So, my FLGS is running a tournament soon. Not sure of any comp rules yet, it's Australia so it may occur but they're usually pretty relaxed. Hence I'm busting out Double Slann Lords: Shadow Slann w/Rumination, Mystery Light Slann w/Rumination, BSB and General Heroes: Level 1 Skink Priest w/Blood Statuette, EOTG Core: (2) Standard Bearer, Musician, 19 x Saurus (2) 10 x Skinks w/blowpipes Special: Standard Bearer w/Eternal Flame, Musician, 18 x Temple Guard Standard Bearer w/Discipline, Musician, 18 x Temple Guard Rare: (2) Salamander w/3 x Skink handlers Bang on 2.5k Deployment-wise, I have 9 drops which is probably middle of the road for most armies at this point level. Unless they are really MSU, I should be fine. Strategy will be pretty simple. Bunkers form battleline, EOTG sits behind so he's not cannoned Turn 1. Saurus sit on flanks of TG and prevent annoying skirmisher/flying charges in their side. Skinks go further out on flanks as another ablative layer, and for poison sniping monsters. Salamanders behind behind everything, probably near EOTG so I can help it in combat if need be, and set stuff on fire before I march into it. I traded in Cupped Hands for Mystery on the Shadow Slann, purely because I don't think miscasts are going to be a huge problem. The only things worth 6-dice forcing are either large Pits or a Mindrazor I have to get off, and with my free die per cast, I should be able to just drain the enemy pool until I can 4-dice what I want. Also, Shadow is such an amazingly toolkit Lore (ie every spell is relevant), I couldn't pass up Loremaster. Light is useful but I should roll the spells I want anyway, so Mystery was easily cut. Even with Cold-Blooded and Ld8 pretty much everywhere, I still reckon BSB and Discipline combo is needed. There are a fair few abilities which work off Leadership, and I would prefer to simply not care about Leadership tests. It'll keep the ablative Saurus blocks in line for as long as possible, and even the Skinks are going to stick around. Dispel scroll is pretty mediocre these days, and seeing as I traded in the hacky characters for the Light Slann and his bunker, I need another mage assassination option. Blood Statuette is fairly good, I've had some bad experiences with it before (like rolling a 1 about half the time the first Toughness test comes up), but with 'Withering' now in my magic toolkit I can make it pretty reliable. Also, being a low-level spell, I can wait until the dispel pool is mostly gone, then throw it out in between hexes/buffs. How are people finding the Flame Banner? I've found it relevant against a few armies, but sometimes its completely meaningless (Chosen ate me regardless, as did Dwarves). I'm sorta tempted to field the Razor standard at some point, as it would've meant a lot more in some combats I've had. I'm sorta tempted to trade in one Salamander for a Camo Skink assassin unit. Warmachines cause me problems every game (getting squashed by rocks is the no.1 occupation of my Saurus), and cannons are just silly (once I had every Warding save fail as it launched through my phalanx, promptly hit the EOTG and killed the priest, leaving me with just a badly-wounded Ancient Steg to muddle about with). Do I have enough infantry for the decreased burnination to not matter?
I'd give Plaque of Tepoc to the light Slann, its easily worth 15 pts for +1 spell if you skip mystery. Why discipline banner on the TGs and not the BSB/general? Better to make everything within 12" LD 10 than just that unit. I'm very sceptical towards a single EOTG with no Lore of Life, he will be a very easy target for a lot of armies. A good general rule is to either go for 2+ stegs, preferably with life, or go with 0 stegs, as a single steg is just free points for any army with a cannon, catapult, Bolt Thrower or similar war machine.
On the flip side of that, you could use Pha's protection (or Iceshard Blizzard) coupled with the EOTG ward save bubble to protect the Steg too. That is relying on you getting the first turn though. It is by no means foolproof.
Can't, the budget for Lords is 25%, and I'm already at it. I'd have to either drop 'Mystery' from the Shadow Slann, or drop the BSB on the Light Slann. As a side note, I'm not overly worried about only four spells on the Light Slann. I should roll something useful (Pha, Net, Speed, Birona), plus I have the flaming missile attack as an option. Erm, well he joins that unit, so he becomes Ld10 anyway, and it applies to the General+BSB bubble. It's to get around the Lords allowance, which as I said I've already hit the maximum. I don't really get a choice there, at 3k I might be able to but at this point level, I'm flat out fitting in Salamanders. The idea for the EOTG is to stick him behind the infantry blocks. That way, the cannonball or bolt thrower has to blast through multiple 5+ ward bodies to reach it. I'm not overly worried about bolt throwers anyway, I still get armour save at least+Portent, whereas against cannonballs I have only Portent and the hope he rolls bad for the hit generation. That's true, and I've been cannon-sniped enough to know the EOTG is always on borrowed time. As you point out though, I do have some shutdown options for warmachines. (shrug) From what I've seen locally the only problem armies in that regard are Empire and Dwarves, Ogre players are still new to the warmachine game and lots of people favour template weaponry like stone throwers or flame type weapons.
you could be evil and go for a light and light slann combo for some sick results on some stacked spells!
I would probably drop the EOTG, keep the priest and give him the forbidden rod and the opal amulet. Also, keep him lvl 1 as he will in all probability die when you use the rod. This will turn a failed magic phase into at least a passable (if not great) magic phase.
Yeah but unless they are Loremaster, I lose any duplicates and because they are Level 4 default, I'm 'wasting' at least two magic slots on the second Light Slann. And I can't afford two Loremasters, the % at 2.5k don't allow it. Like I said, Light is a good buff Lore but I won't be overly fussed if I don't roll the power four, I only need maybe 1-2 out of them (Net for slowing Deathstars or cavalry, Speed for AOE on my phalanx, Birona for the same, Pha's for shutting down warmachines). I dunno man, Iceshard Blizzard is worth casting sometimes, especially if I don't have 'Pha's Protection' available. One less cannon/stone thrower a turn is pretty handy. That said, I'm mostly taking him for the EOTG and the Blood Statuette for sniping an enemy Level 4/General. The thing is, with two Slann both packing Rumination, I don't think I will face problems in the magic phase. I mean sure, I could roll snake eyes and cry (the dispel generation of armies like Empire and Dwarves can be insane if you roll low), but more commonly it'll be something like 6 pool. I don't actually need every spell every turn; certain combos are handy (Birona/Speed stacked with Mindrazor is pretty brutal, Miasma+Pit nukes most units in the game), and I should be able to at least get some decent buff/hexes going. The Forbidden Rod is fun but it's only one use, so like dispel scrolls I'm not a fan (whereas Blood Statuette, whilst one use as well, will permanently remove a non-warded/Regen character fairly reliably, who stays dead for the rest of the game). As I said before, I need the Skink Priest to keep the EOTG spinning, and his default hex can come in handy versus certain matchups (cannons are my no.1 problem behind flying/fast monsters).