Warhammer/Tactics/6th Edition/Tomb Kings

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And sometimes, in ghastly dry voices, like the rustling of sun-baked reeds, they whisper the one word they remember from life. The name of the one who cursed them to their existence, more than death but less than life. They whisper the name Nagash..." — Extract from the Liber Necris, unless it was the Liber Mortis, or possibly the Cursed Book...

Why play Tomb Kings?

Tomb Kings are relentless, remorseless, and resilient... for a given value of resilient. For all that they're an army of walking corpses with magically animated statue brosephs backing them up, the core of the army plays suspiciously like an ancient-period historical force, with light infantry, archers and a few chariots and cavalry working together to bring down the foe through superior and surprising tactics. No monstrous mounts, no 5" template doom spells, just solid play... and you're gonna need it.

Make no mistake: on a stat for stat basis Tomb Kings are mediocre. Skeletons, arguably the worst line units around (even Goblins get to march and flee!) do not inspire confidence, 1+ armour saves are conspicuous by their absence, and even your heroes skew toward "take your hits like a champ", with Toughness and Wounds as their standout stats. Unlike their Vampiric Counterparts, the Kings of Nehekhera won't be springing new units out of the ground like daisies or banishing a whole unit with a single top-end spell.

But when those mediocre troops get to take their entire turn twice, when those unspectacular spells never fail or miscast, when those characters laugh off a challenge from tricked-out enemy heroes and messily eviscerate them (even from beyond the grave) - that's where the Tomb Kings shine. It's entirely possible for a unit of Tomb Kings Chariots to start the turn 24" from their target while facing the wrong direction, and end it having not only charged into combat, but dished out two rounds of attacks and their impact hits before the opponent even got to lift a finger. Will your opponent let you get away with that? Probably not on turn one. But by turn three, they may not have a choice.

If that sounds like fun: read on.

Army Special Rules

Undead! Absolutely every single model in the army follows the same set of rules, thus:

• cannot be broken in combat, but suffer an unsaveable wound for each point of combat resolution by which they lost, which you get to allocate around characters and chariots as you see fit.
• lose one less wound if their Battle Standard is within 12"
• do not count any bonuses or penalties to hit when shooting.
• are immune to psychology, on account of having no brain meats.
• cause fear.
• cannot march.
• cannot make any charge reactions other than "stand there and take it like a man/statue/scorpion/thing."

The General: a Tomb Kings army must be led by either a Tomb King or a Tomb Prince, who'll be in charge. If you have more than one, highest Leadership breaks ties, and if you have more than two candidates with the same Leadership, you get to pick.

Note that if your Tomb King or Prince dies, the army doesn't immediately fall apart. That linchpin role is the responsibility of the army's senior Liche Priest. Instead, the Tomb King General gets the last laugh as the model who killed him must take a Leadership test or be cursed with d6 wounds, no armour saves allowed. The Mummy has Cursed, and he says "sod you too, mate."

The Hierophant: a Tomb Kings army must include at least one Liche Priest or High Priest, who's responsible for waking the bony boys up and getting them on task. If you have more than one, highest Leadership breaks ties etc. etc. as above.

If the Hierophant dies, the army starts a'crumbling. At the end of the phase when the Hierophant dies, and at the beginning of every Tomb Kings turn thereafter, all your units take a Leadership test. (Note that they can use the General's Leadership for this test, which makes them a lot less all-or-nothing than the Vampires: your Tomb King can keep a good chunk of army going all by himself.) If they fail, they take unsaveable wounds equal to the amount by which they failed. Characters don't have to test: if they're riding a chariot, the chariot has to test on their leadership.

Incantations: the 'magic lore' of Nehekhera

Tomb Kings don't cast spells: they incant incantations. They don't roll them up on a chart: there are four Incantations and each Priest knows all of them. They don't generate or use Power dice: they just go off as a Bound Spell with a random power level (one at 2d6 for a normal Priest, two at 3d6 for a High Priest). No Miscasts, no Irresistible Force, no target numbers: they just WORK. On top of that, all your Tomb Princes and Kings have an ability called My Will Be Done, which lets them cast low-power (1d6), reduced-range versions of the two 'do stuff out of sequence' incantations.

All of which sounds pretty neat. However, the Tomb Kings are a tiny tiny bit set in their ways, and they have to do their magic phase stuff in exactly the same order every single turn of the game.

If you happen to have been a beardy boy and brought along a spellcaster (see Dogs of War, later), they can cast either before or after the Hierarchy begins, but not during it.

So what do these dang incantations actually do?

• Horekha's Incantation of Righteous Smiting: 12" range, friendly target unit takes a single shot or makes a single close combat attack out of sequence: opponents are unable to fight back, and there is no combat resolution, but you can cause a Panic test if you do very well. Doesn't stack.
• Mankara's Incantation of Urgency: 12" range, friendly target takes a Movement phase out of sequence: they can charge if they want to, all normal rules apply. Also doesn't stack.
• Sekhubi's Incantation of Vengeance: 18", d6 S4 hits magic missile, included in case your Priest has nothing better to do or urgently needs to blast a Banshee out of the way.
• Djedra's Incantation of Summoning: 12" range, restores wounds to friendly unit: baseline d3, up to d6 for Tomb Guard and two d6 pick-the-highest for Skeletons. Lots of spilled ink over exactly how it works, but read the goddamn book for that. Filler, but occasionally very useful if it puts an Ushabti back on its feet or restores a point of rank bonus to an embattled unit.

So let's walk through it. In a 2000 point game you should be throwing out at least five spells, every turn, and you WILL cast all of them. The first few will be low powered extra phases for key units, led by characters. The next couple will be higher power, and might bring models back from the dead or double down on activating higher value units. And all the while your opponent will be hanging on to their Dispel dice, just in case you have a Bound item up your sleeve, or worse - the Casket of Souls parked at the back.

The chief drawback of Incantations is that they have uniformly awful range and a strict casting order, so you have to plan ahead and put the right characters in the right place, which can in turn make your play very predictable. You also have only so many to go around, an entire army that needs their support to get shit done, and some of them will be Dispelled because you're bound to roll low on them. What this means, in short, is that you'll probably have to pick one or two units and sink all your efforts for each turn into forcing through the desired Incantations on those. Tomb Kings do not lend themselves to a bitty or Multiple Small Units playstyle where most of the army ends up unsupported and whittled away. Go big or go home: it's what Nigel Stillman would have done.

Magic Items

Rather than go through the entire section and explain exactly what sucks about each individual gimmick, we're going to present a selection of "ackshuwally semi competitive" builds for various characters and break down what makes them tick.

King Sauron: Tomb King with Destroyer of Eternities, Talisman of Protection, Vambraces of the Sun. This bad lad is built for challenges. He relies on the -1 Attack penalty to the opponent (Vambraces) and his four wounds to survive one round, then swings back with two auto-hitting S7 attacks that come with Killing Blow. Two rounds of that should finish anyone off (and remember, the King can always get to fight out of sequence with a crafty Incantation of Righteous Smiting). Also works as a conventional great weapon, dealing four S7 Killing Blow attacks. Only downside is the Destroyer can't be used while mounted.

Scorpion King: Tomb King in Chariot with Crown of Kings, Scorpion Armour, Enchanted Shield, Biting Blade. This King's job is to support his Chariots and other fast stuff with more reliable Incantations (two dice and pick the highest goes a long way toward getting them through), and to stay alive. His save is about as good as it gets in this army, and he makes a great speedbump if there's an Icon Bearer nearby: the Scorpion Armour means he only suffers one wound if he loses a round of combat, and the Icon Bearer will cancel that out. (And yes, you can take the Enchanted Shield with another set of magic armour. It can be combined with other magical or mundane armour: core rules, page 154.) You can do a pocket version of this build that only works as a speedbump by taking a Prince with the Enchanted Shield and Scorpion Armour.

2 Fast 2 Furious: Tomb Prince in Chariot with Icon of Rulership, Chariot of Fire, plus armour/weapons to taste. Essentially, this fella is a proper chariot: d6+1 hits, Unit Strength 5, but still moving like fast cavalry. Charge flanks, break ranks, revel in insane mobility, use his Incantation to get him where he needs to go.

Standard Issue Hierophant: Liche Priest with Cloak of the Dunes, Hieratic Jar. If it's a High Priest, add the Golden Ankhra (if you're boring) or Staff of Ravening (if you want a magic missile that actually does something [unfortunately you can't take two arcane items]). The best way to keep your Hierophant alive is to catapult him 20" away from any potential threat at the drop of a hat; the Jar will let you force through an extra Incantation on a crucial turn.

Also worth of considering is Neferra's Plaques of Mighty Incantations. Possibility to re-roll ALL those 3D6 rolls for your incanctations (assuming you have a High Priest) is fucking awesome. 4+ ward and fly on top of that makes your hierophant an extremely nasty character.

Notes on magic standards will appear in the relevant unit entries.

Units Analysis

Named Characters

Settra the Imperishable, Tomb King of Khemri, Ruler of Nehekhara, and all the rest of it.

Only shows up to 3000 point games, as he takes up two Lord slots. Dictates your army composition, as you have to spend 1500 points on Chariots, Heavy Cavalry and Tomb Guard, and you can't bring Liche Priests, which means no Casket either. Costs a fifth of your points all by himself. What do you get for your trouble?

A jacked-up Tomb King who Invokes like a Liche High Priest, and has a special My Will Be Done which, although low in power level, affects EVERY one of those signature Chariot, Heavy Cavalry or Tomb Guard units. (Opinion is divided on whether you make a single 1d6 rolls to cast it and it affects every unit if successful, or whether you roll 1d6 for each unit individually and get to do one thing with it, which would be almost impossible to dispel, but the rule IS meant to simulate his supreme generalship rather than magic powerz as such, so maybe it's meant to be? To the best of this anon's knowledge, no erratum was forthcoming.) This alone is worth the price of admission, as being able to shuffle 1500 points of troops about with either a single casting roll or a cascade of rolls is frankly incredible and makes up for the loss of conventional Priests in a lot of ways.

On top of that, he causes terror, has a 2+/4+ save (and the 2+ can only be modified down to a 4+, and never bypassed by cannonballs or the like), and always strikes first in close combat, with good odds of reducing the enemy's WS to 1 after he's been and before they get to strike. Oh, and he rides a proper Chariot. With Unit Strength 8. And two extra horses. He's not Fast Cavalry, but who the hell cares with that kind of gear?

Oh, and he explodes when he dies. 2d6 S2 hits on every enemy within 12", on top of the normal Curse.

Settra's bloody great. You won't be bringing back many models, unless they're in units near Settra himself, and you won't have the terminally shooty back line that a conventional Tomb Kings force has to offer, but you will have a mobile, aggressive army that's about as elite as Tomb Kings get. A shame 3000 point games are few and far between.

High Queen Khalida Neferher, Beloved of the Asp Goddess, Tomb Queen of the Eastern Deserts

One of the first named characters without a 'tax slot', Khalida only takes up a single Lord slot, making her viable in 2000 point games. She'll eat a good fifth of your points, like Settra, but good goddess you get your money's worth.

Other things she has in common with Settra include a special My Will Be Done ability (hers casts the Incantation of Righteous Smiting, with Irresistible Force, every turn), a restriction on unit choice (you must include at least one unit of Skeletons with bows), causing terror, and having a unique Curse when she dies (hers is basically a Curse of Years that can't be dispelled, but doesn't increase in power turn on turn, always wounding on sixes).

Unlike Settra, she's at least halfway to being a Vampire. M6, I9, A5? That's Lahmian Lady numbers. All her attacks are magical and poisoned, and all her poisoned attacks do d3 wounds instead of 1. She struggles at getting through armour, since she's only S4, but she can potentially rip through Ogres or Swarms or Wizards in no time at all. Especially since she has Always Strikes First on top of her absurd Initiative. She can also have every bow-armed Skeleton in her army pick up Poisoned Attacks for two points apiece, and she Regenerates in lieu of any armour saves.

Only the one magic item, but it's a cracker: the Venom Staff is a standard issue magic missile with a good Power Level and a twist: anything it wounds ain't moving next turn.

So, she buffs archers, she will be making one of your shooty pieces shoot twice come what may, and she has a board control ability that keeps the targets at bowshot's length. While Settra is the master of aggression, Khalida enables the Kings' strong defensive game like nobody else, and you can fit her in to a normal army pretty easily.

Lords & Heroes

Tomb King

The good: easy access to the war-engine-wrecking S7, above average T and Ld, and W4. If he does die, the unit responsible must take a Ld test or suffer d6 unsaveable wounds. The bad: lousy I, no heavy armour option, and the only mount he gets is a standard issue light chariot - not a monster in sight.

The Tomb King is what he is: an expensive, solid, unspectacular fighting general, with a lowkey support ability that lets nearby units move or shoot or fight out of sequence. His chief advantage is actually a subtle bit of build optimisation: taking a Tomb King as your army general moves Chariots from Special into Core, thus reducing your dependence on bog-standard Skeleton infantry and allowing you to go harder on Tomb Guard or Ushabti as your line fighters.

Tomb Prince

A pocket version of the Tomb King, with the same advantages and disadvantages over comparable heroes from the land of the living (no S7 though, sad face). The Prince's My Will Be Done is shorter ranged, only affecting him and a unit he joins, and he only gets to cast it once. If you take a Prince as your general you're advised to slap him in a unit of heavy cavalry, chariots or Tomb Guard and hope you get his My Will Be Done off, ever. Another, better option is to take a Prince as a Hero choice in a King's army, and have him ride solo on the Chariot of Fire or lead one of the aforementioned units, taking some strain off the King to do all the movement-based incanting.

Liche High Priest

Brittle even by the standards of wizards (T3 and W3 are not the stuff of legend), but with a credible Ld9 and the best casting power in the army. Can ride a horse, but the Cloak of the Dunes moves him faster and lets him hide better. Can also ride the Casket of Souls, but owing to the Casket's immobility and the short range of Incantations, this is probably a bit of a waste; it'll tether your essential support caster to an artillery piece, and the rest of the army to him. Keep him mobile and you'll keep your army rolling. Take him instead of a King and you've better Incantations, but fewer good units to Incant upon.

Liche Priest

As above, so below: an extremely brittle wizard-equivalent who will probably be tagging along with one unit and babysitting them with one Invocation per turn. Makes a better candidate for riding the Casket, as you can park the Casket next to a Screaming Skull Catapult and have this little fella wring an extra shot out of it every turn while the other Priests keep your army going.

They're unspectacular, but in practice they will take up at least two of your character slots in most of your games.

Icon Bearer

A Tomb Guard 'hero' who looks enviously over at the Wight Lords in the Vampire Counts army. Lagging behind them in terms of Ld, A, weapon options and armour save, the Icon Bearer is only worth bringing along if you're fielding a lot of constructs (they quite like taking two fewer wounds from lost combats) or you're in love with one of the magic banners.

He's the only way you're going to get the Icon of Rakaph on a Skeleton Warrior unit (see below) but it's better on Tomb Guard; he allows Chariot or Cavalry units to double up and gain the Icon of the Sacred Eye (a nice to have) plus something else; and he's the only way you'll get two of the banners in at all.

Of those two banners I say this. The Banner of the Hidden Dead is a gimmick that can't conceal anything worth concealing, so leave the "new units out of the ground!" stuff to the Vampire Counts and stop overpaying for it. The Standard of the Sands is actually a pretty strong board control option, but it's very very VERY expensive for a one use only item and once you've used it, that Hero slot (which could have contained another Liche Priest who'd be helping out every single turn) is basically dead in the water. Potentially worth a go in 3000 point games, but not when slots are at a premium and every little has to help.

Core Units

Skeleton Warriors: the kit they come with is all they really need, a simple hand weapon and bow. They're slow, they're brittle, and their combat kit nudges them into distinctly overpriced territory. But if they can start chucking S3 hits out from their first turn - surprisingly accurate ones over time, because they always always always hit on fives - and they never need to march, they can end up performing. There are worse things to use your Core slots on than twenty of these.

If your General is a Tomb King, one unit may wave a magic standard around. Give them the Banner of the Undying Legion for an extra d6 wounds restored every turn and they're not terrible. Some people will argue that they should have swords and boards for the extra pip of armour save, but if you want sword and board infantry in this army, Tomb Guard exist. Spears are fine on a unit that's probably going to be charged anyway, and you shouldn't be wasting Urgency on these unless they're going for a clutch charge.

Skeleton Light Horsemen: exactly the same but six points dearer and riding a horse. Fast Cavalry who can't march or flee are of dubious usefulness but they still benefit from endless reforms and a generous line of sight requirement. They're too expensive to use as throwaway pieces and too slow to make good bait, but they do make excellent wound counters for a mounted Liche Priest (and mounting up a Liche Priest is a good idea given the short range of those Incantations).

Skeleton Heavy Horsemen: The word "heavy" has never been so misapplied, but in this army a 4+ save is not to be sneezed at. Opinion is divided on these. Most players think they're complete crap: the present author thinks they're crap if you treat them like Knights (ie field small units of five or six and use them for flanking), because they're not Knights at all. What they are is twice as fast as regular Skeletons, coming with a better save as standard, and fieldable in a great big block of sixteen. If you were considering a unit of Skeleton infantry to do fighting... bring these instead. They'll cover the ground faster, to the point where you might not need to waste Incantations on them, and their high Unit Strength means they might get lucky and auto-break something, especially if you kit them out with the War Banner.

Tomb Swarm: It's slow, and being Undead it's objectively the worst Swarm in the game, but it chucks out a lot of Poisoned Attacks and has the highly entertaining "It Came From Below" rule that can bring it up in a very unexpected place. Don't drop 250 odd points on a full size one but absolutely spend an odd 100 on two bases to see what happens.

Chariots: These are in here because that's where the book puts them, but remember they're Special unless you have a Tomb King.

It's easy to fall in love with these. Although they're very brittle, especially against Chaos/Vampire Counts/Lizardmen who can field a fast moving S7 hero who'll one-round a whole unit without blinking, they are insanely fast and maneouverable... manoeverable... that word the present author can't spell. Being Chariots, the major drawback of Undeath doesn't bother them as they can't march anyway. They can carry a 50 point magic standard, and either the Mirage Standard (protection from being shot at) or Icon of the Sacred Eye (+1 to hit, very good for useless WS3 "elite" Skeleton crew) serves them well.

However. Do not think that because they're the army's signature unit you have to spam them. They have a giant footprint (the minimum size unit eats up a massive 24 square inches of board) and even with their fast cavalry reforms, they have to put those bases somewhere. Most tables do not have the space for too many of them to operate smoothly, factoring in terrain and inconveniently placed enemy units. One unit per 1000 points is probably enough, and they're at their best with a dedicated Prince or a High Priest nearby to ensure they keep moving.

Special Units

Tomb Guard: OK, so it's normally considered bad form to compare similar units between similar army lists, focus on what you have and not what the neighbours are packing and so on. BUT: these are, at first glance, really shit Grave Guard. A lower maximum unit size (so it's less likely they'll autobreak enemies), no heavy armour or halberd options (so they won't thump and grind in protracted combat) and no Banner of the Barrows (because a flat "always hits on threes" is god's gift for fighting over obstacles and the like).

However, they have two significant edges over their cousins to the north. The first is that unlike Grave Guard, they can be raised with magic: d6 of the bleeders at a time. This makes them a good candidate for the Banner of the Undying Legion, if no Skeletons are carrying it, and a reasonable target for spare Invocations if you need to keep their rank bonus up.

The second is the Icon of Rakaph. This magic banner only benefits Skeleton Warriors (who need an Icon Bearer to join them with it, since it's too expensive for their points cap) or Tomb Guard, and it basically lets them pull a Fast Cavalry style free reform at the start of the turn, i.e. before charges are declared. Up top I talked about the "start turn a foot from target and facing wrong direction, still get to charge" potential of the army and doing that with a fully ranked block of S4, T4 combat infantry is a delight. Stick a footslogging Tomb King or a challenge-delivering speedbump Prince in there and you're laughing all the way back to your pyramid. Any of the magic standards that are good on Chariots are also good on these lads.

Ushabti: They're very odd. Normally, these "monstrous infantry" on 40mm bases are a small unit bolted on to the back of the army and are used for flanking and deterring, but Ushabti are comparatively slow for a unit of this type (only M5 and no marching) and our Chariot units do the same job better. Instead, Ushabti are a meat grinder, best fielded in units of four or more. Their S6 is just shy of the magic number, but unlike most units of their type they don't need great weapons to achieve it, which means they can strike in good order and melt Core infantry, non-charging Knights, even other big fellas like Ogres and Trolls. Their chief weakness is their mere 5+ armour save, which is not enough: they melt to handguns, Warp Lightning, most Chaos troops, almost anything with a great weapon, the list goes on.

Carrion: Underrated models, a little bit tougher than Fell Bats (4 over 3) and with a reasonable unit size. Small units run interference, harass archers, eat war machines, suicide strike wizards, all the usual flyer things and they don't care about being Undead 'cause flying ain't marching. Definitely worth a punt.

Tomb Scorpion: This thing has it all: Poison, Killing Blow, Magic Resistance, the hitting and soaking power of a Tomb King and thus the T not to be frightened of Pistoliers, the M to pursue 3d6", and did we mention It Came From Below, so the foul thing will be scuttling around behind the enemy army with a bit of luck? And it's so cheap at 85 points that you might not miss it if it decides not to show at all. Star of the show. Fling these into combo charges with gay abandon and let them chase down what your infantry can't reach. Use them for the suicide missions you'd normally send your Carrion on. Send them after enemy wizards and see how long they last once they're done.

Rare Units

Screaming Skull Catapult: At 110 points this thing is dramatically underpriced. And yes, it's 110. Skulls of the Foe should be considered a mandatory upgrade which you can cut if you absolutely need to shave points off the list somehow. The highest S attack in the army, and a direct hit will almost certainly induce a panic test on whatever you targeted. Two of these will tie your Liche Priests down and make your army predictable (and don't kid yourself, you will want to fire them twice every turn), but one of these at the heart of a defensive build can win games all by itself.

Bone Giant: These are in the same slot as the Casket of Souls and the Screaming Skull Catapult, which to this anon's mind means they belong in smaller games, as the solo Rare choice. Locking your army down to the position of an artillery piece? Bad. Keeping your army aggressive, flexible and mobile? Good.

In the book as originally released, Bone Giants are decent. One more point of S wouldn't go amiss, nor would a little WS, but with a little luck and the charge they can do a lot of damage, and they also have the only native 3+ save in the army.

In the 2004 Warhammer Chronicles, they pick up weapon options: a chariot-smashing knight-bruising great weapon; a shield for - whisper it - a 1+ save in melee, in THIS army; and a move-and-fire bolt thrower that comes with the same "always hits on 5s" rule as the rest of the army's archers. Don't take this the wrong way, but once the bolt thrower option became apparent, anon stopped listening to the rest. Either of the other options is technically better and gives the Giant a specific job to do, but the one-size-fits-all Rare selection that shoots, stomps and spreads terror before it has a certain appeal in a single-slot-type situation.

Casket of Souls: this thing takes up a Rare slot and occupies the same sort of expensive opportunity cost niche that a Dragon might do in another army. The difference is that a Dragon can't potentially hurt an entire enemy army on the same turn.

Seasoned Vampire Counts players know that the Banshee's scream is overrated, and unless you've been able to drop the target's Ld through spells or abilities you're often not looking at more than a wound or two. The Casket has exactly the same rule, with exactly the same odds of not doing anything significant. Its chief value is as a deterrent. Its mere presence, and the potential that one of those inverse Ld tests will come up boxcars, will ensure that most opponents save their Dispel Scrolls or a couple of dice for the end of the magic phase, and they will need to save scrolls or multiple dice because this thing will come up sevens or better a little over half the time. Its disruptive effect on enemy magic (a global -1 malus to casting) is not to be forgotten. Neither is the effective 3+ Ward save it gives to the attached Priest (in that two thirds of incoming fire will hit the Casket, and the Casket is indestructible).

The Casket costs an awful lot for something that may have a purely psychological impact on a game, but if you're going for a defensive approach anyway and forcing the enemy to come towards you, this thing plus the Banner of the Shifting Sands will make them suffer for it every step of the way.

Dogs of War

As with magic items, life is much too short to review all the possibilities, so this anon will be sticking to the cheesemonger-in-chief's options.

First up: Dark Emissaries and Truthsayers. One Hero, one Rare, and about 250 points down the crapper, but what you get for your trouble is a whole additional magic phase. The Truthsayer synergises well with the Casket of Souls to control enemy casting, while the Dark Emissary offers you raw aggressive output in an army not famed for its magic missiles and hexes. Bring a Fenbeast or two in your other Rare slot and suddenly you've got aggressive options you didn't have before. Pair with a Liche High Priest for absolute nonsense. If anyone gives you grief, whip out your map of Nehekhera and point to the marshes. Totally 100% justified. Honest.