AoS New Army Evaluation

Hi,
I'm new here, also a new seraphon player. I recently build this army, based on SDK system,1500pt, 2 heroes,
1 monster

Heroes:
1x Lord Kroak
1x Slann Starmaster

Monster:
1x Bastiladon

Core:
15x Saurus Guard
8x Saurus Knights

For future, my plan is to add:
20x Saurus Warriors
1x Engine of Gods (heal)
1x Saurus Eternity Warden (absorb heroes damage)
1x Troglodon (arcane vassal)

Based on listed above, how am i going? What is the best approach to use them? Im going attacking with knights, while bastiladon goes for missile attacks, and guards defending heroes that span magics.

Thanks for any tips

 

Thanks for tips. About bastiladon, what is the best setup for him? snakes or crystal? (in a tank role). My miniatures are pinned and i can change parts when i want.. currently using crystal on my bast.

 

Hey there! I don't have that much experience, however, I found that 3x5 Saurus Guard, plus an Eternity Warden makes for an insane combo.
Add a Saurus Oldblood and an Astrolith Banner, and you'll have Saurus Guard hitting with 3 D3 Damage attacks each, rerollable hits, and rerollable wound rolls of 1. Needless to say, my opponent was not happy.

As for the Bastiladon, since you don't have any ranged, I would strongly suggest to take the crystal, blasting your enemies from afar.
In close combat, you will still be able to shoot your 2D6 2 Damage attacks, as well as bludgeon your enemies with your tail.
You could go for the Ark, but it'll take some time before you arrive and start doing damage.

Well, that's my two cents! I hope it's helpful

P.S. this is based on my experience of 2 games

 

You currently seem to be split between a defensive and offensive army. Kroak, temple guard are defensive and everyone else is aggressive. Do you have access to other models? If not and this is the list to work with then move the entire army to an offensive line. You will have to be aggressive with your Kroak and guards. Not sure if SDK is restricting summoning but if not, use your slann to keep the guards and knights coming. Get your guys the mystic shield and spam your direct damage. It's basically your pre shooting phase. Stick with the solar engine for the 2 d6 shots. Keep aggressive. Tide of snakes is brilliant for holding a target. Like if your objective is capture the hill then plant the bastiladon with the ark and some temple guard and enjoy victory.

 

Absolutely do this!

 

Hm... you have a good lineup here, actually. Not bad at all, I can see this being pretty effective. That said, I would like to make a couple of criticisms. For what you have right now, that's all good. But for getting the Saurus Warriors later, I think that's going to be a mistake if you're wanting to be competitive with this. Saurus Warriors and Saurus Guard are both really good, but they really do not compliment each other, ironically enough. If you want to get the most out of them, I'd go for just one set rather than both. As you already have some guard, I'd recommend scrapping the Warriors and spending the points/wounds on more Guard instead in order to more effectively bolster your current guard units.

To that end, and Eternity Warden is a perfect addition. However rather than using the Warden primarily for saving wounds (though that is a good use,) he's best used for the insane buffs he can give to Saurus Guard units. Were I you, I'd get the Guard as I recommended and then split them into three units so you can gain access to the hilariously powerful Eternal Starhost. You set up a front line with your Guard while keeping your Warden close enough to all of the units in order to give them all the fantastic buffs that he gives out, netting your main fighters an extra attack, and a 2+ save without magic. Plus it gives them access to the D3 damage bonus, which combines well with the 3 attacks per Guard. However you do want your Warden to be saving wounds for the Slann pair, especially if your opponent has something like a Hellcannon. So keep the Slann within 2" of the Warden there to get that. Ideally you may use the three Guard units to surround these heroes in a nice formation in order to further protect them. One unit in front of them and one unit either side of them to make a nice shield of bodies should do the trick, as well as allow you to keep everyone within range of your Warden.

As for an Engine, they're a great support unit but taking them for the heal is not a good idea. In addition to the fact that it's a very short range ability and the fact that it cannot revive dead models so is useless on any of our 1 Wound infantry who are only either full wounds or dead, it's also actually pretty hard to roll that result with three dice, even with the Slann's four-dice buff. The only consistent way to get that result is to have the Engine be injured to lower the number of dice it uses to roll, and that's intentional as the primary use of that heal is meant to be to heal the injured Engine itself to get it back up to three dice for the powerful uses. Truth be told, the best roll that you can use the Engine for (aside from the brilliant Time Stop one, but that requires three sixes and isn't very reliable as a result) is the lightning bolt one you get on a 6-9. It's not too hard to get especially with a Slann, it has a huge 25" range, it causes a massive D6 mortal wounds, and can be used to single out enemy Heroes for either heavy damage or a potential instant-kill.

The Troglodon is good, but assuming you went with the advice I've given you so far then you'll mostly be playing defensively. As such, I'd recommend switching out the Troglodon for an Astriloth Bearer. In addition to the fact that the Astriloth will give you a desirably +1 to your casting (which can stack very well with the Sage's Staff ability of the Slann which you should have up at all times due to your magic-heavy format,) it will also give your Guard rerolls to hit. This both makes their bites much more reliable, and makes their deadly attacks even more likely to hit, letting you rail off much more pain in melee. Bonus points if you've been using your ranged spells to weaken the enemy infantry before they hit you by thinning their ranks of killing their heroes to prevent the heroes' buffs. In addition to that, you'll get a range bonus to your spells which will allow you to start firing off Arcane Bolts from as far away as 26" instead of the normal 18", which has the bonus of being out of range of anyone trying to unbind your spells, letting you potentially shoot down pesky mages before they get within unbinding range. As for the points/wounds saved on switching the Troglodon out for an Astriloth, spend that on some more Saurus Guard in order to bolster your ranks. Your magic is worthless if the enemy can break through your ranks to assassinate your wizards, so put effort into preventing that. In addition, the rerolls to hit bonus can also be used on your Bastiladon if it has a Solar Engine, making your 4's to hit much easier to do and allowing you to get far more hits in.

Finally, let's go into a bit of general tactics for that army. If you've gone full Guard then you want to play like magic-dwarfs, chucking out spells from afar with the range bonus the Astriloth gives you as if your wizards were cannons. Especially Kroak's Comet's Call spell, which has a global range and can pick out the enemy general with supreme ease, two good rolls and the general is dead. Keep your Astriloth planted as constantly to keep the buffs up. And do not move your infantry, set up a defendable formation and then don't move. This is for two reasons. Firstly so that you can do as Dwarfs do and get as much time as you can softening your enemies up with your ranged attacks so that when they crash into your lines they're far weaker than you on account of having taken damage before the fight. The second reason is so that you can keep that amazing D3 damage bonus up as it only activates if you haven't moved for your turn. If you are forced to move in the event of Dwarfs shooting you with cannons, Wood Elves shooting you with bows, or realy any other ranged army that has a ranged skill that surpasses yours, ensure that you never break formation. Always move as slow as your slowest unit in order to keep your formation tight and strong as you move ahead, separating your units by running without care can cause your units to be picked off one at a time. And lastly, if when your opponent hits melee range with your front line, Kroak should be strong enough to pull of the Kroak Bomb. Cast Celestial Deliverance all three times, especially with the +2 casting bonus and the range bonus that guarantees that the spell with have a 9" radius thanks to the +8" range, and you can do potentially 3D3 wounds to every unit within range. Which is a lot, of course.