Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Old/Death/Deathlords
Why Play Deathlords?
Because aside from having some of the coolest models in the entire game, if not THE coolest, you don't feel like sucking Space Jesus' golden cock and playing Sigmarines like 85% of the rest of the Age of Sigmar community. Full disclaimer: you are opting to play one of the most overlooked and underwhelming armies in the game, don't expect to win very many
Pros
- Like stated above, you have objectively the most fucking amazing models in the game at your disposal
- With the release of the General's Handbook 2017, Deathlords can now ally in ANY of the other Death sub-factions and every single model will still benefit from the Deathless Minions Allegiance ability. This is unique to Deathlords, as all other sub-factions require specific keywords for their Deathless Minions to function.
- Your faction leader is Nagash, who is probably the most evil badass this side of the Space Mississipi
- Strong Magic potential from all four heroes
- Powerful named heroes to lead your pimp slapping express train to hell
- Exceptionally strong battleline units with blenders for hands
- FUCK TERRAIN YOUR ENTIRE ARMY CAN FLY
- Your slowest models still move 9"
- You are the edgiest edgelord to ever have edged
- General's Handbook 2 gave some much needed points reductions to your army as well as the ability to Ally in other Death units.
Cons
- GW hates everything remotely resembling Death.
- No battletome, so you are already at a disadvantage when playing against the horde of Sigmarine players
- No Battalions supported in Matched Play
- All of your units cost more than your grand mammy's fine china, both in Points and real money
- All named heroes means no Warlord Traits or Artefacts can be taken by your army
- You have only two troop choices available to you, which are variations of eachother
- All of the Mortarchs' models are just variations of the same mount with different riders
- Alot of summoning bonuses are available, but summoning took an even bigger nerf with the addition of Allies.
- Absolutely zero ranged attacks, minus Nagash who literally murders people by staring at them a little bit in the shooting phase
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: Has Behemoth status. Absolute and undeniable overkill in all but the biggest games (only ones in which he can be deployed since he costs 800 FUCKING POINTS.). 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: Just like Nagash, Manfred has Behemoth status. This beauty sits on top of the Mortarchs point pyramid at 420pt. 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 (gains +1 to cast/unbind if his sword kills something) 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: As all of the Mortarchs are, she's classified as Behemoth. Mid ranged at 400pt. 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: Surprise! Behemoth. The cheapest of the Mortarchs at 320pt. His staff gives him boosts when casting and unbinding spells (starting with a +2 on each when he has 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 220pt. 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. Cannot be used in Matched Play, as there is not points profile associated with this formation.
Arkhan's Skeleton Guard
Found in the Start Collecting! Skeleton Horde box. - This will only cost you around 600pts to field the units required, 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 extended Allied armies. It should be noted that in Matched play, Start Collecting! exclusive warscrolls are not allowed to be used in Matched Play as they do not currently have point values assigned to them.
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)
Blade of the Blood Queen
Added in the new Battleforce Blade of the Blood Queen box. - min. 900pts. Neferata, Mortarch of Blood, 1 or more units of Morghast Archai, 1 Wight King with Baleful Tomb Blade, 1 or more units of skeleton Warriors, 1 or more units of Grave Guard
The Eyes of Nagash: If Neferata is within 6" of any of the Archai units in the battalion, add 1 to her personal weapon attacks (Akmet-har and Aken-seth). Not a very impressive battalion, compared to the rest of the formations released with the other Battleforce boxes, and does not currently have a Matched Play profile (noticing a theme yet?)
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 440pt. forget also about using two Mortarchs. From this point on is pretty straightforward:
- Manfred and 4 Morghasts (any kind) with 140 points left.
- Neferata and 4 Morghasts (any kind) with 160 points left.
- Arkhan and 4 Morghasts (any kind) with 240 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 880 pt. for 8 Morghast (any kind). Nagash or all the 3 Mortarchs are almost mandatory.
- Core+Nagash is 1680pt. 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 2020pt. add another couple of Morghast and smile.
Allied Armies
Can't Touch this(2000pts)
Built around the -1 to hit auras of Neferata and the Mourngul, this list is surprisingly hilarious. Anything that both Neferata and the Mourngul get near will suffer -2 to hit, and since we are an all flying fast army we can typically run fools down and keep them nerfed where they belong. Keeping with the ghost theme, bring some Hexwraiths along to summon as well to tarpit/chase down Shooters and grab objectives. This list still lets you bring 8 Morghasts to blend anything and everything for maximum Deathlord fuckery.
- Neferata Mortarch Of Blood (400) (General)
- 2 x Morghast Archai (220) Deathlords Battleline
- 4 x Morghast Harbingers (440) Deathlords Battleline
- 2 x Morghast Archai (220) Deathlords Battleline
- 10 x Hexwraiths (320) Summoned/Reinforcement Points (if you cannot summon all 10 at once, then do two units of 5 over two turns)
- Mourngul (400) Allied into list, do not try and summon this thing.
- Total: 2000 / 2000
- Allies: 400 / 400
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