Tomb Kings, 2000 points

[The Phoenix]

As I mentioned in my other thread, I'm going to be playing a Tomb Kings warband, which I will eventually build into a full sized army. So that I have a target to shoot for, I've attempted to come up with a reasonable 2000 point army to build up to. I've never played Tomb Kings before, so if anybody could tell me if this is a solid list, or has any glaring holes, I'd really appireciate it. Thanks

Oh, I'm normally a Wood Elf player, which may reflect a bit in this list. Since the two armies play rather differently, if anyone could give me some solid advice on building an army and playing with the Kings, I'd be very grateful.

Characters:

Tomb King; Golden Ankhra, light armor, great weapon: 224
*general, leads unit of 24 skellies

Priest; Cloak of the Dunes : 135
*heirophant

Priest; Hieretic Jar: 140

Priest; Dispell Scroll: 140


Core:

24 Skellies; shield, light armor, Banner of the Undying Legion: 251
*Tomb King goes here

28 Skellies; shield, light armor, War Banner: 287

10 Skellies; bows: 80

3 Chariots: 120

3 Chariots: 120


Special:

Tomb Scorpion: 85

3 Carrion: 112

3 Ushabti: 195


Rare:

Screaming Skull Catapult; skulls of the foe: 110


Total: 1999
80 models
9 units + 3 priests

General strategy is to send the carrion after warmachines, lone characters, etc. Possibly send the Tomb Scorpion (from below) as well, if there are lots of warmachines. Use the archers, cataplut and magic to weaken the enemy, take charges with the blocks of skellies and then counter charge with Ushabti, chariots and the Tomb Scorpion.

What do you guys think?

-Phoenix

[the_night_reaper]

have you read wwite 277 it gives some really good advice on how to make a tomb kings army. One thing I really liked is that he added a 12 man unit of heavy cavalry that came to about 250 points. It's really good because they are better than normal warriors and have a unit strenght of 24 so they can auto-break alot woth fear. Also put the tomb king in a chariot if you can find the points.

[The Phoenix]

what is wwite?

[lord_blackfang]

Looks like you've read all the tactics articles you could get your hands on already, that looks like a very standard TK list. I'm more of a Liche High Priest man myself, but whatever rocks your boat...

[Sariel]

Well, the way your list looks now, you might want to consider dropping a Liche Priest or two - Liche Priests on foot are just too darn slow to support Carrion and chariots with Incantations.

After you cast Smiting on your catapult and the archers, all that's left to do is to lob (short-ranged!) d6 S4 magic missiles at your opponent. Which means that the other guy's dispel scrolls will be ready for your Urgency-assisted countercharges.

And the last thing you want to do is leave your Hierophant exposed all by his lonesome after casting Urgency on that unit of chariots that was blocking your opponent's LOS to the Hierophant.

You might want to consider putting a Priest on a steed, and putting him in with a unit of light cavalry. Sure, its risky, but it means that this guy will be in range to assist your Carrion, and he won't be left hanging after they fly off. A 1st-turn charge by Carrion on the other guy's hellblaster is pretty much guaranteed to suck out a dispel scroll.

That's the other thing - you don't really NEED to protect your Tomb King. Sure, loosing him means the other guy gets an extra 100 VP, but you don't have to worry about the army crumbling. Consider giving HIM the Cloak of Dunes so he can flap around giving magical support and charging into small combats. Not to mention that a T5 W4 character can pretty much take care of himself. Fly him a full 20", and he'll be in charge range of the other guy's war machines (just stay away from cannon, hellblasters and Dwarven stonethrowers and you'll be fine..). Again, guaranteed to soak up dispel dice when he tries to cast Urgency on your first turn..

Thing about defensive Tomb King armies -

1) You really need hard units running around in your opponent's back, and Tomb Kings work really well at that. Otherwise, you get mebbe 2 turns of shooting before you're stuck into combat.

2) Tomb King shooting isn't all THAT impressive - you don't have the strength (s3 only, except for the Catapult, which is great unless he's immune to psych) or the volume (skellie archers are just too darn expensive AND fragile) to thin out your opponent's army fast enough.

The real strength of Tomb King archers? Hitting that single character on foot at long range in heavy cover after moving... everyone else would need 6s or 7s, you get to hit on 5s.

[Oguleth]

First of all, the golden rule of the ushbati: take units of 4. 4 can take on most units alone, and win with 12 ws4 s6 attacks... And since you can raise those back up again, meaning the unit is quite deadly.

Jar+Cloak is IMHO supposed to be on one character, so he can use it when it is needed. Having the Jar when the priest is a long way away from the action means it will seldom be put to best effect.

I think you have way too many skeletons. One unit is ok, but well... Taste differs I guess.

[Star.Scream]

>>>>>Good list, heavilly focued on the counter-charge (I play a similar styled Tk army). I would agree with trying to make the unit of Ushabti a unit of 4, 4 is much better then 3, but then again you are only using them as a flanking force, so 3 might be enough. My Ushabti usally attrack a lot of missil fire; thats the main reason why I suggest 4, because at T4, and a 5+ save, they do get taken realitvly easy.

I've seen other players put their TK in a unit of Skeletons as well; this doesnt suit my taste, just make sure they dont get bogged down, otherwise skeletons do fall quickly, and your TK can only kill so much a turn to compensate for this.

I also agree with Oguleth concerning the Priests; having the Jar on a preist without the cloak means he may get left behind and not be able to get in position to use the Jar proporly, leaving 1 priest naked is still fine in an army with 3 of them; he can tag along with the Skeleton unit, and between him and the TK they should be able to get things cast. The other preist can stick to the other side of the skeltons.

[Slyracoon]

It's a good list, the counter-attack strategy is a good one for Tomb Kings. However, I don't think the archers are really going to do much in such small numbers (bit of a WE throwback there ), so I'd drop them and three Skeletons from the unit of 28 to give you enough points for another SSC with Skulls of the Foe. This will have a much bigger impact on the game, dropping two templates (more, if you get the incantation off) means you will panic enough units to make your opponent seriously worry. Other than that, the list looks good. I think three Ushabati is enough for a flanking unit, although if you find them attracting a lot of fire it might be an idea to enlarge the unit. The position of the Tomb King is completely a matter of preference as he can do well both in a chariot and on foot, so just try him out in both and see what fits best.

[CuLane]

Yeah, this'll be quick. I've played three Warband campaigns of varying complexity and length with my Tomb Kings and found them to be fantastic. I've also played them in full games for 2 years. Anyhow, that's all background. You've got too many skeletons. They're better for VC that can add to unit size and raise up several D6 instead of the single d6 that we can re-raise (not even add to size). Get some more cavalry. For starters they're retardedly effective in warbands (cheap ranks and fear causing). A small unit of fast cav will pay dividends in warbands too, by small I mean 5-6. I have 32 skeletons total and I don't ever use them all in one game. I LOVE the Tomb Scorpion. Period. I'd combine the Chariots into one unit, add F.C. and a magic standard, either undying legion if they get shot at alot, unblinking eye if you like to do damage with the light guys, or even cursing word because that chariot has a wide frontage and forcing 3-5 Ld checks is mean. Ok so this hasn't been quick, sorry. Now, for warbands something important to remember is that the special rules for TK warbands can be MEAN. Try taking two squads of 10 skeletons, LA optional, with Full Command, one of Heavy cav (8 models) with F.C. and something of Light Cav with F.C. and watch your oppnent cry as he tries to stop your 4 magic missles, hehe. Btw, those magic missles are ONLY useful in warbands, and against wood elves. Anyhow, one of my favorite things about my TK army is how much I enjoy mixing it up with different units. I really can't say there is a unit in the book I don't want to play. Ok, I don't want to play skeleton warriors tricked out for CC. But EVERYTHING else is fun to play.
Good hunting.

[gunslinger019]

I would swap the tomb kings equipment for destryoer of eternities and collar of sharpesh, gives a 4+ roll to give the wound to another model in 6" and is cheaper than the golden ankhara, and nothing can hit like the destroyer of eternities. especially as you can use it's specail attack again in the magic phase.

2 on foot wizards, will limted your magic range, but if counter attacking shouldn't matter.

Looks like a solid dependable list.

[Bloodknight]

One thing can hit even more. Nothing beats a wildly challenging TK with golden Ankhra and Flail of Skulls. That guy is an almost guaranteed overkill +5. But then, the Destroyer is very reliable.

[TheDrugLordX]

I've found that the Flail of skulls only works really well when used on a king mounted of chariot, since it's a VERY offensive weapon it has best effect when you get to choose your fights. Anyways, if you take it you should always consider taking the Icon of the Sacred Eye on the unit he's joining. Flail of Skulls + Icon of the Sacred Eye is one of TK's best item combos IMO.

It looks like a pretty standard TK list, though, there are some things I don't think will work very well...

After a brief inspection of the list, I draw the conclusion that it's played defensively. You simply don't have any hard hitting units (with hard hitting I mean units with a good movement that can cause some good harm). Bur for a defensive army, you'll have a great deal of problems against lots of armies, you simply don't have enough units to deal with the enemy before you engage. 2 SSC's are vital in a defensive army, and you'd really need that extra scorpion to take care of war machines if the carrions would struggle and the other scorpion fail to show up where it should. So, imo, you should try to gear the list up a bit, either become more defensive, or make it more balanced by adding in more hard hitters.

As for the Hieratic Jar <-- it always works the best on the hierophant with the cloak of the dunes. The hierophant should always have the cloak of the dunes, and with the Hieratic Jar you can get 2 incantations (one probably very surprising!) anywhere within 32"! Movement/mobility is probably the major factor that decides the outcome of a game, and this is as mobile TK can get.

If the king's on foot I would always give him the Destroyer of Eternities and Collar of Shapesh. With this combo he's the thoughest all-round character on foot, I've even beaten Greater Daemons with that combo...

So good luck dude