Hello to all my scaly skinned brethren, I would like to use this thread to summarise and discuss the ancient Lore of High magic. #Disclaimer# In this thread (and others) I will be talking from the viewpoint of playing in a ‘comped’ UK tournament environment. Now when I first saw that the shiny new lizardmen had the same lore as the high elves I thought what a jip! But after some scrutinisation and a few discussions im starting to see it in a new light. I feel that the high magic lore has some really interesting applications for the lizardmen as will follow…. Lore attribute: Contemplations ZOMG! Ok so the first thing we talk about with the new lore is possibly the best and my favourite thing in the new lore! The ability to successfully cast a spell and then forget it while generating a new spell?!This has got to be the best thing about the new slann, this is such an interesting twist of the magic phase. Don’t like a spell in the high lore? Cast it and get a spell you do like for whatever lore you do want. At the moment im avoiding trying to go for the big hitters and instead focusing on the sig spells, learn a new spell and decide against it and take the sig instead. Spells such as searing doom, miasma, spirit leech and wildform are all ones that will greatly help your lizardmen in many different types of fight. The ability to choose the lore means you can tailor your slanns load out while the battle is in motion and is a very good edge to have over your opponent. Cast several non essential spells successfully early in the game and you can have several rolls on one lore, making it easier to get a double and therefore pick the ones you really need –or just go for the uber spell. Point of note; You generate the new spells at the end of the magic phase, so won’t be able to cast them until next turn. This will require some forward planning as to which spell will be more suitable to learn. Sig spell: drain magic: I don’t really have a lot to say on this as it will most likely be one of the spells mentioned above that I cast first turn as an augment (pointlessly) to generate a new spell more suited against my opponent. It is nice and flexible, being a hex or augment and being able to be boosted to do both! But I doubt I will be using it too often. I found its a great way to save dispel dice, let the hexes or RiP spells go through knowing you can easily dispel with a single die next phase. Point of note; Good low level casting values, which means you will nearly always be able to get rid of a RiP spell easier than beating its original level. Sig spell: Soul quench Much more up my alley, a nice magic missile which 2D6 hits or 4D6(!) hits when boosted with relatively low casting values. Point of note; Cast it through a nearby priest to mitigate its short range. 1 Apotheosis A great spell for the lizardmen, like a mini regrowth/lifebloom which is cast on a 5+ or boosted is on a 10+. This makes the Slann be able to heal himself or your nearby monsters/beasts, of which there are a lot in the book. You could also use it to top up your lizardmen characters wounds and maybe combine with a ‘remembered’ lore of life spell for an extra lifebloom. Point of note; Healed units also gain the fear special rule, this is kinda pointless as practically all the units you could heal either already cause fear/terror or you really don’t want them in combat (slann/priest). 2 Hand of glory Like apotheosis it’s a nice low level augment that will help out your combat units, I most often using it for WS or I which are sometimes the bane of lizardmen combat units and the reason why light was such a popular lore in the last book. I sometimes boost all just to affect those two stats. Point of note; Increasing BS on your stegs crew could make giant blowpipes or the giant bow a lot more effective. 3 Walk between worlds Now this is a really nice spell! Good ranged augment which makes the target unit move 10” (20” if boosted), the unit also gains the ethereal special rule (until the end of the phase). I’m going to be using this spell in two main ways. Firstly as a super steed of shadows, moving the wizard or a unit that is in trouble to somewhere safer or more advantageous. Secondly, as a ploy to bait a charge. Cast upon a unit of chaff you could speed into an enemies face and force a charge, use it on a stegadon and move it into a position where only a sub par unit can charge it so the steg can either smash them or at lest hold its ground due to stubborn. You could also use it to easily set up future flank charges. It’s a really good spell to stall the enemy advance or at least throw up a big question, I feel this spell should be used to force favourable match ups. Point of note; Now that salamanders can’t march and shoot this is a very good way to get those disgustingly effective flank shots with them. 4 Tempest Good ranged direct damage using the large template which inflicts S3 hits and only scatters D6, making it actually quite accurate. The secondary effect of this spell is probably what I like most about it and probably what makes it well suited to lizardmen. -1 to hit for units affected in close combat and shooting, again mitigating your low WS units. Against defensive armies this can be cast into their ‘castle’ and affect multiple units/warmachines to good effect. Point of note; If it hits a flyer then the hits are at S4…..great. 5 Arcane unforging Most players should be well aware of this spell, probably one of the most unique in the game. So it’s a direct damage with medium range that can snipe at a single model/character. The target suffers a wound if you roll equal or over its armour value, no armour saves allowed, the target then must reveal all magic items it holds and one is randomly destroyed. Pretty nifty. This could be used to quite reliably snipe characters wounds off, but I would probably use it and then forget it to pick up spirit leech (maybe caress/fate) or if it was a big single armoured model, searing doom. Point of note; This is mainly a fighty character snipe spell only as it can only wound armoured models and most normal wizards don’t wear armour (slaughtermasters aren’t normal they are silly), once its destroyed the item swap it for a better snipe spell. 6 Fiery convocation Remains in play, direct damage, S4, flaming attacks, every model in the target unit. Need I say more? Definitely a very good spell in my eyes. Good synergy with soul quench, strip off regen and then blast with 4D6 hits. Points of note; As with all RiP spells, it forces opponents on the defensive in their own magic phase, dispelling your spells rather than casting their own. Arcane vassal: A slann can cast a magic missile or direct damage spell through a priest within 24”. One of the complaints of this lore is the short/medium range, arcane vassal effectively doubles the range of all your high magic offensive spells. This also makes the cloak of feathers perhaps a viable choice for priests, every lizard player should find it easy to use this ability due to the increased amount of priests on the tabletop that will be keeping your saurus in check. Point of note; If the slann miscasts while using an arcane vassal there is now an additional downside in the form of a S3 hit to the priest.
Fundamentally, I agree. The Lore of High Magic provides us with unparalleled flexibility, and I've used it pretty effectively in a couple of games. In fact, I credit a well-timed spell-swap with wining me at least one game. That said, there are a couple of things to be wary of: 1) Anything that limits your spellcasting can leave you in a bad position. For example, anything that forces your Slann into reserves - like that "Meeting Engagement" mission - or otherwise delays you can be devastating. I learned that the hard way last night. 2) A sufficiently crappy magic phase can cripple this Lore's tactics, because they force you to focus on casting only the spells you really want and probably can't do without, so you can't bother to cast the spells that you might get some benefit from - for example, you can't use Drain Magic as a cheeky little augment and dump it for something you want more if you're struggling to cast Hand of Glory. 3) The Lore of High Magic itself is a great toolbox Lore. It does a little of everything. But, sometimes, it could be better to pick a Lore that does one thing and then build the rest of your army to do everything else.