Before we dive in, a thanks to Games Workshop for sending us these kits to review.

This week, further reinforcements for the Seraphon arrive, adding on to the kits released in their Army Set a little while back. This wave includes new and updated characters in the form of the Astrolith Bearer, the Scar-Veteran on Aggradon, and the Skink Starseer, as well as unit kits for the Kroxigor (and their new Warspawned alternative build) and Sir Not Appearing in This Picture, the Spawn of Chotec, which unaccountably no-one rushed to get ready so they could use his single bad attack.

Astrolith Bearer

Like many of the kits we’re looking at today the previous Astrolith Bearer was old, having come across from old Warhammer Fantasy where it was the Lizardmen’s generic battle standard bearer. It got a new name for Age of Sigmar and now has a new model!

There are no options in this kit, there’s not a second head or different arms or banner bits etc etc it’s all just as-is. It goes together pretty well aside from the neck piece which took me an age to figure out; as always dry fit your pieces first before getting glue involved so you know what you’re working with.

The only problem I had with this is that the banner pole broke. Twice. Now, is that because I decided to do the banner icon as stone with a stippling effect? Yeah, maybe, since that’s the stage when it broke. I did try and hold it firm to avoid, but that banner pole is surprisingly thin for how large and heavy the top is. During transport especially you’ll need to be careful, and probably keep some super glue and activator on hand just in case.

All in all it is a really cool model and a hell of an upgrade over the previous one, partially since it’s plastic and not finecast resin!

Kroxigor

Liam: The Kroxigor kit picks up not just a new plastic version of itself but also a dual-kit option, with the introduction of “Kroxigor Warspawned.” Lore-wise Kroxigor are spawned primarily as big lads to move heavy things in the cities of the Seraphon, and the fact that giant crocodiles are also quite handy in a fight is coincidental. As their name suggests, the Warspawned are intended to focus primarily on hitting things and not so much hefting chunks of stone around on reptilian construction sites.

Appearance-wise, this means that the basic Krox have slightly dopier, less bestial heads, while the Warspawned have longer and more crocodilian snouts meant to make them look like they mean business. There’s a couple of other build differences in there too, but it’s heads (and weapons) which make the definitive difference.

Beyond the heads, you also have a choice of a few different ends for the tails, two different positions for each guy’s weapon, and then finally some different hero rocks/logs for them to be posing on. That’s all of your variety – otherwise the builds are pretty limited. Naturally I am awkward and built the Warspawned heads with the regular Krox weapons, on the basis that the Warspawned heads look better. My current rate of 1 AoS game per 3 years suggests I won’t run into too many problems with this strategy.

The build is kinder than the Saurus, without the same need to get three parts of a torso to join up at once – though one of them does have a separate chest, which is a little fiddly to get in. Other than that it’s what you’d expect from a modern GW kit, and makes 3 monstrous infantry in relatively short order.

There’s also two tiny frogs in here, if that’s your thing.

Michael O: I knew I had to build the Warspawned version because the Seraphon army I’m working on is my 11 year old son’s army. He is definitely all-in on the WARSPAWNED versus just regular ole’ Kroxigor. I don’t want to go too far into dad-mode here but it was pretty funny the first weekend after we bought the new Battletome – he had read it and claimed that ‘all my stuff got better rend, all of it!’.

We’re building up his army with a focus on the tough dinosaur stuff because, well, kids love dinosaurs. Kroxigor have always been something he’s wanted to do but I shied away from their kits because they were old and not easy to find. I’m glad they came out with something suitably savage (and plastic).

While the rules may leave a little to be desired (my son won’t care), the model assembly was pretty great, as Liam said. I like the different options you can put in, and since you don’t really need a unit leader you can build them however you want. I did give one of them a sweet necklace that Flava Flav would be really jealous of.

I attempted a few new things on these models – I used Army Painter Speedpaint Blood Red, a paint I haven’t used yet (indeed, the first Speed Paint I’ve tried). I like the coverage and I like the shadow it provides. These Seraphon are going to be something that I hope my son can work on in the next few years, so something easy and quick will be great for him.

I also tried out a color shifting metallic paint from Turbo Dork called ‘Ground is Lava’. This probably wasn’t my best idea, since the models are overall red and this is a warm metallic color, but I do like the way they turned out. I had to include some turquoise as I love the contrast it provides from the red – this is Jade Green by Vallejo Game Colors, something I’ve also used on my Genestealer Cult minis to a huge degree. Originally I had their spikes as black but I wanted something a bit lighter to pop out, so I used Army Painter Mummy Robes, an off-white color. I then washed that and some smaller details with Army Painter Strong Tone.

Overall this was a quick job that I hope to replicate this summer getting most of his army done, and the photo probably reflects that, but with how my time is right now I think it hit the spot.

Saurus Scar-Veteran on Aggradon

Liam: Speaking of Saurus, the old Cold One-riding Scar Veteran has been replaced by this guy, on the new Aggradon. This is a really nice kit, which went together like a dream. The Aggradon itself goes together surprisingly straightforwardly, and then the Saurus is built on top of it by hooking his legs around the saddle and his tail through the back – which you will want to pay attention and make sure you get right.

There’s only a couple of optional bits here, in the form of a set of three different heads – feral snarling Saurus, calm Saurus, mask Saurus – and a spear or a club for a weapon. Personally I went for the spear and the mask.

Skink Starseer

Liam: Rounding out the trio of kits I built for this, there’s the Skink Starseer on his tiny little version of the Slann’s palanquin. The most surprising thing here is that there are two completely different Skinks you can build – one seated and contemplating his iPhone, and another stood up and casting. They’re completely separate and you could plausibly build a second Skink Priest out of whichever you don’t use (probably easier with the standing one).

In a reversal from the Scar-Veteran, this one feels like there’s a lot of pieces just to build a single Skink and his rock. This is partly because of the sacred plaques around the edges and partly because there’s some small details to attach on – leaves, vines, roots, you know the kind of thing. It all cleans up fast though and the build flows really nicely once you get into it – you’ll have your own texting Starseer in no time.

Aggradon Lancers

Matthew: As we say goodbye and good riddance to the old Saurus Knights we are blessed with this gorgeous new kit. Like their Scar-Veteran hero, this kit is quick and mostly painless to build, with no major issues in construction. One thing to bear in mind is that each mount has a specific dedicated rider, and the kit deeply resists you messing with this. If you do want to go with the flow, the rider and mount combos have different peg and hole shapes to make it easy.

It’s worth noting that there’s very little fat on this kit. You get your designated bodies and they can be equipped with lances or clubs, or you can build a command group and that’s really it. If you’re planning an army spamming Aggradons, expect a lot of identical models or to have to go heavy on your own modifications.

The joy of Aggradon Lancers is in the painting, and the dedicated drybrusher is spoilt for detail here and there’s plenty of opportunity to go deep into an incredible paint job if you so wish. I particularly like the tail feathers, and that opportunity to splash more colour onto them.

A note for play here is that the long, dynamic sculpt of the tails could make these slightly troublesome to sit together nicely in battlefield conditions, especially if you’re attempting to manoeuvre a unit of 6 or more around.