Age of Sigmar: Seraphon Battletome & Realmshaper Engine Unboxing
We’ve got our hands on the new Seraphon Battletome and also the new Realmshaper Engine – Check these out!
The Seraphon Battletome is going to introduce new ways to play this army and the Realmshaper Engine is another great piece of army terrain to add as well:
Seraphon Reborn
By now you’ve probably already seen the previews for the Seraphon. Well let’s just confirm a few things. First up there is a bit of a split in the army now – Starborne and Coalesced. If you want to play a super magic heavy list that relies on Endless Spells, Summoning and teleporting, then you’re going to want to play Starborne. If you want to play a more “boots on the ground” list that is tough and lethal in combat then you’re going to want to give the Coalesced a go. Depending on which option you pick, you unlock the different Constellations (sub-factions) for the army.
The Starborne
As mentioned Starborne are the summoning 1/2 of this army. Previously, the summoning mechanic for Seraphon was based on NOT casting spells. They would generate points depending on how many casts they had left over at the end of the hero phase. Well, those rules have been changed yet again. Now each Slann or Oracle can sacrifice their first cast of the round to generate D3 Celestial Conjuration points. So you can’t just bank all your casts any more.
Additionally, if a Slann or Starpriest is your general, you generate another D3 points. And if your army has one or more Saurus Astrolith Bearers on the board you also generate D3 points. Their Summoning chart is different that the previous incarnation and units range from 6 points up to 30 to bring things in.
Lords of Space and Time allows you to teleport a unit at the End of the Movement Phase. This is also when the summoning happens. Based on the order of operations, I believe you can still summon a unit (or multiple units) but you can only teleport one.
One final note on the Starborne – their Constellations are the Dracothion’s Tail and the Fangs of Sotek.
The Coalesced
If you’re looking for the more flesh and blood version of the Seraphon, this is it. The Coalesced unlock the Koatl’s Claw and Thunder Lizard Constellations. You probably also know that the Thunder Lizard option unlocks Stegadons as Battleline for the army, too. The Coalesced are going to be pretty hardy when it comes to fighting their enemies.
Not only will they get more attacks, they also have Scaly Skin which reduces the damage of each successful attack on Coalesced units by 1 down to a minimum of 1.When you combine that with the new Saurus shanges (which made them all 2 wounds now), you have some fairly mean frontline fighters.
We got better? We DID get better!
Finally, there have been some questions about the new Bound Endless Spells. These are basically the 14 Endless Spells from Malign Sorcery, but with a major tweak. Only the Seraphon player can move them now. Also, Slann are going to have a LOT of ways to shutting down Endless Spells in general. So get ready for that…
Realmshaper Engine
We’re not going to focus too much on the rules for this new kit as those have been covered in previous articles. However, we’re going to focus on the kit itself. It’s two sprues that are identical and, interestingly enough, reversible. One side of the panels is the clean look and the other side is the viney look.
As far as we can tell, you can mix and match the sides, too. I’m fully expecting someone out there to do a half-and-half version painting it up like it’s shifting through time. That very much seems like a thing that the new Seraphon would be able to do. It’s a big chunk of Terrain and Seraphon can Garrison units inside of it, too. Just be ready for a Slann to bunker up inside of one and blast armies with magic and Bound Endless Spells from their Jungle Bunker.
Final Thoughts
I’m excited for the Seraphon and Seraphon players out there. I’m really curious to see what they manage to put together with this new book. I think it’s got some interesting builds and some great synergy inside the covers. We’ll be spending some time studying this one and will have more info later this week. Get ready for the Rise of the Lizardmen with this book!
Both these products along with all the accessories for the Seraphon are up for Pre-Order this weekend!
