Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Old/Death/Legions of Nagash

From 2d4chan
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article is a stub. You can help 1d4chan by expanding it
This page is in need of cleanup. Srsly. It's a fucking mess.

>

Legions of Nagash changes up the way death plays by removing magical summoning and banner regen for skellies and replaces then with hero based regen and grave sites. They also add several new allegiance abilities.

Why play Legions of Nagash?

Pros

  • SKELETONS! Hordes and hordes of skeletons endlessly marching out of the grave, also zombie and ghosts and all the creepy goodness!
  • A solid range of plastic miniatures and plenty of possibilities for conversion (looking at you triumvirate of Ynnead/vampires!)
  • More bodies with better durability for the cost than most and the ability to bring models back, when the stars line up you can end the game with net zero lost models.
  • You’ve got 4 legions to choose from as well as Death and Soulblight factions so you can test out a lot of stuff and play with lots of variations on a theme.
  • Did you play Orks in 40k? Would you like to throw a bucketful of dice? Get a unit of 40 skeletons into combat and buff them properly they’ll be getting 5 attacks each and possibly piling in and attacking twice with Vanhels Danse Macabre. In a perfect storm that’s 400 attacks 3+/4+!!!!
  • Is a summonable unit dead? Did you just kill an enemy unit within 6" of a gravesite? Start rolling your d6 because on a 4+, congrats! You get that unit back!! Unfortunately you will have to put points aside to do this so this isn't really a pro (nor a con really).

Cons

  • Zero...ranged...units... (traditionally speaking). Not a single usable one, handful of short-range shooting attacks but other than that all melee... can’t even ally in Tomb Kings archers!
    • Ghosts, Terrorgheists and Zombie Dragons are all there is here. Prince Vhordrai is just a named VLoZD, just with a ranged ability with an 8" range, rather than a 9" range and a less assassin-y spell. That said, the Terrorghiest still has the best range out of all the variations in this box.
  • Doesn't support Tomb Kings, the Flesh Eater Courts or the Mourngul.
  • One thing to note about our unconventional ranged weapons is that they all contest a leadership score; Usually 2d6 vs their bravery. With good positioning of our new banners and the Overwhelming Dread spell our limited shooting can deal a fair amount of mortal wounds. Our shooting is extremely short ranged but they can put on some serious damage.
  • Rend -1 is effectively rend -2 for your skeletons...it hurts...a lot.
  • Quite a few slow units, necromancer at 4” and can’t take a mount anymore...
  • How many skeletons do you want to paint? Whatever that number is you’ll need to paint more than that.
  • The removal of magical summoning also means you can't bring in new units, only bring back the ones that are completely destroyed if they have the summonable keyword, and you still have to pay points to bring them back.

Allegiance Abilities

A bit of a long one as there are 4 allegiances for the Legions of Nagash themed around Nagash and his three top generals as well as Soulblight and Generic Death. The four themed legions all get the Gravesite mechanic, at least 1 extra spell from the Lores of the Dead and access Deathless Minions.

Gravesite : Each of the four main allegiances gets access to the gravesite mechanic. After sides are chosen place two gravesites wholly within your territory and two anywhere else on the board. Importantly these are only points on the battlefield, whatever you choose to represent them does not exist for the purpose of line of sight or cover or scenery. Gravesites can heal a SUMMONABLE unit within 9” by d3 wounds or models up to the total wound count. Note, you cannot bring back models with missing wounds, nor can you both heal a model and bring back models with the same roll. So to bring back a spirit host you’d have to roll a 5 or 6, if you had a unit of black knights with models slain and a model missing a wound and you rolled a 5 or 6 you could only heal the remaining wound, not heal and bring back a model despite having rolled high enough to do so.

The second gravesite ability is placing SUMMONABLE units into the “grave” instead of deploying them. At the end of movement, a DEATH HERO can pull a unit out of the grave fully within 9” of the gravesite and outside of 9” of any enemy models. This is a nice way of getting around skeletons massively low movement speed if you can. They are vulnerable to area denial though so be careful.

Lastly are abilities that interact with regenerating units. The general of the four main legions gets an additional command trait that allows him to pull a destroyed unit out of the grave and place it within 9” of the gravesite and outside 9” of any enemy units. Sounds awesome, but remember you have to reserve points for this in matched play.

Final note is the Legion of Sacrament ability. If the last model in a unit getting destroyed is within 6” of a gravesite roll a dice, on a 4+ a destroyed SUMMONABLE it can be brought back within 9” of the gravesite and outside 9” of any enemy models. Again requires reserve points and is very situational.

Grand Host of Nagash

Can include any units in the battletome, if it includes Nagash he must be the general....as though you didn’t want his amazing command ability?! The only Allegiance that can actually have Nagash in a list, besides Death.

Gravesites of course. All DEATH WIZARDS know an additional spell from one of the Lores of the Dead, if Nagash is included he knows three additional spells, which is good since he can cast 8 at full health!

Deathless Minions: 6+ ignore wounds for your units within 6” of a hero, handy and ubiquitous throughout the legions.

Chosen Guardians: Morghast units get +1 attack! Very scary given their damage output.

Legions Innumerable: roll a die for each unit 5+ heals d3 wounds or returns single wound models. Note: it specifically leaves out the ability to bring back other models. Handy to have, remember this all happens in your hero phase so choose the order in which you heal things carefully. Out of range of a gravesite by an inch? Heal with legions or a Deathly Invocation and place the models close enough to use that gravesite! Note that the gravesites' resurrecting ability takes place at the beginning of the hero phase unlike similar abilities.

Artifacts of Nagash

  1. Deathforced Chain: At the start of your hero phase, the bearer heals 1 wound that has been allocated to it. Pretty useful for keeping your hero alive.
  2. Balefire Lantern: Subtract 1 from wound rolls for enemy units within 6" of the bearer. In addition, re-roll successful casting rolls for enemy WIZARDS within 6" of the bearer. This is amazing when you consider the number of additional effects that occur on 6's to wound and that's not even including the chance of protecting your general by turning wounds into fails! The anti-wizard ability is, unfortunately, a double-edged sword, as although they have to roll twice, the second roll could end up being higher making it harder to unbind.
  3. Grave-sand Timeglass: Whilst the bearer is on the battlefield, once per battle, in your hero phase, you can pick an enemy HERO on the battlefield. The enemy hero suffers D3 mortal wounds. At the start of each of your subsequent hero phases, roll a dice. On a 4+ the enemy hero suffers 1 mortal wound. You'll always crack this during your first hero phase. It's good for sniping backline heroes but don't expect it to kill anything.
  4. Ossific Diadem: Any time a friendly DEATHRATTLE model within 12" of the wearer takes a wound or a mortal wound, roll a dice. On a 6+ the wound or mortal wound is ignored. Decent protection. You can take this save and the deathless minions save thus giving skeleton warriors and grave guard another layer of protection making them that much more annoying to kill. Taking this on a Wight King also gives him an additional save and might keep him alive long enough to heal up some wounds.
  5. Amethyst Shard: Once per battle, in your hero phase, you can declare that the bearer will merge the shard with one of their melee weapons. Pick one of the bearer's melee weapons. Until your next hero phase, add 1 to hit and wound rolls made for that weapon. Really meh considering it's once per battle.
  6. Terrorgheist Mantle: In your shooting phase, you can declare that the bearer will unleash a death shriek. Pick an enemy unit within 10" of the bearer and roll 2 dice. If the total is higher than the enemy units Bravery, it suffers a number of mortal wounds equal to the difference. While it does give you a shooting attack, it requires an army dedicated to stacking Bravery modifiers. Could turn out to be a very fun army though.

Command Traits

  1. Master of Death: Re-roll results of 1 (i.e. rolls of 1-2 on a D3) for friendly units affected by a Deathly Invocation that are within 12" of this general. At first glance, this seems meh, but it doesn't just affect the general's rolls. So long as the summonable unit is within 12" of the general, any Deathly Invocation will get that re-roll. If you bunch your heroes and summonable units together you can expect to replenish a huge amount of wounds/models per turn.
  2. Chosen Champion: Add 1 to the Damage characteristic of melee weapon used by this general for attacks made against enemy HEROES. Has it's uses. On a Coven Throne/Bloodseeker Palaquin, those Ethereal weapons will cause 2 mortal wounds on 6's. Can get nasty with the Amethyst Shard, now causing 2 mortal wounds on 5's and 6's (due to the wording of the spirit hosts rules, that's still only gonna be one mortal wound. Unfortunately, you'll be stuck hunting down heroes to gain that extra damage.
  3. Bane of he Living: Re-roll wound rolls of 1 for this general for attacks made against enemy units that do not have the DEATH keyword. Pretty good against Order, Chaos and Destruction to make your general more killy. Useless against opposing Death armies.
  4. Aura of Ages: At the start of the combat phase, roll a dice for each enemy unit with 3" of this general. On a 4+ subtract 1 from hit rolls made for that unit until the end of the combat phase. If your general is looking to get into the thick of things then this is pretty dang useful at keeping him alive. Situational with backfield generals but a decent pick all the same.
  5. Ancient Strategist: Re-roll failed charge rolls for friendly DEATHRATTLE' and MORGHAST' units within 9" of this general. Re-rolls are always great to ensure your army gets to where it needs to be. A good pick for Deathrattle armies.
  6. Lord of Nagashizzar: Add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of melee weapons used by friendly DEATHRATTLE units within 6" of this general. If your playing a predominately Deathrattle army (which you should be if your playing Grand Host of Nagash) then this is amazeballs. If you're not, it's really bad.

Legion of Sacrament

This is Arkhan's legion, if he is included in this army he MUST be the army general and if you include any Mortrach units he has to be one of them.

The Master's Teachings: So whenever a SUMMONABLE unit is destroyed within 6" of a gravesite, On a 4+ you can set it up again at full strength. This costs reserve points so take that as you will.

The Black Disciples: Add 1 to all casting rolls for friendly LEGION OF SACRAMENT WIZARDS. This ability is great because our magic is powerful now, so this helps our spell go off easier. This also gives Arkhan a +3 casting modifier when he is at full wounds. Give him soul harvest, and chances are, he'll never die. Don't quote this on that. Oh, and did we mention? He can take any of the Lores of the Dead spells, ANY of them!

Artifacts of Sacrament

  1. Spiritcage: Friendly units gain +1 to wound for the rest of the turn if an enemy hero is slain within 6" of the bearer. This item has a very situational use.
  2. Shroud of Darkness: This is... WOW! Enemy shooting is -1 to hit within 8-inches of the model, or -2 if they are further away. Any shots that confer mortal wounds on a 6+ won't get that bonus. This is excellent against shooty armies. While it offers better protection against attacks that deal mortal wounds on a 6+ (these are ignored automatically rather than on a dice roll of 4+), it's otherwise slightly outshone by the Wristbands of Black Gold below. However it's still a great choice.
  3. Asylumaticae: Bedlam House in a box (except this one is filled with the weaponized undead souls of insane murderers) or a nod to the far better Casket of Souls. Once per game, roll a dice. On a 1 the bearer takes a mortal wound. On a 2+ each enemy unit within 12" suffers one mortal wound. Between being a one-shot, a risk of friendly fire and being outperformed by the Black Gem, it's not worth it.
  4. Wristbands of Black Gold: Amazing. This throwback from Warhammer Fantasy returns with a vengeance. Roll a dice for every wound or mortal wound allocated to the wearer as a result of shooting. On a 4+ the wound is ignored. Essentially an unmodifiable +4 save against all shooting. Are pesky Kurnoth Hunters sniping your best units? Has the mass barrages of those godless Kharadron got you down? If you're versing a shooty army, TAKE IT. Slap this on a VLOZD and, between this and magic support from the rest of the army, you can almost guarantee your VLOZD will reach enemy lines and make those shooty units PAY. If you want some lulz, you could equip a female character on foot with these and re-enact the No man's land scene from the latest Wonder Woman movie.
  5. Azyrbane Standard: A nod to how Arkhan freed Mannfred from the wall of Faith in The End Times. Subtract 1 from the casting rolls of enemy wizards within '6' of the bearer. If they're also Order Wizards, they also have to re-roll successful casting attempts. Though it has a limited range this is a welcome addition. Best used on a character dedicated to a support role or Wizard hunting, and especially against certain Order armies (such as Sylvaneth from the Gnarlroot Wargrove). Though keep in mind some Wizards are also monsters and thus could just lay the smackdown in combat (again, such as Sylvaneth wizards Drycha, Alarielle and Treelord Ancients).
  6. Black Gem: Pick a point with 8" of your character. Then roll a dice for EVERY UNIT within 3 of that point, on a 6+ one model dies. This is situational, one use only and it does carry the risk of friendly fire. While it can put the hurt on MSU, especially multi-wounds foes like Skullcrushers and Dracothian Guard, it needs a 6+ to kill them and it's weak against Hordes. It's not known if this can target solo characters or Behemoths. Not mandatory but a better choice than the Asylumaticae. BUT: it is one of the few things that can ONESHOT Morathi now, the other Death thing that can is Nagash (there is a third but that's situational - Arkhan, if he's in the same army as Nagash, due to his ability), and if you're using this and him, read your battletome.

Command Traits

  1. Emissary of the Master: Lets you re-roll failed charges for nearby units. A solid choice but not as good as equivalents in other armies.
  2. Dark Acolyte: Makes the general a Wizard, or grants them an additional spell if they are already a Wizard. Useful if you want a magic heavy army, though it's not like there's a shortage of Wizards in this list. May be useful for a Wight King with battle standard.
  3. Mark of the Favored: Each time the general is targeted by an attack in combat, the attacking unit suffers a mortal wound on a 6+. While it sounds useful, so far this trait has generated Skub due to poor wording in the rules, and so far even the FAQ hasn't satisfied the debaters.
  4. Peerless Commander': Allows the general to summon a unit "in the grave" while further away from a gravesite.
  5. Mastery of Death: Grants a bonus move to units in the hero phase. When combined with the Deathmarch battalion's bonus move, Deathrattle units can be moving up to 7 extra inches in the hero phase. Very nice, especially on Black Knights.
  6. Bound to the Master: The General can use Arkhan the Black's Command Ability. This is useful if you have a variety of wizards in your army.

Legion of Blood

This is Neferata's legion, if she is included in this army, she MUST be the army general and if you include any Mortarch units she has to be one of them.

Favored Retainers: Legion of Blood Vampire Lords and Legion of Blood Blood Knights gain +1 attack. Good for characters, but not as much for Blood Knights since they were nerfed.

Artifacts of Blood

  1. Ring of Domination: When the bearer is selected in the combat phase, pick an enemy model within 3" and roll a dice. On a 5+ you can use one of their melee weapons to attack in addition to whatever weapons your character has. Imagine killing Archaon with his own sword (or finishing him off with your other weapons if that one doesn't work), or using a Spirit of Durthu's weapon to cut down a unit of Kurnoth Hunters. If you're lucky with dice rolls and in combat with the right units this can be excellent. Take it on a CC oriented character, especially in conjuction with anything that allows them to strike first and, with a good dice roll, watch them beat down characters with many times their points cost.
  2. Shadeglass Decanter: After armies have been set up but before the first battle round, select an enemy Hero. In your hero phase, as long as that hero is on the battlefield, you can roll a d6. If the result is higher than the number of the current battle round, they take a mortal wound.
  3. The Orb of Enchantment: Once per battle, the bearer can pick an enemy hero within 3". In the beginning of the combat phase they cannot pile in, attack or use abilities. Apart from a one-shot this is excellent. You could use this to troll major combat characters like Archaon or Skarbrand. Slap this on a character on foot in a big unit and you have an excellent tarpit.
  4. Oubliette Arcana: When an enemy Wizard casts a spell within 30", you can roll a d6 instead of attempting to unwind it. On a 6 the spell is negated and the caster can't use that spell again for the rest of the battle.
  5. Amulet of Screams: Once per battle, the bearer of this amulet can use this to unbind an enemy spell on a 2+.

Command Traits

  1. Swift Strikes: Each time you make a hit roll of 6+ in the combat phase for your general, you can make one additional hit roll for the same weapon against the same target.
  2. Soul-Crushing Contempt: If your general slays a model, it's unit has -1 bravery this turn.
  3. Aristocracy of Blood: Reroll failed charges for Soulblight units within 9" of your general.
  4. Aura of Dark Majesty: Another blast from the past. -1 to Hit rolls that target your general.
  5. Walking Death: If you roll a 6+ to Hit with one of your general's melee weapons, you deal mortal wounds equal to the weapon's Damage.
  6. Sanguine Blur: The general gains 2" to their movement and can reroll failed charges.

Legion of Night

This is Mannfred's legion, if he is included in this army he MUST be the army general and if you include any Mortarch units he has to be one of them.

The Bait: Deathrattle units gain +1 to saves while wholly in your own territory.

Ageless Cunning: Looks like Mannfred learned how to CREEEEED! from big daddy Carstein. Up to three units can be deployed in reserve and can ambush by moving on from any table edge.

Artifacts of Night

  1. Vial of the Pure Blood: Once per game the user gains +1 to all hit and wounds rolls till their next hero phase. Way worse than it first seems when you factor in the useful candidates for it (Coven throne/ Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon) and then realise that artefacts don't affect the users mount. Pass.
  2. Shard of Night: -1 to hit the bearer in the shooting phase. Solid choice, slap it on a Vampire Lord on a Zombie dragon. Job done.
  3. Gem of Exsanguination: The standard issue unholy hand grenade. Pick an enemy unit within 6 and roll a die, on a 1 the unit takes 1 mortal wound, 2-5 D3 mortal wounds and on a 6+ D6 mortal wounds. Not great but a bit of fun, overall I'd pass on it.
  4. The Chiropractor's Cloak: Aside from helping with your back the bearer can declare its using the cloak at the start of any (not 1 use only) combat phase. If the bearer does it takes 1 mortal wound but for each hit roll made against the bearer of 1 or less the attacker suffers a mortal wound. Deceptively good providing you pull off the right combo. Cast Overwhelming dread on the unit you intend to charge the bearer into combat with and make your opponent weep. Best slapped on Vamp Lord on Zombie dragon (like most of these artefacts it seems) built for a turn 1 charge. Pass if you know that you'll be going up against units with a small volume of attacks but otherwise a very solid choice.
  5. Morbheg's Claw: If the bearer stands still, they can add 2 to all casting rolls for friendly Legion of Nights wizards within 12" including their own. Fantastic on a support character if you have lots of wizards.
  6. Curseblade: At the beginning of the battle, pick an enemy Hero anywhere on the battlefield. In every hero phase roll a dice, on a 4+ they take a mortal wound, and the bearer heals a wound. This is a nice weapon for sniping an enemy hero and healing the bearer.

Command Traits

  1. Above Suspicion: Allows the general to be set up in ambush in addition to the normal maximum of three. This trait is complete trash, no uses for it. Moving on swiftly...
  2. Swift Form: +2 to the bearer's movement characteristic and add 2 to their run rolls. If you brought a Vampire Lord on a zombie dragon and you insist on playing Legion of Night this is the one for you. It helps your vampire beatstick get that turn 1 charge off and makes it significantly more manoeuvrable should it need to hop over to various objectives.
  3. Unbending Will: Re roll failed battleshock checks within 12 of the general. Pretty bad as usually your big blobs of skelejonays or grav guard either don't run at all or they've been hit hard and they're all un-undying. Overall a pretty shit tier command trait for death.
  4. Merciless Hunter: Re roll wound rolls of 1 for the general. Pretty good, nothing amazing to write home about but not the worst either. Again, best on a beatstick vamp lord on spooky dragon.
  5. Unholy Impetus: If the general slays an enemy model in close combat, one friendly unit within 3" gets +1 attack on all their melee weapons until the end of the phase. This is good on heavy hitting units such as unridden Zombie Dragons or Grave Guard. Alternative Opinion: Forget the zombie dragon, pair it with a blob of 40 skelijonays ambushing to give them 4 attacks each at full strength. Overall the best one here as unlike a similar command trait in the grand host of nagash this one doesn't just work on deathrattle but all legion of night units. Pair this ability with a huuuge unit of vargheists or morghasts for added FUN.
  6. Terrifying Visage: -1 bravery to all enemy units within 6 of the general. A solid choice especially when brought alongside the standard death banners and the morghasts' penalties to bravery. Add in a mortis engine or two or a banshee and bam you've got some lethal shenanigans going on.

Units

Heroes

Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead: The biggest and baddest bitch you or anyone else can get. Costs a whopping 800 points and, if used correctly, is worth every single point. First he has 16 wounds with a 3+ save which will be rerolling 1's because of his command ability. He also has a 4+ save against mortal wounds that reflects the wounds back on a roll of 6. If you cast mystic shield on him (and you should) he become just about unkillable. His real sauce comes from his ability to cast 8 spells a turn. He knows his own 2 unique spells, both of which are fantastic, as well as 3 spells from either of the Lores of Death. Couple this with Arcane Bolt and Mystic Shield and he can cast 7 times a turn on his own, but he also knows the spells of all Death Wizards on the board, so go fucking nuts kids. This bitch can and will demolish units with mortal wound spam whilst also healing himself with spells like Soul Stealer and Vile Transference (if he ever gets hurt) and debuffing the survivors. So he can look at them. Because HIS EYES ARE LASERS or something like that. And if you still aren't convinced he also boasts one of the scariest melee profiles in the game. The staff with -3 rend and d6 damage is great but the real sauce is that fucking sword. -2 rend and 3 damage flat hitting 6 times is just brutal and scares just about everything. And a sprinkling of spirit host attacks for more mortal wounds because yes. He also boasts some fucking amazing buffs for your army. His deathly invocation is rerollable and affects 5 units anywhere on the board. His command ability is downright fucked, rerolling 1's to hit and for save rolls and ignore battleshock for your ENTIRE ARMY including himself. The ignoring battleshock may not seem so important because of deaths naturally high leadership but it means you just don't have to worry about certain battleshock activated abilities like a Carnosaur roar. All in all Nagash is one of the most well rounded characters in the game, being an incredibly dangerous model in every phase of the game and buffing the shit out of your army, his only drawback being his insanely high points cost being prohibitively expensive at low point games and forcing you to build around him at higher points. And also fuck me his model is amazing and absolutely fucking towers above everything. Just like Nagash would want.

Mannfred, Mortarch of Night: Mannfred's price point means that he will be competing against VLoZDs, and he will almost never come up short. He has several factors which put him head and shoulders above other options. First is his command ability, a big bubble of rerolling 1's to hit and wound. This is a huge force multiplier and can be combo'd with so many units to create massive sweeping charges. Black Knights, Blood Knights, Morghasts and other fast moving elite units become far more dangerous when near Mannfred. Since his command ability also affects his own attacks, it makes his sword of unholy power, Ghiestvor, one of the most reliable and hard hitting weapons in the game. Ghiestvor gains +1 to hit and wound rolls if you successfully cast a spell in your last hero phase. This hitting and wounding on 2's rerolling 1's and rend -1 means that you can bank on an almost guaranteed 3-4 d3 damage from the sword alone. Couple this with his also powerful Sickle-glaive, and his Dread Abyssal and spirit attacks, he will be crippling monsters and decimating units left, right and centre. He is also a competent spellcaster, able to cast 2 spells a turn, and has an ok, if a bit situational, unique spell. Where he falls short is his relative frailty compared to a VLoZD. He only has a rather meagre 11 wounds and a 4+ save, and whilst this is somewhat mitigated by his 2 wound regen every time he kills a model in combat, a couple of big hits will be far more noticeable. That being said, his most powerful attacks aren't linked to the dragon, so they will not degrade as he takes damage. If it comes down to a choice between the 2, Mannfred is more of a force multiplier than a VLoZD, but there is plenty of overlap. Or just take both with a shitload of cavalry and just annihilate your enemy on a first turn charge.

Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament: The addition of the Lords of Death have really helped out Arkhan, and he works best when you really focus on magic spam. His command ability gives him and all death wizards within 18" an additional 6" range to all spells, which is downright terrifying when used with some of the new spells. Try casting Amarantine Orb with a range of 18", or even better, using Soul Harvest to deal d3 mortal wounds to each enemy unit within 9". And let's not forget his own unique spell, Curse of Years, which is one of the most ridiculous spells in the game. Roll 10d6. Every 6 is a mortal wound. Now roll all your 6's again, this time every 5 is a mortal wound. Keep going until you hit 1 because the rules of 1 dont affect spell effects so as soon as you hit 1 you deal UNLIMITED MORTAL WOUNDS. You may decide to include the rule of one so people don't beat you up after you one hit the Glottkin or not, depending on how much your opponent deserves it. So Arkhan excels as a dangerous spellcaster, but what are the rest of his stats like? As a Mortarch, he rides a Dread Abyssal and has a spirit host following him around, and be attacks with basically 2 vampire sword attacks. So he won't shine in combat against dedicated enemies, but he can hold his own. His durability is solid, with 11 wounds and a 4+ save, and the ability to heal 2 wounds every time he kills a model, but it isn't spectacular, but luckily his additional range for spells that can generate healing makes him more survivable. Compared to the other Mortarchs he is considerable cheaper, but does lack the sheer combat potential. Compared to then he does require more fine tuning, you have to build around his strengths and maximise your spell casting, as opposed to say Mannfred, who you just set lose. Although Arkhan's Legion of Sacrament and his Warscroll battalion really do increase his effectiveness.

Battleline

Skeleton Warriors: Literally the reason you wanted to play Death. These guys are nasty when taken in 40 man chunks. Always go spears if you go the maximum size to get the most out of your bones. With Necromancers casting Vanhel's Danse Macabre and the command ability from regular vampire lords or wight kings these guys will sport 4 attacks each and can fight twice, bonus memes if you have the Grand Host of Nagash alliegence you can also use the Lord of Nagashizzar to give them an extra attack totalling 5 attacks per skeleton. They also have a 6+++ FnP and a 6+ save that can be increased to 5+ if the enemy has a weapon with rend 0. Against rend 1 or more expect them to drop like flies only to be resurrected in the following hero phase as they are SUMMONABLE and restore d3 models per hero and gravesite. Neat!

Dire Wolves: These mangy pups are actually really good thanks to the new battletome. They have two wounds and are fast as fuck which is useful for grabbing objectives and they are SUMMONABLE meaning these guys can resurrect fallen models just like skeletons can. (Although, thanks to the wording on Deathly Invocation, you can only resurrect a wolf on a result of 2 or more on a d3.) And to top it all off, these guys are going to be your cheapest battleline because unlike Zombies and *somewhat* Skeletons; they are very effective taken as a minimum sized unit.

Zombies: Zombies are in a rough spot. They're actually quite good, but wolves and skeletons are stiff competition. They can get 3+/3+ if they have 40 or more models. (2+/3+ if there is a corpse cart) The maximum unit size for these guys is a whopping 60 models. They have only 1 attack each and no save BUT they are summonable and if they kill a unit in the fight phase, on a roll of a 6 they become a zombie! If you have them don't be afraid to run the zombie train, but unless you really like zombies, I would advise new players to stick with skeletons for big hordes.

A quick note about the models: Mantic games sells a box of 40 skeletons and zombies which is more price efficient than buying the GW ones with boxes of 10 and 20 respectively. Just be wary of people who won't play you because you're not using GW ones.

Units

Black Knight: Black Knights have become an absolutely fantastic unit in LoN due to receiving an +1 to hit with and an additional attack with their lances. This means that on the charge Black Knights can put out a rather frightening amount of 2 damage attacks for a very reasonable price. They are also very survivable, with 2 wounds each and a 5+ save+crypt-shield making it very difficult to wipe the unit before your regeneration kicks in. They only have 2 major weaknesses. First is their lack of rend. This can really gimp them against some targets, but the amount of attacks they put out typically means that only a couple of failed saves can really hurt. Second is that they need the charge to be capable of putting out actual damage. If they have to go into a second round of combat or they are charged themselves they will not hold up in combat at all. This is not so much of a problem as their speed and low price point means that they should both be able to get the charge and they are cheap enough to be used as a tarpit if need be. They are best used as a fast moving screening unit alongside Hero's like Mannfred who can buff them so they hit obscenely hard on the charge, but are also cheap enough that they can be used to buffer the enemy to line up a perfect turn of spellcasting and combat from Mannfred.

Grave Guard: Before the battletome, they were outclassed by skellies but now not so much. They are a battleline choice if you choose Grand Host of Nagash and they have more quality attacks, but skeleton warriors just have so so much quantity. Fear not for the Grave Guard can now regenerate models just as fast as skeletons and boost a better armor save and better rend while also having the potential to deal double damage on a wound roll of 6+. You can take 30 of these guys for a very steep price, but since they have 1" swords, it's unlikely they will all be able to attack HOWEVER they'll have enough bodies to keep from being blasted off the table turn 1. The shields are pretty helpful against rend 0, and the great blades +1 to wound really helps make these guys as killy as possible so depending on what you normally face at your FLGS you should kit these guys out accordingly which will more than likely be the great blades.

Vargheists: These guys are a cheap hammer unit and man do they do work. They are not particularly durable but they are very fast and swing for 2 damage a hit, AND for every model they kill they roll a dice and on a 6 they get an additional attack. Legion of Night loves these guys for the ability to outflank with them. They are not quite as strong as Morghasts (another hammer unit) in terms of raw power, but you are saving 60 points by taking Varghiests over them. But hey! Why not take both? It is advisable to take both as they do sort of fulfill different rolls. Varghiests especially excel at murderising hordes. Those additional attacks can really stack up, as multiple damage attacks against hordes can wipe out a lot of models. This is not to say they aren't versatile, but they are a fantastic unit to clear out enemy tarpits with their sheer speed and damage.

Spirit Hosts: Oh boy these ghoulish ghastlies are by far one of the most underrated units in the battletome. They seem expensive at first but they come with a lot of nasty surprises. First, like all Nighthaunt units ,they have a 4+ save that cannot be modified positively or negatively (for those coming from 40K it's like an invulnerable save) they have 6 attacks each and if they hit on a 6+ they deal a mortal wound instead! These guys will be dishing out mortal wounds left at right all while being durable as fuck. And if that wasn't enough they are SUMMONABLE meaning they can regen fallen units (remember they have 3 wounds each meaning that they can only resurrect on a 5+ with deathly invocation and gravesites also holy shit they have 3 wounds.) It's worth saying that units of 3 or 6 are probably your best bet seeing as they have large bases and it would be hard for say 9 or 12 to all be in combat. Also be wary of anything that gives you a -1 to hit in combat as it effectively neuters their offensive potential.

Terrogheist: The giant zombie bat is back and now he is more terrifying than ever. No, really this guy is straight up nasty and he'll have your opponent screaming imba. He now sports a 4+ save which he desperately needed and carries a very deadly ranged weapon in the form of a deathly shriek. Now the Terrogheist's shooting attack is unusual as it deals mortal wounds as long as you roll over their bravery. Even Stormcasts will suffer significant losses due to the death shriek. His Gaping Maw is the butter to his biscuit when you attack with this weapon and roll a 6 TO HIT, you do not need to make a wound roll or save and the damage deals 6 automatically. Basically, it's a really shifty way to say it deals 6 mortal wounds but doesn't actually use the words "mortal wounds" so it bypasses a lot of saves this way. And then when the Terrogheists inevitably dies it explodes and deals d3 mortal wounds to each unit (friend and foe) within 3" to say fuck you one last time as it dies.

Morghasts: Squishier than you think but a threat to literally everything. Always take halberds in legions of nagash army. Last game mine dealt 18 wounds to a soul grinder and 12 the next turn to a lord of change. Actually just always take halberds in general. You lose out on a potential 1 point of damage but if youre taking the blades you may as well be taking Varghiests. Morghasts with Halberds are some of the best monster hunters in the game. If they can strike first they will almost certainly cripple whatever they are facing and take the subsequent retaliation due to their solid 6 wounds. Their potential damage skyrockets when under the effects of buffs so they excel as bodyguards to models like Mannfred and Nagash. Can also be taken as wound sponges for Nagash in the first cohort battalion. Whilst this may seem a tad expensive, giving Nagash an extra 12 wounds for 200 odd points is just pure cheese, and is as such, highly recomended.

Blood Knights: BK's are one of the most contentious units LoN, and for good reason. First, the models themselves are dated and crazy expensive. 5 of them will set you back a Baneblade (Fingers crossed for new models). Second, they are also incredibly expensive points wise, clocking in at 100 points more expensive than Chaos Knights, which are comparable, and 20 points less than a max unit of Skellingtons. Finally, the changes to banners means they have lost their source of model regeneration. They still heal 1 wound when they kill something, but lacking the summonable keyword, this is their only form of healing outside of spells. So what do you get for all this? You basically get Chaos Knights with Glaives, but +1 to hit, an additional attack, permanent -1 rend, and d3 damage on the charge. They also have all the standard death goodies of shields, banners and hornblowers. The Kastellan adds +1 to attacks instead of +1 to hits. Put bluntly they are a very expensive unit that is capable of dealing huge amounts of damage on the charge. The problem is your opponent will know this and will take them out ASAP. They are fairly tough, but the loss of regen has really hurt them in this department. But this isn't to say that they haven't gained anything from the new rules. If taken in a Legion of Blood army, they each gain an additional attack (horses included) and an additional -1 to bravery that stacks with their banner. This bonus to attacks makes this unit one of the single most offensively powerful units in the game. You basically have an entire unit of Vampire Lords or Daemon Princes' on the charge. A unit of 5 will be putting out 21, -1 rend, d3 damage attacks, and 15 horse attacks every turn, at -2 to bravery. If you can get some rerolls in there you'll be putting out 20+ damage a charge, enough to annihilate most units and monsters. Blood Knights are powerful, but they do require quite a bit of list tailoring and building your play around them maximise their power, but when you do, oh fucking boy will you mentally scar your opponent.

Retrieved from "http://23.235.193.55/mediawiki/index.php?title=Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Old/Death/Legions_of_Nagash&oldid=118331"