I got a question to all of you, does someone of you use anohter lore then life. Life is without question the best lore, but other lores have their advantages and are usefull too, why do you use lore of life, because you like the lore, or because it will give you the best winning chances. I'm for example planning to use lore fo shadow, not because it's the best lore, because I like it, fluffwise I always liked the lore of shadow, and it isn't that a bad lore, the signature spell is awesome, especially if you combine it with Pit of Shades or The Penumbral Pendulum, think about it I test at -D3. And it got good hexes, -D3 S or T ain't too shabby. With Dual Slann I would like to try out Shadow+Death, it's an awesome combination, The Witherin+THe Fate of Bjuna, THe Enfeeblin Foe+The Caress fo Laniph, every lore got some nice combinations, and with dual slann the combination can get awesome(The Enfeebling Foe+ The Dwellers Below), so back to the question do you use another lore then lore fo life and if you do, what combinations have you found out. I'm not only talking about combining two spells, but also combining a spell with a manouvre or with some action like shooting(The Withering+Salamander Spout Flames, for more casualties), tell me all the combinations you know, there are a lot of them, believe me I've been looking at the lores yesterday and found a dozen of combinations of a spell and something else, or a combination fo two spells, and with dual slann the possibilities become endless. That was a lot of talking, so back to most important points: What lore do you use, and what nice uses have you found.
None of the lores are bad. But Life is definitely the Cookie Cutter for Lizardmen. I can see Light and Heavens being just as cookie cutter for Vampires and High Elves respectively (book of hoeth + Comet...). Personally I think Light is a good secondary one for Lizards, if you want something 'sub optimal' and different but still good.
My default is life but that is getting boring so I might just stick with cupped hands and try out light, or for some real fun I might try beasts with my OB with blade of bloodshed just to try and have a S9, 11A, T9 combat beast. Can you say "Dragon Slayer"? (assuming casting of signature spell on unit with OB, "Pann's Impenetrable Pelt" and "The Savage Beast of Horros") -Eagle
Personally i havent really used life much. Light i've really liked so far. Big unit of saurus + WS/I 10 = win. especially if you chuck a couple of scar-vets in there. And the net spell is shockingly good if the enemy keeps thier main mage in a fighting block. Eitherways, i guess life and light are definetley the 'buff' lores, just personal taste as to whether you prefer defense or offense. they both seem way better to me than most of the damage dealing lores.
I wouldn't say life is cookie cutter as much as "lore made for us but others can use". I really wish light was available to skinks though, I have a hard time justifying bringing a second Slann even in bigger games.
I've only tried it a couple times now, but I can say I love it. I wanna test out the other lores, but I can see it being my stand by.
Fire is a lot of fun, My slaan doesn't get to kill many things any more, Occasionally, especially when faced with a rather mean unit of minotaurs say, 18 or so, he has a tendency to start burning things,,,,,
One of your priviliges as a slann is that you're able to pick any lore, which might suit you. In a Tournament situation this is a very vestile oportunity to have in my opinion. Being able to go metal against a warrior/Knight based WoC list, or Heaven against a packed Dwarf/Empire gunline is something to cherrish. But yes, imo Life should be the default lore to go with Zardmen, unless you can see uses for other lores like i mentioned above .
I think more than ever, you should actually change how you build your army based on what lore you will be taking. Some spells just complement some units better. Life has the most widely applicable effects, and I think that is why you will see it everywhere. I'm thinking to be extremely different I might go for Metal. People seem to have forgotten the powerhouse that was Spirit of the Forge in 7th edition, and it has gotten better in this edition. Cast Searing Doom at a Treeman for example. You wound on a 3+, no saves at all, double each wound. Anything with midrange armor (4+ or worse), you can start rusting away to nothing. Then Skinks can really do some damage with their poison pipes. So a metal themed army would have a lot of skink skirmishers and chameleons, and a solid unit of skrox which would benefit from the 5+ scaly skin.
Page 490, second paragraph says that you pick a lore when you create an army. So, no more tailoring lores to the opponent before the game starts. Caneghem has it right, though. When you build your army make sure to factor in what lore you're choosing.
I wholeheartedly agree with picking your army around what lore you're planning on using. The really nice thing about the slann is that we can guarantee what spells we are going to get by getting the entire lore. I feel, as pointed out above, that a skink-heavy army really benefits from Metal. A big, tough army, like one full of saurus and monsters, benefits from life. Light I think is another solid choice for an infantry-heavy army, as is shadow. Both of these lores make our good troops better by either increasing their stats or lowering the enemy's.
Ok I see, but well I've been thinking, but what unit complements lore of shadow or light. That will be the lores i'll use since I like them fluffwise especially shadow.
I'll be experimenting with Death. It seems like it could be handy for sniping enemy characters, and Purple Sun just sounds like fun.
If I were going to build a Shadows themed army, I'd probably start by having a couple of scar-vets on horned ones, and have them equipped for assassination. Steed of Shadows no longer allows charging, but it does allow characters and their mounts to fly now instead of just a model on foot. So you can get them behind enemy lines when the time is right, and start tackling smaller units and killing characters (Bane head and double wound sword come to mind). If you want to really risk it, you could also try out the chief with lance stegadon or the EotG. These can be flown into good positions using Steed of Shadows as well. I'd go with at least two blocks of saurus, as you won't need the TG to do damage. Ld8 saurus turn into strength 8 with the mindrazor spell. Saurus warriors are also in good position to capitalize on the various debuff spells, like reduced enemy WS, Toughness, etc. You'd definitely have to play aggressive, since most of the best spells in the Lore involve hexing or boosting CC stats. I might consider a unit of Cold One Cav with AP banner or LD +1 banner.
Thanks Caneghem, I´ve been thinking and these are the combo´s I came up with The steeed of shadows thing for killing lone mages Melkoths Mystifying Miasma+pit of shades(I test at -D3) The buffs and de-buffs can help in combat The wihtering +sallie, since I've tested the sallie and found out he doesn't kill much only 1 or 2 models per shot. EDit: About the horned one +steed of shadows: SHould I place him in a saurus unit first or just let him run alone.(I'm talking about before the catapulting)
@ asrodrig: I got 2 death combo's For sniping: Soulblight+The caress of laniph/the fate of bjuna A hex affects characters in the unit too: so 2D6 - T/S(wich has been reduced by 1) hits, that's one extra hit wich wounds at 4+ or 2+ Against low Ld armies: Doom and Darkness+Aspect of the Dreadknight example: You have a skink skirmisher unit, you move them within 12" of a unit with low Ld wich annoys you, now cast D&D on that unit and AotD on the skink skirmishers, terror test at -3Ld. Another item wich might be good in combination with D&D is the Terrifying mask of Eeee!
Life is ONE of the top lores for Slann, just because the attribute is so good. That said its less of a no-brainer choice for other armies because it really works best if you have the loremaster rule. Thats mainly due to your need to have throne of vines in play to make the lore effective. My other favs with a slann are Light, which brilliantly augments our saurus' primary weaknesses, and death, which is great for char hunting and screwing leadership. The biggest problem with death is that I'm always slightly scared of unleashing a purple sun on the board just in case it comes back to haunt me (and wipe out my army). lores I would not consider using with a Slann Beasts - cannot cast transformation, which is really the only reason to take beasts in 8th Fire - Its ok, but i run my slann in a temple Guard unit, and being unable to cast the burning head spell makes me feel slightly robbed Metal - again, just my personal issue with having a totally duff spell in the list; glittering robe does nothing for us unless we cast it on skinks. Heavens - arguably the weakest of the 8, and the attribute is virtually meaningless. Given that I'm forced to use it if I take a skink I'm not about to waste my slann's selection on it. I guess shadow isn't bad, but given that I take TG my slann can't use the smoke and mirrors ability (which is probably the coolest thing about shadow).
Most of this is dead on, but don't count out lore of beasts. Even without transformation (RIP means I would never use it anyway) Wildform gives a unit +1 str and toughness (S6 T5 temple guard, S5 T5 Saurus, S7 T7 Stegs...), Amber spear can go up to S10 with D6 wounds, Curse can help against those elite units, and savage beast can turn a scar vet or oldblood into a walking blender. (If you build your army around it you could have 3+ scar vets or old bloods within 12 inches with S8 and 7 attacks before magic items ). Flock is usable (cheap but not really good) since everything can be wounded on 6's. Not my first choice, but definitely nothing to sneeze at either. Goofy/fun idea: Slann:Rumination, mystery, higher state, carpet (assuming it works) Lore of beasts 3 skink chiefs each with additional hand weapon and light armor 22 skinks 2 krox, full command Put the three chiefs in the front rank of the skrox unit, run the solo slann behind. Cast wildform on the unit, then the powered up savage beast, you are now looking at a unit that pumps out 24 WS 4, S8, I6 attacks, 6 WS 2 S4 I4 attacks, and 6 WS 3 S7 asl attacks... For added hilarity give the chiefs various magic weapons ( and the bsb with skaven pelt banner)and cast the powered up impenetrable pelt on them too (boosts them to T7) Not bad for 850- ish points, and the look on some tooled out chaos lords face when he and his bodyguard gets eaten by some skink chiefs would be priceless.