Game 2 - Tomb Kings vs Empire 2400 points

Welcome to another brief summary of a battle report I was lucky enough to host against my regular sparring partner Todd.

He was once again running his Empire forces intent on breaking my dried husks of former men in Nehekhara, but this time with the unique flavour of the Mortuary Cult.

Post last game we chatted about this list for a few hours, combining it with a unit of Tomb Swarms to allow for some +3 casts to certain spells and then healing them the following turn for a rinse and repeat cycle.

Todds list was as follows:

++ Characters [803 pts] ++

General of the Empire [358 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Full plate armour
- Shield
- Imperial Griffon
- Two heads
- The White Cloak
- Sword of Justice

Captain of the Empire [108 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Full plate armour
- Shield
- Battle Standard Bearer
- War Banner
- On foot
- Burning Blade

Witch Hunter [88 pts]
- Additional hand weapon
- Light armour
- On foot
- Ruby Ring of Ruin

Priest of Sigmar [69 pts]
- Great weapon
- Heavy armour
- Shield
- On foot

Master Mage [125 pts]
- Hand weapon
- Level 2 Wizard
- On foot
- Wizard's Familiar
- Dark Magic

Empire Engineer [55 pts]
- Hochland Long Rifle
- No armour

++ Core Units [831 pts] ++

24 Veteran State Troops [281 pts]
- Hand weapons
- Light armour
- Shields
- Drilled
- Sergeant (champion)
- Standard bearer
- Griffon Standard
- Musician

10 State Missile Troops [103 pts]
- Hand weapons
- Handguns
- Light armour
- Sergeant (champion)
- Sergeant (champion)
- Hochland long rifle

20 Veteran State Troops [215 pts]
- Halberds
- Light armour
- Shields
- Drilled
- Sergeant (champion)
- Standard bearer
- Musician

5 Empire Knights [116 pts]
- Lances
- Heavy armour
- Shields
- Preceptor (champion)

5 Empire Knights [116 pts]
- Lances
- Heavy armour
- Shields
- Preceptor (champion)

++ Special Units [646 pts] ++

Great Cannon [125 pts]

Great Cannon [125 pts]

10 Inner Circle Knights [396 pts]
- Lance
- Hand weapon
- Shield
- Full plate armour
- Stubborn
- Inner Circle Preceptor (champion)
- The Silver Horn
- Standard bearer
- Razor Standard
- Musician

++ Rare Units [120 pts] ++

Helblaster Volley Gun [120 pts]

A good mix of infantry blocks, some respectable firepower, and then the usual troublesome units of Knights to deal with. All backed up with a big monster sporting a human on top waving a magic weapon. I was thinking in my head if everything went to plan I had the tools to deal with it.

My list was as follows:

++ Characters [489 pts] ++ High Priest [257 pts] - Hand weapon - May be a Level 4 Wizard - Skeletal Steed - Staff Of Awakening - Hieratic Jar - Necromancy Mortuary Priest [142 pts] - Hand weapon - Level 2 Wizard - (Mortuary Cult Only) Battle Standard Bearer - Skeletal Steed - Dispel Scroll - No banner - Necromancy Arch Necrotect [90 pts] - Hand weapon - Light armour ++ Core Units [654 pts] ++ 2 Tomb Swarms [74 pts] - Venemous Bites and Stings (Counts as Hand weapons) 5 Skeleton Horse Archers [55 pts] - Hand weapons - Warbows - No armour 5 Skeleton Horse Archers [55 pts] - Hand weapons - Warbows - No armour 35 Skeleton Warriors [245 pts] - Hand weapons - Light armour - Shields - Nehekharan Phalanx (one per 1000pts) - Master of Arms (champion) - Standard bearer - Sigil Of Centuries - Musician 35 Skeleton Warriors [225 pts] - Hand weapons - Light armour - Shields - Nehekharan Phalanx (one per 1000pts) - Master of Arms (champion) - Standard bearer - War Banner - Musician ++ Special Units [538 pts] ++ 6 Venerable Ushabti [343 pts] - Hand weapons - Ritual blades - Heavy armour - Venerable Ancient Necrosphinx [195 pts] - Cleaving Blades - Decapitating Strike - Heavy armour ++ Rare Units [715 pts] ++ Casket of Souls [135 pts] - Hand weapons - Great weapons - Light armour Casket of Souls [135 pts] - Hand weapons - Great weapons - Light armour Screaming Skull Catapult [125 pts] - Screaming Skull Catapult - Hand weapons - Light armour - May Have the Skulls of the Foe Special Rule Screaming Skull Catapult [125 pts] - Screaming Skull Catapult - Hand weapons - Light armour - May Have the Skulls of the Foe Special Rule Necrosphinx [195 pts] - Cleaving Blades - Decapitating Strike - Heavy armour

Spells were something like this:

Hierophant - Desert Wind, Unquiet Spirits, Curse of Years, Spectral Steed

Liche Priest - Cursed Blades, Spirit Leech

Master Mage - Doesn't matter.

Deployment:

From the left: Skeletons, Ushabti, Necrotect, Caskets and Catapults, Hierophant, Tomb Swarms, Necrosphinx, Skeletons, Liche Priest, Necrosphinx, Scouting Horse Archers

From the left: Inner Circle Knights, Handgunners, Cannons, Engineer, Halberdiers w/Mage, Swordsmen w/Witch Hunter and BSB, Helblaster, General, 2 units of Knights.

Turns 1

Todd scored the dice off and immediately went to work with a solid plan of removing my long range artillery. The Mage had different ideas and miscast his spell, rolling a cascade result leaving a gaping hole in his unit. This was to be the first of many WTF moments going into the game. Everything marched forward into better positions for the following turns. A great cannon destroyed a catapult and wounded something else which was of no consequence, as I healed it back up when my Arise! rule kicked in. 

In my turn I took some wounds from the nearby Tomb Swarms to reinforce the magic phase allowing me to cast the big version of Desert Wind giving reserve moves to all units within 12". The Liche Priest cast Cursed Blades as well for something to do. I push the infantry blocks up and just creep up with supporting elements whilst my Horse Archers push deep up the right flank to cause dramas later on. Shooting starts with the remaining Skull Catapult. Now, full disclosure, these are one of my favourite units because of what you're going to witness (quick - go and read the Skulls of the Foe rule). I launched a bunch of heads into the Swordsmen killing a few. The ammunition however ensured everyone within 7" was at -1 Leadership including Todd's general who at this point was just in front of the Halberdiers. Enter Light of Death.

I cast this bound spell on a super high roll, Todd fails to fated dispel it. I target the general, he fails his roll and cops 9 S6 hits to the face. I fail to wound with 2 hits, Todd makes his 5+ ward only saving 2 out of the 7 saves. Multiple Wounds 2, ouch. Dead Griffon turn 1. A massive 'Farrrrk' from both of us as we're left dumb founded by what just took place. The second one powers up and immediately drops the Helblaster wiping it off the table. This causes a panic test on the Swordsmen who turn and bolt.

Todd immediately says 'Well, I know what I'll be targeting with the cannons from now on....'

Turns 2

As it turns out Todd was correct. He did target the Casket however I simply wasn't going to have it. I regenerated the shot as it wounded and the second shot failed to bounce missing the target. His Swordsmen rally and his IC Knights reform to speed along my flank to cause some issues.

In my turn I cast Cursed Blades, Desert Wind and Spectral Steed on my Skeleton Warriors. The idea here was to push them right up into Todd's IC Knights. Being Ethereal he couldn't damage them and they'd win the combat. The Liche Priest then got Spirit Leech off onto the Knights who were then charged by the Necrosphinx and a unit of Horse Archers (into the flank).

I launch the Catapult onto the IC Knights this turn with a direct hit. It does significant damage killing 3-4 and with the -1 Leadership they panic and turn tail and run. Light of Death then drops another 2 or so Knights leaving them in a bad way. The second Light of Death then does some damage to the second block of infantry which ended up panicking them from memory.

In combat the Knights break and I successfully pursue them. This panics the second unit of Knights.

Turns 3

Poor Todd. From here he tried to do whatever chip damage he could but the moment he lost his general as we worked out it was more like a 2400 vs 2000 game. He's a much better opponent than I as he was simply sitting there laughing it off. He rallies with his IC Knights whilst his Cannons take out the Casket of Souls which does a bunch of wounds to surrounding units (missing the Tomb Swarm on a single wound at this stage) and 2 wounds onto the Ushabti. The Hochland Long rifle wounds the Ushabti whilst the Witch Hunter puts a single wound onto the Necrosphinx with his brace of pistols.

Once again in my command phase the Arch Necrotect gives a +3 Initiative bonus to the Ushabti and boosts their regeneration save. Desert Wind goes off as per usual. The Skeleton block on the right charges the Knights in the flank whilst the Necrosphinx charges the same target. The Skeleton block on the left charges the IC Knights.

The horse archers continue to push up towards the enemy now in missile fire range of the enemy warmachines. The remaining catapult scores a direct hit on one cannon completely obliterating it and rolling a very cheeky 12" result for Skulls of the Foe. 

In combat the IC Knights break and are run down whilst the Knights are destroyed and I reform both the Necrosphinx and the Skeleton Warriors.

Turns 4

It was only shooting from Todd this round basically which didn't account for much.

The summary of my turn was I was able to cast Spectral Steed onto the Ushabti making them Fly 10" allowing them to get a charge off onto the Swordsmen unit, combined with the Necrosphinx. The Skeleton Horse Archers charged into the Cannon.

Combat saw me challenge the Witch Hunter who was cut down, and the remaining unit was destroyed after Todd told me how to position the second unit of Horse Archers behind the unit so if (when) it ran through the enemy unit, it came out the other side and off the table.

At this stage we called it and shook hands.

Result - Tomb Kings Victory

Conclusion

Well, without a doubt the unit that had the most impact was between all those warmachines on that hill. A string of bad dice rolls cost Todd his general and essentially swung the game heavily into my favour. Todd just couldn't slow the momentum down and it was always going to be an uphill battle after losing such a significant unit.

Running the Mortuary Cult list was very fun. The magic phase is undeniable and really brings back a feeling of how Tomb Kings played in 8th edition with a powerful magic phase backed up with a Hierotitan. Oddly enough, the only real spells that made a massive impact were Desert Wind which hands down plugs up the Undead weakness of not being able to march.

Screaming Skull Catapults. Wow! Well really, it's the Skulls of the Foe upgrade. It doesn't even have to do a wound which is insane. I don't plan on exposing those warmachines anymore, they can simply hide behind terrain and fire indirectly as killing something is secondary compared to the -1 leadership for the enemy. Also, I'm guessing this effect stacks as on page 165 of the rule book under 'Cumulative Special Rules' this covers this. That means you have a Spirit Leech effect that causes -2 leadership outside of the magic phase and doesn't require a casting value.

Light of Death. Firstly, a massive 36" range on this bound spell. It is the longest range spell in the Tomb Kings arsenal and perhaps the longest range spell in the game? Totally insanity. Drop two Skull Catapults at a unit you want to do mega damage to, gain -2 leadership from Skulls of the Foe and then Light of Death.

Those were the real highlights of the entire game. The boosting of spells using the Tomb Swarms and nearby constructs was great, the Skeletons didn't really get to showcase the tarpit ability I brought them along for but I'm sure I'll get another opportunity.

Looking forward to comments.