AoS Seraphon Battletome WIP

Don't worry, I will be making cats sometime in the future. I just need to get a tiny kitten, and convince it to sleep on a base during a battle.

 

Hounds indeed seem a bit weird, large jungle cats or some sort of hound-like lizard would fit more aestheticly.

Also, it seems to be rather powerfull wih a potential 10 wounds + 1 mortal wound per turn on top of it's binding rule.

I like the poison bite rule though.

And the binding rule feels off, the eternity warden-like protection ability seems odd for pets, though would be fair enough. But the fact that it also gets wildly varying bonusses depending on who it joined with feels a bit wrong.

 

Heya, so I took you guys your advice to heart, and I made some adjustments to my list. What do you guys think of this?

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Seraphon Allegiance


Seraphon Allegiance traits:

Ancient Purpose:

The Seraphon trace their heritage back to Lustria, where they were created by the Old ones to fulfill a granted purpose with impressive efficiency, Those Seraphon who are part of the Seraphon Allegiance are able to tap back into their ancient origins, and regain the immense strength and savagery that the Old ones granted them.


Scaly Skin: Whenever a Seraphon unit suffers a wound, it may roll a dice. On a roll of 5 or more the wound is ignored. If the Seraphon unit is within 10” of a Seraphon hero, he may also ignore mortal wounds on dice rolls of 5 or more.

Primal Savagery: Whenever a Seraphon unit makes a hit roll of 6 or more for an attack, that attack generates an additional attack with the same weapon (this includes mount attacks). These attacks cannot generate any more additional attacks. This effect stacks with similar effects.


Celestine Ascension:

The Spiritual leaders of the Seraphon gain greater Celestine might while under the Seraphon Allegiance:

Emissaries of the Slann: Skink Wizards (Such as Starpriests and Starseers) may summon Seraphon units similar to how Slann summon them.

Marked by the Old Ones: Skink Priests with Priestly Trappings gain a +1 on their “Celestial rites” ability roll. Skink Priests with the feathered cloak instead gain a +2 on that roll and can provide this buff to any target that is within line of sight and even those outside the board. This includes Chameleon Skinks and Ripperdactyl/Terradon riders who are “in the clouds” from the Shadowstrike Starhost.

Ancient devices: Engines of the gods who make a roll of 14-17 they may choose to summon as they normally do or instead may choose two abilities they would have gained when rolling lower. They may also choose to perform the same ability twice.

Devotee of the great plan: The Slann Wizard’s their commands are enhanced. See below:

Gift from the Heavens: The Slann Starmaster’s “gift from the heavens” additionally gives Seraphon units within 10” of the Slann Starmaster a +1 on all ward saves in the shooting phases. This includes the Scaly Skin trait, and the shield of Gor’rok.

Impeccable Foresight: Lord Kroak’s “Impeccable Foresight” allows him to roll an additional dice, and add +1 on all his dice rolls. Thus meaning that he has 4 chances to gain a reroll until the beginning of his next hero phase, and he can gain those rerolls by rolling 3 or higher on those 4 chances.


Fury of the Old Ones Command:

All Seraphon heroes within the Seraphon Allegiance have access to the “Fury of the Old Ones” command: Seraphon units within 10” of your general, and those blessed by your Skink Priests, receive a +1 on hit rolls.


Wrath of the Seraphon:

Whenever you completely slay an enemy unit you may add 50 points to your summoning reserve pool. This amount is increased by an additional 50 points for each of the following types that the slain enemy unit had: Monster, Hero, named hero, Chaos and Demon (requires both). And also if you slay a unit that originally had twice or more its minimum amount of models. If you lose as many units equal to the number of units you started with, you lose the game.

Old ones spell lore:

Each Seraphon Wizard knows 1 additional spell from the Old ones Spell Lore. (4 spells)

Vigilance of the Old ones: Spellcast roll 6 to cast. A target friendly Seraphon Unit within 18” heals for D6 wounds. If you roll a 10 or higher you may additionally pick a friendly Seraphon unit within 18” and resurrect 1 model from that unit, or D3 models if that unit is a battleline unit.

Ancient knowledge: You may pick a Spell from an Order or Destruction Wizard (except other Seraphon), and be able to cast it at a +1 Spellcast difficulty. Slann Wizards do not suffer this +1 spellcast difficulty as long as the “The Sage’s Staff” Constellation is in effect. Neither does lord Kroak suffer this penalty. Additionally, Seraphon Wizards don’t suffer the penalty when they pick a spell from the Battlemage’s Spell list. If the spell only targets or affects certain types of allies, you may add Seraphon among those types. You may only pick this lore spell once for your army, however you may pick which kind of spell you can cast the first time you cast it. Once chosen, you cannot choose a different spell for the remainder of the battle.

Iceshard Blizzard: Spellcast roll 6 to cast. You pick an enemy unit anywhere on the battlefield, you don’t have to have line of sight to it. The enemy unit receives a -1 on all hit rolls. If the enemy unit does not have to roll to hit, it instead must roll a dice and roll 4 or higher in order to make an attack in the shooting phase. When you successfully overcast this spell it instead gives the effect to enemy units within 8” of the target.

Comet of Casandora: Spellcast roll 7 to cast. You place a marker anywhere on the table. At the start of each subsequent Hero phase (both player’s phases, and you can’t roll in the same Hero phase you cast it in) you roll a dice. On a 1-3, nothing happens and you place another marker on the pile. On a 4+ the Comet arrives. It strikes with a 2D6” radius, and deals D3 mortal wounds +1 per marker on the spell (so a minimum of D3+1 mortal wounds). It can’t be dispelled once in play, and each time you roll a 1-3 on the dice in each magic phase you can add another marker on the pile until you roll a 4+ and you will deal the total damage to all those in the area. Overcasting this spell will let you deal 2 mortal wounds per marker instead of 1.”.


All Slann Wizards know the following spells:

Spells:
Fiery Convocation: Spellcast roll 7 to cast. You may target an enemy unit within 18 inch. That unit suffers D6 mortal wounds. After the initial damage you may roll a dice. On a 4 or more the enemy unit will suffer an additional D3 mortal wounds. This effect will continue until you roll a 3 or less with one of the new dices.
Walk between worlds: Spellcast rolll 8 to cast. You may choose a friendly Seraphon unit within 24". They gain ethereal (Immune to rend, and may try to ignore mortal wounds on a dice roll of 4 or higher) and immediately move up to 10 inches. They may also move over other units, as long as they end up more than 1/2" away from other models. This does not count as the unit’s move action. If the “The Hunter’s Steed” constellation is in effect, the unit may choose to pile in and attack instead of charging. When your general overcasts this spell the move distance increases by 2D6”, in addition to the range increase of the spell cast.

Artifacts:

-Battle harness of Grymloq: This may only be used on mounted Seraphon heroes with bite attacks . If the hero unit deals at least 1 point of Damage to an enemy unit with the mount’s bite attack, he will heal for D3 wounds at the end of his turn in the combat phase. Additionally, if the bite attack makes a wound roll of 6 or higher the attack will instead deal Mortal Wounds equal to the amount of damage it would have normally dealt. If you have effects that increase the bite’s damage, then you may additionally attempt to deal the bonus damage as normal damage (But this damage cannot become mortal wounds as well).

-Oldblood’s helm of command: One charge per Seraphon race only. Once per hero phase you may combine 2 or more units of the same type within 3” of each other into one big unit (such as combining Saurus Warrior units). This may only happen as long as you don’t exceed the maximum amount of models that can fit into that unit, and the units have the same type of items equipped. These units can then move up to 3” towards each other and combine in the hero phase. You do not retain the Alpha’s bonuses if any, but you will not lose bonusses due to loss of models later on in the battle. The new unit still has to meet the requirements for those bonuses when combined. If one of the units that was combined was part of a Starhost, the entire new unit may benefit from the buffs of that Starhost.

-Sacred Stegadon helm of Itza: This item can only be equipped to a Stegadon or Engine of the gods unit. The unit does not have to be a hero unit. The unit wearing this artifact can run, shoot and charge in the same turn. And he can shoot and charge in the same turn even while retreating. Additionally when you charge into an enemy, and you make a wound roll of 6 or more for an melee attack, the attack will inflict mortal wounds instead of and equal to the damage it would have otherwise dealt.

-Shield of Gor’rok: When you make save rolls for the Seraphon hero that carries this item, ignore the enemy’s Rend characteristic. Additionally, the Seraphon hero may roll a dice whenever it suffers a mortal wound, which is then ignored on a roll of 4 or more.

-Blade of the Serpent’s tongue: This item, blessed by Sotek, allows the wearer to summon Sotek’s serpentine tides in battle to attack the enemy. The Seraphon hero gains 4 attacks in the shooting phase with 8” range and 5+ to hit with 4+ to wound for one point of damage, as it summons forth tides of serpents. Additionally, if the Seraphon hero rolls 6 or more on hit rolls for their main weapon’s attacks (not attacks granted by mounts and similar) and these 4 bonus attacks, the attacks will deal mortal wounds equal to and instead of its regular damage.

-Idol of Tetto’Eko: Once per phase you can increase or decrease the result of a single dice roll that affects this unit by 1. This effect does not stack with the spell “Curse of Fates”.

Command traits:

-Champion of the Astral Dragon: The points you get when killing an enemy unit, as well as the increase based on certain types and number of models, increases by 50 points.

-Predatory Fighter: Saurus units in this army gain an additional attack with their “Powerful jaws and Stardrake/Aeon shield” attacks. These Saurus units gain a +1 on hit rolls with their “Powerful jaws and Stardrake/Aeon shield” attacks while charging.

-Dreadful Saurian: Non-Seraphon units within 3” of the general receive a -1 on hit rolls. The general may inspire an friendly Seraphon unit within line of sight to receive this effect as well. For enemy Skaven units this range of effect increases to 8”.

-Chosen of Sotek: This command trait may only be chosen by a Skink General. The general of this army can attempt to summon one unit with 2 models of Jungle Swarms in each of your hero phases without any point cost. The general does not have to be a Wizard, but he can benefit from boons as if he was one, and he has to succeed at a spellcasting roll of 9 or more to summon the Jungle Swarms (This counts as a spell, so it can be countered like any spell can). When summoned by your general, the model cannot move in the following movement phase. If there is an Engine of the gods in your army, which rolls a 14-17 on its “cosmic engine” ability, it can summon the Jungle Swarm unit for your general instead. The Engine of the gods does not have to roll for this summon, the Jungle Swarm unit can move in the following movement phase, and summoning it counts as an ability instead of a spell. You can set up the jungle swarm unit within 15” of your general or Engine of the gods, but it has to be more than 9” away from any enemy model. These Jungle Swarm models are described in the Lizardmen Warscrolls Compendium.

If your General is wielding the “Blade of the Serpent’s Tongue” artifact, then he gains a +1 on this summoning roll. Additionally, he may not summon a Unit of Jungle Swarms in the first round of battle. Instead, he is joined by a two model unit of Jungle swarms in the set up phase. These two models may be no more than 3” removed from your Skink General, and your opponent first has to target and destroy these two models before he/she can target your general. These models function like normal Jungle Swarm models, and once destroyed you cannot attach another (summoned or otherwise) Jungle Swarm unit to your general.

-Overcast: If the Seraphon general is a Slann Wizard it may gain access to the “Overcast” command trait. You may attempt to overcast any of your spells in your hero phase. When you do, roll a dice. On a roll of 2 or more the range of your spell will double and you gain a +1 on the casting roll (you still have to roll to succeed at the spell). If you roll a 1 you will instead be dealt 1 point of damage and you will automatically fail at casting the spell.

-Eternal Plight: This command trait may only be chosen by a Saurus General. Whenever your general is slain, roll a dice in your next hero phase. On a result of 4 or more, it is reborn from the light of Azyr with all its wounds restored! Set up the model anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9” from the enemy. However the general must reappear within 15” of any Seraphon hero. If none are in your army at the time, then the general can’t be reborn. Buffs on him that would benefit the roll to allow his rebirth (such as the Starseer’s “Curse of fates” or the “Idol of Tetto’Ekko) remain on him even in death.


UPDATES/CHANGES

We were hoping to see some of the Warscrolls of the Seraphon to be updated/changed, based on some more matches against the newer armies. We feel that with just a few changes we could keep most Warscrolls the same, yet make the Seraphon a lot more competitive and fun. Here is a list of the changes we put together:

1) Kroxigor units their “Jaws like a steel trap” trait will deal D6 mortal wounds if you roll higher than your opponent with the dice, instead of the difference between your dice rolls. The amount of mortal wounds are equal to the amount you rolled with that dice. This amount of mortal wounds can be increased by effects such as the Starpriest’s “Serpent staff”, but the bonus wounds will count as normal wounds (for which the opponent may roll).

2) Skink Chiefs become part of the roster again, but their command “Skink War leader” becomes an ability instead, which is able to target any Seraphon unit (but does not stack with other “Skink War leader” abilities from other Skink Chiefs). Additionally, Skink Chiefs can use both their blowpipe as well as their chosen melee weapon (regardless of the weapon that the model carries). With their blowpipe dealing D3 damage instead: https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Compendiums/warhammer-aos-lizardmen-en.pdf

3) Bastiladons carrying the Ark of Sotek can reroll roll results that don’t have a matching number as long as they are within 10” of a Skink handler unit or Seraphon hero unit. They may only reroll once to attempt to find a matching number.


Starvenom Starhost (120 points):

Requirements:
1 Troglodon
2 Skink priests, starpriests, or Starseers in any combination
1-3 units of Kroxigor
3-6 units of Skinks and/or Hunting Pack (each Hunting Pack consists of 1 unit of Skink Handlers and 1 unit of Razordons or Salamanders. It counts as 1 unit)
0-4 Seraphon Monster and/or Order hero in any combination

Bonuses:

-The Troglodon in this army becomes a lvl 2 wizard Hero who can choose two spells from the battlemage spell list in addition to Arcane bolt and Mystic shield.
Units from this Starhost within 10" of the Troglodon receive +6" increased range during the shooting phase.
The Troglodon gains access to the"blessed by Starlight"command: “During the shooting phase, substract 1 from hit rolls against friendly order units within 18" of your general. Skinks battleline units (the battleline unit, not the type) receive this bonus in the combat phase as well”.


-Order heroes under this Starhost now count as being Seraphon units, even if they don't originally have that keyword. Their beneficial spells and abilities may also target and affect Seraphon units, in addition to their original type of targets.


-The Kroxigor ability Energy Transference now additionally gives Kroxigor from this Starhost a +1 on hit rolls and +1'' reach (up to a maximum of 3”) on all attacks. Kroxigor units from this Starhost can also be put closer than 1” next to Skink battleline units. Non-monster Skink units in this battalion that are 3'' near Kroxigor or monster units count as being in Cover.


-Skinks battleline units under this starhost gain bonusses based on their equipment:

Boltspitters: A skinks battleline unit that carries Boltspitters gains a +1 on all wound rolls on all attacks.

Moonstone club: A Skinks battleline unit that carries Moonstone blubs has its Celestial Cohort’s bonusses apply in the combat phase as well.

Meteoric Javelin: Once per turn, if an enemy unit ends a charge move within 3” of a Skinks battleline unit carrying Meteoric Javelins, the Skinks unit may attack the charging unit with their Meteoric Javelin missile attacks as an interrupt attack.

Star-Buckler: A Skinks battleline unit that carries Star-Bucklers gains a +1 on save rolls in the shooting phase. And also gain this bonus in the combat phase when carrying Moonstone clubs.

Skinks battleline units (the unit with that name, not those units with the Skink type) that are summoned, while the Troglodon Wizard Hero from this army is alive, count as being part of this Starhost.

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Thoughts?

 

scaly skin potentially loses too much of its value if you link the mortal wound to being near a hero, possibly better to make the default succeed on a 6+ and near a hero on a 5+.

I'd still say the oldbloods helm needs some secondary effect, generally not that big a fan of 1 charge per battle kind of mechanics.

-Idol of Tetto’Eko should probably be once be round, once per phase seems a bit frequent.

My gripes with your summoning reserve generating thing we've gone over with, those points remain

That's all I can see for now

 

Sotekhounds are hound-like lizards, I just called them Sotekhounds because they act like dogs. A loyal dog would protect its owner, and the different bonuses relate to the personalities of the owners, hence why a Slann's pet can unbind, or a Skink Chief's is more vicous.

 

Possibly change the name slightly hounds have too strong a connotation.

The protection is fine-ish, but the different bonusses differ a bit too much, not sure how to fix that though.

 

Is this still going?

 

I think so, and so is this and I want comments befor it becomes a long list of me replying to myself

 

Still going, I just need to find a bit of time to update. Lots of great suggestions and comments, so we will update and add more before sending it off.

 

I was thinking about this the other day but Lizardmen have kind of lost some of their fluffy playstyle in the transition to AOS. They are supposed to be about Slanns and how they are the followers of the old ones and how the lizardmen fight for the slanns in order to enact the old ones will. This should be even more so in AOS since slanns are essentially the only thing keeping the lizards Alive in their astral forms.

I feel we should add something to encourage this approach.

Maybe a battalion that rewards players for playing fluffy. Something like:

Starmaster starhost

1 slann starmaster
1 unit of Saurus guard
3-9 units of everything else

Aeons amongst the stars have brought even greater wisdom and power to the slann. They use this tremendous power to shield their warriors from the machinations of their enemies. While the slann starmaster is alive all units in this battalion treat mortal wounds as normal wounds. (They roll their saves for these rolls as though they were normal wounds).

The Saurus guard have sworn an oath as old as the world itself to protect and serve their slann. If an attack would target the slann, you may redirect the attack to a Saurus guard unit within 5in of the slann.

 

That actually sounds lovely, a lot of the batallions seems so.. limited. Nearly all of em are "3 units of the same type + 1 hero". Even in terms of sizes there's relativly little variation.

Also, that approach could be used to give armies their identity back and stop people from just fielding an "order" army that has powerfull wizards from faction 1 warriors from faction 2, artillery from faction 3 etc. There's so little to actually encourage a mono-army. And if you there's no reason to make a mono-army it's too easy to make a well rounded army that's good at everything.

Also, that batallion bonus would be briljant. Though a bit overpowered to some units (hello saurus guard with a 2+ save).

To be honest I wish they change mortal wounds already, mortal-wound like mechanics nearly Always feel unfair.. would've rather seen mixed damage (say magical + physical) or the way it worked in fantasy or some other games with an attack having a strength rating and defender having some defensive rating and that resulting in havign to roll a minimum roll to wound. Mortal wound like mechanics tend to be too easy.

 

The sad part is I don't think it would be as overpowered as it looks on paper. Almost everyone has acces to 2+ And 3+ armor saves and some even let you re-roll saves of 1. It would be par for the course as far as competitive armies go. Everyone else is spamming units like plague monks and ork boys with bows that pump out so many attacks
You will roll ones. So it wouldn't be that bad.

 

Meh, fair enough, migh just be the limited armies I've played with. So far defense is rather hit and miss. Normal attacks doing absolutly bugger all against though units and mortal wounds just ripping through them because they rarely have actual counterplay. At least stuff like saurus Knights can be negated by blocking the charge or reducing their wound rolls. But attacks that can actually be countered by interaction like that seem rare. Which seems like a 2+ save against everything, plus the rend protection that saurus have, would be hilariously powerfull.

 

The Bloodclaw Starhost requires 3-5 units of any Saurus. That said with the required number of heroes it gets pricey. I would personally love something similar for smaller games. I also like the Slann Starhost, although I think treating mortal wounds as regular wounds might be a bit much, maybe they just get a 5+ save against them. To be perfectly honest I don't want much resistance to mortal wounds in the game, the whole point of them is they can't be resisted, but I would love to see the mortal wound output reduced. Make it so only a handful of elite units in any army can spam mortal wounds and give every army one tank, at most, to withstand mortal wounds. Also, does anyone else feel like Saurus Knights should get their mortal wound on a hit roll of 6 instead of a wound roll? I just feel like the blazing lances can be so unreliable compared to other armies and they're already pretty squishy for supposed heavy cavalry.

 

Sorry, I should have specified, I meant Saurus broadly, as in Warriors, Guard, and/or Knights. I agree, Saurus are basically just chaff at fewer than 30 models (which is sad since they're supposed to be above average infantry), but the Bloodclaw allows any type of Saurus unit.

 

Meh, saurus warriors are weird and far too much power is stuck in their horde mechanic. Which leaves them in sort of a weird elite-ish horde unit state.. more powerfull & more expensive than other hordes, but kinda weak in small groups... To be honest I would've loved a different point cost for hordes. Say fielding a unit of 10 saurus costs 80 points, 20 cost 170, 30 cost 270 and 40 cost 370 or something... would've solved some of these issues.

@claymore36 having the same protection against mortal wounds would indeed rather defeat the point of having mortal wounds, but resistance against mortal wounds, or just having the effects be significantly less effective against certain types of targets (e.g. cannonfodder with no armour doesn't get hurt as badly as the heavily armoured hero or something), would be good. Right now it doesn't matter who you attack with mortal wounds, bar a few exceptions like a bastillidon, they're Always equally effective. Would have prefered different types of mechanics for the purpose of dealing with high armor targets.

 

I'm not a fan of the rules regarding summoning units. Gaining more units as we kill other units just makes any advantage into a larger advantage, and becomes rediculous against any MSU/Multiple characters list. I'd say drop it, its a cool idea but I don't think itd work well on the table.

Scaley skin is a weird one, we already have a ton of help vs regular wounds, with our shields, we dont need another 5+ save. However id consider making it only a 5/6+ mortal wounds save so we at least have some defense against them.

Other than that I love the artifacts, theyre not too strong, but not weak either, and there is a decent choice between them and the Order ones.