I've been really hankerin' for a Tomb Kings army lately. I can't quite explain why but its probably an amalgamation of the following:
1) The models are cool
2) "Teh Internetz" says they're crap and being British i can't quite help but root for the underdog
3) I'm crap, so they make a perfectly good cover-up of my poor generalship if 2) is true!
But mainly i love the models and some of the rules.
So, i drew up a 2400pts army, and since my work filter bans the Tomb Kings of Khemri forum - presumably filed under "necromancy", i haven't had anyone look over it yet! Howeverm before I ran out and spent £307 on it (+what is an as yet unknown Heirotitan model), i thought i'd do a proxy battle with it against my recently new(ish) High Elf "Metal Mage" list.
So:
Deployment
High Elves: (from your left to right)
3 Eagles line up infornt of a hill facing a Bane Stone in no-mans land. To their left, a 20 strong unit of Pheonix Guard with the Banner of Sorcery. The BSB is in this unit and is tooled up to survive with wards and all.
In the centre, is a unit of 20 archers which house the Level 4 Metal Mage with the Annulian Crystal, a unit of 10 Archers and a Repeater Bolt Thrower. These three units are perched rather handily on an Anvil of Doom (flaming and magical attacks for those not in the know!).
To the left of this is a 21 man strong Swordmaster unit with the Bannr of Swiftness and the last Eagle.
On the High Elf left flank is a unit of 25 Spears housing a L1 Beasts mage with a scroll and a unit of Dragon Princes. In front of the spears is a Sinister Statue.
Tomb Kings (Left to right)
A unit of Horse archers hide behind a house. 6 Chariots in 2 ranks squeeze inbetween the house and some Arcane Ruins.
To the right of the ruins is a unit of 20 Skeleton Archers whic house the L4 Liche Priest (also the Heirophant) with a scroll and the Talisman of Protection. Behind this unit is the Heirotitan. On the hill are 2 Screaming Skull Catapults, upgraded with Skulls of the Foe which means any unsaved wounds cause a panic test at -1Ld.
To the right of the hill is a Casket of Souls and a30 strong unit of Tomb Guard which have the Banner of the Undying Legion. This unit also contains the Tomb Prince with the Blade of Antarhok and a Tomb Herald BSB with the Armour of Destiny.
On the right flank is a unit of 3 NecroKnights and a small unit of 10 archers.
Spells:
Level 4 (Metal): Enchanted Blades, Glittering Robe, Transmutation of Lead, Final Transmutation.
Level 1 (Beasts): Wyssans Wildform
Level 4 (Nehekhara): Incantation of Cursed Blades (gives Killing Blow), Nemi's Incantation (5++ ward), Righteous Smiting (+1A) and Incantation of Desication (-1S and -1T)
High Elf - Turn 1
I expect the Pheonix Guard to be able to hold up the Chariots but dont have a hammer available to help them out! Hopefully the spears can take the charge from the NecroKnights and the Dragon Princes can help flank. I expect the Swordmasters to be able to deal a lot of damage to the Tomb Guard but this will be reliant on their ability to neutralise the Tomb prince first to get rid of his "My will be done" rule.
With all my shooting having the flaming attacks rule courtesy of the banner and the anvil of vaul hill i should be able to significant'y weaken the Tomb Kings units! Edit: At this point i was mistakenly thinking that ALL Tomb Kings were flamable - this isn't true - only their characters for the most part
Magic: 4/2 > 5/3
Enchanted Blades on the Archers dispelled. Glittering Robe cast on Swordmasters giving them a 3+ save.
Shooting:
With an amazing number of hits and wounds, the archmages archers put 10 wounds on the Tomb Guard! Flaming attacks FTW! Mwa ha ha ha!! (Edit: again - mistake with flaming attacks!)
The smaller archer unit kill 2 of the Liche Priests archers.
The RBT fluff's its shots on one of the Screaming Skull Catapults
Tomb Kings - Turn 1
The Tomb Guard charge the Swordmasters hoping to pull some tricks off in the magic phase! The Necro-Knights failed their charge on the spears. As tempting as it would have been to take out the eagle and over-run into the flank of the Dragon Princes, that would have left me counter-chargable by the spears!
Magic: 10/6
Cursed Blades allowed through on the Tomb Guard, more than making Killing Blow 5+, it allows 2 more bodies back in the squad courtesy of the Nehekaran lore atribute!.
Righteous Smiting (+1A) cast on the 20man Archers
Casket dispelled.
Banner of the Undying brings back only 3 tomb guard!
Shooting:
The Horse Archers put a single wound on the Eagle infront of them (4)
The Chariots manage a meagre 1 wound on their Eagle (3)
The 20 strong archers kill 10 of the Archmages archers but they hold their ground!
The first SSC gets a direct hit on the RBT, wounds...and then only does one wound! Grrr!
The second SSC misfires and can't fire this or next turn!
The 10 strong archers on the right flank put 2 wounds on the Eagle (2)
Combat:
The Swordmasters kill the Herald after he dives infront of the Tomb Prince and proceed to hack another 5 Guard down. The Tomb guard take vengence by slaying 8 men of Hoeth, winning the combat but the High Elves remain put!
High Elf - Turn 2
The Pheonix Guard move to where they can charge the chariots next turn if need be but due to the footprint of the chariots, can't be charged back due to the eagle! They are also within 6" of the Bane Stone but far enough away so the chariots wouldn't be if they charged! The Spearmen move away from the Sinister Statue after losing one to it this turn!
Magic: 11/7
Failed to dispel "Transmutation of Lead" on the Tomb guard meaning i had to scroll the attempt at Final Transmuattion on my Liche Priests unit. This left the High Elves free to cast Enchanted Blades on the Swordmasters! Ouch! This combat is going to hurt!
Shooting:
The Archmages archers managed to put 2 wounds on the Heirotitan but the archers behind and the RBT all manae to fluff their shots in some manner or other!
Combat:The Eagle manages to kill a horse archer for a wound in return but manages to crumble them and reform to face the flank of the Chariots.
The Dragon Princes likewise kill 6 archers for no loss and the rest crumble back into the sands.
The Swordmasters, in what could/should have been a game ending combat phase, fail their fear test. They still manage to kill 6 Tomb Guard for a loss of 2 of their own. 3 more crumble!
Tomb Kings - Turn 2
Magic: 11/7 Damn the annulian crystal and the high Elves double channeling! This is gonna be tough!
Banner of the Undying is dispelled easily!
Casket is Dispelled...easily!
Righteous Smiting is cast on the Tomb Guard...with Irresistable force...sheesh! I roll a 4 on the miscast table and watch as the Heirotitan shrugs off the S10 hit, but the Liche Priest is sucked into the warp...causing crumbles galore! The SSC that can't fire this turn takes 2, the Casket 1, the archers a bunch...the chariots and the TG escape and the Necroknights take 1!
Shooting:
The Archers kill 2 of the Archmages bunker. The SSC misses the spears completely.
Combat:
The SM pass their fear test and slaughter 6 more tomb guard. Enraged and with the extra attack, the TG kill 5, losing 1 to crumble!
High Elf - Turn 3
Magic: 9/4
Wyssans cast on the Dragon Princes and all dispel dice are used to dispel it.
Transmutation of Lead and Enchanted blades are cast on the swordmasters/guard combat.
Shooting:
The Archers and RBT team up to kill the Heirotitan.
Combat:
The Dragon Princes manage 2 wounds on the necroknight but have 3 struck down in return - drawing the combat!
The Swordmasters, hitting on 2 re-rollable and wounding on 3's, wipe out the Tomb Guard unit! Ouch!!!
Tomb Kings - Turn 3
Magic: 6/6
Casket of Souls IF'd on Archmages archer unit, kills 5 and they proceed to flee off the table! Yay!
Shooting:
Archers kill a single Pheonix Guard - ooh that'll swing the upcoming battle >_>
The first SSC misfires (2) and cant fire enxt turn either, the second SSC misfires (4) and can't fire...
Combat:
The Dragon Princes only manage a wound on the Necro Knights who in return kill 3 and reform to face the rear of the spears.
High Elf - Turn 4
Eagle 2 charges the Casket, Pheonix Guard chanrge the archers and the Swordmaster take a reach (but fail) at the Necro Knights
Magic: 3/2 > 5/2
Wyssans fails to cast on the spears on three dice!
Shooting: Archers and RBT fail to wound the SSC thats on one wound!
Combat: Eagle does a wound and forces the casket to crumble! Pheonix Guard kill 8 archers and watch the remainig 2 crumble!
Tomb Kings - Turn 4
The Necroknights (sensing a lost battle) gung-ho charge the spearmen.
The SSC aims at the Archers but overshoots, the Chariots ping the last wound off one of the eagles!
In Combat, the Necro-knights avoid all damage whist killing 8 spearmen. Being steeadfast helps the spears hold their ground!
High Elf - Turn 5
Safe to say the game doesn't need to continue!!!
Afterthoughts and Reflections
Well Damn - lots of lessons learnt!
Chariots: Well i screwed myself with these guys from the off! Having never used anything with such a large footprint i placed them pretty much last and had ran out of room for them and didn't realise just how easily they'd get Eagle'd out the game! Jury's still out on these guys as i didn't use em properly!
Archers: The magic synergy (double shotting) is really cool and really useful, but i miss being able to stand and shoot!
Casket: All kinds of awesome when it goes off! I imagine the opponent would get wise and save dice to dispel, but then that leaves room for Nehekaran buffs to get through! The +D3 power dice are just gold-dust for Tomb Kings too!
Necroknights: I like these and should probably find a way of upping them ot 6 or 2 units of 3! WIth Poison and Killing blow, they can pretty much have a fair chance at most things (except Swordmasters in the rear!)
Tomb Guard: Looking back, i really over-estimated these guys - i mean, charging 21 swordmasters!?! What the hell was i thinking? I should have let them come and drop some skulls on their heads!
Catapults: Well i've never known so many stonethrower shots go miles wide or misfire as much!
Main lessons learnt are shoot as long as possible and use magic well! high Elves ASF and magic superiority was always going to make this a hard battle! I'll send the Tomb Kings against my Ogre List and see how they fair within the next week!
Let me know your thoughts!
The catapults are a waste in my opinion because of the unreliable nature. Casket hierotitan combo are truly the key to dominating magic. 2 units of necro knights entombed are devastating hammers and possibly scorpions acomponing them also work a treat and I usually run a 4x2 block of chariots with a tomb prince and the warsphinx is a must as the toughness 8 just makes it unkillable. Love your battle reports as I also collect tomb kings and ogres :). Get on the tomb kings forum it's so useful for tips and tricks.
ReplyDeleteRob
Rob mentions some good points about the TK and their strenghts . Two sphinxs would be advisable and the necro knights as well as well .
ReplyDeleteTK are gonna have a tough time against HEs anyway with ASF etc . Holding back and pummeling them with bow and SSC fire plus magic should weaken them before combat . TK are IMO the weakest of the new 8th ed books and have lost a lot from their old book not able to charge in the magic phase etc and most importantly not being able to march move unlike VC (which is a major flaw in the book ) .