Ouch. That seemed like a nasty defeat. Seems that terrorgheist played a pretty big role in the battle which suggests that we need a way to keep them at arms reach away or kill them. A saurus oldblood on carnosaur is my usual go to answer or maybe the dread saurian to deal with threats. Anyways you still played fairly well and it probably could have been a lot worse.
Man you had some really bad luck there. As the others said, we need a bit of luck against the newer armies, but you lacked it unfortunately.
Loving these batreps! I like how I can see the little pieces coming together in your plans. On paper seraphon aren’t exactly top tier with the newer books but we still have a few tricks up our sleeves. I’m curious how often you have had to play in a hoard meta that seems to be springing up around us? I’m considering taking a large unit of kroxigor for the output the moonclubs could have. I’m als curious about your preference to summon the troglodon rather than the other choices on offer. Is it just that chance of the +3” and point him at weakish targets? Thanks for all the awesome reading, got me feeling a bit less bummed about where we are
Thanks, glad you appreciate it. Not only that but yes. It's a reliable charger. With an astrolith nearby, he will likely wound a target, gaining +3 to charge. Add some further bonus (constellations, and so on), and you will hit at full health in the turn the Troglodon appears Then, there's another big advantage: it costs 18 CCPs, instead of 24. Even a non-dedicated summoning list, can be sure to conjure the beast turn 2.
Seraphon Vs Khorne (1750 pts) Being this a part of a campaign, we already know the Battleplan Battleplan STARSTRIKE You know it, at the beginning of the second turn an objective drops casually on the middle line, on the third turn 2 obj drop one in each part of the battlefield. Obj give a number of points which is equal to the number of the current turn, so their importance increases in the later turns. We'll play in the Ream of AQSHY. Special rule: terrains give total cover to shooting. Army Lists SERAPHON (mortal real: Ghur) - Slann (general, Great Rememberer, Gryph-feather Charm) Thunderquake Starhost - EotG (incandescent rectrices) - 2 x BASTILADONS (solar engine) - 4 SALAMANDERS - 3 HANDLERS other - ASTROLITH Bearer - 10 SKINKS (shield, javelin) - 10 SKINKS (shield, javelin) - 5 SAURUS Knights Endless spell: quicksilver swords 20 The reasoning behind the list. With the battalion i hope to choose who will go first, and i would give it to my opponent, which i suppose it will be based on cc. I expect big daemons that will move exploiting the cover granted by the rules of the scenario… but against daemons thunderquake is too strong to ignore it. Knights and skinks are there mostly to shield my main force, so i really plan to build a layered castle, and I plan to move my castle toward the centre, shooting what i can. When the first obj will drop, i will move toward it, and I'm confident i can seize it by turn 3, when the other objectives will fall. I've got a double 1/3 chance that at least one obj will drop near the one where I'm already concentrating my force.... otherwise i will use summoning and teleport. I plan to cast first turn the swords (excellent against chaos) and possibly also fireball (the lore spell of the realm, that deals d6 MWs to a unit with 10+ models) KHORNE (mortal realm: Shysh) - Bloodstoker (general, violent urgency, the Brazen Rune) - Bloodsecrator - Slaughterpriest (prayer: killing frenzy) - Slaughterpriest (prayer: killing frenzy) - 5 Bloodwarriors - 6 x 10 Bloodreavers (!) - 10 skullreapers - 3 Khorgoraths Battalion: Gore Pilgrims Weird list. My opponent declared that he was certain i was going to field bastiladons and possibly also other specific things against daemons (starpriest…), so he negated me the additional wounds granted by our special rules. on paper it could create me some problems. the units are simply too much to be wiped away, plus the bloodsecrators with double priest will avoid battleshock tests to khorne units within 30". To remove a 10 men unit, i need to totally erase it, possibly wasting some shooting for overkill. Plus, the priests have a double prayer, one buffs the infantry and one deals d6 MWs. With the bloodsecrator, the 2 heavy hitter units (skullreapers and khorgorats) can jump at my throat, while the rest of Khorne's army occupies the entire battlefield… (the only positive thing is the fact that obj points will matter more in the later turns; this gives me a little more room to act). The other additional problem is that with so many units that i need to kill, I'm going to give a friggin' lot of blood points to Khorne… which means that the summoning could be a significant threat. Set-Up As planned, I place my entire block in central position. The whole army of my opponent spreads all across it's deploy zone, ready to move forward. Curiously, both the skullreapers and khorgorats are kept behind the weak units, probably fearing my shooting if i take the first turn (i've got less drops so i will decide). Without the worrysome things in the frontline, I'm happy to give the first turn to Khorne. The constellation gives me +1 to cast Let's go!
FIRST ROUND KHORNE's turn My opponent activates all the possible buffs, then runs with basically everything, expanding on my sides, but keeps the priests and the hitters slightly outside the range of my "magical shooting" in the hero phase SERAPHON's turn I teleport the Slann and the Eotg, both are good, so i place them to cast. EotG shoots 4 MW to one of the priests. Slann casts fireball on the front unit of reavers and proceeds with the swords, i move them and inflict 5 MW to the skullreapers, killing 1. Forego 1 spell. I move the rest of my units, recreating the castle, and roll a 3 for the conjuration points granted by the astrolith. 7 Conj pts. sallies are too far to shoot, but bastiladons are fine. One finishes the wounded unit of reavers, and the second one proceeds to erode a unit on my right. Not bad, not bad at all. SECOND ROUND the first objective lands on my left. Khorne wins the roll and goes first. Being the second, i can immediately use the endless predatory spell. The wounded priest is killed by the swords! KHORNE's turn the various units of reavers move with a surrounding manoveur and take the obj. the korgorath are kept on my right, maybe to have a strong unit to control that side? a buffed unit of reavers charges the front line of my screen, killing only 3 knights (i save 6 on 12 potential damages), i kill 2 reavers in exchange, then i pile in with my skinks, killing another reaver. A stupid move by me, I should have used wary fighter, but i was planning to teleport them the next turn. SERAPHON's turn EotG shoots at the skullreapers… only 1 wound, but enough to kill the second dude. LoSaT on the skink unit on my left, that is blocking my move. I roll 1. LoSaT again, i roll 2. Ouch, that hurts, now those skinks are blocking me… But I've got an ace upon my sleeve. I use the command ability of the Slann, and give fly to nearby units. Then i cast Fireball on the reavers on the left, killing 3. Move A basti and a couple of sallies bypass the stunned skinks. the shooting by 2 basti and 2 sallies kills 3 units of reavers (2 of them were already weakened). I collect 6+1+2 conj point, for a total of 16. With 12, i summon 3 terradons. Then a basti charges the reavers in melee with my knights and, given that it flies, I am able to hit those annoying reavers, wiping them away. 4 units wiped away!!! POINTS: 2-0 for Khorne THIRD ROUND the obj in my opponent's terrtory lands on my far right, but the obj in my territory lands on my left, basically where I already am. I win the roll, double turn for me! SERAPHON's turn The EotG fails to roll anything (1-1-2-2 !) command point to run 6" with skinks, i move and take both the objectives. Forego the spells and go to 15 conj pts The concentrated shooting on the skullreapers; they are 18 wounds combined, but cannot resist to that concentration of full buffed fire. i take 6 Pts. KHORNE's turn the Khorgorath, pushed by the Bloodstoker, runs toward the real battle, leaving only 10 reavers near the far objective. with the blood points, the priest summons 20 bloodletters and they manage to charge the terradons. One terradon is killed, the daemons take the obj, thus gaining 3+3 pts. 8-6 for Khorne, but things are not in its favor... FOURTH ROUND Maybe with a double turn, Khorne could be able to turn the tide, but i win SERAPHON's turn i start with double LoSaT: 3 for the sallies, and 6 for the handlers: i send both in the zone of the far rigth obj… the sallies can shoot tnx to the handlers, and the handlers can move, going within 6" of the obj. (The sallies will burn the reavers, so the obj is mine). then i collect more conj pts, and i summon 3 other sallies with handlers; between the shooting of the bastiladons, the Engine and the sallies, i kill the bloodletters, the slaughterpriest and one of the khorgorath. I collect 12 pts, I'm in full control of the battlefield and I've lost 3 knights and 1 terradon. My opponent concedes. MAJOR VICTORY FOR SERAPHON!
OK, this was a solid victory but not a hard one. My opponent did 2 things wrong: the list was not suited for this scenario. to swarm the battlefield with disposable units is a valid tactic with another battleplan, one in which you accumulate VPs since the beginning to acquire a solid advantage, but in this case the real points come in the end even so, he played too cautiously with the units that could have posed me problems. At the end of the game, he told me these exact words: "I was so worried by all the things you could do, that i forgot to play my army". LET THAT SINK INTO YOU. never forget that if you play Seraphon at their full potential (a thing that BTW it's mandatory, given that other armies are stronger), we are one of the armies with the greatest number of tactics and tricks. If you do it, in your meta people will tend to fear you because of that, and they will be forced in errors (thus mitigating the consequences when YOU commit mistakes). Other than that... well, you have seen that you must always keep in mind that in our arsenal, there is (almost) always something that let you bypass the problems. I'm prideful of the use of the command ability of the slann to let fly with (otherwise) blocked units… it's an ability that is used so few times, that one simply tend to forget that we have it. Small things can do a difference.
I think we learned a few valuable lessons from your game. 1. Bastiladons are awesome and our artillery is pretty good. 2. Using artillery to whistle away an opponent while seizing objectives does work 3. Make your opponent fear what your army can do. People do stupid stuff when they are anxious. -kinda no brainer there.
That is one of the wierd things about Seraphon. On average, they are very meh. Competitive lists are killer and can be overwhelming even for top tier armies. This is most likely due to a wierd combination of stupid units from outdated battletome, a couple of very strong battalions, and broken abilities from General's Handbook.
I was very fond of bastiladons, but lately not so much. Their save 3+ with no rend is exceptional, but: they're slow, 8 wounds is not so much if you start to fail some saves and their shooting is unreliable. Still a strong unit, but 280 pts are not a joke. On their own could be not the best choice, but with thunderstrike and an astrolith bearer, their full potential is truly impressive. That's absolutely true. People see 2 battalions and the GHB abilities and their reaction is "Seraphon don't need update". But it's our units that need a new battletome.
I think, Bastiladon is the best example of a balanced monster. It has high unmodifiable save, but low wound count. With proper synergies, it can be nigh-unkillable for certain targets, but if opponent really want, he will crack it, but this will come at a cost of full turn or two. It is strong, when taken, but is not auto-take. But 280 pts is a bit too much for it. There is probably no reason to take more than one in a list outside of summoning. Probably, it should lose 20-40 points and Thunderquake go up by the same amount. Do the same for stegadon. Seraphon are indeed all about tricks, which is why I picked it in the first place. And I'm afraid, that renewed battletome will put us on the line with others It may be outdated, but it is really fun. Thank you for your reports, Killer Angel! Looking forward for more!
These reports are great and have really given me some insight on how to better utilize our army. I think I'm going to steal the idea marking up pictures to better illustrate my battle reports as well. I did have one question, however: I did not think we could use Blot Toads on summoned Rippers, as their wording requires them to be placed in the first hero phase of a battle?
It's a thing you can do ONLY with EotG (given that the engines activates during the hero phase, so it conjures unit in that phase), and ONLY in the first turn. there is no limitation on "when" you set the bloat toad during your first hero phase. So your Engine can conjure the rippers and "later", while you're still in the first hero phase, you set their bloat toad. That's why the rippers are probably the best summonable unit by the engine in the first turn, while they decrease in utility from the second turn
Seraphon Vs Destruction (2000 pts) the second to last battle in this campaign Battleplan TOTAL CONQUEST We'll play in the Ream of GHUR. Special rule: none (but 2 aleguzzler gargants will be the random monsters that will attack us). Army Lists SERAPHON (mortal real: Ghur) - Slann (general, Vast Intellect, incandescent rectrices) Thunderquake Starhost - EotG (Gryph-feather Charm) - 1 x BASTILADONS (solar engine) - 1 x STEGADON (bow) - 3 SALAMANDERS - 3 HANDLERS other - 10 SKINKS (Shield, Boltsplitters) - 10 SKINKS (shield, javelin) - 10 SKINKS (shield, javelin) - SKINK STARPRIEST - DREAD SAURIAN Endless spell: Cogs 60 The reasoning behind the list. With the battalion i hope to choose who will go first, and i would take the first round…. a thing that i normally don't like, but i cannot let my opponent use the free aleguzzler against me, plus i also expect at least a thundertusk, so i would like to weaken it to soften those 6 MWs The cogs are ther to make sure I'll roll the charge with my fully buffed Dread Sauraian, and for that reason I'm also picking the Slann with vast intellect… i lose the double teleport, but I'll gain that sweet Curse of Fate. DESTRUCTION (mortal realm: Shysh) - Frostlord on stonehorn (general, wild fury, ethereal amulet) - Butcher with cauldron - Huskard on Thundertusk - Thundertusk Beastrider - Troggoth Hag - 3 Ogors - 3 Ogors - 3 Ogors Cool. The Ogors will presumibly go for objective and the rest of the list will beat me as a hammer. The frostlord on stonehorn is a beast, and obviously it got a save 3+ that doesn't suffer rend. then we have 2 thundertusks, with a potential of 12 MW each round, and the Hag, a nasty monster directly from forgeworld. If i concentrate on the thundertusks, the frostlord will shred me to pieces… unless i feed him with skinks. Set-Up As you will see, i named the obj in the picture, so it will be clearer. 3 ogors "near" the obj 4, then (from left to right), we have: Huskard on thundertusk (Th1) Stonehorn (SH), with the Hag behind Thundertusk (Th2), with the butcher behind the other 2 units of ogors threaten the obj n. 3, near my deployment zone. I place the unit of boltsplitters skinks on my left, near the obj 1 The Dread Saurian is ready to attack the thundertusk 2, with a unit os skinks and the priest near it, and the obj 2 the rest of my army is placed to take the obj 3 immediately and slay those ogors then there are the two giants, one near the Th1 and one near my Dread. With 1 drop less, i decide to go first. The constellation gives me reroll to 1 to hit Let's go!
FIRST ROUND SERAPHON's turn I must exploit this one, to resist the Destruction's double turn…. when it will come. HERO PHASE Priest casts cogs and uses the staff on the Dread Saurian Teleport the Stegadon (4) and move it by 1" with the Alpha, to deal with the giant Engine: it's a 17, so i summon 3 rippers and place the toad near the 6 ogors Slann: casts Curse of fate on DS, success. Casts Starlight on DS, success; fails to cast the spell of the realm for a +2 to charge… i was uncertain about the cogs, but i set them to gain +2 to charges, with so many i need it. I pick just 1 Conjuring point MOVE: Boltsplitter skinks move to take obj 1 and shoot the giant sallies move to shoot the ogors Dread moves to charge the weaker (!) thundertusk (it's at 8" from me) "my" giant move to charge the huskard on thundertusk the plan is to wipe the giant with shooting and steggy, wipe the ogors with shooting and rippers, kill the thundertusk with the Dread and weaken the other thundertusk with the giant SHOOTING I deal 6 wound to the giant Sallies and Basti are able to kill just one Ogor. CHARGES!!!!! I made all the charges: the giant was at 3", the rippers need a 7 but roll 10, the Dread needs a 5 (i can count also on CoF) and i roll 5, the Stegadon needs a 6", and i use a command point to reroll the failed first one COMBAT long story short: the rippers obliterate the Ogors the giant wounds the thundertusk and it's taken to 2 wounds… it survives, which is what i need to force the thundertusk to shoot him next turn the stegadon rolls HORRIBLY and the giant stays alive with 2 wounds, and it's able to inflict 6 wound on the steggy! the Dread Saurian, buffed as much as Seraphon could, rolls EVEN MORE HORRIBLY and the thundertusk survives with 5 wound. I collect 3 points DESTRUCTION's turn Let's keep it simple. The Huskard kills the giant it was in melee with. The giant upon the stegadon dies The Hag and the Stonehorn move, the general charges my Dread Saurian. Between the Hag's shooting and the Frostlord, the Dread is killed. I knew i was almost sacrificing it, but that thundertusk shouldn't be alive... POINTS: 3-1 for Seraphon SECOND ROUND I win the roll SERAPHON'S TURN I know what i must do. The starpriest casts starlight on the Frostlord i teleport back the Stegadon to heal it the Engine rolls exactly 5 MW and kills the Thundertusk. 5 juicy MWs that should have targeted the Frostlord. Oh well. i forego all the 4 spells, to go to 14 conj points. I plan to spend 6 to summon screening skinks, so in the third turn, even if i cast CoF, i'll have 18 CPs to summon a troglodon or 3 razordons. Perfect. i move what i need placing my rippers to charge the Hag, that i weaken a little with the shooting of the basti and the stegadon. After the shooting, i realize i COMPLETELY FORGOT TO SUMMON THE SCREENING SKINKS. ...and in cc I'm not even able to kill the Hag, that luckily for me just wounds a ripper. I collect 3 Victory points. (Obj 1, 2 and 3) DESTRUCTION's Turn This will be painfully short The Hag heals itself for 6 wounds and kills the rippers the Huskard moves and deals 2 MWs to the skinks The Butcher buffs the Frostlord, which moves, runs and charges the Slann and the EotG, deals 6 MWs to the Slann tnx to the charge, then proceeds in the merciless butchering of both of them in a single turn! Destruction collects only 1 point, but this is a disaster, I think i threw away the match. VPs: 6-2 for Seraphon
THIRD ROUND I win the roll. SERAPHON's turn Despite the staggering blow, I don't want to give up... But I am still shocked, so I'm not able to think rationally. The best course of action would be: defensive buffs by the Starpriest on the bastiladon, use the bastiladon to charge and lock in combat the Frostlord, concentrate all the fire (steggy, basti and sallies) and melee by the stegadon on a softer target (the Hag, which was still wounded) and kill it. Instead, i threw averything i had against the Frostlord, including arcane bolt and another damage spell of the realm. Obviously, i was not able to kill it, but i took it down to 5 wounds, leaving untouched the rest of my opponent's forces. The good part is that i take 3 VPs, going to 9 DESTRUCTION's turn. The thundertusk moves and kills one sally with shooting. The Hag moves and shoots the skinks, which are also charged by the Butcher (and butchered). The wounded frostlord inflicts a couple of wounds to Basti and reduces to 2 wounds my steggy. Destruction conquers Obj n. 3, that previously was mine, so takes 2 points for that one, plus 1 for obj 4 for a total of 3 in this turn VPs: 9-5 for Seraphon FOURTH ROUND Sooner or later it had to happen. Double turn for Destruction. DESTRUCTION's turn The hag kills the survived sallies. The thundertusks inflicts a couple of mortal wounds to my basti. The Butcher charges the Basti and it's elected to attack first… my basti survives, and with 3 wonderful attacks kills the Butcher! AH! Sadly, the Frostlord remembers how much strong it is and both my dinos are killed. Only the handlers remain. 2 pts for Destruction… still 9-7 for me SERAPHONS's turn. I try to teleport the skinks that are actually on obj 2. I roll a 6, so they can also move…. perfect, i move them to take the obj n. 4, the one guarded by the 3 Ogors. The survived handlers go again near obj n. 3, and take it under the nose of the hag. I took 2 objectives previously in enemy's hand, so it's 5 points for me! VPs 14-7 for Seraphon! FIFTH ROUND Destruction, realizing the game was lost, rolls a 1, giving me the double turn Sadly, i fail to teleport away the skink starpriest, but i run away from obj 4 with the skinks and still collect 3 other points from obj 1, 2 and 3, going to 17 in its last turn, my opponent slays the handlers and the priest, taking 5 obj pts. I remains with 2 only units of skinks, but I've got 17 VPs, against the 12 of my opponent. MAJOR VICTORY FOR SERAPHON!!! __________________________________________________ A BRIEF COMMENTARY What could i say? this was an horrible game. I prepared an exceptional first turn, which was (partially) doomed by some awful rolls. Stupidly mourning myself for my bad luck and my poor Dread Saurian, i forgot to execute the (otherwise) solid defensive plan i've had in mind, that would have given me the edge for the rest of the game, saving my Slann and my EotG, then summoning 18 pts of something. I would have won MUCH more easily, i was so angry with myself i was almost going to concede. Luckily, that moment passed, and in the end I was lucky that my opponent played the "obj game" too late, while i was going for those points since the beginning. In the final turns, when i remembered how we should play, i was able to keep the edge despite the lack of units on the battlefield, simply because my opponent was too far and with so few units. So… this is certainly a victory that truly teaches many things.