Unfortunately I do believe we are pigeonholed into those 3 options when it comes to Starborne. I just feel like Dracothian's Tail loses it's purpose once you start to reduce Salamander and increase Skink numbers. But yeah, I guess that is why we are seeing the current trend on TTS - There is no real alternative. It does worry me a little if they decide to hammer Salamanders into the ground - I dont know if Fangs with big blobs of 40 Skinks can really compete with the top armies.
I'm eager to try, at least for Fangs of Sotek, the Terradons. I think they've got some great potential. They can go absurdly fast in Fangs of Sotek turn 1 and pretty much alpha strike a unit of your choice off the board. That's just from dropping bombs. They're pretty formidable in melee too...only issue is better not let them get hit in return xD
Eh, i dunno if it's fair to say "there's no real alternative." I think the seraphon book is still competitive if salamanders get worse, it's just right now they are so much better everyone else pales in comparison. Right now, mass salamanders is just such an easy choice it almost feels silly to spend time figuring something else out. With that said, there have been quite a few good results with lists that revolve around bastiladons, chameleon skinks, and even knights. I dont think if salamanders are nerfed (which they almost certainly will be... hopefully not too bad tho) we are totally out of luck. Also, we never know what else might get a little help when the salamander nerf comes around... maybe warriors will be the new hotness *fingers crossed*
What does a list revolving around Chameleon skinks look like!? Because I'd LOVE to run it! I love skinks!
Basically you're just replacing salamanders with chameleon skinks. The below list comes to 1990. It'll obviously play a little differently because you're sacrificing a bit of raw firepower for more flexibility in movement but that's not necessarily a bad trade off. Chameleon skinks (just like sallies) function great without buffs and unlike sallies can make use of the fangs of sotek command ability, which is incredible. Kroak Astrolith Priest Starpriest 40 skinks 40 skinks 5 guard 20 chamo skinks 20 chamo skinks balewind
This is the dream. Probably Fangs of Sotek, too. And then you're just living the good life with all these super cute models
Give it a try! I basically play the same thing right now except with 8 salamanders in 3/3/1/1 set up instead of the chameleon skinks. If you do give it a go, definitely let me know how it turns out!
Well first off I did mention Starborne. I personally dont care about Coalesced. What attracts me to Seraphon is simply options - CCP, movement/deepstrike/teleport shenanigans is what I really love. Without that I would lose interest in the faction tbh. Coalesced just doesnt offer me enough gameplay options on the table. Atm Im a huge fan of Dracothian's Tail and what it brings to the table, hence why Im trying to specifically finetune this list and not remaking it with mass Skinks in Fangs of Sotek. I haven't seen any good lists with Bastiladons outside of Thunderlizards and Knights outside of Koatl's Claw. Chameleon Skinks are good in both of DT and FoS imo., but those were also mentioned as an alternative. I dont think it is unfair to say that Starborne at the moment is basically Skinks, Salamanders and/or Chameleon Skinks.
Isn't it weird that Slann are super amazing wizards in lore...but their Spell Lore has almost no direct damage spells or even particularly useful buffs often having situations where it feels as though there is nothing to cast?
That's very fair, and I totally agree. Hopefully if salamanders do get slapped around other things are brought up or other meta lists are toned down as well (i'm looking at you chaos ascendant and tzeentch). I'm still holding out hope the GHB drops and saurus are like, 7 points a model or something hahaha.