To that point, can Seraphon still maintain endless spells anywhere on the board, or do we have to follow the regular rules now?
Well I very much like our box also in terms of re-buyabillity. Wanted another Carno or Trog, I don't have any Kroxigors but want them and more new Saurus sculpts is always a "yes please". Aggrodon lancers are the only thing I would've switched in either for the Krox or the Carno and then seeing a stand alone Oldblood on foot make an appearance would be my wish Although I'm certainly not complaining with what we are getting.
They're not terrible together, but they only synergize in so far that they perform 3 complimentary roles (infantry, monstrous infantry, & monster). Also doesn't help that the carnosaur lost its buffing ability. They don't really interact directly in any way. It's pretty decent in terms of buying multiple boxes though. Nothing that you'd be annoyed at having double. Imho, Kroxigor should've been in a skink box. And a saurus box would probably have been better off with some aggradon lancers + a scar vet. But I'm guessing that'd be too good a discount for GW to approve off.
I, personaly, am quite disappointed by our vanguard box. But that is just my personal opinion, as I have 20 new warriors already (and 40 old ones), carno was my first model and I have troglodon as well, so I don't need another and I don't like the look of new kroxies. I was hoping a bit that our vanguard will have starseer or astrolith, aggradons and warriors (as those were almost 100% my guess).
I mean, I like the Kroxigor. I just wish they were in a box that explicitly synergized with them. Then again, it's not like other vanguard boxes are actually that much better. Honestly, always found it kinda weird how the vanguard/start collecting boxes so rarely form a cohesive army/detachement/battalion/etc.
The new box is just okay. It's a good enough deal that I would get it if I needed another carnosaur. I like the start collecting skinks box better.
The Box is okay. Love more Warriors and the new kroxis are just beautiful. Carno is .... maybe usful for people to start with seraphon. Personally i dont need another one. So the discount gets smaller. its still okay, if you dont need a carno you maybe better by buying them separate
I guess we have to consider that the Seraphon Vanguard Box is technically to help people start an army. Obviously, most group boxes won't help long-time players. EDIT: What I mean is that you get one good monster/general, one solid battleline, one elite unit. I know they don't exactly synergize with each other (like Krox & Skinks), but when you buy this box you get a general and two battleline units for a starter KC force. All of these units get Scaly Skin and the troops get 5+ bites. If you are just starting, then buying two of these boxes will give you strong Coalesced options. If you are a more seasoned player, then this box could be worthwhile if you like the new sculpts and want to either add or replace unit.
They are battleline in koatls claw, benefit from scaly skin so are in a vanguard with the core models for that sub faction. Not sure what the issue here is.
Its a good way to get the new krox and saurus warriors. i just wish the old carno got updated as well. i know people think its fine but compared to other alternatives out there its too small.
Individually the models are fine, and they're all usefull things you'll eventually want. They just don't form much of a coherent whole when looking at just the box, which is kinda odd for a starter set. On the one hand their battlefields roles are too similar to form a functioning (small) army on its own, unlike say the Lumineth who bring all the necesary parts to form a coherent force (some frontline melee, an archer backline, a support hero, an elite melee unit to round it out) On the other hand, they're not similar enough to form a thematic specialized force with 1 primary focus, unlike say the fyreslayers who go all in on melee infantry And there is no explicit synergy between the units to play around with, as the Kroxigor and Troglodon only directly interact with skinks, and the carnosaur variants aren't exactly known for providing synergy, usually they're the ones being buffed. Which means nothing in the box really interacts with anything else in the box. And yeah, once you add in several other boxes, and the battletome, you start to get something. But on its own it's a box filled with a bunch of basicly random unrelated models with no clear focus.
If you build the Trog you end up with a Saurus Oldblood on foot which has synergy with the warriors. I do think that is typical of vanguard/start collecting, that they give you a taste of various factions within a single army.
Sure, but that's not exactly great. Plus even then it's still only 2 out of 4 units that interact in some capacity, and the 4 together still don't make much sense thematicly. Looking at the site, most others seem to do a much better job at either providing a fullfledged force, or they provide a hero with some decent interactions with the other units. Or in the case of Nighthaunt and fyreslayers, they commit to a focused force (melee in this case) Even our old SC worked better in that sense, at least it commited to being a full saurus force.
To be honest I find arguing against what you are saying difficult and that's probably because as much as I like the box as someone who has about 1500 points built and favours Koatl's claw Saurus themed lists, you are not really wrong. Though personally I do very much enjoy the synergy the Old Blood has with the Warriors. It's interesting how much Synergy there is if you just switch the Warriors out for Skinks. I kind of expected to see the Lancers in this box along with the Scar-Vet.
I know I'm kind of beating a dead horse, but I think the box is fine. Is it incredible? Are any of the Starter Boxes supposed to be? But it's good. On its own it's only about 750 points anyway. Either: 1 Oldblood Carno, with double commands for any 2 units, plus a Skink Starpriest (Oracle), with a spell and command. Skink could stay with Warriors or run with the Krox for commands/Skink synergy (meaning Warspawned if enemy kills the Starpriest). or 1 Troglodon, with spell, command and aura, plus Oldblood on foot, with Warrior tandem melee and/or Warrior command ability. Trog could run with Krox for commands/Skink synergy (meaning Warspawned if enemy kills the Trog).
Honestly, what annoys me most is that it's so easy to make an interesting box with some of the new models. There's like four or five different options that would've worked brilliantly. But instead we got something halfbaked. The issue is that the only synergy you get in there is the generic command abilities/spells. There's nothing special about it. It could've literally been any set of 2 units + hero/wizard and achieved that. Also, I refuse to give them credit for the starpriest. GW does not get credit for having some left-over pieces in a box after building the intended models the box is supposed to give you, I expect more than that And yeah, the box is ultimately fine, it's worth the money. It's just boring and a massive missed opportunity given the interesting boxes they could've made instead.