Dread it, run from it, the dinosaurs are still coming for your meta. What are the stars and weakspots on this wildly diverse book.
I don’t know why I have avoided highlighting this army for so long, in this series. I suspect it is because of how gross I felt the entire time I was testing the Disciples of Tzeentch. I really didn’t want to grind on my poor test team with another brutal army. Alas, it could not be avoided forever, so I LITERALLY dusted off my wife’s ancient Seraphon (her first AoS army), and got to work.
The games that followed really highlighted a maddeningly good book that has some super-powerful units, several interesting builds, and would generally be a favorite book of mine if not for a vague “no fun allowed” sense it can give off to opponents, when played to peak competitive potential.
It may not play like Lizardmen of old, but boy does this book need to be accounted for when anyone is preparing for a tournament.
Over-Performer: Slann Starmaster (Honorable Mention: Bastiladon)
First our honourable mention. How is this model 220pts? Against armies without mortal-wound generation, this model is a very definition of “no fun allowed”. With Mystic Shield it is functionally unkillable. With the piles of CP you’ll have, it can be made to fire its not-insignificant shooting, twice-per-turn if you are a Thunder Lizard army. His melee is a competent supplement for a unit with no fear of getting stuck in. Yeah… this unit is wild.
That said, the Slann Starmaster is an absolute lynchpin, and a steal at 260pts. Infinite range dispel attempts (buffed no less) are just the start. This excellent three-cast-caster, has access to simply excellent spells such as Comet’s Call, which if nothing else, is likely to put out some consistent mortal wounds, at solid range. Those same casts can just as easily be put to work summoning Endless Spells, which thanks to binding, simply do better, more predictable work for Seraphon than any army in Age of Sigmar.
In the off-chance you have spells to spare, and are pursuing the less bitey, and more esoteric side of the battletome, you can always sacrifice casts for more summoning points. This of course doubles as a surefire way to make and keep friends at the friendly local game store.
While not overly powerful in any one area, this model is just reliable in enough areas at once, that it cannot be missed. Accurate to the fluff… and terrifying.
Under-Performer: Saurus Knights
The Saurus section of the battletome is unquestionably the weaker link. While themselves not terrible, all three flavors of Saurus battleline provide less all-purpose value than Skinks. As a result Knights earn themselves the dubious distinction of under-performer.
While Saurus Guard have conceivable value as bullet-catchers for your precious heroes, the similarly costed Knights apparently work as objective grabbing cavalry. The issue quickly becomes, no pun intended, that they are fairly slow, and lacking the punch needed to shift even the flimsiest opposition off of an objective.
If you are playing Coalesced, and as such lack teleportation shenanigans, look to Ripperdactyls and Teradons to better fill the function. While fewer in number, they are significantly faster, and offer just enough of an offense trick respectively, that they might contribute in moderate numbers, or as a flanking force.
Parting Thoughts: My calendar has a few weaker armies up next, which feel like karma for the brutal week I just had with Seraphon. Don’t get me wrong, they have several problematic match-ups, and certainly don’t have the “Feel Bad Man” energy of Changehost and its near breaking of the competitive game, but Seraphon are legit, and something to be feared one tournaments slowly reappear in the months/year to come.
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