Editing Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Warscrolls Compendium/Tomb Kings (section)

==Warscrolls==

===Leaders===
 
'''Tomb King on Exalted Chariot (460pts):''' What used to be Settra the Imperishable, this is now a generic unit (so, not being a named character anymore, he can be given an artefact and command trait).
For a hefty 460pts, you get this guy who moves 10", has a 3+ save and 8 wounds, and has a scarab amulet that can negate wounds or mortal wounds he suffers on a roll of a 5+. He has a strong melee weapon - four attacks at -2 rend and 3 damage, and he gets two extra attacks on the charge. His horses do 8 attacks, they don't look all that great at first glance because they wound on 5+ with no rend, but on the charge they get 16 attacks instead and get +1 to wound. On top of this he has two things going for him that make him truly awesome: his command ability and his prayer.
*His command ability gives your guys a bonus in your following combat phase if they are within 18" of the King when they attack: friendly '''TOMB KINGS''' units get +1 to hit, <i>and</i> friendly '''DESERT LEGIONS''' units get +1 to wound as well. Note that the +1 to hit will affect the whole army, but the +1 to wound only works for certain units. Also note that it doesn't affect shooting and it doesn't last through your opponent's turn, but it's still a huge force multiplier.
*His prayer works on a 2+ and lets you select a single friendly '''DESERT LEGIONS''' unit within 18"; in your following movement phase, this unit doubles its movement characteristic and can fly. If the prayer fails on a 1, the King takes a mortal wound.
*He also has a crown which unfortunately was written for the previous edition of AoS and hasn't been updated. It used to allow other nearby TK heroes to use their command abilities even though they aren't the general. But ever since the introduction of command points, this rule doesn't really do anything and GW can't be bothered updating it.

'''Royal Warsphinx (440pts):''' Is also a Behemoth. A Khemrian Warsphinx mounted by a Tomb King instead of four tomb guard. Rather slow with only a 6" move, but it's quite tanky. It has three melee weapon profiles - the King has three attacks at -2 rend and 3 damage, the Sphinx has six claw attacks at -1 rend and 1 damage, and a choice of two tail options - the blade tail has more attacks but the venom-spike tail hits harder. The venom-spike is the better choice unless you're attacking something unaffected by rend. The sphinx can also breathe fire in the shooting phase: one attack at -1 rend, d6 damage. As he gets hurt, the King gets fewer attacks with his glaive, the Sphinx claws get less accurate and the breath weapon doesn't wound so easily. At least it doesn't get any slower.
The sphinx has a rule that helps to make it a little tankier: all weapons attacking him halve their Damage characteristic, rounding up (so it doesn't help at all against weapons with a Damage characteristic of 1); and this rule also halves the number of mortal wounds he suffers from spells and similar abilities. (The regular Warsphinx and the Necrosphinx have this rule too). Both Warsphinxes also have the chance to do d3 mortals to the enemy on impact after a successful charge (it's more likely to work the more models are in the enemy unit). His command ability lets him choose a visible enemy unit and then all of your '''EMBALMED''' and '''DESERT LEGIONS''' units get +1 to wound against it until your next hero phase.
All in all, ridiculously overcosted at 440pts; the same cost as a Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon who is better in pretty much every way. To balance this, the sphinx claw attacks really ought to have a Damage characteristic of 2 and it ought to cost roughly the same as a Runefather on Magmadroth, not a VLoZD.

'''Tomb King in Royal Chariot (160pts):''' Moves 10", eight wounds and a 3+ save. Same weapon as a Tomb King on foot, but he gets two extra attacks on the charge. Also has four crappy horse kicks but they get eight attacks instead of four on the charge. His command ability allows him and your Skeleton Chariots within 18" to reroll charges. This isn't as good as it sounds because Skeleton Chariots can always charge a minimum of 6" thanks to their hornblowers, and at longer distances you can simply wait to see if you fail the charge and then spend a CP to reroll it anyway, assuming you have a hero close enough. So he doesn't really add much to the army besides being a fairly fast and somewhat durable combat character.

'''Tomb Queen (120pts):''' The old Khalida model, no longer a named character. The main thing about her is her command ability; for 1cp she gives +1 to hit in the shooting phase for all friendly '''DESERT LEGIONS''' units (that's Skeleton Archers, Skeleton Chariots, Skeleton Horse Archers and the Warsphinx). Note that there is no range restriction here.
If she's the General and the entire army shares the '''TOMB KINGS''' keyword then Skeleton Archers become battleline. She has a shooting attack from her venom staff, 18" range, one shot with no rend and d6 damage. Finally, if an enemy unit is selected to fight in the combat phase and she is within 3", she can immediately jump the queue and hit first if she hasn't fought already. Even though she doesn't hit terribly hard in melee (again, it's one attack with no rend and d6 damage) being able to swing first is nice if she gets jumped by Khinerai, Tree-Revenants or the like.

'''Tomb King (100pts):''' A fairly cheap support hero who's not too shabby in melee and quite resilient, assuming you take the shield... He can either take a Monarch's Great Blade with three attacks at -2 rend and 3 damage, or a Dynastic Blade and Tomb Shield in which case he has four attacks at -1 rend and d3 damage, and the shield lets him reroll his failed armour saves. The Dynastic Blade and Shield is probably the way to go.
His command ability (the awesomely named "My Will Be Done") lets him select a '''DESERT LEGIONS''' unit within 18" and they get +1 to run, charge and hit rolls. +1 to hit can be much better than it sounds when combined with the Liche Priest's spell (see below).

'''Tomb Herald (100pts):''' The main thing this guy does is his Standard of the Undying Legion. In your hero phase, he can activate his banner which brings back a slain model to all of your '''DESERT LEGIONS''' units within 24" of the Herald. Works especially well for Necropolis Knights and Skeleton Chariots since you're getting a 5-wound model back. However, if the Herald does activate his banner, he can't move at all until your next hero phase.
The other thing he does is function as a bodyguard for any friendly '''EMBALMED''' heroes (which is basically all the Kings, the Queen and the Scarab Prince); if he's within 3" when they suffer damage, then on a 2+ the wound is transferred to the Herald instead. If you're paying 460pts for a Tomb King on Exalted Chariot, or 440pts for a Royal Warsphinx, then another 100pts for a Herald to take wounds for him is probably worthwhile. He can also take a skelly steed for free, giving him a 12" move and a couple of extra melee kicks.

'''Liche Priest (120pts):''' A wizard who can cast one spell in your turn and unbind one spell in the enemy's. Like the Tomb Herald, he can have a skelly steed for free. He has a scroll that can be used once per game to automatically succeed an unbind attempt, very useful. His unique spell targets a '''DESERT LEGIONS''' or '''REANIMANT''' unit within 18": for each hit roll of 6+, they generate an extra attack with the same weapon. Note that this is 6+, not unmodified 6s, so it gets much better when you have +1s to hit from a Tomb King, Tomb Queen, or the Tomb King on Exalted Chariot. A simple 1cp from a Tomb King combined with this spell means that any 5+ to hit generates the extra attack. For Skeletal Legionnaires, who get an extra +1 to hit by being near an '''EMBALMED''' hero, it'll happen on a 4+ to hit.

'''Casket of Souls (160pts):''' 8 wounds and a 4+ save (but gets +1 to its save against shooting attacks). Only moves 2" and can't charge, and since it doesn't have a conventional shooting attack it may as well run every turn. It gives every Liche Priest within 18" +1 to their casting rolls, and it can unbind a single spell in each turn... but the main thing is what happens when you open the casket, which you can do in each of your hero phases. You choose a visible enemy unit within 20" and it hits them on a 3+. They suffer d3 mortal wounds (d6 if their Bravery is 4 or less), then every unit within 6" from that one suffers the same on a 5+. It's also a Behemoth for some reason. I guess size doesn't matter.

'''Scarab Prince (80pts):''' The old Prince Apophas model, again, no longer a named character. Your cheapest hero at 80pts, he can be placed in reserves and pop out in your movement phase, anywhere more than 9" from enemies. Besides that he moves 12", can fly and heals a wound in each of your hero phases. In melee he's got five attacks with no rend and 1 damage, but gets +1 to hit and wound rolls in melee if he's attacking a '''HERO'''. He has a 10" range shooting attack as well, 2d6 shots with no rend, and when he dies he can immediately do his shooting attack one last time before being removed.
*This guy can be a real terror if you give him the Sword of Judgement artefact from Malign Sorcery. He'll have five attacks and with his +1 to hit against heroes, he'll score d6 mortal wounds with every 5+. And with his ability to arrive from reserves, his small base and a speedy fly move, he's not so easy to screen against.

'''Necrotect (100pts):''' Do you like giant war statues made of stone, bone and gold? He does, too, he'll be your friend. In your hero phase he can choose a '''DESERT LEGIONS''' unit within 8" and give it +3 Move and they reroll 1s to wound in your following combat phase. Also, he gives various passive buffs to some of your other units just by being nearby, but those are written on <i>their</i> warscrolls, not his. He improves Bone Giants, Tomb Scorpions, Ushabtis and Screaming Skull Catapults; they will be discussed in their own entries.

===Battleline===
'''Skeleton Chariots (140pts for three, max 12):''' Moves 10", five wounds and a 5+ armour save. Has six melee attacks per chariot (two from the skelly crew and four horse kicks). However, on the charge the number of attacks is doubled, so a unit of three chariots is rolling 36 attacks on the charge (37 thanks to the champion). Each chariot also gets to fire two bow shots at 18" range, but only hitting on 5+ so don't expect too much from that. They get great use out of their Icon Bearer to bring back a slain chariot in each of your hero phases; that's five wounds back per battle round. All in all a solid Battleline unit.

'''Skeletal Legionnaires (80pts for ten, max 40):''' The warscroll is very similar to the Skeleton Warriors from Legions of Nagash with a few slight differences. Like the Skeleton Warriors, they get one attack base, two if there are 20+ in the unit, or three if there are 30+. The unit either has spears that hit on 5+ with a 2" range, or swords that hit on 4+ with a 1" range. Either way they're wounding on 4+. Their shields work differently to the Legions of Nagash guys; here, you can choose to put your shields up in the movement phase which gives you +1 to save rolls until your next movement phase, but you can't run or charge in your turn if you do so. They get +1 to hit in melee if there is a friendly '''EMBALMED''' hero (that's the various kings, queen or prince) within 18". And obviously having different keywords, the synergies are different - by combining a Tomb King's My Will Be Done command ability with Righteous Smiting from a Liche Priest, you can generate an additional attack with each 4+ to hit. A nice simple and effective combo. And while the unit only moves 4", you can speed them up with a Necrotect and/or the Tomb King on Exalted Chariot's prayer. On the whole, not quite as good as Legions of Nagash skeleton warriors because their resurrection is much better thanks to gravesites and deathly invocation, but these guys can still do some good work.

'''Skeleton Horsemen (100pts for five, max 30):''' A decent chaff unit with a move of 12" and the built-in ability to run and charge. They won't do much damage to the enemy but they can scoot around to snag objectives, get in the way, tag enemies in combat and so on. Not a bad unit at all, and being able to bring d3 of them back in your hero phase thanks to their Icon Bearer is a nice bonus.

'''Skeleton Archers (100pts for ten, max 30):'''
Battleline in a '''TOMB KINGS''' army if the general is a Tomb Queen. The bow has 20" range, and the archers get two shots each if there are least twenty in the unit and there are no enemies within 3". No rend and normally hitting on 5+, but you can use a Tomb Queen's command ability to boost the hit rolls, and a Liche Priest's Righteous Smiting is good for these guys too. They only move 4" but remember that they can run and shoot thanks to their musician.

===Other Units===
'''Necropolis Knights (240pts for three, max 12):''' A very solid unit, if an expensive one. They move 8", five wounds and a 5+ armour save but the shields give them +1 to save rolls in melee. Each model gets two attacks from the rider and three from the snake; it's all at -1 rend and the snake bites have a Damage characteristic of d3 and also do an additional mortal wound on a 6+ to wound. This is already a strong unit, but can be made terrifying with the Tomb King on Exalted Chariot to boost their movement with his prayer, and boost their hit and wound rolls with his command ability. Then you can use a Liche Priest's spell to let them generate extra attacks, and a Necrotect to speed them up even further and let them reroll 1s to wound. And they benefit very well from their icon bearer to bring back a slain model in each of your turns, or more than one if you brought a Tomb Herald.

'''Tomb Guard (80pts for five, max 30):''' Very similar warscroll to the Grave Guard from Legions of Nagash. Their shields work differently though (see the Skeletal Legionnaires entry) and they have slightly different weapon options - the halberds hit on 4+ and wound on 3+, the swords are the other way around. Either way it's two attacks at -1 rend, and any wound roll of 6+ inflicts 2 damage instead of 1 (note that this is <i>6+</i> not <i>unmodified 6s</i>, and you can get +1 to wound from the command ability of the Exalted Chariot or the Royal Warsphinx to make that happen more often). Unlike Grave Guard, you get to keep your shield either way. More importantly, they don't benefit from gravesites, Vanhel's and all the other stuff Legions of Nagash get. Instead they can get better hit and wound rolls from the various Tomb King synergies. Like the Legionnaires they're somewhat hampered by a 4" movement but they can be sped up by a Necrotect or Tomb King on Exalted Chariot, or both.

'''Skeleton Horse Archers (140pts for five, max 20):''' Fast cavalry with bows. They move 12" and can run and shoot thanks to their musicians. But the bows aren't likely to do much damage thanks to only hitting on 5+, unless you're using command abilities to boost that. Could be a really cool unit, but five of them cost the same as three chariots which are more durable, much better in combat, and are Battleline. Shame really. They do however have a special ability that lets them shoot in the movement phase, and then if they did that, they can move in the shooting phase. This does let them pull a couple of neat tricks; firstly they can shoot and then retreat in the same turn. Secondly, if an enemy unit is bogging one of your units down in melee, you can kill them with shooting <i>in the movement phase</i> and then your unit is free to move normally, without having to retreat.
One thing to note, though. If you're using a Tomb Queen's command ability, she gives you bonuses to hit <i>in the shooting phase</i> only. So if you do use the Horse Archers' nifty trick to shoot in the movement phase, they're stuck with hitting on 5s. The champion doesn't even get his +1 to hit, because again, that specifies that he gets +1 to hit <i>in the shooting phase</i>.

'''Ushabti (120pts for three, max 12)''' Giant god statues with four wounds and a 5+ save. However, if they're attacked by weapons with a Damage characteristic of 1, they get +2 to that armour save roll. Furthermore, if you have a Necrotect within 18", they reroll 1s for their armour saves as well. If you combine these things and put them in cover, they effectively have a 2+ save rerolling 1s.
They have two weapon options - either Ritual Blade-staves, or Great Bows. The bows have 24" range, one shot per model at -1 rend and d3 damage. If they have bows they get three rather meh melee attacks as well from their fists. If you're running Blade-staves instead then each Ushabti has three attacks at 3+ to hit, 3+ to wound, -1 rend and d3 damage. At 120pts per three models, that's pretty good value. If they have a downside, it's the fact they don't have the '''DESERT LEGIONS''' keyword so they miss out on most of the various Tomb Kings synergies. Besides the Necrotect giving them reroll 1s to save, the only Tomb Kings synergies they <i>do</i> benefit from are the Exalted Chariot's command ability in melee, and the Liche Priest's spell Righteous Smiting.

'''Sepulchral Stalkers (140pts for three, max 12):''' Your tunnelling shooty stone snakes. They can deploy underground and arrive in your movement phase anywhere more than 9" away from enemies. This is handy because their shooting attack has a 10" range. It doesn't use the normal attack sequence; instead you simply roll a dice for each stalker. Each roll of 1 does a mortal wound to your stalkers. Each 2-3 does nothing. Each 4-5 does one mortal wound to the target and each 6 does d3 mortal wounds to the target. In melee, each Stalker has two attacks at -1 rend, 2 damage. All in all, a cool concept but you shouldn't expect much damage out of them. They can also go back underground if they want to, and reappear somewhere else next turn.

'''Tomb Scorpions (80pts, max three):''' Can deploy underground and arrive in your movement phase anywhere more than 9" away from enemies. Has a couple of weapon profiles with decent rend and damage - might kill a 5-wound hero with some decent dice rolls. Has a 4+ armour save and five wounds. Also has a 5+ roll to negate any mortal wounds inflicted by enemy spells, which is improved to a 4+ if there you have a Necrotect within 18". 

'''Carrion (80pts for three, max 12):''' Undead rotting birbs. They start the game flying high above the battlefield, although the models are still placed on the tabletop. While flying high they can't attack or be attacked, or affected in any way by spells/abilities etc. When they make a charge (and they get a 3d6" charge instead of 2d6"), they come down and behave normally from then on. Their attacks are not great, four attacks each with no rend, but by being essentially invincible until they charge you may get decent mileage against a war machine or a wizard or whatever.
Technically, there isn't a rule saying they can't hold objectives while flying high, but if you actually try doing that you're an unmitigated dick and nobody will want to play you again, for good reason.

'''Tomb Swarm (80pts for two, max 8):''' Bases full of scarab beetles and whatnot. They can deploy underground and arrive later, and can even go back underground if they want to replenish their numbers. Their attacks are rubbish and they die easily. While there is something to be said for a unit that can set up on the board mid-way through the game in the hope of snagging an objective or something, for the same cost you can take a Tomb Scorpion which might actually kill something.

===Behemoths===

'''Necrosphinx (440pts):''' Very powerful, but very expensive. Moves 12", can fly, and can run and charge. In fact, it <i>has</i> to attempt to charge if possible, and it also rolls 3d6 instead of 2d6 for its charge roll, discarding the lowest. In melee, its main weapon is the Scythe Blades - four attacks that wound on 2s, -3 rend and 3 damage. If they all attack an enemy Monster and you roll at least two 6s to wound, then it does '''TEN MORTAL WOUNDS''' on top of its normal damage. Not likely to happen very often though. It also has more attacks from its claws and its tail. It also has the same ability all three Sphinxes have: the Damage characteristic of all weapons attacking it are reduced by half, rounding up, and the number of mortal wounds suffered by spells and abilities is cut in half as well.

'''Warsphinx (280pts):''' Like the Royal Warsphinx but crewed by four Tomb Guard instead of Tomb King, so it isn't a Hero. Its attacks are weaker overall than the Royal Warsphinx since the Tomb Guard don't have rend, and it lacks the command ability of the Royal Warsphinx. Still a rather tanky monster though, due to the same ability all the Sphinxes have that reduces the Damage characteristic of incoming attacks. And it still has the flame breath and the chance to inflict mortal wound impact damage when it charges. Interestingly, it does have the '''DESERT LEGIONS''' keyword, so it can benefit from various command abilities and other synergies.

'''Bone Giant (200pts):''' Nine wounds and a 4+ save. Has two weapon profiles - the swords have three attacks at -2 rend, 3 damage. And four kick attacks at -1 rend, 1 damage. Has two extra rules going on: firstly each time it rolls a 6+ to hit, it generates an extra attack with the same weapon (and this can be improved by the +1 to hit from the Tomb King on Exalted Chariot). Secondly, after it's done attacking, roll a dice and on a 5+ (or a 4+ if you have a Necrotect within 18") it immediately gets to pile in again and fight a second time. Only one extra activation per turn, though. Another thing to note is that he doesn't have a degrading profile like most other Monsters. He can be fun to use, but he's drastically overcosted at 200pts.

===Artillery===
'''Screaming Skull Catapult (160pts):''' Okay, let's start with the good news. It has a 36" range, its shot does a nice consistent 4 damage (but keep reading), it doesn't need line of sight and it gets two shots instead of one if you have a Necrotect next to it. Also, if it does damage to an enemy unit, they suffer -2 to their Bravery until the end of the turn.
Now the bad news. It has a crew of three skellys who function as a separate unit, and they need to stay within 1" of the machine for it to be able to move or fire. These guys have one wound each and a crappy save and if some of the crew die, your catapult's Damage characteristic starts to degrade. If they all die, your catapult can no longer move or fire at all. That's the main problem - you need to protect your catapult and its crew from enemy shooting, and enemy magic, and deepstriking units - otherwise it will be very quickly rendered useless. Hopefully you'll have some nice line-of-sight-blocking terrain on the table for at least the crew to shelter behind.
Furthermore, while the catapult has a maximum range of 36", it also has a minimum range of 6", so if a small enemy unit can tag your catapult in melee, you'll be unable to fire even if they don't kill you. All in all, it's a bit of a risky investment at 160pts. The simple way to fix this thing and make it decent would be to remove the crew as a separate unit - simply add 3 wounds to the catapult, give it the Crew's Tools as a melee weapon and delete the rules relating to the crew, and then give it the '''DESERT LEGIONS''' keyword. <s>(things had changed a bit because now if you play any catapult all the DEATH wizard in your army now a unique spell with a CV of 5, who let you respawn the crew if they get killed. Quite nice all at all.)</s> this is untrue, the crew summoning spell has been removed from the warscroll in the compendium.