Hey guys, been brainstorming some ideas for a double Slann list (seeing as at 2.5k its almost impossible to do double Slann, unless you take them with only one Discipline and no gear). Here is my attempt at a viable list;
Lords:
Slann w/Lore of Life, 'Focus of Mystery', 'Unfathomable Presence', Plaque of Tepok
General and BSB, Standard of Discipline
Slann w/Lore of Light, 'Focused Rumination', 'Unfathomable Presence', Cupped Hands
Heroes:
Level 2 Skink Priest, EOTG, dispel scroll, Diadem of Power
Scar-Vet w/Sword of the Hornet, Dragonhelm, light armour, Talisman of Protection
Scar Vet w/Sword of Swift Striking, Gamblers Armour
Special:
(2) 5 x Chameleon Skinks
Standard Bearer, Musician, 17 x Temple Guard
Standard Bearer w/Banner of Eternal Flame, Musician, 17 x Temple Guard
Core:
(2) Standard Bearer, Musician, 18 x Saurus
(4) 10 x Skinks w/blowpipes
I've gone through a couple of iterations of this, and I think I've arrived at a workable army.
I was considering building a Lore of Death Slann (Carpet, Ethereal, Unfathomable, Cupped Hands, Power Stone) to do a 'Purple Sun' bombing run, but I kinda prefer two dudes buffing the army (Life and Light have a lot of synergy too). I'm banking on forcing through 'Throne' on the BSB Slann, then buffing as appropriate. The Light Slann is for combat buffing and for a bit of magic artillery.
The reason I chose 'Unfathomable Presence' is to prevent magic from burning through my TG blocks too easily. I figure the BSB needed the free dice more than the Light Slann (to force through 'Throne'), and having all the spells from Light means I don't have to worry about getting the worst ones (whereas Life spells are pretty much all good, I'll be annoyed if I don't roll for 'Dwellers' though).
The reason I took Standard of Discipline here and not on the TG was because of how it stacks. Sure, my close-to-Unbreakable TG bodyguard may not benefit from my L10 (they still have LD9 though), but the BSB aura does. I still lol when I compare the normal rules for magical banner caddies and generals (ie they can't be the same dude, you can't take additional magical gear), and then you read the Slann exceptions and smile. 'LD10 BSB General who also casts magic like a boss? Sign me up'.
The army is quite spendy in the Lords and Heroes section, but I think the two Scar-Vet builds (re-attempts at creating thematic 'dragonslayer' dudes) should work. Their job is basically to challenge and slaughter enemy champions and heroes, and they're semi-useful at killing monsters. I fiddled around with things like 'Burning Blade' and even the strength-boosting magic swords, but ultimately their weight of S5 should be enough. I just want something to counter an enemy close-combat monster, so that he doesn't just chew through the TG and then eat the Slann. I could always attach them to the Saurus blocks as well, but it's harder to buff them that way (and Banner of Flame is just so lulzy), and they also go to a 3+ ward against spells if they stay with the frog (good for keeping stuff like Death magic sniping them out, seeing as Fire and Metal spells are rebounding off their 2+ ward to flaming attacks haha).
EOTG is a given, and seeing as I'd run out of points on the Slann, I opted for dispel scroll and diadem for a bit of extra magic defense. Diadem is pretty sweet, as it basically means (provided you did put aside two power dice) on average you have two less dice than his power pool, which is better than the average of half without it. I probably won't use it every turn, but it's nice to have the option if you really need to shut down that 'Purple Sun' etc.
Camo Skinks were not my first choice, but I've looked around and most people rate them pretty highly for taking down war machines (which given the lack of range on most Lizardmen armies is an issue). The Light lore has some nice spells for shutting down enemy shooting, but magic isn't reliable. I realise they're suicide units (they Scout up, blow away the crew, but then get shot/charged/magic missiled next turn), but it's a pretty small investment to take out 1-2 cannons or stone throwers before they start smushing my dudes. By comparison, I can get a 3-man unit of Terradons, which will potentially get shot down before it reaches the enemy and 'Drop Rocks' has more things that can go wrong (roll low for hits, roll bad for wounds, enemy rolls saves like a champ), whereas Poison spam just spams out some 6's to hit then hopes for bad saves on the crew.
Temple Guard need no explanation. I'm still amazed how cheap the Banner of Flame is, yet how expensive the Razor Standard is by comparison. Lowering armour is sweet (and when you divide the costs of taking Razor in a large unit, it makes sense), but causing Fear in cavalry, negating regen, double wounding Flammable units etc...all this for next to no points seems pretty amazing. I'm expecting it to be an auto-include in opposing armies somewhere (hence :evil laugh: my choice of flame resistant Scar-Vets).
I only just barely fufill Core requirements here, which seems a bit strange given how many dudemanz I have (oh WFB, you so arbitrary). Two blocks of 20 Saurus seem adequate for flank protection and general fighting (especially when buffed with Life and Light spells). I'm not a fan of Kroxigor (they're our token 'mid-size fighty monster'), and I don't really see how Skinks would ever work as a close-combat unit (even against weak stuff). Skirmishers are cheap, they die just as easily in close-combat, but on the plus side they can poison spam big monsters to death. I don't expect them to live long (although I might consider buffing them to T7 with 'Flesh to Stone', just for lulz if I can't do anything else useful with my spells), so it's basically 'everyone spam into the Necrosphinx/Giant/Wyvern etc'
So, what do you guys think? Too much gear/top-heavy, bad unit choices/upgrades? I'm still on the fence about what Lores to take, as the artillery of Fire or Death appeals to me (as Lizzies lack much shooting power that isn't at point-blank range), but Life and Light have so many good buffs (and 'Dwellers' is just plain evil, worse than 'Purple Sun' if you catch a huge low-Initiative block).
Lords:
Slann w/Lore of Life, 'Focus of Mystery', 'Unfathomable Presence', Plaque of Tepok
General and BSB, Standard of Discipline
Slann w/Lore of Light, 'Focused Rumination', 'Unfathomable Presence', Cupped Hands
Heroes:
Level 2 Skink Priest, EOTG, dispel scroll, Diadem of Power
Scar-Vet w/Sword of the Hornet, Dragonhelm, light armour, Talisman of Protection
Scar Vet w/Sword of Swift Striking, Gamblers Armour
Special:
(2) 5 x Chameleon Skinks
Standard Bearer, Musician, 17 x Temple Guard
Standard Bearer w/Banner of Eternal Flame, Musician, 17 x Temple Guard
Core:
(2) Standard Bearer, Musician, 18 x Saurus
(4) 10 x Skinks w/blowpipes
I've gone through a couple of iterations of this, and I think I've arrived at a workable army.
I was considering building a Lore of Death Slann (Carpet, Ethereal, Unfathomable, Cupped Hands, Power Stone) to do a 'Purple Sun' bombing run, but I kinda prefer two dudes buffing the army (Life and Light have a lot of synergy too). I'm banking on forcing through 'Throne' on the BSB Slann, then buffing as appropriate. The Light Slann is for combat buffing and for a bit of magic artillery.
The reason I chose 'Unfathomable Presence' is to prevent magic from burning through my TG blocks too easily. I figure the BSB needed the free dice more than the Light Slann (to force through 'Throne'), and having all the spells from Light means I don't have to worry about getting the worst ones (whereas Life spells are pretty much all good, I'll be annoyed if I don't roll for 'Dwellers' though).
The reason I took Standard of Discipline here and not on the TG was because of how it stacks. Sure, my close-to-Unbreakable TG bodyguard may not benefit from my L10 (they still have LD9 though), but the BSB aura does. I still lol when I compare the normal rules for magical banner caddies and generals (ie they can't be the same dude, you can't take additional magical gear), and then you read the Slann exceptions and smile. 'LD10 BSB General who also casts magic like a boss? Sign me up'.
The army is quite spendy in the Lords and Heroes section, but I think the two Scar-Vet builds (re-attempts at creating thematic 'dragonslayer' dudes) should work. Their job is basically to challenge and slaughter enemy champions and heroes, and they're semi-useful at killing monsters. I fiddled around with things like 'Burning Blade' and even the strength-boosting magic swords, but ultimately their weight of S5 should be enough. I just want something to counter an enemy close-combat monster, so that he doesn't just chew through the TG and then eat the Slann. I could always attach them to the Saurus blocks as well, but it's harder to buff them that way (and Banner of Flame is just so lulzy), and they also go to a 3+ ward against spells if they stay with the frog (good for keeping stuff like Death magic sniping them out, seeing as Fire and Metal spells are rebounding off their 2+ ward to flaming attacks haha).
EOTG is a given, and seeing as I'd run out of points on the Slann, I opted for dispel scroll and diadem for a bit of extra magic defense. Diadem is pretty sweet, as it basically means (provided you did put aside two power dice) on average you have two less dice than his power pool, which is better than the average of half without it. I probably won't use it every turn, but it's nice to have the option if you really need to shut down that 'Purple Sun' etc.
Camo Skinks were not my first choice, but I've looked around and most people rate them pretty highly for taking down war machines (which given the lack of range on most Lizardmen armies is an issue). The Light lore has some nice spells for shutting down enemy shooting, but magic isn't reliable. I realise they're suicide units (they Scout up, blow away the crew, but then get shot/charged/magic missiled next turn), but it's a pretty small investment to take out 1-2 cannons or stone throwers before they start smushing my dudes. By comparison, I can get a 3-man unit of Terradons, which will potentially get shot down before it reaches the enemy and 'Drop Rocks' has more things that can go wrong (roll low for hits, roll bad for wounds, enemy rolls saves like a champ), whereas Poison spam just spams out some 6's to hit then hopes for bad saves on the crew.
Temple Guard need no explanation. I'm still amazed how cheap the Banner of Flame is, yet how expensive the Razor Standard is by comparison. Lowering armour is sweet (and when you divide the costs of taking Razor in a large unit, it makes sense), but causing Fear in cavalry, negating regen, double wounding Flammable units etc...all this for next to no points seems pretty amazing. I'm expecting it to be an auto-include in opposing armies somewhere (hence :evil laugh: my choice of flame resistant Scar-Vets).
I only just barely fufill Core requirements here, which seems a bit strange given how many dudemanz I have (oh WFB, you so arbitrary). Two blocks of 20 Saurus seem adequate for flank protection and general fighting (especially when buffed with Life and Light spells). I'm not a fan of Kroxigor (they're our token 'mid-size fighty monster'), and I don't really see how Skinks would ever work as a close-combat unit (even against weak stuff). Skirmishers are cheap, they die just as easily in close-combat, but on the plus side they can poison spam big monsters to death. I don't expect them to live long (although I might consider buffing them to T7 with 'Flesh to Stone', just for lulz if I can't do anything else useful with my spells), so it's basically 'everyone spam into the Necrosphinx/Giant/Wyvern etc'
So, what do you guys think? Too much gear/top-heavy, bad unit choices/upgrades? I'm still on the fence about what Lores to take, as the artillery of Fire or Death appeals to me (as Lizzies lack much shooting power that isn't at point-blank range), but Life and Light have so many good buffs (and 'Dwellers' is just plain evil, worse than 'Purple Sun' if you catch a huge low-Initiative block).
