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

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

When trying to decide whether to take a Vampire Counts or Tomb Kings equivalent in the same role, give the Magic Items available to each a quick browse as a tiebreaker.
=====Lords=====
*'''Vampire Lord:'''
Brilliant stat line, a metric fuckton of upgrade options, and are neck and (exposed) neck with the Chaos Lord as the most dangerous generic combat lord in the game. They don't have to be the General anymore, and your General dying doesn't mean your army crumbles which allows you to go as wild as you want with their role.
This motherfucker will likely soak up as many points as you can give, especially with the new 50% Lord limit. You're looking at 100 points worth of Vampire upgrades, 100 points worth of Magic Items, and the biggest baddest fucking mounts around. Or, if you're afraid of Cannons, then multiple Red Fury Master Vampires hiding in the line of footplodders waiting to unleash hell.

All Vampires are level 1 Wizards in Lore of Vampires, Death, Shadow, or Undeath (remember that now you don't have to take Lore of Vampires at all) plus any non-Life Lore in the core rulebook with the Forbidden Lore upgrade, and you can upgrade them up to a level 4 Wizard as well. Item selection and powers will be covered later. 220 points at base level.
These bad boys became much more versatile then ever before. Just don't go ''too'' overboard and make sure you have a clear plan of what you want them doing.

*'''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 into Magic, cannot take mundane Heavy Armor, a Lance, or an additional Hand Weapon, and severely loses in the versatility and customization departments. 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 (which can be bumped with Magic Armor) and has a fantastic rule called My Will Be Done, which allows his unit to use his WS (which is 6). 
This would make Grave Guard even better than they were, but there's always the eggs/basket story and with this new book lords and heroes already tend to soak up lots and lots of points. He also has The Curse, punishing whatever kills him making any attempt to kill him a risky endeavor.
Or you could go with Tomb Princes for a more cost effective variation, if none of the Tomb Kings Magic Items above 50 points catches your interest.
Finally, scroll down to Tomb Herald below to see the main benefit to having a Tomb King over a Master Vampire. Not that it matters much, but the mummy options are all flammable remember. 

*'''Master Necromancer:'''
Out of the two caster-Lords, this one is your summoner one. He costs 165 points vanilla, plus 35 for his level 4 upgrade. Unlike his mummified colleague, Mastermancer can increase a Skeleton Warrior Unit's size beyond its starting limit with Master of the Dead upgrade (although not any of the Tomb Kings Skeleton Archers or Horsemen sadly) and is 10pts cheaper with an identical statline. He can only use Lore of Vampires, Lore of Undeath, or Lore of Death.

The Master Necromancer and also can ride a variety of mounts, although the main point of these is to let him keep up with Black Knights if you are going full-cavalry. Otherwise, find him a nice big bunker full of Core to stick him in. If you want multiple casters, only take one Master Necromancer as only one can take the MotD upgrade in your army. 

*'''Liche High Priest:'''
Out of the two caster-Lords, this one is your support. He's 175 points plus 35 for level 4. Compared to Master Necromancer, he has access to Lores of Undeath, Nehekhara, and Light of which the latter two provides the army with much-needed buffs. 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. He can be mounted on a Skeletal Steed, but this is only useful in full-cavalry armies.

*'''Strigoi Ghoul King:'''
Still a proper punch sport, but with all the options you're getting and all the possible combinations you can make this guy will probably won't see the light of day much.
He's 260 points for a Regenerating (only 5+ sadly), Poisoned Attack with Infinite Hatred rapetrain that can't take Magic Armor. Dragonbane Gem is mandatory to protect him from Flame Attacks and most Magic Weapons aren't worth taking since they'll make him lose his Poisoned Attacks. He benefits a great deal from the Lore of Nehekhara Augments, and is not a bad idea if you want a Close Combat character to deal some guaranteed kills. He isn't a terrible choice, but he's got less potential for upgrades and also has got more competition now which doesn't work well in his favor. If you don't plan on kitting out your characters too much and just need someone killy to complete the set with someone else casty, Strigoi with Red Fury and Gem is the way to go.

=====Heroes=====
*'''Vampire:'''
105 points core, lower stats and half the upgrade points available as the Lord counterpart. Can take Lore of Shadow, Lore of Death, Lore of Vampires, Lore of Undeath, or with Forbidden Lore can take any non-Life core rulebook Lore. 
Take it if you need a killy hero (although the Wight King is cheaper for slightly lower stats), are taking a low pop army and need your Level 2 casters to be able to dish out and take in Close Combat, want a core lore and need the level 4 Wizards on more important tasks, or if you took a named character Lord and want that Coven Throne on the field.
You can kit out a Vampire to Fly and launch them directly into enemy warmachines or Wizards, making them an amusing warmachine hunter. 

*'''Tomb Prince:'''
Even cheaper than Tomb King at merely 100 points, but with same rules (although The Curse deals one point less in S, he gets half the Magic Item allowance, and only grants WS5 rather than WS6). With new limit on Heroes, feel free to take many Princes, greatly improving your footsloggers. WS5 Zombies? Hell yeah! 
If you're only interested in solo performance, the Vampire has +2M, +1WS, +1S, -1T, -1W, +1I, +1A, -2LD for 5 more points. While My Will Be Done is worth the difference, there are times when you want the higher statline. Like the Tomb King, see the Tomb Herald when choosing the TK over the VC option. 

*'''Necromancer/Liche Priest:'''
See respective Lord-version entries, as barring the fact that Necro is 65 points while LP is 70 and they as usual have half the Magic Item allowance they're the same. If you have a Light Liche High Priest, Necromancers may be better options as Lore of Vampires and Death are superior to Lore of Nehekhara and the Necro can take Master of the Dead if in LoV to bolster your numbers of Skeletons.

If you're in magic heavy list : spam those lv1 Necro bastards like there's no tomorrow and apply the Heavy Magic list recipe from the tactics section and watch your zombie block tripling their size every turn then basically everything in the nehek spam bubble becomes indestructible. 

*'''Wight King:'''
An awesome option in VC book, not so much here. Compared to the Tomb Prince, he has basically same statline barring -1WS and +1I, comes with Killing Blow but has no Curse, and is only 85 points. His main downside is lack of My Will Be Done. On the other hand, Wight King can take a cavalry mount, and can take Heavy mundane Armor. If you want a BSB who's cheaper than a Hero Vampire, a Wight King is useful. Oh, and he's non-flammable compared to his mummy counterpart.
Also, if you want to be a dick (of course you do), take 10 with Great Weapons and stick them in a unit of Grave Guard carrying Banner of the Barrows.
Watch your opponent desperately struggle to get through T5 5+ as you launch 30 S6 Wight King Killing Blows, followed by 20 S6 Grave Guard attacks which all have a +1 To Hit thanks to their awesome flag. NICE. (don't forget to stick a Tomb Prince and Necrotect into the same unit for MAXIMUM dickery - although keep in mind, no one will ever play with you again)

*'''Tomb Herald:'''
Disregard his statline (one point lower T, W, I, and LD than the Wight King for 60 points) and Banner-carrying option, they're unimportant. 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 Armor, 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 (100 for the King, 50 for the Herald) and My Will Be Done. Then you remember that for a properly kitted up Vampire Lord, nothing in the game is going to hurt it anyway, as it will pulverise all comers, and cry inside. Unfortunately Tomb Heralds can only take Wounds for Tomb Kings and Tomb Princes, and each is assigned only to one character (and each can only have one assigned to them) at the beginning of the game. In addition, the Tomb Herald must be in the same Unit as them. 

*'''Necrotect:'''
Very cheap at 60 points, and his statline isn't bad for it (don't expect him to survive for too long with only T4 and Light Armor with 2 Wounds, or deal much damage s WS3 S4 Attacks, but that's not bad all the same). He gets 50 points worth of Magic Items to specialize him with and he grants Hatred to his Unit via Wrath of the Creator (he's buttmad people keep wrecking his shit pulling the gems and gold out), while his 7 LD can go a long way with VC company. Stick him with Grave Guard for an enemy-melting combination. 
Stone Shaper grants any Constructs within 12 inches Regeneration, which can be bumped up further with a Mortis Engine allowing those adorable little Sphinxes of yours to shrug off cannonballs. 
No matter how you plan on using him, the screaming artist with the whip can find a place in almost any Undead Legion army. 

*'''Tomb Banshee:'''
While generally useless even in vanilla Vampire Counts army, and even more so in Undead Legions, where it has to compete with Liches, Princes and Necrotects, it's main use is in the "shriek" list (see tactics), combined with Terroghests and all sorts of Ld-reducing shenannigans.

*'''Cairn Wraith:'''
See above, but these shmucks haven't even got their own tricky tactic. 60 points, isn't too bad except that you can take them as a Rare option in a group. With the increase in character allowance taking one isn't as painful, but with the new options from Tomb Kings his place is even further at the bottom.
Pass, pass, pass.

Scratch that. With the Archaon rules, take a 30 of the buggers, stick them in one large unit, and have a friend bring along a high elf prince with the Banner of the World Dragon from the Aestyrion. Ethereal and 2++ vs all magical attacks. Tricky tactic right there.

=====Mounts=====
Sadly, mounts cannot be taken cross-army. That does not mean however that they can't be in the same unit as each other though. 

'''Vampire Counts'''
*Skeletal steed: The Black Knights basic mount, ignores terrain as they are treated as Ethereal for movement and does not get the -1M for barding if you take it. Think about that for a moment, you can charge units on the other side of buildings if you can see them. Never take a dangerous terrain test with these guys again!

*Barded Nightmare: Simple undead horse, best in a Unit of Blood Knights, and never put with Black Knights unless there's no terrain, as they'll lose their Ethereal movement. Ordinary in all regards. other then being S4 WS3 horses.

*Hellsteed: A flying Barded Nightmare, and overall a better horse. Not too expensive and still a great investment if you like running with Fell Bats or other silliness. Still, if used right it can be a scary model that's great for picking off warmachines or other small units, since arrows don't tend to have the killing power needed for a Vampire.

*Corpse Cart: Necromancer (and Master Necromancer) only, in Vampire Counts mounting up on one was none too effective. But if your list happens to be a list built primarily out of fast options, particularly those nifty Tomb King Core Chariots, then riding with your new tan buddies can be nice as every time your Lore of Vampires Necro (because if you're putting them on a Corpse Cart, that's the ONLY reason) Invocs Nehek he'll give the namesake troops ASF. Nice. 

''It may be possible to actually ride these inside a unit of Skeleton Chariots, see their entry in Core below.'' 
*Abyssal Terror: Not great by any standard of a monster. Can be given Poison Attacks or Armour Piercing, has Thunderstomp (which doesn't get the upgrade abilities sadly). Fairly cheap and it flies so it's not exactly bad, but it's just beaten out by the next two usually.

*Coven Throne: This thing has a good number of abilities, but also a few downsides. You basically roll a game of the LD of the model (equal to that of the Vampire/Vampire Lord riding it) +D6 against the LD of whatever is trying To Hit it (plus D6). Depending on how much higher yours is the unit may continue on normally, freeze mid-swing, or even attack itself! It has a very large number of attacks from it's two Vampire Maiden crew plus the ghosts that function as it's steeds, and has a Bound Spell allowing it to reroll it's own failed To Hit or To Wound rolls, whichever you choose (including that of the rider, so obviously the blender lord is a very nice option). It's absolutely fucking awful against any army with high Leadership and/or siege weapons due to it's Large Target rule (so mostly Dwarfs with their army wide LD 9 or Elves with archer spam, or just any army a fair number of artillery pieces as they'll pass The Battle of Wills eventually). It's fun and helps its survivability while boosting damage a fair amount but it isn't too reliable for stopping the majority of attacks aimed at it. On the other hand, excellent in combat, you get 2D6 attacks from the ghosts hauling this thing around, the ghost horses grant it Ethereal movement so there's no troubles from terrain, a 5+ Armor Save, a 4+ Ward Save, four S5 ASF attacks from the Handmaidens, D6 S5 impact hits.  Sadly a lesser vampires don't have a high enough leadership to consistently use The Battle of Wills effectively (so putting them on a shitload of points isn't a good idea), so the only thing worthwhile to put on it is a Vampire Lord, which is a lot more appealing in an undead legions list because now you can allocate 50% of your total points to Lords, so not only can he buy good equipment in 2000 points games, you can get other Lords to back him up and if he dies to a cannonball your army no longer crumbles.  Don't give the rider too much equipment though because he's still a huge target.

''It may be possible to combo these with Skeleton Chariots, see entry in Core below.'' 
*Zombie Dragon: Exactly what you think it is. It's got beefy stats, can be healed massively thanks to lore attribute plus Invocation, his Pestilential Breath attack causes -3 to armour as well as causing a S2 hit and it adds that extra "fuck you" to Ogres in the form of terror. Has Swarm of Flies (ew!) which causes -1 to To Hit rolls in melee. A great time if your Vampire has the same stat line as the mount its on. Can really wreck heavy cavalries day as well as rank and file, though it will die to cannons or Heroic Killing Blow. Still a wonderful kick ass model and is our only dragon, but like most fun things, it's a magnet for artillery and mass shooting, though since losing your general no longer causes crumbling, that's not as much of an issue as it used to be. 

'''Tomb Kings'''

*Skeletal Steed: Basic Undead horse. War Beast, low stats other than it's M. Use it to keep up with cavalry. Sadly, cannot be taken by Kings/Princes, so no MWBD for Black Knights.

*Skeleton Chariot: Same as the Skeleton Chariots below, but the Tomb King or Tomb Prince replace a crewmember. Useful to bolster a large unit of Core Skeleton Chariots and grant the My Will Be Done, as "And The Tomb Kings Rode To War" allows character Chariots to join units (but only Units of Skeleton Chariots). By itself however, not useful at all.

*Khemrian Warsphinx: While putting a Tomb King on one and granting it WS6 may be somewhat useful, it's not a great use of points as he'll only grant that ONE sphinx his bonus. It gains a 4+ against Shooting, with the King having a 5+ against it, but loses the 4 crewmembers cutting it's number of attacks.  While this used to be good when keeping your General alive was important, it's now a sub-par option.