the colossus still has 4A S6 and unstoppable assault, and he can do some damage while walking forward the enemy.

with desert wind he can get to flank_bolt the chaos knights, blood knights, and other problematic high armous save cavalry.

+ hes a large target so can see those wizards hiding on the edge of table, and still hits them on 5+ :)

im thinking of taking 2 colossi with bows, 2 catapults and a casket in those 3k pts lists.


i rarely see those guys in lists....

what are your thoughts?

You can only shoot once with that bow / shooting turn...
It,s the same for the Ushabti. The ""A" is only dedicated for the close combat.

Plus you have only low chances with a 5+ hit... not very effective in my opinion...

I personally take a Hierotitan over a Colossus simply due to the boost in my Magic Phase. Though I would love to try the Colossus one day to see how he performs.

Though always a good thing to keep in mind when choosing units I think he meant:

I just used Bowlossus on Sunday in a 2.5K game and he offed a Star Dragon with the Bow of Doom. Now granted, he didn't do much else save suck up my opponents ranged attacks for two turns, but this in turn allowed my Tomb Guard and Necropolis Knights to actually get into CC unscathed.

Big Bone is a streaky model but I've always loved him for what he is. I think he definitely has a place in an advancing gunline that isn't castling (which may very well develop into my new, ever-evolving 8E playstyle). Monsters, Monstrous Infantry/Cavalry and high AS models have to honor the Doom Bow (same with Ushabti sans the D3 wounds). Sure you're going to miss with it more often than not, but the look of horror when it hits is almost as rewarding as the look you get when your Colossus goes on an UA rampage.

Now if they'd just give us an appropriate GD model!!!!

I'm actually looking at a list that's pretty much all Archers of one stripe or another. Bowshabti, Doombow Colossi, Horse Archers and basic foot archers with Khalida. Who needs Warmachines when we have walking bolt throwers? And you can always cast Smiting on the Ushabti or Bubble it. Heck, I think you can actually put Khalida in a unit of Ushabti if you want.

And the Bow of the Desert is Flaming and ignores armour. What's not to like?

I prefer Great Weapon myself.

He will give any character, even WS7, unit, or even Monster pause at Strength 8.

As for the Bow of the Desert, you are paying 20 points for something that hits no better than 1/3 of the time. What would you target? Compared to the SSC, they are better against knights. Everything else, a flaming rock at S9 tends to do better.

Correction, you are paying 20 points for something that always hits 1/3 of the time. That can deal up to 18 armour ignoring wounds, that can move-and-shoot, and is mounted on a platform which can still tear through small units on the charge. Strength 6 is nothing to sneeze at, even without Thunderstomps (which, as a Monster, it should be able to do, right?)

where does it say its flaming?

@bad mojo - also S8 is my favorite too.

i dunno, i have two of those bow giants & im planning to use them more often. maybe they will come in handy against chaos, bretonnia...

BUT you gotta admit - the colossus with a giant bow looks EPIC!

I suppose I'd admit it if they ever got around to selling me a model!

:angry:

Doesn't the conversion in Chronicles 2004 count? That's as GW as it gets.

I was mistaken about the flaming part. Still, ignoring armour is niiice.

And I'm actually creating 'giant kits' that I'm planning on selling- unless you're stuck with GW stuff (and I can do conversions) look up Red Iron Games and Miniatures (or just PM me. I don't have a working website up quite yet.). Some will have an Egyptian theme, and I'm going to be using them myself for my Heirotitan and Colossi.

Also creating a Tomb Scor-I mean 'Scorpion Tomb'.


You can get, what, 2 in most games, and 3 in ones over 3000 points, correct?

u just need to sculpt some fingers and cut the bow out of the plastic sprue...

ill try to do a step_by_step topic in the 'painting and modeling' section.

I'm with Anvildude on this if for no other reason than I actually had fun running him. Had I not brought the Bowlossus or the Bowshabti, it's unlikely I would've been able to off that Dragon. :)

Actually, the data in another thread shows that you would have a _better_ chance of doing it with regular TK bows.

You know damn well maffhamma doesn't apply to me, Sleb! :P

Edit: Besides, my regular archers were busy shooting at Swordmasters who had garrisoned a building (yeah...I know...:blink:).

I've used one recently and although it was a statistical anomaly, it more than made it's points back. It shot through some ranks, took two wounds off of a monstrous cav model and then supported my TG anvil with a charge to win me the game. Thunderstomp is a great equalizer, especially when combined with it's charge ability.

Tomb Kings seem to have something going with a lot of their units that most other armies don't- versatilty. Granted, this means that they're often worse at any single task than an equivalent from a different army, but it also means that you can run the same list different ways, keeping your opponent on their toes.

Skeleton Archers are almost as good in CC as Sword&Board Skellies (exactly equal when you take Light Armour on them, and get a Ward spell cast) and can be pretty dangerous with Smiting on them. They also shoot like none other, with always hitting on 5+ and shooting and moving. So a block of Archers can be either fire support, or can be charged into combat when needed.

Ushabti can take free Greatbows, which allow them a pretty mean shooting attack from decent range- but they're still Monstrous Infantry that can take a pounding and dish one out in CC. (crumble notwithstanding)

Bow Colossi are the same, almost exactly as dangerous as AHW Colossi on the charge, and still Monsters, while also slinging a Bolt Thrower around (and a pretty powerful one at that, as it ignores armour).

Chariots, from what I've seen, kill things with their bows just as often as they do on charges.

Khalida has a powerful ranged spell, and boosts archers incredibly, while also being fast and dangerous in CC.

Arkhan is one of the most powerful Wizards in the game, with T5, the option of a chariot, and a life-draining blade.

Settra is a beatstick on wheels, who can also cast spells.

The Casket boosts our Magic phase, while adding a fairly strong shooting attack as well.

Heirotitans boost magic, fire frikkin' Lazers, and are massive stompy statues.


In short, you could have a TK list tailored for Ranged attacking, that you still don't want to get too close to, because we could charge in and smash your face just as well as we could with a similar, CC oriented list. Or, say we've got a list full of Chariots, meant to charge in and attack, but the enemy is redirecting with Etherial units. We can do drive-bys while our priests and war statues take care of the ghosts.

That, I think, is where things like Bowshabti and the Bow of the Desert come in handy- giving us options that other armies simply do not have.

This is kinda what I'm hoping for as I move forward. I've only played two games (both 2.5K against LM and HE) so far like this, but I've won them both and everyone left happy. We'll see how this plays out over the course of the few weeks.

My next challenge is a 3K Skaven list...which should prove to be interesting.

Another TK player I know tested this out a few times...It failed horribly every time.

I heard GodHead tried it, with mixed results. I didn't get any exact feedback, though.

You really need to bring two Bowlossi (heh) to get some results from them. Their biggest ability is the psychological impact they will have on your opponent.

TWAAANG-CRUNCH!

Oh, sorry, there goes a rank of knights. Were those expensive?

Brolossi?!? :blink:

IF you hit, you are still only likely to get two Knights (S6, S5) then you are down to 50/50.

So, one third of the time you might kill some of the models in a unit.

Yay.

I see it exactly like I view the magic phase...with the added bonus of the possibility of Unstoppable Assault. :P

There should be a special rule for Bowlossi:

During the shooting phase, if there are enemy, non-monstrous, non-character, infantry models within x" of Necrolith Colossus, nominate one and roll a D6. On a roll of 5+ the Necrolith Colossus uses the nominated model as ammunition. As the unfortunate projectile screams and squirms center the small template around your target and roll the scatter dice. Once the position of the template is determined; the model under the center whole suffers a Strength hit equal to the Ammunition model's toughness. All other models touched by the template suffer a strength 1 hit as the force of the impact flings bitts of the little fellow in all directions.

Why? Cause its fun >:3

What?!?

No panic test?!?

You disappoint me, Aegis!!!!!!1!11!

Dx I knew I was forgetting -something-


T,T not perfect I suppose....

Sounds almost like a doom diver...

Then again that's how I first thought the fluff for the screaming skull catapult Lol

yup, sounds underwhelming. still, knights are the only target which is better targeted by ushabti, or the dessert bow, than by regular archers. I always took that math as the message "just don't shoot knights' but of course if you bring the collosus anyway, you might as well give him the bow. I don't feel that difference between str6 and str 8, 1s will fail always anyway, so I don't mind choosing the bow over the other weapons.

there is a difference - S8 can kill chaos knights and imperial cans, other 2+ cavalry without a save. S6 means that a chaos knight will have a 4+ save which is bad news for your 'unstoppable assault'. also S8 is great for killing monsters, 1+ rr doombools, stegadons, doomwheels, thundertusks, ghorgons, other sphinxs

great news, everyone! the stenk is now T6! bow of the desert is even better

sadly though, it looks like the engineer riding it doesn't have any initiative so the stalkers won't work anymore :(

as well since every army seems to get high armored monstrous cav. (again, the t3 of the demigryphs makes them extra tasty for ranks-piercing from the side.)

+1 colossus with gw is so much better IMHO

I think the s8 is just very situational, especially in terms of an unstoppable assault (UA). To pull of something impressive, the giant will always need to charge. what teclis mentioned as potential targets for a S8 UA, knights, dragons, doombulls etc. all of that will outcharge you. It is true that str 8 UA would be nice, but it's not going to happen, and in my opinion the charging colossus is not the tool to take on knights. sphinxes, yes, maybe.

shooting with that bow, on the other hand, does negate the knights armor, just like str 8, but it does so without any risk of being beaten up before you get to strike (but only one unaccurate shot/turn of course)

Yeah, bolt throwers are going to be a problem for steam tanks now. A GW collossus is not bad either, if you can manage a pin + charge scenario.

do you still auto hit the new stank? makes GW UA a near auto kill on that thing if you do.

The bow is a low risk/high reward thing. I mean, for a 20 pt investment you can kill 200+ point monsters, characters, etc. It requires a lot of luck, but so what? Its the same reason I love the channeling staff - low investment for huge potential. If it works, awesome. If it doesn't, oh well.

I've been putting together army lists for three upcoming tournaments and a unit of 12 bow ushabti + 2 bow colossus appear in each one. I'm starting to think that advancing with a wall of S6 shooters that can fight also might be my new approach.

Now I just need GW to release a kit for the bow colossus.