AoS Seraphon playing on top tables of South Coast GT

[Jason839]

Rd 5 coverage against Chaos Live on Twitch.tv here https://www.twitch.tv/warhammer

Seraphon player is using Kroak!

The List that Ive been able to gather so far

Allegiance: Order
Lord Kroak
Saurus Eternity Warden
Saurus Astrolith Bearer
Skink Priest
Skink Starseer
10 x Skinks
10 x Skinks
5 x Saurus Guard
9 x Ripperdactyl Riders
Shadowstrike Starhost
Balewind Vortex

 

[Bowser]

9 rippers is devastating. must be a really good player, though that balewind is always a fun one!

 

[Aginor]

Kroak + Astrolith Bearer + Balewind is a mean combo, and a Shadowstrike with 9 Rippers sounds like a heavy Alphastrike. If he gets initiative in the first round there is going to be a lot of damage incoming!

 

[Aginor]

Btw, is Kroak's Celestial Deliverance subject to the Rules of One? I'd say it is. Which sucks...

 

[Bowser]

Yep, it is. I wouldn't play this list currently, a big glass cannon that is easily countered, but if played right could go off perfectly and table someone.

 

[Tokek]

Rob was saying on the commentary that the list was using the Rippers to force opponents to castle up and then using Kroak to punch holes in their defences while the skinks scored. The extra damage Kroak gets vs Chaos daemons is really good if the meta is full of Skyfire spam.

My internet went AWOL this afternoon so I do not know what the turning point in game 5 was, sort of looked like the gambit of going first went wrong when the charge distance on the Rippers was poor and then Alex got the double-turn straight away with his mixed chaos shooting army.

[edit] Quick look at the replay and the charge falling shorter than he wanted even with the re-roll was huge. Then he was exposed due to not positioning a couple of models more defensively to block/avoid potential realm-gate movement. Much discussion of vertical distance measuring, which I think is house-ruled differently to most other tournaments and that put the stormfiends in range of Kroak.
Close game, narrow margins of decision making and dice-rolling. A surprising Seraphon list nearly took the tournament.

 

[Nielspeterdejong]

I think it already passed, but I have to pay to watch the previous videos. Does anyone know where else I can watch that match?

 

[Tokek]

I think it already passed, but I have to pay to watch the previous videos. Does anyone know where else I can watch that match?

So far as I know you have to be subscribed to watch back after the live stream has finished.

 

[Mark Sinosich]

My internet went AWOL this afternoon so I do not know what the turning point in game 5 was, sort of looked like the gambit of going first went wrong when the charge distance on the Rippers was poor and then Alex got the double-turn straight away with his mixed chaos shooting army.

Yes. 1" more and the game would have been different. The Rippers caused the Bloodletters to take 49 saves. Things would have also been different if Kroak moved up a few more inches to block the realm-gate or the realm-gate did not randomly drop the Stormfiends right infront of Kroak.

[edit] Quick look at the replay and the charge falling shorter than he wanted even with the re-roll was huge. Then he was exposed due to not positioning a couple of models more defensively to block/avoid potential realm-gate movement.

The Stormfiends rolled a lucky random realm-gate right near Lord Kroak. The Eternity Warden was poorly placed no where near close enough to absorb some wounds for Kroak.

Much discussion of vertical distance measuring, which I think is house-ruled differently to most other tournaments and that put the stormfiends in range of Kroak. Close game, narrow margins of decision making and dice-rolling. A surprising Seraphon list nearly took the tournament.

They use a vertical cylinder approach. The Stormfiends were OUT of 6" if the measurement was base to base but the house rule was to draw a cylinder around the base, measuring then from head height of the Stormfiends to the base of Kroak, which was then in 6". Kroak took 15 wounds.

 

[Meatgrinder]

Does anyone know why the eternity warden was hiding in the ruins on its own? I couldnt figure it out. Why would you take one other than to eat wounds in that kind of list?

TBH as they said on stream, it would have been different if his skink priest was standing between the gate and kroak, he would have blocked the fiends.

 

[Jason839]

The tournaments at my locals do not roll for terrain abilities and do not have special terrain other than the ones you pay points for like the bale wind and the sylvaneth forests. Watching the games made me glad we don't. It's hard enough playing the game well without worrying about random terrain rolls messing your day up. Watching the storm fiends luck into the right warpgate was brutal.

 

[Mark Sinosich]

Does anyone know why the eternity warden was hiding in the ruins on its own? I couldnt figure it out. Why would you take one other than to eat wounds in that kind of list?

I am assuming he was worried about being sniped. No enemies had LOS to him. Maybe he was blocking another realm-gate?

 

[Seraphage]

Aaaaargh your comments make me wanna watch it badly ! Gotta subscribe sometime soon !

 

[Tokek]

The Stormfiends rolled a lucky random realm-gate right near Lord Kroak. The Eternity Warden was poorly placed no where near close enough to absorb some wounds for Kroak.

I would love to know the thinking behind that Eternity Warden. Once Kroak is up on the Balewind Vortex he will always be out of range for dumping wounds onto the Warden - at which point he seems pretty dispensable so I am not sure I understand why he was hidden out of sight.

Not that I am criticizing, clearly they guy is a better player than me

 

[noaizumi]

Yes. 1" more and the game would have been different. The Rippers caused the Bloodletters to take 49 saves. Things would have also been different if Kroak moved up a few more inches to block the realm-gate or the realm-gate did not randomly drop the Stormfiends right infront of Kroak.



The Stormfiends rolled a lucky random realm-gate right near Lord Kroak. The Eternity Warden was poorly placed no where near close enough to absorb some wounds for Kroak.



They use a vertical cylinder approach. The Stormfiends were OUT of 6" if the measurement was base to base but the house rule was to draw a cylinder around the base, measuring then from head height of the Stormfiends to the base of Kroak, which was then in 6". Kroak took 15 wounds.

If using the vertical cylinder approach, could the eternity warden been close enough to soak wounds with his 2 inch ability? I'm not entirely sure on the dimensions of the balewind..

 

[darren watson]

If using the vertical cylinder approach, could the eternity warden been close enough to soak wounds with his 2 inch ability? I'm not entirely sure on the dimensions of the balewind..

Yup, that's why he wasn't near Kroak as he's only useful while Kroak is on the ground.
To be honest I didn't get use the Eternity Warden's ability once in the whole tournament , would have been better off with another Astrolith as I believe their range ability stacks? But I didn't want to be full on cheesy. However. . If I'd of known the top tables were all Sky Fire lists with 12-27 sky fires I would have done that.
I think the list can be improved by dropping the Warden, 3 Rippers and the Saurus Guard and including 10 skinks and a Bastiladon you nudge 3 inches forward with the Vortex to get his shooting attack in range.
I tried my best to get lizards the appreciation they deserve, but good grief its difficult against all those Chaos Sky Fires and Storm Fiends.

 

[darren watson]

I would love to know the thinking behind that Eternity Warden. Once Kroak is up on the Balewind Vortex he will always be out of range for dumping wounds onto the Warden - at which point he seems pretty dispensable so I am not sure I understand why he was hidden out of sight.

Not that I am criticizing, clearly they guy is a better player than me

I knew I was going first and once on he vortex you can't use his ability. He was hidden to be forgotten about and run over to one of the realm gates for points later on in the game.
I think with decent deployment he isn't needed, the only practice game I lost was when Kroak died first turn, without Kroak it's pretty much over, so I decided on taking him as insurance against armies that go before me (net list destruction with rukk and tusks, Hammerstrike lists with 6 plus Prosecuters etc).
Turns out he was a waste in the end.

 

[darren watson]

I am assuming he was worried about being sniped. No enemies had LOS to him. Maybe he

Does anyone know why the eternity warden was hiding in the ruins on its own? I couldnt figure it out. Why would you take one other than to eat wounds in that kind of list?

TBH as they said on stream, it would have been different if his skink priest was standing between the gate and kroak, he would have blocked the fiends.

Yes that was an over sight on my part. In my defence I got to play this scenario once before the tournament and I only get to play twice a month with my mates who don't use Net/Meta lists..
Also when you are playing a 5th round game on TV against 15 sky fires and 3 storm fiends in a scenario where they can move everywhere, thinking of every possible thing that could happen and visualising it all at the same time is pretty difficult!
In my head the Storm fiends are blocked by a decent ripper charge, so I didn't see that I could have used my Priest better.
Sorry guys.

 

[Mark Sinosich]

No need to be sorry! Great work on playing well in the tournament. I certainly appreciate your comments above. Thank you.

 

[Tokek]

I knew I was going first and once on he vortex you can't use his ability. He was hidden to be forgotten about and run over to one of the realm gates for points later on in the game.
I think with decent deployment he isn't needed, the only practice game I lost was when Kroak died first turn, without Kroak it's pretty much over, so I decided on taking him as insurance against armies that go before me (net list destruction with rukk and tusks, Hammerstrike lists with 6 plus Prosecuters etc).
Turns out he was a waste in the end.

An insurance policy you turned out not to need then.

Thanks for the info and well done on going so close with a list of your own devising. Well played.