List A) - Slann Slann Mage Focus of Mystery Focused Rumination Becalming Cogitation Feedback Scroll Bane Head Lore of Life BSB 14 Temple Guard Full Command Sun Standard of Chotec 40 Saurus Warriors (6 wide) Full Command Spears 11 Skinks 11 Skinks Salamander Additional Handler Salamander Additional Handler Skink Priest Level 2 Engine of the Gods Cupped Hands ------------------------------------------ Lords: 440 Heroes: 435 Core: 664 Specials: 299 Rare: 160 Total: 1996 ------------------------------------------ The Slann/TG and Saurus anchor the line. The saurus work as a bait unit as they can more often than not be guaranteed steadfast. Being kept close enough to the BSB the odds of them breaking are slim. The EOTG and Sallies are the deal-breakers and operate on their respective flanks. The EOTG should be able to break whatever the saurus are holding up. The skinks are point chasers. Send them after the big and nasties that carry a lot of points but a minimal armour save. They also offer re-direct possibilities. List B) - OldBlood Oldblood Carnosaur Shield Gold Sigil Sword Glittering Scales The Other Trickster's Shard Talisman of Preservation Skink Priest Diadem of Power Skink Priest Engine of the Gods Cupped Hands 40 Saurus Full Command Spears 12 Skinks 10 Skinks 10 Skinks 5 Chameleon Skinks 3 Terradons Salamander Additional Handler Salamander Additional Handler ------------------------------------------ Lords: 461 Heroes: 490 Core: 734 Specials: 150 Rare: 160 Total: 1995 ------------------------------------------ Ok so this list is a little less worked. I find it more of a fun list to run but perhaps a little less succesful. It will no doubt be changed when I get to play testing it more thoroughly. (Also allows me to get my newly painted Carno/OB on the board). I've traded off the sharp edge that you get with the Slann dominating the magic phase and traded it for the sharp edge of the OB/Carnosaur. The OB build gives him 5 attacks at S5. He has +1AS, +4WS at I10. This means that he stands a chance of getting into combat and not getting shot down before he gets there. Then when he gets there he can tear it up even if he gets charged by knights. The Other Trickster's Shard gives him a good chance against even the best protected adversary. Designed to be a General/Monster hunter. Kept close to the Saurus block initially (if not in it) should see him make it to the fight. The saurus are used as an anchor as above, with the EOTG in support. The skinks are used to re-direct enemy units towards the saurus block. At the same time the Terradons and Chams are used to hunt warmachines or other suitable targets. The skink priest offers extra dispelling power because if we're not getting a strong magic phase, why should they?
On the first list, I don't think 14 Temple Guard are enough. I would even out the unit sizes between the Saurus Warriors and TG. On the second list, I don't like the Oldblood build so much. Glittering Scales is somewhat wasted since any opponent worth his salt will be attacking the Carnosaur rather than the Oldblood. Great item if he is mounted on a Cold One, but not so much on a Carnosaur.
My unnamed Slann is generally always as follows: Lore of Life, BSB, Sun standard (when not solo), cupped hands disciplines: rumination, focus of mystery, higher state(when solo) OR unfathomable presence (when in TG) I've become partial to Life due to the fact that saurus are useful, and thery aren't useful if they keep dying. Also, i'd give temple guard something like Jaguar banner or huanchi's totem(especially if you want to take our cavalry, you want to get the charge). I also agree that you should beef the TG unit to at least 20 (giving you 4 ranks of 6 or 21 for 5 ranks of 5). As far as your second list goes, you haven't got much clout in the magic phase (skinks are just terrible haha!), so I'd be tanking as much combat units as possible (and units to get into combat FAST, as you don't want to suffer too many magic phases outside of combat. I like your first list best
i agree with Dyvim Tvar about the TG number. Also why do you want to field the saurus warriors in 6 wide ranks? go five, and you will have 8 ranks, that means that you will be steadfast in each case. The bane head on a life slann is quite useless, because for dealing some damage you will use the dwellers, not the magic missile, so you don't have wounds to double. The sun standard is useless if you screen your temple guard with skirmishers, and a razor standard works better on TG, expecially if you haven't got a skrox (so TG can fight high armoured targets). The feedback scroll can be nice, but a smart opponent will make it useless using max 3-4 dice for spell, so a classic dispell scroll is better IMO. If you want some solid units, give to your slann the standard of discipline, so you have a rerollable and cold blooded leadership 10 bubble. Usually at 2000 points i use at least 2 units made by 2 sallyes (sometimes made by 3). The engine of the gods is nice, but you will always use the power dice for your slann, so my advice is to drop the level 2 and the cupped hands from the priest. i don't like your second list very much...
I always do this, go six wide to maximize attacks against 5 wide 20mm bases. Haah, yeah, this ^ The whole reason for the banehead in this case is to pair with the feedback scroll. Not useless but this is a 65 point investment for one shot at killing a wizard. I would rather take a forbidden rod at half the price and wipe out the wizards whole unit with a dwellers.
Some handy suggestions and some not so handy suggestions. I'll be dropping level 2 from the EOTG as I do see the point that it's wasted as that isn't my primary magic user. In terms of comments about the size of the TG however I am also inclined to agree. I would like to buff the TG but can't locate the points for more than 2 more from dropping the LVL 2 upgrade. I think the impact of the BaneHead and Feedback scroll combo was missed by some. It is a one shot attempt to take out a spellcaster. It is also a massive way of detering an opponent from throwing a lot of dice at a spell. A dispel scroll is great but that's a one use item. Won't protect you for the next 5 turns when your opponent can throw 5 dice at that spell you just dispelled. Once upon a time I thought a LD10 re-rollable cold-blooded general was a fantastic idea. Then I realised that a LD9 re-rollable cold-blooded general is also stupidly reliable. The extra 1LD isn't worth it. As for the sun standard VS the razor standard. 40 shots from SeaGuard: Normally hitting on 3s, long-range for 4s. That's 20 hits. Dedicating a skink unit just to give the TG that additional ToHit penalty from cover isn't cost effective when they could be hunting or being put to a better use. Instead the SSoC offers protection to the unit as they progress.
Your opponent doesn't know you have this combo until after you've destroyed his mage which is the way it should be! I agree, and it forces you to deploy about 5" back from the front line (to allow the skinks to be put in front). You want TG in combat as soon as possible to minimise the likelihood of taking a war machine/magic in the face. We basically want a full Slann's compliment when it comes to the combat phase, so we can keep the slann out of base combat until our next magic phase. EDIT: Also, you can have the sun standard on the slann and the razor standard on the TG bearer - best of both worlds