One last question and I’m good to go: Do you lose the effect of an battalion when onr unit of the battalion gets destroyed. Lets say I lose 5 guards or the Warden, will the rest still have the effect or not?
It depends on the effect. If the descriptions mentions the unit then you cannot use it if the unit is destroyed (such as the Starpriest in a Shadowstrike pointing at the target or the Troglodon in a Thunderquake buffing the Stegadon next to him). In the Eternal Starhost one of the two abilities requires the Warden, the other one doesn't. You should keep him alive.
As @Aginor says, read the descriptions carefully. Some battalions rely on linchpins units that can be killed, some just give everything a flat buff. In our case it's frequently a combination of the two.
Thanks alot! You guys are such great help! So I’ll need to protect the Warden. Should I keep him out of battle at all cost?
No, I think you should put him between your Guard units for his 5" buff and also for the Guards' +1 save when near heroes. He is quite sturdy with 7 wounds so he can take a hit or two, and his attacks aren't bad either. Just make sure he cannot be swarmed. With a Priest and/or Starpriest near you can also get some rerolls on the saves or debuff enemy units so they roll bad hits.
meh, his attacks aren't that much when compared to the guards. It's fine to keep him in the back and be certain he doesn't get harmed. But it depends a bit on how much he opponent picks up on it and tries to horribly murder him, his safe is considerably worse than the guard (kinda silly now that I think about it)
Well he doesn't have a shield so his save is 1 worse. Which is kinda logical. Until you look at other armies' heroes which have a 3+ save while carrying a huge banner and no shield... I buff him with mystic shield.
Meh, it's mostly that he's te leader of the guard, he should be fairly good at defending himself, or just be so sturdy he doesn't care. In the fluff the wardens sustain absolutly insane amounts of damage and keep on fighting. It's weird to have him be squishier than those he's leading. And just the base save difference is fine, but the guards gain bonusses that he doesn'thave acces to. Why doesn't a warden get a bonus for guarding another hero like they do for example? Also, he does use some kind of pole or stave weapon, those tend to be fairly good at defense as well, better than a banner at least
Yeah it is kinda weird. But so are guards. They are supposed to be one of the sturdiest infantry units in the game but they have just one wound while naked Orruks have three...
One of the things why I think that seraphon were basicly made for a diferent game... There's a lot of weird inconsistencies like that in our army that started popping up with the release of the GHB and other factions.
Yeah. If they weren't mentioned that often in the books (GHB and Battletomes of other armies) I'd almost say it looks like GW are letting them die.
at least being mentioned is something I suppose.. Plus they are rather unique and have a nice cool factor being dinosaurs and all. I'd assume they sell relativly well cuz of it.
Too bad about the wardens save. I’ll just try to re-roll save rolls with Celestial Rites. If i’ll make the Starpriest the General with Master of Star Rituals, does it mean he gets the CR ability like it is stated on the skink priest warscroll i.e. He still needs to roll 4+ and it doenst work on a bubble? We are starting around 800 points with my group (SCE and Ironjawz) and I’ll only be able to field one, which I’m going to give MoSR. But having it on the Priest also sounds nice to increase the chance to 75%.
MoSR on the Starpriest is not a bad idea. But yeah I read it as working just for one unit. Only the normal Priest with Priestly trappings can do the bubble thing.
I wont be using the battalion, since it is just about learning how to play. I’ll be fielding: 1 warden 10 Guards (1 unit) 1 Priest/Starpriest 1 Basti 10 Skinks Since it only is one unit a want to buff I feel like the Starpriest is the one I’ll be taking. Since I then have some magic too debuff or deal some moretal wounds
That's a very sturdy beginner list. I am almost sure an equally sized army of Ironjawz for example will not be able to beat it most of the time except when rolling very well.
Hence not taking the battalion. I try to keep it balanced a bit. Although the SCE will have the relictor, retributors and celestant on dracoth. Guess I’ll be practising to avoid the mortal wounds.
Exactly. It kills the balance of the game since it divides armies into two groups: those who can spam mortal wounds and those who cannot do that. It makes all the cool save mechanics some units have completely useless.