I've had a look over the army book and it's pretty disgusting some of the stuff they get. Thankfully, it all costs a lot, but you'll still see a decent horde alongside this OP stuff; Lords: - Settra has some nice abilities, but with only I3, you can ruin his day with a cheap Scar-Vet build (Sword of Hornet/Swift Slaying, Dragonhelm/Dragonbane Gem) or an Old Blood. If you're in the unit with the Flame Banner, maximum lulz ensure (go first, any wound that goes through is doubled, nice knowing ya) - Arkhan is essentially a Death Loremaster (Level 5), he can turn 3 dispel dice into power dice, and he's decent enough in close-combat. However, same as Settra, any of our heroes with the right gear (don't even need flame resistance) will get the jump on him and rip him apart (even on a Chariot he won't save much). - SC Heirophant is Loremaster of TK magic, but his abilities are pretty meh. One-use scroll to screw up one of your spells (works like a dispel scroll, but causes auto-wounds to your wizard), he can re-roll one casting roll per turn. He's just way too expensive, and like Arkhan easy to kill (although Arkhan has an easier time killing off your heroes with his Death magic). Rest of their SC lords and heroes are terrible or overpriced. Tomb King/Prince will get ninja'd by our Scar-Vets. Curse (applies to Settra and Arkhan as well) is annoying (as it will potentially kill off your brave Old Blood/Scar-Vet), but very variable. Expect to see a Level 4 Heirophant with TK magic. Evil gear to watch for on his guy are 'Neferra's Scrolls' (exactly like power scroll, but adds extra power dice according to wizard level, broken as hell), and he has enough space to fit in power stone(yay more power dice), sceptre of stability(generate dispel dice, then Arkhan turns them into more power dice) and scroll of shielding(one-use 4+ ward for the unit targeted by a spell, doesn't stop 'Pit' or 'Dwellers' though haha) on top of that. He'll be attached to the Tomb Guard block and used to regen them (by forcing through heaps of spells). Cheap Level 2 Light Priests will most likely feature, as their spells shield from enemy ranged attacks and give combat buffs. They should be easy to suppress, but you'll already have been burning dispel scrolls/dice shutting down the Heriophant, so it's a question of quantity (Diadem of power and Cube of Darkness are good items to counter this). The Kanopi is the one you need to block however. Power level 5, and if it goes off, all RIP spells disappear on a 2+ (roll seperately for each) and it adds D3 power dice every time it shuts down an RIP spell. This will be incredibly annoying for 'Life' Slann, as if you can't block it they turn off 'Throne of Vines' and get free power dice for essentially nothing (it pays for itself handily). Kanopi is used every dispel phase, not just once either, so it's basically a power dice printing machine if you're relying on RIP spells to help you. Tomb Guard combined with 'Cursed Blades' from TK magic are a character/monster/heavy infantry eating machine, and they will most likely have the Standard of the Undying Legion on their banner bearer. Again, power level 5, if it goes off D6+2 wounds of dudes come back. Combined with the Level 4 Heriophant already regenerating dudes, you'll have to nuke them with a decent spell like 'Pit' or 'Dwellers', they'll just grind you down in close-combat. Ushabti are even better now, because they're both cheaper than before and get S6 bows now. Combine with 'Righteous Smiting' buff from TK magic, they're pumping out 2 shots per dude at excellent range, and they can move and fire with no penalties (always hit on a 5+ insanity). Expect them to put the BSB with these guys, carrying the Flame Banner. That combo will reduce most monsters (even with Regen) and heavy infantry to flaming husks. The worst part is, if you try to tie them up in hand to hand, they fight better than 90% of archers in the game, and even a small unit will churn through Saurus. Nuke with magic before they gun down the EOTG. The snake cavalry hit pretty hard, but they're hellishly expensive so don't expect to see many. Sepulchral Stalkers have a point-blank dakka attack that may or may not kill you (depends on your Initiative test). In either case, I reckon they'll be too expensive to fit in, compared to the ever-reliable Ushabti with great bows. Both of them are vulnerable to a 'Miasma' and 'Pit' combo, 'Enfeebe' and 'Dwellers' will also work. 'Mindrazor' on Saurus/Temple Guard will chew through them fast as well. Core will be Archer spam (either in MSU 10-man blocks or in huge 30-man blocks, depending on how lucky he feels with getting off 'Righteous Smiting' at either low level or the harder aura cast). Then they'll probably field a Chariot unit or two, for Arkhan/Settra/Chariot Tomb King to roll with. In either case, judicious use of Shadow or Life lores will see your Saurus churn through his pathetic infantry. They will shoot the ever-loving hell out of you before you reach them though (move and shoot with no penalties remember). Chariots are quite dangerous though (extra impact hits and increased Strength with additional ranks ), so slow them with Skinks and drop Salamanders onto them. Rare will see a Hierotitan (reduces casting minimum needed for nearby wizards), because it comes with the Light spell 'Burning Gaze' built in, plus its a frigging Giant (and unlike most huge things, it at least has that 5+ armour, so you may need more Skinks than usual to poison it to death). It'll hide behind the advance and draw fire. The other big one is the Casket of Souls. It adds D3 power dice to the pool automatically (getting sick of that by now huh? Notice how almost all the good units generate power dice like a boss?), and it's 'Light of Death' (power level 5) bounces so 'Unfathomable Presence' on the Slann is good insurance for shielding him and his Temple Guard (it'll burininate everything else but there ain't much you can do about it). It's a war-machine though, and the crew are laughably easy to take down. 'Drop Rocks' or some Camo skinks will do the job nicely. The Skull Catapult is still annoying, but our awesome Leadership bonuses and abilities mean it's less of a problem. Just like with Casket of Souls, usual anti-warmachine tactics will work fine. The Warsphinx and Necrosphinx they've been plugging with those awesome looking models are in fact complete garbage. Skinks will poision them to death handily (only 5+ armour), 'Pit' means they die on a 2+ (lol I1). The Warsphinx is slow as hell and while problematic in close-combat, it goes last against everyone. Necrosphinx can fly, but he still needs luck to get his HKB attack off, and again I1 is weaksauce. Bait them, then nuke with a Slann. Another really cruel option is to turn 'Mindrazor' on some Saurus/Temple Guard and shred the Sphinx with massed S8 attacks.
Just remember when taking on the Tomb King/Prince, the tomb herald acts as a bodyguard, and all wounds will go to him. (this will work for Settra, Khalida, Arkhan and Apophas)
How many wounds does the bodyguard have? and is he a character or just a skellie model? Could you not kill the bodyguard with directed ranged / magic then just bop the TK?
he's a hero, can be the bsb, has to be in the same unit, and you can kill him off like any other first, has 2 wounds
I played TK's at 1250 and he had that in today. Yeah I see how it works, an oldblood with 9 attacks makes quick work
Last couple of games ive played against TK 2400pts. He is testing his army to see if he can make it work. We have won one game each. First game he ran one large 25 block of archers (combined with the double attack spell its pretty tasty) he ran a block of the T.Guard, 6 chariots, some of the snakey heavy cav, a necrosphinx, 3 mages, a catapult and a casket, there was some other stuff, but largely ineffectual. I managed to tackle the sphinx with my temple guard unit, and to be honest i found that with lots of infantry and chariots, as long as you can hold out the first round of combat you will do enough damage to win combat res and crumble his army. I walked over his whole army. He was very lucky in that he had good magic phases, lots of power dice, but as long as you dispell the right things such as killing blow and double attacks i was ok. I used lore of light but kept rolling shit power dice, but as long as i got time warp and WS10 I10 then it was a walk in the park. The second game however i ran the same army but he had a titan, two sphinx, two units of 3 chariots, 2 catapults, same unit of archers. And he was really lucky with his catapults, landed two of them in one turn directly on one of my blocks of 24 saurus, and then on turn 2 he landed one on them again and the other on my steg killing it outright. Then later on he charged my block of TG with the two sphinx and titan and literally killed the whole block down to the last two men and my slann. He was VERY lucky though scoring about 15 hits on the thunder stomp and scoring unusually high on his hits and wounds. Either way, he spanked me in that game. Going to have another game soon against him soon as a decider, i shall let you know how it goes. I shall also post up my army list for the game.
Just to clarify..Tomb Kings got NOTHING over powered. ( I am a TK player full on now, used to play LM). Your key to victory against TK is out manuevering them. Sallies will toast pretty much the entire army. The heirophant, if they are smart, will always be with a block of 20-30 archers, if he is in with the Tomb Guard it makes little to no sense. The King or Prince will likely be outfitted pretty nicely, so careful when you challenge in combat. The Tomb Herald only ever absorbs 1..thats right 1...wound per combat round. This does not happen if the King or Prince is in a challenge. Ushabti are terrible and way overpriced. Chariots are dealt with easily by skinks. Sphynx are dealt with easily by skinks. Despite what a narrow-viewed poster put earlier, hitting on 5+ sucks...because that's ALL we can hit on. Sure, they can fire whenever on whatever, but on 5's only. The only thing in your army that should be worried about that is skinks. Horde of Tomb guard? - burn it with sallies and shoot it with skinks. Worried about the casket? I'd worry about the righteous smiting and other such spells more. The casket is designed to pull your dispell dice...if it goes off for us, sweet, it's a bonus, but it is literally there to draw out your dispell dice. (Btw, it was ruled by a GW employee on the TK forums that until the FAQ comes out and says otherwise, light of death for LM is rolled on 4d6 and the highest is dropped) Catapults, they are meh, especially against LM. Lets see...what else....oh, Arkhan and other special characters, they have NO protection whatsoever, so just direct all your attacks at them. And you should never see a Settra unless it's 3k+ The only thing I can fathom presenting a problem for LM is the Necropolis Knights, because of their armor save. Heirotitans and Bone Colossi are both easily dealt with by skinks, once again. You should literally have nothing to fear, unless the TK player is extremely good, and you are extremely bad, because even a mediocre LM player should be able to squash any TK hands down, unless of course the dice gods have cursed you and blessed him. But that is always a chance.
Ive had 20 skinks knock one of those bad boys out in 1 shooting phase, granted it was lucky, but not impossible. After playing against them a lot recently Ive found that the war sphinx actually is a bigger threat. Yes, no HKB but a breath weapon, poison, 4 tomb guard riding it and its crazy toughness make it a staggering opponent against infantry and monsters alike
had a group of 10 chameleons take 1 down in 1 round of shooting. anything can happen with dice. and on average thatd be 3 poison wounds if your doing it right, with the slight possibility for a regular wound
I wouldn't say they're vulnerable to other monsters - every other monster wounds it on a 6! The only exceptions I can think of are Star Dragons (5+), Shaggoths with GW (4+), and Colossus with GW (4+)
To be honest there is something in the way of a positive mindset. I find if I really really want my dice to succeed they kinda do, I know this is totally unfounded in the physical properties of dice, but there is certainly something to be said for the psychological side of things. Self belief is a great commodity, and when you hit out with ridiculousness its nice to enjoy it. And a single unit can go a long way, but there is a line between some skinks taking out 1 monster and a single unit on an army...
I'm playing TK for the first time this weekend, Only my 4th game of fantasy. Any advice as to what lore my Slann should be taking?
Depends on your list. If you want to melt some undead I would recommend lore of Light, but High Magic would probably also be an excellent choice as you can single out his Heirophant and the Fiery Convocation could blow a TG unit to hell and back. And of course there's always lore of death for more dice, plus TK initiative sucks so a purple sun would hurt him tons, not to mention character sniping. If you want to go defensive, can't go wrong with lore of life, but once again depends on your approach and list. -Overlord of Serpents