Heya Folks! To reiterate my previous warnings, I play in a very comp. heavy environment and am tinkering with a few lists that have a slann as the only mage (albeit a fairly tooled up slann) CHARACTERS - Slann - BSB, Focus of Mystery, Focused Rumination, Becalming Cogitation - Cupped Hands, 2 x Dispel Scrolls - Scar Vet. - Light Armour, Great Weapon - Jaguar Pendant - Scar Vet. - Light Armour, Great Weapon CORE - 10 x Skink Skirmishers - 10 x Skink Skirmishers - 10 x Skink Skirmishers - 12 x Saurus - Spears, standard, musician - 12 x Saurus - Spears, standard, musician SPECIAL - 14 x Temple Guard - standard, musician, Warbanner - 3 x Terradons - 3 x Terradons RARE - Ancient Stegadon - Ancient Stegadon So, this list revolves around the slann using mainly the Lore of Beasts, mainly for "Bears Anger" Scar Vets. and the "Stegadon Hunts" movement spell, though Shadow is also an option with "Unseen Lurker" and a 2nd chance at moving the JSOD... The 2 cheap Scar vets are there as can openers and the usual JSOD character/ artillery/ chariot hunting duties, the basic one will be deployed in the saurus/ TG unti that I think will be facing the most armoured opponents. (Id also love to get one of them running with the Bears Anger!) basically the TG with Slann form up 6x3 as the army's core, I find my opponents avoid this unit so I thought Id shave a few points from the the typical 16+ Slann 5x4 setup. They'll put out 12 S4 attacks with a 2+ save from the front so Im hoping they'll be a match for whatever makes it through my slanns magic and shooting, I'll use Skink Skirmishers to try and reduce the amount of incoming fire they take and do force the enemy into my lines.... the 2 12 saurus units are a bit of an experiment, again an exercise in MSU so I can shave some points. Designed to anchor my TG unit and cover my stegs flanks Im hoping the 24 S4 attacks they can dish out will give anything but the enemies elite pause, and if they distract shooting/ elite troops away from my main units (stegs and TG) they'll be doing okay. Ancient Stegadons... the main reason behind my point shaving... we all know their pro's and cons, I went for Ancients because I like the dual Giant Blowpipes and the extra strength on the impact, plus the extra survivability Im sure will be handy! Finally what are probably the most important units, Terradons and Skirmishers, 1 Skirmisher unit is given up to run straight at the enemy forcing a charge and screening the TG from shooting, the rest of the units are for redirection, taking care of small threats etc. all the things we love them for! So, any thoughts? Suggestions? Can anyone give me an idea of which of the 2 lores to go for (Beast or Shadow)? I generally run with Death but Im looking for a bit more of a tactical edge from my spells with this list rather than damage necessarily...
The list looks good... and I really like the idea of either using Shadow Lore or Beast Lore. I can understand your predicament, Lore of Shadows has "Steed of Shadows" and "Unseen Lurker" which are very useful and gives you a movement advantage, but Lore of Beasts can really work wonders with Bears Anger, and you still get movement enhancers for the Stegadons, and "The Beast Covers" can wreck havoc on anyone using monsters. But if it was me I would go with the Shadow Lore, it more all-round good As for the 6 wide TG unit, I love the idea, but I would but the Scar-Vet in on of the other units (I don't like to have to many points in the same unit). One idea you could concider is "downgrading" one of the ancient Stegadons to a "normal" one, and then use the extra rare slot to fit in a salamander or 2 But could luck with the list, it really does look good, and I applaud courage to do something new
thanks for the imput! The list originally had the 2 stegs as normal ones instead of ancients, only 1 unit of Terradons and 2 salamanders individually as the rare. But I thought the tactical uses of an extra unit of Terradons and the benefits of the ancient stegs (Giant Blowpipes, Strength 6 Impact hits and higher Toughness to be precise) outweighed the Salamanders. The problems I have with shadow is its lack of use once everythings engaged in combat (essentially where I want to be) the offensive spells require LOS, so if theres no 2nd line to the enemies forces they're not terribly useful, and once the relevant units are engaged there won't be much need of movement spells... at least Beasts I can still throw Bears Anger and Beast Cowers and Oxen Stands as needed... also the fact that the 2 top shadows spells (Unseen Lurker and Pit of Shades) really take a fair few dice to have a decent chance to cast, minimising the number of bonus PD I get to use, whereas Beasts you can feasibly cast 4 spells a turn with reasonable chance of success...
Dunno if a skink priest would be bad comp if it is lvl 1 and not on an engine but it goes well with the lore of beasts hunter spear thingie against cav channeling from the side, instead of the second scar vet
Looks tough, just a couple of hints/notes/stuff Bear's Anger is a RIP spell, remember that when you wanna do it 2 times...(which you can't) Don't EVER expect 24 attacks from your 12-man Saurri. there's always somebody that dies on the charge (when you get charged you get some deaths on your side, when You charge: that's 'only' 12 S4 attacks) remove command from MSU units? That's the first thing I would do.. Other than that, watch out for great cannons Very solid list, but if you Steg's go down. You're pretty far from victory... The Hunted
Thanks for the Imput! @dirtydan - Unfortunately Im pushing the boundaries of bad comp with my slann and 1 bound, any more magic and I'll take a comp slap, believe me I've thought the same thing lol @the Hunted - Thanks for the advise, I don't actually expect 24 attacks from the Saurus, its just when I "incidently" mention that the unit is capable of 24 strength 4 attacks to my opponent they tend to turn a slight shade of green and start looking for other targets to charge... I think most people tend to look at what a unit COULD do rather than what it is most likely to ACTUALLY do. I agree with your comment about the stegs, Im not used to using them so I'll have to see how they fare...
I tried them a lot, those 12 SW with spears (withouth command). Sometimes they carve through whole units, and the next time they run vs harpies...(not exactly, but my point is clear) It is very dependant on how hot your dice are. But I agree, most opponents look at the ' what could that thing do' instead of ' what will it do' . Just beware that you will run vs an completely inferior enemy sooner rather than later, i know i did... Make sure you read ALL stegadon's tactics, and get used on M6. Good luck! The Hunted