I agree, with the rules confusion right now Kroak will still strike fear into a lot of enemies.
And yeah, summoning is probably our best ability now, in all kinds of lists.
With summoning I think that even previously less played lists like Eternal Starhost or Sunclaw Starhost based ones become more viable, just because you can get more bodies onto the field anytime, and especially because you can now actually react to your opponent:
- If you need to snipe some hero with a good save, just use your 18 points to get a few Salamanders, then in the next round teleport them to your enemy and shoot. Or maybe Chameleons.
- If you fear charging enemies, summon some Skinks as chaff and maybe a Razordon to make your opponent think twice before charging.
- If your Slann is threatened by snipers, summon him an Eternity Warden.
- If you see a squishy enemy unit to munch, consider summoning a Troglodon. It reduces bravery, it hits OK, and if you have a Priest near and it hits with its spit it has a decent chance to make that charge in the round it is summoned. At the least it is a big monster you opponent cannot just ignore.
- Terradons or Rippers are great for desruption of enemy tactics as well. Most enemies know that Terradons have to die fast or they will drop their mortal wound bombs, which makes them great value against elite units. Rippers are known to be strong against everything that doesn't have a really good save. The enemy has to deal with them.
- You lost your Skink Priest or Starpriest to some sniper or endless spell in round one? Just re-summon him.
So yeah, summoning is a big tool box. You just have to bring the case with all your possible reinforcements with you.
The problem we have now is that some armies can do very strong alpha strikes in round one. Summoning is not very useful when half of your army is already dead. But the longer the game lasts, the stronger our summoning gets, just because of the points you can bring onto the table.
