Editing Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Undead Legions (section)

===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 average Initiative (3), that ASL from the Great Weapon won't usually be felt unless you're up against armies like other Undead, Treemen, Dwarfs or Ogres, so against almost everyone else you're getting +2S without drawback for just 1 point. Banner of the Barrows is essential for then since it buffs them with +1 To Hit. If you want elite infantry for the purpose of killing, take Grave Guard. Stick a Tomb Prince and Necrotect into the unit for maximum RAPE (have fun re-rolling your hits on 2's against almost anything). Technically, with a Tomb Prince and hand weapons/shields they can make a pretty nice bunker, but cheap core is still much better at soaking damage. You need Grave Guard to KILL things.
*'''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 serious competition from Necropolis Knights; in their favor 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/slithering/popping in in at a whopping 65 points a piece, Necropolis Knights are a versatile powerhouse.  Compared to Black Knights, they have 1 more point of WS and Attacks, plus two more points of Leadership (not that the latter is 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, 2 more Attacks and are monstrous cavalry, meaning they get a Stomp attack and are immune to killing blow.  The have the minor downside of they move 1 inch less each turn and no Ethereal movement.
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.  Necropolis Knights are a high-risk high-reward unit as while Entombed has the potential to backfire, Necropolis Knights have a higher damage output than Black Knights when they do well and can deal with a wider variety of situations. 
*'''Hexwraiths:'''
30 points a piece, and a unit maximum cap of 10. To summarize their abilities, 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. 
Or, for epic trolling, take these against Glottkin or summon them up in front of him for the lulz
*'''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, 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.  Small point about these guys though is watch the fuck out for Hordes (especially if they have spears) unless you're doing a flank charge.  Combat resolution is their number one weakness and you really don't want to chance taking on anything that dish out a lot of attacks onto them, otherwise you can end up with a completely destroyed unit. Packing in a character can really help with this.

Alternative Take: If you are willing to sink the points in, you can make Crypt Horrors a VERY effective hammer unit. Due to the availability of the Lores of Nehekera and light, as well as the passive buffs from MWBD and the Necrotects WOTC, they can become a horribly effective hammer unit, as their increased attacks, as well as poison, regeneration and toughness, can allow them to pump out the hurt. Due to their status as Monstrous Infantry, but without any restriction on Wounds regenerated, they can easily become a beast of a unit. However, if you wish to use them as your hammer unit, you will be taking them AND ONLY THEM in that role, as they need all of the passive and active buffing from your lords and heroes. The rest of your army will effectively be relegated to support. However, any buffs will be multiplied to a greater degree than on, say, grave guard, due to the monstrous ranks special rule. If you team up with another faction, Lore of Life can be an absolute game breaker if you pull it off. If Lady luck is with you, a unit of 28 crypt horrors can carve down any opposition that they will ever face, and, if the spells are pulled off successfully, you can have your T10 crypt horrors, with 4+ regeneration, just sitting there waiting for your opponent to hit back.  
*'''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. Ushabti have them beat in durability and having ranged attacks, but they require buffing to reach their full potential while Vargheists can be taken and run as-is. Varghulfs have better survival and deal more damage each, but it's easier to focus down a single target than a unit with magic and ranged attacks. Terrorgheists are just as fragile as Vargheists while costing much more points, but their damage output is the highest. 
Sadly you'll have to babysit 'gheists 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 Tomb 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 (except Dwarves, where the Carrions superior strength/toughness will help them kill the comparatively tougher warmachine crews/endure handgun and crossbow fire better than Fell Bats). 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. The main reason to take these is because they'll rip away rerolls from any Always Strikes First foes like the trinity of Elf armies or Slaaneshi forces. 
*'''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:'''
50 point models that must be taken in units of 3 or more. They have something of a bad reputation, although it's not deserved. 
Ushtabi have similar stats to the Crypt Horror, but have bows that deal Volley Fire S6 shots with 30 inch range that ignores penalties (although with BS2, they're going to need it). They can take Musicians and Standard Bearers, and pump out very nice damage in Close Combat with three Strength 6 Attacks at WS4 (with Great Weapons default). Said Attacks unfortunately are slow as fuck with their tragic Initiative, so the Corpse Cart canceling the ASL won't help them much. As Toughness 4, 3 Wound troops with a 5+ Armor Save they're not as durable as default Crypt Horrors, and only heal 1 Wound per casting of Invocation of Nehek, but with a Necrotect in their ranks they will have the same Regeneration as Crypt Horrors, with bonus Hatred. As Constructs they also suffer less Wounds from Combat Resolution. 

In the end, you wind up with very durable troops that deal great damage and get to pump out ranged support comparable to Bolt Throwers every turn they aren't in Close Combat. They WILL require buffing, as said Necrotect is all but mandatory while Lore of Light buffs will make them REALLY shine. Lore of Vampires can benefit them as well, if you can afford both. A unit of Ushtabi supported by Augments and a Mortis Engine is a sight to behold, as they will destroy almost anything you match them up against with their high Strength. While a massive unit of Skeleton Archers will deal more damage to a group of lightly armored foes, Ushtabi will bring down tough models like Steam Tanks and Great Unclean Ones faster than a Dwarf Cannon. 
Packing in Khalida or a Tomb King will make your unit even better. Ultimately, their best strength is their resistance to Combat Res Wounds. Since they have reduced healing from Invoc however, you want to keep them screened by chaff until you can get them in sight of their target.  

The only limiting factor is their price; like Stalkers, they tend to become your Special section. Thanks to the Vamps bringing along Vanhel's from Lore of Vampires, you now have the ability to get them into CC without many Power Dice before they take too many arrows. 

Their role competition mainly comes from Vargheists and Varghulfs. The latter two can restore Wounds by dealing them, and can benefit from Invoc spam while your Ushtabi only get 1 Wound back each on an Invoc. But both Varg's tend to be hammer outriders, while Ushtabi require a focused Romanesque column of advancing formation troops working in synergy. 
Vargheists have Fly on their side and eat up the least points, while Varghulfs can be taken individually and are the hardest hitting/best surviving option. Ushtabi are multi-purpose support and heavy damage-dealers. Terrorgheists round up as the killiest options, but also fragile and point-expensive as hell and bordering on Velveeta. 
*'''Khemrian Warsphinx:'''
210 points for a Sphinx that's a Monster (so you get the ever-popular Thunderstomp). For reference, this is the Sphinx with the crew on it's back and the kitty face. 
It has four S5 Attacks, a whopping Toughness of 8, 5 Wounds, and a Move of 6 although it has a PAINFULLY bad Initiative of only 1.
It's an Animated Construct so it has a 5+ Armor Save, although since you can't put a Necrotect in it's Unit you're going to have to keep it close to his bunker (with it's high Toughness, it certainly keeps your flank safe). Oh, and there's also the matter of the four S4 WS3 crew members with Killing Blow.
It can trade all it's Attacks (not those of the crew, they get those first) for a Thundercrush attack, which is a To Hit roll against the WS of the highest model in base contact with it. If it hits, you can put a template somewhere in base contact with your Warsphinx which deals 1 S3 hit to whatever's under it plus D3 Multiple Wounds of hits for whatever is in the middle of that template at Strength 9! You probably won't be using that option as much unless you're facing troops with a lot of durability but not much actual killing power, although that S9 can really fuck a point-sink character.
It has a few extra rules regarding how the crew and attacks against it work, making it unique in that the crew behave as if they're on the ground while attacks against it roll against it's WS for To Hit. Causes psych checks of course, like literally almost everything else you have. 
For 10 points, you can have it's 4 Attacks (not those of it's crew or the tradeoff Thundercrush) have Poisoned Attacks, while for 20 points you can give it a S4 Flaming Attack breath weapon. The 10 points is VERY worth it unless you plan on only using the Thundercrush while the 20 is almost always worth it. 

What you end up with is a fantastic model, although expensive in points, which will absolutely consume large amounts of semi-elite troops. It can devastate core options as well, although against the actual killing-oriented troops many armies employ it will quickly fall (still could deal it's points worth of damage as it goes though). Use this as a road-clearer, getting rid of those nasty Nurgle foes and armored Tarpits. Save the really big shit for the other Sphinx. It's also a great [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|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). 

Giving the fucker Mortis Engine Regeneration and using Invocation of Nehek near it (Always Strikes First, plus one Wound per casting) officially makes it one of the best things in the game you can put on the field.

*'''Morghast Harbingers:'''
The new toys (pure Vamps get access to them as well however). 80 point Monstrous Infantry with Hover and Terror.
Statline is not bad, ringing in with 5WS, three S5 Killing Blow Attacks, and 4 Wounds at Toughness 5. Their Initiative isn't too bad either, at 4. It has two Hand Weapons and Heavy Armor, so it's geared pretty well. This alone however isn't why you bring them when you could get a Sphinx.
They have the special rule "Heralds of the Accursed One" which causes all friendly troops within 12 inches to take 1 less Wound from Combat Resolution damage. IT STACKS, and they're 2 or more to a Unit. 

As a result, Morghasts have a nice monopoly on the area of making your weaker troops last longer. It doesn't matter if you're fielding a huge block of Zombies or trying to make those Crypt Horrors stay up a little longer against an enemy anvil, any Undead Legion list can benefit from having them. They aren't mandatory however, nor as useful as the Mortis Engine or Casket of Souls. But they justify their points, especially with the former option where your Undead will become way more durable than they have any right to be.
Their raw stats however put them in the position of not being durable enough to take much damage, while not being killy enough to be a dedicated hammer. They're pure support only despite not being incompetent if the enemy engages them. That being said, they're not a great hammer choice nor are they something you should try to tarpit with. They're there to keep your troops alive although they can fulfill that role by discouraging flank charges. 
Their "more elite" version isn't actually that much different; mostly it's a choice of whether you want to spend Special or Rare points on them.