Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Old/Death/Deathlords

Warscrolls

The common keywords of these warscrolls are: DEATH and DEATHLORDS. As mentioned before, very nerfed. If you go head to head with any of the updated/added armies you will be swept aside uselessly. Pray to Nagash that GW starts loving you and updates your army..

Leaders

• Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead: This count also as Behemoth. Absolute and undeniable overkill in all but the biggest games (only ones in which he can be deployed since it costs 900pt.). You want specifics? Alright. He's got 16 Wounds at a 3+ save with an additional 4+ save against Mortal Wounds. He can also cast up to 8 spells, so upping that to 2+ with Mystic Shield is really simple (Putting him in terrain and casting mystic shield will give you a 2+ save with a +1 to save rolls. Effectively a 1+ save for extra lulz (terrain does not give MONSTERS cover). He also has a huge modifier to his casting rolls in case anyone wanted to unbind his spells or when you're attempting the tough stuff and when he summons stuff, he summons twice as much (eg. 2 Zombie Dragons, 2 Banshees, 40 Zombies instead of 20). He's got a strong shooting attack and two unique spells, one that inflicts damage off of Bravery and regenerates him by what the enemy lost and one that has a 50% chance (more if you're good at stage magic) of killing anything in one strike. He also has a powerful melee profile and a great Command Ability. Simply put, you play him, you win. This jerk is why most people house-rule summoning spells.

• Manfred, Mortarch of Night: This count also as Behemoth. This beauty sits on top of the Mortarchs point pyramid at 460pt. The close combat monster of the three, because Mannfred's already powerful melee profiles get added to the powerful profiles of the Dread Abyssal. Like all Mortarchs he heals 2 Wounds whenever he kills a model in combat, can cast twice though with no modifiers and gets a bonus to Hit and Wound with his sword if he successfully casts a spell. The Armour of Templehof also means a lot more on such a huge target like this. Also, the Vigour of Undeath ability that non-Mortarch Mannfred has gets buffed a lot by affecting ALL Death units in range instead of just one, though that range varies with his Wound count.

• Neferata, Mortarch of Blood: This count also as Behemoth. Mid ranged at 440pt. Not as powerful as Mannfred and not as casty as Arkhan but tricksier than both put together. Her Command Ability creates a huge bubble of -1 To Hit for enemy units, her personal attacks (so not the Abyssal) create new Vampire Lords if she kills Heroes with them and her dagger has a chance to auto-kill any model she wounded with it. Set her up at the head of your army for her Command Ability to affect as many enemies as possible.

• Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament: This count also as Behemoth. The cheapest of the Mortarchs at 340pt. His staff gives him boosts when casting and unbinding spells (starting with a +2 on each when he haves full health, then every 2 wounds he suffers the boosts decrease). He also regenerates 2 wounds at the end of the combat phase if he killed at least an enemy model and gets an additional +1 for casting summon spells. His Spectral Claws attacks deal mortal wounds if they roll a 6 to hit. He also gets a very ludicrous spell: you target a unit within 18" and roll 10d6. The unit suffers a number of mortal wounds equal to how many times you rolled a 6, then you roll a number of dice equal to the wounds you just inflicted, and this time they wound on a 5+, then again but on a 4+, and so on until you either fail every dice roll or you completely destroyed the unit, This spell can go either way but can effectivly wipe ANYTHING off the board once you have made it though the first few rolls.If it works.in an effort to avoid being 'That Guy' you could always adhere to the rule of 1 for rolls even when playing a vanilla game. . . . He also gets the spells from every Death wizard within 18", and his hero ability gives them +6" to the range of their spells.

Troops

All troops here cost 240pt. and are considered Battleline if the army has DEATHLORDS allegiance.

• Morghast Harbingers: These things have the works. High movement, lots of wounds and five attacks with two damage each. They also grant nearby Death Wizards +1 to summoning spells and have the same 3D6" charge range ability the Stormcast Prosecutors have. This ability, by the way, makes it way easier for the Harbingers to charge straight after being summoned, as those 10" are way more reachable with 3D6. The only reason not to use them is because the Archai also exist.

• Morghast Archai: Basically a Harbinger, but exchanging 5 attacks at -1 Rend and 2 damage for 3 attacks at -2 Rend and 3 damage and, more importantly, instead of 3D6" charge, they have a 5+ bonus save against mortal wounds, giving them a lot more staying power as everyone and their mom will be gunning for your Morghasts.
  • Both Morghast variants are Reanimants, meaning Tomb King's Liche Priest can use his spell with them, which can be useful sometimes. And remember they're neither Monsters nor Heroes, so they're good at protecting both types from these annoying anti-Monster and anti-Heroes units everybody gets.

Battalions

Neferata's Blood-Court

Found in The Balance of Power. - min. 1620pt., max. 2580pt. (still to add the vampire and the throne)

Neferata, Mortarch of Blood, a Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon, a Coven Throne and 2 units of Morghast Archai Neferata gains a reroll of her choice per turn, and can choose for either the vampire lord or the coven throne to fight harder that game. The archai prevent enemy units within their 3" control range from targeting Neferata with attacks.

Arkhan's Skeleton Guard

Found in the Start Collecting! Skeleton Horde box. - This will only cost you around 600pts to field, with the Battalion cost only 50pts and is somewhat lackluster and widely regarded as not worth the cost in a serious army. Not nearly as good as the Malignants Start Collecting! exlusive Battalion warscroll, you are better off just building entirely Deathlords or dropping the battalion and using that 50pts for summoning/more skeletons.

Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament, 1 unit of Black Knights, 1 unit of Skeleton Warriors. All units in this battalion gain the same bonus movement rule as from the Legion of the Dead, centered on Arkhan. The formation grants bonus movement for units near Arkhan (including Arkhan himself)

Army Building

A little disclaimer: you will mostly use this models as allies. If you still want to play with one of the most elite army in the game solo style, read on. Also If you want to have the DEATHLORDS allegiance, just forget about the spare points ore use them for summoning.

1000 pt.

At 1000 pt. forget about Nagash. Then, since you have a Battleline core tax of 480pt. forget also about using two Mortarchs. From this point on is pretty straightforward:

• Manfred and 4 Morghasts (any kind) with 60 points left.

• Neferata and 4 Morghasts (any kind) with 80 points left.

• Arkhan and 4 Morghasts (any kind) with 180 points left.

Pricewise you can have a good starting army at 156€ and 5 models. Buying the Start Collecting! Skeleton Horde box, with 3€ more you can also have 10 Skeleton Warriors and 5 Black Knights for summoning (80pt.+120pt.). Neat!

2000 pt.

2000 pt. is the right spot for this army. The core tax raises to 720pt. for 6 Morghasts (any kind); from there you have a big choice to make: Nagash or not Nagash?

• if you're taking it you have 380pt. left, so add Arkhan or 2 more Morghasts (any kind) and use the spare points (40 or 140) for summoning.
• alternatively you can add any mix of Mortarchs (even all 3 of them) and Morghasts you prefer (up to a maximum of 6 with the mandatory Mortarch).

Here the price tag with Nagash is between 273€ and 291€. Without him is between 336€ and 347€. For the sake of completeness if you're playing at 2000pt. you can buy all the models you can possibly use at 562€ (3580pt.) with 30 Skeleton Warriors and 15 Black Knights left (600pt.).

2500 pt.

Here the core tax is 960 pt. for 8 Morghast (any kind). Nagash or all the 3 Mortarchs are almost mandatory.

• Core+Nagash is 1860pt. and you can still add 4 Morghasts (160pt. left) or a Mortarch of choice (actually if you choose Arkhan you can add also 2 Morghast)
• Core+3 Mortarchs is 2200pt. add another couple of Morghast and smile.

Allied Armies

If you don't feel like getting fucked by almost every army in existence because you ran all Morghasts for an essentially meaningless DEATHLORDS allegiance, then you should try to mix up your ranks a bit. The army variations below all use Deathlord hero/leader units, and the Morghast Archai as well. The Archai can be switched out for Harbingers if you feel that your army does not have enough damage output, it is entirely up to you.

What you should also keep in mind as it is something that the Deathlords allegiance themselves may lack if you are bringing Harbingers instead of Archai is that Death armies excel at having many layers of saves that will require additional rolls. This is why we are bringing a Wight King with Infernal Standard with us in many of these builds, as it provides yet another safety net to surrounding troops. Skeleton Warriors are not the tastiest crayons in the box, but buffing the absolute shit out of them with Necromancer and Wight King flavours makes them a force to be reckoned with.

2000 pt.

2000 points is a pretty standard sized army, and is when you can really start to see the Mortarchs/Naggy shine in gameplay. As always whether or not to bring Nagash plays a large factor, as alone his big dead ass takes up half of your available points.

Variation A This setup should allow you to steadily push up the field at your enemy and still be able to take and defend gameplay objectives. Both Neferata and Mannfred excel at being in relative close quarters with their enemy, and taking either as your General will provide substantial bonuses to your melee freight train. This build leaves no room for summoning, and as Neferata's Vampire Lord summon is typically ruled as requiring points from your summoning pool you will not be using this passive effect EVER. Age of House Rules for the win.

• Neferata Mortarch Of Blood (440)

- General

• Mannfred Mortarch Of Night (460)

• 30 x Skeleton Warriors (240)

• 30 x Skeleton Warriors (240)

• 2 x Morghast Archai (240)

• 2 x Morghast Archai (240)

• 20 x Zombies (120)

• Total: 1980/2000

Variation B This variation is a very passive-aggressive build that depends on slowly advancing up the field and allowing your mages (primarily Arkhan's Curse of Years) to pick off bigger enemy units like Heroes/Leaders before turning on the rest of their army. It can be very risky against faster enemy armies and ranged units (like all DEATH armies), but definitely makes up for that with the extra attack that units of 20 Skeletons receive just for existing, and the buff from Necromancer's BEGUILE allowing you to add yet another extra attack to a unit of your choice in combat phase.

• Arkhan The Black Mortarch of Sacrament (340)

- General

• Mannfred Mortarch Of Night (460)
• Wight King WITH INFERNAL STANDARD (120)
• Necromancer on Nightmare (120)

• 20 x Skeleton Warriors (160)

• 20 x Skeleton Warriors (160)

• 20 x Skeleton Warriors (160)

• 2 x Morghast Archai (240)

• 2 x Morghast Archai (240)

• Total: 2000/2000

3000 pt.

At 3000 points it becomes much easier to take Nagash even though the boney bastard still takes up nearly a third of your points. We will want to keep these variations as Deathlordy as possible, seeing as this is the Deathlords page (no kidding), so taking Mortarchs with you is an absolute must, and Morghasts are always a welcome unit. We will be keeping the Necromancer and the Wight King to boost your skeleton horde's capabilities.

Variation A This setup is the Nagash variation of the 2000pt VARIATION B build. At this point you will drop Arkhan (I know, his Curse of Years is bonkers OP but we need to make some concessions) and bring Neferata in his stead. Neferata meshes well with Mannfred and both can handle being in close quarters with their Mr. Skeltals. The build is essentially the same as the one above, mostly just with the addition of Neferata and Nagash, though it is entirely viable to simply take all three Mortarchs without fielding Skeletor.

• Nagash Supreme Lord Of The Undead (900)
• Necromancer (120)
• Wight King with INFERNAL STANDARD (120)
• Mannfred Mortarch Of Night (460)
• Neferata Mortarch Of Blood (440)

• 30 x Skeleton Warriors (240)

• 20 x Skeleton Warriors (160)

• 10 x Skeleton Warriors (80)

• 2 x Morghast Archai (240)

• 2 x Morghast Archai (240)

Total: 3000/3000

Variation B This will drop Nagash from your army and field all three of the Mortarchs as well as the supporting Necromancer and Wight King with Infernal Standard. You will also be able to add more meat to your core by maxing out your skeletons and adding an additional Morghast Archai unit.

• Arkhan The Black Mortarch of Sacrament (340)
• Mannfred Mortarch Of Night (460)
• Neferata Mortarch Of Blood (440)
• Necromancer (120)
• Wight King with Infernal Standard (120)

• 30 x Skeleton Warriors (240)

• 30 x Skeleton Warriors (240)

• 20 x Skeleton Warriors (160)

• 20 x Skeleton Warriors (160)

• 2 x Morghast Archai (240)

• 2 x Morghast Archai (240)

• 2 x Morghast Archai (240)

Total: 3000/3000

External links

Rules are here

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Compendiums/warhammer-aos-vampire-counts-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-deathlords-nagash-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-deathlords-mannfred-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-deathlords-neferata-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-deathlords-arkhan-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-deathlords-morghastharbingers-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-deathlords-morghastarcai-en.pdf