Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Undead Legions

WORK IN PROGRESS! Feel free to populate the page. We must no just c'n'p all info from VC and TK tactics - we must evaluate units against new options.

Why Play Undead Legions

Well, it is an enormous army of undead, led by Nagash and trying to both conquer the world and destroy Chaos. It has basically everything from both Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings armies, making it very versatile and awesome army.

You can make full-cavalry lists, with Skeleton Horsemen as Core and Black Knights as Specials, you can take Vampire Lord on Warsphynx (presumably) or convert a Necrolyth Colossus as von Carstein family statue. Options are mind-boggling!

They pretty much brought back the "Warhammer: Undead" army from 4th Edition... Awesome!

Army Special Rules

By default, they follow the basic rules of their original armies. Then there are some additions.

• No crumble if general dies. This involves undead summoned by Lore of Undeath.
• For that reason, the Hierophant is officially not needed.
• TK can march if within 12" of general - THIS INVOLVES EVEN REGULAR TK!
• Anything that effects Nehekharan Undead effects Undead and vice versa, so you can take a Tomb Prince with Grave Guard, boost Necromancers with Hierotitans or grant your chariots kick-ass regeneration with your Mortis Engine.
• TK constructs can only heal one wound per casting.
• Characters /units can only take options/upgrades/magic items from their respective army books - so no Sphynx-Riding Vampires or MWBD for your Black Knights.

Unit Analysis

Lords & Heroes

Note, that under End Times supplement rules, you can spend up to 50% of your points on Lords.

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.

• Nagash:

Nagash is melee and magic powerhouse, capable of taking on Greater Daemons in melee, while outmagiking Teclis and summoning legions of undead.He is a Level 5 Wizard with access to Lores of: Death, Light, Nehekhara, Vampires and Undeath. He gets Large Target, Terror and Undead, along with: Arch-Necromancer which allows him to re-roll miscasts, though he must accept the 2nd result. Death Magic Incarnate allows all friendly units within 12 inches of him to suffer two less wounds from Unstable, which stacks with other modifiers. Supreme Lord of the Undead allows any models that are summoned from his Lore of Undeath to triple range and points allowed, including additional points created by Raise the Dead counters, but NOT tripling them. 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 before close combat to give one of his attacks HKB, including ones made with Zefet-nebtar though you roll for it separately. Morikhane, The Black Armour is a magic armour which gives Nagash a 4+ in both Armour and Ward. 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. Zefet-nebtar, The Mortis Blade, is a Magic weapon which gives him +1S and Multiple Wounds D3 Special Rule

• Vlad von Carstein, Mortarch of Shadow:

Gets new rules in End Times, waiting for release.

• Count Mannfred, Mortarch of Night:

Gets new rules and a snazzy horse in End Times, waiting for release.

• Queen Neferata, Mortarch of Blood:

The first vampire gets rules and a snazzy horse in End Times, waiting for release.

• Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament:

Gets a snazzy horse too, so maybe new rules as well. Waiting for release.

• Krell, Mortarch of Despair:

Apparently, he ditched Kemmler (his hat looked ugly anyway), so maybe he gets new rules. We'll see soon. Doesn't get a snazzy horse though.

• High Queen Khalida:

Queen Neferata's sister. No sign of her getting new rules, so apparently she is same as in TK army. She has ASF, making her the fastest Tomb King character available, coupled with 5 attacks and S4 poisoned, she is a very formidable melee character against basic troops. Her T5 and light armor are not enough to protect her against other characters or monsters, though. Khalida is the posterchild of Undead Legions archer lists, as her MWBD grants her BS3 to any unit of archers she joins in addition to granting their shooting attacks poisoned, ramping up the damage output of the unit. She makes a good general for archer-heavy lists, but a fragile one so if you take her, keep her in a unit, preferably buffed with some form of protection (Incantation of Neru).

• Prince Apophas:

Seems unchanged as well.

Generic Characters

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

Lords

• Vampire Lord:

Brilliant stat line, a metric fuckton of upgrade options, and outside of the Chaos Lord is probably the most dangerous generic combat lord in the game (he probably would have been the best since he can kill more models per round compare while the Chaos Lord is better at single combat, but there's the whole problem where your army starts crumbling if he dies unless you're at the point level to take more than one). Naturally, characters are the first place points go in a Vampire Counts army, and this motherfucker will likely soak up as many points as you can give, especially with the new 50% limit. Properly kitted out they can stand toe to toe with Lords and go on to rampage through Special units all while having excellent magical options. Mounting these badasses up is not only an option, but depending on your goals may just be the point of taking him. All Vampires are level 1 Wizards in Lore of Vampires, Death, Shadow or Undeath and you can upgrade them up to a level 4. Item selection and powers will be covered later. 220 points at base level.

• Vampire:

It's a vampire, duh. Take it if you need a killy hero (though prepare to pay for it - Tomb Prince or Wight King are cheaper), or if you have some non-generic-vampire Lord and want that Coven Throne.

• 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 magic, cannot take mundane heavy armour, lance or additional hand weapon, severily loses in the versatility and customizability 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 and has a fantastic rule called My Will Be Done, which allows his unit to use his WS. Note, that for now he cannot take any horse-like mounts and his MWBD only works on TK undead, so he cannot support VC units much. This may change when End Times are finally released.

• Tomb Prince:

Even cheaper than Tomb King, but with same rule (though slightly lower WS). With new limit on heroes, feel free to take many Princes, greatly improving your footsloggers. WS5 Zombies? Hell yeah!

• Master Necromancer:

From the two mage-lords, this one is your summoner one. Unlike his mummified collegue, Mastermancer can increase a unit's size beyond its starting limit (with Master of the Dead upgrade), is 10pts cheaper and can ride a variety of mounts - which you shouldn't, you should stick him in a nice bunker - of Skeleton Archers, for instance. If you want numerous mages, take only one of these for Master of the Dead upgrade.

• Liche High Priest:

From the two mage-lords, this one is your support caster. Compared to Master Necromancer, he has +1T, has access to lores of Nehekhara and Light, providing the army with much needed buffs, especially from the lore of light. 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.

• Necromancer/Liche Priest:

See respective lord-version entries. If you have a Light Liche Hight Priest, Necromancers may be better options, as lores of Vampires and Death are superior to Lore of Nehekhara.

• Strigoi Ghoul King:

• Wight King:

An awesome option in VC book, not so much here. Compared to the Tomb Prince, he has basically same statline, KB, -1WS, +1I, has no Curse and is 15pts cheaper. His main downside is lack of My Will Be Done. On the other hand, Wight King can take a cavalry mount, can take heavy mundane armour and in even benefits from My Will Be Done himself. If you want a BSB, take Wight King. Oh, and he's non-flammable.

• Tomb Herald:

Disregard his statline and banner-carrying, they are non-important. 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 armour, 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 and MWBD. And if Tomb Herald can take wounds for Vampire Lords... let's not dwell on that, the thought is HORRIFING.

• Necrotect:

Very cheap, grants Hatred to his unit and has fine (by VC standards) Ld. Stick him with Grave Guard and watch them melt enemies. With 50pts magic item limit he can be turned into a cheap specialized tool too. The Mortis Engine provides a better regeneration aura, but his Animated Construct regeneration can be buffed with the Mortis Engine, which is fantastic and make your constructs shrug off one of their few weaknesses; cannonballs.

• Tomb Banshee:

With awesome shooting options from TK army, and now competing against even more awesome Heroes (Tomb Princes in particular), there's absoltely no reason to take these, as Heroes at least.

• Cairn Wraith:

See above, but these shmucks cannot even shoot. Pass, pass, pass.

Core Units

• Zombies:

Tarpits extraordinaire. Vulnerable to crumbling, but that can be mitigated with the right choices. Don't leave your Tomb/Crypt/Mausoleum/Pyramid/whatever without them.

• Crypt Ghouls:
• Dire Wolves:

A good flanking unit/missile screen and good scouts/warmachine hunters in small games. In larger games Skeleton Horse Archers can do their job, and 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. Also, VC skellies can take spears for free, while TK skillies gotta buy them for 1pt. Not that it all matters)

• Skeleton Archers:

Compared to the previous entry, this choice is a no-brainer (pun not intended). Take at least one unit of these, even if you're going for VC units.

• Skeleton Horsemen:

Light Cavalry ahoy! Full-cavalry lists are a thing now! The world of the living will be trampled under unliving hooves! Apart from that, Horse Archers are probably a better choice, as Hexwraiths and Black Knights fill all "Melee Skeletal Horseman" niches perfectly.

• Skeleton Horse Archers:

A decent choice, 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.

• Skeleton Chariots:

One of the Tomb King's main advantages. Even with the large amount of options, you have no excuse not to take these. Units of chariots can bring the pain and be hard to put down, especially useful if you're versing 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. They were a bit overpriced in TK army, and in the Legion they lose out to...

• Grave Guard:

For same 11 points you get same statline, KB, magic standard and shield, but with heavy armour instead of light, ability to march and great weapon instead of halberd. Since you have abominable I (3), that ASL won't be even felt, so you that is just +1S, basically, and for just 1 point. Even though Tomb Guard get +2Ld, they are not worth it. If you want elite infantry, take Grave Guard.

• Corpse Cart:
• Crypt Horrors:
• Fell Bats:

Normally a decent choice, they lose to Carrion (*see below) in an Undead Legions list.

• Bat Swarm:
• Spirit Host:
• Hexwraiths:

At a glance they render Horse Archers redundant, though this is not the case. Hexwraiths have the advantages of Ethereal and their attacks, though they're more expensive (in points and dollars) and cannot shoot or scout. Hexwraiths are a harassing/denial unit.

• Vargheists:
• Black Knights:

A good linebreaker choice, the Black Knights offer the advantages of ignoring terrain, slightly higher armour save and strength on the charge. Though with Necropolis Knights and Blood Knights they lose out. It is useful to ignore terrain when charging but the chance to pop up behind the enemy's lines can be even better.

• Necropolis Knights:

A more versatile unit than Black Knights, and your opponent will cry if they get in his army's rear. Necropolis Knights have the advantages of Monstrous Cavalry, poisoned attacks and their EbtS ability allowing them to spring up in an opponent's vital areas. If you have to choose one special unit linebreaker, choose these, but take both if possible.

• Tomb Scorpion:
• 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.

• Tomb Swarm:
• Carrion:

Good at flanking and hunting warmachines with S4 and undead. Superior to Fell Bats in almost every way. They're a few points dearer, but have higher S, T, A and Ld. Also, now they can properly fly! (only within General's range though, much like vampires' undead).

• 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.

• Sepulchral Stalkers:

A decent choice with becomes spectacular against low initiative armies. They don't take the job of any Vampire Counts units and their gaze works similar to a Terrorghiest or Banshee Howl (except for the chance of backfiring). Take them against low initiative armies (Dwarfs) or Banshees/Terrorgheist against average or lower leadership armies (Empire).

• Morghast Harbingers:

The new and exclusive unit. Hovering monstrous infatry, 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. Exact stats/cost now known, but presumbaly lower than Morghast Archai's. All in all, nice support unit to provide resilience to your unstable units, capable of surviving in melee, if need be.

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.

• Cairn Wraiths:
• Black Coach:
• Terrorgheist:
• Mortis Engine:
• Necrolyth Colossus:
• Hierotitan:
• Necrosphinx:
• 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. 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.