimmed some stuff and added in a diadem of power and some bodies to the salamander team.

I think i will try it out and see whats lacking, your input has been invaluable, if the truthsayer doesnt pull his weight I will end up cutting him for something else... prolly an item, and make the slann non-loremaster with the plaque. If i can find a way to have a non-slann BSB with a killy hero or even lord to accept/issue challenges, that would be great. I think at this point level that will not be possible though.

Thanks again for all the insights, never thought about making the slann a non-loremaster before now.

 

[zenoren]

the only one that might mount a fulcrum is the emissary for Bridge of Shadows.

Remember, all Wizards know all Cataclysm spells and can cast them regardless of being on a Fulcrum, as long as Presence/Equilibrium/Dominance is met. Also, most games of SOM start with Equilibrium. A standard SOM game starts by placing terrain, then fulcrums, then placing Wizards on Fulcrums. When placing Fulcrums be sure to put your 2 on your half of the table, and if he is silly enough to place 1 of his on your side, then you start with Dominance. I suppose you can choose not to place Wizards on Fulcrums, but why not?

This is where the Truthsayer and Dark Emissary can make up for the "can't join units" thing. Just place both of them on your Fulcrums and PRESTO! No more loneliness...

The thing is if i make the slann something other than a loremaster the truthsayer will suffer and i like the idea of 2 life mages for life buffs.

There is a lot of awesome in Lore of Life. I've been tending away from it, just to try some new stuff... but I understand what you are doing there.

if they break the slann auto-dies even if i get away because he is a BSB.

That is very true. I would like to point out that the unit will be Stubborn (TG w/Slann always Stubborn and Immune to Psychology) and that the unit would be Ld 10 with a re-roll. So you are always rolling 3d6 discarding the high one, trying to get 10 or lower... with a re-roll. If your dice are loaded, I suggest getting a new set

The three skink priests are there simply to be on the fulcrums. They are cheap and fill the roll of babysitter and caddy, which is the main goal for them.

See above. Truthsayer and Emissary might fill this role?

 

[zenoren]

if the truthsayer doesnt pull his weight I will end up cutting him for something else...

My Truthsayers have always pulled their weight. In fact I am going to be using 2 now. Since I didn't want to simply have the exact same model on the field, I went and purchased a box of Amazons from the Mordheim range. The priestess looks like a relative of the Truthsayer... slightly more clothes too!

 

[Kadris]

No, I know the cataclysm spells are not based on if you are on a fulcrum but pres/bal/dom.... but the emissary on a fulcrum using Bridge of Shadows allows for full board LOS, so planting a unit (salamanders for shooting or even something heavier) behind the enemy is now an option. Nothing says "I love you" like... The unit we charged is now behind our general's unit sir! WHAT?

As for dice, its not that they are loaded... its that they behave in such a way. In a Statistical Probability Control class for college we did a project that involved gathering data using 2d6 results. My results for over 100 rolls resulted in a normal curve like everyone, but it was centered around the number 8 instead of 7 with a skew towards 12, and for individual rolls I rolled more 1's and 6's than pretty much everything else. For a cold blooded leadership test I've managed to roll nothing but 5's and 6's 4 times in a row as a record, I've also rolled insane courage enough times that other people have noticed. If I knew why, I'd fix it.

Like I said, I will give it a shot and when i get a bloody nose I can see what resulted in that nose bleed. Hell, i may end up with a non-life slann if the truthsayer more than pulls his weight and go with light or metal and trim it with the plaque.