Tutorial Seraphon List for Battletome 2.o

you are going to be painfully low on CP

 

With Kroak and the Starseer it will generate an extra 2 CP per turn on average. Celestial Harmony can help with battleshock so less of a need for inspiring presence.

How would you improve it?

 

thats my bad i didn't see kroak at all so i thought you just had the star seer. it's a good list

 

Think it is a solid list.

Sad there is no Bound Geminids in it, and I personally dont see what the Starseer is there for. Hand of Glory is too good not to cast, especially on the Salamanders if you plan to charge after shooting, in which case you arent casting Control Fate. Might as well have another Starpriest then, so you have both blobs of 40 Skinks buffed by Serpentstaff.

I really like the idea of Terradons carpetbombing something nasty, and you obviously cant have it all. Im personally debating skipping out on the Balewind in one of my similar lists.

 

Haven't had much practice yet with the new Seraphon. I really want to make use of the awesome dinosaurs and not just go pure skink/salamander spam, lol! Thinking of trying this list out:

Allegiance: Seraphon
- Constellation: Thunder Lizard
Mortal Realm: Hysh

Leaders
Slann Starmaster (260)
- General
- Command Trait: Arcane Might
- Spell: Celestial Equilibrium
Lord Kroak (320)
- Spell: Stellar Tempest
Engine of the Gods (260)
- Artefact: Fusil of Conflaguration
Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)

Battleline
20 x Skinks (120)
- Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers
10 x Skinks (60)
- Meteoric Javelins Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers
10 x Skinks (60)
- Meteoric Javelins Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers

Units
4 x Salamander Hunting Pack (80)

Behemoths
Bastiladon (220)
- Weapon: Solar Engine
Bastiladon (220)
- Weapon: Solar Engine

Battalions
Thunderquake Temple-host (150)

Endless Spells / Terrain / CPs
Bound Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (70)
Balewind Vortex (40)

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 98

Basic idea is to use Kroaknado with lots of extra range for magical sniping, combined with the Bastiladon shooting to try and weaken the enemy before they get to me. Skinks to screen and the one Salamander because it's required for the battalion and might help do some extra damage when the enemy gets closer. Going to be facing a lot of Orks and Skaven, stuff that does a lot more damage than we do in melee, so I figured trying to whittle them down at range would be a decent tactic. Maw-Krushas and Verminlords in particular will melt any of our heroes and dinos, as I've found out.

Of course, any suggestions would be appreciated. If anyone has any good ideas for a Saurus-based list that also incorporates a Slann/Kroak, that's something I'd love to try out, since all the current Saurus lists seem to be pure melee with no magic or ranged ability.

 

Thanks for the feedback. After playing a game and test running this list today, against a 2 drop Khorne list with 3 thirsters, I agree with most of what you said.

Starseer was general for the extra D3 CCP’s. In my head the Starseer was there for the 3D6 charge on the Terradons to potentially drop rocks on some further back units. But he only used that once and it wasn’t game changing. He mainly cast hand of glory and netted a couple of CP’s which I guess isn’t trivial. But yes, a second unit having serpents staff would be preferable.

Balewind was lacklustre so I’ll see if that’s something I’d change after a few games. It’s awkward not being able to move and now we only have 1 LoSaT it’s not as easy to reposition it without sacrificing shenanigans elsewhere.

I was sceptical at first but buffed units of 40 Skinks are legitimate damage dealers. They alone killed 2 Bloodthirsters and a 3rd that was bloodtithed in. The only downside to having big blobs is you can’t really screen with them well while keeping them within range of the buffs from Starpriest and Priest. So a few additional units of 10 would be nice though CCP’s help with that.

 

Thanks! I used it today against a Plague Monk spamming Skaven army, and my opponent conceded when I got a double turn in the second round! The skink screening was vital. Kept him from teleporting with his Gnawholes, two of which he placed in my back line, and kept his main block of Monks, a Plague Furnace, and a Screaming Bell off of Lord Kroak and the dinos when he got to go first.

 

I like this list. It is unfortunate you cant switch the 20 Skinks to 10 + Skink Priest (10 pts over), since the Priest would add alot I feel. Its about 2,5 wounds extra vs 4+ save when you shoot twice, per Bastiladon. Even more with reroll 1’s to hit and/or against Chaos Daemons. It also makes the damage more consistent.

As much as I love Geminids, I would probably switch it for the Priest, then reduce the 20 Skinks to 10 and take Aethervoid Pendulum instead. Alternatively you could switch the Slann for the Skink Priest and more bodies.

 

I’ve played with a very similar list. Unfortunately the thunder quake is just not worth the 150 points. You don’t need to run and shoot and the + 1 melee characteristic only really helps the engine most of the time.
The bastiladons are amazing when they are healthy but as soon as they’ve taken 3 they start to drop pretty fast.
To play it again I’d not bring the engine or battalion which frees up 310 points. Using that I would add in 1 or 2 priests and probably a starpriest. Then with the last few points grab a command point or endless spell

 

Tried 12x (literally) salamander list. Wiped KO by turn 2 without double-turning. He had Ironclad, Frigate and 3x Gunhaulers with some infantry support. I lost one pack and 20x skinks. All worked very well, but I think about dropping the starpriest and 10x skinks to fit something else. They were not bad but didn't feel that necessary either.

 

So I am assuming you mean 12 packs of salamanders. 4 units of 3 packs? Salamanders are so annoying to talk about, lol.

But a heavy salamander spam in dracothian's tail will murder just about anything and they only thing you really care about is keeping kroak alive.

 

Exactly. I still prefere calling them by number of actual monsters, not skinks.

Yes, and I still think, that salamanders are the best unit of the battletome. They are just good in every way. They are good at range, in melee, have okay save and high number of wounds, they have bodies to control objectives and bravery is not much of a problem in starborne. They are good even without buffs, so losing your heroes is not the end of the world - you still can win. Also, DT salamander lists seems to be better at surviving double turn, if you position them properly.

I think, salamanders should go back to artillery. And, probably get point increase by 10. They are just too good.

 

Got another game, this time against Ossiarch Petrifex elite. Didn't change anything in the list either. As a result - wipeout by turn 3. Yes, 4 full salamander packs are literally capable of wiping out petrifex elite list in 3 turns. It had only 60 mortek guard and no harvesters, but still.

Once again, starpriest and skinks didn't do much. The problems is that I cannot bring 20x skinks in reserves because they are needed to score objective. Starpriest, however, brought me 3 CP, which is nice. But still I think about what can be done to improve their potential.

I feel like 4x packs are redundant. They are just hard to fit to strike turn 1 because of terrain. Maybe, one pack should stay on the ground to defend home terriotry. Or it can be divided in 3 single salamanders, which will increase deployment choices, but we are not chosing who goes first anyway.

Another idea is to drop 10 skinks and a starpriest for 6x terradons. They can help to clean chaff before initial alphastrike and hunt small units sitting on objectives.

It is also possible to exchange single salamander pack for razordons to shoot from the back row. 18" can be very handy in this case. Or just drop one pack and add 20 more skinks and a priest to get 40x classic skinks pack.

They main weakness so far I can think of is cheap MSU, which protects main body of opponent's force and, ideally, it is a ranged force. Any elite army will be in a great disadvantage.

EDIT: I am about 3 years into tabletop gaming but today I felt that my list may be a bit over the top for the first time.

 

I was literally just in a discord chat where people were saying that salamanders and kroak were trash. I think they might be in for a rude awakening when they finally get a game in...

 

How.

And what are good units in our battletome then? Troglodon and Ripperdactyls?

 

Scar Vets, Bastis, and Knights

As to how, i genuinely have no idea. Range was the big issue for salamanders, while Kroak was getting a "meh you'll never get all his casts off" and a "he requires too much investment to be worth it"

Of course, all this being said with zero experience with or against. I brought that up but they assured me it was irrelevant.

 

I guess, Celestial Deliverence gets too much attention, but comets call+3 other casts (don't forget realm spells) and CA are all good. And, most importantly, CP generation. Deliverence is a thing you unleash when someone gets close.

 

It's all good, the only downside is that it basically ensures 600 points of your army is always going to be Kroak/Balewind/Astrolith and a 5er of Saurus Guard. Booooooring.

 

I am pretty content with running kroak in TQTL without any of these. But it is not a good tournament list.