im brand new to warhammer and had a questions: Do i need a slann in my army if i dont want to use magic?
Welcome to the forum! To answer your question: No, you do not need a slann. It would be a good idea to take a couple of cheap skink priests in order to get a dispel scroll and the cube of darkness though. Even then, these are optional. You will still get to attempt to dispell during you're oppenent's magic phase, you just will not receive the lvl of the caster since you opt not to have one.
Welcome ! Lizardmen have some very good combat units and the saurus characters are among the most efficient ones. BUT the whole army lacks on Weapon Skill & Initiative (except skinks which are no meant to win combats) and this means you usually strike after you reveive the hits. Also there are plenty of nasty things that force you to check Initiative test or remove the model so... If you dont plan to go magic offensive, at least go magic protected and go to smash those pesky magic users with your primitive clubs .
Ummm Take an Oldblood or 2 they are tremendous fighty characters. Skink priests allow you to bring some buff's and magical defense. Scarvets for some BSB work. Also Gor-rok is a decent Special character and he can make a block stubborn. Tetto'eko is really cool and bring a lot of flexibility along with the ability to cast any heavens spell. Chakax is overpriced don't bother, Skink chief are a bit blah. And the rest of the special character are a bit weak or overpriced. That said Kroq-gar does give you a carnosuar with a ward save.
i like gor-rok alot. he seems like a great leader for what i want to do with my army....i need leaders/heros that can help my core over run faster and be bad-ass
You need some magic defense but two skink priests, one with the cube and the other with a dispel scroll and both lvl 2's should do good for you. Both Heavens and Beast lores are good supporting lores for a combat army especially with their signature spells. If you want a cheap BSB that can control your predatory fighter units, a skink chief (maybe hidden in a skink skirmisher unit) is a low-cost option. Otherwise stick with oldblood lords and scar vet heroes as your main leadership models. A skink chief on a ripper or terradon is an interessting idea simplhy because the flying cav rule gives the model and head start and it can be a good antichaff and war machine hunting model but I suspect it dies too easily to shooting and magic to be viable. With no Slann, I'd recommend two oldbloods, one on a cold one that can charge out and take on monsters and such and one leading a TG or saurus unit, as lead characters. They are very point efficient and tough and strong. A cheap Slann is still really efficient in a unit of TG simply because it makes them stubborn and he can hide out in the second rank.
Gor-Rok is tough and has a decent armour save. He also has the ability to absorb killing blow and multiple wound attacks. But he is only two wounds, no ward save and no re-roll on his armour save. He cannnot be the BSB either. He is best fighting something with a mid or low armour save and that is T5 or less and used to mildly discourage certain units from charging the unit he is in if the unit has a narrow front. With I3 and no ward save and a less than optimal armour save, a unit with S6 or greater will target this model and take it out too easily. With S5, a model that is tough T5 with a higher armour save will not mind taking on Gor Rok. 3 demigryph knights, which are now common, with two on Gor Rok will have a good chance to kill him and cost less in points than Gor Rok. Similarly, 3 lore of death spells will be able to target Gor Rok and ignore his armour save. He is basically a scar vet with +1T and some magic items. If you start with a base scar vet and add +1T, shield, light armour, and cheap +1AS helm and then make him stubborn and give him a re-roll to hit magic weapon and +.5 attacks you almost have what Gor-Rok has. and for slghtly less. If you add something for reduced vulnerability to killing blow and multiple wounds and the extra +1 to dangerous terrain and dangerous terrain for being charged and you probably come out with something costing just slightly more than Gor Rok, so he makes sense in terms of his point cost. But then consider that a model with that cost would tend to have more ability to survive (+1 wound, better armour save or re-rollable armour save, or ward save) and you end up not wanting to pay that points cost because the sum of the parts does not add up to the value of an oldblood which costs a bit more with light armour, shield, and great weapon and crown of command but also has +1 WS, +1 wound, +1 attack (but no re-roll to hit) and +2S buit has -1T and cna now afford to get to a 1+ AS, re-rollable armour save or ward save with a modest additional investment in points. An oldbllood with crown of command, armour of destiny, and luck stone with a shield and great weapon has S7, 4+ward, and 1+ AS with one re-roll. Also, a lot of places and players do not allow or do not llike special characters (although that is being relaxed for most hero level specials and generally for 8th ed books). For those reasons, I would not build an army around him.
There's something very wrong with the scar vet build you mentioned. In order to gain +1T you'll have to get the steg helmet for 40pts. So no sword of striking, no helmet and no +0,5A.. Oh and no Crown of command. You'd have to get an oldblood to make it happen and that would easily cost you 230pts + shield/LA. Or am I missing a point here?
Yes, you are missing the point. I understand the differences but he has the base stat line of a scar vet but for +1T. Crown of command is the price of stubborn and you ignore the magic item price cap when pricing out special characters which have more special abilities and rules and magic items than a typical hero. Also, the item that gives +1T includes an additional +1 armour save and D3 impact hits, so only a portion is the value of +1T. An oldblood with the steg helm has +1 wound, +1A, +1WS and can get to a 1+ AS re-rollable with dawnstone (or at least luckstone) and still buy crown of command. The oldblood costs more but lives a lot longer with a much better armour save and an extra wound. The point above is that one is better off having an oldblood with 3 wounds and a 1+ AS re-rollable or ward save with crown of command if one wants stubborn and pays that much for a character.
I interpreted your post differently. I see what point you're making, although I suppose I would've done it in a different way. No worries thouhg
Yes all you have said is true however Gor-rok is still a viable choice. HE is what he is a Scar-vet with t 6 A 2+ armor save, and his predatory fighter goes goes off on a five and he is stubborn. He is just fine against many things and to say he is only useful against weak units shows you need to play test him more.