Editing Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Tomb Kings (section)

===Special Units===

*'''Tomb Guard:''' The elite infantry choice of the Tomb king army book, and a clear step above skeletons, with a higher WS, S, T, I and LD in addition to also possessing killing blow and light armour as standard. This huge boost is reflected in the increase to points cost, standing at 11 points each, a unit of tomb guard is normally a large points sink. Normally a tomb guard unit is the center of attention when it comes to buffing units with a tomb king/necrotect/augment spells etc, and rightly so for such buffs are not wasted, especially when the unit can be given halberds to boost their strength to 5 to further increase their damage output, but do note that this costs a additional 2 points, making the unit very expensive.  


*'''Necropolis Knights:''' While skeleton horsemen are the medium cavalry of the tomb king army, necropolis knights are the heavy cavalry. monstrous mounts sporting a fearsome statline, the defining feature of this unit is the 3+ armour save, which is the highest basic save any unit in the tomb king army can posses, giving this unit a relatively high level of staying power. Even though it posses such a save, it excels as a flanking unit in support of a large block of skeletons or tomb guard, and even though it is in direct competition with chariots, necropolis knights are more than capable of competing for a place in a army list. The rider is a buffed tomb guard, with the same statline aside from WS 4 and A 2, who also packs a spear and the killing blow special rule. The mount on the other hand has Ws3 S5 T4 A3 W3 and I3 allowing it to churn out enough damage to quickly earn it's points back in short order, especially when we also factor in a stomp attack. Obviously, the necropolis knights favor a prolonged combat whilst a unit of chariots depend upon breaking a unit on the charge, but in addition to flanking, necropolis knights also make a reasonable unit for hunting monsters, as the high strength of both the rider and mount on the charge means that many monsters will be wounded on 5s if not 4s and the poisoned attacks of the mount should also help in sneaking one or two extra wounds. Finally, for a additional 5 points, a unit of necropolis knights can be deployed in reserve and enter play though EBTS, allowing you to push your opponent on two fronts with two fairly strong lines(that is if you don't get a spell of bad luck)  


*'''Tomb Scorpion:''' The Tomb scorpion has lost the crown for EBTS king and has unfortunately been relegated to a distraction role. The issue with the tomb scorpion lies in the high points cost to wounds ratio and a unreliable system to deliver several scorpions in one place to threaten the rear of a unit, a problem necropolis knights have solved by being able to field a large number in a single unit. As a result, scorpions are best used to menace warmachines or force an opponent to redirect one of his units to clear the lone monstrous beast running around behind his lines, as it does not matter what unit charges another units rear, the combat bonus is still the same. That being said, the scorpion is perfectly capable of surviving one round of combat in the rear of most units with a toughness of 5 and 3 wounds, and it may even cause a few casualties itself as it possesses Ws4 S5 I3 A4 with poisoned and killing blow. Oh and as a side point, it also has magic resistance 1, carried over from the previous edition.     
       

*'''Ushabti:''' A major tragedy, for the miniatures look beautiful and capture the concept of animated statues perfectly. Previously, Ushabti were THE shock troopers of a tomb king army, now they have fallen into the gap of uselessness that occurs when newer units can do the same job but be better at it. The Ushabti has lost the basic strength of 6 and has instead received a generic monstrous infantry statline of Ws4 Bs2 S4 T4 I3 A3 W3 Ld8 and a armor save of 5+, which now comes with the option of taking a great weapon, paired weapon or great bow for free. Unfortunately the cost was decreased from 7th edition to 8th edition but no more then that, leaving us with a 50 points per model unit that is outperformed by tomb guard or necropolis knights at whatever you intend for them, and certainly underwhelming when compared to the monstrous infantry of other armies. The only niche now seen by many tomb king players, is a heavy ranged unit, as great bows are strength 6 and as Ushabti do not benefit from bonuses when shooting or suffer from penalties, the law of averages state that one in three shots per turn will hit, which therefore (theoretically) allows you to allocate a single S6 hit on any unit in 30" so it might be useful for picking off knights or dropping the wounds on a monstrous creature, but for 150 points, they are certainly not an efficient unit at their task.   


*'''Swarm:''' Like the Tomb Scorpion, scarab swarms are not necessarily combat units, but offer more utility to an army that fields them, as they also possess the EBTS special rule, which means they too can pop up behind the opponents line to cause mischief .They are normally favored over scorpions to kill warmachines, as they are significantly cheaper to field en masse, and are less likely to die to a point blank cannon shot. Finally, it should be noted that Tomb swarms possess the poisoned attacks special rule, which combined with their 5 attacks and 5 wounds, opens up possibilities for nibbling at lightly armored monsters, this is because with their S and T of 2, most infantry will be wounding the swarm on twos or threes, which puts the high strength of the monster to waste when hitting swarms. Note, do not reliably expect to kill monsters with Tomb swarms, but don't immediately dismiss the thought.   


*'''Carrion:''' Unfortunately, with the changes to the flyers special rule, Tomb king flyers don't really have the fly special rule outside of General's range, so most of the time they basically have hover special rule, which immediately curtails the possibilities for carrion, as it will most likely take twice as long to reach a point on the board when compared to the fliers of other races unless assisted by magic. Other than that, Carrion have a fairly decent statline for their cost in points at Ws3 S4 T4 W2 A3 I2 for 23 points. However, it should be noted that carrion do not posses armor, so they should not be expected to engage with combat units and come out unscathed, instead it is advisable to use them to clean warmachine hunters and light cavalry that slip past your lines, or harass a ranged unit that is a little too close to the front. 


*'''Khermrian Warsphinx:''' A new unit to the Nehekharan army, keeping in line with the monster craze currently in running though GW head office at the moment. Immediately obvious, the warsphinx is designed to soak up elite units and other monsters that pose a threat to your lines,with a statline of Ws4 S5 T8 W5 A4 I1 you can see anything short of a shaggoth with a great weapon is going to need a 6 to wound, and if mass light attacks do manage to accumulate enough 6s to pose worry, a 5+ armor save should stop some of them. In addition, the warsphinx comes with a howdah carrying 4 Tomb Guard with spears, who also posses killing blow. It should be noted that these Tomb guard are immune to damage, and are treated like riders on a cavalry mode, so when a initiative test is forced upon the sphinx, you will take it a the highest(I3 of the Tomb guard) of the combined profile. The warsphinx also has a unique attack(only against units smaller then monstrous infantry) in the form of the Thunder crush, which essentially trades all of your normal attacks for one attack that, if it hits, acts like a direct impact from a stone thrower, allowing you to place the small blast template anywhere touching but not overlapping the sphinx, and anybody under the center takes a strength 9 hit with multiple wounds D3 and everybody else under the template takes a strength 3 hit. Obviously, this is very useful for taking huge chunks out of hordes, but due to the WS 4 of the sphinx, you must gamble with your damage output. On a final point, it is possible to upgrade the warsphinx to have poisoned attacks and/or a S4 breath weapon.          


*'''Sepulchral Stalkers:''' Another unit designed to enter the board though EBTS, however, rather than acting as a flanker, the stalkers possess a unique offensive ability more suited for hunting heavy armor and monsters. Each stalker has a shooting attack that hits automatically with a number of shots equal to the roll on a artillery dice, however if you were to roll a misfire, the stalker in question will suffer D3 automatic wounds with no armorr saves allowed. After determining the number of shots, you treat each like a strength 1 ranged attack that ignores armor, the positive point of this, is that you will roll to wound using your opponents initiative rather then their toughness, allowing many monsters and heavy infantry to be wounded on 5s and even 4s with no chance of their armor saving them. Obviously, this ability is very handy for dealing with monsters, but do not forget that EBTS does not prevent you from shooting, thus allowing you to deliver the unit anywhere and set them upon anything, allowing a far greater freedom of choice when using the unit. If you so wish it is possible to have your stalkers engage in close combat, and as long as the unit in question is light/facing the other way and engaged/ or half dead, and still come out on top with a fairly healthy profile with Ws2 S4 T4 W3 I3 A2 and halberds in addition to their stomp for being monstrous beasts, they cannot survive in a general brawl all by themselves no, but it is perfectly acceptable to deliver a rear charge in order to break an enemy unit.