I recently played a game of 8th edition after a long hiatus of not playing any tabletop miniature games at all. Now it looks like my friend and I are able to go back to semiregular play. Despite losing my last game, every unit in my list did what it is supposed to do, so I'm sticking with the same basic premise, at least when I play against Orcs and Goblins. My plan is to work my way through all 8 BRB magic lores. And I'll plan to stick with one solid Temple Guard block one solid Saurus Warrior block as the back bone of the army, at least one EOTG, at least 4 Kroxigor, and skirmishers for crowd control with any points left over for Salamanders. Spoiler: Fire Slann Army This army has zero Salamanders because I figured the Fire Slann could do enough burning. It's got two Skink priests because I figured arcane vassals would be especially useful for the Lore of Fire. The Kroxigor unit is 6 units strong because I have nothing to heal them and they need a crumple zone against attrition casualties. LORD 435 HERO 362 CORE 715 SPECIAL 728 RARE 560 TOTAL 2800 Slann (300), Soul of Stone (25), Becalming Cognition Harmonic Convergence (30), BSB (25), Standard of Discipline (15), Channeling Staff (15) Skink Priest (65), level 1 Beasts, Sivjer's Hex Scroll (50) Skink Priest (65), level 1 Beasts, Feedback Scroll (50) Scar Veteran (80), Halberd (2), Armor of Destiny (50) 28 Saurus Warriors (308), FC (30) 11 Skink Skirmishers (77), Javelins and Shields, Brave (10) 10 Skink Skirmishers (70), Javelins and Shields, Brave (10) 10 Skink Skirmishers (70), Javelins and Shields, Brave (10) 20 Cohort Skinks (100), FC (30) 6 Kroxigor (300) with Ancient (20) 27 Temple Guard (378), FC (30) Ancient Steggy (230), EOTG (50) Ancient Steggy (230), EOTG (50) Spoiler: Life Slann Army I figured a Scar Veteran was unnecessary because with Life my Saurus block can survive via attrition and doesn't have to win it's battles, just not break. I figured I didn't need two Skink priests because Life Slann don't rely on Arcane Vassals as much as Fire Slann. I'm experimenting with two 2x2 squares of Kroxigor so I can threaten more ground and they can have smaller footprints. And if they take some attrition I can use the lore attribute to heal them a bit. I'm hoping the two Kroxigors will help make up with fewer spells to take on enemy chaff. I figured I don't need as many Temple Guard bodies because they are a renewable resource (assuming I get Regrowth). The Temple Guard have a Banner of Eternal Flame here because I obviously don't have flaming attacks elsewhere. I didn't really need 29 in lieu of 25 Saurus Warriors but I did that for math reasons. It has a pair of salamanders because Life Slann don't have much to wear down enemy blocks. LORD 435 HERO 115 CORE 719 SPECIAL 830 RARE 700 TOTAL 2799 Slann (300), Soul of Stone (25), Becalming Cognition Harmonic Convergence (30), BSB (25), Standard of Discipline (15), Channeling Staff (15) 29 Saurus Warriors (319), FC (30) 10 Skink Skirmishers (70), Javelins and Shields, Brave (10) 10 Skink Skirmishers (70), Javelins and Shields, Brave (10) 10 Skink Skirmishers (70), Javelins and Shields, Brave (10) 20 Cohort Skinks (100), FC (30) 4 Kroxigor (200) with Ancient (20) 4 Kroxigor (200) with Ancient (20) 25 Temple Guard (350), FC (30), Banner of Eternal Flame (10) Ancient Steggy (230), EOTG (50) Ancient Steggy (230), EOTG (50) Salamander Pack (65) with Extra Handler (5) Salamander Pack (65) with Extra Handler (5)
Welcome back Scaly! I hope you will join us when TOW drops, i am interested to see what you think of the rules. I will def be in for writing tactica's then. Regarding your lists. Fire Slann looks pretty hard to make work as the spells are pretty weak and you cannot really use the lore attribute as you cannot have more Fire casters in the list (2 Fire Slanns sounds,, crazy XD). I do not know how to really synnergize with the Fire Slann. Fire has the pretty niche use i would say to be able to deal with enemy chaff pretty well, but our Skinks already do a great job into enemy chaff so i do not know what the lore really gives us nor what you could do to make it cool. Might just be fun to try out though i guess. Regarding the rest of the list, i think Salamanders are still good as they are also good into heavy infantry but they are not required. The Scarvet needs a mount as well, but you knew that already. I also think the Banner of Eternal Flame is too big of a risk to take if you run up against a lad with the Dragonhelm, or even worse, High Elf Dragon Knights, but you can get lucky and run into the Throgg Troll list or something like Hellpits. Life Slann looks cool. I would go even harder into the monster mash theme though with things like Bastiladons and Scarvets on Cold Ones. It is so dirty to heal the wound your opponent got on your Scarvet with a lot of effort, the lore of Life attribute is something you can build around. Maybe go Etheareal Slann to not need TG so you can go more monsters, have him hover behind your monsters, ploink him down on his Throne of Vines and heal em good. I mean if you go for theme lists why not go for all the way right.
When I play Orcs and Goblins, I am more prone to experiment with nonstandard choices. More often than not @eron12 plays Dwarves or Warriors of Chaos. I cannot pull my punches, I have to optimize my lists to have any chance with Lizardmen. Anyway, during our long period of not playing, he painted and converted a lot of Orcs and Goblins, so that is the direction he is leaning towards. It looks like you already found my battle report with a Fire Slann. I haven't given up on Fire Slann. I did win a game against O&G with another Fire Slann long ago, though he had Higher State of Consciousness. I still plan to run my way through all eight lores, or all eight lores sans Metal. At some point, we are going to army swap and I'm play my buddies Orcs and Goblins against my own Lizardmen. At that point, I might try Metal on the other side (we house ruled that O&G can use BRB lores though he has been doing well schooling me with Little Waagh). Not in the case. Given how much my opponent loves artillery no matter what army he plays, I need the "look out sir". He rarely targets characters or allocates close combat attacks specially that's more my style.
In most cases you can hide a scarvet from artillery though. I would just run him solo, force him to attack you. What is the usecase for Fire Slann though? What is it good at? XD
With Skink priests embedded in mobile skirmisher units, a Fire Slann can basically strike anywhere on the board. It's got two solid offensive buffs for units, Cascading Fire Cloak and Flaming Sword of Ruin. Fireball is customizable with three different versions. Piercing Bolts of Burning is good for thinning out tarpit units. Fulminating Flame Cage is pretty nice for crowd control. The Burning Head is a little redundant for Lizardmen being essentially a Salamander mimic spell. Flame Cage is not great for a level 6 spell.