Hey all,

Been lurking and reading these forums for a while now. I'm pretty new to fantasy, but have been playing 40k for a few years (Tomb Kings in Space represent B) ).

I have been pulling together a lot of research and from what I have seen, I really like the ranged options this army has. Well, I honestly love the whole army, but I don't have any gripes yet as I have only played one game :P .

So without further ado, here is a 2k list I have put together. I have about half of these collected and put together. Still working on the rest, but I have some ideas on how the army might work. I would love some experienced opinions on the list.

Lord
Liche High Priest - Lore of Nehekharan (280)
Lvl 4
Dispel Scroll
Talisman of Preservation

Hero
Liche Priest - Lore of Nehekharan (130)
Lvl 2
Channeling Staff
Dragonbane Gem

Core
30x Skelton Archer (200)
Musician
Standard

30x Skelton Archer (200)
Musician
Standard

3x Chariots (195)
Musician
Standard
Banner of Eternal Flame

3x Chariots (185)
Musician
Standard

Special
6x Bowshabti (320)
Musician
Standard

Hierotitan (175)

Rare
Casket of Souls (135)

Screaming Skull Catapult (90)

Screaming Skull Catapult (90)

Total - 2000 on the nose

The casters each run with their own group of archers near the middle to back, one on each side. The titan will be centered between the two with the bowshabti in front of it. The casket and catapults spread through the back to cover as much area as possible. The chariots will be set on each side to guard the flanks.

One possible change I have thought about was dropping the second priest and a set of chariots and dropping in a sphynx. I just haven't worked out the points yet.

What do you guys think?

Looks cool and shootie!

I would keep the extra wizard, my experience is that if you don't have a lot of spells to threaten your opponent then they know what to save dispel dice for in their phase and can gimp your magic. I would think about adding a death wizard in there to snipe characters out, could work well with the SSC panic test if they don't have BSB rerolls or a Inspiring presecne around.

I don't know how boshabti work, I haven't tried them honestly. I am scared that its not enough shots to severly hamper a horde, and just not strong enough to war machine/heavy cav. hunt with but thats an uneducated opinion. I have been happy with my TG / warsphinx in special, and have thought about the Knights, but I guess that doesn't really match your flavor in the list.

Let me know how it works.

I personally don't like Ushabti at less than 8. I'd add two and reduce the archers accordingly.

You'll not really *need* that level 2 to be Lore of Nehekharan. Personally I advocate the use of a light wizard for movement and buffs (Timewarp and speed of lights allows TK to compensate for terrible Int.)

However, given that your list is quite ranged, the close combat buffs lights brings aren't going to be as effective. Chariots and Bowshabti don't gain that much either... I'd be inclined to follow Verminard's advice, and get a death wizard to snipe enemy characters.

Other than that it looks a solid list. Make sure you put smiting on your Bowshabti (also bump them up to 8... I know being sold in packs of 3 is annoying, maybe ask your opponent if you can proxy?) to get EXTRA S6 shots pew pew!

Hmm, that is going to be another 100 points for the Ushabti.

That is a loss of 17 archers. With their lack of str and BS I was hoping to keep their shots at a higher amount. I guess I could knock one 30 man to a 10 man. That way I still have one unit with a large set of shots.

Are a possible 34 BS2 S3 shots <= a possible 4 BS2 S6 shots?

On the other hand, I do think I will follow the advice and go Lore of Death on my lvl 2.

That is all I get? No Mathhammer from anyone? :D

Guess the list might be a good one to start with.

I rewrote the list to include two more Bowshabti and brought down the archer squads to 20 each and changed the lvl 2 priest to Lore of Death

I'm glad I got to look through it again though. I realized that my hierotitan was in the special slot and is actually a rare. I moved him and it puts me 10 points under 25% for rares. Close one.

I also end up with 20 more points to play around with. I'll have to research some more into magic items and figure something out there.

The new list:

Lord
Liche High Priest - Lore of Nehekharan (280)
Lvl 4
Dispel Scroll
Talisman of Preservation

Hero
Liche Priest - Lore of Death (130)
Lvl 2
Channeling Staff
Dragonbane Gem

Core
20x Skelton Archer (140)
Musician
Standard

20x Skelton Archer (140)
Musician
Standard

3x Chariots (195)
Musician
Standard
Banner of Eternal Flame

3x Chariots (185)
Musician
Standard

Special
8x Bowshabti (420)
Musician
Standard

Rare
Casket of Souls (135)

Hierotitan (175)

Screaming Skull Catapult (90)

Screaming Skull Catapult (90)

Total - 1980


I will hopefully get a chance to proxy enough and run this list this weekend. I'll try to come up with some comments on how it plays out.

I'd be keen to drop the ward save from the Hierophant, if he's in combat he's dead, it's that simple.

I think 4 chariots are the way to go, when fielded in 3's I find after taking a model off they really lose their effectiveness.

I don't have any experience with the Bowshabti so won't comment on them but for each Bowshabti that's potentially another 8 archers. I know they're half the strength but that provides you with more chances to hit and wound and of course if smiting goes off you're doubling your chances.

Look forward to hearing about your games.

The ward save was mainly for sniping magic. I have a friend I will be playing with that likes the Lore of Death. From what I have been reading, he can target a model with a few of those spells. If my Hierophant goes, the army is soon to follow.

I agree with the ushabti thing. That is why I was asking earlier if a possible 4 more st6 shots were equal to or greater than a possible 34 st3 shots. Those numbers include smiting of course. If I can get the spells that lower toughness for our lore and the lore of death, can they be stacked to lower toughness enough to make that st3 more viable?

I have a good chunk of the first list together and plan on running with 6 Ushabti (since I actually have 6 atm) and the two groups of 30 archers this weekend. I'll be playing against dark elves or orcs and globlins and the new empire. We shall see how it goes. I'll try to write some stuff down and come up with a decent recap of the game.

Most all of our spells can be 'stacked', either with LoD or with Khatep's Loremaster rule. It's possible to, with a combination of magic and luck, put -7 Toughness/Strength on something.

Movarus- Welcome to the Tomb King forums.

I like the the setup of your army, for example your character setups are good.

Coming from a veteran gamer, the problem I see with this list this that it has no strong hammer units. You army right now has the capacity to wither the opponents army away through shooting but once enemy forces that remain reach your lines you have no capacity to counter-charge them and properly fight back. Sphinx's, Necroknights, Necrolith Colossus, Tomb Guard and to an extend GW or 2HW Ushabti fill this role in the army and I don't find any of these units in the army.

I think Jervis Johnson once stated that "shooting will rarely win you games" and here he has a point. Put some units with punch in the army and I believe you will find it to be a much more effective list.

Good luck!

I was able to proxy enough that I ran a version of the first list with a little modification. I switched out some stuff and took the book that gives +1 to casting and dispelling which combined with my heirotitan, made for some fun magic phases.

I am unimpressed with skeleton archers as a whole. You need some tremendous luck to wound with them. 5+ is hard enough, then needed lots of 5+ and 6+ for wounds was rough. Of course it didn't help that my opponent knew about smiting and tried his best to keep it from going off every turn. This made my other magic fun, but alas really dumbed down my shooting.

The chariots were nice if they charged, but if they were charged it didn't go very well.

The catapults were unimpressive. Not really causing many wounds and having a BSB nearby the units that did take wounds got that second reroll each time.

The casket was amazing. He spent so many dice dispelling my smiting that this guy was really able to shine.

The ushabti were amazing. I did pretty well on their initial 5+ to hit and the st6 did plenty of damage. They held their own pretty well in combat as well.

Overall I think I agree with saurus and I need some extra hard hitting units. I will have to start reworking points and try to fit in a few things. I might include a war sphynx, as I like how they work.

In the end though, we tied. However, due to my learning of the game I was not doing well. His purple sun was the game changer. It stayed in play the whole game and as he came into my back ranks it turned and ran right through two hydras and one of his wizards. I think he regretted that decision this time around.

Ok here is the new list I think I might play around with next time.

Lord - 285 (14%)

Liche High Priest (285)
lvl 4 - Lore of Nehekharan
Book of Ashur
Dragonbane Gem

Hero - 110 (6%)

Liche Priest (110)
Lvl 2 - Lore of Death

Core - 511 (26%)

23x Skeleton Archer (158)
Musician
Standard

23x Skeleton Archer (158)
Musician
Standard

3x Chariots (195)
Musician
Standard
Banner of Eternal Flame

Special - 780 (39%)

Ushabti - Bow (320)
Musician
Standard

Warsphinx (230)
Fiery Roar

Warsphinx (230)
Fiery Roar

Rare - 310 (16%)

Casket (135)

Hierotitan (175)

Total = 1996

Priests run with archers for protection. One on each side. Hierotian in middle with Bowshabti in front of titan.

One kitty on each side with Chariots lined up to help with flanks.

Casket sits in back melting faces.

I like this a lot. I have been thinking about running something similar.
I find your experiences interesting with the Bowshabti.
Keep in mind you could probably add a unit of 30 TG in place of them if you feel they are loosing their place at any time.
Would definitely add one more anvil for you.

Here are some changes I believe would make your list better. These are only suggestions and its up to you whether you take them or not. You might have play with the points but I feel you will do much better with this list. Changes are in bold. Good Luck!

Lord

Liche High Priest
lvl 4 - Lore of Nehekhara
Talisman of Preservation (for beginners, drop it once your more experienced)
Power stone or channeling staff

Hero

Liche Priest
Lvl 2 - Lore of Nehekhara
Dispel Scroll

Core

20x Skeleton Archer
Musician
Standard

20x Skeleton Archer
Musician
Standard

4x Chariots
Full Command
Banner of Eternal Flame

Special

6 Ushabti - Bow
Full Command

The rest looks good.

Warsphinx (230)
Fiery Roar

Warsphinx (230)
Fiery Roar

Rare

Casket (135)

Hierotitan (175)

I have a few questions about that updated list.

Why would I want to take the full command? The "Master" and "Ancient" only get +1A. Also, then there can be challenges and some weird things can be done with challenges that have annoyed me. Essentially a character was able to call a challenge and wipe my "Master" and I lost combat because the rest of the group didn't swing.

Also, with the talisman, is that worth taking? It will help if I'm targeted by direct damage spells, but I've noticed and read that it won't due much if I'm failing to the point that he ends up in combat. Keeping him in a group of archers keeps him near the back as well.

Thanks again for the help guys.


edit:
Also, Saurus, your list is sitting at 2050. I'm limited to 2000.

They are useful for two reasons. The first is to challenge 'combat wombat' characters such as vampire lords to limit the damage they can do to the unit. The second is due to healing the unit. The rules state that a model must be healed to its full wounds before other models can be resurrected. Say you have an 6 Ushabti. Say one has been lost in combat and another is on 1 wound. Before the lost Ushabti can be resurrected, the damaged one must be completely healed. Now say you have lost the champion instead and have another regular Usabti on 1 wound. The rules state champions are ALWAYS resurrected and healed before rank-and-file models, meaning you can get your champion back with one wound before you have to heal the other models, making champions very useful indeed.

It will help against him being targeted by magic and shooting sniping abilities. Will also help against him taking strength 6 hits from miscasts or from misfires from skullstorm. Will also help against kamakazi assassin units. But you are correct, it will not save him in a prolonged combat.

I figured as much, you might have to drop the talisman or cut a couple of skeleton bowmen. Good luck!

It's like using wound allocation in 40k. Always something sneaky you can do. I will have to remember that information about the champion and the wound regeneration.

Thanks again for the help. I am hoping to get a game in soon. I'll let you guys know how I do.

jep the saurus dude .. said it all :) ;)

good luck :)