7th Ed. New List for 8th (2000), please comment and critique

Howdy y'all!
For 8th, I figured I'd have some fun using some things I've never tried before, namely going magic heavy.
So without further ado, I present to you my list

Slann Mage-Priest
Lore of Life
+1 dice
Know all spells
Ethereal
Cupped hands of the Old Ones
Divine Plaque of Protection

The main magical powerhouse, gonna be supporting the main units with healing, along with the toughness buff, the cupped hands is for protection against any miscast that rears it's ugly head

Skink Priest
Level 2
Diadem of Power
Dispel Scroll

My primary source of magical defence

Skink Priest
Cloak of Feathers

Allows my Slann to channel through him

Scar Veteran
Light Armour
Maiming Shield
Burning Blade of Chotek

Sits tight in the bit Saurus Unit, and generally causes havoc

Saurus Warriors x 29
Spears
Musician
Standard Bearer

My main Anvil unit

Skinks x 11
Brave
Standard Bearer
Kroxigor

Flankers, also never tried a Skrox unit before, so I'm looking to see how they play

Skink Skirmishers x 10

I find these guys vital

Cold One Cavalry
Standard Bearer
Blade Standard

Armour piercing, fear causing, 2+ save Cavalry?
Yes please

Salamander Hunting Pack
Extra handler

With the new big units we'll be seeing, panic tests will be very helpful, along with no more partial hits

Ancient Stegadon

Had a stegadon from 7th, and those Strength 6 stomp attacks seem mighty fine!
The blowpipes could be cool too, but this guy will be getting into the thick of it. Will recieve heals from the Slann too, to soften the shooting he WILL endure.


All of this totals up to 1997 points, any help in saying where to improve/what to do differently would be greatly appreciated.
And Thank You for the time you spent reading this.

 

Looks decent, but the skink priests are not necessary. The Slann will be doing all the casting and should not need to have really any backup besides a level 1. And with the +4 to dispel, you should be able to handle most of the really bad magic.

 

Well it doesn't hurt to have 1 backup, as if the Slann fails to meet casting cost or dispell then his magic phase is over. So if you fail with the first spell on the slann you could have quite a few dice left over for the priest to use.

 

Ok I would drop one priest and take another sallie and some more skink skirmishers.
By the way how big is your cavalry unit??
Do you really want to keep the CoC, if yyou drop them it would free up a lot of points wich you cna spent on another saurus anvil (and if the CoC is really big, perhaps another skrox unit).

EDIT: I would drop the defensive priest, he's 150 points, wich is enough for sallie with extra handler and 10 blowpipe skirmishers, + 4 to dispel is enough to stop most magic.

 

My Cavalry unit is 5 strong

 

You'll need at least two ranks of five to negate their ranks on a flank, so your cavalry unit might need to get bigger if that's what you plan on using it for. If you're investing the points in the AP banner, might as well make it worthwhile, eh?

You're only able to channel magic missile spells through a priest, and I'm not sure what all the lore of Life has in that department. Like the others said, one backup priest with scroll is likely enough.

If you've already modeled your saurus with spears it's not a big deal, but in the practice 8th games I've had, hand weapon/ shield ends up a better combination now that we miss out on the second attack from the guys in the second rank. It also saves a few points.

With the ability to re-roll ALL failed leadership tests within 12" of the army standard, an army standard bearer might be something to look into.

Just a few thoughts; main thing is play your list however you want it, and see if it works for you.

 

Right, I think I'm gonna drop the cloak of feathers priest, partly due to having to buy the model, so keeping costs down helps.
I'm gonna get a second unit of ten skink skirmishers, and I'll have 55 points left over after that, so any suggestions on what to get there would be appreciated!

 

ok, in my experience with 8th your casters (other than yoru slaan) will nto be casting, the slaan gets free dice and can let off spells like noones business. IMO you should never cast a lore of life spell without throne of vines up, that said you ignore miscasts on a 2+ and your cupped hands will never go off. Dont waste your points on it. Instead of running your ancient steg solo, give him an engine and stick your skink priest on it, gives him an extra level and gives you undispellable magic.

You will never channel through that skink, the magic missile for lore of life is trash. Skrox units are awesome, with the T bonus you can rock skinks at t6 and destroy folks, run em 10 wide and you can throw a ridiculous amount of attacks supported by krox, and can use lore of life to replace casualties. They are also high Init, i for one will never take saurus again

 

I'm taking cupped hands more for the ability to give my opponent a miscast rather than insurance against one, and also I'll be changing the standard from a blade standard to the Jaguar Totem, which should leave me enough points for another salamander

 

I think that this list looks good but I would drop the skink priests also. They are not necessary as they no longer add more power/dispel dice so they kind of just use the dice that you need for your slann.
Add in another unit of saurus with the points from the priests.

I would also invest some points in chameleon skinks. They are invaluable with the new rules for shooting at warmachines.

You might also want to add one or 2 more salamanders. More shots equals more dead

 

Don't forget that now Chameleon skinks can also be placed anywhere within 12 inches of the enemy, even in plain sight. But they can't charge first turn if you go first, but really how often will you be charging with them anyway. Place them near the enemies flank(if you can't place directly behind their lines) march behind their lines turn 1 and shoot war machines or lone characters, or beasts etc...