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Hey all,

So I'm jumping into AoS playing Seraphon (wasn't that Malekith's dragon's name???) as I used to love the old Lizardmen. Planning on picking up the Start Collecting box because them discounts!

Anyway, I was wondering how people would recommend building from there? I particularly like the skinks and am very tempted to do a skink heavy list. How viable is that?

On a similar theme, is it possible to make a Skink Oracle the army General?

Thanks in advance!

Castiel

EDIT: I also have the old skink warchief model which I love, but can't find rules for it. Are they no longer a thing?

Excellent choice of army - I have quite a large Seraphon force myself!

The Starter set is a good choice - I might even recommend getting another, as you can build one of the variant Carnosaurs, and you will have enough Saurus Knights to make the Firelance Starhost (lead with a Scar-Veteran on a Carnosaur).

Skink heavy? Heh

The 'supporting' Skinks (like the Chameleon Skinks and handlers for the likes of the Razordon) are very good. Normal Skinks... Well, they take (a great deal of) practice. In a stand up fight, they just melt. However their ability to leave combat lets them 'flow' past the enemy, which is nice for taking objectives of getting to Wizards and the like.

Try your Skink army out, but expect to need practice to get the best out of them.

The oracle (Starseer, I think you mean?) can indeed be a general, and he is quite nice to use, though I have only taken him as a supporting act to an Oldblood or Starmaster. Speaking of which, you will find things easier if you invest in a Slann, along with an Eternity Warden and enough (at least 15) Saurus Guard to make the Eternal Starhost - this is a hugely defensive Battalion that is very, very difficult to shift (especially if you can get them into cover). That will give you a good 'base' that can summon back all the Skinks you will (inevitably) lose and keep you in the fight.

Chameleon Skinks are among the best units in the game. Not necessarily super killy or durable by themselves, but the ability to jump on and off the field while taking potshots on important targets, while also having 3+ in cover, is massive.

Skink heavy plays very differently from most armies. You'll have to get used to the fact that most of your army is chaff - Skinks, even with the large unit buff, don't do much in the way of damage, and 6+ is bad even when you ignore Rend -1.

However, you're going to have a lot more bodies on the table than most armies, and Skinks can fall back and are difficult to be locked in combat, meaning you have much more board control by pure virtue of filling more of it and choosing to reposition instead of fighting when charged. As MongooseMatt says - you'll need practice. It's not a straightforward army by any means, but it can work. Many armies that are high in the meta rely on hitting hard and fast, killing important units early in the game with heavy hitting units getting Turn 1 or 2 charges. 60 Skinks in the way will make that difficult, and with Bravery 10+ they're hard to shift.

You'll still need heavy hitters - luckily, your Carnosaur variant from the Get Started kit will help with that, but it's advisable to also go for something like a Bastilodon or the like.

Thanks for the reply guys!

The skinks sound like the play sort of like I expected. Not much use in a stand up fight, but able control large areas of board and difficult to pin down so that's good. Hadn't thought much about the chameleon skinks and the handlers, but they sound good, I'll need to look into them more.

I had been thinking about the slann and temple guard, their rules look like a good backfield anchor. Wasn't aware of the formation, so I'll add an Eternity Warden to the purchase list!

The Oracle is the skink on the Troglodon, I was thinking of maybe making that instead of the Old Blood or Scar veteran. Can that be the general?

Thanks again for the replies, I feel like I have a bit of a better plan now!

If it has the hero key word (in the little box along the bottom of the scroll) then it can be your general. Pure skinks will melt like butter to a hot knife, there only advantage is there run away ability. On the whole i'd say you wont kill alot but will control the table due to numbers even so have fun.

Skinks is including the ones riding the big beasts, so looking at the Troglodon, Stegodon etc as well. Those pack a bit of combat punch yeah?

Troglodon is much weaker than the other Carnosaur variants, though it has some tricks to make up for that, like a ranged weapon and bravery debuffs.

Stegadon with Engine of the Gods is... well you have a 1/216 chance to get a free turn and basically end the game. The rest of the time it's ok, nothing special. Some RNG for Mortal Wounds and some ok attacks. Stegadon by itself is alright, better shooting and buffs for Skinks which could be good if you're playing Skink heavy. Neither is massively good imo but worth the points if you build around it.

I personally wouldn't announce that your starting with furries in AoS.

Considered lizardmen instead?

Requizen wrote:Troglodon is much weaker than the other Carnosaur variants, though it has some tricks to make up for that, like a ranged weapon and bravery debuffs.

Stegadon with Engine of the Gods is... well you have a 1/216 chance to get a free turn and basically end the game. The rest of the time it's ok, nothing special. Some RNG for Mortal Wounds and some ok attacks. Stegadon by itself is alright, better shooting and buffs for Skinks which could be good if you're playing Skink heavy. Neither is massively good imo but worth the points if you build around it.

Thanks, I'll bear that in mind

hobojebus wrote:I personally wouldn't announce that your starting with furries in AoS.

Considered lizardmen instead?

Wut?

Ignore him (always).

The name Seraphon is a play on term for angels and like you noticed earlier it is also Malekith's mount. However, trolls enjoy pointing out that a minor deviantart fetish artist also has that as his title. (It was more clever before the Seraphon models completely overwhelmed those deviantart pics on Google, where as Googling Squats or surprisingly Bretonnia will still have you looking for eye bleach.)

So yeah, completely idiotic trolling, just ignore.


Anyway, good luck on your Skinks army.

Ah I see. What a pointless thing to do. Thanks for the heads up!

No problem.

Interesting to see several Seraphon posts popped up on Reddit Warhammer when this thread started. A sign from the Old Ones it seems.

 Castiel wrote:
What a pointless thing to do.

Haha, trolls in a nutshell!

The Old Ones stir. Chaos won't know what's hit it!

Running pure skink is more than viable IMO.
I've always run a southlands list (no saurus there) and haven't done too badly.

Bastiladon with the crystal is a solid choice.
It's high in points but shrugs off most things.
It's shooting attack is enough to cause plenty of damage though.

Stegadons buff near by skinks, which I'd say makes them far more useful in this list.
The flamethrowers it now has are amazing against horde armies too.
Even its attacks in combat are pretty good.

Troglodons are nothing amazing, but give you a big monster.
While its hardly amazing, it still fares OK.

Ripperdactyls put out plenty of damage.
If the toad is near by it increases massively.

Terradons again are good, but more for their fire bolas which can do damage easily to smaller units.
Both flyers are ideal for hunting war machine crew and small weak characters.

Chameleons are great again for crew and weak characters.
Pop up, shoot them and vanish ASAP.

Salamanders are amazing when they hit.
Granted they are high on points, but when they it a target its funny to watch the damage.

Razordons again are pretty decent, high volume of shots to shred units.

Kroxigors are the token ogor sized units.
Capable of decent damage and fairly resilient to damage in return.



The main issue is characters though.
All of them are as tough as paper.
Don't expect one to live past turn 1 or 2 before being shot off the board with ease.

I'm actually running an army that is very similar to yours. I love the skinks too! The things folks have been saying here are all good advice (except the furries things). Here are my thoughts on the units.

Basic skinks are excellent skirmishers and have great mobility. They can get in aunit's way and really slow them down for a turn or two. You should usually retreat and use that as extra movement to snag objectives or attack squishy wizards. If you expect skinks to deal significant damage you will be disappointed. Even 30+ skinks, buffed to the teeth, won't kill much with shooting let alone combat.

Chameleon skinks are VERY good. They are nearly perfect assassins for killing wizards, war machine crews, and squishier heroes. They are also great at stealing backfield objectives since they can pop up anywhere.

The skink handlers and hunting packs I have less experience with. I have one razordon and, while he's cute and interesting, he's never been a game changer. Sadly I've never used a salamander though I hear good things.

Seriously consider getting some Terradons and definitely Ripperdactyls. They are both fast and the Rippers hit like a blender filled with trucks full of genestealers. The terradons don't hit as hard but have that fun "rocks fall, everyone dies' ability.

As for hard hitters, don't forget that every monster except the Carnosaur has the SKINK keyword. Also Kroxigors are quite punchy if you're not averse to some non-skink units. Lastly, the skink chief does have perfectly legal rules (and points in the General's Handbook). Here's the link on Black Library.

http://www.blacklibrary.com/Home/wh-aos-rules-and-compendiums.html

bhollenb wrote:
I
The skink handlers and hunting packs I have less experience with. I have one razordon and, while he's cute and interesting, he's never been a game changer.

I haven't done it myself yet, but i always thought three Razordons together would be funny against someone charging...

Thanks for all the replies guys! Great to hear other people have run similar lists, great to see a breakdown of what works and what doesn't!

Picked up the Start Collecting box and a box of Ripperdactyls, which I'm going to use as my starting point. What's the best way to equip the Saurus knights and Warriors? Do people have more luck with spears or swords for the warriors, and likewise lances or blades for the knights?