How much would the dynamics of Skink Priests change if they had access to more lores? Beasts: Probably the most likely new lore since there is some precedent for SC Skinks casting Beasts and it goes well with Sotek. Hypothetically I would run L2 most of the time and hope I get Transformation of Kadon or the Amber Spear, either would be ideal for a Skink Priest running around in a band of skirmishers. Wyssans Wildform is great for any occasion so would handy there so I wouldn’t be fussed if I had to drop a crappy spell for the sig. Flock of Doom would be acceptable because it’s cheap to cast and fits nicely with Skink shooting. I don’t see me ever wanting to cast the others from a Skink. A Skink Priest/Beast Slann combo could force a Skink Priest to get Transformation of Kadon. Light: Light is arguably fluff appropriate for Skink priests given the Old Ones fighting the darkness schtick. None of the Light spells would be bad on a Skink priest and the signature spell would be great because it’s cheap to cast and a Priest in a Skirmisher block can pretty much hit anything on the table with a 24” magic missile. Ruby Ring of Ruin would stop showing up on so many lists and Light Slann would probably pass Life Slann as the number one choice. A Slann with two Light acolytes/scroll caddies would cast very deadly Banishments. Shadow: If we got Chameleon Skink priests Shadow might be fitting. A case could made that even non-Chameleon Skinks are sneaky enough to justify getting the lore. I like Shadow a lot, but I don’t think I would use Shadow Skink priests very often. I’m used to casting my spells with a bonus power dice and a +4. Shadow Skinks would have to put a lot of dice towards anything but the signature spell to cast anything reliably and I don’t think we spoilt LM players will tolerate that. I don’t see much synergy for Shadow Skink Priests with Slann of any type. Life: Most Skink Priests hang out with Skirmishers. In that case I don’t see the signature spell providing anything for a Skink and when you have a level one or two caster it’s very important you are okay with the signature spell. Throne of Vines would go to waste on a Skink priest but the other five spells could be okay. I just don’t think LM players would go for this very often if it were an option. I just don’t see Life as worth taking unless you are reasonably sure you will get Throne of Vines and Dwellers. If you deploy your Skink Priest somewhere OTHER than Skirmishers, a Life Skink is much better. With an EOTG, then a Life Skink would be crazy good. Of course a Stegadon would like Regeneration 5+ and a ready supply of Lifebloom. A Skroxigor block would be quite resilient with a Life Skink Priest in it. If the Horned One remains an option a Life Skink would be an asset to a unit of Saurus Cavalry in a way other Skink Priests would not. Death: Highly unlikely but theoretically could tie into a Sotek angle. There are a lot of armies with access to Death so this could either mean LM are more or less likely to get it. I think Skinks are fast enough that the short range of Death sniper spells is not a drawback, but I think the real hope here is to roll Purple Sun and throw six dice at it. A miscast fried Skink is a small price to pay for that much destruction. I think the odds of Skink Priests getting lore or Metal or Fire is less than zero. I'd be thrilled with Fire though since Fireball is a very nice spell for low level casters and you could theoretically spam someone with Fireballs. I don't see a strong appeal to low level Metal casters. The signature spell is too situational for my tastes. A lot of forumites have their own ideas on what a hypothetical Lore of the Old Ones would/should be like but I don’t think we could realistically guess what GW’s idea would be like and a Lore of the Old Ones might be Slann only. If Skink Priests could take Horned Ones not as a magical item would you do that very often? It wouldn’t take up their precious 50 point item allowance. It sounds fun, but I don’t see a lot of need for it if Skink Priests were stuck with Heavens. If Skink Priests got access to Beasts they might be useful mounted as part of a Fast Attack army. If Skink Priests could ride Terradons would you do that very often? Terradons have many uses but they are often used as hand grenades. You throw the Terradons at a specific enemy target and don’t generally expect to get them back. Apart from Wind Blast I don’t see any Heavens spell that would benefit from having their caster fly. Death or Metal are potent with flying casters but those are two of the least likely lores Skink priests would get. I’m sure Terradons would like Wyssans Wildform but that could be cast from a Beast Skink at a safe distance.
Sounds about right if we had access to them. I don't think we'll get access to more than one or two lores in the new book though. The Empire is already able to do that and GW probably wouldn't want to draw too much attention away from them. How do Empire folks play with all the lores using low level wizards? Maybe. You would make them unstompable and could give them some decent fighting power. You could also run them with Cold One Cav for some protection or interesting synergy combos, especially if we get access to Lore of Beasts. I'd probably even try running a Skink Chief on a Horned One with the Skavenpelt Banner in a unit of cav. Probably not. We can already take the Cloak of Feathers for relatively cheap and still have enough points for either the D-Scroll, the Diadem of Power, or the Plaque of Tepok. Shadow Priests would be cool though. Maybe they'll make it so Skink characters can buy a Chameleon upgrade. Might even make Chiefs more feasible.