Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Warscrolls Compendium/Tomb Kings
Now with points in GHB 2019! They were always matched play legal, but that's a nice touch.
Allegiance Abilities
Tomb Kings don't have any allegiance abilities of their own, so you're stuck with the Grand Alliance Death allegiance abilities from the Core Book.
Battle Traits
Deathless Minions: When you allocate a wound or mortal wound to one of your models, if you have a friendly Death HERO within 6" of that model then you get to roll for each wound and negate it on a roll of a 6. Note that this is on a model-by-model basis; if half of your skelly unit is within 6" of your hero and half isn't, only the ones within 6" get to roll the Death Save.
Command Traits
- Ruler of the Night: the range of the Deathless Minions battle trait is increased to 12" for your general.
- Predator of the Shadows: Add 1 to hit and wound rolls for your general if they are in cover.
- Death Incarnate: In your hero phase, you can pick one enemy unit within 3" of the general. Roll 2d6 and if you get equal to or higher than their Bravery, they suffer d3 mortal wounds.
- Master of the Black Arts: The general becomes a WIZARD and knows Arcane Bolt and Mystic Shield. They'll also be able to use realm spells if they are being used, and endless spells if you paid for them. If you give this trait to someone who is already a WIZARD, they get +1 to cast and unbind.
- Red Fury: After the general has finished doing their attacks in the combat phase, roll a dice. On a 5+ the general gets to pile in again and fight a second time again. Only happens once per turn, though. Also note that command traits don't affect your mount unless stated otherwise, so you can give this to a mounted Tomb King but it'll only be the King himself fighting twice, not his sphinx or the skelly steeds on his chariot.
- Supernatural Horror: In the battleshock phase, if your general is within 12" of an enemy unit and that unit fails a battleshock test, twice as many models flee.
Artefacts
(You are entitled to pick an artefact from Malign Sorcery instead, just like any other army)
- Cursed Book: If a unit (friend or foe) is within 3" of the bearer and they don't have the DEATH keyword, they suffer -1 to all of their hit rolls. Note that the bearer can affect the whole enemy unit simply by being within 3" of one model.
- Cloak of Mists and Shadows: You can activate this at the start of the combat phase. If you do, the bearer disappears and reappears anywhere within 12", but more than 3" from all enemy models. Bear in mind that it doesn't matter whether you were in melee at the time, and it isn't one use only - it's just once per turn. There are lots of uses for this.
- Blade of Dark Summons: Once per battle, in your hero phase, you can summon a new unit to add to your army. It must have the SUMMONABLE keyword. Roll 2d6 and that's the combined Wounds characteristic of the whole unit. They arrive wholly within 12" of the bearer, and more than 3" from enemy models. None of the Tomb Kings units have the SUMMONABLE keyword, so if you're using this then you'll have to pick a unit from the Legions of Nagash or Nighthaunt army. You might consider Mynmourn Banshees, Bladegheist Revenants etc.
- Black Amulet: Once per battle in your hero phase, you can use this to inflict mortal wounds to an enemy unit within 12". The number of mortal wounds is equal to the battle round you're on.
- Tomb Blade: This upgrades one of the hero's melee weapons. Each time the hero rolls a 6+ to wound with that weapon, you can instantly heal a wound to a friendly DEATH model within 6" of the bearer.
- Ring of Immortality: One use only. When the bearer is killed, roll a d6. On a 1-2 nothing happens and you're just dead. On a 3+ you survive with d3 wounds remaining, and if the enemy still has any wounds still to do from that attack sequence, they are cancelled. Your hero can also reappear anywhere within 18" of where they were when they "died", but more than 3" from enemy models.
Other special rules
A note on keywords: some of your synergy abilities specify the DESERT LEGIONS, EMBALMED or REANIMANT keywords. DESERT LEGIONS are your skelly units and anything ridden by skellys, so that includes Necropolis Knights and the Warsphinx. EMBALMED are the various Kings, Queen and Scarab Prince. REANIMANT are the animated constructs, including the Royal Warsphinx and also including Morghasts from Legions of Nagash.
Icon Bearers: all of your skelly units (doesn't include Ushabti, Carrion etc) can include Icon Bearers. You can use these in your hero phase to resurrect slain models - Legionnaires and Archers get d6 models back. Horsemen, Horse Archers and Tomb Guard get d3 models back. Chariots and Necropolis Knights get a single model back. A very useful thing to have, but bear in mind that some armies have spells or attacks that can target a specific model in your unit (such as a Giant or Morathi's shooting attack), so they may try to snipe out your icon bearer.
Hornblowers: your skelly units can include musicians as well. These do two things: if you ever make a charge roll of less than 6, the hornblower still lets you charge 6". Very handy to avoid fluffing a charge at close range. It also lets you run and shoot in the same turn, for those units with bows (Archers, Horse Archers and Chariots)
The Curse: All of the kings and queens (Tomb King on Exalted Chariot, Tomb King on Royal Chariot, Royal Warsphinx, Tomb Queen, and Tomb King) have a rule that puts a curse on the enemy when they're killed: the enemy unit that did the last wound suffers d3 mortal wounds, or d6 in the Exalted Chariot's case.
Warscrolls
Leaders
Tomb King on Exalted Chariot: What used to be Settra the Imperishable, this is now a generic unit (so, not being a named character anymore, he can be given an artefact and command trait). For a hefty 460pts, you get this guy who moves 10", has a 3+ save and 8 wounds, and has a scarab amulet that gives him a 5+ roll to negate wounds or mortal wounds he suffers. He has a strong melee weapon - four attacks at -2 rend and 3 damage, and he gets two extra attacks on the charge. His horses do 8 attacks, they don't look all that great at first glance because they wound on 5+ with no rend, but on the charge they get 16 attacks instead and get +1 to wound. On top of this he has two things going for him that make him truly awesome: his command ability and his prayer. His command ability gives your guys a bonus in your following combat phase if they are within 18" of the King when they attack: friendly TOMB KINGS units get +1 to hit, and friendly DESERT LEGIONS units get +1 to wound as well. Note that the +1 to hit will affect the whole army, but the +1 to wound only works for certain units. Also note that it doesn't affect shooting and it doesn't last through your opponent's turn, but it's still a huge force multiplier. His prayer works on a 2+ and lets you select a single friendly DESERT LEGIONS unit within 18"; in your following movement phase, this unit doubles its movement and can fly. Necropolis Knights get to move 16" this way, Skeleton Chariots can move 20". If the prayer fails on a 1, the King takes a mortal wound. He also has a crown which unfortunately was written for the previous edition of AoS and hasn't been updated. It used to allow other nearby TK heroes to use their command abilities even though they aren't the general. But ever since the introduction of command points, this rule doesn't really do anything and GW can't be bothered updating it.
Tomb Queen: The old Khalida model, no longer a named character. The main thing about her is her command ability; for 1cp she gives +1 to hit in the shooting phase for all friendly DESERT LEGIONS units (that's Skeleton Archers, Skeleton Chariots, Skeleton Horse Archers and the Warsphinx). Note that there is no range restriction here. If she's the General then Skeleton Archers become battleline. She has a shooting attack from her venom staff, 18" range, one shot with no rend and d6 damage. Finally, if an enemy unit is selected to fight in the combat phase and she is within 3", she can immediately jump the queue and hit first if she hasn't fought already. She doesn't hit terribly hard in melee (again, it's one attack with no rend and d6 damage) but it's nice if she gets jumped by Khinerai or Tree-Revenants or something.
Scarab Prince: The old Prince Apophas model, again, no longer a named character. Your cheapest hero at 80pts, he can be placed in reserves and pop out in your movement phase, anywhere more than 9" from enemies. Besides that he move 12", can fly and heals a wound in each of your hero phases. In melee he's got five attacks with no rend and 1 damage, but gets +1 to hit and wound rolls against heroes in melee. Has a 10" range shooting attack as well, 2d6 shots with no rend, and when he dies he can immediately do his shooting attack one last time before being removed.
Tomb King: A fairly cheap support hero who's not too shabby in melee and quite resilient, assuming you take the shield... He can either take a Monarch's Great Blade with three attacks at -2 rend and 3 damage, or a Dynastic Blade and Tomb Shield in which case he has four attacks at -1 rend and d3 damage, but can reroll his failed armour saves. The Dynastic Blade and Shield is probably the way to go. His command ability (the awesomely named "My Will Be Done") lets him select a DESERT LEGIONS unit within 18" and they get +1 to run, charge and hit rolls. +1 to hit can be much better than it sounds when combined with the Liche Priest's spell (see below).
Tomb King in Royal Chariot: Moves 10", eight wounds and a 3+ save. Same weapon as a Tomb King on foot, but he gets two extra attacks on the charge. Also has four crappy horse kicks but they get eight attacks instead of four on the charge. His command ability allows him and every Skeleton Chariot within 18" to reroll charges. This isn't as good as it sounds because Skeleton Chariots can always charge a minimum of 6" thanks to their hornblowers, and at longer distances you can simply wait to see if you fail the charge and then spend a CP to reroll it anyway, assuming you have a hero close enough. So he doesn't really add much to the army besides being a fairly fast and somewhat durable combat character. But that can be handy by itself.
Tomb Herald: The main thing this guy does is his Standard of the Undying Legion. In your hero phase, he can activate his banner which brings back a slain model to all of your DESERT LEGIONS units within 24" of the Herald. Works especially well for Necropolis Knights and Skeleton Chariots since you're getting a 5-wound model back. However, if the Herald does activate his banner, he can't move at all until your next hero phase. The other thing he does is function as a bodyguard for any friendly EMBALMED heroes (which is basically all the Kings, the Queen and the Scarab Prince); if he's within 3" when they suffer damage, then on a 2+ the wound is transferred to the Herald instead. If you're paying 460pts for a Tomb King on Exalted Chariot, or 440pts for a Royal Warsphinx, then another 100pts for a Herald to take wounds for him is probably worthwhile. He can also take a skelly steed for free, giving him a 12" move and a couple of extra melee kicks.
Liche Priest: A wizard who can cast one and unbind one. He has a scroll that can be used once per game to automatically succeed an unbind attempt, very useful. His unique spell targets a DESERT LEGIONS or REANIMANT unit within 18": for each hit roll of 6+, they generate an extra attack with the same weapon. Note that this is 6+, not unmodified 6s, so it gets much better when you have +1s to hit from a Tomb King, Tomb Queen, or the Tomb King on Exalted Chariot. A simple 1cp from a Tomb King combined with this spell means that any 5+ to hit generates the extra attack. For Skeletal Legionnaires, who get an extra +1 to hit by being near an EMBALMED hero, it'll happen on a 4+ to hit. And like the Tomb Herald, he can take a skelly steed for free.
Casket of Souls: 8 wounds and a 4+ save (but gets +1 to its save against shooting attacks). Only moves 2" and can't charge, and since it doesn't have a conventional shooting attack it may as well run every turn. It gives every Liche Priest within 18" gets +1 to their casting rolls, and it can unbind a single spell in each turn... but the main thing is obviously what happens when you open the casket, which you can do in each of your hero phases. You choose a visible enemy unit within 20" and it hits them on a 3+. They suffer d3 mortal wounds (d6 if their Bravery is 4 or less), then every unit within 6" from that one suffers the same on a 5+. It's also a Behemoth for some reason. I guess size doesn't matter.
Royal Warsphinx: Is also a Behemoth. A Khemrian Warsphinx mounted by a Tomb King instead of four tomb guard. Rather slow with only a 6" move, but it's quite tanky. It has three melee weapon profiles - the King has three attacks at -2 rend and 3 damage, the Sphinx has six claw attacks at -1 rend and 1 damage, and a choice of two tail options - the blade tail has more attacks but the venom-spike tail hits harder. The venom-spike is the better choice unless you're attacking something unaffected by rend. The sphinx can also breathe fire in the shooting phase: one attack at -1 rend, d6 damage. As he gets hurt, the King gets fewer attacks with his glaive, the Sphinx claws get less accurate and the breath weapon doesn't wound so easily. At least it doesn't get any slower. The sphinx has the same rule as the Beastclaw Raiders Stonehorn: all weapons attacking him halve their Damage characteristic, rounding up; and also halves the number of mortal wounds he suffers from spells and similar abilities. (The regular Warsphinx and the Necrosphinx have this rule too). Both Warsphinxes also have the chance to do d3 mortals to the enemy on impact after a successful charge (it's more likely to work the more models are in the enemy unit). His command ability lets him choose a visible enemy unit and then all of your EMBALMED and DESERT LEGIONS units get +1 to wound against it until your next hero phase.
Necrotect: Do you like giant war statues made of stone, bone and gold? He does, too, he'll be your friend. In your phase can choose a DESERT LEGIONS unit within 8" and give it +3 Move and they reroll 1s to wound in your combat phase. Also, he gives various buffs to some of your other units, but those are written on their warscrolls, not his. He improves Bone Giants, Tomb Scorpions, Ushabtis and Screaming Skull Catapults; they will be discussed in their own entries.
Battleline
Skeleton Chariots: Moves 10", five wounds and a 5+ armour save. Has six melee attacks per chariot (two from the skelly crew and four horse kicks). However, on the charge the number of attacks is doubled, so a unit of three chariots is rolling 36 attacks on the charge (37 thanks to the champion). Each chariot also gets to fire two bow shots at 18" range, only hitting on 5+ with no rend so don't expect too much from that. They get great use out of their Icon Bearer to bring back a slain chariot in each of your hero phases; that's five wounds back a turn. All in all a solid Battleline unit.
Skeletal Legionnaires: The warscroll is very similar to the Skeleton Warriors from Legions of Nagash with a few slight differences. Like the Skeleton Warriors, they get one attack base, two if there are 20+ in the unit, or three if there are 30+. The unit either has spears that hit on 5+ with a 2" range, or swords that hit on 4+ with a 1" range. Their shields work differently to the Legions of Nagash guys; here, you can choose to put your shields up in the movement phase which gives you +1 to save rolls until your next movement phase, but you can't run or charge in your turn if you do so. They get +1 to hit in melee if there is a friendly EMBALMED hero (that's the various kings, queen or prince). And obviously having different keywords, the synergies are different - by combining a Tomb King's My Will Be Done command ability with Righteous Smiting from a Liche Priest, you can generate an additional attack with each 4+ to hit. A nice simple and effective combo. And while the unit only moves 4", you can speed them up with a Necrotect and/or the Tomb King on Exalted Chariot's prayer.
Skeleton Horsemen: A decent chaff unit, 100 points gets you five horsemen. With a move of 12" they're pretty fast and they have a built-in ability to run and charge. They won't do much damage to the enemy but they can scoot around to snag objectives, get in the way, tag enemies in combat and so on. Not a bad unit at all, and being able to bring d3 of them back in your thanks to their Icon Bearer is a nice bonus.
Skeleton Archers (Battleline if the army is entirely TOMB KINGS and the general is a Tomb Queen): The bow has 20" range, and the archers get two shots each if there are least twenty in the unit and there are no enemies within 3". No rend and normally hitting on 5+, but you can use a Tomb Queen's command ability to boost the hit rolls, and a Liche Priest's Righteous Smiting is good for these guys too. They only move 4" but remember that they can run and shoot thanks to their musician.
Other Units
Necropolis Knights: A very solid unit, if an expensive one (240pts for three). They move 8", five wounds and a 5+ armour save but the shields give them +1 to save rolls in melee. Each model gets two attacks from the rider and three from the snake; it's all at -1 rend and the snake bites have d3 damage characteristic. Snake bites also do an additional mortal wound on a 6+ to wound. This is already a strong unit, but can be made terrifying with the Tomb King on Exalted Chariot to boost their movement with his prayer, and boost their hit and wound rolls with his command ability. Then you can use a Liche Priest's spell to let them generate extra attacks, and a Necrotect too to speed them up even further and let them reroll 1s to wound. And they benefit very well from their icon bearer to bring back a slain model in each of your turns, or more than one if you brought a Tomb Herald.
Tomb Guard: Very similar warscroll to the Grave Guard from Legions of Nagash. Their shields work differently though (see the Skeletal Legionnaires entry) and they have slightly different weapon options - the halberds hit on 4+ and wound on 3+, the swords are the other way around. Unlike Grave Guard, you get to keep your shield either way. More importantly, they don't benefit from gravesites and all the other stuff Legions of Nagash get. Instead they can get better hit and wound rolls from the various Tomb King synergies, which is handy since they have an ability that does 2 damage instead of 1 each time they roll a 6+ to wound. Like the Legionnaires they're somewhat hampered by a 4" movement but they can be sped up by a Necrotect or Tomb King on Exalted Chariot, or both.
Skeleton Horse Archers: Fast cavalry with bows. They move 12" and can run and shoot thanks to their musicians. But the bows aren't likely to do much damage thanks to only hitting on 5+, unless you're using command abilities to boost that. Could be a really cool unit, but five of them cost the same as three chariots which are more durable, much better in combat, and are Battleline. Shame really. They do however have a special ability that lets them shoot in the movement phase, and then if they did that, they can move in the shooting phase. This does let them pull a couple of neat tricks; firstly they can shoot and then retreat in the same turn. Secondly, if an enemy unit is bogging one of your units down in melee, you can kill them with shooting in the movement phase and then your unit is free to move normally, without having to retreat. One thing to note, though. If you're using a Tomb Queen's command ability, she gives you bonuses to hit in the shooting phase only. So if you do use the Horse Archers' nifty trick to shoot in the movement phase, they're stuck with hitting on 5s. The champion doesn't even get his +1 to hit, because again, that specifies that he gets +1 to hit in the shooting phase.
Tomb Scorpions: Can deploy underground and arrive in your movement phase anywhere more than 9" away from enemies. Has a couple of weapon profiles with decent rend and damage - might kill a 5-wound hero with some decent dice rolls. Has a 4+ armour save and five wounds. Also has a 5+ roll to negate any mortal wounds inflicted by enemy spells, which is improved to a 4+ if there you have a Necrotect within 18".
Ushabti: Giant god statues with four wounds and a 5+ save. However, if they're attacked by weapons with a Damage characteristic of 1, they get +2 to that armour save roll. Furthermore, if you have a Necrotect within 18, they reroll 1s for their armour saves as well. If you combine these things and put them in cover, they effectively have a 2+ save rerolling 1s. They have two weapon options - either Ritual Blade-staves, or Great Bows. The bows have 24" range, one shot per model at -1 rend and d3 damage. If they have bows they get three melee attacks as well with no rend. If you're running Blade-staves instead then each Ushabti has three attacks at 3+ to hit, 3+ to wound, -1 rend and d3 damage. At 120pts for three, that's not bad.
Sepulchral Stalkers: Your tunnelling shooty sand snakes. They can deploy underground and arrive in your movement phase anywhere more than 9" away. This is handy because their shooting attack has a 10" range. It doesn't use the normal attack sequence; instead you simply roll a dice for each stalker. Each roll of 1 does a mortal wound to your stalkers. Each 2-3 does nothing. Each 4-5 does one mortal wound to the target and each 6 does d3 mortal wounds to the target. In melee, each Stalker has two attacks at -1 rend, 2 damage. All in all, a cool concept but unlikely to do much damage. They can also go back underground if they want to, and reappear somewhere else next turn.
Carrion: Undead rotting birbs. They start the game flying high above the battlefield, although the models are still placed on the tabletop. While flying high they can't attack or be attacked, or affected in any way by spells/abilities etc. When they make a charge (and they get a 3d6" charge instead of 2d6"), they come down and behave normally from then on. Their attacks are not great, four attacks each with no rend, but by being essentially invincible until they charge you may get decent mileage against a war machine or a wizard or whatever. Technically, there isn't a rule saying they can't hold objectives while flying high, but if you actually try doing that you're an unmitigated dick and nobody will want to play you again, for good reason.
Tomb Swarm: A base full of scarab beetles and whatnot. They can deploy underground and arrive later, and can even go back underground if they want to replenish their numbers. Their attacks are rubbish and they die easily.
BEHEMOTHS
Necrosphinx: Very powerful, but very expensive. Moves 12" and can run and charge. In fact, it has to attempt to charge if possible, and it also rolls 3d6 instead of 2d6 for its charge roll, discarding the lowest. In melee, its main weapon is the Scythe Blades - four attacks that wound on 2s, -3 rend and 3 damage. If they all attack an enemy Monster and you roll at least two 6s to wound, then it does TEN MORTAL WOUNDS on top of its normal damage. Not likely to happen very often though. It also has more attacks from its claws and its tail. It also has the same ability all three Sphinxes have: the Damage characteristic of all weapons attacking it are reduced in half, rounding up.
Warsphinx: Like the Royal Warsphinx but crewed by four Tomb Guard instead of Tomb King, so it isn't a Hero. Its attacks are slightly weaker overall than the Royal Warsphinx since the Tomb Guard don't have rend, and it lacks the command ability of the Royal Warsphinx. Still a rather tanky monster though, due to the same ability all the Sphinxes have that reduces the Damage characteristic of incoming attacks. Interestingly, it does have the DESERT LEGIONS keyword, so it can benefit from various command abilities and other synergies.
Bone Giant: Nine wounds and a 4+ save. Has two weapon profiles - the swords have three attacks at -2 rend, 3 damage. And four kick attacks at -1 rend, 1 damage. Has two extra rules going on: firstly each time it rolls a 6+ to hit, it generates an extra attack with the same weapon (and this can be improved by the +1 to hit from the Tomb King on Exalted Chariot). Secondly, after it's done attacking, roll a dice and on a 5+ (or a 4+ if you have a Necrotect within 18") it immediately gets to pile in and a second time. Another thing to note is that he doesn't have a degrading profile like most other Monsters. He can be good fun to use, but he's a little overcosted at 200pts.
ARTILLERY
Screaming Skull Catapult: Okay, let's start with the good news. It has a 36" range, its shot does a nice consistent 4 damage, it doesn't need line of sight and it gets two shots instead of one if you have a Necrotect next to it. Also, if it does damage to an enemy unit, they suffer -2 to their Bravery until the end of the turn. Now the bad news. It has a crew of three skellys who function as a separate unit. If some of them die, your catapult does less damage. If they all die, your catapult can no longer move or fire at all. That's the main problem - you need to protect your catapult and its crew from enemy shooting, and deepstriking units otherwise it will be very quickly rendered useless. Furthermore, while the catapult has a maximum range of 36", it also has a minimum range of 6", so if a small enemy unit can tag your catapult in melee, you'll be unable to fire even if they don't kill you. All in all, it's a bit of a risky investment at 160pts.
External links
Rules here [1]
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