Editing Tomb Guard (section)

== On Tabletop ==
[[File:Gw-99120217001.jpg|350px|thumb|right|The updated plastic kit they got in 8th that is insanely expensive but so [[awesome]]. It's most likely coming back for [[The Old World]] due to other art, so save those dollars.]]

Despite how much the fluff punches them up, Tomb Guard aren't quite as awesome as they appear in crunch. Partially this is due to their Vampire Counts counterpart being [[Grave Guard]], which are more like that "slight-better-than-average" skeleton archetype.


In 6th edition, Tomb Guard were considered poor. They had a lower maximum unit size than Grave Guard-which hurts an undead units a lot in attrition tests-no weapon options, no heavy armor and no banner of borrows. 

In 8th edition, although significantly buffed, they were 11ppm, meaning they were a good chunk of your army's points cost-especially if given Halberds, as they finally have access to them, though it will raise the cost to 13 ppm. Generally the best way to use them was to have them sink in a lot of points including having a decked-out Tomb King, Necrotect and Tomb Herald ride with them to get them into melee as soon as they can while your hierophant or liche priest focuses on buffing them into high heaven. That said, with the sheer points invested into this unit, expect your enemy to focus fire it, especially against armies with lots of magic and/or missile units.

Keep in mind in 8th, [[fail|Black Orcs, the more heavily armored and elite of the two, was 12ppm]], and came with better armor and a similar stat line. Tomb Kings suffer from opportunity cost and needing to strategize buffs and put a lot of effort into units to turn trash into treasure, and this is no exception. Tomb Kings live and die on their characters and this is one such case of that principle in action.


In the legends compendium for AoS, they act as Grave Guard without some of the buffs but with a free shield.