Saurus Astrolith Bearer

The Saurus Astrolith Bearer is an important piece in a Seraphon army.  Keeping him safe is paramount, and keeping him near your casters and combat units greatly enhance their ability.  In Starborne, the Astrolith Bearer will reside in the wizard castle, protected by screens, and protecting the screens and the wizards.  In Coalesced, he may move with the wizards and behind the advancing combat units.

If your opponent has shooting threats, make sure he stays within 3" of a unit with 3+ models so that he benefits from Look Out, Sir!

As a unit with a Wounds characteristic of 5 or more, the Astrolith Bearer counts as 2 models for contesting objectives.

A key piece in both Starborne and Coalesced, the Astrolith Bearer greatly enhances the army.  In Starborne, he generally stays with the wizards in the wizard castle to enhance and protect them.  The Astrolith Bearer is automatically a Cosmic Node, which means troops can be summoned around him, and Cosmic Power effects will emanate from him (in addition to the wizards and Realmshaper Engine).  He also generates 1 CPP in each of your hero phases.

In Coalesced, he is still very good, and benefits from Scaly Skin to reduce the damage of attacks against him.  He does get the +1 to bite on each of his 3 bite attacks, and gets +1 to Wound on charge in Koatl's Claw, but more often than not you will want to keep him safely out of combat.  In Coalesced, he is a popular choice for the army general, for three reasons:

• As a Saurus general, has access to the excellent command trait, Vengeful Defender.  This lets the general and up to two other nearby Saurus or Kroxigor units make an extra normal move in the hero phase (or one other eligible unit can make two extra moves instead), greatly increasing their threat range.  But this can only be used while the general is wholly within your territory.  Unlike some other Saurus heroes, it is often makes sense to leave an Astrolith Bearer in your territory so it can use this ability multiple times throughout the battle.
• As a Saurus general, he makes Aggradons battleline units, allowing your army to be more Aggradon focused.
• If he's given the artefact Arcane Tome, he becomes an Andtorian Locus, allowing us to choose the Spellcasting Savant grand strategy from the General's Handbook, which is the easiest one for Seraphon to achieve in almost all army lists.  The Arcane Tome also gives Coalesced a valuable extra cast of Mystic Shield or an endless spell.

 One of the main reasons to bring the Saurus Astrolith Bearer is for this ability, and it's also the reason your opponents may try to eliminate him.  All of your wizards that cast from within 12" of the Astrolith Bearer get +1 to Cast and +6" spell range.  These affects apply to all spells, including the summoning of endless spells (with the exception of Merciless Blizzard, whose range cannot be modified).

Note that this ability requires that the wizard be within 12" of the Astrolith Bearer, not wholly within 12".

The Astrolith Bearer also confers a 6+ ward to any friendly Seraphon wholly within 12".  This is a powerful effect that can add significant survivability to your units.  In Starborne, this usually protects the wizard castle, while in Coalesced, it may be focused on your anvil or other melee units.

A Starborne army can enhance this effect by spending 10 CPP on the Protection of the Old Ones ability, which upgrades Revivifying Energies to a 5+ ward until the start of your next hero phase.

It's worth pointing out that the Astrolith Bearer has the TOTEM keyword, allowing him to issue commands to units wholly within 18", even if he's not your general.