# Equipping your Slann for 8th



## sir_m1ke (Dec 7, 2008)

Howdy all 

Well iv got some games in with my Lizardmen and tried various configs for my slann, and thought i would share some lessons i have learned

First of all, 8th edition is a blast. My friends and i dropped out at 6th and concentrated purely on 40k because Fantasy was...well...dull. 8th has brought pace and brutality back into warfare and i for one am glad of it! :victory:

The magic phase has seen a big change with the random pool of dice generated as well as the changes to IF/Miscasts which are linked and more brutal. The lizardmen have always been focussed around the slann as the centrepiece of the army and in 8th this will become even more pronounced. Kermit is the best wizard in the game (Teclis is arguably the most potent but cant match the sheer number of spells a turn the Slann can) and can dominate a magic phase

*Equipping your slann*

So lets look at some set-ups for him. The one image most commonly linked with the Slann is one in a temple guard unit. This provides him with a nice 2+ LOS save vs. templates as well as a solid combat unit that can charge an enemy and stil let Toad of Toad Hall do his thing. :wink:

This config was used in my first battle, with Warts an' all sitting in his temple guard unit:

Focus of Mastery, Focussed Rumination, Becalming Cogitation, Soul of Stone, Cupped Hands, BSB with Sun Standard of Chotec

Quite a whopper of a guy. Against a magic-heavy High Elf army and equipped with Lore of Light, he managed to miscast his first spell (and attack the LVL4 Enemy Mage ala Cupped hands) and spent the rest of the game casting Phas illumination over...and over....and over again. The buffs from the lore of light allowed me to grind my way through even the elite Elven units nicely

But the issue i had was that he wasnt very flexible, he was stuck in the middle of the temple guard and couldnt get about very quickly at all. 

So i decided next battle (again vs. high elves) to go for a flying frog of doom. set-up this time was

Focus of Mastery, Focussed Rumination, Becalming Cogitation, Higher State of Consciousness, Cupped hands, BSB, Arabian Carpet

ZOOM-ZOOM-froggy sat behind my solid line of saurus and i went for Lore of Life. By jove the Lore of Life goes with a Slann like cock and balls! the ridiculously low casting values for the spells meant i was able to chuck out 2-3 spells with a poor dice pool and almost the whole lore with a good pool. Dwellers below ate his mage (plus half the unit he was in) and throne of vines boosted everything brilliantly, one casting of awakening of the wood took a lion chariot apart and flesh to stone saurus held a prince on a moon dragon up for the entire game!

The arabian carpet let me position him where i needed the spells/Leadership/BSB the most, and Higher State meant the RBT had nothing to do but sprinkle my saurus with a light shower of arrows (casualties promptly regrown)

My big worry with this set-up is coming up against skaven or dwarves, with a high number of magical war machines. To combat this i think it may be best to ditch cupped hands (throne of vines does the job for me) and take the divine plaque of protection. 2+ ward save against all ranged attacks means it will take a pit of shades or purple sun to take me down 

Just a quick note about Becalming Cogitation. There has been a lot of debate about just how useful this is, given that it means your enemy wont miscast. I say "so what?" to these people!! It stops your enemy getting an IF on a spell you REALLY dont want to go off (Purple sun, Pit of Shades, Final Transmutation etc.) and also means your opponent has to throw a stack of dice at any high-to-cast spell just to make sure it goes off. This means less spells coming at you, letting you use your dispel dice more effectively. Plus it really increases the chance of a lose of concentration, which could neuter your opponents mage. literally :shok:

all for 25pts?? HELL YEH :shok:

The other issue i have is the "Last Stand" rule. i was really hoping this would be FAQ'd for the lizzies but no luck. Now if broken in combat (very likely if he is caught by any sort of ranked unit) Kermie will be removed instantly! This worries me. I may give the BSB to a scar vet and c how tht goes, u really cant afford to lose your slann

so there you have it, my two starter builds for your slann. i intend to work my way through the army book and give my thoughts on each section and the best builds i have found so far, so stay tuned.

Oh and just to finish this section off: Oldbloods. em.....why bother? take the slann if you have the points. Scar Vets are choppy enough 

Oh and just so you all know, my Slann is called Lord Boom-Shaqa-Laqa. You HAVE to name your slann, otherwise your spells will miscast and your testicles will shrink. you have bn warned :threaten:


----------



## CaptainBudget (Jun 14, 2010)

It appears the toad is back where he belongs:
best wizard in the game!

I shall bookmark this page and send it to my mate, I'm feeling fairly suicidal at the moment! 

Have some rep!

Also, given you were worried about the flying frog of death being splattered by war machines what is probably a good idea is to play with scenary a little, plan your advance carefully and make sure the only thing that can draw LOS is the unit you intend to obliterate. Either that or just mug the war machines with terradons!


----------



## Wolf_Lord_Skoll (Jun 9, 2008)

Wooo, get to post my Slann build again! Good times 

Slann w/ Focus of Mystery, The Focused Ruination, Curse-charm of Tepok and Cupped Hands of the Old One. Cost? 390 points.

The Focused Ruination is brilliant, rolling free PD is always nice. Focus of Mystery capitalises on that, allowing more spells to be cast, ergo more free dice.

Curse-Charm of Tepok and Cupped Hands of the Old Ones is a scary combo. You roll all-out on the Slann until your first IF. Bounce back on a 2+. Make them re-roll it if necessary. If not, you get to keep it for their first IF. Brutal.

EDIT: You can always make him immune to non-magical if you feel the need. Add BSB if that's your thing too.


----------



## Crimzzen (Jul 9, 2008)

how do you give your slann the BSB, I thought your general couldn't carry it.

Very good read though.


----------



## Arli (Mar 4, 2010)

It is in the Lizardmen rule book that the slann is exempt from that.


----------



## Crimzzen (Jul 9, 2008)

how could you take the 2+ ward save vs shooting and the flying carpet? Would that not be 2 enchanted items?


----------



## sir_m1ke (Dec 7, 2008)

Crimzzen said:


> how could you take the 2+ ward save vs shooting and the flying carpet? Would that not be 2 enchanted items?


Apologies Crimzzen, should of clarified that to take the Divine Plaque of Protection i would be dropping the Magic Carpet. The Slann can march at the same speed as the saurus anyway, so not as important. The additional protection vs. war machines and magic missles is a good trade-off in my opinion


----------



## Crimzzen (Jul 9, 2008)

sir_m1ke said:


> Apologies Crimzzen, should of clarified that to take the Divine Plaque of Protection i would be dropping the Magic Carpet. The Slann can march at the same speed as the saurus anyway, so not as important. The additional protection vs. war machines and magic missles is a good trade-off in my opinion



Hmmm, well if he's moving the same speed as saurus' your not really gaining anything by running him outside of temple guard in that case . At least while he's in there he gets his 2+ LoS and a 4++.


----------



## sir_m1ke (Dec 7, 2008)

Crimzzen said:


> Hmmm, well if he's moving the same speed as saurus' your not really gaining anything by running him outside of temple guard in that case . At least while he's in there he gets his 2+ LoS and a 4++.


Thats very true and a good point, but i just dont feel temple guard are worth the points just so my Slann can hunker down in it. Plus any miscast that occurs (it is very easy to roll a 1 on Throne of Vines) will spell big pain for them

plus, compared to other races elite infantry, temple guard just dont match up. Slow to hit and fairly easy to kill, i mourn their loss but feel it is required. 

but more on that when i do a wee tactica up on Special choices  patience children!


----------



## Darkness007 (Sep 3, 2009)

Lord Teznotlioca:
Slann with Focussed Rumination, Focus of Mystery (Life) , Becalming Cognition, and Soul of Stone, Cupped Hands of the Old Ones, BSB with Sun Standard of Chotec in a unit of 20 Temple Guard with the Razor Standard. The TG champion can have a magic item which leads to three variations on this build; I can give the Slann a Bane Head and give a Curse-Charm of Tepok to the champion and hit enemy mages for 2 wounds, I can give the Slann the Curse-Charm of Tepok and give the Ruby Ring of Ruin to the Champion, or I can give the Slann the Bane Head and the Ruby Ring of Ruin to the Champion. The Soul of Stone lets me reroll my miscasts, which I can then transfer onto my opponent’s spellcaster (as per the rules in the FAQ), but if I roll a 1 on Cupped Hands I totally blow myself up. The Curse-Charm of Tepok has the advantage on letting my reroll the results after I make sure the miscast is his. It alternatively lets me mess with his own miscasts rather than the Cupped Hands one. I’m thinking Curse-Charm of Tepok and Ruby Ring of Ruin is best because, due to the frequency of lord level mages, turning one wound on an enemy wizard into two isn’t that helpful (unless he’s already blown himself up). The downside to this unit (T8, S5, regenerating 4+ save, armour piercing saurus) is the 1,000 point price tag.


----------



## Arli (Mar 4, 2010)

Per the Lizardmen FAQ you determine the Miscast results before you transfer the effect to the enemy wizard. In this case, you would have to reroll the miscast before you use cupped hands. 

On a side note, you cannot use cupped hands instead of throne of vines(ignore on a 2+) unless you roll a 1. Initially, I was under the impression that the player using it got to chose which he would use.


----------

