So we was wondering with my BF (who plays OnG) would a Temple Guard unit with a Slann and maybe few Scar-Vets be any good..? Sure it's expensive as f*ck, but could be a pretty nasty and eat a lot units. I was wondering has anybody tried something like this, and how did it go?
I have just had seen a post saying something similar. Regarding to what I've seen, they work as well as the hardest deathstar on earth. It does work, but you have to take care of the nuke spells and the chaffs and redirectors the enemy will try to put in your way.
I won't call it a deathstar though... You have to play very smartly with that list to be competitive. It's definitely not a point and shoot list.
It is hard but its slow and easily avoided, its so obviously hard that people wont be tempted to take it on. If you do want to try it the following synergises well: Keep your scar vets / old bloods on cold-ones so they can happily charge out if the unit does get blocked. Tetto , vanguard is 1.5 turns of free movement. Fast support units and shooting to clear chaff, personally I love 2*3 rippers. Other stuff is skink skirmishers, chiefs on terras, small units of cav. High-magic. Walk between worlds becomes better when cast on a TG deathstar. Banner of swiftness, (durrr). I tried running double TG, and hard TG units for a while (although not full on death star) and my problem with it was that either it was easily avoided OR it turned into a ruck in the middle of the table that was purely won on who cast better buffs/hexes. Not much variation and not the most tactical games. Nice if youlike rolling lots of dice tho, and fun in a friendly setting.
The rule about Lord Kroak's unbreakable says: "If Lord Kroak joins a unit of Temple Guard, all models in the combined unit gain the Unbreakable special rule." So I'd say yes they can if you deploy other characters first and put Lord Kroak last in that unit
other couple of notes: Make sure to keep your characters and champions away from the slann. miscasting and killing TG is bad enough. I have had success with using a stripped down slann and an tooled OLD blood in the TG. With the slann I take a single discipline and a dispel scroll. the old blood has full kit. 1+ save 5+ ward reroll, great weapon Lastly Tett! vanguard, magic phase boost, and heavens buffs as needed. Tett and Kroak, the dynamic duo!
I would say they can't rejoin, since they lose the Unbreakable when they leave and a model who doesn't have the Unbreakable -rule can't join unit who has.
I haven't tried Kroak yet. But I did run a 30 Strong TG unit with the Skavenpelt Banner, a Slann, and a supporting Saurus character. That's kind of deathstar. That's not a giant stretch from my usual lists. I tend to have 25 or 26 TG as standard issue. Usually I am happy with the results when I push 30 or 31 Temple Guard or stick in a fighting Saurus character on foot. Especially around 2750+ when I can fit in an Oldblood. I don't like loading up magic banners other than the Banner of Eternal Flame or Standard of Discipline. They never seem very useful, at least for me.
The Kroak star is brutal, his death mask covers one of two problems TG have, low WS for elite troops. And yes you can put other characters in the unit, I've been fond of putting a priest in to protect him from shooting and then run/fly him out to start pulsing. Haven't tried the Slann star but Skavenpelt plus WBW or Wyssans seems devastating, add Tetto and wait 20 minutes until your opponent's tears come to a boil
At the weekend I used 32 TG with Kroak and a Scar Vet BSB in a unit and when they were triple charged by HE LSG, SM and a Griffon Lord they stood toe-to-toe for 3 rounds of combat, winning 2 and drawing the 3rd, holding till the end of the game earning a win. So, YES, TG + Kroak are awesome!
Lord Kroak is coming out to play against the undead tomorrow. He will be snuggled up safe and warm inside a TG block of 31 beasts and a Scar Vet BSB. Should be a lot of fun
Let us know how it goes! Honestly any fight where you can pile in that many TG would be a huge game anyway, so I think it's safe to assume you would get it into a serious fight with a big enemy block easily. I assume it would well be worth giving the whole unit Magic Resist somehow.
The TG + Kroak Deathstar still hasn't managed to face up against the Undead, as the player turned up very late, so I took an impromptu game against my hated enemy....SKAVEN!! The skaven player had a cheesy list with 2 Warp Lightning Cannons, Hellpit and Screaming Bell......YIKES!! Turn 1....the dreaded 13th spell targeted my right hand skink unit (why not the deathstar I hear you cry?), wiping them out along with my cube carrying heavens skink! OUCH After that it was pretty plain sailing due to poor generalship and target priority and bad luck for my opponent and it became a pretty easy victory for the lizards. After 2 games Im feeling that I need to shrink the TG and Kroak unit a bit, 30 is overkill so Im thinking 25 will be enough. The TG with Kroak's bonuses are truly epic, with most units finding it hard to wound them and then linked with PF they can dish out a lot of pain, plus being unbreakable, they aint going anywhere so they are a force to be reckoned with. Im loving TG+Kroak, even though Im finding Kroaks magic output to be a little situational. I will deffo keep trying him out against different opponents