Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Undead Legions

An army added in the 2014 The End Times supplement/core rules update from Games Workshop to Warhammer Fantasy. It represents the myriad forces united under Nagash, who intends to both conquer the entire world and make all living beings into servants or Undead (although Nagash doesn't seem picky about what KIND of Undead you end up becoming) and take over the Realm of Chaos and consume the Chaos Gods to become the embodiment of Chaos Undivided. From that point on, it's likely he'd wage war on the multiverse (of which Warhammer 40000 is a part). As a result, this is a pretty powerful faction with some serious ambition to it.

Why Play Undead Legions

It is an enormous army of Undead, led by Nagash and trying to both conquer the world and destroy Chaos. It has almost everything found in both both the Vampire Counts and the Tomb Kings armies, making it the single most versatile army in the game.

You can make full-cavalry lists with Skeleton Horsemen as Core and Black Knights as Special, or convert a Necrolyth Colossus as von Carstein family statue. The options are mind-boggling!

It's also Neutral for the sake of allying in 3+ player games, allowing Vampire Counts (previously Destruction-aligned only) to fight as allies with anyone in the game from Dwarfs to Daemons.

GW pretty much brought back the "Warhammer: Undead" army from 4th Edition, but with more models than even Space Marines... Awesome!

Army Special Rules

By default, all options follow the basic rules of their original armies unless otherwise contradicted, but there are some additions.

• Undead Legions are a Neutral army like Tomb Kings, and can ally with any faction in the game for the purpose of 3+ player games.
• No crumble if your General dies. This includes undead summoned by Lore of Undeath. For that reason, the Hierophant is officially not needed for your Tomb Kings. Likewise, your VC General no longer needs to be a spellcasting model with the highest Leadership that gets forced into Lore of Vampires. The General still is the highest LD model in the army however.
• Tomb King models can March if they are within 12" of general.
• Nehekharan Undead now count as ordinary Undead for the sake of rules, and anything that specifically references "Undead" or "Nehekharan Undead" works for both (so you can take a Tomb Prince with a unit of Grave Guard, boost Necromancers with Hierotitans, or grant your chariots kick-ass regeneration with your Mortis Engine).
• Tomb King Constructs can only heal one wound per casting of a spell that heals friendly models, just like Characters and Ethereal models.
• Characters/Units can only take options/upgrades/magic items from their respective army books-so no Sphinx-riding Vampires, Red Fury Tomb Kings, Corpse Cart High Priests, or Chariot Necromancers.

Unit Analysis

Lords & Heroes

Note Under End Times supplement rules, you can spend up to 50% of your points on Lords, AND up to 50% on your heroes since they have separate points spending pools. You still of course need 25% Core regardless however. When considering characters to be your General, it is important to remember that anything within 12 inches of them will be able to march.

Named Characters

Note: Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, many named characters do have abilities and war gear combos unique to them so if you need to have them go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

Lords

Nagash: Holy shit Nagash is back! Not only is he back but he has a crazy statline and summing up everything doesn't quite do him justice, here's the cliffnotes: He's a melee and magic powerhouse that is capable of taking on Greater Daemons in melee while out-magicking Teclis and summoning legions of Undead straight onto the field, so no matter how you want to use him he's up to the task. He is however 1000 points. For more detail, click the "expand" button to the right (he has a fuckload of rules, so his section is collapsible so he doesn't take up a huge amount of space).

Nagash is a special Lord-level Monster with a crazy statline. EVERYTHING is 7 other than Move, Initiative, and Attacks which are 6 and a Leadership of 10, plus even crazier special rules. Not to mention his magic items of eternal FUCK YOU, which make Malekith and Archaon's shit look like Core gear. He is a Large Target, and is obviously a Terror-causing Undead. Death Magic Incarnate allows all friendly models within 12 inches of him to suffer two less Wounds from Unstable, which stacks with other modifiers like the Battle Standard Bearer bonus (making Nagash a great model if you're intentionally making the biggest Tarpit army possible).

Melee: Zefet-nebtar, The Mortis Blade, is a Magic weapon which gives him +1S and Multiple Wounds (D3) Special Rule. Morikhane, The Black Armour is a Magic Armor which gives Nagash a 4+ in both Armor and Ward Save. Since he's a Monster, he has the Thunderstomp ability. At this point, he's better than even Red Fury Master Vampires as he's dealing six 8 Strength D3 Wound attacks, some of which can be Heroic Killing Blow, per turn (see Alakanash, in Magic, below). Plus he doesn't HAVE to be the General of your army if you can field something else with a 10 Leadership in a large game, allowing you to throw in Nagash as your sacrificial rapetrain. Nagash can take on any character currently in the game in melee and win, although the best suited against him are Thorgrim or a High Elf unit/character under Banner of the World Dragon. Both will have a 2+ against Nagash's attacks. In addition, a build exists for the Dwarf Daemonslayer where he gets Grudge/Might/Speed and ends up with a 40% chance to kill Nagash in Close Combat (which would be an epic death, even by Slayer standards). While not exactly a killing strategy, Dwarfs could make one of their Lords T10 with Shield-Bearers for extra Wounds which would make it extremely unlikely Nagash could land a blow on them in Close Combat, effectively Tarpitting him for the rest of the game. Good thing for Undead Legion players, Warriors don't have Harry the Hammer anymore...

Magic: He is a Level 5 Wizard with access to Lores of: Death, Light, Nehekhara, Vampires and Undeath. His Arch-Necromancer ability allows him to reroll Miscasts, although he must accept the second result (so the original reason Teclis was overpowered back in 7th). Alakanash, the Staff of Power allows him to store up to four Power Dice from his current pool for later use in any of his magic phases, you can also discard one any of these dice before Close Combat to give HKB to one of his attacks per dice discarded, including ones made with Zefet-nebtar (though you roll for them separately), allowing you to surpass the six Dice per spell limit. Supreme Lord of the Undead allows any models summoned from his Lore of Undeath spells to triple in range as well as points allowed, including additional points created by Raise the Dead counters (although it doesn't triple those, merely adds to the range). That's an important rule; while other casters could at difficulty 16+ summon 150 points worth of Monstrous Infantry models somewhere in 12 inches of themselves, Nagash could summon 450 points of models anywhere in 36 inches of himself. That includes options like Crypt Horrors, which puts models that refuse to die anywhere on the flanks of the enemy, and with Nagash's wizard level 5 it's only an 11+ difficulty to cast. Needless to say, Nagash tops in terms of annoyance (and how many models you're going to need to buy). The 9 Books of Nagash allow him to have 9 spells, the first always being, "Ryze, The Grave Call" from the Lore of Undeath, and he rolls the others from any selection of the Lores he knows although he does not pick them, but he can roll in any combination (similar to how Alarielle the Radiant rolls for her spells). It's worth noting that each time Nagash casts a Lore of Vampires spell, he'll restore one Wound to himself. In summary of Nagash's magic abilities; best in the entire game.

Sweet merciful fuck. Talk about bringing a Tomahawk Missile to a knife fight. Nagash is currently the most overpowered thing in the entire game, putting everything from High Elf Banner tactics and Dwarf Cannon spam to within the "acceptable" range (although it's arguable for the Dwarftillery).

Weaknesses: Don't think that because you just put Nagash on the table, you're going to win though. There is a couple ways to kill him. The Empire has a magic item that allows a character to swap stats with a model in base contact, like everything else in the game Dwarf Cannons are the bane of his existence (re-rolls make it very easy to hit him, and you've got a 50/50 shot of getting through that ward save and causing D6 Wounds) so if you face that Dwarfpoleon buddy of yours you can watch Nagash get blown to pieces over the course of three turns or so (and that's IF they don't spam artillery). However, non-Dwarf Cannons are decidedly less effective. They'll need approximately 7 shots (without rerolls) since on average 1 won't hit, 1 will misfire, 1 won't Wound, and 2 will bounce off his save. If he survives then he can then heal himself using Lore of Vampires magic, but only one wound per successful spell, and if he's healing himself then he's not casting any summoning spells from the Lore of Undeath which means he loses a lot of his use. One would at first glance think that Tamurkhan's ability to take control of an enemy that kills him would be the perfect trolling option. But Tamurkhan's villain override only works on Infantry or Monstrous Infantry while Nagash is of the Monster category, and in addition it only works on things that kill him in Close Combat meaning that the player controlling Naggy would simply blast it with magic instead of charging into melee anyway.

• Vlad von Carstein, Mortarch of Shadow:

Out of all of the Mortarchs, Vlad is the one most likely to survive a battle despite only having 3 Wounds (though as a vampire he can heal those and gets a bonus to do so). His ring still gives him the chance to pop back to life, and thanks to the fact he's not on a ghost horse he can get Look Out Sir! rolls from a Unit. As such, Vlad ties with Mannfred and Neferata as the best named choice after Nagash to actually put into play (though Vlad plays the classic VC bunker Lord list). He's had his Beloved in Death rule replaced with the Mortarch of Shadow special rule which gives everything a -1 To Hit against him and a -1 to the Leadership of all models nearby him, and as a Terror-causer this can be beneficial when facing low Leadership armies. The -1 To Hit makes him even better in combat which, combined with his sword makes him the hardest to kill Mortarch. Aside from his equipment and Mortarch rule he's really just a generic Wizard lvl 3 Vampire Lord, with the added bonus of picking spells like Nagash from Death, Shadow, Vampire, or Undeath. As a Vampire, he can restore Wounds lost if he deals an Unsaved Wound against an enemy, but thanks to his Magic Weapon (which also grants him +1 Strength) he gets that Wound on a 4+ instead of a 6+. He also has a 4+ Ward Save, and a 83-84% chance to come back to life with one Wound in a Unit 12 inches near him if he's killed. So is he worth it compared to the generic? Eh...yeah. The problem is he's not a level 4 caster, which isn't terrible, and he isn't Red Fury, which also isn't terrible. He's not Netlist material but otherwise he's a good option. The generic can be kitted out to either be a best possible spellcaster or have better damage or better survivability, but Vlad mixes them all in an acceptable way. The primary way to use Vlad is to kit him out fully in Lore of Death, since he'll be able to survive in the range that puts the lore to the best use while you have a Lore of Vampires Level 4 Master Necromancer somewhere else. Shadows is also viable if you get Okkam's Mindrazor.

• Count Mannfred, Mortarch of Night:

Mannfred may have lost Loremaster, but he got survivability and some of Konrad's batshit insane melee action instead. A Mannfred list is one full of fast and killy options, as you want to get into combat as soon as possible and tear up the enemy without giving them a chance to reposition themselves to take what you're dishing out. His statline is pretty impressive being a Lvl 4 Wizard Vampire Lord that picks spells like Nagash from Death, Vampire, or Undeath and his mount (that he cannot be separated from) upping some of his stats to T6, W10, and A9. Mannfred is best to put into the weakest enemies first, so you can use those 6-12 Attacks (Dark Cunning gives him more attacks when he's in combat, and more magic dice when he's out of it) to rip apart the enemy and generate more Power and Dispel Dice from his sword for yourself. As for those Power Dice, you're going to be sitting on a HUGE pile of them so you'll want to bring spellcasters to use them (and lessen the burden on Mannfred in case of a miscast coming his way). His extra toughness and wounds are going to help against mass shooting and artillery which he'll attract being a Flying Monster (being a vampire he can heal himself the usual way), and the double range summoning spells mean he can be up close to the enemy and still bring in troops wherever you need them. Overall a good unit on the offensive and defensive for both combat and magic, but still not quite worth the 650 points (though with his magic generation he comes very close) since a generic Vampire Lord and generic Master Necromancer can do the job as well if not better without being cannon bait.

• Queen Neferata, Mortarch of Blood:

Nefereta is a situational character, although not without merit. Anything trying to hit her has a -1 To Hit, which is nice. The unique thing about Neffy though is she has a fun little magic dagger which, if it causes an unsaved Wound, cuts the Strength, Toughness, and Attacks of the target to a mere 1 for the rest of the game. Although most models with such an ability would make it one-use, Nef's isn't as it "only affects a model once per game" meaning if the target is somehow restored her trick won't work twice. Her Always Strikes First combined with her high Strength and Weapon Skill and rerolls she's usually get mean she will will cripple anything dumb enough to take her in a challenge. She can regain wounds like a regular vampire and being a Flying Monster she now has 8 of them, she can also eat up a Unit with the new 8 attacks she gets, although anything with high Strength (that can hit her before she hits it) and/or Great Weapons will mulch through her T6 and -1 To Hit since she lacks any save (as her mount doesn't have it's own profile). Being the Mortarch of Blood means if she kills an enemy character (very likely since the first wound she causes takes away some of their toughness) then she'll spawn an un-upgraded generic Vampire. It's an interesting ability, giving a level 1 caster with four S5 Attacks, but it won't get her out of trouble if she gets stuck in prolonged combat and it's nothing you couldn't do with a level 4 in Lore of Undeath chucking mad Power Dice. She deals D3 Strength 5 hits to anything she Hexes or hits with a Magic Missile, and is a level 3 in Death, Shadow, Vampires, or Undeath (of them, Shadow is the best for those tasty Hexes). This makes her a dedicated offensive caster, and a list built around her should bring some Necromancers or Priests to provide the necessary Augments. She can't do anything against any high Armor or high Toughness enemies, but you shouldn't be using your characters for that anyway. Her main use is in countering the comeback of Herohammer the new 50% Lord allowance will undoubtedly bring, as her role in the army is that of a finesse scalpel, used to cut out the tendons of any named characters when there's an opening. Sadly, like Manny and Vladdy'boy the two other generic vamps could still outdo her and cost about the same as her 650 point price tag. However, like Vlad and Mannfred she isn't excluded from anything but netlists.

• Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament:

If there's a Mortarch you need to eliminate as a possibility right off the bat, it's Arkhan. No longer a 5th level Wizard, he's now level 4, and generates his spells from the lore of Death and Undeath like Naggy, making him the only Dread Abyssal Mortarch who cannot heal himself with Lore of Vampires (instead he can only heal in combat like a vampire, at which he's the worst of the 3 mounted Mortarchs). Since Death would require him to be near the front of the battle, he's more or less stuck in Lore of Undeath for sure. He's a poor man's Nagash, able to summon double points from lore of Undeath, but stuck with the usual short range. That would make him just a factory to float as far as possible from any enemy movement and send his summons towards the foe. His T6 and W8 will only go so far for keeping him alive (he has no save other than the 6+ from his mount), and his terrible Initiative will make him vulnerable to characteristic tests. The only thing he's good at is supporting ranged lists since those are possible now, constantly summoning more archers or redirectors onto the table, but even then you are better off with generic Master Necromancers as you can get almost three level 4 Master Necromancers for the 650 points Arkhan costs.

• Krell, Mortarch of Despair:

No horse and at only 250 points is the cheapest Mortarch. Mostly unchanged other than swapping from Kemmler to Nagash in servitude. His statline is pretty low (compared to the rest of the Mortarchs) and at LD 10 you almost NEED someone else LD 10 to make General as Krell is pretty vulnerable on his own, but he's worth every penny when supported in the right way. You will almost never use the Champion of Nagash rule because the points level to field them together is a minimum of 2500 and since he's Infantry while Nagash is a monster it requires careful positioning to get them into it together. Mortarch of Despair grants Krell a Wound restored if an enemy within 12 inches of him fails a Fear, Terror, or Break test, which is very useful against low Ld armies as Krell himself of course causes Terror (and can be put in a unit with the Screaming Banner to force rerolls on any that pass). Armour of the Barrows is nice, but usually the things you want him fighting such as monsters (where he excels using The Black Axe of Krell's constant wounding rule) or other characters will be able to punch right through his armour, unless you are putting him in a Grave Guard unit supported by a Lore of Metal Vampire Lord which can be a very effective combo (and boosting his dispelling armour from 4+ to 2+) since Generals don't have to take Lore of Vampires anymore. If you want to put more eggs in that basket, add a Tomb King to make said unit have more WS, add Banner of the Barrows plus a BSB with Screaming Banner and suddenly everything melts and fails break tests against your deathstar. Krell is a good option for elite lists, made up of buffed killing models. Vlad is the preferred option with massive waves of weaker models.

• High Queen Khalida:

Queen Neferata's cousin, oddly enough you can take her in the same team as her even though they hate each other's (lack of in Khalida's case) guts. Another relatively cheap option at 365 points, and comes with Hatred (Vampire Counts) so you can route any other players dumb enough to keep going with the inferior faction.

She's unchanged from her Tomb Kings role, and unlike Tomb Princes she doesn't change in use any when put alongside Vampire Counts since they have no archers for her to buff. Her ASF rule, combined with 5 poisoned attacks at S4 make her a very formidable melee character against basic troops, but even with her high Toughness and light armour, any character with decent combat ability will hit her hard. She makes a good General for archer-heavy lists (and if you AREN'T building an archer-heavy list, there's no reason to take her), but a fragile one so if you take her you must keep her in a unit, preferably buffed with some form of protection (Incantation of Neru). She had The Curse like any other Tomb King, causing D6 Strength 5 Shooting Hits against any character or unit(s) that caused her to die. She's also Flammable and Immune To Poison, but those will rarely come up (Lore of Fire being inferior to nearly every other lore and poison rarely hitting her) so you shouldn't worry about either of them. Don't forget that you can support her unit with Lore of Heavens and watch them re-roll failed To Hit and To Wound rolls of 1. Good times.

Heroes

• Prince Apophas:

Apophas is unchanged from his Tomb Kings role and still costs 130 points. Apophas has the Desert Revenant rule, meaning he cannot join units nor can he be the army General. The latter hurts him, the former doesn't.

He has the Entombed Beneath the Sands rule which functions like Ambushers, but instead of appearing on the side you choose a spot anywhere on the field 1 inch away from anything they can't appear in (terrain, or another unit). You then roll artillery dice and scatter die; on a hit or scatter they appear, with the latter causing them to move before appearing the scatter distance. On a misfire they have a 30% chance to be destroyed, or a 30% chance to appear from the board edge instead. He can then move like normal (but not Charge or get into Close Combat). He can Fly and has Strider, enabling him to get into position where you want him and cause Terror checks to things he zips past. Scarab Prince gives him a Strength 2 Breath Weapon (pretty useless, as it's unlikely to do much) and upon death causes 2D6 inches worth of 2D6 Strength 2 hits (very gambly for not much potential damage). He has Soul Reaper, allowing you to mark an enemy character that Apophas can re-roll To Hit and To Wound rolls against. He also has Regeneration, keeping him in the fight just a little longer against that character. But with his terrible stats (WS4, S4, T3, W4, 5 Attacks, and an unbelievably bad 1 for Initiative) he's unlikely to ever manage to do much of anything against anyone.

Theoretically, he'd be useful against horde armies as he'd allow you to pop him right into the middle of a cluster of units and cause Break Tests everywhere before belching out beetles to wreck all the low health buggers, but since you can't count on more than 2 inches of 2 hits of 2 Strength or on him even making it where you need him in the first place, he's pretty useless.

His only real uses are as an anti-warmachine/wizard trap, but even at those roles he's questionable. He's fun no doubt, and can cause a bit of chaos for an opponent who's planning on number-crunching though.

Generic Characters

Note: While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

when trying to decide whether to take a Vampire Counts or Tomb Kings equivalent in the same role, give the Magic Items available to each a quick browse as a tiebreaker.

Lords

• Vampire Lord:

Brilliant stat line, a metric fuckton of upgrade options, and are neck and (exposed) neck with the Chaos Lord as the most dangerous generic combat lord in the game. They don't have to be the General anymore, and your General dying doesn't mean your army crumbles which allows you to go as wild as you want with their role. This motherfucker will likely soak up as many points as you can give, especially with the new 50% Lord limit. You're looking at 100 points worth of Vampire upgrades, 100 points worth of Magic Items, and the biggest baddest fucking mounts around. Or, if you're afraid of Cannons, then multiple Red Fury Master Vampires hiding in the line of footplodders waiting to unleash hell.

All Vampires are level 1 Wizards in Lore of Vampires, Death, Shadow, or Undeath (remember that now you don't have to take Lore of Vampires at all) plus any non-Life Lore in the core rulebook with the Forbidden Lore upgrade, and you can upgrade them up to a level 4 Wizard as well. Item selection and powers will be covered later. 220 points at base level. These bad boys became much more versatile then ever before. Just don't go too overboard and make sure you have a clear plan of what you want him doing.

• Tomb King:

At the first glance, Tomb King loses out to Vampire Lord on many accounts - lower M, WS, BS, I and A, Flammable, cannot into Magic, cannot take mundane Heavy Armor, a Lance, or an additional Hand Weapon, severely loses in the versatility and customization departments, and doesn't look half as badass (though he does have more bling). But that's not why you take a Tomb King. Where Vampire Lord is the perfect predator, Tomb King is the leader, focused on improving his army. He is much cheaper (170pts vs 220pts naked) and comes with at least Light Armor by default (which can be bumped with Magic Armor) and has a fantastic rule called My Will Be Done, which allows his unit to use his WS (which is 6). This would make Grave Guard even better than they were, but there's always the eggs/basket story and with this new book lords and heroes already tend to soak up lots and lots of points. He also has The Curse, punishing whatever kills him making any attempt to kill him a risky endeavor. Or you could go with Tomb Princes for a more cost effective variation, if none of the Tomb Kings Magic Items above 50 points catches your interest. Finally, scroll down to Tomb Herald below to see the main benefit to having a Tomb King over a Master Vampire.

• Master Necromancer:

Out of the two caster-Lords, this one is your summoner one. he costs 165 points vanilla, plus 35 for his level 4 upgrade. Unlike his mummified colleague, Mastermancer can increase a Skeleton Warrior Unit's size beyond its starting limit with Master of the Dead upgrade (although not any of the Tomb Kings Skeleton Archers or Horsemen sadly) and is 10pts cheaper with an identical statline. He can only use Lore of Vampires, Lore of Undeath, or Lore of Death.

The Master Necromancer and also can ride a variety of mounts, although the main point of these is to let him keep up with Black Knights if you are going full-cavalry. Otherwise, find him a nice big bunker full of Core to stick him in. If you want multiple casters, only take one Master Necromancer as only one can take the MotD upgrade in your army.

• Liche High Priest:

Out of the two caster-Lords, this one is your support. He's 175 points plus 35 for level 4. Compared to Master Necromancer, he has access to Lores of Undeath, Nehekhara, and Light of which the latter two provides the army with much-needed buffs. If you want numerous mages, take one Mastermancer in the back ranks and one Liche High Priest somewhere closer to the front, spamming Light-magic bubble goodness. He can be mounted on a Skeletal Steed, but this is only useful in full-cavalry armies.

• Strigoi Ghoul King:

Still a proper punch sport, but with all the options you're getting and all the possible combinations you can make this guy will probably won't see the light of day much. He's 260 points for a Regenerating (only 5+ sadly), Poisoned Attack with Infinite Hatred rapetrain that can't take Magic Armor. Dragonbane Gem is mandatory to protect him from Flame Attacks and most Magic Weapons aren't worth taking since they'll make him lose his Poisoned Attacks. He benefits a great deal from the Lore of Nehekhara Augments, and is not a bad idea if you want a Close Combat character to deal some guaranteed kills.

Heroes

• Vampire:

105 points core, lower stats and half the upgrade points available as the Lord counterpart. Can take Lore of Shadow, Lore of Death, Lore of Vampires, Lore of Undeath, or with Forbidden Lore can take any non-Life core rulebook Lore. Take it if you need a killy hero (although the Wight King is cheaper for slightly lower stats), are taking a low pop army and need your Level 2 casters to be able to dish out and take in Close Combat, want a core lore and need the level 4 Wizards on more important tasks, or if you took a named character Lord and want that Coven Throne on the field. You can kit out a Vampire to Fly and launch them directly into enemy warmachines or Wizards, making them an amusing warmachine hunter.

• Tomb Prince:

Even cheaper than Tomb King at merely 100 points, but with same rules (although The Curse deals one point less in S, he gets half the Magic Item allowance, and only grants WS5 rather than WS6). With new limit on Heroes, feel free to take many Princes, greatly improving your footsloggers. WS5 Zombies? Hell yeah! If you're only interested in solo performance, the Vampire has +2M, +1WS, +1S, -1T, -1W, +1I, +1A, -2LD for 5 more points. While My Will Be Done is worth the difference, there are times when you want the higher statline. Like the Tomb King, see the Tomb Herald when choosing the TK over the VC option.

• Necromancer/Liche Priest:

See respective Lord-version entries, as barring the fact that Necro is 65 points while LP is 70 and they as usual have half the Magic Item allowance they're the same. If you have a Light Liche High Priest, Necromancers may be better options as Lore of Vampires and Death are superior to Lore of Nehekhara and the Necro can take Master of the Dead if in LoV to bolster your numbers of Skeletons.

• Wight King:

An awesome option in VC book, not so much here. Compared to the Tomb Prince, he has basically same statline barring -1WS and +1I, comes with Killing Blow but has no Curse, and is only 85 points. His main downside is lack of My Will Be Done. On the other hand, Wight King can take a cavalry mount, and can take Heavy mundane Armor. If you want a BSB who's cheaper than a Hero Vampire, a Wight King is useful. Oh, and he's non-flammable compared to his mummy counterpart. Also, if you want to be a dick (of course you do), take 10 with Great Weapons and stick them in a unit of Grave Guard carrying Banner of the Barrows. Watch your opponent desperately struggle to get through T5 5+ as you launch 30 S6 Wight King Killing Blows, followed by 20 S6 Grave Guard attacks which all have a +1 To Hit thanks to their awesome flag. NICE.

• Tomb Herald:

Disregard his statline (one point lower T, W, I, and LD than the Wight King for 60 points) and Banner-carrying option, they're unimportant. This guy's Bodyguard special rule allows him to take wounds for his Tomb King, allowing the Tomb King to pick Destroyer of Eternities and still be survivable. Don't forget to load this guy on Magic Armor, as wounds are transferred before Saves. Basically, you up your Tomb King's cost to Vampire levels, but in return get awesomely survivable character with 150pts item allowance (100 for the King, 50 for the Herald) and My Will Be Done. Unfortunately Tomb Heralds can only take Wounds for Tomb Kings and Tomb Princes, and each is assigned only to one character (and each can only have one assigned to them) at the beginning of the game. In addition, the Tomb Herald must be in the same Unit as them.

• Necrotect:

Very cheap at 60 points, and his statline isn't bad for it (don't expect him to survive for too long with only T4 and Light Armor with 2 Wounds, or deal much damage s WS3 S4 Attacks, but that's not bad all the same). He gets 50 points worth of Magic Items to specialize him with and he grants Hatred to his Unit via Wrath of the Creator (he's buttmad people keep wrecking his shit pulling the gems and gold out), while his 7 LD can go a long way with VC company. Stick him with Grave Guard for an enemy-melting combination. Stone Shaper grants any Constructs within 6 inches Regeneration, which can be bumped up further with a Mortis Engine allowing those adorable little Sphinxes of yours to shrug off cannonballs. No matter how you plan on using him, the screaming artist with the whip can find a place in almost any Undead Legion army.

• Tomb Banshee:

With awesome shooting options from TK army, and now competing against even more awesome Heroes (Tomb Princes in particular), there's absolutely no reason to take these. At 95 points, you'd get more use from spending another 35 and putting Apophas on the field. The only advantage they have is Ethereal and the ability to give decent damage to low LD enemies, but that's not very useful. They can still "fire" in Close Combat however, allowing you to field one in a Unit of squishies you don't want in such a state to strike back (for example putting one in your Archer bunker can knock out those pesky warmachine hunters harassing your ranged options).

• Cairn Wraith:

See above, but these shmucks cannot even shoot. 60 points, isn't too bad except that you can take them as a Rare option in a group. With the increase in character allowance taking one isn't as painful, but with the new options from Tomb Kings his place is even further at the bottom. Pass, pass, pass.

Mounts

Sadly, mounts cannot be taken cross-army.

Vampire Counts

• Skeletal steed: The Black Knights basic mount, ignores terrain as they are treated as Ethereal for movement and does not get the -1M for barding if you take it. Think about that for a moment, you can charge units on the other side of buildings if you can see them. Never take a dangerous terrain test with these guys again!

• Barded Nightmare: Simple undead horse, best in a Unit of Blood Knights, and never put with Black Knights unless there's no terrain, as they'll lose their Ethereal movement. Ordinary in all regards. other then being S4 WS3 horses.

• Hellsteed: A flying Barded Nightmare, and overall a better horse. Not too expensive and still a great investment if you like running with Fell Bats or other silliness. Still, if used right it can be a scary model that's great for picking off warmachines or other small units, since arrows don't tend to have the killing power needed for a Vampire.

• Corpse Cart: Necromancer (and Master Necromancer) only, in Vampire Counts mounting up on one was none too effective. But if your list happens to be a list built primarily out of fast options, particularly those nifty Tomb King Core Chariots, then riding with your new tan buddies can be nice as every time your Lore of Vampires Necro (because if you're putting them on a Corpse Cart, that's the ONLY reason) Invocs Nehek he'll give the namesake troops ASF. Nice.

• Abyssal Terror: Not great by any standard of a monster. Can be given Poison Attacks or Armour Piercing, has Thunderstomp (which doesn't get the upgrade abilities sadly). Fairly cheap and it flies so it's not exactly bad, but it's just beaten out by the next two usually.

• Coven Throne: Hot motherfucking damn (also damnably hot if you know what I mean, seriously this has one of the most glorious models Games Workshop ever released), this thing has a good number of abilities, and a few downsides. Absolutely fucking awful against any army with high leadership and siege weapons (so mostly Dwarfs with their army wide LD 9 or Elves with archer spam) or usually just any army lot of cannons as they'll pass The Battle of Wills eventually (it's fun and helps its survivability but it isn't too reliable for stopping the majority of attacks aimed at it). On the other hand, excellent in combat, you get 2D6 attacks from the ghosts hauling this thing around, the ghost horses grant it Ethereal movement so there's no troubles from terrain, a 5+ Armor Save, a 4+ Ward Save, four S5 ASF attacks from the Handmaidens, D6 S5 impact hits. Sadly a lesser vampires don't have a high enough leadership to consistently use The Battle of Wills effectively (so putting them on a shitload of points isn't a good idea), so the only thing worthwhile to put on it is a Vampire Lord, which is a lot more appealing in an undead legions list because now you can allocate 50% of your total points to Lords, so not only can he buy good equipment in 2000 points games, you can get other Lords to back him up and if he dies to a cannonball your army no longer crumbles. Don't give the rider too much equipment though because he's still a huge target.

• Zombie Dragon: Exactly what you think it is. It's got beefy stats, can be healed massively thanks to lore attribute plus Invocation, his Pestilential Breath attack causes -3 to armour as well as causing a S2 hit and it adds that extra "fuck you" to Ogres in the form of terror. Has Swarm of Flies (ew!) which causes -1 to To Hit rolls in melee. A great time if your Vampire has the same stat line as the mount its on. Can really wreck heavy cavalries day as well as rank and file, though it will die to cannons or Heroic Killing Blow. Still a wonderful kick ass model and is our only dragon, but like most fun things, it's a magnet for artillery and mass shooting, though since losing your general no longer causes crumbling, that's not as much of an issue as it used to be.

Tomb Kings

• Skeletal Steed: Basic Undead horse. War Beast, low stats other than it's M. Use it to keep up with cavalry. Sadly, cannot be taken by Kings/Princes, so no MWBD for Black Knights.

• Skeleton Chariot: Same as the Skeleton Chariots below, but the Tomb King or Tomb Prince replace a crewmember. Useful to bolster a large unit of Core Skeleton Chariots and grant the My Will Be Done, as "And The Tomb Kings Rode To War" allows character Chariots to join units (but only Units of Skeleton Chariots). By itself however, not useful at all.

• Khemrian Warsphinx: While putting a Tomb King on one and granting it WS6 may be somewhat useful, it's not a great use of points as he'll only grant that ONE sphinx his bonus. It gains a 4+ against Shooting, with the King having a 5+ against it, but loses the 4 crewmembers cutting it's number of attacks. While this used to be good when keeping your General alive was important, it's now a sub-par option.

Core Units

• Zombies:

Tarpits extraordinaire. Vulnerable to crumbling, but that can be mitigated with the right choices. Invocation of Nehek multiplies their number quicker than other Undead so taking some with Lore of Vampires ensures you will have plenty of bodies on the field (although without some buffing from your various options, don't expect them to do anything more than get in the way of your opponent). Don't leave your Tomb/Crypt/Mausoleum/Pyramid/whatever without them.

• Crypt Ghouls:

Hit hard compared to the other infantry choices, but are more expensive at 10 points a piece. They used to have the advantage of a low chance of crumbling with the loss of a General, but that's not exactly a problem anymore meaning you take them purely based on their primary strengths; having the highest stats of any Core option available to you, and two Attacks each which are Poisoned meaning you get the most durable troops with the best killing power. Can't be bumped past their starting number in any way however, although with Regeneration from a Mortis Engine they're formidable. Take them for your elite armies.

• Dire Wolves:

A good flanking unit/missile screen and good scouts/warmachine hunters in small games. They're better than Skeleton Horsemen in stats and cost plus having a special ability for the Charge, but Spirit Hosts are a better missile screen for infantry.

• Skeleton Warriors:

You know them, you love them. With the new rules, they are effectively identical in both armies (technically, TK skellies are 1pt cheaper but have to buy light armor for 1pt. VC skellies start with light armor, and since there is absolutely no reason to NOT take that light armor...they're the same for all intents and purposes. Also, VC skellies can take spears for free, while TK skillies gotta buy them for 1pt, although you won't be using Spears either way so it's also a moot point). Since they have the same name and are now both just "Undead", Necromancers with the Master upgrade in Lore of Vampires can bolster either past their starting numbers. You take these over Zombies when you want more durable troops, or when you won't be spamming Invoc from multiple casters (likely, since getting your priests and wizards hanging out is the most beneficial strategy).

• Skeleton Archers:

Compared to the previous entry, this choice is a no-brainer (pun not intended). Consider taking at least one unit of these, even if you're going for mostly VC units. Invocation won't bolster their numbers (although it'll restore any lost ones), but that shouldn't be a problem since they shouldn't be in melee anyway.

• Skeleton Horsemen:

Light Cavalry ahoy! Full-cavalry lists are a thing now! The world of the living will be trampled under unliving hooves! That being said, Horse Archers are probably a better choice, as Hexwraiths and Black Knights fill all "Melee Skeletal Horseman" niches perfectly. Same statline as normal Skeletons, but with horses and Vanguard allowing them to get into position ahead of time. They cost 12 points a model, 4 points more than Dire Wolves for inferior stats barring 2 more points of Leadership. Dire Wolves have a maximum unit size of 20 while you can take as many Skeleton Horseman in a Unit as you want, but it's unlikely you'll be taking that many of either.

• Skeleton Horse Archers:

A decent choice at 14 points each, they make good Scouts (especially if they gain the ability to march, stand and shoot or both) and can soften up enemy units before you charge in with something else. There are no VC equivalents, so they are definitely worth a look. If you need some outriders, Skeleton Horse Archers are probably the way to go since for 2 more points each you'll be able to pump out some ranged attacks. Sadly, there's no way to get Khalida with them so they're on their own barring some Augments from afar.

• Skeleton Chariots:

One of the Tomb King's main advantages. 55 points each for a durable damage dealer that has Bows and can have a Tomb King with them. Even with the large amount of options, you have no excuse not to at least consider these. They only need three models wide for a rank bonus, and add their rank bonus to the Strength of Impact Hits. Units of chariots can bring the pain and be hard to put down, especially useful if you're against Elves. Very good as a flanking unit, just be careful of the Unit's footprint (large surface area of the combined bases can make maneuvering difficult).

Special Units

• Tomb Guard:

For 11 points you get a pretty good (for a skeleton) statline, Killing Blow, Magic Standard, Shield and Light Armor, with an option to swap that shield for a Halberd for 2 points. So what's not to love? Well, the Vampire Counts equivalent to them have an identical statline and options, barring the difference that Tomb Guard have 2 extra points of Leadership while Grave Guard have Heavy Armor. Since Crumble is no longer a thing to fear, that Leadership is essentially meaningless. If you happen to be a Tomb Kings player, just consider these guys to be...

• Grave Guard:

Now we're talking. Since you have abominable I (3), that ASL from the Great Weapon won't be even felt so you're getting +1S without drawback for just 1 point. Banner of the Barrows is a good choice for them as their Magic Standard since it buffs them with +1 To Hit. If you want elite infantry for the purpose of killing, take Grave Guard.

• Black Knights:

Black Knights are 21 points and have the same statline as Grave Guard, only instead of Great Weapons for 1 point they can take Lances for 2 points (which you want for extra damage on the Charge). You can also take Barding (which doesn't screw with their Movement) for 3 points, which is even more important to do. A good linebreaker choice, the Black Knights offer the advantages of ignoring terrain thanks to their Ethereal Movement mounts, slightly higher Armor Save and Strength on the Charge. They now have competition from Necropolis Knights, but Ethereal Movement is more reliable and only with Black Knights will you be able to field heavy cavalry without making it the bulk of your Special section.

• Necropolis Knights:

Running (or popping anyway) in at a whopping 65 points a piece, and have 1 more point of WS and Attacks, plus two more points of Leadership (not that it's important since Crumble isn't an issue now). The main difference is the mount, as the Necroserpent has substantially better stats than the Skeletal Steed, specifically 1 WS, 2S, 1T, 2 Wounds, 1I, and 2 more Attacks. However, they move 1 inch less each turn. Necroserpents also get Poisoned Attacks, Animated Construct (healed by Necrotects), and Stone Skin (which gives the whole model a 3+ Armor Save, rider and all). The former two are not shared by the rider, although he gets Killing Blow while the snake does not. For five points each, the entire unit has Entombed Beneath the Sands. While that can be very useful to put your heavy cavalry already behind the enemy, it's a risk as a misfire and a bad roll can destroy your entire 195+ point unit or delay it past when it's in position (as your opponent will know where it's coming from now). Unfortunately they do so on the "Remaining Moves" phase, so you can't Charge the enemy until next turn giving your opponent a turn to get ready.

If you are taking Necropolis Knights, chances are good they're going to eat up the Special points. That's not a bad thing, they're fairly useful, but that means you'll have to compensate for the usual roles (mass footplodding elites, warmachine hunters, and tarpits) in other categories. When debating the Entombed upgrade, remember that you can't stick a Necrotect in to give them Regeneration if they're in the sand, not will they likely be in position to receive Regen from a Mortis Engine, nor get healing from Invocation of Nehek. They do just as well as a large, difficult to kill force in the middle of the field as they do a force in the middle of the enemy's forces.

• Hexwraiths:

30 points a piece, and a unit maximum cap of 10. To summarize, they are Ethereal and actually run THROUGH enemy units, dealing shitloads of flaming magic damage as they do. If they get stuck in combat, they'll probably die from Combat Resolution and Magic Attacks will fuck them proper. That being said they're great trolling, as in many cases the enemy can't do shit about them. If anything joins them, they lose most of what's keeping them safe so you keep Hexwraiths among their own kind only.

They'll attract any magic damage your opponent has, especially Magic Missiles so you want to be ready to dispel a lot of you want to get these guys to pay for themselves.

• Sepulchral Stalkers:

55 points each, they have Entombed by default. They're also Animated Constructs, meaning 5+ Armor and a bonus from Necrotects if you can get close enough later in the battle (unlikely). Their stats are nothing really to write home about, but their special ability "Transmorgifying Gaze" is very neat. Within 8 inches, a target unit takes an Artillery Dice worth of automatic hits (Misfires result in D3 self-damage), and when rolling To Wound you factor against the Initiative rather than their Toughness while ignoring any Armor Saves. Against standard options, that's kind of a worse tradeoff but against most high point-cost options that's amazingly good. Dwarfs and Lizardmen, as well as all three Undead armies, are particularly susceptible army-wide. Terrogheists are their Vampire Counts opposite, which work better against low Leadership armies. But that doesn't mean that taking both is bad, especially when you're looking at armies like Skaven with loads of low LD models with a few low I big options.

• Corpse Cart:

A mediocre 90 point Chariot (which cannot join Tomb King Chariots sadly). It gets a fair number of weak Attacks, and has Regeneration (which of course means it can have better Regeneration with a Mortis Engine around) but that's not why you take it. You take this thing for the Vigour Mortis, which activates when the thing is hit by the Signature Spell from Lore of Vampires the Invocation of Nehek. It'll grant Undead around it in a large bubble Always Strikes First, which with the inclusion of the Tomb Kings is more useful than ever before. While not a 100% mandatory option for tournaments, it's still found in many tourney lists.

• Crypt Horrors:

Want something with some real staying power? Here's your models. Crypt Horrors fucking refuse to die. For some perspective, Crypt Horrors fluffwise are Ghouls (inbred cannibal hill-folk) which have drunk some vampire blood and Hulked-out enough to resist shit that would normally kill or stop them (like crosses, or cannonball) at the cost of lifespan. Their crunch reflects this as they're Toughness 5, 3 Wound and 3 Attack Monstrous Infantry. They aren't very offensive, having 4 Strength and only 3 WS but with Poisoned Attacks they still have a decent chance to kill what they hit. They have Regeneration 5+, which when bumped up with a Mortis Engine makes them ridiculously tough. They may cost 38 points each, which means if you're taking them they should be a good chunk of your Special section (12 is a good number) so you can have enough to survive combat for your Invocations from LoV to restore them.

• Vargheists:

46 points for a Vampiric model with damn good stats and Frenzy. It can Fly, and deals 3 S5 WS4 Attacks for each model. It's also 3 Wound, Toughness 4 which is pretty low for that much cost. Take care of them so they don't get gunned down early on, then let them loose into a flank for some decent damage. They lose out to Varghulfs and Terrogheists for high-damage options though, as their only advantage is the fact they have numbers which can keep them alive as a unit long enough for Incov spam on your Magic Phase. Sadly you'll have to babysit them so they don't charge off at an enemy you don't want them fighting.

• Fell Bats:

16 point War Beasts, can Fly. You use these guys to hunt down Warmachines and enemy Wizards. Not much else to say, other than they now have competition from the Tomv Kings Carrion models.

• Carrion:

24 points each, same role as Fell Bats. They have one more point of both Strength, Toughness, Leadership, and Attacks and must be fielded in units of 3 or more unlike the Fell Bats which can be 2 or more. It's up for debate as to which is better. Fell Bats can be taken in multiple smaller groups for less (which is preferable, so a few ranged shots don't save their warmachines), and you don't really need three 4 Strength hits to kill most warmachine crews. But Carrion are much more useful once the things are actually down, being able to nip at the flanks and do some decent damage. It may eventually just come down to personal preference.

• Bat Swarm:

35 points each for a Swarm with shit stats. Anything they get into Close Combat with gets Always Strikes Last, which is pretty good (not as good as a Corpse Cart hit by Invocation, but much cheaper). If you plan on running something with high Initiative they're great, otherwise stick to the Cart combo.

• Tomb Swarm:

40 points for a Swarm with very low damage output potential, but Poisoned Attacks (5 of them in fact). They have Entombed Beneath the Sands, which means you can more or less decide a spot on the table for them to appear letting you bring these puppies up in the midst of the warmachines although it comes with a risk of them not even appearing at all. It's a neat idea, and fun, but they're fairly expensive for an option that doesn't really have enough killing power or special use. Use them only in friendly games.

• Spirit Host:

Want to Tarpit something? Look no further. Spirit Hosts are Ethereal and will hold anything without Magic Attacks in place as long as they can, but will die from Combat Resolution. Put Nagash on the field and you can hold things with less as a result. You can have a maximum of 10 in a unit, and that 10 can hold most things in place an entire game. They are also good on the flanks of important units, as it won't matter much if they get charged if the enemy can't actually get through them. Their damage output is on par with most Core options in the game, and cost 45 points each.

• Tomb Scorpion:

85 points for an Entombed Beneath The Sands model which has Poisoned Attacks and Magic Resistance 1. It's also an Animated Construct, giving it a 5+ Armor Save. Beyond that it has fairly high stats for it's points value and can put the hurt on things while still taking some damage.

It has the same basic role as the Fell Bats and Carrion. The reason to take it instead of them is you get more than you're paying for and can pop up right next to the enemy warmachines. The problem? You can't take them in units (just multiple individuals), and it's the turn after they appear that you'll first be able to charge something. They aren't bad, but are riskier than the other warmachine hunters to use. They are superior to Carrion when the cannon crews are dead and it comes time to turn their attention to the backs of the main force though. If it's anything of a tiebreaker, they have amazing models.

• Ushabti:

Overpriced and not worth it in pure TK army, and against new VC options? Totally not worth it. Use their awesome models as "count-as" Crypt Horrors (boy, are those ugly guys), or stitch on some wings and use them as Morghasts.

• Khemrian Warsphinx:

Decent infantry-killers and a good distraction/missile screen from your other big and nasty units (a buffed Warsphinx is more likely to survive a ranked Ogre charge than a Coven Throne). A breath attack is always a good investment and the model looks kickass.

• Morghast Harbingers:

The new and exclusive unit (standard VC armies can take them too). Hovering monstrous infatry, two hand weapons, 5+ save, KB, Terror. New special rule - Heralds of the Cursed One: Causes all friendly Undead around them to suffer 1 less wound from Unstable rule. Cost 10pts less than Archai (Rare version), but wield two hand weapons instead of halberds and have a slightly worse armor save - statblock is otherwise the same.

Rare Units

• Varghulf:
• Blood Knights:

A great linebreaker, these guys would compete with the Necropolis Knights for that honor though they have different uses. Blood Knights are a hammer, where Necropolis Knights are a pocket-knife, with rules that can handle various situations. Take them against heavily armored opponents such as Dwarfs (bring Banner of Blood Keep) and Warriors of Chaos.

• Cairn Wraiths:
• Black Coach:

Combos well with Casket to absorb more dice. Only slightly over costed in the vc book, and has no place in legions except for theme.

• Terrorgheist:
• Mortis Engine:

Every elf army has flaming because of this unit. And now that it effects tomb kings be prepared for chariot and sphinx spamming shenanigans.

• Necrolyth Colossus:
• Hierotitan:

Hahaha, a mounted webcam for the gods and a blasphemous mortis engine in the same army... Between these two your army will have plenty of buffs, especially your spellcasters.

• Necrosphinx:

A potential monster killer. Got better now that it can fly and healing spells are more available. Can combine KB/HKB buffing spells with the Vampire re-roll wounds spell for extra monster-killing lulz. Throw in ASF and other buffs = enemy monsters suffer critical existence failure when this thing gets in contact.

• Screaming Skull Catapult:

A welcome choice in this army. The ability to force panic tests, let alone magical and flaming ones is not to be overlooked, and the new spells make them very easy to bring back (as long as the catapult or at least 1 crewmember is on the table the whole model can be brought back). The Skulls of the Foe upgrade stacks nicely with the army's other leadership shenanigans. They make a shooty undead army a viable and deadly prospect.

• Casket of Souls:

Worth it. If you're even thinking about a magically offensive army, this is a mandatory unit.

• Morghast Archai:

The new and exclusive unit. For 90 points you get a solid statline (S5 T5 W5 A3), 4+ and halberds. Rest of rules as Morghast Harbinger, including anti-crumbling aura. All in all, nice support unit to provide resilience to your unstable units, capable of surviving in melee, if need be.

Building your army

Buying and designing your army

Start with the Vampire Counts Battalion, it doesn't matter who you are, the battalion has 20 ghouls, 20 skeletons, 10 Dire Wolves, and a Corpse Cart, which will do just fine for every wizard in the game because those are all good options, and they are also all options that, excluding the Corpse Cart, can be summoned relatively easily using the Lore of Undeath, and they are all good support options no matter what army you are running.

Better yet, get one of the new End Times bundles. Now normally you'd think that GW's "one click bundles" are basically a bunch of weird crap put together with no real discount. WRONG. At least the three army bundles (The Black Host, The Army of the Silver Pinnacle, and the Army of Sternieste) all have discounts than buying the items individually (and these are significant discounts, like 25%). Of all of them, The Black Host is probably the best buy, as you get the Terrogeist kit, meaning you could build it up as a Vampire Lord on zombie dragon and then turn the strgoi king into another vampire lord on foot. You also get a Wight King (although not that impressive) and 20 Grave Guard. There's also 20 skeletons, which is never a bad place to start. The Army of Sternieste is also pretty good, considering you get 15(!) Hexwraiths/Black Knights and a decent block of zombies, as well as a Necromancer and Vargheists. The only one that's kinda lackluster is the Army of the Silver Pinnacle, as it gives you 10 Tomb Guards (which the Grave Guards are superior to) and a Tomb Banshee as opposed to a more useful hero and elite troops. It does come with the mortis engine and 20 Ghouls, as well as 16 archers.

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The big question when deciding to build an Undead Legions army is, 'Who is your leader?' To a very large extent, who you want running the army determines how you should build it. Become familiar with your chosen leader's rules, and then take things that supplement your leader's area of expertise.

Magic

The following is the general theorycraft of how your leader defines your strategy and what, then, you should build in your army to take advantage of this strategy. Obviously, since we're playing an army of Necromancers, these strategies revolve ALMOST ENTIRELY around the magic phase.

The Necromancer Actually

You need one heavy-weight caster. Nagash, Mannfred, Arkhan the Black, Vampire Lord with Level 4 casting. You could make do with a Grand Necromancer if you really hate having one of the few groups of Wizard choices that can put on armor and go out to beat down fools. I'm partial to Vampire Lords (as is obvious in the Tactics section), but they're all viable choices.

Nagash is the most vulnerable to random 'save or dies' out of Nagash and Friends (because he's so expensive and big), but he hits really hard. You want to decide the outcome of the game by Turn 3, because the longer the game goes on, the more likely it is he's going to die. And if he dies, it's a big Game Over screen for you. If you're running a Nagash army, you want a lot of fast, durable, aggressive units. Van Hel's Danse Macabre as supplied by Necromancers on Corpse Carts supplementing big blocks of Vampire Counts Infantry (Crypt Ghouls, Grave Guard, and Skeletons) can race down the board and into your opponent's face, not giving him any time to execute maneuvers. Then you take advantage of the gridlock and swoop in on the flanks with your big monsters (Hierotitans, Sphinxes, Zombie Dragons, Vargheists, etc).

Nagash is a very aggressive caster, and you want to immediately get into combat with your army so that he can summon undead to flank the battling forces and turn the tide in your favor. The more people there are fighting your minions, the less likely they are to be gunning for the Big Man Himself, and the more likely it is that you can keep him alive. Take lots of cheap infantry, and maybe a back-up caster with Lore of Vampires. Keep Nagash in the back as much as possible, and try to tie up any big threats like cannons or offensive spellcasters right away with your flanking troops.

Mannfred is the caster that excels at shutting down other casters. He's also the toughest of the Mortarchs (assuming you give him Lore of the Vampires so he can refill his ridiculous 10 Wounds every turn). He has two really hilarious tricks. The first is getting 12 attacks in one turn at the cost of three of your power dice during the magic phase. However, he can immediately turn those dice into an advantage for you if he gets into combat with a big block of infantry, because if he kills five faceless grunts of the enemy army, you get five extra dice during your next dispel phase.

In other words, not only will you have more dice than your opponent during their own magic phase, you'll have a Level 4 Caster doing the counterspelling. This is Mannfred's aggressive trick, and what you're going to base your entire army design strategy around. He makes enemy spellcasters cry, and kicks ass while doing it. I personally give him nothing but Lore of the Vampires, with Invocation being mandatory and hoping for Van Hel's Danse Macabre and an offensive spell or two.

Mannfred has to be in combat with a big block of infantry for maximum effect. Therefore, he needs a large escort (I use 6 Vargheists) to act as ablative wounds and help him win Combat Resolution. Mannfred and a murder of Vargheists crashing into your opponent's Big Scary Thing on turn 1 is downright hilarious to watch, however, and is a viable tactic if you absolutely need to take the initiative. There's not much that their combined weight of Str 5 attacks won't kill, and watching your opponent's expression when your seven models wipe out an entire block of 40 infantry in one combat phase is priceless. You absolutely have to build him around an escort to get the most utility out of him in the enemy Magic phase.

His other trick occurs in late game, where he shifts from being a fighter to a magical powerhouse. He'll have taken some Wounds by this point if your opponent is competent, and what you want to do is get him out of combat, sacrifice his attacks for extra power dice, and start flinging around spells (which, if they're from Lore of the Vampires, will heal him right back up). Once his Wounds are topped off and you've summoned more zombies, healed your surviving troops, and done some damage to your opponent, you then switch back to Close Combat Mannfred for the final showdown.

Arkhan the Black is a Mini-Nagash. That's pretty much it. His magic sword is fantastic, but he's not very good with it. He's the other big Lore of Undeath user (besides Nagash), and he follows a Nagash Lite strategy. Aggressive army, keep him safe so that he can summon flanking forces to win it for you. Pretty straightforward. He's squishy, even for a dude with T6 and a truckload of Wounds.

Nefereta isn't really a caster, but she gets an honorable mention for being a Mortarch. She's the most fighty of the Mortarchs, and as your off-caster with Lore of the Vampires (you really should have a level 4 caster if you run her) she can hold your troops together and heal herself quite well. Don't rely on her casting to win the game, but it's useful to have on the side. Vlad is basically the same.

Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon. Mmmmm, now we're talking. One of these bad boys, a Necromancer hero to caddy your dispel scrolls, maybe throw in a second Vampire Lord on a Nightmare with a few dedicated caster traits like Master of the Dark Arts... I get the chills just thinking about it. Go look at the Vampire Counts guide, I'm not going to write all of that again here.

Necromancers and Vampires: They're great. Make sure you always have two casters with Lore of the Vampires at all times (and both have Invocation). After that, go nuts. Make sure they're all level 2, that one point (and extra spell) makes all the difference.

Tomb Kings Casters: They're pretty sweet. More healing, more buffing. Try to keep your army confined to Two Lores or less though. If you decide to specialize in Tomb Kings casters, go look at their guide.

Tactics

Well... somebody actually thought that the Undead Legion wasn't a broken idea? Let's get right to it, then.

Vampire Counts have a fantastic core army composition, but few supporting elements. Tomb Kings have a bad core army roster (those CHARIOT UNITS disagree [The roster, overall, is bad. Chariots being good does not make everything that is not chariots less bad.]), but fantastic support elements. Undead Legion lets you use all units of both armies. Cherry picking the good units from both books isn't rocket science.

50% Lord and Hero allowance is a dream come true for Vampires. Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon in 1500 point games? Multiple Vampire heroes? Vampires were always obese in their character choices, and suddenly having twice as many points to put towards them is.. well, completely game changing. You might want to let the other End Times alliances come out before taking advantage of this particular change. The alternative is that all your opponents will hate you, and not in the 'ha ha friendly rivalry' way. There is really no excuse, you should have at least one level 4 caster in every game now.

Nagash and Friends are cool looking, but they're HUGELY inferior to a kitted out Vampire Lord, point for point. Yes, they have a lot of wounds. That doesn't mean shit. You could take a Level 4 Vampire Lord on Nightmare with a decent power and gear kit, drop him in a bodyguard of Blood Knights or Black Knights, and the whole thing would be about as expensive as New Mannfred. It would also have more attacks, 2+/1+ armor saves, a 4+ ward save on the Lord, and just about as many wounds. Flying isn't even an advantage for the Morties, because taking advantage of it means that they'll be ahead of the rest of your army (which is to say, dead first).

In the same vein as the above point, cheap troop spam has NEVER been more appealing. Let's be real for a moment. Two fully loaded Vampire Lords are about as expensive as Nagash, and honestly I would rather play against Nagash than 1,000 points worth of Vampire Lords. And if Legion has options like that, you're going to want to load up on lots of cheap troops to saturate the field while still leaving room for your scary Vampires. Yes, Gee Dubs wants you to play with Lore of Undeath and summon lots of undead to the field.. but y'know what? Lore of the Vampires works just fine, especially since it'll buff the TK elements of your army now too.

Why are two Vampire Lords scarier than Nagash? Two words: Target priority. Nagash is big, so killing him is straightforward. You shoot him with cannons and spells until he stops moving. While scary, he's only got a 4+/4+. Any number of horrible things could happen to him (Warhammer Fantasy is basically Horrible Things: The Game), and once he's dead, you're out 1,000 points and literally all of your magic juice. Arch-Necromancer might be nice, but if Nagash is doing all your casting, eventually you'll 'whoops' him from miscasts alone. By contrast, if you have two Vampire Lords running around, you can set one up on each flank of your army and pose two very difficult problems to your opponent, especially if one's on a Zombie Dragon.

Spirit Hosts have a new model that doesn't look like a bunch of dudes hiding under bedsheets. There's really no excuse not to take them anymore.

Tomb Kings have a lot of really nice support elements in their list that VC just doesn't have. Necrotects, pretty much the entire Tomb King Rare list, and.. Tomb Princes. Tomb Princes and Necrotects with a unit of Grave Guard will turn anywhere into a charnel house. Necrosphinxes will also be funny for killing Nagash and Friends, or whatever other End Times badasses pop out of the woodwork. (Like Glotkin!)

Speaking of murdering really expensive models, Screaming Skull Catapults are your friends. Really. They're inexpensive artillery, which is one of the glaring flaws in the Vampire Counts roster. Since The End Times seems to be all about huge-sized monsters, a couple artillery pieces will be a good investment if you want to make sure everyone else joins you in the afterlife.

The only really big drawback to Legion lists is that VC's two best casters got cut. Kemmler is out, and Mannfred's not a loremaster anymore. (Note: As of my second revision of this Tactics section, I've combed through the book and couldn't find anything actually STOPPING you from taking them. Loremaster Mannfred is actually used in one of the scenarios in the book. SPOILERS: Kemmler just gets whacked by Arkhan and Mannfred's Mortarch form makes the most sense for a Legion list. That being said, an Undead Legion list with one or both of them would be a serious dick move.. but so much fun). This means that reliable buff spells (from their loremaster abilities) are no longer on the menu (sigh) so you'll have to make up for it in list anatomy. Luckily, Caskets of Souls and TK casters are in to replace their magical edge. If you can't have quality, make up for it with quantity, I suppose. Just take several casters (two minimum, and one of them should be a Level 4) and you'll be fine.

Lore of Undeath. Yeah, someone decided to let everyone summon skeletons. Literally everyone. Sigh. God damn it, Games Workshop. You were doing so well, and then you had to bust out the blatant marketing scheme to sell more zombies. On the whole, Lore of Undeath isn't bad, but it's what everyone is going to EXPECT you to have, so you should probably take Lore of the Vampires instead. Lore of the Vampires is very, very good at what it does, which is make your opponents dead. If you're loading up on casters with a Legion army (and you should be), Lore of the Vampires will do the lifting that you need.

Alternate opinion: Something to keep in mind if you take Lore of Vampires, everyone except Dwarfs can take the Lore of Undeath, EVERYONE and they can summon a shitload of models onto the table using it too (including really tough ones you do not want to charge, Ryze and one RtD counter will allow that goblin shaman to summon 2 Morghasts into your flank), if you do only choose the Lore of Vampires, not only are you are in danger of being continuously outnumbered and ground down but also in danger of having really hard to kill units popping out of everywhere since Lore of Undeath does far more than just raise new units of skeletons and zombies, and though Lore of Vampires is a good lore, it works better to support Lore of Undeath and to keep all the new units alive.

Retort: The entire point of Undead Legion, if you weren't paying attention, is that /you own the Magic Phase/. If you're running Nagash or Mannfred the Morty Edition or any number of level 4 Casters (read: Vampire Lords), almost nobody is gonna be capable of outcasting you. High Elves will even have a hard time keeping up with new Mannfred's ridiculous antics (up to 5 extra dice in your opponent's dispel phase after a good round of combat? Yowza.) You will get more dice, more often, and your Wizards are all ridiculously fighty on top of being top-shelf Wizards. If your opponent wants to sling dice summoning undead every turn, that's wonderful news for you. It means they're not casting Purple Sun or unpleasant Lore of Light tricks or spells that could actually hurt you. Also... ground down? Have you not played with Lore of the Vampires? Two or three dudes casting Invocation every turn means that not only are your now-plentiful multiwound characters a real bitch to kill for good, it means that all your units will be at full strength, all the time.

Oh, and I forgot the other VERY good reason to be taking Lore of the Vampires over Lore of Undeath: Corpse Carts. They work on everyone now. This means that you can give all of your Undead ridiculous AoE buffs with just two of the suckers in a 2,000 point game. Ever played against two blocks of 30 crypt ghouls each buffed by a corpse cart and a casting of Van Hel's Danse Macabre every turn? It's like watching a meat grinder that's coming at you at 100 mph.

Just about the only time you'd want to take Lore of Undeath is if you're running an Arkhan or Nagash list, as they are obviously specialized at it and the doubling/tripling is huge.

The new Monstrous Creatures, Morghasts.. uh. There's really no way to say this nicely. They're overpriced (in both real money and points), and you have a dozen better options. Skip them and save your money for better kits.

Alternate Opinion: Another opinion on the Morghasts is that they are actually a good thing and not as overpriced as previously stated by a GW naysayer. The models stand as tall as a dreadnaught and are pretty awesome as well. In game they will provide some much needed high tough, high wound monster that can stay in the back lines of your army and not be torn to shreds as easy as a skeleton warrior. They are options worth consideration if for no other reason than they are cool models with fun rules and when it comes down to it (contrary to popular belief) winning is not everything. But its a tactics page. I assume that means winning tactics, which is why an alternate opinion is that they work fantastically as redirectors using the Lore of Undeath to bring them in (which prevents them from being shot to death), since they are only 2 models wide, you don't have to be worried about scarier units charging your wizards, summon the morghasts slanted slightly so that if they enemy charges and somehow wins, they'll overrunning the wrong direction from you, setting up a flank charge from another of your units, or they'll have to just sit there, either way you just bought yourself another full turn (at the minimum, losing one less wound from losing combat is HUGE, especially if they are near the BSB)) of not having that unit in combat, and since every wizard can summon them now this strategy works for all wizards.

Retort: I'm not naysaying GW, I'm naysaying Harbingers and Archai. Nice job straw manning me, though, douchebag. You could run a Hierotitan, Necrosphinx, some Vargheists, another kitted out Vampire hero, or any number of actually useful things.. or spend a good chunk of those points on two Morghasts (and you'd never want to take JUST two, because they'll lose combat resolution faster than you can say Hail Nagash). They're a cool kit, sure, but as you pointed out, this is a page discussing tactical viability. If the best you can come up with is 'if they die your opponent might go the wrong direction', they're not useful. I can summon swarms of zombies for that. If you could take six of them, they'd be useful. But that would be expensive, in both points and actual money, hence my ORIGINAL complaint. Instead of paying $180 USD plus tax (assuming direct from retail) for six dudes that're glorified ogres with a leadership aura, you could buy three or four huge monster kits (for example, a Necrosphinx, Casket of Souls, and a Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon/Terrorgheist) which will actually have a substantial impact on your army and are also pretty sweet models on top of that.

While I'm at it, let's discuss the relative costs of Harbingers and Archai in game points. They are, each, nearly 100 points per model. Are you kidding me? Over 150 points for 8 wounds and 8/10 attacks (counting stomp) with a 4+/5+ armor save on T5? You could take a 10-strong block of Grave Guard with all the upgrades (or a 15-strong block of naked Guard) for the cost of those two dudes. They would have more attacks (and at Str 6), get better results in combat resolution, actually protect your characters (like, y'know, the Necromancers you need to make your army function), and you won't lose half of your killing power when one Morghast takes 4 wounds and croaks. The important thing to note here is that if you're going to pay upwards of 200 points for two big models, you DO NOT want them to sit back and do nothing in your back ranks. Why would you possibly want that? You can't protect casters with them because they're Monstrous Infantry. Letting them get shot to death is a waste of points. They can't really go in first because of Combat Resolution, and if they get stuck in combat with (for example) ten knights on the charge, those 8 wounds are going to evaporate pretty quickly. They're very vulnerable to Multiple Wounds weapons like Bolt Throwers, Catapults, and various heroes and monsters (unlike single-wound models) and their T5 isn't going to save them from being shot with spells. And, because a Caster can't join their unit to babysit them with Invocations, they're best used as a flanking defence unit. Where they will be outside of Invocation range and die.

I don't like them. If you think it's a cool kit and want to get some, great, but I can't recommend them from a standpoint of tactical advice. Which is what we're talking about.