AoS Stuck on what to do after Starter set

[TheKuznetsov]

Good day, I am a new player in the AOS scene and I bought the Seraphon Start Collecting. However i am building most of the models and I cant quite decide what kind of batallion or army in general I want.

As of now I have

-Oldblood on a Carnosaur
-Scar-Veteran on a Cold One (converted)
-Saurus Warriors
-Saurus Knights
-Skink Starpriest
-Saurus Guards (Old Fantasy ones)

I am thinking of buying a Slann Starmaster and the new Malign Sorcery kit. However after these purchases, I dont know which batallion or grand order would be quite good.

I await your responses and ideas, Thank you!

 

[Justin C]

The two most competitive battalions to base your army around are the Shadowstrike Starhost and Thunderquake host. I would look up the war scrolls either in the book or just via google, and see if you like the look of the models in those battalions. If so, start building towards one! Slann is never a bad purchase, and you are generally going to want at least 1 box of skinks no matter what you do.

 

[TheKuznetsov]

Thank you for your response, however I must ask. A friend once recommended me to head toward the "Firelance Starhost" and so i

 

[TheKuznetsov]

The two most competitive battalions to base your army around are the Shadowstrike Starhost and Thunderquake host. I would look up the war scrolls either in the book or just via google, and see if you like the look of the models in those battalions. If so, start building towards one! Slann is never a bad purchase, and you are generally going to want at least 1 box of skinks no matter what you do.

Thank you for your response, however I must ask. A friend once recommended me to head toward the "Firelance Starhost" and so i wanted to know your opinion on why you'd think about it and other question. Why the skinks, not that i underestimate their strengh but how useful can they be?

 

[LizardWizard]

Thank you for your response, however I must ask. A friend once recommended me to head toward the "Firelance Starhost" and so i wanted to know your opinion on why you'd think about it and other question. Why the skinks, not that i underestimate their strengh but how useful can they be?

Firelance is a bit of a glass cannon. They are only strong on the charge, and frankly Saurus Knights just are not in a great place right now. Skinks are superb for back-line harassment or point capture. Their ability to fall back in the combat phase lets them run circles around objective points. Shadowstrike is still pretty strong, but the errata to Ripperdactyles did knock it down a peg. I would look at building the Thunderquake Starhost. However, if you are looking to get good use out of your Saurus Warriors and Old Blood on Carno, then you could consider running a one drop Fangs of Sotek battalion that is focused on summoning with an EoTG, an Astroloth Bearer, Balewind Vortex, and Chromatic Cogs. Either way you will want to get a Slann asap. The Skink Starpriest and Skink Priest are also good additions.

 

[TheKuznetsov]

Firelance is a bit of a glass cannon. They are only strong on the charge, and frankly Saurus Knights just are not in a great place right now. Skinks are superb for back-line harassment or point capture. Their ability to fall back in the combat phase lets them run circles around objective points. Shadowstrike is still pretty strong, but the errata to Ripperdactyles did knock it down a peg. I would look at building the Thunderquake Starhost. However, if you are looking to get good use out of your Saurus Warriors and Old Blood on Carno, then you could consider running a one drop Fangs of Sotek battalion that is focused on summoning with an EoTG, an Astroloth Bearer, Balewind Vortex, and Chromatic Cogs. Either way you will want to get a Slann asap. The Skink Starpriest and Skink Priest are also good additions.

Thank you for responding, If I may ask 3 very important question

1: Could i Mix the Fangs of Sotek and the Thunderquake Starhost together?

2: How many Warriors and Skinks would you recommend me to have ?

3: Would you suggest a EoTG or an Astrolith Bearer?

Thank you very much!

 

[LizardWizard]

Thank you for responding, If I may ask 3 very important question

1: Could i Mix the Fangs of Sotek and the Thunderquake Starhost together?

2: How many Warriors and Skinks would you recommend me to have ?

3: Would you suggest a EoTG or an Astrolith Bearer?

Thank you very much!

If you are only playing up too 2000 points then you can not fit the good version of Thunderquake Starhost and Fangs of Sotek into a single army. The double Bastilladon and Engine of the Gods eats up too many points. I frequently run Fangs of Sotek, Thunderquake, and Shadowstrike with my local play group. I switch between the three of these battalions depending on my mood and the level of experience of my opponent. Regardless of which battalion you end up running, if you build towards all three then you will still get use out of all your models as a result of summoning. Thunderquake is probably the all around best of these battalions, but it does require Razordons or Salamanders. Both of these kits get pretty expensive if you want to run them in a unit of 4. If you want to keep it more casual, but still have a solid army then I would go with Fangs of Sotek. Once you become experienced with the Shadowstrike Starhost you will eat any low experienced player alive by turn one or two and it will not make for a very engaging game. I would save this battalion for the tournament scene only.

As for the number of Skinks and Saurus Warriors I would get at least two boxes of Skinks. This will let you run a decent spread of battline counts on your Skinks. I currently prefer to run them with Boltspitters and Star Bucklers. For Saurus Warriors you will want to have at least 30. Your starter Box comes with 12. So you Could a second Starter Box ( I have three and don't regret it) or you could just buy a box of Saurus warriors on their own.

I would run both the Astrolith Bearer and the Engine of the Gods. If you end up going with the Thunderquake Starhost then you can always choose savage for their stance which will let you reroll failed wounds and saves. The Astrolith Bearer will then you reroll failed Hits withing 10" of him.

I hope this helps. I know it was a veritable wall of text.

 

[TheKuznetsov]

If you are only playing up too 2000 points then you can not fit the good version of Thunderquake Starhost and Fangs of Sotek into a single army. The double Bastilladon and Engine of the Gods eats up too many points. I frequently run Fangs of Sotek, Thunderquake, and Shadowstrike with my local play group. I switch between the three of these battalions depending on my mood and the level of experience of my opponent. Regardless of which battalion you end up running, if you build towards all three then you will still get use out of all your models as a result of summoning. Thunderquake is probably the all around best of these battalions, but it does require Razordons or Salamanders. Both of these kits get pretty expensive if you want to run them in a unit of 4. If you want to keep it more casual, but still have a solid army then I would go with Fangs of Sotek. Once you become experienced with the Shadowstrike Starhost you will eat any low experienced player alive by turn one or two and it will not make for a very engaging game. I would save this battalion for the tournament scene only.

As for the number of Skinks and Saurus Warriors I would get at least two boxes of Skinks. This will let you run a decent spread of battline counts on your Skinks. I currently prefer to run them with Boltspitters and Star Bucklers. For Saurus Warriors you will want to have at least 30. Your starter Box comes with 12. So you Could a second Starter Box ( I have three and don't regret it) or you could just buy a box of Saurus warriors on their own.

I would run both the Astrolith Bearer and the Engine of the Gods. If you end up going with the Thunderquake Starhost then you can always choose savage for their stance which will let you reroll failed wounds and saves. The Astrolith Bearer will then you reroll failed Hits withing 10" of him.

I hope this helps. I know it was a veritable wall of text.

Thank you very much, I think with the Answers I will try the Fangs of Sotek and build up to the Thunderquake Starhost once i have a bigger budget!

I really appreciated your advices!

 

[Aginor]

Welcome!

Thunderquake is always a good idea because... dinosaurs!
@LizardWizard has said the rest already.

 

[TheKuznetsov]

If you are only playing up too 2000 points then you can not fit the good version of Thunderquake Starhost and Fangs of Sotek into a single army. The double Bastilladon and Engine of the Gods eats up too many points. I frequently run Fangs of Sotek, Thunderquake, and Shadowstrike with my local play group. I switch between the three of these battalions depending on my mood and the level of experience of my opponent. Regardless of which battalion you end up running, if you build towards all three then you will still get use out of all your models as a result of summoning. Thunderquake is probably the all around best of these battalions, but it does require Razordons or Salamanders. Both of these kits get pretty expensive if you want to run them in a unit of 4. If you want to keep it more casual, but still have a solid army then I would go with Fangs of Sotek. Once you become experienced with the Shadowstrike Starhost you will eat any low experienced player alive by turn one or two and it will not make for a very engaging game. I would save this battalion for the tournament scene only.

As for the number of Skinks and Saurus Warriors I would get at least two boxes of Skinks. This will let you run a decent spread of battline counts on your Skinks. I currently prefer to run them with Boltspitters and Star Bucklers. For Saurus Warriors you will want to have at least 30. Your starter Box comes with 12. So you Could a second Starter Box ( I have three and don't regret it) or you could just buy a box of Saurus warriors on their own.

I would run both the Astrolith Bearer and the Engine of the Gods. If you end up going with the Thunderquake Starhost then you can always choose savage for their stance which will let you reroll failed wounds and saves. The Astrolith Bearer will then you reroll failed Hits withing 10" of him.

I hope this helps. I know it was a veritable wall of text.

Also concerning the Thunderquake Starhost which would you recommend between the

-Troglodon and EoTG
-Stegadon or Bastilodon
-Kroxigors or Skink Handlers with Salamanders/Razordons?

 

[LizardWizard]

I prefer the Engine of the Gods with two Bastilodons, and four Razordons. The EoTG and double Stegadons with Skystreak Bows is also an option. Stegadons will give you 5" more of range and a bit more power in the combat phase over Bastiladons. However, Bastiladons rain havoc on anything with their Searing Beam. They are also nearly invincible. They have a 3+ unreadable save with a 4+ save on mortal wounds. If you put them into a Thunderquake Starhost where they get to reroll failed saving throws they become borderline broken. Razordons/Salamanders seems to be the better pick over Kroxigors. Normally you will get more out of Razordons due to their volume of fire and range. Razordons also have a built in ability called Instinctive Defense which allows them once a game to roll on a dice whenever an enemy unit ends their charge within 3" of them and on a 4+ fire their missile profile at the charging unit. Salamanders benefit very well from this battalion as well though. The rerolling hits from the Astrolith Bearer will be a higher through put for Salamanders than it is for the Razordons seeing as they are already able to reroll 1's to hit when near their handlers. Either of the artillery options are strong choices. Razordons will likely be more consistent, but Salamanders can toast enemy heroes.

Hope this was helpful.

 

[Aginor]

Thunderquake variants:

1. Troglodon, Stegadon, Stegadon
This is the cheapest one. Fun fact: Troglodon is a Skink unit, so feel free to buff him up, use both Stegadons to command him to walk 2d6" in your hero phase, and let him eat something squishy that is also being shot by two Stegas.
Or use both Stegadons for charging or shootin hordes with flame throwers. So this has its uses.

2. Troglodon, Stegadon, Bastiladon
This is still a cheap one. Many people who just started collecting the army don't have two Bastis or two Stegas, and many don't have an EotG yet but built the Troggy since it looks so cool. I have played that one quite often actually, it works. But nothing to write home about.

3. Troglodon, Bastiladon, Bastiladon
This is when the EotG doesn't fit points-wise but you want two Bastis in the bataillon.

4. EotG, Bastiladon, Bastiladon
The strongest variant I'd say, but also the most expensive

5. EotG, Stegadon, Bastiladon
A mixed bag. Not bad if you just lack a few points to take that second Bastiladon, or if you want to use the Stegadon to charge the enemy and/or use his flame throwers to target hordes while the Basti and the EotG try to take out the elite targets.

6. EotG, Stegadon, Stegadon
Might be a decent anti-horde variant with flame throwers, but I am not sure it is worth it. You could use it as a sniper variant with bows, the range is better than on the Bastiladon. Less attacks though, but also cheaper than #4


Each variant can use Kroxigor (decent against horde units) but I usually prefer Razordons over them. Or maybe Salamanders, but only if you expect to face elite armies like Stormcast, and since they have only one attack you should play more than one, preferably three or more.