8th Ed. Slann questions

[Raithial]

I have a couple of questions regarding the Slann mage priest at 2000 points;

A) What kind of Disciplines should I give him?
I Usually run him with 1 or 2 Disciplines of which one is always the Loremaster one. I just want an arsenal of magic prowess and I prefer not to take any chances when it comes to magic.

B) What kind of Banner should I put into the unit? and where? (slann magepriest or the common banner of the Temple guards?
I personally prefer the Battle banner since they already have lots of Staying power, and that might just tip the scales towards me in the combat resolution?

C) To put Chakax in there or not?
I like Chakax, sure he's slightly overpriced but I really like the model, and the fact that he detects any hidden models in 20" is a very usefull tool against armies like Skaven or Dark Elves.

D) what lore should I give him (in general)
I usually run with the Lore of Life, and I tend to stick to the augment spells, like Regrowth and Flesh to Stone and the likes. If I have any dice left at the end I might try and throw something big like Dwellers

E) should I run at the enemy or keep him in the back (once again; in general)
With the templeguards, I am usually in conflict with myself;
On the one hand, these guys really hit hard with 2 S5 attacks at WS4, and they usually don't take a lot of damage with a 4+ armoursave....
On the other hand; it's the friggin' slann Mage priest that I am throwing out with these guys, I don't want a model of that kind of costs to die in a bad Close Combat Roll...
Usually I try to keep him back a bit, and cast my Magic Missile via skinks, and when the enemy punches through my Saurus that's usually when I charge with the Temple Guards.

so, I'd love to hear how you people react to these questions.. I tried to keep them very general, without specifying any enemy; simply because I really want to know about the basics compared to what I usually do.
so, see you later.

 

[Ailideon]

A.) The most common disciplines to give a slann, in descending order, rumination, loremaster, becalming cognition.
B.) The two different banners I run are the banner of discipline and the flaming banner. Both from the BRB. In a temple guard unit I give the slann the discipline banner and the templegaurd either the flaming or a warbanner.
C.) I have never used chakax but I would see using him in games at 2.5k or more. Otherwise thats WAY to many points in 1 unit for below 2.5. The slann + templeguard+ chakax, thats a MAJOR target on its head.
D.) I have found that the lore I pick really depends on how I want to run my slann. When I want to run a solo slann (one without a TG unit) I usually pick lore of Ligth or shadow. If I am running my slann in a unit of TG I have allways given him Lore of Life. If he is solo and miscasts it doesn't really hurt any other units around him if he is hit by a template. Lore of life with the Throne of Vines helps prevent me from hurting my own unit with a miscast.

 

[The Hunted]

I would like to call in the help of the audience (weekend miljonairs, for those who don't know)

A: Ailideon has it pretty much right.
The Focused Rumination is an absolute must for the Slann, this is what makes it worthwile.
Focus of Mystery, also pretty much mandatory. You really want to have all the spells, and not be stuck without the one spell you wanted...
Becalming cogitation, in larger games this becomes more standard. Do deny your enemies' most powerfull wizard all his 6's is a powerfull. Just remember to keep pressing forward, because he is likely to move outside your Becalming range.

The Higher state of coinsciousness is seen sometimes on a lone Slann. To protect it from cannons and massed missile fire. (I quite like it with the crown of command )

B:
Again, Ailideon is spot on. Flaming banner, warbanner or banner of discipline. I only use the banner of discipline, but I run my guy solo. They are all solid choices, depending on your opponent/points left/personal preference.

C:
Chakax is indeed awesome, but the pricetag makes him waaay less awesome. You could use him in large games (3k+ I'd say) but otherwise, I would advise against using the big fellow. Also, the Helm of the Prime Guardian isn't as powerfull as you might think. The hidden units you would see, well you usually can guess where they are anyway!

D:
Life, Light or Shadow are probably the most powerfull. Although Life gets pretty one-dimensional after a while->throne, dwellers, flesh to stone...
With light you can but your saurus warriors in an offensive way, which is the way I like them. Getting them op to WS10 I10 is awesome . Also some nice basic gunning spells, fire enough at them at a unit and they will suffer.

E:
Hmm..I don't have any templeguard. I go for solo-Slann.
But in general:
If you have somewhat control of the magic-phase, don't be afraid to charge your TG in. You can buff them, heal them etc. They leave a nasty mark on the enemy...
Then again, stay away from stuff like swordmasters or hordes of elite troops. Use your magic on them (I'm talking about High/Dark elf special infantry, chaos warriors, bloodletters and others) You don't have enough numbers to deal with them.
Most of the time though, your opponent wants to get in with your TG and try to kill your big toad. So you don't need to charge, you can let your opponent come to you. While it's in lizardmen nature to attack (all our ranged attacks are short-ranged), you could march up once, and then start shuffling around. This lets a defensive player think you're on the attack and huddle up while an agressive opponent starts looking for flank charges and tends to be more carefull. Either way, it works out pretty good for you!
You are not likely to lose your TG in a single round of combat (or 2, or 3..). And they will pretty much never break, so that's cool too!
Avoid getting multi-charged, use your other Saurus units to prevent that. 1v1, they can take on all but the most deadliest units and survive. They don't need to win, they need to keep the toad out of harms way. They only need to win vs weak troops, but with WS4 and 2 S5 attacks, they will!

I think you would like the quasi-offensive tactic I just explained, march up with your entire army and make your opponent think you are going all-out. Ofcourse, this doesn't work against all opponents!
His reaction could tell you a lot;
If he hangs back, he is a defensive player who is likely to let you make the game. You can press on, or destroy him with magic (or both ).
If he presses on, he is not afraid of your TG. He wants to get into combat quick to prevent getting killed from the toad (lore of life is ideal here).
In the most ideal case, your opponent stretches out too much. Doubting between pressing on and moving back. You can then deal with his army in 2 stages.

Most important:
Try stuff for yourself! See how you like it. I like 2 saurus blocks in front of my stubborn, ethereal Slann with lore of light. I can also use the Slann to hold up an infantry block or something like that. When only magical attacks can hit him, and with the crown of command...he isn't going anywhere soon. While he can still cast his light buffs on the blocks!
If you like a Slann in a skink bunker with lore of fire...then go for it! (although, this would be somewhat odd )

Hope it helps ,

The Hunted

 

[Raithial]

I just have one more weird question; is it possible to have 2 Units of Templeguards, and 1 Slann Mage-priest? or will the Temple Guard special rules stop me from utilising 2 units? o.o

 

[Questioner]

I do not think there is anything to prevent you having 2 units of Temple Guard, but having one larger unit would be better.

 

[strewart]

Yeah it is fine having 2 units, it just means the Slann can choose which unit to join. However, as mentioned, there wouldn't be much advantage.