8th Ed. A new enemy: Tomb Kings

[Stonecutter]

Another option would be to field a skrox unit in place of one of the saurus blocks. While not as good fighting ranked infantry, the skrox are excellent for dealing with big nasties since they cannot be stomped/thnderstomped and dish out a bunch of S6 attacks. Throw in a couple rounds of skink shooting and you might even drop a TK sphinx/necrosphinx before it even touches your skrox

 

[The Hunted]

Skrox are actually very good against TK, but in an all-comers list, you'll mostly will not have more than one unit (if one at all).
But like you said, they have all the abilities to survive the big nasties and kill them too! With ranks AND S6 attacks, sphinxes will go down faster than when facing saurus.
The skroxigor are also solid enough to face down a unit of skeletal archers. But a skeleton warrior bus could be difficult, because a Skrox unit isn't built for sustained combat vs other ranked units. Then again, saurii go straight through skeletons...

The Hunted

 

[Caprasauridae]

Solid tips so far. I have couple of suggestions/corrections.

Tomb Guard are WS3 (because, you, know, they are the elite, not some mindless undead but warrior souls attached to their skeleton bodies...), but as the Tomb King/Prince gives his WS to the unit he's in, they get WS6/5. If he has a big block of Tomb Guard, I'd much rather use the Bane Head on the royal mummy leading them than on the Hierophant.

Chariots are dangerous... if you let them charge you. Each get 1d6 Impact Hits at S4 and +1S for each rank. But if you can deny the charge, they are not that tough. Tomb King or Prince can also be placed to the chariots and join their ranks, and he will give his WS to them, making them rather formidable even in close combat, but the royal can be rather easily de-charioted. He can still hang with the chariots, but will slow them down. And if he leaves, he cannot rejoin the chariots. Righteous Smiting is a spell in Tomb Kings' Lore of Nehekhara, and it gives extra attacks and Multiple Shot (2). This is rather efficient if it's cast on chariots, as they can shoot and also in melee, they will have all in all 4 extra attacks from the spell (1 for each crew member and one for each horsie).

As a side note, taking down Sphinxes without poison depends on your ability to roll 6s. Especially from the flank you can create enough hits to get couple of 6s and then finish the job with ranks, standards etc, killing it with combat resolution. This is by far the most common reason my Sphinx dies. Lucky dies, unlucky with AS, combat rez killiness.

 

[Skubzilla]

This seems like a good thread to ask a Tomg King related questions...

How would one approach killing Queen Khalida if a TK player takes her. For example, say a TK player uses a unit of 65 Skele Archers with Queen Khalida and destroys nearly anything the unit wants in one turn. So far I've had the most luck with Dwellers on Life, but if I wanted to take another Lore, for exmaple Light... Is there any reliable method aside from a nuke spell like dwellers to kill the queen?

The TK player I play uses a list based around this on occasions, witha casket and heirotitan combo as well. I took light last battle, not knowing he was going to use this list until he laid down the units, and he sat at the back of the board and just shot everything with the unit, and by the time I got into CC I was already obliterated.

 

[Devean]

This seems like a good thread to ask a Tomg King related questions...

How would one approach killing Queen Khalida if a TK player takes her. For example, say a TK player uses a unit of 65 Skele Archers with Queen Khalida and destroys nearly anything the unit wants in one turn. So far I've had the most luck with Dwellers on Life, but if I wanted to take another Lore, for exmaple Light... Is there any reliable method aside from a nuke spell like dwellers to kill the queen?

The TK player I play uses a list based around this on occasions, witha casket and heirotitan combo as well. I took light last battle, not knowing he was going to use this list until he laid down the units, and he sat at the back of the board and just shot everything with the unit, and by the time I got into CC I was already obliterated.

I don't think it would be much fun to be leading that army or playing against it tbh. One idea may be to use terradons to charge 1st turn (they might stay alive for 1-2 turns) and having a lone scar vet on cold one to march up and join in on turn 2-3 (could use steed of shadows lizardmen item?). Essentially, the idea would be to minimise the turns that they can shoot, i.e. force them into CC.

I've never played that setup though so someone else may have a better idea.

 

[Arli]

I believe that unit has a str of 3. You can use net of amyntok to keep them from firing and when they test they will take 2d6 str 4 hits because they are undead. Those odds are pretty good. You could also use birona's time warp on your first turn to buff you faster units (i.e. skrox unit or a unit of cold ones) so that they can charge on the second turn. On the flip side, regrow the units with life and buff them to t6 (or t8) with life.

 

[Caprasauridae]

Toughness buffs don't help that much, as Khalida gives poison to the archers. Net of Amyntok is a great idea, as if they fail they will not only take damage but be unable to shoot as well! Other than that, engage in close combat as quickly as possible.

 

[The Hunted]

Net to prevent shooting, or timewarp to close the gap. A Scar-vet on Cold one could sui-charge to hold up the unit.
Turn 1 the big timewarp, IF can be passed on with cupped hands and then in turn 2 you can close the gap VERY fast.

I don't think Terradons are nearly durable enough to hold them up for a 2 combat turns. Neither are skinks, but that shouldn't come as a surprise..
A Skrox unit might hold out long enough for the saurus to come in, but I would prefer my Skrox elsewhere on the battlefield than facing skeletons. Skrox do amazing vs monsters, and sub-par vs ranked infantry.

The Hunted

 

[Taipan]

Tomb Kings are probably about as powerful as we are, and depending on how good his composition is, you can smash them pretty convincingly;

Hierophant: They moan about it, but it only slightly weakens them when he dies, so don't think it's over, they can still eat you with other magic and monsters. That said, he is likely to be the only source of regen magic for them, as its a terrible army lore they are saddled with (a fate we may share come next year). I'd send in a Scar-Vet with a good 'Steed of Shadows' cast, you only need a halberd to kill him, Burning Blade is hilarious overkill and you can probably murder the Tomb King/BSB whilst you are there. If you really hate your opponent and want him to cry like a girl, on Turn 1 use the Blood Statuette on your Skink Priest to snipe the Hierophant. Don't even need 'Withering', he's already T3 so very easy to kill.

Tomb King: WS7 for everyone! Buff your Scar-Vet missile with 'Speed' or 'Timewarp' before launching him, run in and hack him to death with flaming attacks. The curse will kill you in return, but thats cool, you've only spent a fraction of his points to murder him so meh

BSB: He can fight, but only two wounds, and you are faster (especially with 'Speed' up), so just kill him before he rolls for 'Killing Blow'

Skeletons: If he brings combat blocks, laugh and smash them to pieces with your Saurus and magic. If he brings archers, use EOTG and 'Pha's Protection' from your Light Slann to screw up his shooting phase, 'Iceshard Blizzard' from your Skink Priest is also handy if he takes a giant unit with Khalida (why can't I hold all these misses?). You'll have to march through all the arrow fire to reach him, but the result will be the same, you'll still smash them apart pretty easily.

Chariots: They're intensely annoying and highly effective, careful deployment and casting 'Banishment' and 'Burning Gaze' into them should take off a few wounds before they hit your lines. Tying them up with Skink skirmishers is pretty good too, buys you time to pull in the phalanx so they have to charge your front rank regardless.

Monsters: They are all T8 and I2 (the big ones I mean), so 'Pit' is enough to kill them (and with only D6 scatter, you can cast the smaller one easier and more accurately, as they are such huge models, it takes horrible scatter to miss). If they actually hit your combat blocks, 'Mindrazor' will end them.

Snake Surfers and Stalkers: They're fun, but so expensive so you are unlikely to see many. Again, 'Pit' will hit enough models with the small blast to murder them, and they lack staying power in combat when you throw down 'Mindrazor'.

Casket of Souls: Annoying, but it is a spell casting so just block it with your Slann's dispel, it is pretty easy to shut down (just like the laser cannon of the Empire). We have awesome Leadership, so it's not really something to overly worry about, and it'll die once you hit his lines anyway.


They are not like Vamps, they can't regen infantry to anywhere near the same degree, and their offensive magic boils down to Death sniper spells (Purple Sun, if they bring Arkhan) and Light spells (which our infantry are pretty resiliant against, EOTG, and Light gun magic is easy to dispel). He can still gank your infantry blocks with multi-charges (ie tying up the front rank with cheap Skeletons whilst Chariots or Snake Surfers charge into the flank), so a tight phalanx marching into his lines is a good plan, and Skinks are good for delaying his charges.

 

[Caprasauridae]

Many good points, Taipan, but I feel the need to add/correct some things.

Tomb King: WS7 for everyone! Buff your Scar-Vet missile with 'Speed' or 'Timewarp' before launching him, run in and hack him to death with flaming attacks. The curse will kill you in return, but thats cool, you've only spent a fraction of his points to murder him so meh

WS6, but anyway, a bigger problem is he will challenge you with a champion or a herald. And only a TK player that hates his King puts it on a unit without one, as he is expensive and there mainly to give the WS to his troops, so they need to keep him alive. You will slaughter the champion, of course, but you are still likely to lose the combat. If you don't break, all is well and you get another try. On the other hand, the champion might be resurrected too. Also, more often than not, the King has 2+ Ward agains Flaming from one source or another, so using Flaming magic weapons can decrease your efficiency.

Skeletons: If he brings combat blocks, laugh and smash them to pieces with your Saurus and magic. If he brings archers, use EOTG and 'Pha's Protection' from your Light Slann to screw up his shooting phase, 'Iceshard Blizzard' from your Skink Priest is also handy if he takes a giant unit with Khalida (why can't I hold all these misses?). You'll have to march through all the arrow fire to reach him, but the result will be the same, you'll still smash them apart pretty easily.

True, if you get to the archers, they are goners. But as it has been stated many times before, Iceshard and Pha's Protection don't affect Skeleton Archers' shooting due to the Arrows of Asaph special rule. EOTG works as usual, though.

They are not like Vamps, they can't regen infantry to anywhere near the same degree, and their offensive magic boils down to Death sniper spells (Purple Sun, if they bring Arkhan) and Light spells (which our infantry are pretty resiliant against, EOTG, and Light gun magic is easy to dispel). He can still gank your infantry blocks with multi-charges (ie tying up the front rank with cheap Skeletons whilst Chariots or Snake Surfers charge into the flank), so a tight phalanx marching into his lines is a good plan, and Skinks are good for delaying his charges.

BIG +1 for this.