8th Ed. 2500pts no Slann (Dread Saurian?)

[Bonak]

Lords: 473

Oldblood- Great Weapon, Armor of Destiny, Dawnstone, Venom of the Firefly Frog
Oldblood- Gold Sigil Sword, Glittering Scales, Aura of Quetzl

Heroes: 602

Skink Priest (Engine of the Gods)- Dispel Scroll, Level 1
Skink Priest- Level 2, Staff of Sorcery
Skink Chief- Shield, BSB

Core: 790

Saurus- 30 Saurus, HW/Shield, FC
Saurus- 30 Saurus, HW/Shield, FC
Skinks Skirmishers- 10 Skinks

Special: 210

Terradons- 3 Terradons
Chameleon Skinks- 5 Skinks
Chameleon Skinks- 5 Skinks

Rare: 425

Ancient Stegadon
Salamander
Salamander

2500pts

Been a while since I have played Fantasy, but I remember most things. I never really liked using the Slann cause using an Oldblood(s) is just too much fun (at least for me). I mainly play against WoC and Empire. Any advice on what I could add? I'm thinking of adding a Dread Saurian once my Monstrous Arcanum comes in I'm playing friendly games so it adding one in won't be a problem. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[ADustyMan]

Skink chiefs die really easy, so you'll be deprived of your BSB very quickly. You could maybe drop him, and a unit of Chameleon skinks for a scarvet bsb? then you'll have a unit of skinks, and the terradons to do the machine hunting still.

Just a thought, but this is coming from someone who prefer Saurus to Skinks, so take it with a grain of salt lol

 

[Scalenex]

I concur, you generally want to steer away from a Skink BSB unless you are making a Skink themed list, points are very tight, or you plan to stick said BSB on a Stegadon for the 18 inch hold your ground range.

PS: What do you mean by Dread Saurian?

 

[Rhodium]

I concur, you generally want to steer away from a Skink BSB unless you are making a Skink themed list, points are very tight, or you plan to stick said BSB on a Stegadon for the 18 inch hold your ground range.

PS: What do you mean by Dread Saurian?

Dread saurian is the lizardman themed massive monster out of the monstrous arcanum book

They are the price of a BSB slann with 4 disciplines, have S8 T7 6W 6A and multiple wound, 3+ AS, terror and HKB, and then you can give it some upgrade to give more special rules for the price of 7-15 rank and file skinks


It looks impressive but forgeworld haven't a model for it yet and it isn't the best monster in the book but it's the only lizard themed one.

 

[ADustyMan]

With the upgrades, it's crazy, you can make it higher toughness, ambusher deployment, on fire, and something else, I believe.

 

[Scalenex]

I bought the Monstrous Arcanum book so I know all that. What I don't know is why the Dread Saurian was mentioned in the title when it was not included in the list and can't really be included outside a Storm of Magic or the rarely used Monstrous Confrontation scenario.

 

[Bonak]

It is included in the title cause I was wondering if anyone had advice on using one (sorry forgot to mention that). But I agree that dropping the chief and a unit of chameleon skinks for a saurus scar vet. My buds and me are going to just use the monsters in the MA in normal games just for fun. And I am a saurus guy too

 

[Scalenex]

I doubt you'll find a lot of people here who have direct experience using the Dread Saurian.

There is a lot of general experience with high point cost large monsters. The biggest threat to large monsters is multi-wound causing artillery, especially cannons. Taking the Ethereal upgrade will help you versus vanilla artillery like the Empire's but a lot of armies have magical artillery.

The second biggest threat is probably enemy great weapon troops or anyone else who hits at S6 or better (often characters).

The third biggest threat is probably large blocks of very weak units. They will tie up Dread Saurian and not break due to Steadfast. The mighty S8 hits will go to waste on troops that weak making the Dread Saurian irrelevant.

If everyone is taking a monster, rejoice. The Dread Saurian's greatest talent is killing other monsters.

I know you are somewhat anti-Slann but a Slann with Life can keep healing a Dread Saurian round after round as long as it isn't killed outright. Without a Slann you need to make heavy use of Ice Shard Blizzard from Skink priests to halve the potency of enemy artillery and impede enemy great weapon troops. If you get enough monster allowance to take a second monster, a Zoat or Albion Truthsayer can throw down the Life spells to keep your Dread Saurian at full health.

Also, before taking the the flaming attack upgrade, make sure you are playing fire resistant foes like HE Dragon Knights or Chaos Dwarf K'daai. If you take the upgrade that slows down their movement rate, make sure your strategy doesn't require a highly mobile Dread Saurian.

 

[Bonak]

I just realized I don't have enough points to spare in my heroes slot even if I take out the chief and don't add anything on the scar vet other than make him the BSB.