Age of Fantasy/Tactics/Ghostly Undead

Why play Ghostly Undead?

Among the undead armies, the spooky ghosts are the most glass cannon army of the lot. While the vampires have to work with utter chaff mobs and the ossified are all turtles, the ghostly undead are the ones who are in combat first and able to hold onto the fight for a bit, but they'll need to rely on their Regeneration to hold on.

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Pros

• Universal (sorta) Regeneration and Strider
• You've got some good mobs with big swords
• Morale's almost a non-factor

Cons

• Your entire army is ghosts. Kinda can't pick up armor, so you NEED your Regeneration
• No artillery, your shooting is very minimal
• No damage sponges outside of your heroes

Special Rules

• Ethereal: Your models have Regeneration and you'll be needing it with how dismal your defense scores are. Note that this can stack with regular Regeneration of need be.
• Reap: Any nat 6s you roll to hit in melee let you roll an additional attack in combat. You'll definitely be needing to maximize this.
• Undead: Your models all auto-pass morale checks, which is great. Instead, you need to roll a d6 for each remaining model/Tough wound in the unit; any time you roll a 1, they suffer a wound that bypasses Regeneration.

Wizard Spells

• Dread (4+): Friendly unit within 12" can immediately charge 3". All it'll do is shift the tide a little in case you need to open up some room for another charge while holding off multiple units.
• Terror (4+): One enemy unit within 12" must take a morale test. If they fail, then they must take a dangerous terrain check as well.
• Rise Again (5+): One friendly unit within 12" gains Regeneration the next time they get hit. Really only useful if you're getting ready for some pain from an enemy wizard.
• Eat Soul (5+): Enemy unit within 12" takes an S4 AP 3 hit. Honestly, what a waste. It'll nail most monsters and brutes, but it's useless against heroes who cower behind their goons.
• Grief (6+): Friendly unit within 12" gains Impact 1 on their next charge. You'll be needing all the attacks you can make.
• Vicious Spirits (6+): Two enemy units within 12" take 3 AP 3 hits each. It's pretty decent for handling elites and artillery.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Grim King: He's a fairly basic beatstick (only an A3 AP 2 greatsword to hit on 3+ for that), but he's got some good debuffs in store. The stock one he comes with is Fear the King, which gives two enemy units within 12" a -1 to their next morale check. While you could use this to help break your enemies (especially if you buy Fear through some wraith heralds), you can also use this to bolster a casting of Terror or letting your minions run through their opposition.

• Grieving Queen: Your most powerful wizard/light artillery, and thus is a very visible target. Thankfully, Sands of Time allows her to regain one of her six Tough wounds, providing some resistance. You should still be making sure she's protected because of how valuable her magic power is. She comes with a death stare to provide a short-range Deadly 3 shot and handle the stray elite while her hand weapon comes with Rending. In all honesty, don't rely on the punchy weapon, you should be casting.

• Mounted Reaper: A super-powerful reaper who's more a melee-focused sidegrade of the grim king. Instead of any debuffs, this guy gets a single AP 4 Deadly 3 decapitating blow and Reap in order to help make the most out of this and your normal scythe blows (also A3 AP 2). Flying gives you a pretty good boost, and it's vital since you're a pure melee beatstick. The moment you're not killing someone's the moment it's not making their worth.

• Ghost Knight: A slightly buffer generic beatstick. This however makes them the most prone to customization, a feature all other ghostly heroes lack. It also gives a constant boost if you buy the Cursed Lantern, providing +1 to all melee AP for their unit - You'll absolutely need that. You can buy a ghost ram for a mount - while costly, it provides Impact, Tough 6 and Fast, all indispensable for getting into the fight.
  • Melee: The knight's base hand weapon tends to be serviceable, but you can upgrade it for only 5 points. Dual wielding gives you a bunch more attacks, halberd grants Rending, great weapon gives AP 2 and spear grants Phalanx.

• Ghost Wizard: Do not, under ANY circumstances, take this to fight. You will be wasting your time with that. You can't even boost its Wizard level, making them more worth it for blocking.

• Ghost Executioner: See that ghost knight? Replace its weapon for an AP 2 Deadly 3 great axe, ideal for killing heroes. That's all you're getting, so you'd better make sure you actually getting to a hero for killing.

• Ghost Jailor: A ghost knight with a great weapon essentially. However, they get their own set of special upgrades: a chained spirit grants the jailor double the amount of attacks, which is quite impressive, and Capture Souls, which deals instant hits on enemy units (3 on a 2+, 9 on a 6). This gives you a form of mob management that isn't affected by anything, so you can use it to just bomb hordes.

• Ancient Banshee: The banshee can buy a howl for some good shooting. It's short-ranged, but it can give a unit a way to manage light infantry.

• Ancient Wraith: Ghost knight with great weapon. Unlike something like, say, the jailor, this guy can't do anything else.

Infantry

• Ghost Horde: Your cheapest mob. They're pretty much disposable chaff, but they can grab different weapons (and a harpoon for hero-killing) as well as being the only infantry unit with a command group.

• Scythed Ghosts: They get no special weapons or the option for a command group, but their base weapons give A2 Rending, providing a considerable boost to your damage output.

• Ghost Reapers: Now getting to your elite mobs, they have AP 1 on their attacks and Reap, meaning they're somewhat more reliable against light infantry. They lack any command group, but you can buy a death bell for an AP 3 swipe to pop heavy armor.

• Ghost Revenants: The bruisers of the lot. They also get great weapons and Furious so they can make charges count. Really, that bonus on the charge is the only thing separating them from the herd, otherwise just grab a ghost horde.

• Banshees: A smaller mob of weak spoopies, but you can buy a Howl weapon so you can have a firing line. Their melee game is pretty much on par with the ghost hordes, so you'd be better off with those if you needed more melee - it's even roughly the same price for a mob of 10.

• Mourner Banshees: Elite banshees with 4+ quality and rending on their weapons. They can similarly become a gunline (at a higher cost), but they can also buy Spell Eater, which gives the banshees a secondary role as spell-blockers. This is especially helpful since your wizards will absolutely be too far back to stop some spells.

• Ghost Swarms: A bundle of ghosts that mob up to become Tough 3. This is essentially so you can frustrate enemies since they'll be less prone to breakage because of that. They're even cheaper than your other hordes, so it's in their nature to be used and abused.

• Glaive Stalkers: Your "average" cavalry unit gives you a pretty decent setup. Aside from Fast and Impact 1, these guys also get AP 1 Rending glaives, hardly something to look down on. They're also the only cavalry unit that can grab a command group, a pretty helpful add-on.

• Hexed Knights: Stronger knights with great weapons. These guys will most likely be your big brutes, capable of cleaving into heavy cavalry and infantry. That said, they're just as vulnerable, so you'll need magical support to last.

• Dread Knights: Impact 2 makes the dread knights' charge a bit more dangerous for the enemy, as does having an A2 hand weapon. You can buy Ambush for them, meaning you can let these guys strike whenever you need them to.

Army Building

Tactics

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Pros

• Universal (sorta) Regeneration and Strider
• You've got some good mobs with big swords
• Morale's almost a non-factor

Cons

• Your entire army is ghosts. Kinda can't pick up armor, so you NEED your Regeneration
• Your shooting is very minimal
• No damage sponges outside of your heroes

Special Rules

• Ethereal: Your models have Regeneration and you'll be needing it with how dismal your defense scores are. Note that this can stack with regular Regeneration of need be.
• Reap: Any nat 6s you roll to hit in melee let you roll an additional attack in combat. You'll definitely be needing to maximize this.
• Undead: Your models all auto-pass morale checks, which is great. Instead, you need to roll a d6 for each remaining model/Tough wound in the unit; any time you roll a 1, they suffer a wound that bypasses Regeneration.

Wizard Spells

• Dread (4+): Friendly unit within 12" can immediately charge 3". All it'll do is shift the tide a little in case you need to open up some room for another charge while holding off multiple units.
• Terror (4+): One enemy unit within 12" must take a morale test. If they fail, then they must take a dangerous terrain check as well.
• Rise Again (5+): One friendly unit within 12" gains Regeneration the next time they get hit. Really only useful if you're getting ready for some pain from an enemy wizard.
• Eat Soul (5+): Enemy unit within 12" takes an S4 AP 3 hit. Honestly, what a waste. It'll nail most monsters and brutes, but it's useless against heroes who cower behind their goons.
• Grief (6+): Friendly unit within 12" gains Impact 1 on their next charge. You'll be needing all the attacks you can make.
• Vicious Spirits (6+): Two enemy units within 12" take 3 AP 3 hits each. It's pretty decent for handling elites and artillery.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Ghost Knight: A slightly buffer generic beatstick. This however makes them the most prone to customization, a feature all other ghostly heroes lack. It also gives a constant boost if you buy the Cursed Lantern, providing +1 to all melee AP for their unit - You'll absolutely need that.
  • Melee: The knight's base hand weapon tends to be serviceable, but you can upgrade it for only 5 points. Dual wielding gives you a bunch more attacks, halberd grants Rending, great weapon gives AP 2 and spear grants Phalanx.

• Ghost Wizard: Do not, under ANY circumstances, take this to fight. You will be wasting your time with that. You can't even boost its Wizard level, making them more worth it for blocking.

• Ghost Executioner: See that ghost knight? Replace its weapon for an AP 2 Deadly 3 great axe, ideal for killing heroes. That's all you're getting, so you'd better make sure you actually getting to a hero for killing.

• Ghost Jailor: A ghost knight with a great weapon essentially. However, they get their own set of special upgrades: a chained spirit grants the jailor double the amount of attacks, which is quite impressive, and Capture Souls, which deals instant hits on enemy units (3 on a 2+, 9 on a 6). This gives you a form of mob management that isn't affected by anything, so you can use it to just bomb hordes.

• Ancient Banshee: The banshee can buy a howl for some good shooting. It's short-ranged, but it can give a unit a way to manage light infantry.

• Ancient Wraith: Ghost knight with great weapon. Unlike something like, say, the jailor, this guy can't do anything else.

Infantry

• Ghost Warrior: Your cheapest mook. They're pretty much disposable chaff, but they can grab different weapons (and a harpoon for hero-killing) as well as being the only infantry unit with a command group.

• Scythed Ghost: They get no special weapons or the option for a command group, but their base weapons give A2 Rending, providing a considerable boost to your damage output.

• Ghost Reaper: Now getting to your elite units, they have AP 1 on their attacks and Reap, meaning they're somewhat more reliable against light infantry. They lack any command group, but you can buy a death bell for an AP 3 swipe to pop heavy armor.

• Ghost Revenant: The bruisers of the lot. They also get great weapons and Furious so they can make charges count. Really, that bonus on the charge is the only thing separating them from the herd, otherwise just grab a ghost horde.

• Banshee: A smaller mob of weak spoopies, but you can buy a Howl weapon so you can shoot away. Their melee game is pretty much on par with the ghost hordes, so you'd be better off with those if you needed more melee.

• Mourner Banshee: Elite banshees with 4+ quality and rending on their weapons. They can similarly become a gunline (at a higher cost), but they can also buy Spell Eater, which gives the banshees a secondary role as spell-blockers. This is especially helpful since your wizards will absolutely be too far back to stop some spells.

• Ghost Swarm: A bundle of ghosts that mob up to become Tough 3. This is essentially so you can frustrate enemies since they'll be less prone to breakage because of that. They're even cheaper than your other hordes, so it's in their nature to be used and abused.

• Glaive Stalker: Your "average" cavalry unit gives you a pretty decent setup. Aside from Fast and Impact 1, these guys also get AP 1 Rending glaives, hardly something to look down on. They're also the only cavalry unit that can grab a command group, a pretty helpful add-on.

• Hexed Knight: Stronger knight with great weapons. These guys will most likely be your big brutes, capable of cleaving into heavy cavalry and infantry. That said, they're just as vulnerable, so you'll need magical support to last.

• Dread Knight: Impact 2 makes the dread knights' charge a bit more dangerous for the enemy, as does having an A2 hand weapon. You can buy Ambush for them, meaning you can let these guys strike whenever you need them to.

Army Building

Tactics

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Age of Fantasy Tactics Articles
General:	General Tactics
Dwarves:	Dwarves - Sky-City Dwarves - Volcanic Dwarves
Elves:	Dark Elves - Deep Sea Elves - High Elves - Wood Elves
Greenskins:	Goblins - Orcs
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Undead:	Ghostly Undead - Mummified Undead - Ossified Undead - Vampiric Undead
Other:	Giant Tribes - Halflings - Ogres - Ratmen - Saurians - Shadow Stalkers