Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Death/Ossiarch Bonereapers

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Grand Alliance Death

Ossiarch Bonereapers

The Skeleton War is upon us! We ride against the fuckboys!

Lore
Tactics
General Tactics

Nagash has got a bone to pick with the Mortal Realms!

Special PSA: Do not just write info that is on the unit's datasheet. Doing that is not helpful in any way, since the person reading it can just read the datasheet linked within the unit's name. If you want to mention something in the datasheet, work it into genuine advice. Example: don't say "Precision aspect gives you extra rend and damage", say instead "Precision aspect is typically the best of the four aspects because extra rend and damage outshine the re-rolls, and they work best on the spirit blades because they'll give you more overall damage output compared to the falchions". If all you have to offer is just copy-pasted info, then you can help the page by not writing anything at all.

Why play Ossiarch Bonereapers?

Pros

  • They're SPOOKY SCARY SKELETONS!
  • These guys have default, army-wide immunity to Battleshock, baby!
  • They're durable, even for undead. On top of tough, well-armored troops they don't rely on heroes for 6+ Deathless saves. Especially if you use the Petrifex Elite Legion.
  • Relentless Discipline Points can be used instead of Command Points. That means things that screw with CP won't work on them, and you have mechanics to gain RDP throughout the game. Despite this, they still benefit from Command Abilities.
  • Re-rolls out the ass, especially for the Necropolis Stalkers.
  • A few pleasant reminders of Nehekhara for you Tomb Kings fans, such as a vulture being called a Carrion and war machine that hurls flaming skulls.
  • They collect protection payments of bone like a skeletal version of the Mafia.
  • Part of the reason for their existence is to troll Sigmarines.
  • Nagash, bro-tier mini-Nagash and the Morghasts are officially part of the army roster.
  • You can heal every unit or character, self-heals are a thing and they're not spells so your opponents can't block it.
  • If you like bone puns...

Cons

  • Most of your army is slow, with a few exceptions. There are a few abilities to mitigate this.
  • No allies; their foreign policy makes the Daughters of Khaine look like the Stormcast Eternals.
  • Apart from the Mortek Guard, when you bring 5 guys, almost everybody else brings 10. So if your opponent is on a objective you need to smash him in the knee caps can't smash knee caps, you need them for the tithe... just cut their legs out from under them.
  • Some of the models look a bit cheesy or weird depending who you ask, especially Katakros' model (seriously, a bone bulge?)
  • Hope you like bone puns...

Allegiance Abilities

Battle Traits

  • Ranks Unbroken by Dissent: Do not take battleshock tests for friendly OSSIARCH BONEREAPER units. Yes, you read that right, immunity to Battleshock. Your enemy's only options are killing, flee or be killed. In addition, you do not generate Command Points. Instead, you generate Relentless Discipline Points at the start of each battle round.
    • EACH Ossiarch Bonereapers Hero - 1
    • EACH Wascroll Battalion - 1
    • EACH Friendly LIEGE - 1
    • If KATAKROS is the general and on the battlefield - 3
    • Roll a die for each UNIT with the OSSIARCH BONEREAPERS keyword, including the previous HEROES. On a 6, you get 1.
  • Deathless Warriors: It's Deathless Minions from Legions of Nagash, albeit with a rename. It allows you to ignore wounds and mortal wounds on a 6+. However, you'll be able to get more mileage out of it than other Death armies, as anything with 6" of someone with the HEKATOS keyword (i.e: the unit leaders for your Mortek Guard and Kavalos Deathriders, and the elite bone warriors) count for the ability, removing the need to have your Heroes babysitting your important units.
  • Unstoppable Advance (CA): In Movement Phase. Pick 1 unit within X" of a hero or hekatos. +3" movement. It can still run OR charge. You cannot pick the same unit more than once per phase.

Command Traits

Artefacts

Spell Lore

  • Arcane Command: CV5. Gain D3 Relentless Discipline Points. Nice if you've got an extra spell, or had some bad luck with your rolls.
  • Empower Nadirite Weapons: CV5. Pick 1 BONEREAPERS unit wholly within 24" and visible. Until the start of your next hero phase, the units Nadirite Weapons ability explodes on a 5+ instead of 6, or 4+ if its a DEATHRIDERS attacking with spears after charging.
  • Protection of Nagash: CV6. 5+ FNP for the caster. If any wounds get through your FNP, and the caster isn't slain, remove them from the battlefield after all wounds have been allocated, and place them anywhere on the board 9" away from enemy models then dispel this spell. Great for getting important casters out of sticky situations, or absolutely hilarious on Nagash if you wanna fuck with your opponent.
  • Reinforce Battle-shields: CV6. Pick 1 BONEREAPERS unit armed with Shields or Nadirite Battle-shields wholly within 24" and visible. Until the start of your next hero phase, they gain a 5+ FNP. Pair this with a gothizzar harvester, the reroll saves command ability and the fossil legion for some truly unkillable troops.
  • Drain Vitality: CV6. Pick 1 enemy unit within 18" and visible. Until your next hero phase, reroll unmodified hit and save rolls of 6 made by that unit. Good for blunting a spooky unit's charge, but less useful than the other options available.
  • Mortal Contract: CV7. Pick 1 enemy unit within 18" and visible. For the rest of the BATTLE, roll a die at the end of any phase that the unit dealt damage to a friendly BONEREAPERS unit. On 3+, the cursed unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. Lawdy, this is probably the most obnoxious spell we can sling, if you can remember who you marked the entire game. Great into low unit-count armies.

Endless Spells

An important distinction to note between these Endless Spells and others that exist is that the ones presented below have the Soul-Linked ability, meaning they always move before Endless Spells without the Soul-Linked ability and are controlled by the casting Player only, meaning your opponent cannot control these Endless Spells to mess with your plans. However on the flip side, the Wizard who cast the spell has a -1 to his casting rolls while the endless spell is up, and if he should die then the spell is also dispelled, so keep him alive if you want the spells to last.

  • Bone-tithe Shrieker: Gives -1 bravery, and +1 to be hit to enemy units within 12" of it. Simple, but effective. Place it just in front of your battle line to make the enemy think twice, or use it to make holding an objective less than desirable.
  • Soulstealer Carrion: Gives LOS to the Soul-Linked wizard. You won't be taking it for this. Instead, you'll be taking it for it's actual ability: Soul Thief. Roll a D6 at the end of each Phase if any Chaos, Order, or Destruction models were slain within 6" of it. On a 1 or 2, the Wizard this Endless Spell is Soul-Linked with heals a wound. On a 3 or 4, it does 1 Mortal Wound on each Chaos, Destruction or Order unit within 6" of it, and on a 5-6, it does both effects. AMAZINGLY fun, if you're not playing into death, so do with that as you will.
  • The Nightmare Predator: You standard causes Mortal Wounds Endless Spell (dealing D3 Mortal Wounds to all non-bonecasts within 3" of it), but with a twist - when cast, pick an enemy Hero to be marked as it's prey. If this spell gets within range of them, it spits out d6 mortal wounds instead. For it's dirt cheap point cost, this is almost auto-include.

Famous Legions

Mortis Praetorians

  • Battle Traits:-1 bravery to nearby enemy units.
  • Command Trait:
  • Command Ability 1: One unit charged by an enemy unit can re-roll hits against them that turn.
  • Artefact of Power:

The poster boys, the jack-of-all-trades and the best choice if you’re bringing Katakros, otherwise it's quite situational since other death armies do "fear-bomb" better (looking at you, Legions of Grief and Blood).

Petrifex Elite

  • Battle Traits: Add +1 to their saves.
  • Command Trait: +2 Wounds.
  • Command Ability: In the combat phase, give a unit +1 rend on one weapon, can't stack.
  • Artefact of Power: Godbone Armor: The first wound allocated to the bearer in each phase is negated.

The tanky choice, the best all-rounder and arguably IS the best overall. Makes your entire army (including Nagash) stupidly tanky, gives your commander a few extra wounds for a chuckle, lets you put some durability on a caster via the relic, AND comes with a command ability that makes you killy, just to throw your opponent for a loop.

Null Myriad

The magic choice. Their innate rules mean you can focus more on offensive magic, and the Artefact is perfect for any combat character. Competes with the Petrifex Elite for the best default choice. If your meta is very magic heavy, this choice is clear (hint: it's probably still petrifex)

Ivory Host

  • Battle Traits: If a unit has suffered wounds or a friendly IVORY HOST unit within 6" (not wholly within, just within) has suffered wounds, get +1 to hit, but -1 save.
  • Command Trait: Every hero phase your general gains an attack on his weapon on a 5+.
  • Command Ability: Cancel the -1 save from the battle trait. This is what makes the Ivory host interesting, letting you pull some shenanigans with a screen unit or pulling some clutch damage out at a vital time.
  • Artefact of Power:

Stalliarch Lords

  • Battle Traits: Run and charge. Pretty good for increasing your threat range on a slow army.
  • Command Trait:
  • Command Ability: Retreat and charge in the same turn. Good for repositioning or getting your charge bonuses again. Here's looking at you, Deathriders.
  • Artefact of Power:

The trolling choice, just like their lore. Do you wanna go fast? Do you want a liege or Zandtos to run fast next to fast cavalry? Then go these guys. They let you skimp out of the costly battalion with their inherent command ability, and make your already fast cavalry even faster. They even pair well with Stalkers or Harvesters, to just really irritate your opponent.

Crematorians

  • Battle Traits: When a model dies you get a chance to cause MW to an enemy within 3" on a 5+, with monsters and characters adding 1 to their roll/going off on a 4+.
  • Command Trait:
  • Command Ability: One friendly CREMATORIANS unit with 6" of a Hekatros or 12" of a hero ignores cover saves.
  • Artefact of Power:

the TRUE trolling choice. Paired with some revives and harvesters, and laugh as your opponent realizes that killing your models meant their guys died and then revived the dudes they just tried to kill

Warscrolls

The common keywords of these warscrolls are: DEATH, OSSIARCH BONEREAPERS

Leaders

Named Leaders

  • Orpheon Katakros, Mortarch of the Necropolis: (500pts) Like Skarbrand, his attacks get stronger the more wounds he takes. Katakros himself has Rend and Damage 3 and he can bop foes with his shield to dole out Mortal Wounds, so he can dish out some hurt in combat, but not until he's taken some wounds representing his companions dying so Katakros himself joins the fray. Being one of the slowest characters in the game - 4" move and can't fly - and with no healing abilities himself, he hate cannons even more than his boss so engage shooty armies at your own risk. He's pricey in points and cash, but you get what you pay for - no more no less - as he's a good beatstick and support character.
  • Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead: (880pts) Changed from his early forms, Nagash is now 30 points more expensive, and no longer loots the spells from all of his Death-based allies. Instead, he can now restore wounds/models to 5 of his Bonecast Eternals, and can sling Mystic Shield and Arcane Bolt as much as his undead heart (and casting limit) desire.
  • Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament: (360pts) Much like Nagash, Arkhan is more expensive now, at a "whopping" 20 points more than before. With an extra cast and deny, and the ability to sling Arcane Bolt and Mystic Shield like his Boss, it sounds like that price increase came with some buffs. However, overall Arkhan's in a more disappointing place. Curse of Years no longer succeeds on 1s, meaning it's slightly more fair, and his command ability has no been limited to one use a turn, spoiling an awful lot of fun that could have been had.
  • Arch-Kavalos Patru Zandtos: (220pts) A named Mortis Praetorians Liego-Kavalos, with additional abilities like more damage on the charge, rerolls to wound, and another CA that grants a Praetorians the same reroll ability.
  • Vokmortion, Master of the Bone-tithe: (180pts) He is a Wizard that should be very close to the front lines. He has a chance to prevent a unit within 3" from attacking him on a 5+ as a defense. He also has a -1 to bravery and imposes a -1 to any Wizard attempting to unbind any spell he casts (which improves in that rare instance an enemy General dies near him). His Unique spell can instantly kill any model within 1" of him on a 5+, and the range on it cannot be modified, which can be used to punish any foolish combat heroes or big monsters he ends up fighting - though it is a bit unreliable to make him a dedicated assassin. Overall, he should be standing behind your troops, providing the debuff and using his 2 spells per turn.

Generic Leaders

  • Liege-Kavalos: (200pts) Your commander on a big-boned mount that guaranty a Relentless Discipline point. Lots of decent attacks, but nothing too nutty. When he charges he has an increased pile in and the ability to fling out some extra mortal wounds. His Command Ability gives a unit wholly within 12" +1 attack. He probably functions best running with some deathriders for a spoopy cavalry wing, though having him roam around your anvils can make for some good time damage output.
  • Mortisan Soulreaper: (120pts) Our CC battlemage, though with his weapon the most he'll be reaping is chaff mobs. His unique spell lets him smack one unit at range, or every unit in CC with him with a few mortal wounds. Probably our worst unit, as outside of his spell-slinging, he's basically a really expensive cairn wraith from nighthaunt. Look elsewhere, unless you really love his amazing model.
  • Mortisan Boneshaper: (130pts) Probably your most included HQ. With the ability to restore 3 wounds (or 3 wounds worth of boys) to a friendly squad and sling a few spells, he feels close to auto-include, especially if you left Nagash or Arkhan at home. His unique spell lets him fling the lucky mortal wound at every unit within 18", but it's overall lackluster. Keep him out of combat and out of LoS so he can spend your whole game building bonecasts in a dark corner away from anyone else.
  • Mortisan Soulmason: (140pts) The grand vizier will see you now. He's got a passable melee profile, but that's not why you take him. He's a wizard with 2 casts and unbinds and a unique spell, Soul-Guide, that gives a friendly Ossiarch Bonereapers unit the ability to reroll 1's to hit. Pretty good so far, but it gets better. At the end of your hero phase, roll a d6. On a 1, nothing happens. On a 2-5, he can attempt to cast Soul-Guide even if it was already attempted that turn. On a 6, he can attempt to cast Soul-Guide D3 more times instead. Basically, bring him when you're spamming catapults (or anything, really) and spread the re-rolling to hit love.

Battleline

  • Mortek Guard: (Battleline, 130/440pts, Min:10, Max:40) Your basic skellies are a decently-protected lot with a 4+ save. Their basic weapons are 2 attacks with -1 Rend sword or a spear, both can double the hits inflicted on a 6+ to hit. The greatblade, on the other hand, trades that for a slightly better wound score, which isn't remarkable but at least keeps the sword's Rend. Their slow speed is helped by their banner giving them +1 to runs and charges, and the +3" move order mentioned above.
    • Mortek Hekatos: This boy is a mini-HQ that gives to your Relentless Discipline pool and keys to a lot of other things. He's only got an attack more than the base guard, but he also confers a command ability that lets his pack re-roll all saves for the combat phase - much more valuable for their survival.
  • Kavalos Deathriders: (Battleline, 180/460pts, Min:5, Max:15) Your basic skellies, but on a horse! When compared to their foot-slogging brothers, these guys have +1 attack and 3 wounds each, the 2 extra pony swings we all know and love, and a whopping 12" move compared to the former's 4". Not only that, but their spears have exploding hits on a 5+ roll on the charge, giving you a bit more reason to consider selling the rend on your swords.
    • Mortek Hekatos: Much like the Mortek Guard, the Deathrider's hekatos has +1 attack with their weapon, but his command ability gives you some mortal wound output on the charge and a double-range pile in

Hekatos

  • Necropolis Stalkers: (200pts, Min:3, Max:6) Speedy, Re-rolling, tyranid warriors skeleton boys. Each turn, these massive lads pick whether they want to re-roll hits, wounds, saves, or add +1 to their weapons' Rend and Damage. While rerolling saves is nice when you get charged by something scary, you'll almost always use +1 rend and damage, as it turns your basic stalker into a stormcast blender, and your unit leader into a literal monster into an equally strong blender as the normal weapons, when enhanced with -1 rend and +1 dmg, are actually stronger than the special weapon, proven by Mathhammer. Their command ability that lets them re-roll run and charge rolls while also ignoring terrain as if they could fly.
  • Immortis Guard: (200pts, Min:3, Max:12)The Anvil to the stalker's hammer. These guys have a lower damage output, with 2 3+/3+/-2/2 damage (though the base rend 2 is nice), and the ability to bop someone with their shields for a bit of extra damage, with the occasional mortal wound when rolling a 6. Their main draw, however, is their base 3+ save and bodyguard ability. Whenever they're within 3" of a friendly hero, on a 2+ they can eat a wound or mortal wound that would have been applied to said hero. Their command ability lets them immediately pile in and swing again after their first go, but only with their shields. Less than impressive, but nice for positioning.
  • Morghasts Archai & Harbingers: (210pts, Min:2, Max:6) Nagash's angels of death come in 2 flavors, with the archai having a chance to shrug off mortal wounds, and harbingers getting a 3d6 charge. Beyond those differences either one is monstrous combatants (always take the halberd for 3 attacks at 3+/3+/-2/3), and tough to boot, with 6 wounds 4+ armor and being Hekatos for the death save. They also have a bravery debuff as a bonus. It's worth noting that they are more expensive in a bonereaper army, but that may change in either direction depending on the next general's handbook, or some early FAQing.

Behemoths

  • Gothizzar Harvester: (200pts, Behemoth) Big guy has 10 wounds and a 4+ save. Has good damage potential with 4 solid ranged attacks and a BUNCH of 2 damage melee swings, with a choice between bludgeons or sickles. These weapons have the exact same melee stats, but different effects. Bludgeons do 2 mortal wounds on unmodified hits of 6 instead of normal damage, basically giving the guy a Nighthaunt's frightful touch. The sickles get +1 to hit against units with 5+ models. More importantly than that, this guy is a healer. Each time any models (friend or foe) die within 3" of him, he can heal an Ossiarch Bonereaper unit within 6" on a 4+. The heals he gives depends on the wounds characteristic of the model slain. It's worth noting he can do this to himself, making his relatively fragile 10 wounds and 4+ save last a little longer.
    • For the Crematorians, this guy makes the list even more trollish. Camp him by your Mortek Guard, and when they die and cause mortal wounds, he can heal them right back up. Free mortal wounds, anyone?
  • Mortek Crawler: (200pts, Artillery, Behemoth) The most trolltastic catapult in all of AoS. With a nice 36" range and solid durability, it starts as a remarkably strong springboard for the absolute terror of its ammo types. Once per battle, you can fire a different choice of ammo from two different options and their effects are trolltastically memeable.
    • Necrotic Skulls: Your normal shots. You're getting a pretty hefty 3 2+/3+/-/variable shots that start at 5 damage, and dips down to 1 as the model takes damage. Good as a general all-rounder, but pales in comparison to what follows.
    • Cauldron of Torment: the first of the meme shots. Instead of firing like normal, you roll a dice for every model in the target unit, and whenever you meet or beat their UNMODIFIED leadership, the unit takes a mortal wound. "But Anon," you reply, "lots of units have high leadership! That's not good," To which I say, sure, you're right. this isn't good against undead, Stormcast, or Chaos, but do you know what it IS good against? grots, where you wipe half of whatever squad you fire at. or freeguild, where you gun down a third of whatever unit you want in a ghostly fog. And we're STILL not done with this bad boy.
    • Cursed Stele: Does your local meta not really do hordes? Or do they just love low model-count armies with high leadership? Well, have I got a unit for you! Instead of shooting normally, pick a model within range (so, characters, banners, unit leaders, etc.) and roll 2d6. If you roll equal to or higher than their wound stat, the guy dies (with some modifiers, starting at -3 to your roll, slowly turning to +3 as you lose wounds). This right here is disgusting. With an average roll of 4, you kill support heroes about 60% of the time or get to guaranteed snipe off important banners or unit champions whenever you're feeling cheeky. Did that daemon prince swoop in and drop you to 1 wound? Wouldn't it be great if his failure meant your average roll is now a 10 and insta-gibs the winged fuck?

Scenery

  • Bone-tithe Nexus: Your mandatory accompanying setpiece is a giant monolith surrounded by bones upon bones. A Sentry that each turn it can throw out one of four Judgements that affect one enemy unit within varying ranges and dice rolls: -1 to hit, MW Sniping, causes problem for a wizard, or Can't run and only roll 1d6 for charges.

Battalions

Cohort 100

  • The Super Battalion.

Aegis Immortal 80 1 Archai, 2 Immortis. The ARCHAI from this battalion has the SOULBOUND PROTECTORS ability from the Immortis Guard warscroll. In addition, if you use the SOULBOUND PROTECTORS and the roll is a 5+, the wound/MW is negated instead of allocated to a unit from this battalion.

Katakrosian Deathglaive 80 2 Stalkers, 1 Morghast Harbinger After units are set up but before the first battleround, if all units from the btn are WHOLLY WITHIN 12" of the Harbingers, you can move any of them up to 6"

Kavalos Lance 120 Arch-Kavalos OR 1 Liege-Kavalos, 2 Kavalos Deathriders. Units from this battalion can retreat and charge if wholly within 12" of the Liege when the charge roll is made. In addition, once per turn, you can use the Deathrider Wedge CA for a unit from this battalion without spending RDP.

Mortek Ballistari 100 1 Boneshaper, 1 Mortek Guard, 2 Crawlers. Roll a die before you allocate a wound/MW to a Crawler from this btn while it is within 3" of the Mortek Guard unit from the same btn. Add 2 if the Crawler is within 3" of the Boneshaper from the same btn. On a 4+, it is instead allocated to the GUARD instead of the CRAWLER.

Mortek Shield-corps 120 Volkmortian, 1 Boneshaper, 1 Soulreaper OR 1 Soulmason, and 3 Mortek Guard. Once per turn, you can use Shieldwall for one unit in the battalion without spending RDP.

Mortisan Trident 110 1 Boneshaper, 1 Soulreaper, 1 Soulmason, 1 Harvester. EACH Mortisan from this battalion can attempt to cast 1 extra spell if WITHIN 18" of the harvester AND the harvester is within 3" of any enemy units.

Volkmortian’s Retinue Open Play Volkmortian, 1 Mortek Guard, 1 Stalker, and 1 Archai. The exclusive battalion from Feast of Bones. At the start of your hero phase, you can return 1 slain model to a unit within 8 inches of Morty.

Army Building

Tactics

Mr. Arkhan’s Wild Ride

Take Arkhan the Black as your general, along with two Gothizzar Harvesters and a buttload of Mortek Guard. Finally put them all under the Crematorians legion. Your boney boys will proceed to explode in the faces of the enemy and then be brought back to un-life from the ashes thanks to the Mortarch and Harvesters’ restoration abilities. Is this trolling? Yes. Is it fun? Oh yes.

Trolling with Catapults

Take a Soulmason as your general and put him in a massive blob of 60 Mortek Guard with 4 Mortek Crawlers behind. With some amazing dice rolls the Soulmason can give all 4 Crawlers rerollable hits of 1. The Guard can block any incoming attackers whilst the catapults bombard your enemies from across the table. Even if your skellie dudes are taken out and the enemy damages your Centipedes of Doom it just means that their characters are more likely to be decimated by the most trolling shot in AoS, the Cursed Stele. So just sit back, relax and watch your enemies die before they even reach you.

Allied Armies

No Allies

Mercenary Companies

It's worth noting that if you ever include Arkhan or Nagash in your list, you're locked out of Mercenaries. However, we dodge the command point punishment, but because we're so expensive it'll be hard to fit much. Try to use these guys to squeeze in some cheap screen or synergies into your army.

  • Blacksmoke Battery: our catapults to it better
  • Greyfyrd:
  • Grugg Brothers: far to costly for not enough gain IMO. If our stuff was cheaper, it'd be a maybe.
  • Gutstuffers: Could be cute with the new ogor rules making maneaters and firebellys both way better, but you bump into the cost problem again
  • Nimyard’s Rough-Riders:
  • Order of the Blood-Drenched Rose: Lore shenanigans aside, this could have been amazing, if only for the Vampire lord. While blood knights aren't too amazing in the list, the ability to spend a command point to chuck an extra, EXTRA attack onto a death unit could have been great! If only we had command points
  • Rampagers:
  • Skroug’s Menagerie:
  • Sons of the Lichemaster: The funniest option. Bring your necromancer and 3 squads of skeletons to have some baby skeletons take bullets (read charges) for your big-boy skeletons.
  • Tenebrous Court: Probably your best choice for some speedy screen, could lead to some interesting combinations. Since we don't have command points, we are stuck with Courtiers to bring serfs back to full strength.


Age of Sigmar Tactics Articles
General Tactics
Order
Chaos
Death
Destruction
Others
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