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

==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). 

Keep in mind that any competent opponent will make a beeline for Nagash with his nastiest beatstick, so be prepared to summon some infantry into his charge lines. The reason that you want to decide the game quickly is the same reason that every Mage-centric army wants to win as quickly as possible: miscasts. Nagash has some built-in protection from Miscasts but it's not perfect by any stretch. Every time you roll the dice in your Magic phase, you risk watching the game slip away because of a capricious miscast that shuts down Nagash more rapidly than your opponent's army could hope to. Make every spell count, don't get overconfident, and remember that at any time the dice could smash your face in by causing Nagash to vanish screaming into the Warp, and your chances of victory along with him.

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 (+d6 Thunderstomp) 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.  Bring supporting casters, especially with the lore of Light and the lore of Nehekhara.  This is because once Arkhan summons some new units, the buffs from these two lores take them from good to incredible.  Arkhan could summon a unit of Black Knights on the enemy's flank, then your other casters buff them with Lore of Light (eg; Black Knights with WS10 and I10), the lore of Nehekhara (eg; Killing Blow on a 5+) or both!  They can also buff Arkhan himself; you can give him a 5+ ward save defensively, but it's the offensive buffs that really help Arkhan.   His comparatively low WS and I becomes moot when Arkhan has been buffed with WS/I 10 from Speed of Light, +1 attack and ASF from Bijona's Timewarp and/or Killing Blow from Djaf's Incantaion of Cursed Blades.  All three spells plus Arkhan's sword make him downright TERRIFYING to fight against in combat.

He's the other big Lore of Undeath user (besides Nagash), and he follows a Nagash Like 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.