Warhammer Age of Sigmar Seraphon Lord Kroak
review by Sergio Almonte
Greetings my lizard wizards! Today I, skink wrangler Sergio, endeavor to teach you about the Supreme Master of Order, the first-spawned ancestor of the Slann and snake enthusiast Lord Kroak! This review will cover his lore, the contents and assembly of his model alongside his usage in any Seraphon armies that hit the tabletop. Let’s begin!
Lore
To understand where this mummified frog came from, we must dip out of the purview of the Mortal Realms and observe the beginnings of the World-That-Was. Long ago, before the birth of Sigmar or the Aelves of Ulthuan, the mythical Old Ones came to the frozen crust of the planet Mallus. The only inhabitants of this world were the Dragon Emperor of what would become Cathay, alongside his consort, the Moon Empress. Brushing aside these draconic overlords as one would scoop a misbehaving cat off of a countertop, the Old Ones transformed Mallus into a vibrant world with two magical gates located at the planet’s frigid poles.
To assist them in their work, what would become known as the Great Plan, the Old Ones created the Lizardmen, also known as the Seraphon, to assist them. The commanders of these cold-blooded creations were the Slann, froglike beings with unrivaled control over the winds of magic. Lord Kroak was the first-spawned of the Slann, and the greatest among their kind, reshaping continents with a mere thought. Soon to follow the Lizardmen were the mortal races, humans and elves and dwarves alike, though they were mistrusted by the ordered Lizardmen for their temptations and vices.
Of course, nothing so ordered goes unspoiled by chaos for long, and soon daemonic legions spilled from the polar gates, summoned by those same mortal races to despoil all they came across.
That was until they encountered Lord Kroak. Defending the largest temple city, Itza, Lord Kroak cast spells of such power that the fabric of reality sputtered to a halt, unmaking the endless legions of Chaos and thwarting their advance to the mainlands of Mallus. Even when Khorne dispatched a dozen bloodthirsters to slay Kroak, he could only rage with impotent fury as his champions successfully murdered the first-spawned… only to be destroyed by the Slaan’s immortal spirit refusing to leave his body.
To place some emphasis on this point, while his mastery of magic is thus that learning necromancy would be a trite affair, no spells of Shyishan lore were responsible for Kroak’s undeath. He did not pull his spirit from the realm of death by invoking some godly ritual, like a certain mitre-wearing god of death. Kroak simply denied death hold over his spirit, and the cosmos complied with his demand. Radical.
Following his death at Itza, Kroak would survive thousands of years as a mummified frog, a relic of a bygone era called upon only when the risk of calamity threatened to overrun the temple cities of Lustria and Mallus as a whole. Unfortunately for Lord Kroak, even his mastery of the mystic arts could forestall the calamity that eventually did overrun Mallus, condemning the world to destruction. Leading his people onto vast temple ships that departed for realms unknown, Lord Kroak watched as the cold-blooded constitution of the Lizardmen faltered and died amidst the cold of the aetheric void. Even the bodies of the Slann fell into stasis, the first-spawned held a silent vigil over the last vestiges of his people, projecting his mind out into the void as he grappled with the failure of the Great Plan.
This gloom would not last forever. Called to the temple fleet by the thoughts of the Slann, the great drake Dracothion listened as the masters of the Seraphon regaled the Godbeast with tales of their lost world at the hands of chaos. Finding common ground amidst a mutual enmity towards the ruinous powers, Dracothion breathed life back into the temple-ships, reactivating ancient machinery that now glittered and sparked with the light of constellations, and unlocked deeper chambers still unknown to even the Seraphon. Could this mean that the Old Ones had planned for the destruction of Mallus? Perhaps, a small hope the Slann were eager to seize upon. No worry that Dracothion followed their trail back to the metal core of Mallus, finding a golden, hammer wielding barbarian-king clutching to the detritus, the Seraphon would order this new cosmos as the Old Ones willed, seeing their Great Plan restored once more.
So it was that Lord Kroak led his people to the realm of Azyr, though he would soon travel far and wide to see potential futures pried open, or sutured shut. Many heroes would profess to seeing a withered amphibian wreathed in starlight, gifting them visions of calamity or destruction that would require their action. But Lord Kroak is not content to sit back anymore, as his complacency saw the Old World annihilated.
His ventures include helping two Draconith princes, Krondys and Karazai, by using his magic to trick and seal away the God of Earthquakes, Kragnos, alongside taking the last clutches of Draconith eggs onto the temple ships for cultivation and protection. Lord Kroak would move against Kragnos again when the hot heated Drogrukh broke his mountain prison and sieged the Ghurish city of Excelsis, assisting the newly ascended Morathi-Khaine as she fought back the invading force, even dueling the God of Earthquakes before Kragnos was tricked once again by Kroak into leaping within a portal hosting an illusion of his lost people. He would then join the council of life, headed by the Everqueen Alarielle, to put an end to the Era of the Beast and trap Kragnos permanently, which he succeeded in doing by… tricking the God of Earthquakes using his magic. Look, Lord Kroak does a lot of cool stuff, but he’s also apparently on full-time Drogrukh humiliation duty when he’s not delivering celestial wrath upon the enemies of Order.
Most recently, Lord Kroak has come to the rescue of the embattled temple-cities stricken by the Vermindoom, assisting them in purifying what Skaven taint they can alongside opening a sealed can of Lustrian kickass upon any opportunist seeking to steal or loot from the Seraphon. Better and bolder things may shock and petrify the mortals of the realms, but to a being as ancient and powerful as Kroak, such is the passing of waves, and all things can be made to fit the Great Plan.
Model
Ah, what can be said about a model of such froggyness that hasn’t already been said? A good deal, actually. Firstly, when assembling the model, subassemblies are close to required. I myself have assembled the palanquin completely, with the rings attached, though it may help to leave off the lower-rightmost and top-leftmost rings to access the detail on them easier. Leaving Kroak himself off is incredibly easy, as he sits flat upon the palanquin with a rectangular peg to keep him upright and can be assembled wholly before needing to put him on. This model is largely front facing, with a great amount of detail on the front and back, while his chair forms a squat oval that squashes near the middle, no less grandiose, but intended to be seen from around 180° rather than a full 360°.
Painting Lord Kroak is a daunting affair to be sure, but the details on his model are well enumerated and frontloaded with the geometric designs of the Seraphon, making materials like the stone rings and obsidian palanquin easily drybrushable. Each richly sculpted detail is prime for trying out unique painting techniques, such as the sphere of glass embedded within Kroak’s snake staff, or the decorative feathers on his mask and adorning the serpents that frame the large sundial at the head of the palanquin. The model is a perfect size to be a fully engaging painting project while not requiring weeks of effort, though Kroak could certainly soak up that amount of time if you so wished. Paint your brush true, and Lord Kroak will reward you in kind with an incredibly fun painting project.
Gameplay
Do you want a spellcasting powerhouse with the undying might of a million dried frogs? Well that’s what Lord Kroak is going to give you; just pray you’re not on the receiving end of his magical might. One might not understand the power of Lord Kroak immediately upon seeing his warscroll. 18 Health with a 4+ ward is certainly a mouthful, but with a 4+ save, a 5” move, and 2d6 melee attacks, his output as a melee monster is neutered. But combat is not why you take Lord Kroak, for if he has been tagged into combat, something entirely different is wrong with the battle. His abilities showcase why one would pay the premium to field this model.
The ability Arcane Vassal, shared with the Slann Starmaster, allows Kroak to cast through a skink wizard by using the skink’s casting range. Kroak gets a +2 to his spellcasting rolls and +1 to his unbinding rolls, extremely useful since Kroak is a Wizard (3) and can unbind any spell regardless of distance. This allows him to shove spells through on a high roll and extend magical supremacy over the battle, such as his iconic ‘Celestial Deliverance’ warscroll spell, a magical echo of his legendary spell cast at Itza, which on a casting roll of a seven (a 5+ for Kroak) allows him to deal d3 mortal damage to up to three enemy units within 18”. Kroak can cast this spell up to three times per hero phase, giving him the magical equivalent of tactical missiles on command. Most interesting on Kroak’s warscroll is his Dead for Innumerable Ages ability, where Kroak rolls 3d6 + the # of damage points he has taken that turn. If that roll does not exceed 20, Kroak heals for his full amount of health. While this does mean Kroak could potentially die with a supremely unlucky 18 on 3 dice, he could also live after taking 16 damage just as easily, affording his supreme frogliness a surprising amount of durability against being sniped by ranged attacks or assassins. I would recommend running Kroak with at least a 5-man squad of Saurus Guard, to allow Kroak to screen out charges attempting to kill the wizard dropping bombs on the rest of their comrades. Hold Kroak as the core of your army, and you will discover why daemonkind should still fear the lizard wizard of old.
Conclusion
If one wishes to add a centerpiece model to their Seraphon or to challenge themselves to paint, few models can serve you better than Lord Kroak himself. Just remember to present your offerings of freshly slaughtered Skaven and dried grubs upon request, lest you end up as a smoking pile of ash. The First-Spawned will accept no substitutes!
Warhammer Age of Sigmar Seraphon Lord Kroak is available now from our webstore.
