So last game I played, I used a Temple Guard Bunker, but I since I'm new, I wanted to try different tactics. I think that the Solo Slann has several benefits, like having less at stake for miscasts, but it also is more vulnerable to being picked off by petty shooting. That's where Higher State of Concsiousness comes in. It makes you immune to all that petty shooting, but also makes you collapse in combat even without magical attacks. I tried to come up with a good solo Slann build and I think I have found a really great combo. I like how Higher State of Consciousness protects a Slann from any non-magical attacks, and I immediately thought that he could be turned into a good tarpit... The only problem, is that rank bonus and standard bearers will wear you down, so my theory was to get something to nullify rank bonus, and I think I've found it.... The Egg of Quango. If there is a unit of basic infantry nearby without a character, you could never effectively tarpit them with a normal Slann because he will lose all his wounds from 2 rank bonus (don't attempt to tarpit if they are at more than 15 models) and a standard bearer. Hopefully by the time they get this far, they've lost at least five models, or this strategy won't work. If they are in the proper size range (10-15 is ideal) you can charge then and use the egg of Quango. 50% of the time you cause about 7 strength 5 wounds to wipe out a rank or two, then the Slann will only suffer a wound or two per turn(from standard bearer/ any remaining ranks), which can be mitigated with Transcendant Healing (a good use for it) and lore of life spells (easy access from FoM or WD). The Slann can reliably heal about 1 wound a turn (better and better odds the lower you go because of TH). He can probably tarpit the unit for the rest of the game, because they can't hurt him! If the Egg of Quango only goes off at one of its weaker values, you have hopefully killed off at least 1 guy, so they will at least have only a +1 rank bonus and you suffer 2 wounds a turn, a pretty much the same as before, but maybe a little harder to deal with. Even the one casualty though will allow lore of life and TH to slow it down enough that it still doesn't kill him before the end of the game. Also, the whole time you tarpit, you are prepping a rear charge with even a small combat unit, to destroy the enemy from the rear. Your Slann is almost equally effective in combat as out, because he has arcane vassals to help him. (Possible combo: I have no experience with Troglodons, but using the Trog as an arcane vassal and delivering that final rear charge could be useful as he has the mobility to execute it. No opinion either way, skink priests probably work just as well. This is just a possible way to incorporate the Trog). [Would be cool moment: It also would be cool if your Slann had advanced far enough to be in the thick of things, so the Trog could use its roar to help the Slann out. It just seems epic to have a Trog roar in defiance and rage as it charges in to save the wizard right before the Slann collapses. Not ever going to happen, just sounds like it would be so cool]. Does anyone think this idea is good? I'll definitely try it out and tell you all how it works!
I don't think a slann is a good tarpit. If i want to hold up a unit for a while i'll put Tikrox into them (He gained a name because he's performed flawlessly in every game). Oldblood - Cold one - Shield - Sword of Bloodshed - Dawnstone If you have left over points, the Other Trickster's Shard can wipe off those lucky parry saves. He's a combat res monster.
The tarpitting isn't only to stall a unit, it is also to protect your Slann from enemy attacks. If you're taking a Slann without TG anyway, hiding him in a weak ENEMY unit can catch your opponent by surprise and make him hard to reach.
I don' think it's going to go well for your Slann. But if you really want to try an ethereal combat slann I would not reccomend relying on the Quango Egg. Instead try the War Banner and Fencers Blades. Assuming you get the charge, you've got +3 CR and 2 attacks at WS10, S3. You want to go really crazy? Get some Beast Magic up in there and turn your Slann into a Savage Beast! 5 Attacks at WS10, S6 is almost as good as a Scar Vet! And a Wyssan's can push that up to S7 and protect you with T5 (Now you're just as good as a Scar Vet!) Even without beast magic, this Slann can take on smaller fast cav/scout units. He'll have +2 from the Banner and won't take any damage. Your enemy will need a banner, musician, and a rank to crumble you at all. Don't forget to grab some MR to bring your Ward down to a 2+ against any random magic missiles! I kind of like the idea of turning the Slann into a Savage Beast. It could even work too, if you had a little misdirection. Maybe if you were running an Old Blood or Scar Vet on a Carnosaur, plus a regular cowboy or two. Nobody would expect the Slannish Inquisition! "You're casting Savage Beasts? I think I'm going to use my scroll..... on your Slann? Okay, go right ahead. Weirdo." Then, BAM! Slann kills some shizz! Or, more likely, cast bubble Savage Beasts, and your opponent will be so worked up about the killer saurus that he will be caught off guard by the killer Slann. If you're worried about your Slann actually taking wounds, I wouldn't take Lore of Life. I think Beasts would work out much better for you. But it might be worth trying out that weird regeneration trait. Also, if you run into magical dwarf cannons, just keep your Slann near a unit of skink skimishers. He is infantry so he'll get a 4+ look out sir even though he can't join the unit. Heck, you can even fit the Fencer's Blades, MR(2), AND the Egg of Quango and still have a few points left over for the Potion of Foolhardiness (and this is a very Foolhardy build, so it fits the fluff!) With 50% lords, I think you could get 2 Scar Vets on Carnosaurs + this Slann build. A butt load of Skinks (every one's favorite amount of skinks is the butt load amount!) and still have points left over to go crazy with some fun monsters (I recommend some Ripperdactyls because their low Ld + Frenzy seems to fit in with this crazy build) Heck, I bet you could turn one of those Scar Vets into an Old Blood even. Just go character crazy and get your monies worth from Savage Beasts (you really want to roll Savage Beasts!) Good luck, and may Sotek be with you! (Or Khorne, maybe. He seems more appropriate for this list)
So I did a quick first draft of this crazy idea: Slann (565) BSB, War Banner, Fencers Blades, Egg of Quango, MR(2), Potion of Foolhardiness Higher State, Cogitation, Harmonic Convergence Old Blood (475) Carnosaur w/ loping Stride + 100 points of magic items Scar Vet (375) Carnosaur w/ loping Stride + 50 points of magic items Scar Vet (160) Cold One, Light Armor, Great Weapon, + 50 points of magic items Ancient Stegadon w/ Sharp Horns (250) 625 points of Core (maybe 5 units of Skink Skimishers and a Skrox unit... maybe 31 Skinks + 2 Krox with Standard and Musician? I think that works out to 625. Add/remove SKinks as necessary) You know what army would tear this apart in turn 1? Wood Elves. Slann wouldn't last half the shooting phase :-/ You could also replace the 2 Carnosaurs with 5 fully kitted Scar Vets on cold ones. If you wanted to go full wacky. At that point you might want to replace the Stegadon with 10 Cold Ones and maybe drop one of the 6 Scar Vets for 5 more Cold ones and run the Cold One Bus list (with the ethereal beast slann for added punch) Anyways... I've clearly been awake for way too long.
Dont ever bring a Ethereal Slann to a table that "could" contain woodelves -.- Trueflight Arrows = BAD DAY FOR SLANN!
If you replace the egg with a crown of command, and add a standard of discipline, im pretty sure your slann wont run anywhere soon. If you want all your opponents to hate you, give him piranha blade. All your spells will benefit from multiwound (d3), but also your miscasts wich are not magical as i remember. The current wording of the sword allows it, util it gets a faq.
It's not a matter of him running, with the unstable rule he takes a wound for every point you lose in combat res.
Exactly. If you loose combat bad enough that you needed the Crown of Command, your Slann will just crumble to dust. That's why I think the War Banner is better for the +1 CR rather than the +1 Ld. Don't get into a combat that you won't win or tie and it won't matter what your leadership is!
This is an amazing idea. Do the fencers blades give an extra attack for being paired? Also, I'm also thinking that the Warbanner was a very good idea for the +2 combat res. He comes in at a lot of points, but he is pretty survivable, and could now be used to tarpit even bigger units and actually chip away at them! I don't know how you'd get all those beast spells you want though... My best plan is to get FoM, then substitute out in beasts over and over until you get it, and get one life spell from substitution, then keep the rest. FoM can give you lore master anything, plus one spell cause of the 2 signatures. The substituting is really cool.
He still has 4+ look out sir! and 4++. Don't they wound on 5+ as well? And 3+ to hit. That's 1/2 * 1/2 * 1/3 *2/3 = 2/36 or 1/18. Should need about 90 shots to take him down. That's 90 shots NOT directed at your skink skirmishers.
You don't get look out sir from archer fire. So it takes 45 shots to kill a Slann. Specifically, 45 shots from core units. Waywatchers don't have the magic arrows ... so those guys will be taking out your Carnosaurs and Stegadons while the Glade Guard focus on the Slann.
Wrong You have the 4+ look out sir! from archer fire, as from any kind of shoot. That is the main difference between the 2+ look out sir! witch is only for templates.
Yes, you get an extra attack from Paired Weapons! I've found that 6 turns is too short to try to replace High Magic with another lore. If I take FoM I usually plan on using the High Magic spells and don't rely on swapping into anything specific. I especially don't plan on swapping into anything other than signature spells. If you run your Slann with Beasts, you have a pretty good chance at getting Savage Beast. You won't get it every game, but you'll get it a lot more often than you will if you run FoM. If you do run FoM, you might want to take one or two Skink Priests to load up on the Beast Spells you don't want you Slann to have in order to maximize the chances that he swaps into Savage Beast.
Crazy. I guess I'm usually getting pummeled by Cannons and Bolt Throwers more often than regular archers that it never really came up for me. So it would take 90 shots to kill the Slann ... however, 30 of those 90 shots are going to hit Skinks (or maybe Saurus, I suppose) from the Look Out Sir. So it'll also cost you about 13 Skink sacrifices or 5 Saurus. Just make sure that LoS Bunker is big enough that it doesn't get wiped out!