Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Warscrolls Compendium/Tomb Kings

NOTE: This faction has been removed from the game. The .pdf is in the Last Chance section, so if you have Tomb Kings models you should download it ASAP.

EVEN MORE IMPORTANT NOTE: Yes, this army has been squatted. So what? Okay, we won't be getting new models, and you won't be able to use Tomb Kings in official tournaments. But, wasn't that almost the same for Bretonnian players for years? They didn't get new models, and their army book was so outdated that few people dared to use them in official events. BUT their loyal players survived and continued playing Bretonnia, and still do today. You can also do the same with Tomb Kings in Age of Sigmar, if you like the game. We have very good and well-thought rules for them, and the models are still cool and beautiful. They even are very strong in AoS, much more that they ever were. And, if something new appears that affects DEATH and DEATHRATTLE units (and that will happen, because the rest of DEATH factions are still supported), then they'll benefit, too. Try to stay positive, and consider this a new form of undeath.

From a fluff perspective, as always, nothing stops you from using your imagination. You can just say that you're recreating past battles of The World That Was (even the rules book suggest you to do that), or you can invent something new. Like, say, that the Tomb Kings VS Stormcast Eternals battle you see there, is in fact the result of a travel to the past caused by a magical storm in the Realm of Death (or a travel to the future caused by Athel Loren), or an illusionary manipulation of the minds of the Eternals by a Tzeentch wizard, or a space-time distortion generated in the Realm of Chaos (this stuff happens in 40K fluff every five minutes). Or you can go for something more elaborate, for example, that Nagash re-created a Liche Priest with his original personality to have a more effective minion, but then the priest regained his memories and escaped to a hidden country in the Realm of Death, where he recreated the culture and army of Ancient Nehekhara and founded his own kingdom, all while magically maintaining a desert microclimate. I don't know, use your imagination, Warhammer has alwasy has been about that.

tl;dr If you have a great army, and want to play with it, don't let GW nor anyone else say what you can and can't do

Where Yo Mumma resides, and she's coming out to omnomnom some brains

Mummy Tactics

The only tactic you need is this:

1: Buy a single Tomb Swarm.

2: Deploy it as the entirety of your army.

3: Declare Sudden Death and choose Endure.

4: Burrow the Tomb Swam.

5: Hang around for 6 turns.

6: Win.

It won't work. As per the rules, if, at any point, you don't have any unit on the battlefield you lose.

A tomb swarm is removed form the battlefield when it burrows.

What about a unit of Carrion with there untargetable ability?

WELL DONE, you just broke the game... (Except if your opponent also deploy 1 fig) Just let them deploy first.

Mummies Warscrolls

Forenote: The following section will be arranged with similar units and formations being grouped together for easier reading.

This is by no means a complete guide. Also due to the relatively recent release of Age of Sigmar, most of this is based on theory. Take everything with a grain of salt. Go here for the Skeleton units (mainly in the "retconned stuff" section).

Mummies

Named Characters

Settra the Imperishable: He rules. He deals a total of 12 attacks in melee, which become 22, count them, in the turn he charges (+2 to his attacks, double attacks for the steeds). He can save wounds/mortal wounds on a 5+, on top of his 3+ save at 8 wounds, moves 10", and deals d6 mortal wounds to whoever kills him (but don't let that happen). He gives double movement and flight to a Deathrattle unit within 18" on a 2+, with a 1 he suffers a mortal wound but he can still avoid it with his 5+ save-after-the-save. So, say hello to floating hordes of Skeleton Chariots and Necropolis Knights descending upon the enemy from nowhere. Your opponent will have to change his pants each turn. His awesome command ability allows every Death unit within 18" to reroll every 1 to hit, and Deathrattle also get +1 to wound. But... *JOKE RULE ALERT* if Settra is your general, you lose the battle in the moment you bend over (totally justified). Oh, and HE ALLOWS EVERY OTHER HERO WITHIN 18" TO USE HIS COMMAND ABILITY, WHILE STILL USING HIS. You can laugh at Nagash, Archaon (that does something similar, but inferior), and whatever other supposedly cheesy model you may imagine. Only by using Khalida and a pair of Tomb Kings, with the right army (lots of Skeleton + Liche Priests), you can deal HUNDREDS of wounds each turn, and if you add more Kings and Khemri Warsphinxes, you'll need buckets and buckets of dice, and a new opponent each game. So, be a gentleman and don't do it, he's brutal enough as he is. Truly, SETTRA RULES.

High Queen Khalida: Can reroll the number of wounds she inflicts when fighting against vampires (read: Mannfred, Neferata, Soulblight Heroes and Blood Knights), can reroll failed hit rolls against Neferata, haves the same "attacks before your opponent if she hasn't attacked before in the current round" ability as a Slaanesh Daemon Prince, deals 3 mortal wounds to whoever kills her and her command ability gives +1 to hit rolls for ALL Skeletons in the shooting phase. The skeletons that can shoot are Skeleton Archers, Skeleton Horse Archers, and Skeleton Chariots. That doesn't seem like much, but massed Skeleton Archers with 4+ to hit can be useful, threatening even. THEN you add a (you guessed it) Liche Priest's unique spell to make 1/3 extra attacks with each affectd unit. THEN you add Settra to give them an additional +1 to hit and wound. THEN you add one or two Tomb Kings to give other +1 to hit to some units. THEN all of a sudden, your opponent has lost half of his army on the first turn, and refuses to play with you ever again. Well, even without the arguably cheesy Settra, you can still use only Khalida and priests and be very effective, but you have to center all you army around this strategy.

Prince Apophas: Great fluff, crunch still weak. Can be placed in reserves and pop out later, at 9" min of an enemy unit. He also regenerates a wound in each turn, gets +1 to hit and wound rolls against heroes and when he dies he can immediately do a shooting attack before being removed. So, the idea is to teleport him next to a Hero, shoot at him, and charge to steal his soul and offer it to the God of the Underworld. But even if you make the charge, even if you die and make the extra shooting, you still only deal like 5 wounds BEFORE saves. That's not enough to kill your average Hero, who will survive and penetrate your lame 5+ save to kill you, regeneration or not. Sure, you don`t have to kill the Hero that same turn, and you can attack something weak like a wizard, but even they will probably survive then kill you with an Arcane Bolt next turn. So, he's only useful at killing war machines, extremely weak things, or already damaged Heroes. And, well, he's not bad at any of that, just don't expect much of him.

Heroes

Tomb King: Like most "Lord-level" Heroes, he's very resilient and combat capable. Deals d3 mortal wounds to whoever kills him, his shield allows him to reroll saves (or you can give him a two-handed Monarch's Great Blade if you want more Rend and Damage, but you're much better off with the shield) and his command ability ("My will be done") gives a Skeleton unit within 18" +1 to run, charge and hit rolls. And in this army that can be amazing, because of how many models do nasty things when you roll a 6+ to hit with their attacks. Apart from being a force multiplier, the King's ability will make those effects happen 1/3 of the time instead of 1/6, so he doubles the chance. It's also an automatic combo with the Liche Priest spell (extra attack on 6+ to hit), so pay attention to where you place him to make the most of his ability. Also, pair him with a Tomb Herald to give him extra killyness and 5 more Wounds. Use him well, and the King will win the game for you.

Tomb King in Royal Chariot: Gets 6 extra attacks when charging for a total of 14, still haves the "d3 mortal wounds to whoever kills him" rule, and his command ability allows him and every Skeleton Chariot within 18" to reroll charges. Only take him as General if you want to center ALL your strategy around chariots. In that case, you have to be smart with his ability, to make combat happen when, where and how you want. Also take the Royal Legion of Chariots formation, and some Screaming Skull Catapults to reduce the enemy's Bravery, and kill units half with the charge, half with Battleshock.

Liche Priest: Actually a Deathmage and not a Mummy, but who cares. Can unbind automatically a spell one time per game (that's mighty useful) and his unique spell allows a Deathrattle or Reanimant unit within 18" to get an extra attack for every 6 to hit. Being limited to one spell/unbind a turn, plus his piss-poor 6+ save, make him seem lame at first, but his spell can be amazing on Bone Giants and Skeleton Warriors, and he can also summon/heal/resurrect some of the best Mummies/Deathrattles models, so he's very good after all. With that save and 5 wounds he probably won't live long, so get a bunch of them, or use a Tomb Herald as bodyguard.

Casket of Souls: Every Liche Priest within 18" gets +1 to casting. Gets +1 Save in shooting phase since it can't charge, can unbind a single spell in each turn... but the best part is obviously what happens when you open the casket. You choose an enemy unit within 20" and on a 3+ it suffers d3 mortal wounds (d6 if their Bravery is 4 or less), then every unit within 6" from that one suffers the same on a 5+. Combine it with the -2 Bravery to up to two units that the two shots of a Screaming Skull Catapult (with close Necrotect) will give you, and you'll think you're watching the last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark all over again. And remember that units get +1 Bravery for each ten models only when Battleshock tests are taken, not in the shooting phase.

Royal Warsphinx: Veeeery good. A Khemrian Warsphinx mounted by a Tomb King instead of four skeletons, so he's slightly better in combat. Always suffers halved wounds (both regular and mortal ones), usual curse rule as the other two Tomb King variants, and his command ability targets an unit in his line of sight allowing every Deathrattle and Mummy to get +1 to wound against it. Because how tall the Sphinx is, that will probably mean you can target ANY enemy unit, which is very good, and amazing with things that do something on 6+ to wound (Tomb Guard, Necropolis Knights). Also, you can attack the target unit with more than one of your own, and each one of them will get the bonus. Other than that, it's identical to the Khemrian Warsphinx (read: it's brutally powerful). Remember to always read the name of the command ability in a deep voice while using it: "WHO DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER?"

Troops

Everything is in the Deathrattle page, as said before.

Reanimant

Hero

Necrotect: Do you like giant war statues made of stone, bone and gold? He does, too, he'll be your friend. He can choose a Deathrattle unit within 8" and give it +3 Move and the ability to reroll every 1 to wound, which can be useful, but his real meat (he's a mummy, remember) is his Reanimant boosting. He improves Bone Giants, Tomb Scorpions, Ushabtis and Screaming Skull Catapults. The thing about him is that he does his artist's work in a 18" bubble (except with Screaming Skull Catapults, he's got to be within 1" then), so if you get a bunch of 'tects and place them carefully, you can improve your constructs a lot. Great if you use him well.

Troops

Tomb Scorpions: Can save any spell-induced wound on a 5+ (4+ if there is a Necrotect within 18") and do the same pop out ability as Apophas (but arriving at least 6" of any enemy unit, instead of 9). And that's awesome, because you'll reach the unit that was your target that same turn with a charge more often than not. This thing has good rend but low damage output (deals some 3 wounds before saves each turn), which means that you have to use them in units of at least two to threaten heroes. But even alone they can be useful at killing war machines or wizards (their anti-spell save makes them specially useful against the latter). BUT they can also shine at tarpitting (yes, you can still tarpit in Age of Sigmar, everyone can retreat from combat, but they basically waste the turn by doing so) hordes without rend. The scorpion has 5W and a 4+ save, so the horde will have to deal some 10 wounds to kill it in a turn, which is unlikely. And a Death wizard within 18" can add another scorpion to the unit with a spell that has the low value of 6, so you can hold them up indefinitely (with a little luck) at the cost of a scorpion and a wizard, adding a new scorpion each turn to replace the one that will most likely die. You can even do this with only two scorpion models, always "resurrecting" the dead one, trolling GW in the proccess.

Ushabti: Giant god statues with 5 wounds and a 5+ save. Get +2 Save against attacks dealing a single wound and reroll every 1 to save if a Necrotect is within 18". So, against the vast majority of things they have 3+ save rerolling 1s, one of the best in the game. Add a Death Wizard to resurrect one of them with the "Reanimate Ushabti" 5+ spell (or just add +1 to their save with Mystic Shield), and they'll be almost indestructible. They can be shooty with oversized bows, or go for combat with their blade-staves. It's probably better to just go for melee, 'cause they only shoot once per turn, but they have 24" range, -1 rend and D3 damage, and with their rerollable save only artillery or (truly) mass shooting can kill them, so they can also work as shooters.

Necrosphinx: THE ULTIMATE KILLING MACHINE IS HERE. He must always charge when able even if he ran (so he CAN run and charge, very threatening), you roll 3 dices and discard the lower when charging, and suffers halved wounds/mortal wounds (and a Death wizard 18" of it can heal it D3 wounds with a 6+ spell). If he rolls 6 to wound with at least two of his Scything Blades when attacking a monster, HE DEALS 10 MORTAL WOUNDS (would be useful if it happened with hit rolls, as it is, it's too difficult). Also, each of the aforemented Scything Blades attacks (4 in total, FYI) deal 3 wounds each with a rend value of -3. Ouch. So, it's got enormous defense, offense, and mobility (it also flies). One of the best monsters of the game.

Sepulchral Stalkers: Can do the same pop out thing as Aphopas, except they can also go away and come back in the next turn. Their Missile Weapon is based on a d6 roll: on a 1 the Stalkers suffer a mortal wound, on a 4+ the target unit suffers a mortal wound and on a 6 the mortal wounds are d3 (they turn the victims to sand, rad, I know). They emerge from the sands at 9" of the enemy minimun, and the range of their gaze is 10", so you can shoot that same turn, then try to charge. That, combined with their rend -1, makes them good at stalking armored units, but they're pretty vulnerable, with only 5+ save (but 5 wounds). So, if you're stuck in a disadvantagous combat, or already killed/maimed enough your target, you can teleport again at the cost of a turn (you don't get healead or anything, as the Tomb Swarm rules probe, but a Death Wizard within 18" of them can add one model to the unit with a 5+ spell, can be useful).

Bone Giant: Killy as any giant but also well protected with a 4+ save. Gets an extra attack for every 6 to hit (and has 7 attacks, so on average you'll get an extra attack), and after he attacked you roll a dice and on a 5+ (4+ if a Necrotect is within 18") he gets to pileup and attack again. Death Wizards, on a 5+, make them reroll failed hit rolls. With that and the unique spell of Liche Priests (extra attack on 6 to hit, same as the Giant's first ability), you end up with lots of extra attacks that can generate new extra attacks, which can be ridiculous. But he will not do the Tomb King's will, sorry, because he's no Skeleton, but a Reanimant (that is a giant skeleton... what the hell...).

Other stuff

Carrion: They charge on a 3d6 roll, but the real deal is that they're unattackable until they charge. Place them, never attack with them, and everyone hates you. But if you want them to hate you because you won legitimally, use them to kill vulnerable and isolated things. Unlike units that teleport by going beneath the sands, they must start the game in your deployment zone, even if they're flying and invulnerable. The downside is that they have to go from there to their target, but with their 12" move, "high flying" and 3d6 charge they'll arrive fast. The upside is that you can guarantee the charge by getting 3" from the target, and if you are farther and fail the charge, you won't drop down (that only happens when you charge, and if you fail the roll the charge doesn't happen, I think). They are weak and squishy but make lots of attacks. Also, you can summon 3 of them on 5+, but they'll be flying and won't be able to block anything that turn unless they successfully charge, which reduces their value as a summoned chaff.

Tomb Swarms: Same "come and go" ability as Sepulchral Stalkers, and the unit revives d3 models every time they come out after the first time. But you´ll lose a turn by doing that, they don't have any save at all, and it's difficult to justify their "wound cost" (5 each). They're also weak as hell, so they don't make good teleporting assasins. Their only worth is as cheap summonable chaff, 3 at 5+, which is a pretty low casting roll, but you'll also get something very poor. Use them at desperate times, like when you need to block for a turn a charge to your wizard.

Formations

Royal Legion of Chariots: A Tomb King in Royal Chariot takes four units of Skeleton Chariots. Everyone gets +1 to hit and deals a mortal wound on a 4+ to the unit they charged. Combined with the Tomb King's command ability allowing everyone to reroll charges, it's kinda devastating.

Tomb Legion: A Tomb King and a Liche Priest take 2 units of Skeleton Warriors, 2 of Skeleton Archers, 1 of Tomb Guards and a unit of your choice between Skeleton Chariots, Skeleton Horsemen, Skeleton Horse Archers or Necropolis Knights. Everything within 18" from the Tomb King gets an extra attack every time they roll a 6 to hit, and everyone within 18" from the Liche Priest basically gets the Necron Rianimation Protocols.

External links

Rules come from here [1] and here [2]