Gey guys! I wondering why Slanns are so... absent in Seraphon's warscrolls and even official army photos. They're probably most important guys in the present fluff annnddd... well. They're in the shadow of Skink Starseer. What do you think about this?
Seraphon army is all about synergie, if the slann was part of a battalion warscroll it would force people to play with a slann, having them separate allows you to synergise your units AND then buff with a slann so your not dependent on him. If you run a Slann and a Starseer your enemy is gonna cry hard!
Also technically the slann isn't a part of the constellation, so it makes sense it wouldn't be part of the batallion.
I see... To be honest- I just started my Seraphon army and I would like to form a batallion (I'm not sure which one ). I own Starting Box, 2 Priests, Starpriest (converted Oracle), Bastiladon and an old metal Slann. Lack of Slanns in Seraphon's Batallions was really odd for me. From the perspective of warscrolls, Starseer seems to be a center piece of any army.
Defensive army or aggressive, once you have your playstyle sorted you can build your army to your style. Have you got the Seraphon book?
Yes, I have. I also have Stormcast's army, about 150-200 SCGT points. I could mix them- my SC are quite agressive (and weak against spellcasters...), so I was thinking about defensive-magical Seraphon army. With Slann in center...
You ideally want Kroak for a defensive army with Saurus guard and an Eternity warden but you can still have a balanced army with what you already have, Saurus Knights can be devastating
A good mix of an aggressive seraphon list mixed with the stormcast can be devastating. Your first turn can annihilate an opponent if done right. But I do like the idea of mixing the defensive seraphon army with your deep striking stormcast. Definitely get a Kroak.
To be honest the only issue I have with Slann not being part of the Battalion, is the lack of a means to enable all our heroes including the Slann to use their command abilities at once. I would appreciate it if we had a way to treat both the Battalion Commander and the Slann as both being our general then there would be a way around it with the Starbeast Constellation.
From an army building standpoint it is a little annoying that the Slann is excluded from battalions (at least all the ones I've seen anyway) but it is not without justification. Slann are ancient and irreplaceable - the loss of a single one is a massive blow to the Seraphon as a race. One dead Slann is the equivalent of an entire country instantly dying, never to be repopulated again. They're far to powerful and important to be traipsing around with the army for some minor engagements. Because of this they use Skink Priests, Starpriests and Starseers as their proxy. All that aside it is still a pain that there's no battalions that use them.
If you look at the fluff, it says that the slann almost always appoints a general to lead the forces rather than doing it themselves, so right there, they want you to choose something else as a general. Having a slann in every army, every build isn't a bad thing though because they still fill a major roll. Honestly, in most cases, the slann being the general is almost detrimental to the army. I think it's always implied now in AoS that the Seraphon units came from some slann nearby; whether a slann is actively summoning in on the field, or was prepared with a force before the battle, which they allude to a lot in the fluff. I never noticed that slann were absent from the battalions, but now that you point it out, it actually kinda makes sense.
There is a formation though I would like to see, a Slann Conclave formation, formed of at least three Slann and giving casting boosts.... I mean Slann have always had the telepathic power to swap spells, surely a grouping of Slann would possess some kind of mighty gesalt powers!
Might need to look into doing some Homebrew for it, I mean after all, is not AOS the age of Homebrew...
That would be epic. Let's see... "The Starhosts masters" Units: 3 Slanns. Minds alike: Slanns share telepathic link, and boost each other's mind abilities. All Slanns in the formation, gain a +1 to casting, and they can act as arcane vassal to each other, if within 15". They came alone: at the beginning of the battle, you can field only the three Slanns. Each turn, in addition to the spells they can normally cast, each Slann can cast an additional free summoning spell. Units summoned this way, do not count towards the number of models in the army, but must not be counted among the casualties the army suffers. They came from the Stars: You don't field the Slanns during the set-up phase. During your first hero phase, you set them up anywhere in the battlefield.
Remember them that Thunderquake Starhost exists. Now, a semi-serious answer, given that we're talking about a totally made-up battallion. You're highly vulnerable to warmachines, or summoning by already more numerous armies... i think you can be countered in a number of ways. Plus, if you play with objectives, this puts you at an initial disadvantage (and there are also cases, as in the recent worchester tournament, in which objectives cannot be held by heroes or summoned units); also the battletomes (including the grand alliances ones) are filled with scenarios, that would be not so immediate to play. The most important thing, is that a formation of this kind (so much different from our standard ones), would be fun to play, and even funnier if also your opponent uses some home-made formation... (just to imagine one: Tomb Kings "The endless horde": Each banner resurrects a double amount of slain models. Models resurrected in this way, can increase the initial number of the unit's models)
Mmm, I had my own blueprints I think I will share... Slann Conclave, This formation consists of between 3 and 5 models with the Slann and wizard keywords Wizard keywords. Telepathic Empowerment. Whenever a member of this formation casts a spell, add +1 casting and +4 range for every other member of this formation within 6" Additionally any member of this formation can use any other member of this formation as an Arcane Vessel if they are within 18" Chamber of Divination. All members of this formation possess the spell A New Grand Plan. A New Grand Plan. This spell has a casting value of 5. You can change the value of any one dice roll between now and the start of your next hero phase. On a casting value of 11+ you can change the value of D3 rolls. And they were as Gods. All members of this formation can use their command abilities as if they were the armies general. However, as a consequence, the Slann Conclave cannot be fielded with any other forces at the start of the game. This formation must start on their own, summoned troops however do not count as casualties of your army. The idea here is more based along the lines of 40k's Librarius Conclave, a bonus for casting magic from a group close together, but with all the risks that come from sticking an expensive group of toads all in one place. The spell is inspired by the spell you get from the Numinous Occulem Scenery piece, and is aimed towards reflecting the Slann's determination to outplay the grand game against chaos by being able to learn from their mistakes. The final ability is just a nice touch to reflect the semi-divine nature of the Slann, if they are capable of wishing armies into existence, surely they are capable of acting as their own general. The last bit is admittedly inspired by Killer Angel's point, but it also achieves the goal of establishing a bit of an interesting fluff backstory, with your enemy always being encouraged to seek out and kill all the Slann as if engaging in a tactical strike against a meeting of the irreplaceable Slann.