To be quite honest, I must disagree. Due to the nature of the Slaan, each and every miscast will tear a huge hole into your templeguard if you position your slaan in such a manner. I allways position my Slaan on the edge of my unit, efficently saving atleast 4 Temple guard on each miscast.
I'd rather find stubborn for my TG elsewhere altogether but both suggestions have merit. The first suggestion (middle slann) is safer against attacks from the flanks, if you can avoid that however, more TG survive. The second option is safer for your TG, and as mentioned above, will cost you less of them should you miscast. Seeing as TG are a force to be reckoned with, losing several to a miscast can be very bad, but having your slann charged can be very bad as well.
Isn't the second rank positioning of the slaan mandatory?(in that you are not allowed to put him in the first rank of TG unless there is less than 5 models in the unit?)
I tend to put my Slann in the middle because I like symmetry but I should put it on the side. The few times I've done that I haven't regretted it. You usually want to protect your flanks anyway. A flank attack with an exposed Slann is not the end of the world since the 4+ ward save with 5 wounds is hard to beat without a nasty character. So if you aren't flanked by a blender you aren't out much. Regardless of positioning, 16 Temple Guard frightens me. I generally view 20 as the minimum. I'm more worried about artillery and enemy magic than my own miscasts, but I tend to favor Soul of Stone and using low dice spells. A nuke heavy style magic phase would warrant more forethought to minimizing miscast losses.
Stick him in the center, and take lore of shadow. Lore attribute goes off before miscast. If you miscast, jump ship (smoke and mirrors) and swap units with a nearby hero. Besides that, lore of shadow rocks. -Matt
Not a bad idea at all, but personally I enjoy using Wandering Deliberations on my Slann so I will continue putting him on a flank in the TG unit. Remember that as part of a normal move a character can change position. "Q: Can characters change position inside a unit as part of a normal move?(p97) A: Yes, as long as they end up in the rank closest to the front of the unit that has a space in. It is also worth remembering that even if only the character moves the whole unit will count as moving that turn. Having a belligerent officer barge his way through the unit is not conducive to a good round of shooting!" So you could potentially draw an opponents units by presenting the Slann on one flank and then during the next turn be on the other side, or to bail before you can get charged.