Haven't gotten around to posting anything in quite some time but heres a list I am considering for an upcoming game against Skaven and DE. At lower point levels the Skaven player uses lots of Clanrats to hold up the enemy until his Doomwheel can roll over them. Often he uses Warp Lighting Cannons as well. He has also recently got a Hell Pit Abomination and so I wouldn't be surprised to see that in as well. The Dark Elf player almost always goes magic heavy (Lvl 4 and a level 1 or 2 as well) and uses Assassins. Rarely have I seen him play a game without both of these. Generally he fields Hydras also. Slann Mage-Priest: 375 Points (Lore of Life) w/Focus of Mystery, The Focused Rumination, Dispel Scroll, Battle Standard Bearer 18 Saurus Warriors: 246 Points w/ Full Command, Spears 18 Saurus Warriors: 246 Points w/ Full Command, Spears 10 Chameleon Skinks: 120 Points 12 Temple Guard: 242 Points w/ Full Command, Ironcurse Icon, Banner of Eternal Flame 3 Salamander Hunting Packs: 225 Points 1454 Points Total Lords: 375/375 Heros: 0/375 Core: 492/375 Special: 488/750 Rare: 225/375 So that leaves me with 46 points (not really enough with which to do much). I could drop some unit champions to free up a few more points (most of the time the Assassins just kill them anyways). My two concerns with this list are that the Slann does not have much protection outside of his normal save and the 12 Temple Guard. And that (this was just pointed out to me on another forum) if the Skaven player chose to use a Greyseer/Engineer and he got off a Crack's Call it would be pretty awful... The best option I can see would be to try and fit in an Skink Priest with a Cube of Darkness. Opinions anyone?
In answer to your probems: With the 46 points left to spend just add some more saurus/temple guard/chamelions. For slann protection either drop rumination and get higher state or even better unfathomable presence as it then gives the temple guard magic resistance as well. My personal tactic facing magic is to kill of the wizards quickly with oxyotl, blood statuette of spite, cupped hands or feedback scroll. Hope this helps!
Certainly a bit more temple guard and saurus. And with the general level of splat chameleons usually cause on the tasty skaven and dark elf targets, you might want to grab a few points there as well. As for protecting the slann, I have found that the becalming cogitation is a lifesaver, and worth losing loremaster for*. And coupled with a blood statuette somewhere in your army, it might cause a lot of gnashing of the teeth if you manage to shut down some very strong magic very early in the game. You might feel bad for leaving the slann so seemingly vulnerable, but in all honesty, the sheer firepower needed to blast through a ward save, plus several regained wounds a turn from life, is hard to field at 1500, and without 6s on your trophy wizard harder still. I have tried to field him without a dispel scroll (shocking I know) to free up some lord spot space for the leadership banner, and the only reason I switched back is because having two bigger blocks of saurusoids, both stubborn, Ld9 rerollable is about as close to unbreakable as you need to be, making the extra point only worth it for the bragging rights. (Just to illustrate that the becalming cogitation is really handy, I wouldn't actually advise doing that against dark elves) Let us know what you end up doing and how it works out!
I find that in games of 1500 pts with a Slann, you can have only two solid blocks of TG/Saurus Right now you have three sub-par units and that won't do you any good. Either drop one Saurus block to boost up the TG to at least 20 and the other Saurus to 24-25 or even 30 if the points allow for it, or run the Slann solo and take two blocks of Saurus. If you take Life then take the TG. The solo Slann needs a different lore and uses different strategies alltogether. To close, seeing as that both your opponents will have T3 core units, 2 x 2 Sallies will be an absolute treat! Don't do it if you're only playing friendly games though because those 4 templates are not "friendly". Cheers
Agree with the last post, Life and TG go together. I would also throw in a multiwound model or two in a Life list to make full use of the healing powers, preferably a Stegadon, but hard Scar-Vets could fit the bill aswell. A single unit of Saurus to go with the TG would also be me preference at this points level. For the solo Slann either Light or Death can be devastating.
For a solo slann I find shadow effective as the hexes make your saurus hit like a knife through the metaphorical butter which is the enemy. The reason it is good for a solo slann is you can lure units into a vulnerable position by letting them charge you before you cast a spell and use the lore attribute to teleport away leaving the charger stranded and vulnerable.
Thanks for all the replies people... The guys I will be playing against are friends but we don't bother with the usual conventions of "friendly play." No cheese is too cheesy for our games. Before it was FAQed out of existence I actually once used these tactics in one of our 40k games: http://www.3plusplus.net/2010/11/board-control-and-dark-eldar-webway.html rofl... I was thinking it over and I agree that the idea of using two, larger blocks would work out better. I also decided that I really want to keep the Lord with the TG as well so I'll keep Lore of Life. Lastly I added a Salamander so I have the 2x2 setup. Slann Mage Priest: 375 Points w/ Lore of Life, Focus of Mystery, The Focused Rumination, Dispel Scroll, Battle Standard Bearer 30 Saurus Warriors: 378 Points w/ Musician, Standard Bearer, Spears 18 Temple Guard: 319 Points w/ Musician, Standard Bearer, Banner of Eternal Flame 10 Chameleon Skinks: 120 Points 2 Salamander Hunting Packs: 150 Points 2 Salamander Hunting Packs: 150 Points 1492 Points Total Lords: 375/375 Heros: 0/375 Core: 378/375 Special: 439/750 Rare: 300/375 I'm still working out exactly which Disciplines I want to use. Focus of Mystery, The Focus Rumination, The Becalming Cogitation and Unfathomable Presence are the ones I am considering.
I think your Slann is build just the way he should be, and he'll be extremely dominating at 1500. Didn't notice you had Spears on your Saurus until now, hand weapons are almost always superior, but if you don't have hand weapon models then it can't be helped I guess. I still think you should make room for a multiwound model, it can be priceless when protecting your lines to stick a Scar-Vet or a Stegadon into a threatening unit and healing/buffing it like crazy. Maybe going with 14 TG and 24 Saurus would be sufficient, and would free up some points.
Next list I build will definitely have a Scar-Vet or Stegadon (thats going to be a Death Lore Slann list) but I can't seem to find the points here...every unit has a specific function that I really need for the army to work and if I cut one out or down it won't.....ugh its Eldar all over again. I would cut down the Saurus but I can't really because I need to keep the minimum points for core. If I cut down the TG enough to cope then I would have a tiny, pretty much useless TG unit. I'll probably just run the list as is and see how it goes...might even write my first Lizardmen battle report.