The 9th Age/Tactics/Undying Dynasties

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The fair use The 9th Age expy of the Tomb Kings of Warhammer Fantasy, itself a mummy/skeleton-only expy of Egypt.

Tactics

The tactics are current as of version .205.1

Army Rules

Resurrected An additional characteristic on all of your unit profiles. Shortened Rsr, determines how many health points are raised with the H spell.

Autonomous Undead units that are entirely autonomous may march normally wherever they are.

Dust to Dust When your Hierophant is removed, every unit in your army with Dust to Dust must make a discipline test and lose HP based on how much they failed by. You can nominate any wizard model to be the new Hierophant, but every turn you don't have one your army continues to crumble.

Ensouled Statue Model has undead, dust to dust, and takes reduced damage from unstable and dust to dust. Exists to differentiate between your stoned buddies and your skeleton normies.

Hierophant one of a kind. Your army must include a Hierophant. When the Hierophant casts the H spell they may have it effect any unit within 18" instead of the normal restrictions.

Underground Ambush The model follows the rules for ambush, but instead of from the board edge you place them anywhere on the table. Has a chance to get moved randomly, if that random movement puts them close to terrain or another unit, they may lose some models.

Undying Will Units with one or more models with Undying Will gain +2 offensive and defensive skill, Lethal Strike, and replace their aim with (4+). Characters, beasts, ensouled statues, and harnessed models are not affected.

Mummy's Curse When this model is removed as a casualty, the model that removed it takes 1 hit with str 6 AP 10.

Armory

Aspen Bow It's a normal bow that always hits on it's unmodified aim. Means your trash skeles can hit things better but limits buffs to shooting.

Great Aspen Bow Same as above but str 5 AP 2.

Hereditary Spell

Death is Only the Beginning This spell isn't its own spell, instead DiOtB is an attribute spell that is cast with any augment spell any Death Cult Hierarch casts. The affected unit raises health points equal to its resurrected characteristic. Characters and Models with towering presence are capped at 2 HP per phase.

Monarchs of Undeath

These are large scale options to change how your Undying Dynasties army plays. Changes to specific units are listed in their entries while the big changes are listed here. You are required to take a Pharaoh general to take these.

Commander of the Terracotta Army Your army gains increased resilience and ensouled statue, but at the cost of reduced resurrection values and being unable to use underground ambush.

Lord of the Barrow Legion Your skelingtons gain heavy armor and killier weapons and your scarabs are scary, but you can't take any of your big scary monsters or use underground ambush.

Unit Analysis

Characters

Pharaoh Great weapon skill, above average HP, good strength and high Resilience, packaged in with Undying Will and Fearless. What's not to like? Well he has flammable and lackluster weapon and mount options. You will be using his special equipment to not just keep him alive, but to kill things as well. Be careful where you put him, you'll be putting 400+ points into him.

• Terracotta: +1 res -1 agi for 15 points.

Nomarch Baby Pharoah. Less than half the cost of a big Pharaoh. You're taking him to buff units with Undying Will.

• Terracotta: +1 res -1 agi for 15 points.

Death Cult Hierarch Your wizard option, and the cheapest of the bunch. You'll be taking at least one so you have a Hierophant, but 2 or 3 won't hurt and their path options are very flexible.

• Terracotta: +1 res -1 agi for 15 points.

Casket of Phatep not a character, but here it is. Functions as a specialized wizard that screws with enemy wizards and can chunk enemy units if your opponent doesn't blow dispell dice on it.

• Terracotta: +1 res -1 agi for 15 points.

Tomb Harbinger Your BSB and duel monster. They have Lethal Strike and Poisoned attacks, pump up their attacks and they can be scary to fight. Use them as a force multiplier if you have spare points.

• Terracotta: +1 res -1 agi for 15 points.

Tomb Architect If you have a lot of stone guys, take at least one of these. They give a unit of statues Fortitude (5+), making them more tanky in an already very tanky army.

• Terracotta: +1 res -1 agi for 15 points.

Character Mounts

Skeletal Horse Same stats as a core skeleton but faster. Only really useful if you're running an all cavalry list or if you need some extra speed on you Hierarch.

Skeleton Chariot For 20 points more than a horse you get two horses and impact hits. Be sure to have a unit of chariots to party with so your character doesn't get sniped out, but a pretty good fast option.

Amuut Big rock snake. Slightly slower than a horse, but you're taking it for the 3 poisoned attacks. Only available for a Harbinger or Architect.

• Barrow Legion: cannot be taken.

Ark of Ages Available for your Hierarchs, makes them tankier and buffs their range.

• Terracotta: does not gain the +1 res.

Sha Guardian Take your favorite king, now put them on a giant stone bone kitty and it's party time. Not only do they have incredible armor, resilience, and take half hits from multiple wounds, but they also chunk out 4 attacks with lethal strike and poisoned attacks. Will cost you the about the same as a pharaoh.

• Terracotta: does not gain the +1 res.

• Barrow Legion: cannot be taken.

Core

Skeletons garbage little guys, but a decent armor save and your resurrections will keep them going. They are very cheap, and Undying Will makes them better than a lot of core options.

• Terracotta: +1 res -1 agi for 2 points/model.

• Barrow Legion: must take heavy armor 1 point/model. May replace shields with halberds for 1 point/model.

Skeleton Cavalry about the same stats as a skeleton on a faster skeleton. Use it how you would shock cavalry, but rely on magic instead of their armor.

• Terracotta: +1 res -1 agi for 2 points/model.

• Barrow Legion: may take lances for 2 points/model. May gain +1 armor at the cost of -1 adv -2 march and 3 points/model.

Skeleton Charioteers take two skeletons, have them ride two fast skeletons and give them impact hits. Pretty strong for their price and have options for range and deal great damage on the charge. Have fun hording them up.

• Terracotta: +1 res -1 agi for 15 points/model, max unit size of 6.

• Barrow Legion: may replace halberds with lances for 3 points/model.

Core + Ancient Ordinance

Skeleton Archers throw enough shit at a wall and some will stick. If you're taking them, go for sheer volume of fire.

• Terracotta: +1 res -1 agi for 1 point/model.

• Barrow Legion: must take heavy armor for 1 point/model.

Skeleton Scouts avoidance cavalry. Abuse their aspen bows to get the most out of their movement.

• Terracotta: +1 res -1 agi for 1 point/model.

Ancient Ordinance

Shabti Archers Great Aspen Bows are nothing to sneeze at but Aim (5+) is. Statistically you can put a str 5 hit on any unit within 36" for every 3, but the price and the lack of buffs makes them a niche choice.

Sand Stalkers Weird medusas that can throw out a lot of shots at short range, but wounds based on Agility. Depends on who you're fighting, but it can do work.

Charnel Catapult Can fire as a normal catapult with good strength, or as a weak catapult that forces panic checks. A flexible warmachine but suffers from aim (5+). Being normal undead, the catapult can benefit from Undying Will.

• Terracotta: +1 res -1 agi for 10 points.

Special

Necropolis Guard Slightly better skeletons with Bodyguard (any character), Lethal Strike, and Poisoned attacks. You will be giving them a shield or paired weapons depending on what you want to do with them. Paired weapons are usually better than halberds because of their special rules, more attacks will generate more 6s, meaning more kills.

• Terracotta: +1 res -1 agi for 6 points/model, max unit size of 30.

• Barrow Legion: must take heavy armor for 2 points/model, max unit size of 35.

Tomb Cataphracts Your monstrous cavalry and hot damn are they good. 3 HP each, 3+ armor, and 5 attacks. Well worth the 100 points a model. They can additionally be upgraded with Underground ambush, making them extra scary.

• Barrow Legion: cannot be taken.

Shabtis Your troll expy. 70 points each doesn't look bad, but you will be giving them a weapon if you want them to actually kill things. Shabtis are your source of high strength attacks, but in an army with plentiful access to poisoned attacks and lethal strike, they tend to be overshadowed by necropolis guard. The main benefit of shabtis is they have smaller unit footprints and can be more maneuverable than your hordes of infantry.

Great Vultures Some little flying annoyances. They have no defenses to speak of and a decent amount of meh attacks. If you're taking them, it's going to be as chaff for your big hitters.

• Terracotta: may not be taken.

Scarab Swarms Each base gets 5 attacks with poison and can make full supporting attacks. You can get 30 attacks out of a max sized unit. They can hold their own with distracting and large health pool, but their low resilience and lack of any saves will ensure they get destroyed if unsupported.

• Terracotta: may not be taken.

• Barrow Legion: must be made kickass for 28 points/model, max 4 models per unit, max 7 models per army. Gains Aegis (5+, 3+ vs non-magical attacks), ghost step, and magical attacks, but reduces their resurrected value to 1.

Mason's Menagerie

Battle Sphinx Chunks out 12 attacks on a charge. Now add a breath weapon, Res 8 and a 4+ save. Your opponent will have to focus hard on each sphinx to take it down.

• Barrow Legion: cannot be taken.

Dread Sphinx A sphinx that said screw you to all the little guys on top and opted to take a giant axe on its own into battle. It does nutty damage to other monsters, but you have better tools to do that with.

• Barrow Legion: cannot be taken.

Tomb Reapers They are in a weird spot, they fill the same roll as Tomb Cataphracts but are more expensive and have worse defenses.

• Terracotta: may not be taken.

Colossus Our giant is better. Don't bother with the Giant Aspen Bow, it will only hit 2 times in a game if you're lucky and you have better shooting elsewhere in your army anyways. The Scales of Destiny are a handy way of getting some spells into your opponents face on an incredibly tanky chassis.

• Barrow Legion: cannot be taken.

Entombed

Sand Scorpion A pretty cheap scary monster that can surprise onto the board anywhere. They will make their points back wherever they pop in.

In addition to scorpion, the Entombed category also includes all units with Underground Ambush, meaning you can't have all of your army pop onto the board turn 2.

Magic Items

Weapon Enchantments

Godslayer Great weapons only, makes it awesome. The model gains +1 attack, Divine attacks, Magical attacks, and Multiple wounds (2 vs Aegis). Note that the multiple wounds apply to conditional aegis saves, even if they don't protect against this weapon. Have fun making your WDG opponent cry.

Scourge of Kings hand weapons or paired weapons only. The attack value is set to 6 and reroll failed wound rolls in a duel. Handy for your harbinger to make use of his poison and lethal strikes.

Armor Enchantments

Jackal's Blessing +2 hp and Fortitude (5+). Great. A meh armor save doesn't matter too much when your characters have 5 to 6 hp.

Sun's Embrace shield only. The wielder gains distracting. Again, your characters already have great resilience and an easy means of regaining wounds. A 4+ armor save and penalty to be hit is all you'll need.

Banner Enchantments

Banner of the Entombed Core and BSB only, max 2 per army. Now your skelingtons can be anywhere! You can't increase the unit size, but that shouldn't matter to much. You're putting a decent chunk of troops on the enemy wizard. A BSB that takes this banner only affects themselves, so if you need your bsb with your army, don't bother.

Artefacts

Sacred Hourglass the bearer may reroll failed casting attempts, but only if the casting attempt was made with 2 dice. One of the best spellcasting items in the game. Your wizard now gets multiple attempts at spamming, making your magic phases go a long way.

Crown of the Pharaohs Increase the bearer's commanding presence by 6". At the start of each turn your pharaoh or nomarch can apply its Undying Will to any unit within 12" instead of the unit it is in. Now multiple units of infantry is scary as your opponent has no good options of who to fight.

Book of the Dead The bearer can cast Death is Only the Beginning as a bound spell in a 12" aura. Hot damn. Be careful of your opponent dispelling it, but in the right place this will do work.

Steeds of Nephet-Ra Models on skeletal horses or chariots only. The bearer's unit gains ghost step and +4 march. Your scary chariot horde just got a lot faster.

Blessed Wrappings +1 hp and loses flammable (does not prevent model from gaining flammable from other sources). Combine with Jackal's Blessing to get 7 HP chariots on the field.

Sekhem Sceptre Gives the bearer autonomous and stubborn. Put it on your Hierarch or Architect that will be far from your general so they can actually move around on their own.

Ankh of Naptesh The bearer gains Hierophant and the bearer's unit gains Fortitude (6+). Drop it in your skele horde to make them more durable, but be aware that if the bearer dies you just lost your Hierophant no matter what the character was and dust to dust will fuck you. Always have a backup wizard.

Sandstorm Cloak Models on foot only. The bearer gains Fly (5", 15"), light troops, swiftstride, and a Sweeping Attack with a lot of hits but low strength.

Death Mask of Teput Enemy units in base contact with the bearer suffer -2 offensive skill, usually maths out to a -1 to hit. Again, penalties to be hit will make your army more survivable.

Scroll of Desiccation After choosing sides, pick one terrain feature on the table and delete it. The terrain there becomes just dangerous terrain (1), but only to enemies.