After having flipped through the tome some time I feel like I've settled on the list below. FoS is kinda CP hungry, but none of the batallions really fit the idea for my list, so without Aetherquartz I had to find another way of getting enough CPs to fuel the army. I'm really a big fan of the bound endless spells and truly believe they will be huge for the army, so getting another solid caster is big. With team double frog, the list will basically double down on the summoning aspect, fishing for more CPs and make the bound endless spells worthwhile. Kroak has the possibility to be +4 to cast, making his MW spam quite potent. Allegiance: Seraphon - Constellation: Fangs of Sotek Leaders Lord Kroak (320) - Spell: Stellar Tempest Slann Starmaster (260) - Spell: Celestial Equilibrium Skink Priest (70) - General - Command Trait: Master of Star Rituals Skink Starpriest (120) - Artefact: Serpent God Dagger - Spell: Hand of Glory Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140) Battleline 40 x Skinks (240) - Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 40 x Skinks (240) - Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers 10 x Skinks (60) - Boltspitters Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers Units 20 x Chameleon Skinks (360) Endless Spells / Terrain / CPs Balewind Vortex (40) Bound Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (70) Bound Purple Sun of Shyish (60) Total: 1980 / 2000 Extra Command Points: 0 Allies: 0 / 400 Wounds: 138 I might switch up the Celestial Equilibrium for the Slann spell Walk Between Realms. It will depend on if they FAQ the FoS command ability. Right now it is usable even if the unit hasn't been charged, so you could potentially have two layers of the 40 Skinks with the unit in front buffed with Walk Between Realms - When they get charged and you use the FoS command ability, they can fly over the 40 man unit behind them. I'm still debating on the squad of 20 Chameleon Skinks. I like the deepstrike potential anywhere on the map, especially since the list in general will force your opponent forward. The moment there is an opening, those dudes can pop up behind the enemy forces and easily pick off support heroes or stuff that has been weakened by Kroak MW spam/Comet's Call or challenge an objective. On their own without any buffs they will do ~11,5 damage to a 4+ save. An alternative to the Chameleon Skinks are 3 Salamander packs. The issue with this is that they have to be teleported around on the table, and with us only having 1 teleport now it might be too big of a deal that you cant reposition Skinks screens. The -2 rend on both ranged and melee is very tempting though. The pros for the Chameleon Skinks is really that they don't need babysitting at all. They work just fine on their own to get around on the map and pick off stuff. Salamanders need buffs and teleport to get work done, but deal significantly better damage, especially if you calculate them getting into melee too. Question is if the 20 Chameleon Skinks should be split into 4x5 man squads.
Unfortunately due to the current situation nobody at my local is playing - We are all sitting indoors seperated and nerding the hobby, so the list is still all theory. My one issue is that if my opponent has an alpha army and he chooses to go first, I wont have any CPs to use the FoS CA. So either I need to make room and buy 1 CP (likely dumping the Purple Sun), or I need to bring in a batallion. If I have to bring a batallion I need to change the Chameleon Skinks to potentially 9 Terradon Riders + 1 Chief. I personally don't value the batallions too much for this type of list, since: 1) The artefacts aren't super gamechanging, although some are nice 2) We have so many drops that we will never be able to compete for who goes first against the majority of lists 3) None of the batallions are straight up a bargain - I need to make sacrifices to the list to include them Alternatively I could bubblewrap my entire army against alpha lists with the 40 Skinks with the current list (10 wont cover enough) and just pull models from enemy units that have yet to activate, so they "waste" their charge. He would risk me getting a double turn and getting dumped on by Kroak MW spam, double activation of the endless spells, shooting etc. Ironjawz alphastriking could pose to be troublesome.