I know there's already a lot of threads like this and I've read the tactics for seraphon tutorial but I'm still unsure of what to do. I've bought the getting started box and the seraphon battletome I'm looking for what to buy next. I like the idea of a defensive army, particularly one based around the eternal starhost, but I'm not sure whether this is reasonable. However i know that at my local club there's a lot of people playing stormcast eternals so something to help counter those would be nice. I don't have a huge amount of money to spend and i only plan on fielding smallish armies anyway. I think i'd probably buy a skink priest next but would like to hear your thoughts. Any help is appreciated.
Honestly, with the start collecting I would convert two of the knights into Scar vet on cold ones, doesn't have to be a big conversion just make them stand out. Then pick up a sunblood and go for the bloodclaw starhost. It would still be worth picking up a box of temple guard and an eternity warden if you want a bit more of a defensive stance. But if you're fielding smaller armies, a starpriest is a good start. Gives you a wizard with a great spell and a great ability. Still going to cost a bit to get the eternal starhost, but if that's your playstyle then you can convert your saurus warriors from the get started, see if you can pick up some cheap bits somewhere, and grab an eternity warden.
Hi there @Shadow27 , welcome to the site! First things first- what kind of Age of Sigmar games you looking to get into? As of the recent release of the General's handbook, there are 3 ways to play: Open Play- The original way to play. Just bring whatever you want, your opponent does the same, no restrictions, go for it. Narrative Play- Focussed around specific campaigns and scenarios, requires a bit of research into what you'll need to play, and a lot more coordination with your opponents. Matched Play- The (more) competitive way to play. Units have points values, and there are several restrictions in place to various aspects such as what you can bring, summoning, and spellcasting in general. Arguably the most common games in circulation at the moment, easiest to get a relatively balanced game with very little coordination required. In regards to your desire for a defensive army, an Eternal Starhost is a great way to start this off- a single box of Saurus Guard and an eternity Warden are all you need to get yourself up and running. I would also probably advise getting a Skink Starpriest over a normal Skink Priest, as it will provide you with a much needed source of magic (not to mention his unique spell is really good when paired with a defensive army!). I think the best thing to do first of all is to let us know what style of play you're interested in, and we can help you with how best to progress from there, we have some lovely people on here with great insight, I'm sure we can get you started strong!
Thanks for the quick responses, I'm probably going to start with open play and move towards ranked play, but it's still mainly going to be small-medium point games. The plan with buying the skink priest was to use it as either a starpriest or a regular one as the game demands. I'm sure the people who go to my club would be fine with it. Also the priest model is slightly cheaper and it'd be more difficult to use the star priest as a normal one. I like the idea of the bloodclaw starhost as with only two conversions and one other box of units and another hero, it seems really powerful. Is the sunblood significantly better than an eternity warden? Is the eternity starhost actually that powerful or is it a waste of time? thanks
It's an army based around Lots of synergy rather than a "Good Stuff" army With that said, for pure stats just check out their warscrolls via the free Age of Sigmar phone app. Or use your Battletome. Eternal Starhost is probably the strongest battalion in a pure numbers kind of way. Hide a Skink priest nearby in terrain and then they can't even snipe him off! Give those defensive units a purpose (i.e. defend shooters, defend zone, push units towards ripper's blot toad zone) and then you've got a wall + a goal. Other things are your choice depending on what you like, playstyle wise, aesthetics, and eventually point wise. (Use http://www.scrollbuilder.com/ if you don't have General's Handbook) Personally I think Carnosaur is awesome. Bastiladon for shooting. Chamelon Skinks for cool mobility/assassins Rippers for zone control/tons of attacks. Skink StarPriest has fun dice reroll abilities
The eternal starhost is pretty powerful, but to get the full effect you want a slann or lord kroak to protect. The sunblood is objectively better, his command ability works on any saurus so guard, knights, warriors, Saurus heroes. He ignores rend of -2 and attacks like a beast. The bloodclaw makes him that much more dangerous as you are using 3-4 command abilities that buff your saurus, and the sunblood. You can put the eternity warden on the back burner and buy it when it's in the budget with the guard. To give you some other options. But for fast start go with the Sunblood and bloodclaw.
Bloodclaw is little more proactive too. It's all perspective, but I think proactive strategies are generally easier and a little more fun as it feels like you are diving into the action.
Ok cool. Thanks again. I'll put the eternity starhost to the side for now and maybe come back to it when I have a much bigger collection. For now my plan is to get a priest/starpriest => a unit of saurus Warriors => a sunblood (converting two Knights along the way). Like I said before is there anything that counters stormcast eternals particularly well? Or is there anything else that's really good in a small army? Id probably go for an EotG, a bastilidon or a slann myself but are there better options? Also are the hunting packs any good? I like the look of them from their battlescrolls, particularly the razordon
Bastiladon is tanky, good consistent rend -1 ranged dps (with solar crystal.) Highly recommend. Doesn't need any synergy to be good, but gets better with synergy. The Razordon looks better then Salamander on paper, and statistically average...it is. But the salamander is Rend -2 D6 damage. So a useful tool that we don't have much of (Rend -2). I like (3) Salamanders in theory if you can buff hit/wound or reroll hit/wound. They seem to draw a lot of attention because of their potential. If you find your playstyle leads to you getting charged consistently, toss in 1-3 and you get EOTG is cool but really likes a Lord Kroak or Slann + Skink Starseer to get really accurate control over the results. He's cool in Open play/narative too, because when he rolls to summon units, its actually good in those cases. (If you get a EOTG, you can plan long term for thunderquake starhost.) With summoning nerfed, Slann is mostly for cool points or just chucking mystic spear/arcane bolt. If you're in open play, Lord Kroak is really fun. He's expensive in matched (appx~500). You can usually proxy him as a Slann or proxy Slann as Kroak as your lists vary!
I might buy some razordons aswell then as I think they're pretty cool. What did you mean my by slanns summoning being nerfed. Also what kind of synergy do you have with the bastilidon. Thanks to everyone for all the help
In open play summoning is unlimited. In a pitched battle, you kust set aside the points in order to summon, has some strategic advantages, but is not likely to see much use outside of large games.
Sure can't, in open play you could, or use your engine to get a new Lord Kroak or something, but in a matched play you need to have those points set aside and the models for those points as your summon pool
That sucks, although I'm not sure how much matched play I'll end up doing. I know I keep asking but is there anything in seraphon that's particularly good against stormcast's.
The army itself is pretty strong against all comers, Stormcast are tough and deal a lot of damage. So look into a Thunderquake or Heaveswatch Starhost and some chamelons. The Jade Battlemage would be helpful, so don't be afraid to mix and match, take a few Stormcast of your own. You can out magic them, but it's costly and you'll need a lot of protection.