7th Ed. The Master of the Magic Phase- A Slann Mage-Priest Tactica

[Xlcontiqu]

Slann Mage-Priest Tactica

So, I know many people are wondering how to run their Slann, so I thought I would write up a tactica giving my advice to anyone that needed help.

Now there are many ways people run a Slann, the two most common being the Temple Guard Slann and the Lone Slann. At the end I will discuss the pros and cons of both ways to run the Slann and the risks associated with them.

All the different Slann builds can be built to taste; I am just providing you with my personal recommendations.

*Note: All Slann should be BSB, but I will leave the banner choice up to you, except in the case of the Combat Slann.

Magic Offense Lone Slann and Temple Guard Slann)

Disciplines: Focus of Mystery, The Focused Rumination, Higher State of Consciousness (Lone Slann only)
Magic Items: Bane Head, Power Stone(s)

This is a “cheap Slann” capable of dealing massive offensive magic damage. Knowing the whole lore and adding a dice to each spell means he can reliably get off at least three spells a turn, if not more. Paired with a destructive lore, such as Fire and Metal, your opponent may have trouble dealing with the amount of magic you can put out. Backed up by a couple of Skink Priests or an EoTG, your magic phase can be very harsh and destructive. Pop the Power Stone(s) at the right time and your magic phase can be incredibly devastating.

Optional Disciplines: The Becalming Cogitation, Soul of Stone, Transcendent Healing
Optional Items: Cupped Hands of the Old Ones, Rod of the Storm, Itxi Grubs, Blood Statuette of Spite, Divine Plaque of Protection

Magic Defence (Lone Slann and Temple Guard Slann)

Disciplines: The Becalming Cogitation, Higher State of Consciousness (Lone Slann only)
Magic Items: Blood Statuette of Spite, Diadem of Power, Dispel Scroll, Dispel Scroll, Plaque of Dominion

This Slann is more than capable of shutting down an opponent’s magic phase completely. The Becalming Cogitation keeps the opponent’s main caster from getting Irresistible Force and the Plaque of Dominion can catch some lower leadership wizards and prevent them from casting. The Diadem of Power boosts your dispel dice and the scrolls can keep the opponent from getting any important spells off. The Blood Statuette of Spite could be a nice surprise against the opponent’s wizards and might catch a low Toughness elf or human unawares. For the lone Slann, I would advocate not taking the Unfathomable Presence because of lack of spells being cast at the lone Slann; however, when the Slann is in a Temple Guard unit that makes it extremely effective because people will definitely be trying to take out the Temple Guard unit.

Optional Disciplines: The Focused Rumination, Focus of Mystery, Transcendent Healing, Unfathomable Presence
Optional Magic Items: Divine Plaque of Protection, Staff of Sorcery

The Combat Slann (Lone Slann)

Disciplines: Transcendent Healing, The Harrowing Scrutiny, Higher State of Consciousness
Magic Items: Blade of Realities, War Banner

WHAT!! A combat Slann! Well, I do not think that this is an incredibly wise build; however, I do see a couple of strengths. One, no one will see it coming, I mean no one. Two, Terror on low leadership armies can be potentially devastating. Three, any big monsters will have some trouble breaking or damaging the Slann. Now, this Slann should not be used to engage infantry blocks, but the potential against monsters such as Hydras, etc. should not be overlooked. Due to the low leadership most of these monsters have, a successful hit with the Blade of Realities can spell early doom. And if that does not work, this Slann should break them on combat resolution. Considering the number of large monsters floating around these days, it can be useful to be able to beat them with a nigh-untouchable Slann (unless of course they are magical). Add Focus of Mystery and Plaque of Tepok and he is a fairly decent caster to boot!

Optional Disciplines: Focus of Mystery, The Focused Rumination
Optional Items: Plaque of Tepok

The Balancer (Lone Slann or Temple Guard Slann)

Disciplines: Focus of Mystery, The Focused Rumination, Becalming Cognition, Higher State of Consciousness (Lone Slann only)
Magic Items: Power Stone, Dispel Scroll, Diadem of Power

This Slann is used for moderate magic offense and defence. With a Power Stone and a Dispel Scroll he can handle both a powerful magic phase and offer a fairly good defence. The Diadem of Power is really key here because it allows the user to shift more dice over into magic defence if faced with a heavy magic army. This allows the Slann to be master of both offense and defence, providing a strong phase for both.

Optional Disciplines: Transcendent Healing, Soul of Stone
Optional Magic Items: Rod of the Storm, Itxi Grubs, Plaque of Dominion, The Divine Plaque of Protection

Now that I have provided you with a number of builds I am going to go over the two main ways to field the Slann and offer both the pros and cons of each.

The Lone Slann

Pros: More manoeuvrability, less point cost, line of sight
Cons: Lacks staying power, survivability, line of sight

The Lone Slann offers players a cheap, manoeuvrable caster that can be in places when needed. Now a Lone Slann loses large target line of sight, but gains and more manoeuvrable line of sight. In a Temple Guard unit, the Slann gains the ability to see over friendly units when casting, but drops back out of line of sight in the magic phase. The problem I find with this is that you have to turn the whole unit to see any possible flankers or to gain a different line of sight. The other advantage of a lone Slann is that he can be easily hidden behind other units and can provide the BSB abilities at a safe distance. The Lone Slann build can be very dangerous though because if he is charged by anything with static combat resolution or magical attacks he could be toast. That being said, a good general will try to make those charges hard to get off, but mistakes can prove to be deadly.

The Temple Guard Slann

Pros: Virtually unbreakable, static combat resolution, hitting power, line of sight
Cons: Less manoeuvrable, point sink, line of sight

The Temple Guard Slann provides a central block for your army to center around and provides the rest of the line with a reliable anvil. This block is almost unbreakable with the BSB rerolls and the unit has quite a bit of hitting power. The Temple Guard also provide the Slann with large target line of sight, which can be quite a powerful advantage. The problem with the Temple Guard Slann is that the infantry block can be outmanoeuvred and when faced with multiple threats, it can only deal with one. The Slann is also restricted to the Temple Guard’s line of sight. The staying power of this unit can outweigh many of the cons that this approach has.

There you have it, the Master of the Magic Phase-the Slann Mage-Priest. How you run him depends completely on your playstyle and army choice, but I hope I have provided you an answer to the constantly asked question of how to run a Slann.

Any comments, criticisms, or additions are more than welcome!

 

[kroxigor01]

Solid article. Add at the top that the Slann should always be the BSB.

Though I would question its effectiveness, the Blade of Realities Slann amuses me

Remember to give him Lore of Fire to chuck 2 dice at Flaming Sword (for 2 attacks hitting on 2s).

 

[The Hunted]

I agree fully with kroxigor01. Spot on!

Slann Mage-Priest Tactica

So, I know many people are wondering how to run their Slann, so I thought I would write up a tactica giving my advice to anyone that needed help.

Now there are many ways people run a Slann, so first I am going to divide them into two categories, Lone Slann, and Temple Guard Slann.

All the different Slann builds can be built to taste; I am just providing you with my personal recommendations.

The structure isn't 100%. You first divide them into two categories; which you only do at the end.

That's about it really Thanks for taking the time to write this.

The Hunted

 

[Caeldan]

I'm curious - is it legal for a Slann to take a magic weapon?
I've seen something similar suggested somewhere else, but others shot the idea down because wizards can't pick weapons or something - but I haven't read a rule verifying that.

Though I've also missed the rule (but abide by it) that non-wizards can't select arcane items. So maybe there's a section of the book I've glazed over.

 

[Xlcontiqu]

I'm curious - is it legal for a Slann to take a magic weapon?

Yep, the only thing wizards cannot take are magical armour.

Thanks for all the feedback guys, and I will fix that structure issue Hunted!

 

[n810]

Slann
WS S T
2 3 4

This is why you won't usualy see the Slann with a weapon.


But odddly enough he does have BS3...
I was thinking that the sun staff might
be interesting to throw on a lone Slann..?

 

[The Hunted]

Slann
WS S T
2 3 4

This is why you won't usualy see the Slann with a weapon.


But odddly enough he does have BS3...
I was thinking that the sun staff might
be interesting to throw on a lone Slann..?

Interesting, yes. Effective...not so much
Why give him a ranged weapon, when he has spells? That, coincidentally, also have range!
I do like that BoR build for a laugh once every while.

The Hunted

 

[Facelid]

"All the different Slann builds can be built to taste; I am just providing you with my personal recommendations."

When writing this in the beginning of the post, I think it's fine. He's not saying that these builds are the best or anything. He's just sharing his thoughts on the Slann


I my self are new to Lizardmen AND this forum, and even I can see that some of these builds aren't optimal. But it's still good to see that someone shares their views on things.
If nothing else, it might give new players an idea on how to try out a Slann, in case they don't have any ideas at all

If the only tactic writers were the pros, you would end up with "common" builds over and over again. I think it's great to see some creativity. It might not always work, but at least ideas are shared

Also i'm sure that there is a lot of "social" players out there, who don't care much about who win and lose. (I'm not one of them;P) and these kinds of posts could be great for that kind of players, who just wants to try out fun builds

 

[Sammy the Squib]

"All the different Slann builds can be built to taste; I am just providing you with my personal recommendations."

When writing this in the beginning of the post, I think it's fine. He's not saying that these builds are the best or anything. He's just sharing his thoughts on the Slann


I my self are new to Lizardmen AND this forum, and even I can see that some of these builds aren't optimal. But it's still good to see that someone shares their views on things.
If nothing else, it might give new players an idea on how to try out a Slann, in case they don't have any ideas at all

If the only tactic writers were the pros, you would end up with "common" builds over and over again. I think it's great to see some creativity. It might not always work, but at least ideas are shared

Also i'm sure that there is a lot of "social" players out there, who don't care much about who win and lose. (I'm not one of them;P) and these kinds of posts could be great for that kind of players, who just wants to try out fun builds

Totally agree, thanks for sharing the article

 

[Zwuppie]

What a combat Slann, Are you sick?? He had a WS of 2

What do you think about my tactic:

You need about 850 Points.

Slann in Temple guard of 10.

SLANN:
- Higher State of Consciousness
- Soul of Stone
- The Focussed Rumination

- BSB

- Diadem of Power
- Plague of Tepok
- Divine plaque of protection


The Slann is only affected by magical attacks, so only heroes can kill him, or characters with magic weapons. Monsters aren't a problem.
He MAY re-roll the results on the miscast table.
You MAY, i should do if i were you, add a free powerdice to cast your spell, it can cast an irresistable force or a miscast as normal.

Every unit within 12" of the Slann may Re-roll his failed leadership checks, It's hard to fail 2 times a leadership check with 3 dice and discard the highest.

You may store 3 of your powerdice to your disspell pool. So if your enemy has powerfull mages, you can have 3 extra dices.
And with the plague of tepok you have 5 spells, one more then normally allowed.

If your enemy has hard shooting weapons like a Trebuchet or a Rock Lobba (S8 hits if you aren't lucky) you have a 2+ Wardsave.


When you have a skink priest you have to use it as changeling. You may cast spells with the line of sight of the Skink priest.


The Temple guard unit is the defence of the slann mage priest. If a unit will attack your unit in a combat you have a good defence.





I hope you like this tactik



Cheers Zwuppie

 

[skinker]

Thanks for deleting my post without explanation. Great job of moderating.

 

[The Hunted]

What a combat Slann, Are you sick?? He had a WS of 2

What do you think about my tactic:

You need about 850 Points.

Slann in Temple guard of 10.

SLANN:
- Higher State of Consciousness
- Soul of Stone
- The Focussed Rumination

- BSB

- Diadem of Power
- Plague of Tepok
- Divine plaque of protection


The Slann is only affected by magical attacks, so only heroes can kill him, or characters with magic weapons. Monsters aren't a problem.

While monsters themselves aren't a big problem, heroes on monsters or heroes themselves are.
But this isn't the biggest weakness in this particular build.

He MAY re-roll the results on the miscast table.
You MAY, i should do if i were you, add a free powerdice to cast your spell, it can cast an irresistable force or a miscast as normal.

Soul of stone isn't worth it's point cost IMHO. The Cupped Hands fill the 'prevent/cure-miscast' role way better. If you manage to roll a double 1 on the miscast table, what will prevent you from rolling that again?
You MAY add free PD to your spell. In practice; you add free PD to your spells.

Every unit within 12" of the Slann may Re-roll his failed leadership checks, It's hard to fail 2 times a leadership check with 3 dice and discard the highest.

I think you overrated the power of the BSB a bit...Read it again, closely.
You can only re-roll break tests while near the BSB. You do benefit from the Slanns Ld whilst in his range, the latter counts for all leadership tests.

You may store 3 of your powerdice to your disspell pool. So if your enemy has powerfull mages, you can have 3 extra dices.

IIRC, the Diadem let's you store only 2 PD to DD. Not, as you say, 3.

And with the plague of tepok you have 5 spells, one more then normally allowed.

Focus of Mystery guarantees you get that spell you really want. Say, Pit of Shades, or the Beast Cowers. With the Plaque, it's still a bit of a gamble. Something I don't like when I invest big points in my Slann.

If your enemy has hard shooting weapons like a Trebuchet or a Rock Lobba (S8 hits if you aren't lucky) you have a 2+ Wardsave.

If he's inside some TG he's pretty safe from shooting anyway. Besides, you have Higher State of Consciousness...what are you worried about?
Only dwarven artillery with runes as magical. So Trebuchets and Rock Lobba's aren't threatening at all!


When you have a skink priest you have to use it as changeling. You may cast spells with the line of sight of the Skink priest.

Only Magic missiles...Which restrics the use of channeling quite a bit.

The Temple guard unit is the defence of the slann mage priest. If a unit will attack your unit in a combat you have a good defence.

You need more than 11 TG to weather the storm your opponent will unleash upon them. 14 Is the minimum I would go. Although this part is quite subjective. Each to his own then!


I hope you like this tactik

Unfortunately, no. Higher State of Consciousness + Plaque of Protection is contradictional. Focused Rumination is nothing more than mandatory, Soul of Stone is overrated IMO, I'd go with Cupped hands any day of the week. Plaque of Tepok is too much risk for me, what if I don't get my unseen lurker?....Focus of Mystery for me; all the way.
Read through the rules again, carefully. It seems you read through it a tad too quick, and thus you have made some errors.

Cheers Zwuppie

Comments are in red in the quote.
Maybe this setup works for you, but it will not work for me. And I think it's a pretty unusual build...
Although nothing wrong with that; the strenght of the 'usual' builds is, well, because their some good!
That's why people use those builds .
That's it for now,

The Hunted

 

[Sammy the Squib]

Thanks for deleting my post without explanation. Great job of moderating.

Except I'm not a moderator, I'm the site owner, so I don't need to explain what I do to anyone

That aside, I built this to be a place where people from around the world can come and chat about the lizardmen. Community and friendliness come above anything else, and that means everyone is considered equal, it doesn't matter how many posts you have or how many tourneys you claim to have played in, everyone is encouraged to share their ideas and input.

One thing we certainly don't do is point fingers and say certain people should not post tacticas etc. Of course all tacticas are subjective! If you're looking for, or expecting, that kind of elitism, then my friend you have the wrong forum

 

[msinosic]

- BSB

- Diadem of Power
- Plague of Tepok
- Divine plaque of protection

2 Arcane Items is illegal is it not?

 

[Kurlin]

If he's inside some TG he's pretty safe from shooting anyway. Besides, you have Higher State of Consciousness...what are you worried about?
Only dwarven artillery with runes as magical. So Trebuchets and Rock Lobba's aren't threatening at all!

I just have to add that with skaven the majority of their shooting and artillery is magical as well.

 

[Zwuppie]

[

Why is it? I haven't heard this rule in 3 years!




And The Hunter:

2+ wardsave, you don't need it indeed. But If you have Focus of Mystery you must choose one lore, if you have 5 different spells you can switch between lores, Choose 2 lores with a good 1st spell and roll 3 in 1 lore en 2 in the other lore. I use lore of beasts en lore of death and u have much magic missiles, so you can use the Skink priest tactic.

And Cupped hands is a One use only, Soul of Stone not, and a double one, the change you will throw a double 6 is even so big. So Why you don't see that it can be nice.


Cheers!

 

[erians]

You can't take two of any magical item archtype, so only 1 magic armor, 1 arcane item, 1 weapon, 1 enchanted item and 1 talisman. Scrolls and powerstones are eaxceptions to this rule. So yes, two magic items of the same kind is illeagal.

Its not exactly a new rule either, its since 6th edition, so it has been around for well over 3 years.

 

[Skrox]

2+ wardsave, you don't need it indeed. But If you have Focus of Mystery you must choose one lore, if you have 5 different spells you can switch between lores, Choose 2 lores with a good 1st spell and roll 3 in 1 lore en 2 in the other lore. I use lore of beasts en lore of death and u have much magic missiles, so you can use the Skink priest tactic.
Cheers!

Slann in 7th edition can only chose one lore. 6th edition they could bounce around to the different lores, but no more.

And a slann with BoR is just wrong. Not by the rules, but it is wrong. He doesn't even come with a hand weapon. He has the attack stats of a skink because it is a skink attacking, not the slann, says so right in the armybook. That skink with the BoR? I repeat it is just wrong.

 

[Zwuppie]

Yes you are right with the spells, but to know one lore is 50 points, to know one more spell is 15 points so u pay for 2 spells 50 points and 1 spell 15 points. Every lore has a spell you won't use because you don't like it. And a skink can use a maximum of 3 powerdice, so if you use channeling you may use up to 3 powerdice, Slanns pool, and only cast magic missiles. If you choose a lore with much magic missiles it's nice!

Cheers

 

[erians]

Yes you are right with the spells, but to know one lore is 50 points, to know one more spell is 15 points so u pay for 2 spells 50 points and 1 spell 15 points. Every lore has a spell you won't use because you don't like it.

Sure every Lore have spells you don't like but as you select the spells at random it can be a huge disadvantage to only have 5 spells. I you take Lore of Heavens or Metal and miss the Comet or Spirit your magic will be A LOT less effective, just as if you are taking Lore of Beasts against dragon users and don't roll Cowers. Removing the random factor when you choose spells is very reliable and you can plan around getting certain spells. It also takes up an Arcane Item slot to buy the +1 spell item, which means you can't take any other Arcane items like the Rod of Storms or Cupped Hands.