AoS With The Upcoming Xmas Bundle What Should New Players Buy?

Hello everyone!

The leak of the upcoming Xmas bundle was the push I needed to fall over the edge and jump into Seraphon. I have yet to purchase anything, but will start amalgamating things soon so I can have everything ready for the new year.

I suppose my question is, as a complete beginner, what should I buy (and, you know, anyone else new to Seraphon, not just me. With the Xmas bundle and the SC being great starting points, perhaps this will be a common issue?)?

To clarify, I'm not really THAT fussed about being competitive. I don't want to get facerolled when I play, but I'm not aiming for the top tables.

I'm thinking 1-2 of the Xmas box plus 1-2 of the start collecting (please advise whether I just need 1 of either/or, or if things really take off when I pick up the 3rd!). Then everyone says a Slann is a must, so I'm guessing the regular Slann Starmaster. Also, I like the big boys, so I want to pick up a few Engine of the gods/stegadon, which is better and how many should I get?

How possible/viable is it to run a big dinos list?

I'm going to pick up some Saurus Guard as well just because they look like nice models (better than the saurus warriors at least!). What about that Eternity Warden? He seems an interesting model. Any good though?

Oh, also, I want to play AOS Skirmish and that is probably a bigger I MUST BUY THESE MODELS than regular AOS.

And book-wise I want the new Malign Sorcery book, the general's handbook, and AOS skirmish. That's all, right?

 

Damn I need this guys bank roll lol.

Seriously though 2 start collecting and one Christmas bundle will get you 40 skinks, 24 warriors, 3 carnos/trogs, 16 knights, a bastilodon, 6 terradons/dactyls and a skink star preist. that's an insane amount of work and a very strong starting point if your looking to represent the middling casual player. and that's all before you make like an artist and follow @Crowsfoot 's really good guide t maximizing your SC boxes.

you could make one each of the Carnos (old blood, Scar vet, Troglodon) and that's ~660 points along there. ( at work don't have my book guestimating points best I can from memory.)

you can make a minimum size firelance battalion with the 16 knights from the 2 Start collecting, converting the 16th to a Scar vet on cold one for 370 total points before the warscroll cost

two SC get you a unit of 20 warriors with 4 left over (always bring units like this at the exact size, otherwise your points for 24 cost you the same as 30) for 200 points

240 points for the 40 skinks

280 for the Basti

the skink star priest is 80.

so now (without warscroll battalion costs) you are looking at a fairly decent 1830 point list, that has the ability to be add a shadow strike or firelance warscroll. and is model restriction legal for the 2000 point army size (the 4 behemoths, 5 battle lines, 5 leaders in this grouping is under the limits)

*edit* I forgot the dons/dactyls. dactyls are 140 for three dons are 120 for three, so either you go over 2000 points with these models alone or you do some adjusting, but either way it gets you there for a not bad mid level casual list.

 

It's not so much that I can afford that much, it's more that I know the battleforce's will be a limited time offer, so... stock up while you can, right! It only gives you 20 skinks btw. But they're also the cheapest box in there so I should probably just get another box of skinks instead of a whole nother bundle, right... or is this the excuse I need to double up on bastiladons? Or will that suddenly put me over some model restrictions?

And yes, I already checked out the awesome guide for the SC box and will definitely be doing some of that! I'm planning to do sand themed bases, so the Trog in water base might need some rethinking though!

And is making 1 of each of the Carnos the best use? Or are one of the potential models significantly better and so doubling up would make sense?

Slann is definitely on the list!
I'm assuming the price will be the same as previous years and be £100. The bundle cost RRP comes to £187.5 (but that's including full price for a Carnosaur which no one would ever do, you'd buy the SC and get extra). Hmm, perhaps only a single bundle is the way to go. What about a Stegadon or Engine Of The Gods? Are they any good?

 

Not gonna lie, 2 of those Battleforce bad boys and an additional Skink box and you're golden!

 

More of a question but, I'm always indesicive when it comes to an Oldblood on a Carnosaur or Scar-Vet on a Carnosaur. I just dont seem to get their stats other than one is more agressive than the other.

 

I think the Oldblood on carnosaur is generally better, as the command ability does more and is more reliable, but with large blocks of Saurus, the scar vet can be better, due to the saurus getting the extra attacks on a 5+ instead of only a 6+.
It doesn't get the shield to ignore rend -1, but that's more than compensated for by a shooting attack and better combat stats. Getting 2 extra claw attacks with the command ability can pretty much guarantee the +2 to hit with the jaws when fighting other monsters, which can be a big deal.

 

Whit saurus being a bit meh, and the battlebox being seasonal. I would recommend going with 2 batlleboxes for a start

 

I am, yeah

I think this is probably what I'll do. I like the saurus warriors, but because of the seasonality of it all, I can hold off.


The other big question is, how do I kit out and run my skinks?! And Saurus Guard (I just like the models...)?
Are we talking run them in max sized units and all dartguns, or do I want a mix of weapons and min size units?

 

Hi all,
I don't actually see a Seraphon Battleforce available for pre-order from the GW site. Nor do I see anything about it on the GW Community page (at least not the US pages). Are we sure about this? Am I digging in the wrong spot?

 

You are not! It will be available for preorder this Saturday (tomorrow) or the next one, not sure. It just isn't available to pre-order yet, so it's not on their website.