AoS Seraphon WARCRY: the thread

I like the style of them as well, though I wasn't aware Chameleon Skinks were able to be fielded without blowpipes.

Grrr, !mrahil

 

Right, I wasn't sure

Grrr, !mrahil

 

There's always the chance of the entire band being a unit in and of itself in AoS!

 

True. Often those units don't synergize well with the armies, but recently GW has made a few that are pretty effective on the AoS table. Fingers crossed.

 

With this week previewing Astra for their upcoming pre-order this Saturday. Is it possible that next weeks drip-feed leaks will be about the new Warcry: Sundered Fate? For an upcoming pre-order Saturday the 19th and release the 26th? I mean, is there anything else in the pipeline they could be previewing next week?

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com...-and-flappy-friends-to-outwit-foes-in-warcry/

Not the strongest warband from the looks of things right off the bat at least

 

Having played a game with them and theorycrafted a little, I don't think the Hunters of Huanchi are weak as a faction necessarily- but they're probably the warcry-specific warband that's the worst if you're building them from the options you get in a single box. Standard blowpipe chameleons are terrible garbage that you basically never want to take because they can't deal damage and they're as fragile as wet paper, while the ability on the bolas being one of their big focus and their tiny bit of additional toughness means you'll always want at least a couple (unfortunate, given it's the opposite in AoS). I like the Terrawing for their speed and ability to lock down enemies, but you won't really be securing kills with them or anything, which is unfortunate because it means they get outclassed by ally options that're better for that purpose (like a ripper chief or a terradon equivalent if you're on a budget) and the hornblower guy kind of requires you to be taking terradons to be worth it in any capacity.

The leader is also maybe the worst one in all of Warcry for me, personally, because they're just an alpha version of the basic skins that gets a couple more wounds and maybe an extra attack (which means you absolutely never want to take the blowpipe version because it has a terrible profile, and the bolas version ensures you always have the bolas ability on hand). Even worse for my sensibilities, they barely look different to the basic chameleons and don't have a unique name, making them visually outclassed by like half the roster, GW clearly knows this because they didn't put the warband's leader front and center in any of the advertising and just kept showing off all the cooler one-offs you get instead.

Their saving grace, and the reason they don't suck as a warband, are Huanchi's Claws. They are absolutely nuts, throwing out two 8 range attacks that deal 2 damage with 4 damage crits AND have mid-range strength is pretty solid- plus they have extra toughness and wounds over the top of either basic troop option, with the addition of a fairly solid triple unique to them. All of that for 75 points when your basic blowpipe chameleons are 70. You want as many of these guys as possible, you want to frankenstein every model in your box to give it javelins and a cool headdress because they're so good you don't want chameleons that're anything besides them, unless you're aching for points to bring in allies from other factions. They are strong, they are cheap, they are absolutely the only thing holding the hunters together as a faction.

 

Hi team, I could use your advice. I'm going to play my first Warcry day the 4th, and I can use your help not losing too badly. The rules are 1000 pts, no monsters/thralls, 1 leader.

Opponents are:

• Khruleboys
• Fellow Seraphon or Khorne Daemons
• Nighthaunt or Cities (human centric)
• Unknown

Now I don't have to dominate, but I also don't want to auto lose everything. I wanted 2 Kroxigors since I love them, but I could be persuaded to drop one need be:

1. Slann (265)
2. Kroxigor (180)
3. Kroxigor (180)
4. Ripperdactyl (170)
5. Guard (120)
6. Saurus with club (85)

Which is exactly 1000. Would it suck or do I have a chance?

Thanks in advance for any help, Happy holidays!

 

I think you might struggle with just six fighters, even though they are some of the bulkier elites we can field. I think the biggest issue I can see is that you really only have the ripper's double and the Slann/Saurus+Krox abilities on a triple so you've got a lot of stuff competing for the same dice while not a lot to use anything below a triple on, which makes the elite playstyle a bit more difficult when you're a lot more limited in actions compared to an opponent, and more limited in what you can do during those actions.

I think you'll be able to kill pretty well between your bulky units and their ability to use universal reactions to counter-attack more numerous and small fighter warbands (like nighthaunt) but on mission types that're more complicated you might struggle. In a more casual or narrative environment though I think you'll do fine, as long as you keep in mind the drawbacks of the warband type you're running and try to play around them

 

Cheers for the insights, let me reply on each

I was thinking about adding the second Kroxigor later, while using the 180 points to add 2 spear Saurus to raise body count. Would that be better?

So how would you address that? I thought I could use the doubles to reinforce the Ripper with the beefier units faster by spending them on moves.

So just to be sure:

• low body count means easy isolation and the slann is vulnerable from teleports
• Ripper is great to claim objectives fast, but dies easily so needs support in a reasonable fast time
• If City brings a lot of shooters I'm in trouble, so stick to cover (that guy's throws are almost cheating they are so good)

Did that cover it?

 

First, kroxes greatly benefit from "onslaught" - plus one attack on two action gives you basically additional attack action - they are prime cadidates to use a double.
Second, slaan is tougher than you think, but anything is vulnerable when surrounded. But low model count would also mean that you will strugle with mission when you need to claim an objective, and even more with multiple objectives.
Third, remember that with new rules, you cannot shoot unit that is engaged with your other unit. So your best chance to evade shooting is to engage with enemy. Although it also affects your slaan. Remember, that if you will play multiplayer match, enemy of my enemy is still my enemy, and my allay is not my unit - if two figures are engaged with each other, but not with your units, you can stll shoot them, and vice versa - if you are engaged with a unit, units from other warband can still shoot you.

 

Cheers, that's useful to know!

 

So thanks for all the help, tomorrow is D-day. I'll leave the final decision to tomorrow, but I have 6 bands to chose from and I'll check what the rest is playing before I decide:

Army 1 A few good men (1000):

1. Slann (265)
2. Kroxigor (180)
3. Kroxigor (180)
4. Ripperdactyl (170)
5. Guard (120)
6. Saurus with club (85)

Army 2 - Sir Mixalot (1000) :

1. Slann (265)
2. Kroxigor (180)
3. Ripperdactyl (170)
4. Guard (120)
5. Saurus with spear (90)
6. Saurus with spear (90)
7. Saurus with club (85)

Army 3 - Numbers man (1000):

1. Saurus knight alpha (195)
2. Kroxigor (180)
3. Kroxigor (180)
4. Saurus with spear (90)
5. Saurus with spear (90)
6. Saurus with spear (90)
7. Saurus with spear (90)
8. Saurus with club (85)

Army 4 - Beat it (995):

1. Saurus knight alpha (195)
2. Kroxigor (180)
3. Kroxigor (180)
4. Saurus with spear (90)
5. Saurus with spear (90)
6. Saurus with spear (90)
7. Ripperdactyl (170)

Army 5 - the Cheese is real (1000):

1. Saurus knight alpha (195)
2. Kroxigor (180)
3. Kroxigor (180)
4. Kroxigor (180)
5. Kroxigor (180)
6. Saurus with club (85)

Army 5 - Healing Hands (980):

1. Saurus knight alpha (195)
2. Kroxigor (180)
3. Kroxigor (180)
4. Saurus with spear (90)
5. Saurus with spear (90)
6. Saurus with spear (90)
7. Astrolith Bearer (155)

I'll let you guys know how it went!

 

So I finally have the time to update. It was a great time and the tips from here and Reddit helped a lot. I decided to try army 6, then noticed it was illegal because it has more than the single leader, so I had to switch last minute. After some short chats with my peers I decided to use army 2, since that gave me the most experiences of play in Warcry having 2 flying units, 1 ranged, 1 big hitter and various fighters.

Overall there were a couple of mistakes we made, like not having fighters fall off the high ground when they took damage, but it was fun. I played 3 matches:

• 1 vs Nighthaunt which I should have lost, but managed to draw because my opponent made a small goof and I managed to contest the objective in my last activation
• 1 vs Orks, which I lost vs our most experienced player. He complimented me on my play killing his hero and a lot of his dangerous units, but the scenario of defending the ritual site and getting 12 points was much more difficult then I thought. So that was a bad pick from me.
• 1 vs Khorne, where 1 lost 1 fighter (the Saurus with Club), but in return took out everything except 3 bloodletters. Given the scenario was to take out half the warband, my opponent conceded there.
• I did not get to play the 4th player since we ran out of time, but he was also a undead player, but with Skeletons and vampires. (Soulblight?)

Some observations:

• I had a lot of fun, even with the mistakes we made in hindsight according to the rules.
• Surprisingly the club Saurus actually did punch above its weight.
• Nighthaunt are really annoying and hard to kill, especially with a player that regardless of the dies manages to always throw well.
• That ritual scenario, especially with the way we spawned, really sucks for the defender. In fact, spawning in general does have a bigger impact then I liked.

Some pictures:
https://ibb.co/yPg5Wns
https://ibb.co/SJz8Lsn
https://ibb.co/FhxLB6n
https://ibb.co/qmj38xJ
https://ibb.co/51R5zB5
https://ibb.co/z8kLmYr
https://ibb.co/j6d4JJD
https://ibb.co/WHCnRcL
https://ibb.co/JnxLbYy
https://ibb.co/4jG9bcM
https://ibb.co/HnTJ3sj
https://ibb.co/jLNxchW
https://ibb.co/QbjmKhC
https://ibb.co/Z2tbpry
https://ibb.co/NNbFBDL
https://ibb.co/XjJmDmb
https://ibb.co/Vgnyvng
https://ibb.co/JjPv406

 

What a bunch of greatly painted models and pieces of terrain!

Grrr, !mrahil

 

Working on my Hunters of Huanchi list a little, does anyone have any suggestions for Seraphon units that might work well as allies? I already take a ripper for a bit of elite strength, but I’m wondering if something like a Priest or Starpriest (or even Slann/Starseer?) could find some utility in otherwise heavy shooting lists

 

Seems like GW heard my question and decided to answer it, since we just got a stealth drop of a FAQ for Warcry here: https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/oxL52dPoxUxORJkS.pdf

A lot of good changes to the health of the game that’re broadly irrelevant to playing Seraphon (other than that you can now shoot into units that're fighting in melee, but only if you're within 3' or only have a ranged attack), but a key one is that all the underworlds warbands are legal again! A lot of them are rendered iffy because they received no points or rules updates and there were substantial points changes between 1.0 and 2.0, but the starblood stalkers are big winners in that department.

Kixi-Taka is a great ally for most warbands because of his 20 point discount over the priest and a movement buff ability + general decency as a fighter, but most relevant for the Hunters of Huanchi is that he’s fast enough to keep up with them and he brings a couple of skinks that’re around the same cost as theirs but much better (plus a much needed buff to toughness that can give them some survivability). Otapatl is also what all hunters of Huanchi dream to be, since he’s got double their range, triple their strength and double their damage for ten points more than a base chameleon- it’s worth it if you take Kixi-Taka and him alone, but you can pretty viably take the whole warband with them (Though the saurus is less good, he’s pretty pricey now for not having the saurus leader ability).

 

SUPER last minute post. I'm starting a campaign later today. We begin with 1000 pts and just 1 hero. I'm going with a Saurus hero to start and looking to add a Priest/Starpriest later. Which list do you like?

Army 1 (1000)
Scar-vet on CO
Kroxigor*
Terradon w/Sunleech
Saurus Guard
Saurus w/Spear
Skink w/Boltspitter
Skink w/Boltspitter
Skink w/Boltspitter
*Would you rather have the Krox, or another Terradon, or 2 more Saurus w/Spear?

Army 2 (995)
Saurus Knight Alpha
Kroxigor*
Terradon w/Sunleech
Saurus Guard
Saurus w/Spear
Saurus w/Spear
Skink w/Boltspitter
Skink w/Boltspitter
*Would you rather have the Krox, or another Terradon, or 2 more Saurus w/Spear?

Army 3 (1000)
Saurus Guard Alpha
Kroxigor*
Terradon w/Sunleech
Saurus Knight w/Spear
Saurus w/Spear
Skink w/Boltspitter
Skink w/Boltspitter
Skink w/Club
*Would you rather have the Krox, or another Terradon, or 2 more Saurus w/Spear?

Army 4 (990)
Saurus Guard Alpha
Saurus Guard
Saurus Guard
Terradon w/Sunleech
Saurus Knight w/Spear
Saurus w/Spear
Skink w/Boltspitter
Skink w/Boltspitter