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Just attended a 2K tournament on Sunday, was disappointed in the performance of my Empire list (although that may have more to do with the opponents lists than my own) Be that as it may I thought I would try a completely different approach and go magic heavy. I'm sure that this is a fairly standard type build and I would like some comments on whats good/bad/indifferent. Thanks

Lord - 2nd Generation Slaan - BSB, Plaque of dominion, Diadem of Power (570)

Hero - Saurus Scar Veteran - Quetzl Sotek GW Maiming Shield Jaguar charm (176)

Skink Priest - Lvl 2, 2x Dispel scroll (160)

Core - 20 x Temple Guard Shields Full Command (395)

10 x Skinks Skirmishers Scout Blowpipe HW (70)

10 x Skinks Skirmishers Scout Blowpipe HW (70)

10 x Skinks Skirmishers Scout Javelin Shield (70)

Spec - 20 x Saurus Warriors Shields Full Command Tlazcotl (290)

Rare - 3 x Salamander Hunting Packs (195)

Total - 1996

Questions - The right spawning on the warriors? or do they need a spawning at all? Is the Temple Guard too big? The Skinks too small? Do I need Kroxis for hitting power?

PapaSmurf

anything??

I don't see any kroxigors, and you've only got one unit of salamanders, with no steggadon. Other than that, you've covered your bases. I think that the saurus warriors are generally dropped in favor of other MSU goodies.

Its honestly not very threatening - you have no control of the movement phase, and a large chunk of you ary's points are spent on rank bonuses for troops that dont need them.

You lack many counter units, such as terradons, korxigors and chameleon skinks that are typically crucial to your difficult matchups (VC, WE, DC, Brets).

Diadem is better on the skink, so he misses out on dice, not the slaan. You always want the slaan to be casting, getting the most of the +1 to cast.

Scar Vet should have Sotek+Tepok for marks, with an enchanted shield not a maming shield.

2nd Gen does best with double scroll, plaque of tepok and a bane head. You NEED a bane head - it will double the wounds on whatever model you nominate - you would be surprised how much this counts against a treeman, dragon, greater demon and so on...it makes them twice as easy for the slaan to kill, for only 15 points. Even against lists lacking these things, you can always take rule of burning iron and general snipe, for 1 wound = 2.

Honestly, I really, really dont like the big blocks of saurus - either they will stomp whatever goes against them, or be combo charged to death. Thus, are always overkill, or going to underperform. Neither is a good situation, and they can easily be avoided and redirected.

With an aggressive enough list, one can keep the slaan very safe, without a bodyguard. Dont worry about cannons, very few lists have more than 1, if they do, the aggressiveness of your list will ensure minimal time is spet hiding.

So, what would I get?

4 Kroxigor
3 Terradons
3 Terradons
5 Chameleon Skinks

These help you in all your difficult matchups immeasurably, and cover a great many weaknesses the list currently has. In short:
-WE: kroxigor murder the skirmish hordes, as do terradons surprisingly enough.
-Brets: Skinks guarantee a first turn march block, giving you plenty of time to shred knights. Terradons become throwaways and auxilliary killers, while kroxigor are at home against knights
-Empire: Kroxigor counter WAltar, STank, whichever the slaan doesnt banehead. Terradons/skinks get rid of those cannons
-VC: terradons/skinks mage auxilliary hunt, kroxigor just kill whatever you need - they are best at destroying small elite units, or any WS2 infantry (this way you hit on 3+)
-DC: kroxigor are again best against small elites, skinks are very hard for them to deal with without using screamers, and kill a great many demons. Same goes for terradons.

Basically, the inclusion of these units adds a great deal of playability to this list.

Id drop the temple guard, and probably the saurus as well personally.

If you must include a ranked unit, 16 saurus with st,mus is plenty. They add a little front line support, and can be joined by the slaan for US20 and +6 static CR as necessary. Keep the scar vet or the sallies nearby to help in CC and your gold.

With the second gen, for spells, the key is to really analyse what you will need throughout the game and mass spells from that lore OR mass cheap spells and try to maximise the amount of free dice you can get. For the second approach, its usually best to get fireball + dark hand of death + rule of burning iron + light lore fireball + 1 extra fire/metal lore spell, although not taking rule of iron and instead going three rolls on fire is also common. The slaan will have a have 6 dice a turn to cast with, 8 if you use the diadem on the skink - so you will cast all 5 spells each turn quite comortably, each getting the +1 dice, for a potential +5 power dice a turn just from that.

Hope this helps!

OK, what about this

Lord - 2nd Generation Slaan - BSB, Plaque of dominion, Bane Head, Dispel Scroll (440)

Hero - Saurus Scar Veteran - Quetzl Sotek GW Enchanted Shield Jaguar charm Talisman of Prot (171)

Skink Priest - Lvl 2, Diadem of Power (135)

12 x Skinks Skirmishers Scout Blowpipe HW (84)

12 x Skinks Skirmishers Scout Blowpipe HW (84)

12 x Skinks Skirmishers Scout Blowpipe HW (84)

12x Skinks Skirmishers Scout Javelin Shield (84)

16 x Saurus Warriors Shields Full Command (210)

Spec - 4 x Kroxigor (232)

4 x Terradon Riders (140)

4 x Terradon Riders (140)

Rare - 3 x Salamander Hunting Packs (195)


total - 1999

only one scroll but greater ability to hit, was wondering about terradons, don't like chameleon skinks, want the sallies instead, want protection for the Slaan

PapaSmurf

You want/need chameleon skinks. Trying to beat DC or brets without them march blocking is nightmarish.

You dont want all those skinks with scouts, you need most of them deploying normally so as be available for redirect / throw away etc etc. Id suggest a MAXIMUM of 1 unit with scout, and they should nver be larger than 10 strong - they are sacrificial units, so you would be just throwing away more points than you have to.

You want the Mark of Tepok on the Scar Veteran. Not Quetzel. Especially if you're only running 1 dispel scroll. 9 DD + 1 scroll should do well against anything but the strongest VC magic phase.