I am an extremely new player to the seraphon faction, and currently I only have 20 skinks all bolt spitter and shields, 1 skink chief, and 1 Starpriest. I was wondering what should be my next steps towards an effective 1000 pt army that uses these units
First of all, welcome to Lustria! what do you would like? your starting list got few (but good) models, and you could add almost everything: do you want to have a skinky list, a dinosaurs one, a mixed force with sauri as main bulk? Choose the one you like more to develope firstly, or give me a general idea, and I will be happy to give you advices on the most effective units / combinations.
Welcome aboard ! Couldn't agree more with @Killer Angel, first decide which models you like most and we 'll figure out the best list together
Start collecting... box... guess that's the best way to get a bit of everything... though it's a bit saurus heavy... if you want to go the skink route with some bigger dinos I say buy the monsters and skinks you like and get the saurus separately...
Actually, that army of the seraphon box might be a nice one. It's basicly a start collecting box + skinks + a stegadon. If you'd make the troglodon you now have mostly skinks and a handfull of saurus to function as your "heavy" infantry. Combined with what you already have it makes for a decent skink force with some minor backup. Also, don't buy the stuff that's in the start collecting box seperatly. That box is vastly more cost effective, plus even if you don't like saurus you'l have some shoudl you change your mind at a later point.
Well, in order to fully maximize o the starpriest's jaw ability, I do want at least one carno/troglodon. I took a look at the start collecting box, and it seems to have what I'd like. A decent amount of saurus warriors (why does it have to be 12) and the saurus knights would be a bit more useful if they were faster than the skinks
I wanna maximize the starpriests jaws ability, while keeping a fairly mixed force, able to deal with most opponents
Then take the army box, or at least what's in it; a stegadon, a box of skinks and a start collecting box. It fleshes out your skink army, gives you a big biting dino, gives a stegadon and some random saurus to be a bit heavier infantry
Pretty much what Canas said. Buy a sytart collecting box: you'll have some sauri and the possibility to build a Troglodon (imo 2nd option) or a Carnosaur (imo first one). The saurus on carno will make a great general and you will exploit the serpent staff of the starpriest. Mixed sauri and skinks for battlelines with some mobility. At that point, you can expand the army (a Slann, a box of skinks, a 2nd start collecting, a stegadon...)
Just keep in mind for later on : Mixed Saurus / Skink lists don't really work since the batallions are pretty much separated and the tax is too big most of the times to be combined. At the end of the day though, as said, just built a list with the models you like and go from there ! *that's where my problem starts. I love almost all of our models except the horrible salamanders *
40skinks prist bastiladon terradons/ripps stegadon kroak/slann. For 1k great is shadowstrike batalion +bastiladon
Nope, battalions (aka "starhosts") are just an additional tool, that gives you more abilities for the units that are a part of the battalion itself. A battalion got a cost in ponts, and you absolutely can field an army without battalions.
That being said, seraphon rely heavily on synergies and battalions further improve those. So they're generally a good thing to strive for. Plus they form more or less fleshed out forces which makes them a decent point of references. For some other armies it's easier to get away with just ignoring battalions completly.
I'll put my two cents in here! Firstly: I'm a cheap so I got 75% of my army secondhand, just cleaned it up and undercoated it again for a fresh start. I mixed buying second hand and buying new models to support my local store. So consider eBay/gumtree (if it's in your country) but try to support your local store as well! Secondly: in a 1k list bastiladons are just way too good to go past. They will be a constant headache to nearly all opponents and I've always found them worth their points! If you want to run carnosaurs then get the start collecting box. If you don't I wouldn't bother really. My knights have sat there unused apart from a single use of one as a scar get on cold one. 12 Saurus is pretty average unless you're planning to get 2 or even 3 start collecting boxes. Skink boxes are also great! 200 points for 40 skinks is just amazing! You'll probably wanna get yourself at least 2 boxes to run a full unit. I run 80 usually and they are such valuable units! Photo for inspiration, it's grown a fair bit since then too