Sunday 19 November 2017

Skink High-Priest and Lobotomised Slaves

I've finished up a slightly esoteric unit for my lizardmen army today - a unit of lobotomised slaves and their skink high-priest!

It did feel a bit sacrilegious to remove the original slann inhabitants of the panalquin, but the fan waver at least will likely make an appearance as a standard bearer at some point in the future. I'd love to have had enough slave models for a couple more files of troops, so maybe I'll get a chance to add to this unit in the future.



I was inspired to try out some unusual colouration with the skinks with lots of bright yellows and oranges. The slaves in contrast are quite dirty looking and heavily washed. Their shields, no doubt scavenged from some battlefield, tie in with the blue trim on the command group.

This is the first rank and file unit added to my army since I've picked up the project again and overall I'm pretty happy with how they came out.

Again, this is an aspect of the rules that is not covered by any of the existing army books, so I figured I'd fluff my own stats as I did for the Culchan Riders. Once again, this is vaguely aimed at 7th edition, but should be fairly valid for 6th as well.


Skink High-Priest - 180pts - Lord Choice
NameMWSBSSTWIALd
Skink
4
2
3
3
3
3
4
1
7
Skink High-Priests have Scaly Skin (6+) and are Cold Blooded.
They are Level 3 Wizards and may use either the Lore of Life, Beasts, Heavens or Light.
They may take Magic Items up to a total of 100pts.
They may be protected by a Lesser Shield of the Old Ones, granting them a 5+ Ward Save (20pts).
Palanquin - Skink High-Priests may join a unit of Lobotomised Slaves or Saurus Warriors and are placed in the second rank as if they were a Slann Mage Priest joining a unit of Temple Guard. They have a unit strength of 3.
Instead of riding upon a Palanquin, a Skink High-Priest may ride an Ancient Stegadon with Engine of the Gods (290pts).
Channelling - A Slann Mage-Priest may channel spells through a Skink High Priest in the same way as they can through a Skink Priest.

The High-Priest bridges the gap between Skink Priests and Slann. Unlike the Slann it cannot be used as a Level 4 Wizard, lacks the Disciplines and breadth of Lores, and has worse stats. In return it gains the flexibility of joining other units and comes in a fair bit cheaper. Most importantly, it gives the Lizardmen a Lord-level caster for smaller games or ones where a Slann would not be thematic.

Plus they get to ride on a Palanquin. Totally worth it!

I've left in the option to ride a Stegadon, should a player really wish to. It's also a good mechanical reason to cap their wizard level to 3.



Lobotomised Slaves - 4pts - Core Unit    (10+ models)
NameMWSBSSTWIALd
Slave
4
3
3
3
3
1
3
1
7
Lobotomised Slaves may be armed with Spears (1pt/model) and/or Shields (1pt/model).
Musician (+5pts), Champion (+10pts), Standard (+10pts)
Simple Minded - Whilst there is a Skink High-Priest or a Slann Auspice of Heaven within the unit, they are Immune to Psychology and Stubborn.

Lobotomised Slaves are a new unit that can be represented by captives of any race. Whilst joined by a High-Priest or an Auspice of Heaven (more on them in a later article!) their base impulses are overridden, allowing them to hold fast even against adverse conditions, or they can be used as cheap rank-and-file fodder units on their own.

Whilst my regiment is lead by a Skink command group in practice these count-as more slaves in terms of profile as, unfortunately, it's something that I couldn't otherwise find appropriate models for!

2 comments:

  1. Cracking addition to your army!

    It's really nice to see a characterful unit like that!

    ReplyDelete