AoS Stürmer's Battle Reports

1250 Point Battle: Knife to the Heart Battleplan
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Seraphon Army
Allegiance: Seraphon
Mortal Realm: Ghur

Leaders
Slann Starmaster (260)
- General
- Trait: Great Rememberer
- Artefact: Incandescent Rectrices
Skink Starpriest (80)
- Artefact: Gryph-feather Charm

Battleline
40 x Skinks (240)
- Boltspitters & Star Bucklers
20 x Skinks (120)
- Boltspitters & Star Bucklers

Units
6 x Ripperdactyl Riders (280)

Battalions
Shadowstrike Starhost (180)

Endless Spells
Balewind Vortex (40)

Total: 1200 / 1250
Extra Command Points: 2
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 89
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Opponent: Wanderers Army
Allegiance: The Living City
Mortal Realm: Ghur

Leaders
Nomad Prince (80)
Spellweaver (100)
- Heartwood Staff
Waywatcher (120)
- General
- Artefact: Viridescent Shawl

Battleline
20 x Glade Guard (240)
10 x Glade Guard (120)

Units
20 x Sisters of the Watch (360)
3 x Kurnoth Hunters (200)
- Scythes

Endless Spells
Soulsnare Shackles (20)

Total: 1240 / 1250
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 80
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My opponent won the roll off, but I finished deploying first. I decided to take the first turn.

My turn 1: I deployed my unit of 40 Skinks at my objective in a wide, shallow arc in an attempt deny a large portion of my deployment zone from the SotW board edge teleport. The SP and Slann were near my corner, with the other unit of 20 Skinks set up as a rear screen. I used the Slann CP and successfully cast BV. I banked the remaining 3 spell casts for 9 Summoning Points, +1.
The SP failed his ability and Summon Starlight.
The Blot Toad got dropped between his two units of GG. During movement, I shuffled the unit of 40 around and moved the unit of 20 towards the left side of deployment area. I brought down the Rippers in a Swooping Dive on the GG, splitting the unit of 6, 3 into 10, and 3 into 20. They did their work, deleting both units. It worked out that this left the Rippers out of combat, so no strike back, but that would be shortly rectified.

Opponent turn 2: He used his Way Watcher to take out one Ripper, SotW to take out 4 more, and Kurnoth to get the last 1. Nothing else notable happened in his turn.

My opponent won the roll for Turn 2. He teleported the SotW to the only spot left for them to go: the left corner of my deployment zone. I've found that the Slann's CP is an absolute must with shooting heavy armies. The SotW and Waywatcher shot into unit of 40 Skinks with 42 + 3 + the Waywatcher gets an additional attack for each 6 rolled. Of those attacks, only 12 got through. Not bad for 6+ Save, but it became obvious his plan was to attempt to demolish this unit to keep it from being a useful

On my turn 2, I moved the unit of 20 Skinks so that I could get as many within 8" for a Javelin strike as possible. The now unit of 28 Skinks ran to be outside 3" of the Waywatcher. In shooting, I made 2 Wounds on the SotW, but he Saved the one Wound I inflicted on his Waywatcher. I charged the Waywatcher, but then used Wary Fighter to retreat, attempting to maximize the Skinks coverage for Area of Denial on the SotW. I did not charge his SotW, as they have an ability to immediately fire into any unit that successfully charges them.
In hindsight, I should have summoned something in this turn. At this point I had 20 points, more than enough to bring in more Rippers or Skinks. It would have allowed for greater flexibility in Turn 3.

Turn 3: Once again, my opponent won the roll. He repositioned the Kurnoth, Waywatcher, and Nomad Prince to wrest better control over his SotW teleported to the right side of the board. I had just barely failed to position the unit of 28 Skinks such that it completely denied this. Once again, Waywatcher and SotW fired into the larger Skink unit. Once again, the Slann's CP kept them from being annihilated, losing 14 this time. His turn was over.

My turn 3, all my spells and abilities went off. I buffed the heck out of the last 14 Skinks in the hoard unit, just in case LoS&T failed, or the charge for that unit failed, etc. Contingencies, right? LoS&T roll was a 4. The unit of 20 Skinks were set up in an arc, 9" away from his Kurnoth. The Waywatcher was close enough to be an obstacle as well. End of movement, I summoned in 30 Skinks on my objective. I rolled a 9, just making the charge for the 20 Skink unit. Then Wary Fighter was done, but I mistakenly kept the unit too close to the Kurnoth, so they were able to pile in and attack. Such a tense moment for me! The attacks were made. A few hits came through, but the wounds all wiffed. Amazingly, I triumphed! First of the four battles in an escalation league.

 

Thanks! I ended up winning 3rd place among 6 players, IIRC.

 

I like Seraphon enough to want to keep playing them! I still feel very novice, but I'm looking forward to more battles. I want to become very familiar with the army, so I'm not so reliant on cheat sheets.

 

May Sotek forgive me, I aligned with our mortal enemy, the Skaven. Servants of Tzeentch and the woodland terrors, the Sylvaneth fell upon us, as we were about to battle, forcing a pact of convenience to save our collective scaled and furry hides.

Ok, that was my mediocre attempt at a short narrative for today's battle. My main opponent and I were going to play each other today, but had interest from a third party. I suggested we play doubles and a fourth competitor quickly emerged to fill out the idea.

We played the Starstrike Battle Plan. The armies were 1K each and we operated on the Doubles Tournemant rules from Oct of last year. The primary takeaways from that were:

1. No abilities or buffs could be placed on an allied army from your army
2. Command Points were generated per team, not per player
3. Endless spells could be utilized by both players on a team

Army compositions were as follows:

Spoiler: Tzeentch

Leaders
Gaunt Summoner (180)
- General
Herald of Tzeentch on Disc (140)
- Staff of Change
Magister (140)

Battleline
10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (200)
10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (200)
10 x Kairic Acolytes (80)

Endless Spells
Balewind Vortex (40)

Total: 980 / 1000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 45

Spoiler: Sylvaneth

Leaders
Drycha Hamadreth (280)
- General

Battleline
20 x Dryads (200)
10 x Dryads (100)

Units
3 x Kurnoth Hunters (200)
- Greatswords
3 x Kurnoth Hunters (200)
- Greatbows

Total: 980 / 1000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 70

Spoiler: Skaventide

Leaders
Grey Seer (120)
- General
- Trait: Verminous Valour
- Artefact: Suspicious Stone
- Lore of Ruin: Death Frenzy
Warlock Bombardier (100)
- Lore of Warpvolt Galvanism: Warp Lightning Shield

Battleline
40 x Clanrats (200)
- Rusty Spear
40 x Clanrats (200)
- Rusty Spear

Units
20 x Gutter Runners (200)

War Machines
Warp Lightning Cannon (180)

Total: 1000 / 1000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 118

Spoiler: Seraphon

Mortal Realm: Ghur

Leaders
Slann Starmaster (260)
- General
- Trait: Great Rememberer
- Artefact: Incandescent Rectrices
Skink Starpriest (80)
- Artefact: Gryph-feather Charm

Battleline
10 x Skinks (60)
- Boltspitters & Star Bucklers
10 x Skinks (60)
- Boltspitters & Star Bucklers

Units
6 x Ripperdactyl Riders (280)

Battalions
Shadowstrike Starhost (180)

Endless Spells
Balewind Vortex (40)
Aethervoid Pendulum (40)

Total: 1000 / 1000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 49

Before deployment, I made note to our opponents of what Shadowstrike does, as neither had ever played Seraphon. I pointed out that screens were an important blocking mechanism to it's effectiveness. Deployment ended with the opposing team finishing first and choosing to take their first turn. See the pictures with Initial_Deployment in the name for how we all set up.

I will break this report up as I'm being limited in the number of uploads. Next games I'll try to limit the number of pictures I take.

 

Opponents T1 sees Tzeentch generate fate points. My Starpriest managed one unbind, but the Slann's were all 6s and failed, allowing the Gaunt Summoner to be elevated atop a Balewind. Skaven managed an unbind as well. Tzeentch Acolytes and Kurnoth Greatswords advanced towards my Slann and his guard of 10 Skinks. In the center, Drycha and 10 Dryads faded into the woods, while the unit of 20 Dryads, 10 Pink Horrors, and the Magister moved forward. This effectively left the Gaunt Summoner unguarded! The other unit of Pink Horrors moved forward, while the Herald and Kurnoth Bows remained unmoved. The Bows managed to knock the Gray Seer down to 3 wounds, ending their T1.

Our T1, I placed the Blot Toad 2" from the Summoner, but just out of range of the magister. I got Serpent Staff for the Constellation and left it alone for the game. Starpriest and Slann's Skinks moved up with Stealthy Advance. I did make note to keep the Starpriest within 15" of the Slann to potentially utilize Arcane Vassal. The other unit of Skinks shuffled up a bit, but their whole role for the game was to pounce on our T3 objective. The Slann got off Balewind and then sat their generating Summoning Points... 10 on T1.

Skaven's Clanrats advanced and the Gutter Runners popped up near the Herald. My Rippers descended on the Summoner. Shooting saw 12 MW into the Bows from the WLC, reducing them to one model with 3 wounds and then exploding it down to 1 wound. Oh those Skaven, SO RISKY! Side note: I REALLY hate WLCs! The Slann's Skinks managed two wounds on the Acolytes. Combat saw my Rippers annihilate the Summoner and put two wounds into the Magister. Strike back only inflicted 1 wound on the Rippers. The Gutter Runners apparently had a rough ride from underground and forgot to charge! They did take some wounds off the Herald with their throwing stars, though.

 

Our T2 (YUP, we got the double turn). On top of that, first Starstrike landed center of the right side, where the Clan Rats could easily control it. The Gutter Runners managed to kill the Herald with their shooting. The WLC got 6 MW on the Pink Horrors in front of them. The Slann's Skinks managed 1 more wound into the Acolytes. The Slann generated 13 Summoning Points... and I forgot to spend them at the end of movement. >_<

Clan Rats advanced to take the objective and tie up Horrors and Dryads. Rippers piled in on the Magister and killed him, even without the Blot Toad which only got to move 2". Tzeentch now has no summing ability!

Opponents T2 saw Tzeentch's last hurrah with Pink Horrors putting 7 MW into my Rippers. The Acolytes widdled the Slann's Skinks down to 5 with 18" shooting. The horde battles of the middle and right have begun. Drycha charges the 40 Clan Rats on the 1st Objective and slaughters 14, but Inspiring Presence keeps the rest in place, securing our hold. T2 ends 2-0 in our favor.

 

T3 priority went to our opponents, but it mattered little. The last two objectives fall from the heavens, one landing dead center of my 2nd unit of Skinks and they are no longer impatiently awaiting their purpose. The other lands well within range of the Gutter Runners. The objective placement has been most unfortunate for the Sylvaneth/Tzeentch coalition.

Drycha manages to murder more rats, but not enough to take the objective from us. The central hoard battle has seen Dryads and Pink Horrors fall, but largely has been a bog, thanks to my Rippers and a unit of Clan Rats keeping the unit of 20 Dryads and a unit of Pink Horrors tied up. The Slann's Skinks are finally slashed through by the Greatswords, but they have done their job.

Our T3 hero phase went quickly. I did cast the Athervoid Pendulum and ran it across the Greatswords, removing one of it's models. The Slann now has 36 summoning points, which I would have used on an Ark Bastildon and 2 units of 10 Skinks, but it was obvious at this point that our opponents would be unable to wrest control of the objectives from us and so we all agreed the game was over, with an 11-0 win for Seraphon/Skaven.

 

I wouldn't say they are inexperienced. I believe the Sylvaneth player's main army is SCE and he has more experience with them. As for the Tzeench player, he seems to forget he needs to screen against deep strike, which in fairness, I did as well for my first several games. The decision to play doubles was somewhat last minute and neither had ever played Seraphon (which is why I made a point to lay out what Shadowstrike does). It would be interesting to have a rematch, and see if lessons were learned.

 

In my small effort to clean up my posts and help my sanity, I've created this thread for all my Battle Reports. Much thanks to @LizardWizard for merging my current posts into this master post.

 

1250 MPP Pitched Battle
Seraphon versus Tzeentch
Battleplan: Duality of Death​

Seraphon Army
Mortal Realm: Aqshy
Slann Starmaster (260)
- General
- Trait: Vast Intellect
- Artefact: Ignax's Scales
Skink Starpriest (80)
- Artefact: Ruby Ring
10 x Skinks (60)
- Meteoric Javelins & Star Bucklers
10 x Skinks (60)
- Meteoric Javelins & Star Bucklers
6 x Ripperdactyl Riders (280)
Bastiladon (280)
Shadowstrike Starhost (180)
Balewind Vortex (40)

Total: 1240 / 1250
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 57

Tzeentch Army
Lord of Change (380)
- Artefact: Mark of the Conjurer
- Lore of Change: Tzeentch's Firestorm
Gaunt Summoner and Chaos Familiars (180)
- General
- Trait: Arcane Sacrifice
- Lore of Change: Bolt of Tzeentch
Magister (140)
10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (200)
- Lore of Change: Unchecked Mutation
10 x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (200)
- Lore of Change: Treason of Tzeentch
Balewind Vortex (40)
Chronomantic Cogs (60)
Aethervoid Pendulum (40)

Total: 1240 / 1250
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 44

This battle is my first venture into playing one-on-one against someone other than Gwendar, the guy that got me into Age of Sigmar. It’s also a rematch from two weeks ago, so I’ve definitely been looking forward to it. Additionally, Gwendar offered to coach us, since the Tzeentch player had been having a rough go his last several games, and I was uncertain of myself playing against such a different army. Apologies on the length of this battle report, but I hope you enjoy reading it!

Roll for deployment gave me priority and I finished setting up first. He deployed more centrally and seems to have learned the important lesson of screening, as his heroes are basically surrounded. I deployed at the edge of the zone, with the intent to capture an objective first turn. However, I decided to let Tzeentch go first. Gwendar pointed out that this wasn’t the best strategy, as I now placed my army within spells and shooting right out the gate. My singular focus of grabbing an objective had blinded me to this, so I just hoped for the best.


Tzeentch T1: Have you heard about Fate Points? Blue Horror points? Brimstone points? Let me tell you, they are not fun for you, if you’re not Tzeentch.

Hero Phase he cast all the spells. How many you ask? WELL… Gaunt Summoner (GS) gets two, Lord of Change gets two, Magister gets one, and the Pink Horrors each get one, so 7 prior to Endless Spells. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY I UNBOUND? None… not a single one… So that’s 7 Fate points, plus he got off Balewind Vortex (BV), and rolled a double on the Magister, granting him another spell. Which he then successfully cast Cogs, granting him yet another spell. Did I mention I failed to unbind any of these? >:-O During this absurdity, two of his spells were in range of the Starpriest (SP) and his Skink guards, inflicting 6 Mortal Wounds (MW) on the Skinks and 2 on the SP.

Movement Phase he summoned 10 Blue Horrors and used them to screen his Lord of Change (LoC) as it moved up to the right objective (RO). The newly summoned Blues killed two more Skinks from range. No battleshock for him and I passed mine.

Seraphon T1: Hero Phase, I placed the blot toad on the left objective to dissuade him from trying to capture it. Skinks and SP moved up 10” with Stealthy Advance. I failed Summon Starlight on the LoC. The Slann soared atop the BV and banked the rest of his casts for 10 CCP. The Constellations aligned to the Great Drake. I spent a CP so the Skinks guarding the Slann could fly over terrain.

In movement, I moved both Skink units and the SP towards the right side objective. The SP capped it! The Bastilidon moved forward to be in range of the LoC. End of movement, 10 more Skinks materialized from star dust.


Shooting Phase, 16 Skinks were in range of the Lord of Change and managed one wound! Solar Engine time! Make me proud: 2D6 for 8 shots, made 4 hits, and then failed all the wounds… I nearly cried. Gwendar just shook his head and walked away form the table. >_<

End of T1: 1-0 Seraphon

Tzeentch T2: Priority went to Tzeentch. Remember all those spells? Yeah… they all went off… again… unbinds all failed again. Spells removed the SP and inflicted 2 MW on the Basti, but it shrugged off 4 others. 6 Skinks withered from a spell cast by the GS.

Movement saw the LoC and his BLUES cohorts move up and gain the right objective. The Magister and his Pink guard moved up towards the left objective, but are still well out of range. Another 10 Blue Horrors were brought to the battle, landing on the left objective.


Shots rained down from Blues and Pinks and Skinks fell to the onslaught, but proved they would not be simply wiped away. The three units on the board are now at 1, 2, and 5 models.


He charges the Blues around his LoC into the units of 1 and 2 Skinks, hoping to clear them out, but these Blues weren’t summoned form the prime reserves, as they failed all their attacks. My strike back was equally ineffectual, but those 3 Skinks are still proudly defying the odds, since I saved all Battleshock tests! Tzeentch gains a Victory Point (VP).

Seraphon T2: I once again attempted to cast Summon Starlight on the LoC, this time utilizing Vast Intellect. I rolled a 9. The LoC rolled a double 5, which not only unbound my spell, but allowed him to learn the spell! Gwendar pointed out that it’s not a good tactic to cast without modifiers when facing Tzeentch. I take his advice and bank the rest of the Slann’s spells, increasing the pool to 14.

In movement, the unit of 5 Skinks moved up. Shooting reduced the Blues by 1 and inflicted 2 more wounds on the LoC. I’d like to say I tactically decided not to spend CCP at the end of movement, but that’s a lie. I forgot!

I charged the Basti into the Blues to contest the objective and swept away two with his Bludgeoning Tail. Wary Fighter allows the units of 1 & 2 Skinks to move to the other side of the Basti, removing them from combat. He can’t fail battleshock and unfortunately, since I didn’t kill the LoC, Tzeentch gains 2 VP for controlling the RO.

End of T2: 3-1 Tzeentch

Seraphon T3: I got the double turn! My Slann General invoked the sacred silence of Celestial Conjuration and gained 13 CCP, now totaling 27. I rolled a 5 for LoS&T and initially thought I would bamf the Slann to the LO. However, I thought better of it, as it would put him in range of the Magister and GS. Even with Ignax’s Scales and the +1 Save granted by the BV, I wasn’t willing to take the risk.

I moved nothing but did bring down the Rippers to combat the Lord of Change. I also spent 24 CCP and brought in 2 Razordons and a SP on the left side of the board, hoping I could gain that objective. All 8 Skinks shot the LoC, but their bolts were swatted away by the mighty Daemon. As the Basti was in combat with the Blue Horrors, the Solar Engine took aim and unleashed 9 successful wounds, vaporizing the unit. The Razors managed 3 wounds on Blues with their Volley of Spikes.

The Rippers successfully charged the LoC and while the Fate Dice saved 4 wounds, the voluminous successful attacks of their claws and beaks tore into the great Daemon, felling him and giving the objective control to the Basti. Only one Razordon managed a charge on the left unit of Blues, even though I spent 3 CPs to re-roll the SP failed charges. This will be important later. Still only controlling one objective; Seraphon are up to 2 victory points.


T3 Tzeentch: Tzeentch knew he needed to remove the Basti from its objective, so most spells where directed towards it, with only 1 spell made on the Rippers. The Bastilidon went from 6 wounds to 2, the Rippers took 1.

The Magister and Pinks guard moved up towards the left objective, but they had not been run the whole game, possibly a result of the blot toad that still menaced the LO. MOAR SUMMONING brought in 2 units of Brimestones and a unit of Screamers, too far back to really be effective, however. One unit of Brimestones did charge the Rippers but failed all attacks and were immediately murdered in retaliation.

Shots fired into the Rippers and Basti removed one Ripper model and brought the Basti down to 1 wound, but it’s still controlling the objective! The Magister’s Pinks are now in range of the Slann and throw Magical Flames upwards trying to reach to the top of the BV. One wound made it through. The 5 Blues on the LO fired into the lone Razordon, which failed all its save rolls. Normally, I’d have been unhappy about that, however in this case, it was probably the move that won me the game. Without an enemy model on the objective, the Magister would be unable to make a charge roll, which would leave Tzeentch with no objective control. Upon this realization, the Tzeentch player was ready to concede, however I suggested we continue, on the chance he could get the double turn and potentially contest my impending lead.


End of T3: 4-3 Seraphon

Turn 4 priority roll… drum roll… we both roll a 4! I win ties, since I went first last round. At this point, we have only 30 minutes left. We discussed the probable game progression and realized I would at least get 3 VP for the Basti controlling the RO for three turns and there would be a good chance the Starpriest would gain control of the LO, giving me one more. I would end my T4 with 8VP to his 3. His T4 would likely see the Basti killed, but at best he would get his Magister on the LO giving him 1 VP. We wouldn’t have time for T5, so the game ended 8-3 Seraphon!

Post game analysis:​

My setup lacked good planning. As far as I had deployed, I should have taken the T1. That said, it did end up working out. Additionally, I learned a valuable lesson in playing Tzeentch. I’m better off not casting (edit: with the Slann). The Tzeentch player rolled extremely well on his spells, only failing 3 the whole game, but two of those were double 1s with the Magister, so he just got an additional spell cast. I only unbound his attempt to cast Aethervoid Pendulum!

I forgot some key things: I didn’t move the Blot Toad the entire game, which may have been why he didn’t run the Magister and Pinks on the left. Had he run them, he very well could have won, or at the very least made it much more difficult for me to win. I forgot to use Ruby Ring on the first Starpriest before he was killed. And of course, forgetting to summon T2, though that worked out in T3.

While I made some mistakes, I feel like I was able to adjust for them and capitalize on Tzeentch’s mistakes. I focused on objective control and less on killing his army, which has been a tough shift in thinking for me. That said, I’m open to critique and advice! Thanks for reading to the end!

 

Great battle rep! Glad to see you pulled out the W! Were you happy with the list? Would you tweak it in any way?

 

Biggest issue seems to have been Tzeentch getting all his casts of with impunity and you failing to do any.

As for Gwendar's remark that you shouldn't cast against Tzeentch without modifiers. You should unless you absolutly do not want his LoC to learn your spell. His own spells are usually more potent anyway. Just don't count on being very succesfull with em unless you have acces to enough spellcasts to overwhelm the Tzeentch player and can force him to choose which spell to unbind and which to let pass.

 

I think the list was perfect for this arrangement. The Bastilidon is such an amazing unit. I've only played him twice, but his utility is impressive and the potential for damage against Chaos Daemons really makes him fierce.

Edit: Actually @Schwaaah I would change one thing. As casting against an army with +2 to cast, +1 to unbind, and basically having at least one (possibly more) auto unbind, thanks to Destiny Dice and LoC's matching of dice, I should have used Great Rememberer over Vast Intellect on the Slann General. I didn't even get to use Curse of Fates anyway.

 

Fair point, but I certainly didn't have that in this game. And as he had +2 to cast on nearly every caster and the LoC has a plus to unbind. That arrangement makes it pretty difficult to get spells off successfully, especially when I was rolling terribly on nearly all cast and unbind rolls.

 

Yeah, but aside from the LoC learning your spell there isn't really a negative to you failing to cast. There's no real reason to not attempt arcane bolt, mystic shield or summon starlight with your starpriests even if chances are they'll fail. Worst case the LoC now knows summon starlight, but let's face it he probably has better stuff to cast anyway. Best case you kill some daemons.