Arise and Reclaim Your Empires: A LO Tomb King Tactica

[Spector]

Alright, heres the tactica, click on a link to go ahead to the article you want.

For the items on the list in green, click on them to link you directly to the article that corresponds with it.

I. Characters

A. Lords

a. Tomb King (Deceiver)

b. Liche High Priest (Spector)

B. Heroes

a. Tomb Prince

b. Icon Bearer

c. Liche Priest (willadams33)

i. Casket of Souls (willadams33)

C. Special Characters

a. Settra the Imperishable

b. High Queen Khalida Neferher

II. Units

A. Core

a. Skeleton Warriors

i. Skeleton Bowmen

ii. Skeleton Warriors (CC Troops)

b. Skeleton Light Horsemen (willadams33)

c. Tomb Swarm

d. Skeleton Heavy Horsemen

e. Chariots (willadams33)

B. Special

a. Tomb Guard (willadams33)

b. Ushabti

c. Carrion (willadams33)

d. Tomb Scorpion (Carnifexus)

C. Rare

a. Screaming Skull Catapult (Carnifexus)

b. Bone Giant

c. Dogs of War

III. The Land of the Dead

A. Nehekharan Incantations

a. Sekhubi's Incantation of Vengance

b. Horekhah's Incantation of Righteous Smiting

c. Djedra's Incantation of Summoning

d. Mankara's Incantation of Urgency

B. Treasures of the Necropolis

a. Magic Weapons (Nephthysis)

b. Magic Armour (Nephthysis)

c. Talismans (Nephthysis)

d. Enchanted Items (Nephthysis)

e. Arcane Items (Nephthysis)

f. Magic Banners (Nephthysis)

IV. The Art of War

A. Tactics

a. Deployment

i. Refused Flank

b. It Came From Below... (willadams33)

B. Taking the Offensive

a. When do I want to play offense?

b. ICFB or not to ICFB?

c. What units would be benefical for this role?

d. Using Fear to our advantage.

C. Taking the Defensive

a. When do I want to play defense?

b ICFB or not to ICFB?

c. What units would be beneficial for this role?

d. Using Fear to our advantage.

V. Race-specific Tacticas

A. Beasts of Chaos

a. Khorne

b. Nurgle

c. Slaanesh

d. Tzeentch

e. Undivided

B. Bretonnia (Spector)

C. Dark Elves

D. Dwarves (Carnifexus, Undead Bonzi)

E. Empire

F. High Elves

G. Hordes of Chaos

a. Khorne

b. Nurgle

c. Slaanesh

d. Tzeentch

e. Undivided

H. Lizardmen

I. Ogre Kingdoms

J. Orcs & Golblins

K. Skaven

L. Tomb Kings

M. Vampire Counts (Carnifexus)

N. Wood Elves

[Spector]

Written by: Nephthysis

Treasures of the Necropolis
Magic Weapons - Fists of the Gods

Overview:
The Tomb Kings have an impressive collection of magical weapons at their disposal (as they should, they've only been collecting them for a few millenia). Most of them are oriented toward character killing though, with very little emphasis on rank and file killing (eg the Hordes of Chaos Berserker Sword), and most will leave you with very few defensive options, especially when taken on Princes. Also of note is the lack of a magical bow when one of Nehekara's primary deities was the Asp Goddess who favors archers.

Destroyer of Eternities:
The Big Daddy. The King of Kings. Definitely in the running for most powerful magical weapon among all armies. It's primary drawback is its price. Taking the Destroyer precludes you from taking any magical armor or using a shield. You'll be relegated to a 6+ armor save at best and have only the Collar of Shapesh as any worthwhile protection. This may leave your King more vulnerable than some people like, but the offensive capabilities of the weapon are almost without equal.

The first point of note is that the single attack a King gets from the Incantation of Righteous Smiting during the magic phase can be traded in for the special attack (make sure you carry a copy of the Tomb Kings FAQ with you, as I don't think I've had an opponent yet that believed this at first). This doesn't count toward combat resolution but it sure does shock an opponent to lose 3 models to the King alone, or lose a champion/character before combat even starts. You then of course get to trigger the special attack again during the actual close combat phase. Assuming you got the charge, that's four auto hit, Strength 7 attacks on any character in base to base contact with the King before they get to fight back, and that's IF they've survived the Killing Blow ability. Certainly enough to strike fear into even the toughest Lords. After they face the Destroyer a couple of times opponents will actually be afraid to flank your King carrying unit, because they know if they do not completely slaughter it on the charge (hard to do to our unbreakable units) you can simply move the King to a corner and have base to base contact with up to 5 models.

Crook & Flail of Radiance:
A decent character killer, given that low Initiative is one major weakness of the Tomb King and Prince so the "always strike first" ability is generally welcome. It is drastically overpriced however for what boils down to an extra hand weapon with first strike (first strike ability is usually budgeted at 25 points, and you get no shield or parry bonus with the Crook & Flail). It will also allow a Tomb King (and to a lesser extent a Prince) to remove a good portion of the front rank in the event he gets charged. We don't get the option for a mundane extra hand weapon so you're stuck with this or a common Sword of Battle if you're looking for rank and file killing ability.

Blade of Setep:
It costs a little bit more than some of the other "no armour saves allowed" weapons, but matches some others, as there seems to be no "standard" value of this ability, which is 95% of the time all the effect you will get out of this weapon. However if you know your opponent has a fetish for magical armor, especially armor that is dangerous to your army, such as Magic Resist armor when you have a Casket of Souls, the Blade can be a nasty surprise. Really though it doesn't add enough character killing ability to be worth its points in a "take all comers" when high strength attacks can accomplish the same task nearly as well. We have better character killers.

The Blade of Mourning:
Another overpriced weapon with a very narrow scope of use. You have to win combat for its special abilities to have any effect at all, and very often when we win combat our opponent needs Insane Courage to stay in the fight anyway. It does not double the number of wounds an undead opponent takes from combat resolution and will not affect Stubborn troops. That leaves only a small number of combats where the Blade would actually even come into effect, then your opponent still has to break and get caught for the weapon to earn its points back.

Flail of Skulls:
The Flail costs slightly more than other "double unsaved wounds" weapons, but it does have the benefit that it keeps its +2 strength in the first round of combat. It's a more than decent character killer and a popular choice for Kings or Princes either one, especially those in chariots who are expected to face more than usual "first rounds" as they charge and overrun from one combat into another. Keep in mind though that it has no effect (other than that of a mundane flail) against normal rank and file troops so against most armies you have to get into contact with characters to have it earns its points back which is just another good reason to put the character carrying it into a chariot. Against multiple wound elite units (especially those with larger bases where a Destroyer loses much of its ability) it can really swing the tide of a battle in your favor.

Spear of Antarhak:
The Spear is more of a utility tool than an outright killer as compared to our other weapons. It is also unique in that it is the only magical weapon from our army-specific list that a Tomb Prince can take and still have a respectable armor save. The Spear is of course put to best use on a character who joins an expensive unit, such as Chariots (where he will still get a mundane spear's +1 strength on the charge), Ushabti, or even Tomb Guard where every wound you heal is earning you many points back. There is a combo for a solo King using the Spear, but that is covered in the entry for Scorpion Armor. The Spear's healing effect can even be considered more useful than the Incantation of Summoning for the unit it is in, since the Incantation's entire effect has to be applied to either a character, a character's chariot, or a unit (excluding any characters in that unit), whereas the wounds healed by the Spear can be split up however you like. Overall a useful weapon and popular choice, though you may find yourself wishing you had a weapon with a little more offensive punch than this, especially in a chariot unit whose bane is not breaking the enemy on a charge and getting into a protracted combat.

Serpent Staff:
Complete trash. I include its entry only for the sake of completeness. There is no conceivable reason to ever consider this weapon.

[Spector]

Written by: Carnifexus

Tomb Scorpion
Take out double its points or your money back!



Few single units can strike terror into the hearts of opponents quite like the Tomb Scorpion. Whether it’s killing of the enemies scroll caddies, destroying his new fandangled (400 year old) organ gun. Or assassinating his unbeatable Blood Dragon General and then watching his army crumble, the simple Tomb Scorpion is one of the most potent morale destroyers in the entire Warhammer Game.

Strengths
• ICFB
• Killing Blow
• Poison
• Fast Movement
• Stat Line
• Magic resistance
• Construct (Anti Crumble)
Weaknesses
• No Static CR
• Weak Armour Save
• Unit Strength 4 (Can’t get better than that)

Basic Tactics

Warmachine Annihilator

I say Warmachine Annihilator because unlike other units which are called to this task there is a 99% chance that the scorpion will succeed against any and all Warmachines including the Dwarven anvil with the accompanying Rune Lord.

Simply use ICFB and place your coin as close to the war machine as possible (including directly on top of it) while aiming for 8” away from any board edge to limit the chances of a failed appearance. Then on turn two or three you should be charging said Warmachine what will follow will be a brutal combat where even if you fail to kill anything you will still outnumber (90% of the time) and cause fear and therefore auto break Warmachine crews.

For Maximum effectiveness try and line up your scorpion with another Warmachine behind it so that you can overrun from this Warmachine to the next Warmachine. This tactic is great against Dwarves and Empire who have lots of heavy hitting Warmachines.

Mage Hunter

Tomb Kings love to dominate the magic phase when we do it makes it very hard for any army to win against us as we charge who we want, our Warmachines shoot twice with unerring accuracy and all the dead skele’s come back to fight again. In order to really dominate a magic phase you need to eliminate the enemies Mages.

The Scorpion is the perfect Mage Hunter. Its Fast movement allows it to charge into blocks of infantry with the Mage in the front. Its high strength, poison and killing blow mean that he has an excellent chance of causing the 2 wounds required to kill most scroll caddy mages and his low points cost mean that its not the end of the world when the scorpion dies after the mage has been killed.

Generally when using the scorpion as a mage killer you won’t need to use ICFB. However some shooty armies like Wood Elves, Dwarves, and Empire will try and hide the Mage at the back with the bowmen. This probably is the best situation for a scorpion as often he will not only kill the mage but will take out the archer unit, all be it slowly. In this situation use ICFB and place the coin in a position so that you will be able to charge the front of the unit so that you can get into base to base with the Mage. Generally 6” in front of the Mage will give you the best odds of being able to charge said Mage.

Remember to always direct all attacks at killing the mage that is your primary focus and you don’t really care if the scorpion lives or dies if he kills the enemy mage!

The Anti-Flee, Counter Charge Blocker

One of my favourite uses. The grass is always greener on the otherside! I really miss not being able to flee and leave a unit stranded in the middle of no where about to take my counter charge. What annoys me most is when I have my Chariots lined up for the charge on a unit knowing that I’m about to crush them and then having them flee just far enough so I fail my charge. By having a scorpion also charge from the back or from a close proximity side it negates the flee reaction as you will wipe out the unit because it can’t flee far enough. This allows you to trap that nasty unit in a sandwich of doom. Even better the scorpion will most likely add +2 to the CR (in kills) and 4 unit strength, increasing the chances of the unit breaking!

The other use the counter charge block is particularly effective against small Elite units which are strong and tough but have low static CR. Think Dryads or a spear of Cold One Knights. Often your enemies will try and use there weak units as bait and then charge your flank with these small but effective units. A scorpion is more than effective against these types of units. With its high strength and toughness most elite troops struggle against it and cavalry get annihilated quickly if they don’t get the charge. It may not win the combat however it will severely hold those troops up allowing your other unit to escape the trap!

Character Assassination

The most risky of all the tactics this always ends in a spectacular fashion. Either you get a killing blow on the character or roll really well and remove 3 of his wounds thus killing him or you fail to hurt him and you crumble through CR and of course the retaliatory attacks!!

This tactic is very good up against armies which use the eggs in one basket tactic and have the 500 point 1 man killing machine. Be aware that some of these characters will be immune to killing blow and thus use two scorpions against them in fact two scorpions is generally the way to go. This tactic should be primarily used against Vampire Counts. But is also good against Characters in mounted Monsters (you can get 3 scorpions in!). Generally no need to use ICFB when using this tactic.

Using ICFB

This comes down to the role the scorpion is involved in. You have to remember that everytime you use ICFB theres a chance that your scorpion may not come up. There is a much greater chance that your scorpion won't come up in exactly the place you want.

When not to use ICFB
When aiming to assassinate a character in the front rank of a unit the Scorpion should not use ICFB but rather a shrewd tactical placement of directly opposite said character.

Scorpions are blessed with a high movement stat and therefore are able to declare charges in the front and flank of a unit relatively easily. We must remember that they still can't march so they are not as mobile as most other units and redeploying from one side of the battlefield requires a lot of effort by the way of magic casting.

When to use ICFB
When trying to get behind the enemies main battle line to prevent troops fleeing and destroy their precious war machines.

Scorpions are reasonably reliable with ICFB. Popping up and being able to charge in the same turn is a blessing. Hopefully this means that on a successful roll all the nasty war machines of the enemy will be silenced on your turn two which is far faster than what a scorpion could achieve if it was deployed normally. The only way to be more effective is a magic charge from carrion in the first turn.

When trying to prevent the flight of an enemy unit turn 3 is generally sufficient and therefore the scorpion will have arrived in time to be of service 69% of the time

Greatest Mistakes

There are really only 2 that come to mind

Taking on the world
Scorpions are a great unit and as the tactics above say they can easily take out double there points every battle you play with them. Of course they are not invincible not even close and if you charge them head/flank or from the rear into a block of infantry (even Gobbos) you will come off looking rather stupid. A Scorpion’s greatest weakness is the lack of static CR and it never manages to generate a lot of CR on the attack either. So against blocks of infantry you will crumble big time!!!

Supporting a Lost Cause
Another bad idea is to bring them into a doomed combat to try and get some CR to help out a block of skeletons etc. Scorpions do not create a significant CR by themselves you can pretty much bank on them adding +2. If you have a unit of skeleton bowmen up against a lizard temple guard unit and you rush your scorpion in there expect the temple guard to keep grinding the bowmen down maybe killing 6 and the scorpion crumbling as a result because the weak skeletons allowed the temple guard to create a huge CR.

Scorpion Law

1. Take at least one!
2. Don’t Charge into Block Infantry
3. Create and Execute the Plan, Don’t Gamble!

Conclusion

Scorpions are very good at taking out an armies strength, whether it’s Dwarven Artillery, Dark Elf Magic, Wood Elf Shooting or the VC’s General. Their amazing versatility makes them a very popular choice in tournaments as there are not many armies which they are not of great value against. Their low points cost combined with a great stat line and awesome special abilities make them the single greatest (in my honest opinion) Special unit available to any army. When used correctly they will hollow out an enemy allowing you to crush them mercilessly!

[Spector]

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.

[Spector]

Written by: willadams33

The Casket of Souls – Pandora’s Box


Overview –

The Casket of Souls is perhaps the most interesting and potentially devastating option certainty for a Khemrian character to take and in a broader sense for a Tomb Kings army in general. You may take one per army, no matter what the size, and it is a hefty investment and will take up one of your rare slots (more on this latter) and follows all the rules for war machines. The Casket is better suited to a more defensive style of play and army construction, where it can have the maximum amount of turn before your units enter combat and block your opponents line of sight to the casket.

Strengths –

- Always casts on a value of 2D6. The Casket of Souls, like all Khemrian magic always casts and therefore will never miscast. This means that your opponent is either going to have to let it go, or save dispel dice and scrolls in order to counter it. This is perhaps the single most useful thing about the casket. I have played games where it has been as useful as I could have ever wished it to be when it has not even successfully gone off at all. The Casket is an absolute sucker for dispel dice. If dice and scrolls are being saved and used by your opponent to counter the casket, it means that you more game-making incantations such as summoning and especially urgency, giving you that all important charge, have less chance of being dispelled.

-Effects everything that can see it. Now let us assume that the casket does successfully go off. It is an item with the potential to effect every unit in the opponents army (providing they are all looking at the casket) This is a power like no other in Warhammer, and is why the casket is so rightly feared. The casket will affect any enemy that can see it, even if they are immune to psychology or unbreakable. Even high Ld armies will take some casualties against the casket. With 2d6+2 –Ld wounds per unit with no saves allowed, even knights with a 1+ save should be quaking in their saddles.

Causes your opponent to cast at -1 modifier. As well as sucking up dispel dice and scrolls, the Casket causes the opponent to subtract one from all of his casting roles. This is great for forcing that extra power dice to be used for mid- level spells. However, the power really comes into its own against Ogres, making an Ogre player have to use two dice to be confident of getting a gut magic spell through, helping to control what otherwise can be a very nasty magic phase.

Causes Terror. This is a great self protection mechanism. Against the Fast Cavalry and skirmishers who will normally come after the Casket, it will make perhaps half of them run in terror instead of charge. It is also great if you are deploying your Casket next to a Catapult on an elevated position, giving the stone thrower some extra protection afforded by the six inch range of terror.
? Vs. Normal Shooting. As a model, the Casket is extremely resilient against non-template weapons of all types. The Casket itself cannot be harmed, so when randomising, two-thirds of the shots are discounted. Any shots hitting crew members are then randomised again, hitting the guard on a 1-4 and the Priest on a 5-6. This means that on average only 1 in 9 shots that hit will hit the Liche Priest, keeping him pretty safe.


Weaknesses –

-Cannon balls and other template weapons. Here is the caskets greatest problem. Due to Games Workshop thinking that it is okay to make cannons snipers when firing at war machines, the liche priest can be picked out if the cannon guess is accurate. There are very few ways round this, other than hiding the Casket from the cannons (thus vastly reducing its effectivness, or investing in a Ward Save which may be better served on another character (more on this later). If a cannon or template hits the priest he cannot get away from it. A measly T3 with two wounds, he will not be around for long. On the bright side, cannons are only available to two armies, Dwarfs and empire, with stone throwers available to Dwarfs, Empire, Bretonnian, Orcs and Goblins, Ogres and Tomb Kings. Though I feel that their accuracy is much less reliable and they are not best suited to targeting war machines.

-Points cost. A casket and a tooled up Liche Priest come in on the wrong side of 300 points, so sizeable investment. After hearing a few horror stories about the caskets capabilities, your opponent is bound to try to get rid of it, and those victory points.

-Stationary. The casket cannot move. This means that deployment (more on this later) is vitally important. It is also a weakness because unless you are playing with a very defensive army, soon your Casket Priest’s incantations will be out of range. Stationary also means it has no way to get out of the way if, for instance, it is ambushed by a herd of Chaos Beastmen.

The Two Catapults Problem. Competition is a good headache to have I suppose. The Casket is up against one of the best and most points efficient war machines in the games, the Screaming Skulls Catapult. For some 55pts cheaper than the Casket alone, let alone the priest on top, you can have a fully fledged panic-causing machine. The Catapult is the only thing available to Tomb Kings to get rid of things like Treemen and Steam Tanks at range, in fact it is about the only thing that can get rid of a Steam Tank full stop! So to this end, is it worth it? It gives your huge magical power and the ability to affect the whole enemy army, always works, and is devastating against magic-light and low Ld armies. At the end it is a personal choice, I just like the threat and variety that the Casket brings to battle.


Deployment & Tactics-

As has been noted, the Casket cannot move, this means its initial deployment is paramount to the caskets success and role in the battle. Normally, I deploy the Casket in one of two ways: Defensive and Offensive. The safer defensive option is to deploy it on an elevated position along with the mandatory Screaming Skulls Catapult. This serves several purposes. It offers the Casket a decent view of the whole battlefield; it gives the catapult some extra protection afforded by the six inch range of terror; it means that your Casket Priest’s incantation is never wasted as he can simply be on smiting duty with the catapult. The drawback to this deployment is that it leaves over 400 points of your army in a very small, unmovable area. More annoyingly, most hills tend to be in corners, meaning that it is fairly easy for your opponent to deploy and move his army to insure as few of his units as possible can draw line of sight to the Casket. The Second more aggressive way to deploy the casket is right slap bang in the middle of your battle line. Yes this means that it is right on show and not tucked away safe in a corner, but it means that to get to your army, the enemy will have to look pretty much straight at it! This is great, because your enemy will have to deal with it, either in using a lot of shooting to kill the Liche Priest, or by using up dispel dice and scrolls. This more aggressive style of deployment is better suited against combat armies like Chaos, Bretonnia and O&G, as to win the game, these armies will have to meet your battle line which can stay relatively still for the first few turns, meaning that you aren’t blocking line of sight to the Casket.

[Spector]

Written by: Deceiver

Tomb King

A Tomb King is the first choice of many to lead their army to battle. Boasting a great profile, a King provides a great basis for any army. Made for combat, he can take on other Lord characters with a decent chance of success, and as well as being able to give a boost to the all important Tomb King magic phase, his wargear and magic item selections can act as a center point for the army’s tactics.

Strengths
Good Statline
‘My Will be Done!’
The Curse
S7 able
Good Wargear selection
Core Chariots
Banner for Skeleton Warriors

Weaknesses
Lack of decent Armour / save
Flammable
Slow
Short Spell Range


The King in General
Equipping him with a Great Weapon is the only way for a Tomb King army to have a S7 model in combat. This seems to be the key Strength value in Fantasy, able to wound most enemies on 2+, modifying armour saves by -4, and able to splinter chariots.

Possibly one of the most popular reasons for taking a King is the fact that he makes Chariots a Core choice for the army instead of Special. This is great whether you are playing an offensive of defensive lists, as it allows you take these great units and still keep your options open for taking the other fantastic Special choices available.

Also having a King gives one of your Skeleton units the option of taking a magic banner. There are still only 2 banner choices available for them, but if the King is in a Skeleton warrior unit the common choice for them is the Banner of the Undying Legion.

My Will Be Done!
Very few other armies have a Lord level character that can fight and also provide such a key support to the army in the magic phase. He comes with the best two spells available to the Tomb Kings, and despite their short range they can come in very useful when the King is positioned correctly.

With 2 spells at power level D6 each, if you can make them key spells then even if you roll a 1, the enemy has to throw a dispel dice to stop you. If you roll a 4 or higher, the opponent will be looking at rolling two dice to stop the spell going through. That’s 2-4 of the opponents Dispel dice every turn, usually quite a good portion of their dispel pool. And if his spells are successful, even better!

The Curse
If your King is unfortunate enough to be slain in combat, this gives you one last chance to hurt the enemy character or unit that killed him.



Tomb King on Foot
This seems to be the preferred option for most Kings when used in a defensive army. The King generally sits in a large unit of Tomb Guard or Skeleton Warriors.

From there he is able to use MWBD on his own and other nearby units. In early turns it is great to have an extra spell or two to boost your ranged damage potential, as most opponents tend to ignore extra movement spells early on.

Once you get into the later turns of the game, the King really comes into his own. His movement spell plays a key roll here. If you are unable to charge successfully in the movement phase as normal, then the King can really help you out. With his two spells, he can get himself and his own unit into combat, as well as being able to provide support by getting a second nearby unit to also charge.

Of course it is unlikely he will pull this off alone, but with good magic support from priests, it is unlikely the opponent will be able to stop all your spells. Especially as their scrolls have probably been used to stop the Casket of Souls or Screaming Skull Catapult in earlier turns.

Tomb King on Chariot
A chariot is the best option for a King leading an offensive army, but is also a viable option for use in a more defensive list.

Usually he is accompanied by a unit of 3 chariots, to make a fast, hard hitting unit. Something Tomb Kings often lack.

From his chariot the Kings MWBD becomes incredibly useful. The unit even has the potential for a first turn charge, and if your opponent has other magic to worry about later on, he will be less decisive about dispelling these early spells. Of course if they are already in combat, he can use Smiting to start the killing before the combat phase even begins.

As it is likely your priests will be elsewhere, unable to keep their magic in range of the faster moving chariots whilst remaining safe themselves, having the magical support from the King himself makes the unit far more potent and much more of a worry for the enemy to deal with. Especially as there is often a good chance to get a first turn charge.


Common Tomb King Magic Item Choices (see Treasures of the Necropolis section for more information)

Weapons:
Destroyer of Eternities (foot), Considered by many to be the ultimate item for Tomb King character killer.

Flail of Skulls, a good choice for a King running into tough enemy characters.

Spear of Antarhak, Keeping him and his unit healed in combat, especially against weaker enemies.

Armour:
Armour of the Ages, For added Survivability.

Talismans:
Golden Ankhra, Standard ward save.

Crown of Kings, Fantastic for making his magic even more of a threat.

Collar of Shapesh, As useful as the Golden Ankhra, with an acceptable downside considering its cost.

Golden Eye of Rah-Nutt (chariot), Protecting his precious chariot from high strength hits.

Enchanted:
Chariot of Fire (chariot), Increasing the damage he can do on the charge.

Vambraces of the Sun, Another option for a Character going into Challenges.


Useful item Combinations
‘The Challenger’: Destroyer of Eternities + Collar of Shapesh.
The best chance you have of going up against a powerful enemy character and coming out on top.

‘The Survivor’: Spear of Antarhak + Armour of Ages + Collar of Shapesh + Shield.
A great setup for a King who will be seeing a lot of combat, chances are he will still be alive at the end of it

‘The Road Block’: Spear of Antarhak + Scorpion Armour + Cloak of the Dunes + Shield
Not seen very often as it is not the best use for a King, but famous for being able to take a fully ranked up unit head on and holding them in place. Quite a risky option though.

[Spector]

Written by: Carnifexus

Tomb Kings vs Vampire Counts
Sticks and Stones will break there Bones
Perhaps our most hated enemy, the vampire counts suffer alot of the same disadvantages and advantages that we do, however their tactics and army differ greatly.

Unit Comparison and Strengths


Tomb Kings

Core:

Skeleton Warriors:
The backbone of our force these are almost the same core unit for each side, However we have the ability to be archers as well as hand weapon shield and our light armor upgrade costs less. This is counted by there ability to raise more skeletons than us and more than the force started with.

Archers are great at taking out ghouls and bats and dogs. Once these prime targets are removed, limiting the VC's tactical abilities, these can be used to whittle down the rank and file though to a much lesser extent. (good against zombies)

Light Horsemen
Because you are fighting undead the limited abilities of these models become even worse. I cannot think of a reason to take these guys

Heavy Horsemen
Because you are fighting undead the limited abilities of these models become even worse. While they can still be used on the flank chariots fulfill this role much better.

Tomb Swarm
The normal targets for tomb swarms just don't exist in the VC's army and the need to hold units in place is almost non existent again not a great choice against this army.

Chariots
Owing to the need to keep the general in 12" range to allow the army to move with any sort of purpose VC's often have a flank and this can be used to great effect.
Run in groups of 3 but be wary of spirit hosts as they could tie your chariots up indefinitely. The chariots are also very susceptible to side charges so don't let fast moving units flank you.

Special Units

Tomb Guard
Better than the average skeleton and with magical attacks and killing blow these guys are particularly good against VC's in particular the generals unit (nothing like killing blow to start the crumble). Be careful up against your polar opposites Grave guard as while they cannot be raised for the same points they get a 3+ save instead of a 4+. Remember to raise your guys or give yourself a banner of something cool to give you an advantage.

Ushabti
Great against blocks of Skellies, Zombies or black knights as long as you get the charge (on the knights). These guys negate most of the armour saves and in a group of four will generally do enough damage to knock out the standing combat resolution of 5, (they absolutely trash the knights)

Carrion
Not the greatest due to the lack of war machines, with the inability to make anything run away, the best use is as a necro hunter send out as a pack of 3 (only 2 will fight the necro due to base size) and hope you kill him in the first turn of combat.

Tomb Scorpion
While there are no war machines to punish or really a need to hold a block of skellies up the tomb scorpions once again prove there versatility in being a character killer. Particularly excellent against the general, generally i would suggest starting these guys in your lines and just charging straight at the generals unit prey for the killing blow and watch the crumble begin.

Rare

Screaming Skull Catapult
while there is no need for the skulls of the foe upgrade. The slow speed of the opposition army and lack of any war machines themselves will allow you to whittle down the numbers while they get close.

Bone Giant
Not the Best choice against other Undead while he is still good at negating ranks and charging from the side he generally won't cause enough damage to make it worth his while. He is better at taking out the more expensive units, however he could die to couple of spirit hosts. Generally there are better options out there.

Casket of Souls
While VC's can be known for there mass units of skellies and zombies they have a few tactical units with not many guys in them and low leadership. Not to mention all the groups they can raise 18" away from the wizard. The casket is valuable as it will eat up scrolls and dice early on in the game and the -1 to casting will help you defend against what is really a very strong magic army. Remember ghouls fear the casket and have low leadership.

Vampire Counts

Core:

Skeletons
While almost exactly the same as your skeles they are easier to raise. Try and use flank charges so you can wipe them out as quick as possible, slow moving tactically they are just rank and file to us.

Zombies
Lose all there advantages over skellies except as a speed bump. There ability to be raised faster may be used to keep a good unit in combat indefinitely, so set up your flank charges not a single unit should fear these guys in combat.

Ghouls
In an undead vs undead world ghouls are alive and therefore don't have to hold against a charge. They are also relatively tough however they have no armor but do wield poison. Use archers against them don't use big tough monsters like your Giant, Ushabti or Scorpions.

Bat Swarm
with a limited move these guys often occupy a flank but are great archer fodder and really should pose no threat to most of your units. Don't let them get a flank charge on a chariot unit though as they could hold these guys up.

Dire Wolves
Great at knocking out archers or your war machines they get a bonus strength on the charge and have a huge charge range at 18", they don't wear armor and have toughness 3, just turn them into pin cushions on turn 1.

Special Units:

Grave Guard
Like our tomb guard but with a better save its best to use the SSC to soften these guys up before removing them with a frontal charge support by chariots in the side.

Black Knights
While not as effective against us as against some armies they do have relatively good move and can be used to try and flank charge they are also not bad solo against smaller units of skeles and bowmen. To combat get the charge on them with ushabti or chariots though preferably Ushabti.

Fell bat
Fast and relative good, You won't want to leave your heirophant about with these guys.(that goes for the dogs too). A targeted attack could easily see you start to crumble. Use arrows to keep their numbers low. Fly carrion into them to keep them occupied. or just run away using your cloak of the dunes. Also good at taking out the war machines.

Spirit Host
Being ethereal allows them to target your more dangerous units the Ushabti/ Giant and hold them in place for great lengths of time. Make sure you take a chariot of fire, or use tomb guard or your SSC to remove them. Failing that if you can run a block of skeles in there and hope they crumble on your static combat resolution.

Rare

Banshee
WE ARE IMMUNE, if you see one just laugh and ignore it

Black Coach
He spent an awful lot of points on this use a SSC to remove it from the game, failing that a tomb king with a great weapon or destroyer of eternity. Its not really that scary unless you don't kill it early and allow it to get your flank in all sorts of bother.



Magic

Generally both races are good at casting and poor defensively

Tomb King
make sure you use as many of his scrolls up as soon as possible so that you can make all your important charges. Don't leave chariots to just use there princes spell, take a priest with a jar and cloak to guarantee charges.

Getting double shots with SSC will help whittle him down and generally he will dispel this with quiet abandon.

Make sure you concentrate on getting the charge with your units, because our units are so similar its important to take every advantage possible.

Vampire Counts

Invocation of Nehek (1, 3+/7+/11+)
Raises basic skellies or zombies unlike us this is all that can be raised however they are more effective than us at raising. Don't let him create new units near your lines as he may prevent you getting that flank charge you need to win the combat.

Hand of Dust (2, 7+)
A character killer, its unlikely he will keep this vs us as none of our characters are really that scary to warrant it.

Hellish Vigour (3, 7+)
Allows the unit to attack first (includes Zombies). Not particularly useful unless he losing a combat as both sides have the same initiative.

Gaze of Nagash (4, 8+)
Standard Magic missile dispel if at all possible if not raise the dead.

Vanhel's Danse Macabre (5, 9+)
Gives them an 8" charge, watch this as it is dangerous allowing them to get the charge. Whoever gets the charge in a skelly on skelly fight generally wins it.

Curse of years (6, 10+)
Useful for killing units, reasonably hard to dispel, worth the dispel scroll to remove it from effecting you, unless you have enkhils.



Heroes
Generally they are better in close combat than our heroes, while we provide a greater tactical nouse. Just be careful of the zombie dragon however if you see one try to killing blow the character or dropping a catapult shot onto him, arrows may also be an option though a poor one.

There greatest weakness and strength is there general. A central tactic is to charge scorpions or tomb guard into combat against his general so as to kill him with killing blow.

Also try to take out his mages as soon as possible which will allow you to maximise your magic phase. Be careful to screen your hierophant from dogs and bats so that they don’t use the tactic against you.



Tactics

Gain the Flank
He will want to keep within 12" of the general which generally means he'll be bunched in the middle with maybe a couple of weak flanks, make sure you take some magic users with you to keep the spirit hosts from holding his flank. Chariots work wonders against VC's

Shoot him to death
He has no shooting let him come to you slowly while whittling him down.

Character Assassination
Use Scorpions to Character Assassinate the General if you can pull this off you have won. Make sure to protect your own heirophant. Also you will find that his characters sit back to avoid the Killing Blow that a couple of our guys have let him sit back as he needs characters to turn the tide of his war.

[Spector]

Written by: willadams33

Tomb Guard – The Immovable Object

Strengths

-Strength and Toughness 4. Tomb Guard are the toughest infantry unit we have access to, toughness 4 can really make all the difference.

-Magic Weapons. This is great for taking out ethereal creatures like spirit hosts for Vampire Counts or the Green Knight for Bretonnia. It is also useful for negating the saves of Wood Elf Forest Spirit units or Chaos Daemons.

-Killing Blow. Cavalry should rightly fear Tomb Guard. Killing blow is excellent especially if you manage to smite the unit in the magic phase, that’s eleven killing blow attacks per turn assuming you have a Champion in the unit. It is also great for character annihilation. Over two turns, if three Guard are in combat with a character you should average a killing blow.

-4+ Save in Combat. Not much to say here, just makes the unit a little more resilient. The best combat save the majority of units in the Warhammer world can expect.

-Can raise themselves back better than any unit other than skeleton warriors. The D6 rather than D3 to raise these guys back is invaluable, especially if you are in the final turns and you need to get the unit back to over half strength.


Weaknesses

-Basic movement is slow (4). If you come up against a defensive magic setup, you Tomb Guard could be in for a long walk. Without urgency these guys are slow. If this is the case, try to kill enemy wizards with Carrion/Scorpions asap (you should be doing this anyway).

-Expensive. Tomb Guard are 3pts more per model than a normal HW/S skeleton. This doesn’t seem like much on the face of it, but by the time you have a unit of 20 with command and a banner, the unit becomes very expensive and a missile and magic magnet.

-Take up a special slot. This is annoying. The blessing and curse of Tomb Kings is that all our special choices are worth taking. As Carnifexus said, once you have the mandatory two Scorpions in place, that leaves only two slots left at 2k for Tomb Guard, Ushabti, Carrion and another Scorpion. “Choice…The problem is choice.”

-Weak non-Combat armour save. A 5