8th Ed. Lore of death, lore of life Slann set ups

I'd give this tactica written by a very handsome poster a read.

I haven't tried Life since we got the new book yet, but I used it a lot in the old book. The same basic principles should apply. Life has some good buff spells but they are are single target spells. Therefore it synergizes well with a big block of Temple Guard. Temple Guard love Flesh to Stone, Earthblood, and Regrowth. Throne of Vines mean you have less risk (not no risk, less risk) of taking out eleven or twelve TG with a miscast. My Life builds tend to back up the TG with an equally sized block of Saurus some Skinks and big dinosaurs. Basically I like to go dinosaur, Saurus, dinosaur, TG, dinosaur. The two Sauri blocks provide ranks to the dinos and the dinos provide Thunderstomps to the Sauri. The Slann using Lifeblood at every opportunity to keep the dinos healthy.

Death is one of my favorite BRB lores. I tend to use VERY big blocks of Temple Guard (since Death isn't very defensive) and I try to ram my Temple Guard into something to grind through. I rely on Skink Priests to aim my Death snipe spells. My Death lists tend to use smaller dinosaurs. I usually take 2-4 Salamanders to damage mass troops and 2-3 Razordons to defend the Salamanders. I have yet to find the magic combination of Core to use with Death Slann lists, I tend to use a big block of Saurus Warriors and a lot of Skirmishers (that's kind of my default Core really).

It occurred to me you may be asking about Slann gear. I usually give my Life Slann the Forbidden Rod (since the damage is slight and very easy to heal. That means ix-nay on the usual Channeling Staff and Harmonic Convergence combo. Becalming Cognition is my favorite discipline for almost every Slann. Under the new book I would not Take Iron Curse Icon unless I Had leftover points since I figure I'd have Earthblood up most of the time, so I'd take the Egg of Quango points permitting. If I had points left over after that I'd consider Soul of Stone as I don't trust Throne of Vines since I might not roll it, or it could get dispelled or I can flub the roll.

My Death Slann would be loaded. Becalming Cognition is a requirement for all Slann as far as I'm concerned. Soul of Stone is nigh mandatory given that Death spells are not super easy to cast and I want more power dice so I'd go with the Harmonic Convergence and a Channeling Staff. An Iron Curse Icon is nigh mandatory since I don't know a better way to defend against artillery without Life or Light. If I knew I were playing an opponent who goes heavy on magic, especially nuke spells, I'd take an Obsidian talisman of some kind depending on points I had to play with.