21 Dec 2013
Hello guys, and welcome to my book "review" for tomb kings. Now I started warhammer with this army about halfway through 7th edition, and played if for about a year after 8th came out, so I would like to feel that I know this army pretty darn well. After 8th I never had much luck with it, so I eventually focused on Ogres. So without further adieu on to the Kings
General Book Opinion
Whelp, I wish I could say this book is a good book, but frankly it is weak. It has lots of awesome and interesting things, but they have a very challenging time standing up to other armies. Not to mention end of the day Vampire Counts just do what these guys do but much better. The magic change was quite an unwelcome change as I really enjoyed the Hierarchy system, but that's the direction they wanted to go for so.
The army is a lot of fun, and a good challenge if your looking for sort of an underdog uphill battle. Great models and I enjoy the fluff a ton. On a scale of its power and difficulty to play, I would say it sits around the 3/10 area. Its a tough army to win with, but that makes the victories that much sweeter
. You can comfortably power list this army and never have any problem with people calling you out on it.
Army Book Special Rules
Nehekharan Undead - All models in the army are Unbreakable/Unstable, cause fear and cannot march. So when you lose combat you suffer wounds = to how much you lost by. This can be quite painful, however it does prevent you from losing by 1, fleeing, and being overrun. SO it has its benefits AND its drawbacks. The march part is what it is, Your undead so your slow. The part of this rule that really bothers me is that you may ONLY elect hold as a charge reaction. This is silly, as you SHOULD be able to stand and shoot. These are trained soldiers here. I suppose the argument could be made that they are to slow but I think thats rubbish.
The Hierophant - This title is held by your highest LD caster in the army. Every TK army HAS to have one but it does not have to be a level 4. The Hierophant and the unit he is in enjoy a 6+ regen save just for being there. However should your Hieropaphant DIE, at the end of the phase he was removed in and at the start of every friendly TK turn your entire army must pass a LD test or suffer wounds = to the number they lost by. This can be crippling if he was your only character, but I find TK LD is pretty decent, so fear not if you lose him, it generally wont COMPLETELY destroy your chances.ALso your hierophant MUST take Lore of Nehekhara.
Tomb Kings BSB - This was a nice bonus to having a BSB, in addition to the usual reroll LD tests, any friendly TK in his 12" bubble also suffer 1 less wound from unstable. VERY helpful to Constructs.
Animated Constructs - All constructs have a 5+ armor save and suffer 1 less wound from unstable AND hierophant death test. Personally I would have liked to see that save become a 4+ armor OR a 5+ Wardsave. Ever if it were 5+ regen that would be fine to. These guys ARE solid stone for the most part so I just imagined them being a little more durable.
Arrows of Asaph - Basically you never suffer modifiers on to hit rolls while shooting. So take Archers for example, they are BS 2, so they hit on 5's. They can never hit on better or worse than 5's. It does not matter if your enemy is in a bunker surrounded by 5 layers of solid concrete encased in a titanium shell, your hitting them on 5's. LIKEWISE if they are standing RIGHT in front of you point blank... your hitting on 5's. Kind of silly it works both ways but then again GW employs a few writers with straaaaange views on how this game works
Entombed beneath the sand - So their are a few units in TK that can hide beneath the ground, jumping out where they please. This ability got a MAJOR improvement from the old book. It is more reliable than the last version and a little harder to lose your entire unit from it. Its still not a perfect ability but its ok. So you treat any unit or model with this rule as tho it has ambusher, however rather than it coming onto the table side, you place a marker WHEREVER you want at least 1" away from units and terrain, then roll on the artillery and scatter dice and move the marker wherever the dice say. If you get direct it stays put and if you misfire then there is a chart to see what happens. Only on a 1-2 is it destroyed, with 3-6 actually not hurting you badly. Anyway once the marker is in its final position you pop out facing which ever way you wish.
Resurrecting Fallen Warriors - This just covers the order you resurrect things in, it goes Champion, Standard, Musician, then rank and file. Mutliwound models must be fully healed before you can bring back another model, and characters and their mounts cannot regain wounds this way.
LORDS AND HEROES - Kings and Princes are Flammable
Tomb King - This is the big bad beater of the realm. These guys are very well priced, and talk about a sweet stat line. Think Tyrant just -1 W and A. And at LD 10 these boys stand strong. Their Abilities are where they TRULY shine. Lets start with MY WILL BE DONE, now in the OLD book these boys could cast incantations, but with the major uphaul with the magic system for TK they changed this so NOW you bestow your WS upon whatever unit your in.... SO this means your unit will have WS6, just because this guys standing around in it. This helps a TON with Tk WS for the most part is just god awful.Dpes not work on mounts or other characters tho. And then there is THE CURSE!!!!, so when your king dies, WHATEVER caused him to die immediately suffers d6 STR hits. Should there be multiple sources IE you were in a combat with 3 units and he died do to combat res unstability then ALL causes will suffer the d6 str5. Likewise if you die from a challenge, only the challengee? will suffer, not the unit he is in.A negative note however is, both the KING and the PRINCE cannot take mundane Heavy Armor. This was a HUGE oversight by the writer. It is one of those things that just makes me scratch my head and wonder... why.
Personally I enjoyed my Tomb King, he has the statline to make him a powerful lord, however it is sometimes hard to have one as well as a level 4 High liche priest. 7/10 Great addition in units and as tough as a Tyrant.
High Liche Priest - This will be your general level 4 Hierophant. Nothing much to say about these guys really, they cost 5 points more than a king but have the statline of a grunt soldier. They can take Death,Light,and Nehekhara lores. Keep em safe so you dont suffer unwanted wounds from the dreaded TEST. 7/10 Whats to say, they are your usual level 3 with the level 4 upgrade. Kind of expensive i guess
Tomb Prince - A young king in the making, these guys would be the step down from a king. Still a reasonably statline, they retain T5 but bump down to S4. Also 1 less WS,A,and W. Reasonable price however. Great model for tossing in a chariot by himself and just throwing him where he is needed. He also benefits from MY WILL BE DONE and THE CURSE, however his curse is only S4. 7/10 Great single model OR toss him in a unit if you cannot afford a King. There is no reason not to find points for at least one of these guys if you are kingless, the MY WILL BE DONE rule is just TO good to pass up.
Liche Priest - Same as the High, cept level 1/2. Cheap as dirt tho. Take a few of them to bump up your channels or to be a Death mage assasin. Although I don't like it, toss them in a unit with a King and shoot LD10 death magic at other characters. 8/10 Cheap good little casters, well worth the price.
Tomb Herald - These are Tomb Kings personal BSB's and SWORN BODYGUARDS of the King and Princes. The Sworn Bodyguard special rule summed up is, at the start of the game nominate a King/Prince in the same unit as the herald, then when your King or Prince would take a wound roll a d6, on a 2+ the herald heroically jumps in the way. Only one wound can be negated in this manner a turn, and you cannot take wounds from a challenge, something about honor >.> As for statline this guys decent for his points. Mostly 4's across the board, 2 W 3 A and undead I. Cheap tho, I will give TK that much. 7/10 Cheap and a generally decent statline. Only choice we have for a BSB.
Necrotect - These are stone sculpters and slavedrivers. These guys have 2 useful ..uses. For starters they have WRATH OF THE CREATOR, he confers hatred to whatever unit he joins. If he leaves or dies, they immediately lose it however, so protecting this guy is sorta a big deal. The other use for him comes from the ability STONE SHAPER, any construct within 12 gains 6+ regen. Its not HUGE, but can make a difference. Stat wise hes a Herald with -1 WS and no equipment choices altho he comes with a whip (Extra Hand Weapon)
6/10 Their roll is not always clear, and losing the bonuses the moment they perish makes it hard to truly utilize them.
CORE
Skeleton Warriors - Cheap throw away models. Road blocks really. They are not overly impressive even tho the book swears they are trained hardened soldiers. Low WS and I, other than that think human stats. Great in Big spear hordes with a King or Prince to boost that WS up. When in doubt throw enough attacks that something sticks. However be ready to PAY for those spears, which is completely silly since EVERY OTHER BOOK gets em strait up swapped. Also you have to pay for light armor. 5/10 At WS2 and all the negative that go with being Undead they really REALLY should be a point less. But they do their job well IE Roadblock Tarpit.Paying for the most basic of equipment turns me off as well
Skeleton Archers - Your basic ranged unit. Point boost from the old book, these are actually expensive now for what your given. The Arrow of Asaph is a double edged blade, and unless you run a special character, these will never hit on better than 5's. HOWEVER they can hit on less if your opponent chooses to mess with your BS. Also you have to pay for light armor. 6/10 Expect to play these in LONG ranks so you can get every last shot out of them.
Skeleton Horsemen - Dont.. even..bother. Expensive, and without being able to march are to slow to do the role they are intended for. And once again, paying for Light armor is complete rubbish. Also they are cavalry not light cavalry, so they don't have the benefits from that. They do have vangaurd tho. 3/10 Wasted points, skeleton stats. If you do run these you are doing so with the knowledge that they are weak fire and forget missiles.
Skeleton Archers - These are your go to scout archers. Compared to other books they are definitely priced high. But you can only work with what you have access to so. 5/10 You can use them if you need to, but they will cost you and wont ever just blow you away with performance. Being scouts is a great bonus however.
Skeleton Chariots - This is prettttty much where ALL your core points will go. These are cheap cheap CHEAP chariots that work very well as flanks. The rule CHARIOT LEGION makes it so you only need 3 to make a rank, and you add your rank bonus to your S when dealing impact hits.I don't feel its worth running them in ranks however. I cant think of any reason to run 1 unit of 6 as opposed to 2 units of 3. Also should 1 chariot die before you get to your target you lose that S boost anyway. Also characters in chariots may join a unit of them. Statwise these for some odd reason are better by far than skeleton warriors. Offering WS3 as opposed to 2, and each charioteer has 2 attacks. So 1 chariot will throw out d6 str4 Impacts on the charge, 4 skeleton attacks , and 2 horses. Not bad for the price, not bad at all. Only a 5+ Armor tho, so they are kinda made of paper in that regard. 8/10 Hands down the best and in most players opinions the only core choice this book has. Invest heavily in them and you wont be disappointed. I run them in units of 4, makes a devastating charge, and if you lose 1 along the way its really no big deal.
SPECIAL
Tomb Guard - The tomb kings general foot slogger powerhouses. There is much debate on the best way to run them, but I always shelled out the extra few points for Halberds. With my king these suckers are WS6 STR5 Killing blow for a reasonable price. They do need need NEED at least a prince to make them great tho, base WS3 just does not cut it. 7/10 As a special choice they are a solid hammer. Slow moving and require some lord/hero assistance to truly shine. Its all about combos ;p
Necropolis Knight - Snake riders. These turned me off when I played tk, but my friend who plays them now swears by them and I usually am on the receiving end of them so I can easily understand why. They ARE expensive for what your getting, but being the first in a long line of Monstrous Cavalry is never easy. Yeah yeah i know they were not the first, but in my eyes they are pioneers. Your usual MC statline, the mount is far superior to the rider, but on the charge pretty much even. The big thing is they are Constructs, so you can enjoy a 3+ AS (Best Base AS in the book baby) and have mounts have Poison while riders have KB, so keep characters away from them... except our character 8/10 Pretty much the no brainer of the army, I see them constantly in units of 5, and they seem to work very well.
Tomb Scorpion - The scorpions are a cruel mistress, one of the best statlines in the book for price. You will either love them or hate them. WS4 S5 T5 they can be a hard nut to crack, however ONLY 3 wounds. These guys truly suffer from only having a 5+ armor save. Better now with the added FAQ that you dont HAVE to bury them under the sands, still popping one out turn 2 behind your enemies back lines can cause chaos. Use them for Backline hunting, or character hunter as they DO have poison. Also they have MR1... ... so? 8/10 They should be 7, but they are one of my old favorites. Annoying models to put together tho :p I personally recommend at least trying one for a game or 2.
Ushabti - These things have fallen a bit from the old book, they are pretty much the same just more points. They have also gained a few new equipment options. They come base with Great weapons, however FOR FREE you can switch them to Extra hand weapons OR the new Great bows. These are STR6 30" bows will volley fire. These would be a GREAT choice if Ushabti had better than a frickin WS2, but hitting on 5's unless you are going with a themed army, GW are still your bread and butter. I feel running them in a big unit is best, make sure you can soak up a good amount of damage, because these things WILL swing back hard. 8/10
Not as good as they once were, if you run enough of them they will both soak up damage and then punish whoever caused it.
Tomb Swarm - Pretty darn good boggers, they are small and weak, but lots of wounds on them and poison attacks. You don't see them around much however, and there is most likely a reason for that 4/10 Cant think of many reasons to run them, they don't do much that others cant do cheaper/better
Carrion - Warmachine hunters, simple and easy. HOWEVER not being able to march they kind of lose the ability to BE warmachine hunters. Also pretty darn expensive. 5/10 Only use them if you absolutely need warmachine hunters that can fly. Otherwise stick with Horse archers, or better yet don't worry so much
Khemrian Warsphinx - The big ol Kitty Cat, these are solid in more ways than one ( heh i made a stone joke)
Points wise they are cheaper than a lot of other Monsters out there, and with T8 they are hard for even the biggest and baddest to wound. Another prime example of that 5+ AS being a completely terrible representation of solid stone. These can be a mount for a king, or just run by themselves with 4 Tomb Guard on top. The latter being the better choice they have a breath weapon upgrade and a poison attack upgrade, both being well priced. You may also exchange all attacks from the beast itself for a special stomp attacks, which if you hit with the attack roll will allow you to stonethrower the unit. SO much potential with this ability but unless you are fighting elves (which in most cases will be dead before you swing ;D) you may not deal heavy damage. That being said still a small template has great potential. 8/10 A very solid .. heh.. choice for special. Tough to hurt you could run with confidence that it wont be ignored and at the same time will be a challenge to hurt.... you might say it will mountain of a challenge.. ok I will stop now
Sepulchral Stalkers - UHG... the original TERRIBLE idea of the ol Initiative based attacks. 8" STR1 ranged attacks, they do not require a roll to hit, and when determining the # of hits roll an artillery dice for each Stalker, also when rolling to wound substitute the units T with its I. Complete garbage, yeah sure you have good potential for lots of attacks, but even at its best it will be wounding on 4's. Magical attacks NO AS allowed at least HELP them a bit. IF you roll misfire you automatically suffer d3 wounds no armor save. Yeesh. All this would be fine if their stats were reasonable for the cost, but they just plain are not. Only offering 2 attacks, even at strength its just not enough to make them of any use. 2/10 I really think these could have been a GREAT choice, the models are fantastic, so much potential wasted because of poorly thought out rule writing. Shame on you Robin
Rare Units
Necrolith Collosus - Ah the OLD bone giant. Boy did this guy take a nerf bat upside the head. Only sporting a 5+ AS from lame ol Construct, he needs to be watched a bit more carefully now. At his points his statline is pretty much what it is, I would have liked to see 1 more attack and/or a better WS than 3 but there ya go. His real power is in the charge. On a turn he charges every unsaved wound he causes allows him to make another attack, which snowball with itself. So potentially if you rolled like a champ you could have infinite attacks with this guy, you just need to keep causing unsaved wounds. Thunderstomp wounds do NOT benefit tho. His equipment is interesting as well. You can shell out for a GW for ST8 or toss a few points for an EhW OR you can try out the new BOW OF THE DESERT. This is a bolthrower shot that can be used even if the big boy moves. HOWEVER...as with EVERYTHING IN THIS BOOK... it only hits on 5. Just GARBAGE>.> Take the EhW IMO, 1 extra chance to get the Relentless assault rolling and you dont NEED st8 generally. Its kinda overkill. 6/10 He suffers from Low WS, LOW I, and a bad Armor save, I run one or 2, but I do so because I fell in love with the old one and just cant let go.
Herotitan - The spellcaster giant this guy is very unique. First off any casters within 12" gain an additional d3 on EVERY spell cast. This is a big help when you are trying to throw a ton of spells as you will be able to power a lot of them through. Second he comes with the ability to cast both Spirit leech and Shems burning Gaze. Personally i never used my precious power dice but hey its always an option altho he himself does not benefit from his d3 rule >.> another writer oversight. And in a pinch hes still a st6 t6 5w giant, so don't hesitate tossing him in the way to protect your valuable casters. Great bodyguard and backline protector. 7/10 a must have for an army with several level 2's, he just makes casting easier, and end of the day hes a giant.
Necrosphinx - The adult version of the special version, this guy has lost his crew but that's fine he does not need them. This guy sport ws4 st5 t8 5 attacks, 1 of those being the dreaded Decapitating Strike. His 1 attacks is at strength 10 and has the heroic killing blow special rule. Many an ogres head has been cleaved from this >.>. He can fly so terror bombing is a great way to use this guy. My one regret is ONLY strength 5.. rubbish. And ONCE AGAIN.. 5+ AS makes NO sense, yeah great he's toughness 8, you are still attacking solid stone. Whats easier denting metal or denting rock >.>. Also he can be given poison attacks as an upgrade
7/10 Expensive point investment but one of the faster things Tomb Kings have and a tough cookie to hurt, but throw enough attacks at it and it shall fall.
Screaming Skull Catapult - With a generous price hike which they DID need, these are still cheap little stone throwers. Flaming magical attacks make them great version pretty much anything out there. And any time you cause casualties the target takes a panic test. Upgrade em so they are -1 LD on the panic tests. 8/10 2 is pretty much the standard. Great choice
CASKET OF SOULS - This is why Tomb Kings players wake up in the morning. This is the holy grail of the entire army. This unit alone is cause for much rage from opposing players. First off T10, suck it cannons. It is guarded by 2 Tomb Guard, so Killing blow attacks. Then every friendly tombking magic phase it adds d3 to your power pool. That alone would be more than enough to make this thing great BUT WAIT.. THERE'S MORE. It can shoot out Light of Death, an innate bound spell with power level of 5, 48" range Direct damage spell, the unit you target must pass a LD test on 3d6, whatever if fails by it suffers that many wounds NO armor saves allowed. Now that is pretty crazy right? it gets better, after that whether it dealt wounds or not roll a d6, on a 3+ it BOUNCES to another enemy unit within 6" of the current target and then THAT unit suffers 3d6 and so on and so forth until you either run out of targets or you roll a 1-2. A unit can only be effected by this spell once each phase so its not COMPLETELY ridiculous but against low LD armies this will cleave through entire battle lines. I have actually extended my hand before my first turn due to this. Was playing my Tzeentch list, in the first turn my opponent destroyed my 2 Tzeentch chariots, my Lord of Change, 2 units of 3 screamers, took 4 wounds off my soulgrinder, and flattened my 4 units of pink horrors into pretty much dust. I really cant emphasize how huge this thing is. And best of all you can 6 dice its spell without ANY worry, since it cannot suffer miscast, and will not lose its spell because its an innate. Run 2 if your running a lower mage build just to make sure you can blanket entire armies with deadly love. 10/10 It so close to perfect its not funny. All it needs is a 4+ Wardsave and games workshop might as well print gold
MOUNTS
Skeleton horse - its a horse... and its skeletal? Um not much to say really.. your basic run of the mill horse.
Khemrian Warsphinx - Eh don't bother tossing a king in it, it cannot benefit from MY WILL BE DONE, and its better as special with the howdah crew.
Chariot - Odds are if your mounting in something this will be it. Impact hits are great although only tough 4 kinda sucks for an important mount.
LORE OF NEHEKHARA
This lore is pretty good for the army. A few tweaks here and there and this would have be a truly GREAT stand alone lore. Not to much complaints about it. 8/10 It works extremely well for this army, but fails in some very big areas. Not as good as the old hierarchy system, it will do.. for now.
Lore Attribute - The Restless Dead
This is the area I feel this army just falls flat. Where as you use to have a spell that did this but much much better, now whenever you cast an augment on a unit of your own that unit regains d3+1 wounds lost earlier. This cannot take you past your starting limit however AND constructs may only be healed 1 wound this way A TURN. Rubbish, complete rubbish. Yeah your getting it for free but come on, d3+1? Chariots are about the only thing that will get a really great benefit from this. Even with 3 successful augments on a TK unit, your looking at what 9 models average? That my friends is a fart in the wind compared to VC's extremely low costing spell and that is just a speed bump worth of models. And 1 per cast for Constructs I could deal with, but 1 per PHASE. This is the sort of thing that I would hope GW would review the writers on. 3/10, its a weak attribute that goes against what this army truly should be, a foot soldier army that takes it up the keester while getting there but is able to heal back the majority before combat. Don't even get me started on the terrible FAQ for this and Desert wind, I will get into that next.
Sig Spell - Incantation of Desert Wind 8+ 12" range Augment
All unengaged units may make another move action as tho it were the remaining moves moves subphase. Boost it to 16 to extend it to 24" First off that is a pretty bad range, and double the cost for 24" is kinda a bad deal, 16 means you are really tossing a good amount of dice at this spell for really not that much.But this is what you need to march this army so, it gets a 7/10. Not being able to charge like you could in the old book is a rather large hit, but then TK's have taken several cheap shots so really just one more on the pile I suppose :{. The small version will be your go to for healing units, HOWEVER because it says unengaged units, obviously units in combat wont benefit from the heal. FAQ you suck.
Incantation of Cursed Blades Augment 7+ 12" range
Unit its cast on gains killing blow. If they already HAVE killing blow they killing blow on 5's rather than 6's. This is great for comboing with either of the Sphinxes. Either a heroic killing blow on 5's Yikes, or a Thundercrush small template with killing blow Yikes. Or just toss it on 60 Skeleton Warriors horded with spears, that's always fun.Cant be powered up to reach 24" with a cast of 10+ .8/10 Nothing Wrong with this spell at all.
Incantation of Protection Augment 9+ 12" range
Bestows a 5+ wardsave, can be powered up to blanket a 12" radius from the caster targeting ALL friendly undead neheks units for 16+. 8/10 Another spell that has nothing really wrong with it. Short range tho, the blanket effect is fantastic.
Incantation of Righteous Smiting Augment 9+ 12"
Units effected by this spell gain the additional attack rule and the multishot (2) rule. Can be powered up to blanket a 24" for 18+. 9/10 Yeah, you will want this spell. It is absolutely required in my opinion. You shoot more you attack more. And if you get off the blanket effect.. forget about it. Works on mounts also, so those Snake riders get 2 bonus attacks per model as well
Incantation of Vengeance Hex 10+ 18"
Target suffers -d3 top its movement to a min1, and treats ALL terrain as dangerous terrain, testing every time it moves be it a charge, flee, anything really. Extend the spell to 36" at 13+. 6/10 It can help slow stuff down, or cast on big units to deal some wounds before they get to you.
Incantation of Desiccation hex 11+ 24"
Target unit suffers -1 to both S and T. Boost it to -d3 to S and T for 22+. The boosted version is pretty expensive for not a sure thing. Other than that its a great spell, 8/10 Great for turning the tide in any fight.
Incantation of the Skullstorm Remains in Play 15+ Art DicexCaster level.
Vortex spell that shoots out from the cast, Any model under or past over the spell suffers a S4 hit. Boost to large template 25+. 7/10 Str4 hits are no joke but as far as vortex spells go, its a bit on the weaker side. But with all the ways to up our casting output it has its use.
ARMORY
Weapons
Destroyer of Eternity - Can only be taken by a Tomb King on Foot, attacks are made at +2 strength and have heroic killing blow. You may exchange all attacks to do a cleaving attacks, automatically hitting all models in base contact. Attacks this way still count the +2 strength and killing blow 7/10 No longer requires 2 hands so you can take a shield. Give this to a king if you want to aim big or go home.
Blade of Antarhak - For every unsaved wound caused by this blade, regains a wound. If this would take you above your starting wounds, instead you gain regeneration until the end of the next players turn. 6/10 Pretty good weapon, but it does not give any strength bonuses.
Enchanted Items
Golden Death mask of Kharnut - Bestows terror on the model wearing it, and any enemy within 6" cannot benefit from Inspiring Presence OR Hold your ground. 5/10 Its to expensive to be of much use. Can only be taken on Lords due to its cost.
Cloak of the Dune - Infantry on foot only. The wearer gains the flying rule, and any unengaged unit it flies over in the remaining movement phase suffer 2d6 st 2 hits. This can be dealt to multiple units, but units may only be effected once. 7/10 Pricey but lets you get characters where they need to go, and the damage is not to shabby either.
ARCANE ITEMS
Neferras Scrolls of Mighty Incantation
One use only, add power dice = to the wizards level. These don't count as power dice, but any doubles cause an Irresistible force and miscast. 6/10 Expensive but can be used to power through those spells that will be game changes.
Ankhil's Kanopi
Bound spell power 3 For every remains in play spell roll a d6, on a 2+ that spell is ended, Add d3 to your power pool for each spell ended. 5/10
MAGIC STANDARDS
Standard of Undying Legion
Bound Spell 5 Augment, If successful immediately recover d6+2 worth of models as described by Resurrecting Fallen Warriors. 8/10 Great standard.
Banner of the Hidden Dead
Can only be used on units 175 point or less, They gain the It came from Beneath the Sands special rule. This Standers is terrible 2/10 Best you could usually do is a unit of chariots, just is not worth the high price of the banner.
WHELP that about covers everything. I did not do special characters but tomb kings have some of the better ones out there so they are totally worth the read. I hope this helps most of you, and as I stated in the Dark Elf review please feel free to ask question or if I missed something or you have conflicting opinions don't hesitate to call me out on it as this is just one persons opinion. Thanks for reading.
COMMON TOMB KING LISTS
So I have been asked to do a few lists just to give a general idea of what you will most likely see. I will give you my friends list minus his items, because I honestly don't know how he equips his stuff. This list seems pretty tough although he is always making changes
2500 TK LIST
High Liche Priests lvl4 /w Nehek Hieophant General
Necrotec /wCloak of Dunes
3x Chariots
3x Chariots
40x Skeleton Archers
5x Necropolis Knights
5x Necropolis Knights
10x Ushabti /w GW's
Screaming Skull Catapult
Screaming Skull Catapult
Casket of Souls
He has a very solid battle line, hard to get through and that necrotec with the cloak means he will have that 6+ regen wherever he needs it. Granted you could just pick him off but its not a ton of points so most people actually ignore it... not me tho
MY old Tomb Kings list
This is the list I ran for however many years. With the new book it took a bit of a hit and I had to modify it quite a bit.
Tomb King General
Armor of Silvered Steel, Tali of Preservation, Great weapon
High Liche Priest lvl4
Channel Staff, Tali of Endurance
Necrotec
29 Archers
4x Chariots
4x Chariots
38x Tombguard Halberds /wBanner of Undying Legion
3x Necropolis Knights
Tomb Scorpion
Necrolith Colossus
Screaming Skull catapult
Screaming Skull catapult
So this here is 2499 on the dot with full items and upgrades. As you can see from my friends list and mine, Chariots are the primary core choice. They are just so cheap and so darn good, with mine I would have 8 shots at 24" 5's to hit str3 until I got within charge, and then a devastating 4d6 Str4 Impact followed up by 16 ST 4 attacks due to Spears on the charge. That is assuming they all survive Archers mostly fills up the rest just as a bunker for your level 4. My friend runs his in 2 ranks of 20 to get every shot he can, I personally ran mine in just a 7x block. I like my pals idea more. Necropolis Knights obviously are heavier in my friends list, I actually did not understand how good they were until I sold my army to him and he started running a bunch of them. They are hands down the best this army has in terms of Armor and Damage output for cost.
I ran a Tomb Guard Deathstar because that is what I have always ran, and with the benefit of ws6 these guys can really do some work. Horded out obviously the only problem is the movement, its really hard to get prime charges with only MV4 a turn, your opponents can generally just march around you. And for rares 2 Catapults and a Casket in both lists. Catapults are cheap and can turn the tide with 1 shot due to the panic test after wounds, and Casket well.. I think my coverage of that pretty much explains every Tomb Kings list needs to have 1. If you don't have a casket then honestly you are really cheating yourself out of the best single model they have.
THINGS OGRES NEED TO WATCH OUT FOR
Well the main thing is the casket. Our Leadership is pretty poor as is, and that thing will run through our army quite nicely. And at T10 even our cannons are not a sure thing. And if you are playing a proper player, don't expect to be able to just walk up to it and hit it, it should be protected.
Another issue can sometimes be the 2 Sphynxes, ogres are not use to needing 6's to wound so these can really be an uphill fight also.
Screaming skull catapults are not so bad because they have to do a casualty for us to take the test, so they need 3 wounds to get us to take the test, but that test if it is at -2 can be bad for us. Everything else should be cakewalk
General Book Opinion
Whelp, I wish I could say this book is a good book, but frankly it is weak. It has lots of awesome and interesting things, but they have a very challenging time standing up to other armies. Not to mention end of the day Vampire Counts just do what these guys do but much better. The magic change was quite an unwelcome change as I really enjoyed the Hierarchy system, but that's the direction they wanted to go for so.
The army is a lot of fun, and a good challenge if your looking for sort of an underdog uphill battle. Great models and I enjoy the fluff a ton. On a scale of its power and difficulty to play, I would say it sits around the 3/10 area. Its a tough army to win with, but that makes the victories that much sweeter
. You can comfortably power list this army and never have any problem with people calling you out on it.Army Book Special Rules
Nehekharan Undead - All models in the army are Unbreakable/Unstable, cause fear and cannot march. So when you lose combat you suffer wounds = to how much you lost by. This can be quite painful, however it does prevent you from losing by 1, fleeing, and being overrun. SO it has its benefits AND its drawbacks. The march part is what it is, Your undead so your slow. The part of this rule that really bothers me is that you may ONLY elect hold as a charge reaction. This is silly, as you SHOULD be able to stand and shoot. These are trained soldiers here. I suppose the argument could be made that they are to slow but I think thats rubbish.
The Hierophant - This title is held by your highest LD caster in the army. Every TK army HAS to have one but it does not have to be a level 4. The Hierophant and the unit he is in enjoy a 6+ regen save just for being there. However should your Hieropaphant DIE, at the end of the phase he was removed in and at the start of every friendly TK turn your entire army must pass a LD test or suffer wounds = to the number they lost by. This can be crippling if he was your only character, but I find TK LD is pretty decent, so fear not if you lose him, it generally wont COMPLETELY destroy your chances.ALso your hierophant MUST take Lore of Nehekhara.
Tomb Kings BSB - This was a nice bonus to having a BSB, in addition to the usual reroll LD tests, any friendly TK in his 12" bubble also suffer 1 less wound from unstable. VERY helpful to Constructs.
Animated Constructs - All constructs have a 5+ armor save and suffer 1 less wound from unstable AND hierophant death test. Personally I would have liked to see that save become a 4+ armor OR a 5+ Wardsave. Ever if it were 5+ regen that would be fine to. These guys ARE solid stone for the most part so I just imagined them being a little more durable.
Arrows of Asaph - Basically you never suffer modifiers on to hit rolls while shooting. So take Archers for example, they are BS 2, so they hit on 5's. They can never hit on better or worse than 5's. It does not matter if your enemy is in a bunker surrounded by 5 layers of solid concrete encased in a titanium shell, your hitting them on 5's. LIKEWISE if they are standing RIGHT in front of you point blank... your hitting on 5's. Kind of silly it works both ways but then again GW employs a few writers with straaaaange views on how this game works
Entombed beneath the sand - So their are a few units in TK that can hide beneath the ground, jumping out where they please. This ability got a MAJOR improvement from the old book. It is more reliable than the last version and a little harder to lose your entire unit from it. Its still not a perfect ability but its ok. So you treat any unit or model with this rule as tho it has ambusher, however rather than it coming onto the table side, you place a marker WHEREVER you want at least 1" away from units and terrain, then roll on the artillery and scatter dice and move the marker wherever the dice say. If you get direct it stays put and if you misfire then there is a chart to see what happens. Only on a 1-2 is it destroyed, with 3-6 actually not hurting you badly. Anyway once the marker is in its final position you pop out facing which ever way you wish.
Resurrecting Fallen Warriors - This just covers the order you resurrect things in, it goes Champion, Standard, Musician, then rank and file. Mutliwound models must be fully healed before you can bring back another model, and characters and their mounts cannot regain wounds this way.
LORDS AND HEROES - Kings and Princes are Flammable
Tomb King - This is the big bad beater of the realm. These guys are very well priced, and talk about a sweet stat line. Think Tyrant just -1 W and A. And at LD 10 these boys stand strong. Their Abilities are where they TRULY shine. Lets start with MY WILL BE DONE, now in the OLD book these boys could cast incantations, but with the major uphaul with the magic system for TK they changed this so NOW you bestow your WS upon whatever unit your in.... SO this means your unit will have WS6, just because this guys standing around in it. This helps a TON with Tk WS for the most part is just god awful.Dpes not work on mounts or other characters tho. And then there is THE CURSE!!!!, so when your king dies, WHATEVER caused him to die immediately suffers d6 STR hits. Should there be multiple sources IE you were in a combat with 3 units and he died do to combat res unstability then ALL causes will suffer the d6 str5. Likewise if you die from a challenge, only the challengee? will suffer, not the unit he is in.A negative note however is, both the KING and the PRINCE cannot take mundane Heavy Armor. This was a HUGE oversight by the writer. It is one of those things that just makes me scratch my head and wonder... why.
Personally I enjoyed my Tomb King, he has the statline to make him a powerful lord, however it is sometimes hard to have one as well as a level 4 High liche priest. 7/10 Great addition in units and as tough as a Tyrant.
High Liche Priest - This will be your general level 4 Hierophant. Nothing much to say about these guys really, they cost 5 points more than a king but have the statline of a grunt soldier. They can take Death,Light,and Nehekhara lores. Keep em safe so you dont suffer unwanted wounds from the dreaded TEST. 7/10 Whats to say, they are your usual level 3 with the level 4 upgrade. Kind of expensive i guess
Tomb Prince - A young king in the making, these guys would be the step down from a king. Still a reasonably statline, they retain T5 but bump down to S4. Also 1 less WS,A,and W. Reasonable price however. Great model for tossing in a chariot by himself and just throwing him where he is needed. He also benefits from MY WILL BE DONE and THE CURSE, however his curse is only S4. 7/10 Great single model OR toss him in a unit if you cannot afford a King. There is no reason not to find points for at least one of these guys if you are kingless, the MY WILL BE DONE rule is just TO good to pass up.
Liche Priest - Same as the High, cept level 1/2. Cheap as dirt tho. Take a few of them to bump up your channels or to be a Death mage assasin. Although I don't like it, toss them in a unit with a King and shoot LD10 death magic at other characters. 8/10 Cheap good little casters, well worth the price.
Tomb Herald - These are Tomb Kings personal BSB's and SWORN BODYGUARDS of the King and Princes. The Sworn Bodyguard special rule summed up is, at the start of the game nominate a King/Prince in the same unit as the herald, then when your King or Prince would take a wound roll a d6, on a 2+ the herald heroically jumps in the way. Only one wound can be negated in this manner a turn, and you cannot take wounds from a challenge, something about honor >.> As for statline this guys decent for his points. Mostly 4's across the board, 2 W 3 A and undead I. Cheap tho, I will give TK that much. 7/10 Cheap and a generally decent statline. Only choice we have for a BSB.
Necrotect - These are stone sculpters and slavedrivers. These guys have 2 useful ..uses. For starters they have WRATH OF THE CREATOR, he confers hatred to whatever unit he joins. If he leaves or dies, they immediately lose it however, so protecting this guy is sorta a big deal. The other use for him comes from the ability STONE SHAPER, any construct within 12 gains 6+ regen. Its not HUGE, but can make a difference. Stat wise hes a Herald with -1 WS and no equipment choices altho he comes with a whip (Extra Hand Weapon)
6/10 Their roll is not always clear, and losing the bonuses the moment they perish makes it hard to truly utilize them.
CORE
Skeleton Warriors - Cheap throw away models. Road blocks really. They are not overly impressive even tho the book swears they are trained hardened soldiers. Low WS and I, other than that think human stats. Great in Big spear hordes with a King or Prince to boost that WS up. When in doubt throw enough attacks that something sticks. However be ready to PAY for those spears, which is completely silly since EVERY OTHER BOOK gets em strait up swapped. Also you have to pay for light armor.
5/10 At WS2 and all the negative that go with being Undead they really REALLY should be a point less. But they do their job well IE Roadblock Tarpit.Paying for the most basic of equipment turns me off as well Skeleton Archers - Your basic ranged unit. Point boost from the old book, these are actually expensive now for what your given. The Arrow of Asaph is a double edged blade, and unless you run a special character, these will never hit on better than 5's. HOWEVER they can hit on less if your opponent chooses to mess with your BS. Also you have to pay for light armor. 6/10 Expect to play these in LONG ranks so you can get every last shot out of them.
Skeleton Horsemen - Dont.. even..bother. Expensive, and without being able to march are to slow to do the role they are intended for. And once again, paying for Light armor is complete rubbish. Also they are cavalry not light cavalry, so they don't have the benefits from that. They do have vangaurd tho. 3/10 Wasted points, skeleton stats. If you do run these you are doing so with the knowledge that they are weak fire and forget missiles.
Skeleton Archers - These are your go to scout archers. Compared to other books they are definitely priced high. But you can only work with what you have access to so. 5/10 You can use them if you need to, but they will cost you and wont ever just blow you away with performance. Being scouts is a great bonus however.
Skeleton Chariots - This is prettttty much where ALL your core points will go. These are cheap cheap CHEAP chariots that work very well as flanks. The rule CHARIOT LEGION makes it so you only need 3 to make a rank, and you add your rank bonus to your S when dealing impact hits.I don't feel its worth running them in ranks however. I cant think of any reason to run 1 unit of 6 as opposed to 2 units of 3. Also should 1 chariot die before you get to your target you lose that S boost anyway. Also characters in chariots may join a unit of them. Statwise these for some odd reason are better by far than skeleton warriors. Offering WS3 as opposed to 2, and each charioteer has 2 attacks. So 1 chariot will throw out d6 str4 Impacts on the charge, 4 skeleton attacks , and 2 horses. Not bad for the price, not bad at all. Only a 5+ Armor tho, so they are kinda made of paper in that regard. 8/10 Hands down the best and in most players opinions the only core choice this book has. Invest heavily in them and you wont be disappointed. I run them in units of 4, makes a devastating charge, and if you lose 1 along the way its really no big deal.
SPECIAL
Tomb Guard - The tomb kings general foot slogger powerhouses. There is much debate on the best way to run them, but I always shelled out the extra few points for Halberds. With my king these suckers are WS6 STR5 Killing blow for a reasonable price. They do need need NEED at least a prince to make them great tho, base WS3 just does not cut it. 7/10 As a special choice they are a solid hammer. Slow moving and require some lord/hero assistance to truly shine. Its all about combos ;p
Necropolis Knight - Snake riders. These turned me off when I played tk, but my friend who plays them now swears by them and I usually am on the receiving end of them so I can easily understand why. They ARE expensive for what your getting, but being the first in a long line of Monstrous Cavalry is never easy. Yeah yeah i know they were not the first, but in my eyes they are pioneers. Your usual MC statline, the mount is far superior to the rider, but on the charge pretty much even. The big thing is they are Constructs, so you can enjoy a 3+ AS (Best Base AS in the book baby) and have mounts have Poison while riders have KB, so keep characters away from them... except our character
8/10 Pretty much the no brainer of the army, I see them constantly in units of 5, and they seem to work very well.Tomb Scorpion - The scorpions are a cruel mistress, one of the best statlines in the book for price. You will either love them or hate them. WS4 S5 T5 they can be a hard nut to crack, however ONLY 3 wounds. These guys truly suffer from only having a 5+ armor save. Better now with the added FAQ that you dont HAVE to bury them under the sands, still popping one out turn 2 behind your enemies back lines can cause chaos. Use them for Backline hunting, or character hunter as they DO have poison. Also they have MR1... ... so? 8/10 They should be 7, but they are one of my old favorites. Annoying models to put together tho :p I personally recommend at least trying one for a game or 2.
Ushabti - These things have fallen a bit from the old book, they are pretty much the same just more points. They have also gained a few new equipment options. They come base with Great weapons, however FOR FREE you can switch them to Extra hand weapons OR the new Great bows. These are STR6 30" bows will volley fire. These would be a GREAT choice if Ushabti had better than a frickin WS2, but hitting on 5's unless you are going with a themed army, GW are still your bread and butter. I feel running them in a big unit is best, make sure you can soak up a good amount of damage, because these things WILL swing back hard. 8/10
Not as good as they once were, if you run enough of them they will both soak up damage and then punish whoever caused it.
Tomb Swarm - Pretty darn good boggers, they are small and weak, but lots of wounds on them and poison attacks. You don't see them around much however, and there is most likely a reason for that
4/10 Cant think of many reasons to run them, they don't do much that others cant do cheaper/betterCarrion - Warmachine hunters, simple and easy. HOWEVER not being able to march they kind of lose the ability to BE warmachine hunters. Also pretty darn expensive. 5/10 Only use them if you absolutely need warmachine hunters that can fly. Otherwise stick with Horse archers, or better yet don't worry so much
Khemrian Warsphinx - The big ol Kitty Cat, these are solid in more ways than one ( heh i made a stone joke)
Points wise they are cheaper than a lot of other Monsters out there, and with T8 they are hard for even the biggest and baddest to wound. Another prime example of that 5+ AS being a completely terrible representation of solid stone. These can be a mount for a king, or just run by themselves with 4 Tomb Guard on top. The latter being the better choice they have a breath weapon upgrade and a poison attack upgrade, both being well priced. You may also exchange all attacks from the beast itself for a special stomp attacks, which if you hit with the attack roll will allow you to stonethrower the unit. SO much potential with this ability but unless you are fighting elves (which in most cases will be dead before you swing ;D) you may not deal heavy damage. That being said still a small template has great potential. 8/10 A very solid .. heh.. choice for special. Tough to hurt you could run with confidence that it wont be ignored and at the same time will be a challenge to hurt.... you might say it will mountain of a challenge.. ok I will stop now
Sepulchral Stalkers - UHG... the original TERRIBLE idea of the ol Initiative based attacks. 8" STR1 ranged attacks, they do not require a roll to hit, and when determining the # of hits roll an artillery dice for each Stalker, also when rolling to wound substitute the units T with its I. Complete garbage, yeah sure you have good potential for lots of attacks, but even at its best it will be wounding on 4's. Magical attacks NO AS allowed at least HELP them a bit. IF you roll misfire you automatically suffer d3 wounds no armor save. Yeesh. All this would be fine if their stats were reasonable for the cost, but they just plain are not. Only offering 2 attacks, even at strength its just not enough to make them of any use. 2/10 I really think these could have been a GREAT choice, the models are fantastic, so much potential wasted because of poorly thought out rule writing. Shame on you Robin
Rare Units
Necrolith Collosus - Ah the OLD bone giant. Boy did this guy take a nerf bat upside the head. Only sporting a 5+ AS from lame ol Construct, he needs to be watched a bit more carefully now. At his points his statline is pretty much what it is, I would have liked to see 1 more attack and/or a better WS than 3 but there ya go. His real power is in the charge. On a turn he charges every unsaved wound he causes allows him to make another attack, which snowball with itself. So potentially if you rolled like a champ you could have infinite attacks with this guy, you just need to keep causing unsaved wounds. Thunderstomp wounds do NOT benefit tho. His equipment is interesting as well. You can shell out for a GW for ST8 or toss a few points for an EhW OR you can try out the new BOW OF THE DESERT. This is a bolthrower shot that can be used even if the big boy moves. HOWEVER...as with EVERYTHING IN THIS BOOK... it only hits on 5. Just GARBAGE>.> Take the EhW IMO, 1 extra chance to get the Relentless assault rolling and you dont NEED st8 generally. Its kinda overkill. 6/10 He suffers from Low WS, LOW I, and a bad Armor save, I run one or 2, but I do so because I fell in love with the old one and just cant let go.
Herotitan - The spellcaster giant this guy is very unique. First off any casters within 12" gain an additional d3 on EVERY spell cast. This is a big help when you are trying to throw a ton of spells as you will be able to power a lot of them through. Second he comes with the ability to cast both Spirit leech and Shems burning Gaze. Personally i never used my precious power dice but hey its always an option altho he himself does not benefit from his d3 rule >.> another writer oversight. And in a pinch hes still a st6 t6 5w giant, so don't hesitate tossing him in the way to protect your valuable casters. Great bodyguard and backline protector. 7/10 a must have for an army with several level 2's, he just makes casting easier, and end of the day hes a giant
.Necrosphinx - The adult version of the special version, this guy has lost his crew but that's fine he does not need them. This guy sport ws4 st5 t8 5 attacks, 1 of those being the dreaded Decapitating Strike. His 1 attacks is at strength 10 and has the heroic killing blow special rule. Many an ogres head has been cleaved from this >.>. He can fly so terror bombing is a great way to use this guy. My one regret is ONLY strength 5.. rubbish. And ONCE AGAIN.. 5+ AS makes NO sense, yeah great he's toughness 8, you are still attacking solid stone. Whats easier denting metal or denting rock >.>. Also he can be given poison attacks as an upgrade
7/10 Expensive point investment but one of the faster things Tomb Kings have and a tough cookie to hurt, but throw enough attacks at it and it shall fall.
Screaming Skull Catapult - With a generous price hike which they DID need, these are still cheap little stone throwers. Flaming magical attacks make them great version pretty much anything out there. And any time you cause casualties the target takes a panic test. Upgrade em so they are -1 LD on the panic tests. 8/10 2 is pretty much the standard. Great choice
CASKET OF SOULS - This is why Tomb Kings players wake up in the morning. This is the holy grail of the entire army. This unit alone is cause for much rage from opposing players. First off T10, suck it cannons. It is guarded by 2 Tomb Guard, so Killing blow attacks. Then every friendly tombking magic phase it adds d3 to your power pool. That alone would be more than enough to make this thing great BUT WAIT.. THERE'S MORE. It can shoot out Light of Death, an innate bound spell with power level of 5, 48" range Direct damage spell, the unit you target must pass a LD test on 3d6, whatever if fails by it suffers that many wounds NO armor saves allowed. Now that is pretty crazy right? it gets better, after that whether it dealt wounds or not roll a d6, on a 3+ it BOUNCES to another enemy unit within 6" of the current target and then THAT unit suffers 3d6 and so on and so forth until you either run out of targets or you roll a 1-2. A unit can only be effected by this spell once each phase so its not COMPLETELY ridiculous but against low LD armies this will cleave through entire battle lines. I have actually extended my hand before my first turn due to this. Was playing my Tzeentch list, in the first turn my opponent destroyed my 2 Tzeentch chariots, my Lord of Change, 2 units of 3 screamers, took 4 wounds off my soulgrinder, and flattened my 4 units of pink horrors into pretty much dust. I really cant emphasize how huge this thing is. And best of all you can 6 dice its spell without ANY worry, since it cannot suffer miscast, and will not lose its spell because its an innate. Run 2 if your running a lower mage build just to make sure you can blanket entire armies with deadly love. 10/10 It so close to perfect its not funny. All it needs is a 4+ Wardsave and games workshop might as well print gold
MOUNTS
Skeleton horse - its a horse... and its skeletal? Um not much to say really.. your basic run of the mill horse.
Khemrian Warsphinx - Eh don't bother tossing a king in it, it cannot benefit from MY WILL BE DONE, and its better as special with the howdah crew.
Chariot - Odds are if your mounting in something this will be it. Impact hits are great although only tough 4 kinda sucks for an important mount.
LORE OF NEHEKHARA
This lore is pretty good for the army. A few tweaks here and there and this would have be a truly GREAT stand alone lore. Not to much complaints about it. 8/10 It works extremely well for this army, but fails in some very big areas. Not as good as the old hierarchy system, it will do.. for now.
Lore Attribute - The Restless Dead
This is the area I feel this army just falls flat. Where as you use to have a spell that did this but much much better, now whenever you cast an augment on a unit of your own that unit regains d3+1 wounds lost earlier. This cannot take you past your starting limit however AND constructs may only be healed 1 wound this way A TURN. Rubbish, complete rubbish. Yeah your getting it for free but come on, d3+1? Chariots are about the only thing that will get a really great benefit from this. Even with 3 successful augments on a TK unit, your looking at what 9 models average? That my friends is a fart in the wind compared to VC's extremely low costing spell and that is just a speed bump worth of models. And 1 per cast for Constructs I could deal with, but 1 per PHASE. This is the sort of thing that I would hope GW would review the writers on. 3/10, its a weak attribute that goes against what this army truly should be, a foot soldier army that takes it up the keester while getting there but is able to heal back the majority before combat. Don't even get me started on the terrible FAQ for this and Desert wind, I will get into that next.
Sig Spell - Incantation of Desert Wind 8+ 12" range Augment
All unengaged units may make another move action as tho it were the remaining moves moves subphase. Boost it to 16 to extend it to 24" First off that is a pretty bad range, and double the cost for 24" is kinda a bad deal, 16 means you are really tossing a good amount of dice at this spell for really not that much.But this is what you need to march this army so, it gets a 7/10. Not being able to charge like you could in the old book is a rather large hit, but then TK's have taken several cheap shots so really just one more on the pile I suppose :{. The small version will be your go to for healing units, HOWEVER because it says unengaged units, obviously units in combat wont benefit from the heal. FAQ you suck.
Incantation of Cursed Blades Augment 7+ 12" range
Unit its cast on gains killing blow. If they already HAVE killing blow they killing blow on 5's rather than 6's. This is great for comboing with either of the Sphinxes. Either a heroic killing blow on 5's Yikes, or a Thundercrush small template with killing blow Yikes. Or just toss it on 60 Skeleton Warriors horded with spears, that's always fun.Cant be powered up to reach 24" with a cast of 10+ .8/10 Nothing Wrong with this spell at all.
Incantation of Protection Augment 9+ 12" range
Bestows a 5+ wardsave, can be powered up to blanket a 12" radius from the caster targeting ALL friendly undead neheks units for 16+. 8/10 Another spell that has nothing really wrong with it. Short range tho, the blanket effect is fantastic.
Incantation of Righteous Smiting Augment 9+ 12"
Units effected by this spell gain the additional attack rule and the multishot (2) rule. Can be powered up to blanket a 24" for 18+. 9/10 Yeah, you will want this spell. It is absolutely required in my opinion. You shoot more you attack more. And if you get off the blanket effect.. forget about it. Works on mounts also, so those Snake riders get 2 bonus attacks per model as well
Incantation of Vengeance Hex 10+ 18"
Target suffers -d3 top its movement to a min1, and treats ALL terrain as dangerous terrain, testing every time it moves be it a charge, flee, anything really. Extend the spell to 36" at 13+. 6/10 It can help slow stuff down, or cast on big units to deal some wounds before they get to you.
Incantation of Desiccation hex 11+ 24"
Target unit suffers -1 to both S and T. Boost it to -d3 to S and T for 22+. The boosted version is pretty expensive for not a sure thing. Other than that its a great spell, 8/10 Great for turning the tide in any fight.
Incantation of the Skullstorm Remains in Play 15+ Art DicexCaster level.
Vortex spell that shoots out from the cast, Any model under or past over the spell suffers a S4 hit. Boost to large template 25+. 7/10 Str4 hits are no joke but as far as vortex spells go, its a bit on the weaker side. But with all the ways to up our casting output it has its use.
ARMORY
Weapons
Destroyer of Eternity - Can only be taken by a Tomb King on Foot, attacks are made at +2 strength and have heroic killing blow. You may exchange all attacks to do a cleaving attacks, automatically hitting all models in base contact. Attacks this way still count the +2 strength and killing blow 7/10 No longer requires 2 hands so you can take a shield. Give this to a king if you want to aim big or go home.
Blade of Antarhak - For every unsaved wound caused by this blade, regains a wound. If this would take you above your starting wounds, instead you gain regeneration until the end of the next players turn. 6/10 Pretty good weapon, but it does not give any strength bonuses.
Enchanted Items
Golden Death mask of Kharnut - Bestows terror on the model wearing it, and any enemy within 6" cannot benefit from Inspiring Presence OR Hold your ground. 5/10 Its to expensive to be of much use. Can only be taken on Lords due to its cost.
Cloak of the Dune - Infantry on foot only. The wearer gains the flying rule, and any unengaged unit it flies over in the remaining movement phase suffer 2d6 st 2 hits. This can be dealt to multiple units, but units may only be effected once. 7/10 Pricey but lets you get characters where they need to go, and the damage is not to shabby either.
ARCANE ITEMS
Neferras Scrolls of Mighty Incantation
One use only, add power dice = to the wizards level. These don't count as power dice, but any doubles cause an Irresistible force and miscast. 6/10 Expensive but can be used to power through those spells that will be game changes.
Ankhil's Kanopi
Bound spell power 3 For every remains in play spell roll a d6, on a 2+ that spell is ended, Add d3 to your power pool for each spell ended. 5/10
MAGIC STANDARDS
Standard of Undying Legion
Bound Spell 5 Augment, If successful immediately recover d6+2 worth of models as described by Resurrecting Fallen Warriors. 8/10 Great standard.
Banner of the Hidden Dead
Can only be used on units 175 point or less, They gain the It came from Beneath the Sands special rule. This Standers is terrible 2/10 Best you could usually do is a unit of chariots, just is not worth the high price of the banner.
WHELP that about covers everything. I did not do special characters but tomb kings have some of the better ones out there so they are totally worth the read. I hope this helps most of you, and as I stated in the Dark Elf review please feel free to ask question or if I missed something or you have conflicting opinions don't hesitate to call me out on it as this is just one persons opinion. Thanks for reading.
COMMON TOMB KING LISTS
So I have been asked to do a few lists just to give a general idea of what you will most likely see. I will give you my friends list minus his items, because I honestly don't know how he equips his stuff. This list seems pretty tough although he is always making changes
2500 TK LIST
High Liche Priests lvl4 /w Nehek Hieophant General
Necrotec /wCloak of Dunes
3x Chariots
3x Chariots
40x Skeleton Archers
5x Necropolis Knights
5x Necropolis Knights
10x Ushabti /w GW's
Screaming Skull Catapult
Screaming Skull Catapult
Casket of Souls
He has a very solid battle line, hard to get through and that necrotec with the cloak means he will have that 6+ regen wherever he needs it. Granted you could just pick him off but its not a ton of points so most people actually ignore it... not me tho
MY old Tomb Kings list
This is the list I ran for however many years. With the new book it took a bit of a hit and I had to modify it quite a bit.
Tomb King General
Armor of Silvered Steel, Tali of Preservation, Great weapon
High Liche Priest lvl4
Channel Staff, Tali of Endurance
Necrotec
29 Archers
4x Chariots
4x Chariots
38x Tombguard Halberds /wBanner of Undying Legion
3x Necropolis Knights
Tomb Scorpion
Necrolith Colossus
Screaming Skull catapult
Screaming Skull catapult
So this here is 2499 on the dot with full items and upgrades. As you can see from my friends list and mine, Chariots are the primary core choice. They are just so cheap and so darn good, with mine I would have 8 shots at 24" 5's to hit str3 until I got within charge, and then a devastating 4d6 Str4 Impact followed up by 16 ST 4 attacks due to Spears on the charge. That is assuming they all survive
Archers mostly fills up the rest just as a bunker for your level 4. My friend runs his in 2 ranks of 20 to get every shot he can, I personally ran mine in just a 7x block. I like my pals idea more. Necropolis Knights obviously are heavier in my friends list, I actually did not understand how good they were until I sold my army to him and he started running a bunch of them. They are hands down the best this army has in terms of Armor and Damage output for cost.I ran a Tomb Guard Deathstar because that is what I have always ran, and with the benefit of ws6 these guys can really do some work. Horded out obviously the only problem is the movement, its really hard to get prime charges with only MV4 a turn, your opponents can generally just march around you. And for rares 2 Catapults and a Casket in both lists. Catapults are cheap and can turn the tide with 1 shot due to the panic test after wounds, and Casket well.. I think my coverage of that pretty much explains every Tomb Kings list needs to have 1. If you don't have a casket then honestly you are really cheating yourself out of the best single model they have.
THINGS OGRES NEED TO WATCH OUT FOR
Well the main thing is the casket. Our Leadership is pretty poor as is, and that thing will run through our army quite nicely. And at T10 even our cannons are not a sure thing. And if you are playing a proper player, don't expect to be able to just walk up to it and hit it, it should be protected
.Another issue can sometimes be the 2 Sphynxes, ogres are not use to needing 6's to wound so these can really be an uphill fight also.
Screaming skull catapults are not so bad because they have to do a casualty for us to take the test, so they need 3 wounds to get us to take the test, but that test if it is at -2 can be bad for us. Everything else should be cakewalk
When maw gives you lemons, APPEASE HIM!
W/L/D Tourney List
14/5/0
Latest win/s - Warriors of Chaos x 2
Latest loss/s- Dark elves, Lizardmen
W/L/D Tourney List
14/5/0
Latest win/s - Warriors of Chaos x 2
Latest loss/s- Dark elves, Lizardmen
Could you go over common list that Tomb Kings use? Would be nice to know more about how book works as a whole.
)
) wizard and so must be your heirophant. However, he uses lore of death and has the stat-line of a psuedo-tomb king. This is particularly nice if you think the lore of Nehekhara doesn't suit your play style (or just has absurdly high casting costs 
). He is armed with the sword of shennigans (real name pending) which restores models to his unit for every unsaved wound caused. This works great in conjunction with the unit champion (he is always the first to be revived), allowing you to constantly tie up killy characters with a renewable unit champ. He can also store up to 3 dispel dice per turn to be used as power dice in the following turn. This works amazingly well in conjunction with the Heiro Titan and Casket of Souls. With a level 5 to add to dispelling, you can typically save 2 dice a turn, giving you 2d6 +1d3 + 2 power dice, with an additional d3 added to any casting. Needless to say, Arkhan works best with a coterie of junior wizards to help him spend those power dice. This gives rise to two particularly powerful builds: the Magic Sniper Rifle and the Magic Machine Gun.
). The lore attribute of death makes this even nastier since you can regain power dice for wounds caused, and Doom and Darkness makes both spirit leech AND the Light of Death (the casket's bound spell) terrifying.