Hey Lizards, next weekend I'm gonna be up against Demons (with that Demonspew guy from the End Times) and Skaven in a 2v2, 2000 points each player. My ally is gonna field a Dwarven gunline. I just bought Tetto'Eko and want to use him as soon as possible - so he is gonna be in that match. From there my thoughts led me to "mhhh I have one Loremaster of Heavens, why not totally go insane with magic and put a focus of mystery-slann in that list as well. So here's what i've come up with so far: Slann,BSB(Discipline) Focus of Mystery, Harmonic, Becalming, Soul of Stone, Channeling Staff, 470pts Tetto'Eko 185pts ScarVet CO, GW, AoD 154pts Skink-Priest, Dispel-scroll 90pts 20 Saurus FCG 250pts 16 Skink-Cohort FCG 110pts <--- Tetto'Eko 10 Skink-Skirmishers 70pts 10 Skink-Skirmishers 70pts 20 Temple Guard, FCG, Eternal Flame, 320pts <--- Slann, ScarVet Ancient Steg, EoG 280pts I have to say I love this list already. The possibilities are endless in terms of magic + the Dwarf is gonna provide us with so much firepower. Imagine 2 canons, 2 organs and a comet in the center of the field ^^ Of course this is not competitive. Really low model count and too many juicy targets are the most obvious deficits of this list. I hardly believe I can last long in close combat vs Nurgle troops (especially Blightkings, which he is highly likely to bring). Dreaded 13th needs only one attempt at either the Slann-bunker or the Tetto'eko "bunker" of toughness 2 Skinks. The Ancient Steg is an awesome target for any kind of warmachine or the doomwheel. BUT: I have 2 loremasters!!! in a 2000points game (4000 really, as we are 2v2). magic and shooting will be totally dominated by us, I have no doubt about that. The spells of high and heavens give a lot of tactical options: we can move a unit up in the magic phase (that combined with the vanguard trick of Tetto could result in an interesting situation), I can improve his organ guns with spells, + with a little luck we can shut down their magic phase. There is a lot of synergy in this list as well. The Engine will make all spells of Heavens easier to cast, which will make Tetto'Eko a lvl3 caster basically. Tetto will allow me to throw 1 or 2 dice at low value spells as most probably I will be able t o re-roll 1s. There is a lot more through the speels themselves - like vanguard an then move them, and then move them again through walk between worlds, or just buffing dwarf-shooting ability. Let me know what you think!
Seems as if you have a good idea about what you want to do, i certainly think it can work! In very large games, 3K and up, priorities in game start to shift. You will almost never be able to shoot or magic an opponent of the table, some of their units will reach your lines, just because armies are so big. I am also wondering if having 2 loremasters will really help you. You still only have max 12 PD, what all those extra spells give is more coverage and more choice, but not more spells cast. I like getting a lore of Death Slann in very large game, especially as a second Slann. You can have your other Slann as the general and BSB, and you can blow a lot of dice on some strong Death spells, not really fearing a misscast. The best part is, you can really get a lot of PD from the Death lore attribute, if you get a good hit with your I template you might just charge right back up to 12. Think this will help you more then High magic, but it is up to personal preference, and if you use other rules for magic (such as using 4D6 or something) this point gets less important.
Okay it's true that magic becomes somehow less important in big games as opposed to small games, where magic missiles really hurt units. You also have a point with the limited amount of power dice - we play normal rules with 2d6 dice. Of course Death would be nice to get back some dice but I'm a little tired of the Lore of Death to be honest. I use it with my Dark Elves sometimes and what's really boring in Death is: Either you fail to cast the important spells and the Lore does nothing for you or you win the game in one or two magic phases because you get Purple Sun off, rolling all over your opponents army and sniper his general/BSB. I honestly don't like this playstyle - I rather slowly build things up and then hit when the constellations are in my favor. I hope I get enough magic pressure through Tetto'Eko (re-rolling 1's most of the time when casting), Harmonic Convergence + Chanelling Staff and the EoG. This way I may dare to 1 or 2-dice many spells. Even more so because if one casters fails to cast something, I have another Loremaster waiting to use the remaining powerdice. Some new questions came up to me while I worked on the list: First: I enlarged the Skink-Cohort that is the Tetto'Eko-bunker to 20, because 16 guys with toughness 2 seemed like a really bad shield - with 20 I am more comfortable. Anyhow, with that change done, I have only the points left for one command option. Of course this unit in the best case never sees a close combat, so I certainly don't need a banner here. So the question is: Shall I rather take a champion for the case that a single character attacks the unit and I can Issue a challenge or am I better off with a musician to rally after fleeing and swift reform? Second: I am still not sure what Lore to take for the Lvl1 Skink scroll-caddy. Not that it really matters with two loremasters and a bound spell from the Engine, but is he better with the signature of Beasts or with the one from Heavens that Tetto already has? Third: Does anyone here have any experience with the vanguard-thing of Tetto? I know it's an amazing ability, but I am not really sure what to vanguard. Assuming I get 2 units to vanguard, who could it be and what job can they do for me? Thought about My Templeguard together with his Hammerers+Dwarf Lord+X would put a lot of pressure on the opponent right from the start. On the other hand this would work against our "wait and drown them in spells and cannonballs"-tactic. Then I thought about my two units of Skink-Skirmishers, throwing some javelins and then running away. The Dwarf is gonna play something like this: Lord Runesmith Thane lots of Crossbowmen for Core, Hammerers, a Gyro, 2 Cannons and 2 Organ-Guns.