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Walk like an EgyptianBy Sonny the Zoo©2003There's a new army on the Warhammer block, so here's you old pal Sonny to give you the low-down on the Tomb Kings. "New-look Vampire Counts, right?" Wrong. Being Deadites, there's some things the same. They got the fear-causing, the not-running-away, and the taking extra casualties through combat-resolution; but they're more than that. Key word here is "relentless". These guys are designed to keep coming at you whether they're attacking or defending. And it's all down to the not-magic magic they use. Oh yeah, and the missile fire. 'Till now, bows ain't done an awful lot unless they're in the hands of pointy-ears. These skellies only got BS2, but they always hit on a 5+. They move and fire - that's a 5+ to hit. They shoot at skirmishers - that's 5+. They shoot at long range at a single character hiding behind a wall - you guessed it, 5+. Characters In a TK army, you gotta take a Hierophant. He's the priest-guy who keeps the army going and if he dies then all the rest of the army start to melt away. This can be a High Priest (Lord) or a Priest (Hero). Also, you gotta take either a Tomb King (Lord) or a Tomb Prince (Hero). If you take a king, you get to class chariots as core troops. (More of them later). So for 2000pts you got one magic-type and one fighting-type, plus a choice of two others. Not-Magic Magic Priests don't cast spells, they do incantations instead. No miscast, no irresistible, you just get a power level to deal with. And they never fail to get an incantation off. They can't summon new units but they can bring back casualties (healing hurt multi-wound models or even replacing killed guys if the rest of their unit's still going). Also they can speed up the troops. Being undead there's no march moves
allowed, but with an incantations they can get an extra move in the magic
phase. That could even be a charge. Think about it - if troops move 4"
normal, they can move 4" in the move phase and charge 8" in
the magic phase. (And they got troops that move 8"; and flyers…) The last incantation is a magic missile. Oh yeah, all priests know all four incantations; they can use one or two
of them per round. And so do Kings/Princes; they get to use 'em as well. Troops Core choices is made up of skellies. You got your basic footsloggers (with bows though), or either fast cavalry or heavy cavalry (which ain't really heavy). And there's the option of Tomb Swarms, which are like other swarms only they ain't likely to last as long with the CR damage they're gonna take when they lose combat. Special choices gives you some tasty options. Tomb Guard is pretty much Grave Guard, and Carrion likewise stand in for VC big bats. Ushabti are undead ogres with Str6 attacks. Tomb Scorpions are killing-machines with both poison and killing-blow attacks, but they only come in ones and only unit strength 4. Rare slots either go on Screaming Skull Catapults (stone-throwers with panic tests attached - and how about shooting them again in the magic phase?), or Bone Giants. I ain't gonna spoil it for you about the Giants - just wait 'till one charges you. There's a coupla' of weird choices as well. Chariots are special in a normal army, but get to be core if a Tomb King is in charge; these are faster and lighter than normal chariots and come in bunches. If you want you can use up a rare slot by giving a priest the Casket of Souls; just think Indiana Jones' Ark of the Covenant and you're there, 'cause everybody in your army who's looking at it on the TK magic phase gets to take losses depending on how good/bad their leadership is. Tactics and "Where the hell did that come from?" How a TK army is played pretty much depends on what's taken. Led by a king with chariots you got an attacking mob; they can get in fast or wheel round the flanks with the incantation extra-moves. If they've got a Casket and a Catapult you're gonna be going at them, but watch the counter-charges and don't watch the Casket (if you see what I'm saying). Tricky TK players will take Swarms and/or Scorpions and use their "It Came From Below" special move. These guys can stay off the table at the start and just have markers put down where they're supposed to arrive, anywhere on the battlefield. If the dice go right they'll appear near their markers a coupla' turns into the game. (That'll probably be right next to your war machines, by the way). How you fight one of these armies is really up to you.
Choice is yours. But just watch out for the giants… |