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Written by: Nephthysis

Treasures of the Necropolis
Magic Armour - Aegis of the Gods

Overview:
With only four choices (five counting the common Enchanted Shield) the Tomb Kings don't have nearly an impressive collection of magical armour as they do weapons. Armour in general is a weak point of the Tomb Kings though, so this is not entirely unexpected. Each of the four entries is unique and three at least are useful in their intended purposes though.

Armour of Eternity:
If you want a King that can endure a small nuclear explosion and still come out swinging, this is the way to go. It may only count as light armour, but re-rolling wound rolls on a Tough 5 character more than makes up for one or even the two armour points that full plate/chaos armour get over it. You always get these re-rolls, even against weapons that disallow armour saves, even against magic missiles that allow no armour saves, and even against killing blow! It provides our only non-ward protection from the dreaded lucky 6. It's restrictive points cost does of course prevent you from taking any of our army specific magic weapons, though you can still combine it with the Collar of Shapesh to yield the most survivable character we can field. You still have the choice of taking a mundane great weapon, which is nothing to sneeze at on a Tomb King, and/or a shield for the option of even more survivability.

Scorpion Armour:
A unique piece of armour that cuts down on the number of wounds we take from combat resolution, and one of only two ways that Tomb Kings characters can obtain heavy armour (yes they can wear it even though they have no option for mundane heavy armour). Only half the wounds sustained from combat resolution can be assigned to the character wearing the Scorpion Armour though, so you're looking at saving 3 skeletons or 2 tomb guard guard usually in a best case scenario. In a unit of chariots it can save you some very expensive wounds if they fluff a charge (which is very possible for them to do). It is generally considered to be best complimented by the Spear of Antarhak since the armour's special function involves you purposefully wounding your character.

There is also another intriguing combo using the Spear of Antarhak and the Scorpion Armour. It involves using a King as a self healing sponge unit to tie down an entire enemy unit on his own. He will of course lose through combat resolution, but only take one wound due to the Scorpion Armor. Hopefully he'll be able to heal himself long enough to keep the unit occupied at least until a flanking unit arrives. There are variations using either the Cloak of the Dunes to give him more mobility (he can then Urgency charge in) or the Talisman of Protection for a little extra survivability. Keep in mind that even if you get a flank charge, you are assuming that the enemy will win combat, and then he gets a free reform to face you. The next turn you will have taken a wound from the previous combat resolution, and Tomb Kings don't strike first all that often, even if there's no enemy hero present. Issue a challenge if you can, otherwise the tactic is very risky. It must be considered that the enemy only has to inflict 3 wounds vs at best a 4+ armour save and 6+ ward save to spoil it. If the unit is worth keeping occupied, it can very likely do this; if the unit can't cause three wounds, then your tooled-out King probably costs more points than the unit he is tying down.

Armour of the Ages:
Cheap, effective, and probably the most commonly taken piece of magical armour from the Tomb Kings list. It is better from a pure survivability standpoint than the Scorpion Armour which is more suited for synergistic and tactical use, but does not have the point restrictions of the Armour of Eternity (though you'll note its point cost was set specifically to keep it from being taken with the Destroyer of Eternities). It may not be flashy but it accomplishes its job well.

Shield of Ptra:
Our only army-specific magical shield is cheap, but rarely taken for a number of reasons. It precludes you from taking any other magical armor and the special ability is underwhelming usually. You have to make a successful armour save (4+ at best and using a mundane hand weapon on a character is a shame) before it even kicks in, and weapon skill is generally considered the least influential of the "combat stats" after that. If you attack first, then the enemies in base to base contact all attack at once, the shield does nothing (except maybe make a couple of skeletons or tomb guard hit on 3's instead of 4's). If the enemy attacks first (not out of the realm of possibilities for I3 characters), then your Tomb King or Prince can hit on 3's, but they likely were going to anyway. It might find use in a chariot unit where more units are in base to base contact with the character, but they will have all struck before it's special ability comes into play on a charge, and you don't want your chariots in combat for any longer than that. If it persisted into another combat round or just plain affected models in base to base combat it might merit consideration, but as it stands there are much more effective ways to use those points.