I've gotta ask...

[Jarlil]

How often do you get the Casket off? I've watched a bunch of the battle reports / games on Youtube and have not really heard anything on the effectiveness of the Casket. They seem to forget about mentioning it other then the fact that they have it.

[Vallah]

Have you seen these? Tomb Kings of Khemri Forum -> Vaul's Tomb King Battle Reports

Lots of casket action in those.

It actually goes off quite a bit, but it doesn't really matter even if it doesn't to be honest 'cause it still sucks up dispel dice and scrolls like nobodys business.

[Jarlil]

hmmm the link just takes me to the main page. No Vids about TK's

[Nagash]

I am not really sure what Vallah is trying to show you with that link...

However, I'm here to give you a view of the Casket and how many times it will "get opened" in a game I'll keep it short:

Your opponent will often at least TRY to dispel the Light of Death since it is a very effective spell. If he saves two DDs for the Casket, it will be as much as 40-45 % chance that the Casket still goes off. If he saves three DDs, it will still be a 20 % (roughly) chance that the Casket goes off. When he saves this many DDs for the Casket, you'll easily make those crucial charges. In addition to those, you can also use your Hieratic Jar to squeeze him of dice.

My most common opponent (my own brother) knows at about how I am going to deploy my Units. He knows that I can take the lead in the first turn, so that he never will be able to win. That's why he uses Dispel Scrolls. A Scroll is everything you need for the Casket, and it won't go off. The more points my opponent has spent on Scrolls, the better! It means that I have more "valuable" Magic Items in play

Theoretically, it is not a big chance that the Light of Death goes off. Practically, it happens quite often... If it is dispelled with DDs - FINE! You've tricked him to get off more Urgency and Smiting in your Army, while you STILL have a chance to get the LoD running If it is dispelled with a DS - FINE! He have paid 20-25 points for each of those that he uses. If he do not dispel it at all - FINE! You will have a nice time, rolling 2D6+2 and deduct the Ld on each Unit that can see it

It turned out to be longer than I expected myself Hope It Helps!


//Nagash

[Phoenix]

In my standfard list, my casket tends to go off once per two game on average i guess... Generally its absorbing the opponents scrolls or dice, meaning that i get to rule with my other spells

[Vallah]

Originally Posted by Jarlil

hmmm the link just takes me to the main page. No Vids about TK's

Hmm... not sure what happened to the link for that one but I suspect it might have something to do with the recent server change. Guess I will have to change the link in the beginners guide thread too.

Tomb Kings of Khemri Forum -> Vaul's Tomb King Battle Reports

These are the links to Vauls youtube bat reps. If you've looked on youtube I'm surprised you haven't actually seen these but the above link will take you to a page that lists all his TK ones. Since Vaul has (or at least had) a bit of a fettish for his casket, it comes up quite a lot so maybe you just got unlucky and missed the ones where the light of death had a significant impact? From memory, the first few battreps (fluffycon/battlecry era) don't feature the casket because of that tourneys' restrictions. Later on it comes up a lot more frequently.

This one in particular shows the casket at it's destructive best -or worst if you're on the receiving end

Originally Posted by VaulTK

Today was a double batrep vs some High Elves. First game was a SHOCKER upset, with one player conceding defeat in the first turn. Follow the links to see how it happened. The report simply continues with game 2 - we just kept the terrain the same, swaped table sides, and deployed all over again.

Part 1 - YouTube - WHFB: Tomb Kings vs High Elves! DoubleBatrep 1/2
Part 2 - YouTube - WHFB: Tomb Kings vs High Elves! DoubleBatrep 2/2

I seem to recall the first game in the New Zealand nationals (think it was against a DE army) is also a good one to show off the casket.


NB- Looking back over them now as a whole, it shows how the casket is particularly cruel against small numbers of elite troops. Usually these tend to be things like cold one riders and dragon princes etc, just the kind of hammer units you would often like to get rid of the most...

[Marnepup]

Even if the casket never fires, it still hampers enemy magic, which is a nice effect. I think the critical point about the casket is that it goes dead last...looming there as a great weight on your opponent's psyche...I've tended to see opponents hold back more dice than they really need to in order to keep the lid on, which allows my urgency and smiting to get through. To enhance this effect, I'll "attempt" to double-fire the catapult with my first priest, which generally draws out DD...then the other priest gets a free pass, as the remaining dice are saved for the casket....unless my opponent already used some dice against my king and prince, in which case either the catapult or the casket is virtually guaranteed to go off....unless he's got scrolls, in which case those will be exhausted in the first two turns...I've found that the casket is the key to making your magic phase work. If you substituted anything else, even the nastiest bound spell item, you just wouldn't get the same "scylla and charybdis" effect. The points cost and rare slot cost of the casket are probably in line with the actual damage done when the light goes off...but for what it does to free up the rest of your magic phase, it's way too cheap. Not that I'm complaining.

[Enigmatik1]

The Casket's primary function is to draw out dispel dice. So long as its doing this, it's doing it's job. Despite how potentially devastating the Light of Death can be, you are safe to "forget" its effects as it will be scrolled or your opponent will save at least 3 dice to stop it. I've NEVER had anyone throw less than 3 dice at that thing, which is a thing of beauty to behold.

My Casket has never gone off honestly, but I could care less. One day it will, but until then it's only 100-and-some odd points to basically ensure I can incant what I need to when I need to and is the best source of magic defense we can produce to boot? Yes please...where do I sign?

[Vallah]

NEVER?

Damn bud, you've got your opponents well trained up!

You're so right about this one mate. If you told people there was a new magic item coming out that reduced your opponents dispel pool by 3 dice every single turn -and it only cost 165 points- they probably wouldn't believe you.

Suckers!

[Enigmatik1]

Well, my very first game was a 3 vs. 3 Battle @ 1,000 points each, communal dice pools (their choice, I didn't know any better). There are 7 players in my gaming cadre and the 7th was a spectator. I'd just gotten my battalion box, a scorpion, characters and a casket (no catapult). The Casket was my only rare and I had no Tomb Guard (this made me very sad).

My best friend plays HE and it was him, our Lizardman player and myself against Wood Elves, Skaven and Beastmen (yuck, I know...but they chose the sides). The HE player knew what the Casket could do...no one else did beforehand. I opted to go first in the phase going through my hierarchy and finally coming to the casket. I roll 10 to unleash LoD...grinning profusely (I couldn't help myself...noob mistake). They ask what it does, I tell them and without hesitation they throw FOUR dice at it. They continue to throw 3-4 dice at it each turn (I was rolling well for casting rolls) for the entire game terrified of what it would do to their shoddy LD troops since the general managed to miscast himself off the board turn 2. Meanwhile the LM (Death) and HE (High) players wreck them with their magic and they lose anyway.

Needless to say, my Casket hasn't even sniffed opening again. But that's OK. I can reliably field lists with two combat characters with relative impunity thanks to that thing. Without it, I'd probably be forced to run three LPs...which would make me very sad.