[CaptainBudget]

Hi all,

Below is the standard list I generally use. The list itself was generally dictated by the contents of the battleforce and what models I thought I'd enjoy building and painting. On the tabletop it looks really nice (I'll try and get some photos up soon when my camera works), but I'm finding it's generally struggling. Magic-wise it works perfectly, however where it falls down I find is in hitting power. My chariot unit works very well and the catapault is reasonably destructive, but that's about it. Nothing else seems really capable of dealing out damage with a coordinated attack. Could people therefore suggest tactics I've probably not tried (I go with the "castle tactic" and try to get all my shooting units firing twice a turn, and use the chariots to plough through smaller units and flank bigger ones. I find I can dominate the movement phase quite happily (unless there's lots of enemy cavalry, then I get a bit stuck), and set up combats more in my favour. Unfortunately once in combat this is generally where I run out of hitting power.

My main pain is heavy cavalry and well-armed and/or armoured units (Chaos warriors, swordmasters, etc.)

Lords
Lich high priest
-cloak that allows him to fly, hieratic jar (bonus incantation)

Heroes
Tomb prince
-chariot of fire, flail, shield, light armour (he can't change because I have a very cool converted model to represent him)

Lich priest
-Casket of souls (draws quite a few dispel dice, no one I play dares let it off!)
-2x dispel scrolls

Lich priest
-horse (he might have a staff of ravening, can't find the army book atm to confirm)

Core
10 skeleton archers

20 warriors with shields and light armour

6 light horsemen (I use as a bodyguard for my mounted priest, make sure the prince gets his bonus movement in the shooting phase)

Special
3 Ushabti

1 Tomb Scorpion

6 chariots, full command and banner of undying legion

Rare
Catapault with skulls of foe (-1 to the panic test it causes when it inevitably kills someone)


I don't honestly have a lot of time at the moment so I can't really take a full re-work of the army list and paint some new models, but I'd like to hear people's thoughts on what tweaks might be a good idea and give those a try (and then buy some models if necessary). Tomb Guard are pretty much out of the question as I can't really afford to buy the unit in the first place (it's something like £50 for a full-sized unit now, unless they've released plastic ones without me knowing.

Thanks in advance,

 

[Yilmar]

The list looks like its still designed for 7th edition. You sure that you don't want to upgrade it in 8th edition?

Either way it is quite clear that you have way to many points stuffed in your character section. You really need to free some points up to bulk out the army. To get those points you need to drop one of the priests, in my opinion the high priest or the casket cause both are point sinks. With those points you could divide your chariots in 2*4. So including your tomb prince you only need to buy one more chariot and one more command to get 2 heavy hitters instead of one. With the points left either get another unit of bulked out skeleton warriors or tombguard. I know they are expensive but try searching some auction sites or online independant stockists.

Hope it helps!
:victory:

 

[CaptainBudget]

The list looks like its still designed for 7th edition. You sure that you don't want to upgrade it in 8th edition?

WTF??? When did that happen? I'm out the loop for a month or so (in an area with no GW for 100 miles and an internet speed from the Jurassic period so I can't look at the GW site) and an entire edition escapes under my radar

I think you're right, one of those priests may have to go, and I might try and get creative and convert some Tomb guard maybe.

What changes would you recommend to make it work in 8th edition?

 

[Yilmar]

Thats Epic :biggrin:
Haven't you noticed the other threads on 8th edition right here on heresy?

To point you in the right direction here are a few threads/links you might wanna read.

Link 1
Link 2 (google for the arcane items)

Things said on 8th edition in these videos and links are all confirmed.

:victory:

 

[CaptainBudget]

Oh dear, looks like a complete re-work may be needed anyway

I'm playing my mate tomorrow, so I'll try binning a priest and proxying another unit of infantry, see how that goes. I'll post up the list I use and go from there (can't find the book at the moment, it'll be around somewhere).

 

[CaptainBudget]

OK, found my book and made a few tweaks:

Lords
Lich high priest
-cloak that allows him to fly, hieratic jar (bonus incantation)

Heroes
Tomb prince
-chariot of fire, flail, shield, light armour (he can't change because I have a very cool converted model to represent him)

Lich priest
-Casket of souls (draws quite a few dispel dice, no one I play dares let it off!)
-2x dispel scrolls

Lich priest *Removed*
-horse

Core
10 skeleton archers

20 warriors with shields and light armour

20 warriors with shields and light armour *New unit*

6 light horsemen *Removed*

Special
3 Ushabti

1 Tomb Scorpion

6 chariots, full command and banner of undying legion

Rare
Catapault with skulls of foe (-1 to the panic test it causes when it inevitably kills someone)

I'm not sure about 8th edition's impact on magic (going to wait for the FAQ), but I'm thinking of downgrading the High priest to a normal priest and making my Tomb prince a Tomb King (possibly with some shiny toys). This will then make my chariots core and thus I've definitely spent enough points on core. I'm also thinking of then changing the second unit of warriors for Tomb guard (I'll have the points to do it as well).

What do you guys reckon? any other changes I should make?

 

[Settra]

i would recomend making the ushabti unit 4 strong, it means more attacks and you can take more punishment, 12 str6 I3 attacks every turn is not to be sniffed at also i would recomend keeping the liche priest, as in my opinion you cant realy spend to many points on characters in an army which CANNOT function with out its characters. apart from that your just going to have to get the new rulebook and deem what is now good for you although i can say, chariots have suffered horrendously

and yeah tomb guard are great

 

[CaptainBudget]

although i can say, chariots have suffered horrendously

I'm not too sure about that from what I've read, Impact hits should still go before anything else (which are what I generally rely on to tip the combat in my favour), and that generally takes the first rank out (obviously depends what I'm hitting), so yes I will still get more attacks sent my way but if I'm careful I'm not sure it will make too much difference. Unless there's something I've missed?

I have to admit I'm still in two minds about the third priest. In this edition he's pretty much essential in the magic phase because I don't have very many dispel dice compared to how many power dice my usual opponents bring; however I can get another infantry block if I bin him and his (generally useless) bodyguard, which will help against cavalry and give me some more staying power to tie down units with before ploughing chariots/Ushabti into the flanks. I'll try both versions out today if I can, see how they play.

 

[Settra]

do that the thing is with chariots is that in the new edition you fight in two+ ranks now, depending on equipment and unit size, and you always get to hit back, so even if you kill the first rank or more with impact hits they will still get to his you back, and if an enemy unit has more ranks than you, then it is stubborn

 

[CaptainBudget]

Stubborn doesn't concern me as much, my chariots have a unit strength of 21, so the enemy doesn't get it (you only get that bonus if you outnumber them apparantly). In 7th edition it meant that it was a racing certainty that as long as the unit wasn't immune to psychology and I won the combat they'd be roadkill.

Apparantly fear is being re-worked, does it still affect break tests or do I now have to win combats by a larger margin?

Two ranks though, that means my chariots can also fight in two ranks (and presumably bring impact hits into the equation?), that effectively doubles the unit's damage output. That's the second rank gone and I win by a larger margin. If anything therefore my unit is even more unpleasant as even those immune to phsychology will now practically be on "snake-eyes or die."

 

[Cheese meister]

i'm with setra right you charge in against say marauders with flails cause 4 wounds with impact hits theen loose about 3/4 chariots from them hitting back

 

[Settra]

no its if they have more ranks than you, and chariots cant fight in ranks and fear no longer affects break test :/ those chariuots go into combat and their going to kill a few and then get hit back hard and if they do win which is unlikly then its a stubborn unit and next round you dont have impact hits :/

 

[CaptainBudget]

Damn!

Looks like it's a full re-work then.

I played my mate with the two lists I've given you, and I go a right kicking. 1st game (traditional list): I won that, as I found a weak-spot in his line and ploughed straight into his 20 Dark Elf warriors with the chariots (using all my priest's magic to do it), wiping them (and his wizard lord) out and crashing into his archers. I opened the magic box in the same turn and destroyed most of his cavalry and damaged a few other units. He didn't dare let me open that again all day. His army was broken and he capitulated in turn 3 (there was realistically no way out).

Game 2 (new list): was going very well, until he fled a warrior unit and drew my chariots right into the path of two chariots and his cavalry and he killed me piecemeal. I was doing well until that point though. I felt I had more options with that extra warrior unit and didn't miss the priest that much.

Game 3 (new list): I mis-counted his dispel scrolls and my chariots got caught and destroyed. I managed to claw back a bit, but I still had no hitting power and just fell apart.

In short: the modified list worked better than the old one, but not by much and the army still has very little killing power. Does anyone have ideas for improvement that would give me more power then?

 

[Settra]

realy ushabti are teh way forward trhey are becoming even better in teh new edition

 

[CaptainBudget]

Hmm, I may have to look into that then. They are however £13 a pop which is taking the P*ss I think (they weren't that expensive when I bought the unit originally ).

 

[Cheese meister]

yes but all that ws4 s6 godness and dependant on magig stomping on faces alot

 

[CaptainBudget]

I am however a (very) poor student, so things like money are something I have to really bear in mind; that and my Downhill race bike is in dire need of some mechanical TLC (my wallet's not looking forward to that! )

Ushabti sound like they're going to be really awesome, but I really hope they come out with a plastic Kit or I'm going to struggle getting more in my army.

 

[CaptainBudget]

Hey guys, thought I'd update how my army re-work has been going.

I used the following 2000pt list today when I had my first few actual games of 8th edition:

Tomb King:
Dragonhelm (2+ ward against flaming, +1 sv), Great Weapon, Light armour

Lich priest:
Cloak of dunes, Hieratic Jar

Lich priest:
Casket of souls, dispel scroll

3x chariots
Command group

10x Skeletons
bows

20x Skeletons
Shields, light armour, command

20x Skeletons
Shields, light armour, command

20x Tomb Guard
Command, banner of undying Legion

3x Ushabti

Tomb Scorpion

Screaming skull catapault
Skulls of foe

The list worked a lot better and I found I had more killing power, though my chariots were fairly useless and didn't do much. I might drop them completely and get something else.

I did however come unstuck against my mate's Chaos warrior unit (24 with shields and banner of rage). I simply couldn't keep up with the damage they were inflicting. It was one combat with half my army involved and I just couldn't dish out enough pain to break them.

A few new tactics and I reckon this'll do nicely until the new army book comes out (eventually)

comments and criticism welcome.