Dear colleagues, I am long time WHFB/Mordheim player. I decided to give the AoS finally a try. I will be getting the Seraphon Battleforce soon. I wanted to ask you if you could tell me what would be the best way to build it so I can have 1000 pts army. Right now my plan is: 1x Skink Priest 1x Saurus Oldblood on Carnosaurus 1x Bastiladon 2x 10 Skinks 1x Ripperdactyl Riders 1x Terradon Riders. That's 1000 pts. What do you think about that? I could also expand it with Stormcast Eternals. I have the 1ed AoS starter. Many thanks for your advices!
Welcome to Lustria. Your planed build sounds like a good mixed army. Depending on how competitive you plan are looking to be there are few things I would recommend. Build all 6 fly models as Ripperdactyls, this will enable you to run shadowstrike Starhost if you want to play with battalions. Secondly I would build the Carno Kit as a Scar-veteran. Skink's default load out is Boltspitters and Shield. If you are looking for list ideas please check out the thread in my signature.
Thank you for your reply. It is very helpful. Would you be so kind to explain why is the Scar-veteran better for me than the Oldblood? I have no Sauruses the Scar-Veteran could boost.
Absolutely, I would be happy to expand on my preferences. In terms of the Command abilities the Oldblood has the better self use. The ScV's Command Ability is obviously intended to be used on a large unit of Saurus in order to gain the maximum benefit. However, it is still effective when used by the ScV on itself due to the volume of attacks on this model. That brings us to the next point of comparison. The ScV has significantly more attacks than the Oldblood. It has double the number of weapon attacks on two of its loadouts. The spear is the best of the three choices in addition to its Fearsome Jaws and Stardrake Shield attack. That same shield gives the added benefit of allowing the model to ignore -1 rend. The Sunbolt gauntlet can be strong vs Chaos Demons, but is generally not going to contribute as much to the game as the -1 rend mitigation. The Oldblood is a better target for a Skink Starpriest's Serpent staff ability. Which is not to say the ScV isn't still an excellent target as well. These next two differences are what sets the ScV apart in my opinion. It's Jaws hit on a 3+ instead of a 4+. The trade off for its better hit rating is the Carnosaur's Massive Jaws only do D3 vs flat 3 damage. This means the ScV trades some effectiveness vs monsters in order to be much more effective against non-monster targets. Now, to get back to the volume of attacks on their primary weapons. The ScV's Spear is an ideal target for equipping the Sword of Judgement. If you are unfamiliar with this particular artifact it cause the ScV's melee weapon (spear) to deal D6 mortal wounds to monster and heroes on any hit rolls of a 6+. This will make the ScV even better at killing heroes and monsters than the Oldblood. Due to all these reasons, the ScV is more damaging, more durable, and more versatile in the targets it can effectively engage. As a bonus it is also 20MPP cheaper. One thing to be noted is that the Oldblood can bank command points in order to mass spam its command command allowing for impressive burst damage. However, the ScV can do the same and remains nearly as effective, more so if the Sword of Judgement is equipped.
Thank you for your kind and detailed reply. I appreciate it very much. Is there something else you would suggest? For instance, is there some other miniature I should rather buy right now? Just to explain my intention: This is not going to be a huge army. My plan was rather casual. On the other hand, I also like to win sometimes Many thanks!
well I have gone about this arse about face have a stormcast army so have just been picking up seraphon as and when I see a good deal have to far skink star priest 2 x saurus oldblood sun blood 24 temple guard 20 saurus with spears 20 saurus with clubs 40+ skinks mix of blowpipes and javs basilidon 5 saurus knights and just bought a box of random parts but does have 11 metal terradons ohh and loads of skink handlers but some of this I will ebay I think need to get a slann and some others bit but uncertain where to go from here but need to get some painting done now and not in a hurry
It depends on your tactics and play style. If you’re going for offensive, build the Scar veteran and rippers. For a defensive army, Oldblood and Terradons are probably better(and I think they look cooler and more fun!)
I'm a relatively new player but I can't tell you how many times I like to kiss the Astrolith Bearer - he offers rerolls of missed hits for units within 12" of him. He combos so well with the Bastiladon and after a few rounds I usually move him up and out as he's a good fighter himself. It should be noted that traditionally he's a pair for a Slann as he generates additional summoning points (known as Conjuration Points - CP) but even without summoning, I love flat rerolling misses. Now, take that Carno from above and add in an additional 25% hits ...
just make sure you double check that AB rule, the errata is "wholly within" 12 inches, which is no where near as good as "within 12 inches"
Yep, the range has increased, but the unit must be now wholly within the astrolith. In fact, it's more difficult to obtain the reroll, especially if you're employing hordes or if you're not running a Thunderquake moving castle.
meh I think hes overcosted with the nerfs, however no longer having to "plant" the Astrolith does help mitigate that feeling
He does generate D3 Celestial Conjuration Points a turn. So he should pay for his points in most cases via summoning alone.