Hey all, New to lizards and fantasy in general thought i would start building a list so i can start getting some models etc. Let me know what you think, tried to keep it fairly flexible. Thanks to david I and lifestar for making me re-think some of the parts of the list, im pretty chuffed with it now. Slaan Mage-Priest (Light): The Focused Rumination, The Becalming Cogitation, Focus of Mystery, Cupped Hands of the Old Ones, Ironcurse Icon, Battle Standard. 450 Scar-Veteran: Cold One, Light Armour, Great Weapon, Venom of the Firefly Frog, Dragonhelm, Dawnstone. 161 22 x Saurus Warriors: Champion, Standard Bearer, Musician, Spears. 24 x Saurus Warriors: Standard Bearer, Musician, Spears. 600 20 x Temple Guard: Standard Bearer, Musician. 9 x Chameleon Skinks. 9 x Chameleon Skinks. 557 2 x Salamander Hunting Packs 1 x Salamander Hunting Pack: Extra Handlers. 230 Total: 1998 points This is an altered list afetr taking on board some criticisms and tryign to incorporate ideas into the list. Let me know thoughts etc advice is always welcome.
Salamanders die easily in close combat, a wise opponent will charge your salamanders with something fast, a small unit of cavalry, lone hero or monsters. Saurus are great however they have low I making them easy target for Death lore mages. I would make the two Sauruses unit 24 each and ditch one unit of Saurus in exchange for some Skinks Skirmishers for agility and shooting. If you are using Lore of Light, you get some ranged firepower. Lore of Life will protect your army better especially the Stegadon but you loose long range magical attacks. Also the Slann eats up the dice easily. Unless you got Comet of Casandora for the Skink Priest with a good roll of dice, chances are your priest will not be doing very much at all.
This is not quite kitted to be a solo Slann, but doesn't have TG either. Since you have Cupped Hands and no Mystery, are you using Light? Lore matters here. That's a lot of points which will die quickly to cannonfire and the level 2 probably won't cast spells. Not sure the 60 points of spears are worth it at 20 saurus. Fine. This is my favorite thing to do as well Here's my suggestion for some slight changes: Slaan Mage-Priest: Lore of Life, The Focused Rumination, The Becalming Cogitation, Focus of Mystery, Cupped Hands of the Old Ones, Battle Standard. 445 Saurus Scar Vet w/ Cold One, Light Armor, Charmed Shield, Dawnstone, Burning Blade of Chotec 160 18 x Saurus Warriors: Standard Bearer, Musician, Scar vet goes here 20 x Saurus Warriors: Standard Bearer, Musician, Champion 10 x Skink Skirmishers 10 x Skink Skirmishers 606 6 x Chameleon Skinks 6 x Chameleon Skinks 20 x Temple Guard: Standard Bearer, Musician 485 2 x Salamander Hunting Packs 2 x Salamander Hunting Packs 300 1996 points This gives you a more powerful core (TG, 2x Saurus, 2x Skink), a more powerful Slann that is also better protected overall, slightly better scouts (2x6 vs. 1x9), and a very fighty hero in the place of the Stegadon/Skink Priest (which, in my experience, die almost immediately, plus the Skink will never cast with a Slann gobbling up PD). You lose 2 extra handlers, but honestly you don't need them as much when you take Salamanders in units of 2. Hope this helps!
Thanks for the advice you two. I have taken it onboard and used it in my more recent thinking. Lifestar i have used your list as a base but tweaked it to make it more me, hopefully i havent broken it. I have altered the original post to reflect the new list. Let me know what you think.
I like the Scar Vet build as a dedicated character killer- just remember to keep it away from shooty things and war machines (and remember that you don't get Look Out Sir). I still think that the 72 points you'd get for going 2x6 Camos instead of 2x9 could be more useful as a unit of 10 skink skirmishers, but that's just personal preference. Overall looks great, let me know how it works!
I have trouble seeing the unit of 18 Saurus as effective. I don't like the Scar-vet at all. With only a 2+ armour save, lots of characters should be able to kill him. The Fencer's Blades don't really change that. And with only strength 5, he isn't super effective at getting a wound onto an enemy character for the Bane Head to double.
I mostly agree with david's point re: the scar vet- I do think the mounted/LA/Charmed shield/dawnstone/burning blade combo gives you both more survivability and also more damage- but I assume you had your reasons for not liking it. If you really want offensive power, I might suggest: Light Armour, Cold One, LA, GW, Dragonhelm, Amulet of Itzl and Venom of the Firefly Frog. He hits very, very hard, and still is decently durable.
Thanks for the further replies guys. Hmm gotta say this is pretty interesting, would never have thought of this on my own. Also this seems to synergise pretty well with light magic. Me likee.
I think you could thin the 20TG to 16 and bump the saurus numbers up and still be okay. TG are tough to hit and tough to wound unless you got something with S5 or S6 banging on them. Even then, they shouldn't be in combat until late game.
Really? This is not my experience of Sallies, for sure you do not want to be in combat with the sallie but it does not die easily, It is a fear causing (often on flanks so out of general and bsb) beast that has Toughness 4, 5+AS and a 5+ pseudo ward with three wounds Offensively it is 3/4 WS2/S3 attacks and 2 WS3 strength 5 attacks, This is not be sniffed at, I have successfully fought off/beaten eagles, sabretusks, dire wolves, carrion, swarms, e.t.c with salamanders, often people charge them with units that eventually die just to try to stop it firing for one time
Sallies are incredibly resilient. Unless it is elite infantry or some monstrous thing beating on them, they can dish out pain and take it as well. We'd all rather them be launching fireballs at easy targets, but sometimes a flank charge is their best move. Not a bad unit to have in combat, but definitely a solid secondary purpose. Not as effective as a redirector, but the enemy forces really hate our sallies, so they are a primary target.