Return to the Old World

Ahoy everyone

It turns out the last game of Warhammer Fantasy 8th edition I played was in February of 2015. It was time to roll out the Tomb Kings and sink my teeth with my long time sparring partner Todd, to check out The Old World. We have been both very excited about the prospect of reliving our games, checking out the new rules and touching on some of nostalgic wargaming experiences we've both had prior.

I decided to run a list designed around the Royal Host. I was really keen to see how the Tomb Guard on chariots would go, backed up with a Tomb King on a Warsphinx.

This isn't going to be a play by play battle report, but rather just a quick summary and highlight of certain points of the action.

At 2000 points I was running the following:

++ Characters ++

Tomb King

(Hand weapon, Heavy armour, (Warsphinx only) May take Fiery Roar, (Nehekharan Royal Host only) Arise! Special Rule and Level 1 Wizard, 2 (Warsphinx only) May take up to two additional Tomb Guard Crew, Khemrian Warsphinx)

Royal Herald

(Hand weapon, Light armour, Shield, Battle Standard Bearer, Skeletal Chariot)

Mortuary Priest

(Hand weapon, Level 2 Wizard, Skeletal Steed, Necromancy)

++ Core Units ++

6 Skeleton Chariots

(Hand weapons, Cavalry Spears, Warbows, Skeletal Hooves (Count as Hand weapons), Master Charioteer (Champion), Standard bearer, Musician)

5 Tomb Guard Chariots

(Hand weapons, Halberts, Shields, Tomb Captain (champion), Relic Of The Desert Sun, Standard bearer, Musician)

++ Special Units ++

Tomb Scorpion

(Decapitating Claws, Envenomed Sting, Bone Carapace (Counts as Heavy Armour), Ambusher)

Tomb Scorpion

(Decapitating Claws, Envenomed Sting, Bone Carapace (Counts as Heavy Armour), Ambusher)

4 Necropolis Knights

(Hand weapons, Cavalry Spears, Lashing Tails (Counts as Hand weapons), Light armour, Shields, Necropolis Captain (Champion), Standard bearer, Musician)

4 Necropolis Knights

(Hand weapons, Cavalry Spears, Lashing Tails (Counts as Hand weapons), Light armour, Shields, Necropolis Captain (Champion), Standard bearer, Musician)

A brief rundown on the list. The Tomb King was just going to be an absolute beatstick having the capability to take some serious punishment and then heal himself back up whilst bashing opponents with lots of attacks from him, his crew and the mount. Having him on a large target meant his Command range increased to a massive 18" meaning the Arise! rule would become a little more flexible. The BSB I think is a non-negotiable in Tomb King lists, reducing the damage from Unstable is amazing and will be the difference between surviving a combat and then allowing an unit to heal, or being destroyed and having to deal with your opponents unit/s a bit closer to your squishy bits.

My core choices were Chariots and Tomb Guard Chariots. Whilst the Tomb Guard chariots rock a 4+ save which makes somewhat of a difference and have the usual Cleaving Blow special rule, the Skeleton Chariots have warbows for some ranged offence.

I put in 2 units of Tomb Scorpions more to see how they'd perform as versing against Empire, I was confident I'd have some gunpowder warmachine to harass. Finally the army was rounded out with Necropolis Knights as once again in the previous edition they were a staple in some of my lists so I was keen to check them out.

Todd ran the following:

++ Characters ++

Grand Master

(Hand weapon, Full plate armour, Shield, Barded Warhorse)

Wizard Lord

(Hand weapon, Level 4 Wizard, On foot, Illusion)

Witch Hunter

(Great weapon, Light armour, On foot)

Captain of the Empire

(Hand weapon, Light armour, Battle Standard Bearer, On foot)

Empire Engineer

(Hochland Long Rifle, No armour)

++ Core Units ++

10 State Missile Troops

(Hand weapons, Handguns, Light armour)

5 Empire Knights

(Lances, Heavy armour, Shields, Preceptor (champion))

5 Empire Knights

(Lances, Heavy armour, Shields, Preceptor (champion))

23 Veteran State Troops

(Hand weapons, Light armour, Shields, Drilled, Sergeant (champion), Standard bearer, Musician)

++ Special Units ++

Great Cannon

(Veterans)

Great Cannon

(Veterans)

10 Inner Circle Knights

(Great weapon, Hand weapon, Shield, Full plate armour, Stubborn, Inner Circle Preceptor (champion), Standard bearer, Razor Standard, Musician)

++ Rare Units ++

Helblaster Volley Gun

Spells

Tomb King - Unquiet Spirits

Lice Priest - Cursed Blades, Desert Wind

Empire Wizard - Shimmering Dragon, Column of Crystal, Confounding Convocation, Miasmic Mirage

Deployment

Todd won the roll off and begun deploying first. With his two warmachines in one corner, I anchored the other corner heavily only having a single great cannon to contend with for the time being. Straight after we deployed, we looked at one another and certainly realised that all of this beautiful terrain would have to be minimised going forward for next game. This would come from the fact we've both been playing another game for the past few years that heavily relies on cover, so you can never have enough terrain to help you out. Not the case here.

With less units to deploy and two going into reserve, I gained the +1 to win the roll off, and opted for Todd to go first.

Turns 1

It was going to be a fairly quick first few turns until combat. Todd attempted to cast some spells but failed, and his forces shuffled forward. The shooting phase produced a wound onto a Necropolis Knight however a cheeky regeneration save prevented any damage whilst from memory the second cannon ball dropped a Tomb Guard Chariot.

In my turn I used Arise! to heal all the damage from shooting. MWBD turned the Warsphinx into a 9" movement jungle cat. Movement saw my chariots sneak into bow range of Knights but terrible rolls ensured nothing even came near penetrating the Empire steel.

Turn 2

Todd pushed his Knight block further into the centre of the field in which I didn't feel as though I had an answer for. Magic probably didn't account for much again and his cannons did some chip damage on my units. In this turn I declared a charge against the Knights infront of the State troops with my Chariots in which Todd counter charged 3" bringing them forward and exposing the flank to the Warsphinx. I was unable to unleash the King who made a flank charge onto the Knights. I reformed the Tomb Guard Chariots to bring them around to support the incoming charge from the Inner Circle Knights.

Between impact hits and the Tomb King the Knights were destroyed. The Chariots overran into the infantry whilst the Warsphinx reformed.

Turn 3

It was Todd's turn to get some revenge back. His Wizard cast the Column of Crystal (or cactus in this case) and blocked my Warsphinx from turning to face the infantry block. The cannon took out a Tomb Guard Chariot. The Inner Circle Knights charged the flank of my Chariots and between the Sword of Justice and the ranks from the infantry it was a white wash and I crumbled away. Inner Circle Knights reformed to face the Knights.

My turn saw me charge the Warsphinx into the Knights however they fled away to safety. A Tomb Scorpion arrived finally. The Necropolis Knights charged into the Knights who counter-charged a few inches forward. This exposed the flank a little more for the Tomb Guard chariots to hit the flank. Magic saw everything from memory dispelled or simply not cast. Between Impact Hits, Cleaving Blow, although I lost the Necropolis Knights I was able to break the Knights (killing the Grand Master) but didn't pursue as it would have put me in range of shooting.

Remaining Turns

Due to memory loss and lack of photos I'll sum this up as best I can. The Knights rallied and would go on to charge my Tomb Scorpion but over 2 rounds of combat I was able to break and kill them. My second Scorpion arrived and I would go on to put this into Todd's missile troops. I broke them and then was wiped out by his cannon grapeshot. Todd's wizard did his best to fly around and create havoc but over two rounds of shooting from the Warsphinx I was able to kill him.

Conclusion

It was certainly fun. Todd and I talked for a few hours afterwards and it was generally pretty positive, but also highlighting the fact it is a different game and some key take aways. Firstly, he didn't feel as though magic did enough for the points value required. Although he cast some spells which prevent a unit from charging (which is huge I think and 'bends' a core rule not allowing a unit of charge), it is a high casting value, and unless you can boost your casting role, you may struggle to get it off consistently. The next aspect of most magic, it's all short range. This is something else to consider during army construction.

As expected, unless buffed my magic or characters (which I had little) the Tomb Kings combat phase isn't amazing. They have always relied on impact hits, and key words (such as killing blow previously, and now cleaving blow) in order to do any solid damage which accounts for combat resolution. I'm really keen to try large blocks of infantry, and think that's where the future of Tomb Kings lie. Todd's Grand Master with the Sword of Justice (Multiple Wounds 2) just smashed my models apart and unfortunately was a perfect counter to what I was running.

We've already begun planning for the second game and the units we think deserve to be in lists, whilst others we're both confused as to how to use correctly.

I'll save my army construction for another post and what I'm tempted to try in another game.

Thank you for reading.

- James