Wednesday 29 May 2013

Slann Army List. 

Carrying on from writing up  a 3,000 point Dwarf Army list, I wrote a Slann one. I have'nt got very far with painting the Dwarf army yet :(

This was an easier project as I only have two Slann miniatures to paint and then the 3,000 point list is done ! I still have lots of Slann, pygmies etc to do to complete them, but at least I have a list up and ready. I am also looking at going back and adding better Standards and back banners too.  For a theme I thought I would have Kremlo as the army General leading a group of Slann, perhaps after he came to senses after the attack on Zapotec and released he is not a Norseman! The Venenge of Kremlo sounds like a good name for a follow up campaign. 

Level 20 Slaan Hero, heavy armour, Frostblade =225 points (Kremlo)

Level 20 Wizard on Litter = 296 points

Level 10 Slann  Wizard = 107 points

Level 1 bound Pond Dragon with wings = 300 points

Bound Giant Frog = 7 points.

19 Eagle Warriors, standard bearer, musician (to be lead by Kremlo) = 273 points

19 Spawn Band, hand waepon, light armour, shield, standard bearer, musician, level 10 hero = 273 points

20 Venom Tribes, hand waepon, blowpipes, poisoned attacks.  = 240 points

19 Bull Slann, standard bearer, musician, level 10 hero = 310 points

19 Bull Slann, standard bearer, musician, level 10 hero = 310 points

19 Aligator Warriors, hand weapon, two handed weapon, heavy armour, shield, standard bearer, musician, level 15 hero = 412 points

20 Jungle Braves, hand weapon shield, standard bearer, musician = 132 points

15 Jungle Braves, hand weapon, blowpipe, musician = 96 points.

= 2998 points.

The overall plan for the army, like always with Slann, is to attack. As Slann have no war machines, and blowpipes are 12 inch range (-1 over half range ! ) , the key is to get in to combat soon, especially against missile heavy armies, such Elves, Dwarves, and Empire.
From gaming experance the Slann are like Orcs  without the bows, warmachines, and amnosity, but with better Ld and choice of Elites. The Slann T4 is a great help, difficult to kill, and they don't run away very often. The only problem is that they are'nt cheap in points. That's why I take Jungle levy to bulk out the army, and as the maximum unit size is 20, so making sure your ranks are'nt delpeted too much so you lose combat is tricky
.
Kremlo will lead the centre of the army with the Eagle Warriors.  He will be supported by the Aligator Warrior who with two handed weapons and a Level 15 hero who can tackle heavier opposition. The blowpipe troops will act as a skirmish screen and harrass the flanks. The Bull Slann and Spawn Bands are good solid troops to full out the army. The Jungle Tribes are to bulk things out, the ones with blowpipes are useless over 6 inches but act as a screen and annoyance. The Dragon is anti-monster, with wings means he can re-locate easier,and the pond Dragon seems so right for the Slann as I never got the Citadel Toad Dragon. The frog is spare points , and why not a Giant Frog!

I will tinker with the army, and write bigger lists for it as I paint more. I will look at losing maybe the Level 10 wizard and Jungle Braves with blowpipes so as to add Pygmies.I don't usually go for Cold One riders as they are very expensive in points, and the rules for Cold Ones mean you can't use them to counter charge or react to things.

The last few photographs are in response to queries about the Dwarf General miniature. I have put some more photo's of  the similar sculpted Dwarves up, none of them are conversions.

 2,998 points of painted Slann
 (well, except for two of them!)
 Battle line
 The centre.
 Kremlo. He does'nt look happy :( 

 Kremlo and Eagle Warriors.
20  Spawn band. 
Need to paint the (converted) drummer, and a warrior at the back.
 For most of the Spawn Bands I have used the fan bearer from the Wizards litter as a standard bearer. Also are Cupacocoa and an unlisted Slann with club.
C32 Slann:  Allda, Toltec, and Lep'Nluni
 Unlisted Slann with Sword, the Brave with axe from the Magnificent Sven, and Nanazuin.


 Pond Dragon ! (Grenadier miniatures)
 We three Kings: 
One with small crown, one with a bigger crown, and the last one with a duck on his head (might paint it up as a Mallard or a fat Swan!) 
 The back of the helmets. The bodies are all the same.
 Top shot.
 A Grenadier monster that I found in an box of stuff. He is mounted on a 50mm square base. I think I might use him as the Level 1 Dragon for the Dwarf army. I will use the other for Wingless Dragon for the Norse.
Commander Gringe from Dark Sword Miniatures Parkinson Range.
 I just love the cocky look and casual air about this miniature, but I would'nt trust him LOL!
 I painted him up as per the artwork, and he is mounted in a 30mm hollow square base. 


 A post script on Unreleased Slann  

As I was looking at pictures of Slann on the internet to find names for some I started looking at the CCM collecting guide for Slann and noticed that three of the Slann I have are'nt listed at all.
There are a couple of famous unlisted Slann, such as the one with the two handed axe on P232 of the 3rd Edtion Rulebook; and the one with the dagger on the front corner of the Spawn Band Regiment in Warhammer Armies P115. However, niether of those (which I don't have either yet!) are listed , as are'nt the following three Slann. None of these are conversions or recastings as I have in the past paint-stripped them all, and there are no conversions on them, nor are they poor quality resculpts/recasts, but seem of the same time as the other Slann.
Please let me know if you have any more info:

 The three Slann
 Front view of the Wizard
 Rear view
 Side view showing the dagger.
The mace wielding Slann. I paint stripped him and pained him up years ago. He will be repainted.
 Rear view.
 Side view. theright hand has the boss to put the shield onto.
 Like many Citadel miniatures from the 1980's , the Slann seems to be a variant of another, in this case the blowpiper Pinacolada. Both suffer from having delicate ankles too, a common weakpoint on the Pinacolada miniature.
 The third of the Slann. 
It seems that this Slann has the top of the weapon broken off, so I have no idea what it was orginally like. If you look on p115 of Warhammer Armies, it looks like he is lurking in the back right hand corner of the regiment.
 Rear view.
 Again, this Slann is similar to another Slann, this time Cupacocoa.
 












11 comments:

  1. Gawd, not only do you have fine minis but you have loads of them ! It's really nice to see a full army of slanns like this one.
    I only have 4 amhibiand myself so no army to expect of that.

    You've intrigued lots of us with your unlisted minis here...

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    Replies
    1. Thank you,
      the army does look good on the table, and it's good to get a full army on the table as they are few and far between. Need a bigger table though! I would like to get the whole army up and running, fully painted. I will see if I can do a photo inventry of it for the weekend, it's works out about just under double the Warhammer Armies Slann army list, somewhere about 350 Slann, plus Lizardmen, Trogs, and Pygmies.

      With the un-listed miniatures, I remember chatting to a manager (think it was Guy Carpenter who ran my local GW in Brighton) who spent a lot of time at the design studio back in the late 1980's and he said that they sculpted a selection of miniatures and chose the ones that went into full time production.
      Perhaps these are some that ended up being given away and the later sold on ?

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  2. That unlisted sorcerer is rather nice. What with the price regular Slann go for I can imagine you're sitting on a nice little nest egg with rare unlisted ones!

    Looks a good list and interesting in terms of tactics as I've never really considered them for Slann - not having a large army like this!

    I'd be tempted to take some Cold Ones myself - they're only stupid till their first charge and as long as that connects with the enemy you'd be ok. After that they can charge as normal for the next three turns before becoming stupid again. The main problem would be having them chase down routing opponents off the table or into an exposed position. That and they'd probably prove to be a good missile magnet because of their fear factor, terrible smell and -2 save modifier, allowing your infantry blocks to get into combat relatively unscathed.

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    Replies
    1. The unlisted sorcerer is a cool miniature, and I am glad I got hold of him. Quite recently I think (well 10 or so years really! )
      As I commented to Asslessman I think it must be one that never made it into production, but it's a shame it did'nt. I think GW liked the idea of Slann Mages on litters, plus by the late 1980's there was a lot of derision and lack of support for the Slann and so Slann were sidelined.

      Cold Ones are great, but it is having to write down the intention to charge in the turn before that means you have to have your target clear for two consecutive turns. And if you are open to line of site, then you are right, they become a missile magnet. I played a lot of Wod Elf or Dwarf armies in the 1980's , and that meant that the cold Ones were shot up long before they could do anything.

      They were only a use in big battles acting as a counter charger behind the lines. I suppose 5 Cold One Riders without a hero is only 185 points, so it might be do-able, but adding heroes like one would with knights makes it very expensive. They might be better as a flank charger, but getting them into postion is the key.

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  3. I dare anybody to claim that they're not excruciatingly painfully jealous of this magnificent collection. Very, very cool! The Grenadier Pond Dragon is a very nice touch! Love that you made Kremlo your commander! He's probably my favorite of the old Slann figures...Thanks very much for sharing!

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    1. I won't, I am ridiculously jealous and though I know it's wrong, I am...
      On another hand Goblin Lee here deserves it looking at how his army turns.

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    2. @Mouse,
      thats ok, it's nice that people like the Slann. For the next blog update I am planning to add photographs of all the Slann regiments I have, whether painted or not, to give people an idea of the army as a whole .

      Glad someone else thought the Pond Dragon was apt. Unfortunately I never did buy the Citadel Toad Dragon, but I think the Pond Dragon fits the theme just as well. He's a friendly looking chap too :)

      For the army general I wanted a non-mounted model and thought the idea of Kremlo leading a Slann force bent on revenge would give a good narrative feel.

      @Asslessman,
      thank you too. Now I have the basic 3,000 point Slann army done they are going to be like my Goblins, a project I dip in and out of, a hobby inside a hobby really. I should be concentrating on getting the Dwarves painted, but I do get distracted by things !

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  4. A joy to see, Goblin Lee. Thank you.

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    1. Cool,
      I have painted the last two Slann needed for the 3,000 point army, and will be posting lots of slann pictures in the next update.

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  5. Did you have any clue about those 3 unrealeased slann since march?

    Did you contact people at CCM for adding them? Do you want me too?

    As a good friend of mine says "a model just doesn't exist until it's painted!", so it's so great to see your painted slann army here!

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    Replies
    1. No one has given me any other clues to the Slann.
      Good idea, I might contact the CCM, see if they know about them or are interested in photographs.

      Yes, your friend is right, miniatures don't seem to come to live until they are painted.

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