After reading all of the Lone Slann thread and a couple others on warseers I wanted to present this: I think for armies <2000 a cheapish lone slann is the way to go. Running Ethereal (protects you from any mundane shooting) and (Rumination + optional Becalming) Charmed shield, 2+ save from first actual (magic) hit, should dodge you the first dwarven cannon or other arty BSB, Standard of Disciple (Gives everyone within 12" Rerollable 3d6 10 LD (Almost flee proof) I'm skipping cupped since you don't need to protect the TG as much. Cost = 370 (465 with cupped&extra discipline) As for position I think simply follow closely a group of skinks or a unit of saurus. This will give you a 4+ LOS roll for some of the autokill spells and a quick hiding place to jump in for magic archers, scouts or rear dragon etc. If your opponent has death magic he would be sniping your slann in or out of TG so might as well just put the slann in the most useful place, centered and behind the front line. Any thoughts, comments or glaring weakensses?
Another item to equip on that slann would be the crown of command. Make him Stubborn and you have an almost unbreakable, etheral slann.
I don't think you can give the Slaan a Charmed Shield. He doesn't have an option for mundane armour and therefore is prohibited from purchasing magic armour.
Good point, well that leaves an openning for dwarf cannons unfort. 50 points feels to much for the 2+ shooting ward.
You can give him the iron curse icon.... for protection against warmachines. (5-15 pts?) also he is allowed a magic weapon... not sure if you would want to give him any though.
I'd give him te 5pts blade that reduces monsters/ charaters attacks. Add Lore of Beasts Problem, heroes?
I think they are worried about Lore of Fire and perhaps the Ruby Ring of Ruin. Also I'd keep him close to Saurus for sure for cover saves and to jump into in case some nasty unit get's into your back lines. Running a Slann alone is definately a viable option and the set up that Eladimir listed along with the suggestions others have put in are very viable. It goes without saying though that you need to watch your flanks and rear.
Life is often stated as the most powerful of our lores but with a lone slann setup I'd defintely say you don't need to go life as you don't need the miscast save and the TG regrowth. Light with its buff all within 12inch spells are good cause you can readjust your slann much easier to maximize targets. Not much experience with the other lores.
I run a lone Slann in all my games. I run him with Lore of Light and have run both a low-cost build and high-cost build. Ideally, I would give him Higher State of Conciousness, Focus of Mystery and a Focus Rumination. I make him the BSB and really do not give him any magic items. A 4+ ward save usually keeps him fairly safe from shooting and combat, so I do not think anything else is necessary. You can check out my battle reports if you want to see how some of the games fared.
I never run a lone Slann without the Divine Plaque. 2+ ward against almost anything but close combat is too good to pass up; it even helps with magic dwarf cannon, jezzails, etc.
You can, minimum Slann cost is 275 if you play him naked as a jaybird so you could technically play one in a 1100 pt game if you wanted.
The army composition rules in the army book are dated and invalid, only the ones in the rulebook apply.
@HoverBoy, Ok, that would make sense.....except I thought the big Rule Book stated that the "army book" rules take precedence? Was this clarified on the GW website under Errata and FAQ? Thanks, Kaax Taat
All the FAQ-s for every army include this somewhere on the first page. No army can really play 8th without it's FAQ.