AoS My first slann priest and lord kroak

That's... not a question that I can answer in a short way.
The Slann/Kroak is mighty and versatile, and there are hundreds of ways to paint and play them.

I'll write something more in detail soon.

 

Ok, let's see...

I'll start with the gameplay stuff.

Slann are good wizards, because they have three spells each, and they bring their own buffs for casting. They especially shine if you play with Endless spells and/or Realm specific spells. With a command trait they can also learn the spells of the Starpriest and Starseer.
Spell damage is one of the best mortal wound sources we have. That's useful to punch through some elite units that have good saves.
Casting spells also makes them good for buffing up your troops, but it isn't the only way. Their command ability lets nearby units fly. This is pretty handy for lists where you start bunched up around the Slann and then they have their constellation ability as well. Free buffs for everyone.
Their ability to unbind three enemy spells per turn, and the allegiance ability that lets them do so on the whole table, makes them good for shutting enemy magic down.
They also have increased spell range if the casting roll is a double, and they synergize nicely with the Astrolith Bearer, Engine of the Gods, and stuff like the Chronomantic Cogs or the Balewind Vortex.

But enough about spellcasting. The other way to spend those spell slots is summoning. Keep your Slann away from enemies and spend his spell slots to get new Seraphon units for free! One of our most powerful abilites.

When using the command trait "great rememberer" the Slann can teleport two units in one turn, enabling you to play pretty cool deep strike lists.

There are also two meta-bataillons that require a Slann, and both allow you to build one-drop lists and work with both Saurus-heavy and Skink-heavy lists.
If you want to play the big dinosaurs in a Thunderquake list, that profits from a nearby Slann as well.

So basically a Slann is good for every play style. He should be in every army, and he should be the general in almost any case, because then he can summon and use his awesome command traits.

EDIT: I forgot to mention: Slann can cast spells (except Endless Spells) through any Skink hero or Troglodon, so that further enhances their range and improves the chance that they have line of sight to their target.
I also forgot to mention: They are squishy (not overly so, but they are) but they can bring their bodyguard (Eternity Warden) and profit from cheap chaff units (Skinks) so they have "Look Out Sir". Those and using a defensive artefact can make them hard to kill.

next up: Kroak and how he is different.

 

So... what about that dead frog?

Kroak is less of a buffing machine than a regular Slann, because he cannot pick artefacts, he cannot cast through Skink heroes, cannot change constellations, cannot make his troops fly, cannot cast Skink spells, and he cannot enable you to teleport two units a turn (the last two are because he cannot take command traits).

Sounds pretty bad, and... well... it is because they nerfed his unique spells a bit. But more about that later. Let's start with the things he is good for.

He still counts as a Slann for all rules purposes, so he can unbind on the whole table and increase his spell range on doubles. He synergizes with the Eternity Warden, EotG, Thunderquake, Balewind, Cogs, and Astrolith Bearer.

He can cast and unbind a spell more per turn than a Slann, which comes in handy because one of his special spells (the comet) is nice for putting some mortal wounds on a few units, and they cannot hide from it. The other spell can be cast three times (bypassing the rules against multiple casts of the same spell) and it also causes some mortal wound damage. It was nerfed a bit in the most recent FAQ but if the enemy gets close to Kroak with several units it still has some decent damage potential. Yes, it is harder to cast than it was, and it is more difficult now to stack casting buffs, but it still has enough potential to hurt the enemy.

He can summon like the Slann, and the fact that he has four spell slots makes you summon more points per turn.

His command ability can create additional command points, which is great if you play Saurus lists as those Saurus heroes have some nifty command abilites on their scrolls.

His melee damage isn't too bad (on average he is only a bit worse than our best melee hero on foot, the Sunblood), but I still wouldn't put him into melee if I can avoid it. If you do it you should still put a Skink screen between him and the enemy and stay at maximum melee distance (3") so the enemy cannot hit Kroak, but he can hit them over his line of bodyguards.

If the enemy inflicts less than five wounds on him in on turn then.... well, sucks for them, since he has a 100% chance of surviving that. If he suffers a few more wounds then he still has a decent chance to survive that (50% if he suffers seven wounds, and to reliably kill him the enemy has to cause ten wounds in one turn). So he is a bit more sturdy than the regular Slann. You should still protect him, because he is damn expensive, and the enemy will try to snipe him in any possible way.
So make sure he has mystic shield, save rerolls, starlight, units with 10+ models near (for Look Out Sir), and/or an Eternity Warden.


Next post will be about painting them. I am not an expert on them but I think I have a few tips to share since it wasn't long ago that I painted them.

 

Ok, so about painting:

Here is my Kroak:
http://lustria-online.com/threads/aginors-painting-blog.19114/page-38#post-248185

And here is my Slann:
http://lustria-online.com/threads/aginors-painting-blog.19114/page-10#post-193564


The obvious tip is:
Assemble only the palanquin, and paint that before putting the Slann on there.

I use my standard stone technique for the palanquins, which is middle grey, shade black, drybrush light grey, and if you like it a bit more brownish add some sepia shade.

The bases are rather big and empty because the Slanns are flying, so this is a good opportunity to put some stuff on there, like additional Seraphon, rocks, big plants and the like.
Some people even go out of their way and add a Kroxigor carrying the Slann instead of the flying stand, or ghosts swirling around the undead Kroak.

You can see some awesome examples in these two galleries:
http://lustria-online.com/threads/slann-mage-priest-slann-starmaster.12673/
http://lustria-online.com/threads/lord-kroak.12670/


Slanns are frogs, so I think it is a good idea to make their skin shine a bit with a thin coat of gloss varnish, so they look wet.
real life frogs have a lot of different colors, some are very colorful, let yourself inspire by them. You can go from a subtle brown or dark green, even black, up to a bright yellow, blue, green, red, purple or any other color.

For Kroak it is a bit different. Most people (including me) make him brown. He is a mummy. I have seen white Kroaks as well though, but he rarely is very colorful. So you should put some colors onto the rest of the model to give it some contrast. The mask draws a lot of attention and it has some small details, which is great to use a few bright colors on. There are also some details on the palanquin that you can paint with a few colors, like I did with the blue and red, but you can also use silver or gold for a good effect.
And again: the base makes a major difference here. Go crazy on it, Kroak is the centerpiece of your army after all.


I think that's all I have to say about the Slann and Kroak, I hope I could help you a bit with that.
Looking forward to seeing your models.

 

Double-toad lists are rare, but not unheard of. We discussed some a while ago over in the gameplay thread.
I would probably make the regular Slann the general in most cases. You only lose one summoning slot but you gain the command trait for the Slann, which is quite useful.

 

Good tips by @GuaDan
I'd like to add: Before priming use an old toothbrush to scrub him with water and a bit of dish soap to get rid of the oily surface. That way the paint sticks to him better.