Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Edition 1.1/Seraphon

Why Play Seraphon

Because they are Lizardmen in AoS. Motherfucking mesoamerican dinosaur people riding motherfuncking dinosaurs, what is not to love? What more details?, fine:

• They are Aztec Lizardmen riding dinosaurs.
• The Lizardmen Citadel miniatures are the true End Times survivors; only 4 characters are out of printing: Oxyotl, Tenhenhauin, Skink Chief and Jungle Swarms, yet you can find Skink Chief and Jungle Swarm bits on flying cavalry/stegadon and Saurus Knights sprues respectively, and with some simple convertions you can make your own Oxyotl or Tenhenhauin.
• They are Aztec Lizardmen riding dinosaurs.
• Since they survived so well the End of Times, they have 27 different units available; most that any other surviving miniatures without splittering into smaller subfactions (at least for Order players, since Slaves to Darkness also survived really well).
• They are Aztec Lizardmen riding dinosaurs.
• Having so many miniatures makes room for extreme flexibility: you can go all Saurus, all Cavalry, all Skinks, with tons of leaders. Simply you have tons of options available.
• They are Aztec Lizardmen riding dinosaurs.
• They have arguably the two most powerful, non-Monster keyword, wizards in the entire game: Lord Kroak is still around, being able to cast FOUR spells each hero phase, while having extremely aggresive abilities, but maybe the regular Slann is even better: 3 spells to cast, but he has much more supportive options.
• They are Aztec Lizardmen riding dinosaurs.
• The lowest bravery value of this army is 10. This guy will only run away if they are pounded to the ground.
• They are Aztec Lizardmen riding dinosaurs.
• Every saurus troop unit have the following common rules: Stardrake Icon (reduces bravey of nearby enemies), Wardrum (can move twice as long in the movement phase, but is unable to run or charge after), and every basic unit can have Stardrake Shields/Star-Bucklers (ignore rend unless is -2 or better). All of them are extremely valuable almost always.
• They are Aztec Lizardmen riding dinosaurs.
• Did I mention that they are Aztec Lizardmen riding dinosaurs?

Seraphon Warscrolls

Forenote: The following section will be arranged with similar units and formations being grouped together for easier reading.

This is by no means a complete guide. Also due to the relatively recent release of Age of Sigmar, most of this is based on theory and bound to be altered as the Battletome is released. Take everything with a grain of salt.

Named Characters

• Lord Kroak: Holy balls, is the skele-frog strong now. For starters, the big guy doesn't have an exact number of wounds: during the Battleshock phase, roll a die, add the amount of wounds he suffered in the turn and if it's higher than his Bravery he is dead unconscious for the rest of the game, otherwise he heals all wounds, making him essentially immune to anyone attempting to chip away at his wounds over several turns. In addition, if anything would flat out kill him, he instead takes d6 mortal wounds. He's one of only two wizards with two exclusive spells (and the other one is Nagash, so that should give an indication as to how strong Kroak is at casting): Celestial Deliverance allows him to inflict d3 (d6 on Chaos Daemons) mortal wounds on every enemy unit within 3d6" and can be used three times in a turn (with a +1 on the casting value on each successive usage), while Comet's Call inflicts d3 mortal wounds on d3 (d6 if you rolled 10+ when casting) units of your choice. Just take a moment to let that second one sink in. D3 mortal wounds... on up to any six enemy units. This spell has a global range, and only a small handful of units can shrug off mortal wounds. And now characters cannot join units. You know what you do on turn 1 with this spell? Start peppering as many enemy heroes as you can with this spell, two good shots and on average that's a kill. The enemy is a Vampires player with an annoying necromancer who'll summon a bunch of reinforcements? Comet's Call. Your enemy general has a really devastating Command Ability? Comet's Call. Kroak is basically an assassin who traded his sniper rifle for small meteors and he can be devastating from the first turn if you capitalize on this. In addition, in a game where the average number of spells a wizard can cast is one per turn, Kroak can cast four. FOUR! And, like any Slann, he can summon basically any unit in the army. FOUR TIMES! One casting of Comet's Call, then up to three summoned units to reinforce your army and better defend you battle line, and Kroak is one scary bugger. And if you're thinking that a dead body would make a poor general, think again. His command ability let's Kroak see the freakin' future, allowing you to alter fate with some sweet rerolls. This has you roll three dice, for every roll that is a four or higher you get to reroll ANY single dice. Rolled a one on a Deadly terrain feature and your Carnosaur died instantly? Reroll that. Failed to wound an enemy monster that had one wound left? Reroll that. Failed casting Comet's Call? Reroll that too! You can even reroll the initiative roll that decides who goes first in the next turn, so always keep one reroll spare just in case. EDIT: Kroak is significantly less useful after the General's Handbook FAQ clarified his special rule on Celestial Deliverance still can't be cast multiple times, even though the rule seems to have built with this in mind.

Slann

• Slann Starmaster: Special and unique enough to be awarded his own section. Can cast and unbind 3 spells per turn, gives every fellow Seraphon within 10" the ability to fly and reroll saves in the Shooting Phase, can move constellations allowing either rerolls 1 to hit, add 1 to every spell casting attemt or add 1" to run and charge; you can change the constellation before casting spells in your Hero Phase on a 4+, but a 1 on that roll will negate spells for that turn. His exclusive spell makes every Daemon on the field roll their Battleshock tests on 2d6, keeping the highest if it's a Chaos Daemon or the lowest if it's a Celestial Daemon (read: a Seraphon/Lizardman/whatever). He can also summon any non-Slann unit in the Warscrolls, and can cast through any Skink hero and Troglodons rather than only through Priests.

Saurus units

• Saurus Oldblood: Either on foot or on a Cold One. On foot he allows every Saurus within 5" to reroll 1s to wound and his command ability allows every unit within 10" to rearrange themselves. If he takes a Cold One he can get tons of extra attacks with some rolls (3 attacks, after that on a 4+ you can get 3 more attacks, and 3 more after that on a 6+) while allowing rerolls on 1 to charge and to hit to every Saurus within 8" and giving an extra attack to Cold One Cavaliers in the same range.

• Scar-Veteran on Carnosaur: This is the big show. The Carnosaur allows any Saurus unit within 15" to get extra attacks for each 6 to hit. The Carnosaur itself is filled with interesting abilities: his bite attacks get +2 to hit if he targets a monster he already wounded hit successfully with both his claw attacks in the same turn. In addition, if his bite attack kills an enemy model he can run and charge in the same turn for the remainder of the game and can make d3 models flee from an enemy unit within 8" in the Battleshock Phase regardless of whether the test is passed or not (you just have to roll over their battleshock roll not counting bonuses).

• Saurus Astrolith Bearer: A Scar-Veteran with a totem. It allows any Seraphon within 10" to reroll failed to hit and also gives +1 to casting spells and +8" to spell ranges which are all extremely desirably abilities (combine this with a unit of Temple Guard that hit on 3+, and laugh as your formerly I1 get revenge on those pesky elves, HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING HIT WITH REROLLABLE 3+ TO HITS, YOU PONCES!?,)

• Saurus Warriors: Get +1 to hit if the unit has 20+ models, and everyone gets an extra attack when they're 30+. Nice. Shit, take these guys if you can't afford temple guard otherwise these are nothing more than summoning fodder. That said, while they're weaker than Temple Guard undeniably, they are much easier to summon. You can summon twice the number of Warriors than you can Temple Guard, making them a much more desirably choice for reinforcements as they'll give you twice as many wounds.
  • Alternative opinion: Saurus Warriors are one of the best Battleline units of any faction, period. With Bravery 10, 5+ Save that doesn't get affected by -1 Rend, two attacks each, and guaranteed "Run" move of 5", they're rock solid. Only the meanest Heros and Monsters will kill them fast; in every other circumstance, you can rely on them to do their work. Tarpitting things, holding objectives, killing hordes, or anything you want, they will do it, and do it well. Make them the anchor of your army, and you won't be dissapointed.

• Saurus Guards: Nice to guard any hero, giving him +2 Bravery and +1 Save as long as they are within 8".(Another way to read the rule is the unit of temple guards gets +2 Bravery and +1 Save.) TG hit and wound on 3+ with their halberds, make two attacks apiece, and rend at -1, plus those bite attacks that are can make for one or two extra wounds, they hit very very hard. Unfortunately they can only be summoned in groups of five, so they make poor reinforcements.

• Saurus Knights: A bunch of lizards riding lizards, each able to be armed with a bevy of tools. If armed with spears, a 6 to hit inflicts a mortal wound along with the eventual regular wound. Taking a Stardrake Icon makes nearby enemies that test Battleshock suffer -1 to the roll while taking a Wardrum lets them double their movement, but now can't run or charge. On top of that, you can also take shields, enabling them to ignore any rending below -2.

Skink units

• Skink Starseer: The new generic Tetto'eko. Mostly useful as a utility-mage. Has an ability where you can place down a dice with a secret number and your opponent has to guess it. It's basically a minigame of Liar's Dice, you get the number you pick as rerolls, but if your opponent guesses it, they get them instead. Also has a cheap and dirty spell to grant you the ability to increase or decrease a dice by one. Whoop-de-do.

• Skink Starpriest: When Age of Sigmar was first released, Tetto'Eko was the only non-Slann wizard Seraphon had, but the Battletome gave them this second guy too. His only weapon's unremarkable, but he has two abilities: His staff, which can give any nearby Seraphon that use their bites and roll a 6 to wound to double the damage, and his special spell, which can either reduce any hit rolls made on a fellow Seraphon unit by 1 or reduce the hit rolls of an enemy unit by 1 (And also dealing d3 damage to Daemons as well because fuck'em). If you take one, they won't quite replace a Slann, but they can certainly take the burden of sorcery off them.

• Skink Priest: Allows a unit within 8" the ability to reroll charge, run and saves if he rolls a 4+ first. Can either get Priestly Trappings (allowing the aforemented ability to be used on every unit in the range) or a Cloak of Feathers (+1 save, +6" Move and can fly). Really both can be very effective.

• Skinks: They get a +1 to hit in Shooting Phase if the unit has 20+ models that becomes a +2 if they're at 30+, and can retreat when charged.

• Chameleon Skinks: As said before with Oxyotl, they can teleport around instead of moving. Also, scenery gives them a 3+ save (doesn't stack with the normal terrain bonus), and attacks in Shooting Phase deal 2 wounds (3 on Chaos Daemons) if you scored a 6 to hit.

• Terradon Riders: First flying cavalry. Once per game they drop mortal wound-causing boulders on units they passed through in Movement Phase, Sunleech Bolas make every scored hit into d6 wounds, they can reroll hit and wound in close combat (but by doing so they're considered not flying until next turn) and the champion can get a sword that rerolls failed hits against flying units.

• Ripperdactyl Riders: The other one. They have the same gliding ability as Terradons, but lose the rocks and the bolas. In exchange, their beak attacks keep rolling to hit until they fail. Also the Blot Toad is still here and it's scary. Instead of making one attack with those beaks against a toad-infested unit, they make three. And each hit grants another attack. Six of these guys make for 18 attacks with theoretically infinite more on the way. Nasty.

• Skink Handlers: Weak as heck lil' guys with goads that automatically wound on a to hit roll of 6. However, they synergize well with some of the monsters, which will be discussed below.

Other

• Salamanders: Fucking hell, these guys are deadly. They only make a single shooting attack now rather than using a template, but that shot hits and wounds on 3+ and does D6 DAMAGE! A unit of these guys can really mess up an enemy monster or character. In addition, any hit unit rolls a die at the end of the shooting phase, on a 4+ they take d3 ADDITIONAL MORTAL WOUNDS. Did I mention it has rending -2? Yeah, -2. Because fuck your enemies. When within 3" of a Skink handler, their fire breath goes from 8" to 12".

• Razordons: Another ranged unit, Razordons make 2d6 attacks at 12" which gain rending -1 within 6". In addition, on a roll of 4+ they can OVERWATCH CHARGING UNITS. If a Skink handler is within 3", they reroll 1s to hit, which means they only miss on 2s. Nice. Might make a nice wall to march in front of your other units.

• Kroxigor: Melee beatsticks that have 4 hammer attacks. 1 in 3 can take a moonhammer, instead gaining attacks equal to all enemies within its 2" range. If their bite successfully wounds an enemy they have a chance to latch on. You roll off with your opponent. If they win, nothing happens but if you win you cause mortal wounds equal to the difference in the roll (meaning your opponent technically wins ties). It appears that these mortal wounds only apply to the model wounded by the jaws, however, meaning they won't spill over onto the unit. If any Skink unit is within 3" of the Krox, they can reroll failed to wound results of 1..

Monsters

• Engine of the Gods: Replaces everything we said about the Priest from above with a dinosaur and a table: you roll a number of d6 that depends on how many wounds he still has (3 usually, 2 if he suffered 5+ wounds, 1 if he has only one wound: a Slann within 10" allows you to throw an extra dice and discard one of them) and you can either damage yourself, heal yourself, damage a single unit, damage many units, summon any unit from the Seraphon Warscrolls, Slann included, and even stop time which forces the opponent to skip a turn (though you must scream ZA WARUDO at the top of your lungs if you ever roll this effect. Not an in-game rule, but still.) It's totally random, but almost all of its effects are deadly as fuck. It's a bunch of skinks on a GIANT DINOSAUR! Why aren't you playing it?

• Stegadon: A monster that buffs skinks and isn't too shabby in combat itself. Unlike the carnosaur, the stegadon seems more fit for range combat with all the ranged attacks it gets. Unlike the next monster, however, it can defend itself in combat a decent amount. What makes it stand out most is its Sunfire Throwers. Remember those giant blowpipes? Yeah well we replaced the darts with FIYAAAA! Basically they're now flamethrowers, and they make a single attack for every enemy within range. Against Ogres? Not so good. Against a massive horde of zombies? Fuck me, that's a lot of attacks. And really, what's more metal than a giant war-dinosaur piloted by smaller dinosaurs with fucking flamethrowers? Nothing.

• Bastiladon: A crazy tanky monster that ignores rend and can even ignore wounds. It has a GIANT CRYSTAL POWERED LASER on its back and can send out snakes in an AoE for point defense. However, this is a ranged beast. 20" range, 2d6 attacks with -1 rend that do 2 damage? Yes please! Oh and by the by, the Bastiladon is a true monster of a tank. Seriously, have a wizard hit it with an Arcane Shield to give it a 2+ armour save that cannot be reduced by any rend, then have a skink priest give it rerolls to all failed armour saves. A rerollable 2+ armour save that cannot be reduced by ANYTHING. Fuck.

• Troglodon: No longer the loser it was in WFB. Has the ability to use both range and melee decently. Its skink oracle rider can even unbind magic! Can be hilariously fast, since its ranged attack gives it a +3 to charge distance if it charges a unit it wounded. It gets a bunch of decent attacks in melee and causes enemies within 8" to subtract 1 from their bravery.

Battalions

• Sunclaw Starhost: A Sunblood grabs 3 packs of Saurus Warriors. They all get an extra attack on their bite and their weapons gain -1 rending and 2 damage against daemons. Meh. Least it's easy to build.

• Eternity Starhost: An Eternity Warden grabs 3 packs of Saurus Guard. All Guard gain +1 to their save when near the Warden and if they don't move, their polearms get d3 damage. This is the ultimate anti-fun cheese, since the Guards already have +4 saves, when they get close enough to the Warden they increase it to +3, and then, the battalion increases it again to +2. Put them under cover and they'll have a fucking +1 save. Now you are officially That Guy.

Make them defend objectives and add a Bastiladon for maximum skub.

• Firelance Starhost: An Oldblood/Scar Vet on a Carnosaur leads 3 packs of Knights. Any Knights near the Hero add +3 to their charges and if they roll a 6 to wound with their Celestite weapons following that charge, it becomes Mortal, which also stacks onto the rules for spears. This can be scary.

• Thunderquake Starhost: this one's got a lot of variety for a formation. First, grab a Troglodon or Engine of the Gods. Then take two of any combo of either Stegadons or Bastilodons. And to top it off, grab either Kroxigor or a Salamander/Razordon with Handlers. The biggest Unit (Troglodon/EotG) and anyone nearby can either gain re-rolls to hit/charge or re-rolls to wound/save. To make this even more insane, everyone here heals a wound in the Hero phase, upping to d3 wounds when next to a Slann.

• Starbeast Constellation: An Oldblood (On foot or Carnosaur) and a Starseer add in every other Starhost, making a massive Strike Force Ultra. Aside from every other bonus here, the Oldblood also gets the ability to use his Command Ability at all times while also enabling anyone within 20" to use theirs as well.

Army Building

Get two Start Collecting! boxes.

Really, that easy. 2 Saurus Warriors units, 3 Saurus Knights units and an extra Kknight that can be converted to a Scar-Veteran on Cold One, and two Carnos/Trog as you want.

From there, you can take many different choices.

External links

Rules are here

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-lordkroak-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-slannstarmaster-en.pdf