G-dubs brings us today a rules preview of the upcoming Seraphon release for AoS!
This article was originally published on the Warhammer-community site.
Greetings, wise Starmaster! Are you looking to field an army of indomitable lizardfolk? Seen the lore and want to know how it translates to the tabletop? Wondering if your army is still awesome? Now’s your chance to find out! In our latest preview, we’ll be looking at just how the Seraphon work on the tabletop.
For Everyone
When building a Seraphon army, you’ll start by choosing between the savage Coalesced and the mysterious Starborne, each of which offers you a suite of thematic and powerful battlefield benefits. Regardless of which you select, you’ll get access to two nifty abilities. The first, Contemplations of the Ancient Ones, lets your slann change their spells mid-battle, allowing you to tailor your strategy for your opponents.
The second, Sacred Asterisms, lets you choose from three potential benefits for your army or specific units. The Hunter’s Steed, for instance, lets you advance on your foes faster than you usually would!
Starborne Armies
Starborne forces represent the Azyrite Seraphon. Extremely mobile and blessed with the ability to summon new reinforcements to the battlefield, they’re flexible, powerful and excel at objective-based play or when using powerful casters like Slann Starmasters. Lords of Space and Time is their signature ability, letting you deliver key units to wherever they’re needed most.
Another key boon that makes the Starborne superb objective-holders is Unfeeling – a rule that gives all your units a Bravery characteristic of 10! Now, you can count on your Starborne warriors to hold even in the direst of circumstances.
If you previously played Seraphon, you’ll find the Starborne very similar to your existing rules, but better! Nice, eh? But that’s not the only choice you have available to you…
Coalesced Armies
Coalesced armies represent the more savage, terrestrial Seraphon that have made their home in the Mortal Realms, and as such, they have gained several powerful advantages to their combat prowess. For example, whether you’re fielding Saurus, Stegadons or anything in between, you’ll get a helpful extra attack with any jaw-based weapons you’re using!
This is coupled with a defensive boost in the form of Scaly Skin – an ability for all Coalesced units that makes them excellent against attacks that deal more than 1 damage.
As if that wasn’t enough, you’ll get to ignore negative terrain effects in your table half, as well as Bravery modifiers! Compared to the Starborne, Coalesced forces are really well suited to aggressive play, as you use massive monsters and blocks of Saurus to grind down the foe.
And that’s not all…
The Sub-factions
Both Coalesced and Starborne armies can be further customised with a choice of sub-factions for each, offering you an even wider range of play styles and army archetypes to draw from. Every sub-faction has an ability, command trait and artefact, with some also having command abilities. Dedicate your force to Dracothion’s Tail, and you’ll get to bring a vast portion of them down from on-high, giving you nigh unparalleled control of the battlefield.
The Fangs of Sotek, meanwhile, are the perfect army for lovers of Skinks, as you get a bonus move with these nimble skirmishers at the start of the game and a command ability that can seriously disrupt enemy charges.
Koatl’s Claw allows you to unleash the full might of your Coalesced Saurus units, as well as giving you plenty of command points to play with thanks to an excellent command trait.
Finally, the Thunder Lizard lets you field armies of nothing but super-durable Stegadons. We’ll be previewing this particularly dino-tastic list for your pleasure later in the week, so stay tuned…
Top Warscroll Changes
Loads of Seraphon warscrolls have been tweaked for the new Battletome, ensuring the army is streamlined, effective and fun to play. Some changes are small, while others are pretty significant, like the Skink Oracle on Troglodon. This little guy is now a fully-fledged (and rather awesome) Wizard, with a handy ability and fantastic spell.
Saurus Warriors, meanwhile, have been given an extra point of Rend on their Celestite Clubs and a bonus to their Attacks when fighting in large groups, ensuring that these heavy infantry are truly a match for the terrifying foes they’re bred to fight.
Bound Endless Spells
Lots of armies in Warhammer Age of Sigmar now have Endless Spells, but the Seraphon have mastery over them like no other faction. Special “bound” versions of the standard Endless Spells found in the Malign Sorcery set offer the same powerful benefits as their counterparts, with a key twist – bound predatory endless spells can only be moved by a player using a Seraphon army. No more watching Purple Suns and Geminids of Uhl-Gysh crash into your own units – just utter magical destruction at your command!
And MORE!
We could fill a whole week’s worth of articles with new rules goodness from Battletome: Seraphon – but for now, you’ll have to wait until you’ve got your own copy to see it all. In the meantime, check out the latest lore in our preview and stay tuned for our final preview later in the week, where we show you how to build Warhammer Age of Sigmar’s wildest list ever.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
