Advice for Tomb Kings tactics & army list

[Killer Angel]

- Possibly use all of my 12 Necropolis Knights with EBTS, take the character that can grant them rerollable armour and then take LOTS of skeletons, archers, chariots and tomb guard

As said by Nightbringer, don't.

But if you're planning to field 12 NK, well, just use 2 units of 6 plus necrotect / ramhotep and a high priest to buff them
Place 1 unit EBTS, keep the other one on the battlefield with the necrotect within 12" for regeneration.

 

[BrotherSutek]

Not to add anything constructive, I miss the Scorpion Armour. Being able to ignore half the combat res effectively and my character only taking one point of unstable was amazing. I honestly think along with the wound regaining weapon this was one of our better combos in 7th and would have helped alot in 8th...probably why we did not get it.

 

[Lizards of Renown]

Shockingly, I may finally be able to have this battle...

My friend's schedule and mine looks like it will align for mid-June. Fingers crossed!

If I get it nailed down, I'll be redoing my army list for a final versoin.

[LoR rubs hands together as a maniacal glint appears in his eyes]

 

[Lizards of Renown]

By the way @Killer Angel , I'm reading through the TK's tactica on Vampire Counts website and it is excellent. I'm only about halfway through and already I've got a bunch of ideas of tactics that I didn't think of before.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention signore!

 

[Killer Angel]

By the way @Killer Angel , I'm reading through the TK's tactica on Vampire Counts website and it is excellent. I'm only about halfway through and already I've got a bunch of ideas of tactics that I didn't think of before.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention signore!

The idea was to re-create a helpful guide, so i'm happy you enjoy it.
Sooner or later i will expand it.

 

[BrotherSutek]

The idea was to re-create a helpful guide, so i'm happy you enjoy it.
Sooner or later i will expand it.

I agree with most of your ratings but have to hard disagree with apophas being anything but bad. Sadly most of the characters are bad. Tomb King and prince are good as are the High Priest and Priest IMO. The ideas were good for most of these and if given to someone who knew the 8th edition rules better, as the VC book was done, this could have been amazingly characterful. Sorry I'm still salty a decade later. So many cool ideas that just didn't pan out and the nerf hammer hitting so hard.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Sadly most of the characters are bad.

Disagree.

Khatep, Arkhan, Khalida and Ramhotep are all pretty solid. Not game breaking like Throgg for example, but they are perfectly viable characters around which to build an army.

 

[Killer Angel]

I love how, after so many years, there is still such discrepancy in the way people judge some TK units.

 

[BrotherSutek]

I love how, after so many years, there is still such discrepancy in the way people judge some TK units.

It's one of many reasons I loved the old TK site. So many great discussions and hobby ideas with very little of the toxic people I ran into on other forums. One of the reasons I like this forum as well.

 

[Lizards of Renown]

@Killer Angel can you help me with something?

The whole Swift Reform and then moving to get 8" of movement... I can't get my head around it. In any Reform, including Swift Reform, the center part of the unit has to remain the same. If you turn your unit into a seriously long unit, then move you're just sitting there as a really awkward unit that's very long.

If you then want to reform you have to go back to the same center point so you've actually, operationally, still only moved 4". I don't get the attraction.

Unless you're going to charge with your ridiculous snake-unit and spend one turn of combat being able to strike with one model and do one supporting attack...

Can you help clarify for me?

 

[Killer Angel]

Can you help clarify for me?

I hardly can, as i wasn't truly sold by that particular tactica.
Yes, on paper some things do actually work, as the unit of infantry that swift reforms and moves sideways to block a charge. But in the related picture, that infantry unit could have simply charged the flank of the opponent, gaining time in the same way (maybe even better).

In the end, it was a well made article and I've added it to the thread. If someone finds a hidden gem in it, good! (for example, the trick to enter in a building is effectively smart, and in that case you gain "true" move. But buildings are not exactly the norm on the battlefield)

 

[Lizards of Renown]

I hardly can, as i wasn't truly sold by that particular tactica.
Yes, on paper some things do actually work, as the unit of infantry that swift reforms and moves sideways to block a charge. But in the related picture, that infantry unit could have simply charged the flank of the opponent, gaining time in the same way (maybe even better).

In the end, it was a well made article and I've added it to the thread. If someone finds a hidden gem in it, good! (for example, the trick to enter in a building is effectively smart, and in that case you gain "true" move. But buildings are not exactly the norm on the battlefield)

Fair enough.

On Arkham, it says he is level 4 then level 5 with magic items. ARB says highest wizard level has to be hierophant. Do I count him as level 4 for this? Or am I reading it right and duplicating he HAS to be the hierophant?

He’s fantastic on magic, but SO squishy…

Have you or @NIGHTBRINGER used him successfully before? It seems like a lot of points that could go squelch along with the crumble effects on the army.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Or am I reading it right and duplicating he HAS to be the hierophant?

That's the way I've played it. But I've never given it much thought.

Interestingly (and in contradiction to my statement above), his army book entry states:

"Arkhan the Black may be your army's Hierophant, as detailed on page 28." [emphasis mine]

"Arkhan the black is a Level 4 Wizard. He uses spells from the Lore of Death" [emphasis mine]

That said, I fielded him with 5 spells, so it seemed only fair that he be forced to be the Hierophant.

He’s fantastic on magic, but SO squishy…

Yup. Like most wizards in the game. We've just been spoiled with sturdy WoC, OK and CD wizards! Put him into a bunker and keep him out of combat. Personally, I never try to "make use" of his magic weapon.

T5 should protect him against chaff-level threats, but he is pretty soft. Standard wizard tactics apply.

With Arkhan you're playing him for:

• having a level 5 wizard (5 spells, 5+ to cast and 5+ to dispel)
• the ability to transfer up to 3 unused dispel dice into power dice
• having a Hierophant with the Lore of Death (which is often considered to be the best lore in the game)

Bonus "fact" via the faq:

 

[Lizards of Renown]

That's the way I've played it. But I've never given it much thought.

Interestingly (and in contradiction to my statement above), his army book entry states:

"Arkhan the Black may be your army's Hierophant, as detailed on page 28." [emphasis mine]

"Arkhan the black is a Level 4 Wizard. He uses spells from the Lore of Death" [emphasis mine]

That said, I fielded him with 5 spells, so it seemed only fair that he be forced to be the Hierophant.


Yup. Like most wizards in the game. We've just been spoiled with sturdy WoC, OK and CD wizards! Put him into a bunker and keep him out of combat. Personally, I never try to "make use" of his magic weapon.

T5 should protect him against chaff-level threats, but he is pretty soft. Standard wizard tactics apply.

With Arkhan you're playing him for:

• having a level 5 wizard (5 spells, 5+ to cast and 5+ to dispel)
• the ability to transfer up to 3 unused dispel dice into power dice
• having a Hierophant with the Lore of Death (which is often considered to be the best lore in the game)

Bonus "fact" via the faq:
View attachment 116714

Thanks bud!

 

[Lizards of Renown]

Okay, so question for the panel:

I have a 50-strong Skeleton unit, then do a swift reform to reform as long as I can (keeping in mind the reform can do maximum double the movement of the model) and then do a 4" normal move. This is legal right?

Then has anyone tried doing a tar-pit tactic of reforming to 1-wide before charging or being charged to minimize the amount of attacks that you can receive? Seems like you could tie up a unit for several turns in this way before they eventually chomped through you...

 

[BrotherSutek]

I have done the one wide before as a way to tarpit chaos. I had a champion in the unit and he had a hero and champion so I knew if I could bring the champion, from my unit, back every turn with healing I could keep challenging him turn after turn. Instead of his deathstar mulching my entire army it just sat there for three turns. Thing to note is that if you don't get off the healing or if they contact the rest of your unit most combat strong units with mulch you.

 

[BrotherSutek]

The idea was to re-create a helpful guide, so i'm happy you enjoy it.
Sooner or later i will expand it.

Rereading your guide and got to the part where you mentioned Sleboda and his miscast luck. Is it only 60% on a 2d6? He always seemed cursed with miscasts!

 

[Lizards of Renown]

I have done the one wide before as a way to tarpit chaos. I had a champion in the unit and he had a hero and champion so I knew if I could bring the champion, from my unit, back every turn with healing I could keep challenging him turn after turn. Instead of his deathstar mulching my entire army it just sat there for three turns. Thing to note is that if you don't get off the healing or if they contact the rest of your unit most combat strong units with mulch you.

Would he really have mulched you when he could have max 2 models in btb contact (with two supporting attacks)? (as the skeleton bases are smaller than the CW bases).

I guess if one of the two models was a Chaos Lord that would still blend the unit pretty well...

 

[BrotherSutek]

Would he really have mulched you when he could have max 2 models in btb contact (with two supporting attacks)? (as the skeleton bases are smaller than the CW bases).

I guess if one of the two models was a Chaos Lord that would still blend the unit pretty well...

If that unit hit anything else in my army would it mulch them? Yes. The single wide can last but you have combat res against you just with three ranks, banner(at least one sometimes with war banner or BSB) challenge and overkill. Again if the healing doesn't go off the champion is dead and now we have the next round with a few more attacks and the same combat res. As I said the Chaos unit was held off for three rounds before he was able to get a flank and off went my skeletons. The tactic works but the size of the unit makes it's flanks easy to hit and you have to spend a lot of resources of magic to keep it alive. It is a good delaying tactic.

 

[Lizards of Renown]

Bah. Games off. IRL reasons from both of us.

Kind of sucks.

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@Killer Angel I was reading through some old competition lists and saw one guy ran a TK list with two Necrosphinxes. From what I can see they would be useful as flankers for other animated constructs in battle. Have you ever done a 2 Necrosphinx list? Any thoughts?