Old blood has a ranged attack, it’s ok but I prefer the slightly lesser point cost of a scar-vet and he has a decent command ability (basically target a saurus unit and on an attack roll of 6 they get another attack) can be pretty good on a unit of 20 guards with 4 attacks each (including jaws) you will see some extra attacks pop up - and hey, every little helps!
@Deed525, I'd love to see the same 'work' done regarding Malign Sorceries, specifically the realms and their artifacts
Essentially, summoning allows you to fill in the holes of your army or take advantage of weaknesses in your opponents. Think of summoning as a pool of flexible units that you can bring on to complement the needs of any given situation. Coupling the ability to summon with the army's allegiance ability to teleport units around the battlefield and Seraphon become a devastatingly effective army that can act as a scalpel allowing you to engage in opportune skirmishes of your choosing.
Last question, Loard kroak can cast four spells a turn. Does that mean he can get up to 12 conjuration points per turn?
Yes. Each spells that you don't cast give you 3 pts. You can go up to 18 + 1D3 pts per turn if you put Kroak on a balewind and use the chromentics cogs and have an astro with you.
B how do you even afford a dread saurian? That model is like $200. Come to think of it, why is our monster unit the most expensive?
Because he’s awesome lol. I managed to buy a bundle on eBay (he just happened to come with it) got so much stuff lol - all for around £300
Plus the Scar Veteran has a shield, giving immunity to Rend -1. It's a little benefit, but Carnos tend to draw the enemy's Rend attacks in the hope of killing it. Keeps pressure off of other targets (or at least makes him no more vulnerable than them). I've got one of each and plan to switch between them based on what my army needs - Oldblood works great if he's in support of other heroes due to his command ability. You do not want to be on the receiving end of a Sunblood benefiting from his buff and carrying Ghyrstrike!
Sorry to necro an old thread but what units are considered good summoning candidates? Is it worth it to save up points to summon some of our bigger units e.g. carnosaurs? Also, is the EotG really necessary for summoning lists? It's pretty much a 15% chance of getting 14-17 without a Slann and a ~22-25% to get it with a Slann. Seems pretty unreliable for a 220pt unit.
The wonderful thing about summoning is that it offers so much flexibility. The best things to summon is what you need most at the time. Generally Skinks, Razordons, Bastiladons, EotGs, and Rippers are good candidates. Most of these units will be impactful the turn they are summoned. Most of the time I avoid summoning warriors and carnos.
Personally I think good summoning candidates are whatever you can field, where it will be effective, while keeping your Slann safe if you have to teleport him. Frog boy can easily drop a Pallisade in front of himself with a spare spell slot if you're only summoning cheap things, which helps. Personally I like the idea of dropping in Razordons; they're pretty cheap, have an effective 12" shooting attack on a one-model basis, and can be used to punish enemy charges against them or nearby units, all of which happily work around the 9" minimum summon distance and inability to move that turn. And they're only six points, so with a Vortex, Cogs, Kroak or an average Astrolith roll you can bring in two per turn! I can see the value in saving up for a bastiladon given that they stick around for a long time, but most other things that level I would avoid - Carnosaurs are too fragile if focussed, and not being able to move while being a melee-only unit would leave them in a bad place post-summon. If you need a tanky units your opponents will focus, the Bastiladon will do that much better; if you need to support existing troops, bring in a hero who buffs those troops; if you need a disposable screen, Skinks>Saurus because they're cheaper and get to shoot. Part of the point of the EotG is that it's other effects are still useful. Before the changes to summoning, you were fishing for 18s and the mortal wounds just made it a cheaper Bastiladon for one round. The summoning uses of EotG are a bit different, since it happens in the hero phase, not at the end of the shooting, so whatever unit is summoned gets to move immediately. Again, 20-man units of Skinks are a good choice if you need a disposable screen, whereas if your EotG/Slann/Astrolith bunker is pretty safe, but the Terradons and Ripperdactyls aren't a bad choice either due to their speed and devastating attacks. Their glass cannon nature is offset a lot if you can just summon them again the moment their models are off the board, and terradons can get scary in repeat waves since fresh summons get their drop-rocks back.
I've had enough of people saying razordons are cheap: they're $30 for one unit that is not cheap Right I forgot the EotG has other abilities. So do you just keep it around your slann and astro or do people use it for melee combat? Say in 1K, if the EotG is just chilling with the slann/astro that means that 640pts of your army are just in the backline hoping to pull off good rolls while you have 340pts to act as screens and damage dealers. Feels kinda risky tbqh.
Well, they're cheap in Conjuration points. Actual money-wise I can see more problems! Mmm, I'd debate even fielding one in 1k games. You really want it to stick close to your Slann for the extra dice, but at that point half your army is your summoning setup. If you're going to field it, it'd need to make its points back which isn't going to happen if you don't roll summoning or at least the mortal wounds (double move and attacks for <500pts of troops is not a great effect) and as you said, throwing it into or near melee is risky, not just to the EotG but also to the Slann if you're trying to keep it useful. I'd probably leave it off the table and only field it at 1500pts or higher; focus on a Slann/Astro/Battalion/other supporting heroes first (for instance, a Firelance/Starpriest/Oldblood-on-foot setup).