Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Greetings all,

I have recently picked up the new Tomb Kings as a second army (my main being Empire), and have set out to learn what they're about. After a couple of experimental 1000 point games, in which I was brutally pounded by Vampire Counts, and then Warriors of Chaos, I decided to have a proper 2000 point game against my long-time gaming buddy, and his brand new Ogres. This was literally his first time using them. My list was (from memory), something like this;

Tomb King with Tricksters Helm, Dragon Bane Gem, +2 attack sword, light armour, shield
L4 Heirophant
L2 Nehekara caster with dispell scroll
Necrotect with gamblers armour

20 skelly archers with standard and music (bunker for L4)
10 skelly horsemen with full command
3 chariots with full command
28 Tomb Guard with full command and halberds (King and Necrotect go here)
4 Ushabti with great bows, full command
Casket of Souls

Ogres had (from what I remember);
Fighty L4 caster lord
Semi-fight L2 fire caster
BSB
Chariot-cannon
Unit of ogres (7 iirc, BSB went here)
Unit of GW ogres (6 iirc, with both casters)
Unit of leadbelchers (6)
2 Mournefang cavalry
Some sorta lion thingy

Brief summary of the game;

Horsemen vanguarded and managed a turn 2 flank charge against the chariot canon, and did a whopping single wound to it before getting wiped out in a couple of rounds of combat.
Chariots charged and splatted the lion thingy, got shot and lost a chariot plus some wounds, then charged the leadbelchers, did approximately nothing, then got smashed into the floor
Archers spammed shots at the leadbelchers with smiting, for a mighty 2 wounds, then ineffectually shot the GW ogres, before getting smashed in CC by them
His caster lord popped an arcane item on turn 2 at the start of my magic phase, that made both my casters roll on the miscast chart (This thing seems brutal). My heirophant promptly managed to fall out of reality for the third successive game, but my opponent allowed me to ignore it in the interests of actually having a battle. (Not that I got to cast much magic, and he ultimately got smeared by the L2 fire mage ogre in combat)
Casket only got a single cast off (When I threw 6 PD at it), it vapourised one of the mournefangs, then bounced through his ENTIRE army, doing absolutely nothing. (Damned BSB re-rolls).
Tomb guard charged his ogre unit, my TK challenged and managed to kill his BSB, but took 2 wounds in the process. The TG largely did nothing to the ogres over 2 rounds of combat, mostly thanks to him getting a 4+ regen spell off that kept them up in the first round, but even after it had fallen off I didn't really do much. Then I got flanked by the GW Ogres and the unit got pulped.

The Ushabti were the only unit to have a decent game. They shot up a couple of ogres at range, got charged by the surviving mournefang (they were deployed infront of my casket), and they beat down the mournefang in combat.

Overall though, I got slaughtered.

So, obviously I need to refine my ideas of how to play Tomb Kings in general. As for Ogres in specific, I have no idea how to deal with them. Take multiple casters, go death on one, and pray for purple sun? I was hoping some people might be able to offer me some insight on Tomb Kings in general, and fighting those Ogre monstrosities in specific. I'm not even sure how my beloved Empire would deal with what those fat men have to bring to the table.

While Purple Sun is nice I've found that Light works well against ogres, and generally has solid synergy with the TK's. Net and light of battle are pretty meh for TK but shems allows dealing with regen at range not to mention Pha's and Speed of Battle, really allows the army to excel in closecombat. if you were to get both off, then ogres would only hit you on 6's.

Hmmm, that's an interesting option that I hadn't considered, though of course it's going to be tricky to cram another effective caster into the list, since my highest level caster MUST be Nehekara, and my Heirophant.

Perhaps an L3 Nehekara for the heiro, and a pair of L2's with light to back him up might work?

I found one of the best ways to deal with orges is to shoot them alot and never let them charge you. I aways try to shoot them up the first turn or two then flank them with fast guys while my main killy unit gets in charge range.

Unfortunately your points were in TG and Ushabti.

If you want to tailor a fight for Ogres, your elites < his elites. Your TG's best ability, KB, does nothing to him. Ushbati lose per cost to Ogres.

What you have is lotsa skeletons. Who can go steadfast and have buffs cast on them, and sit there forever. Their WS 2 isn't such a huge deal cuz Ogres are only 3.

Carrion are also suprising heavy-hitters for their cost and are nearly identical to standard ogres except 1 less W, no Stomp/Charge or items. But they are cheaper and can fly.

You can't take out his cannon in melee very easily. But throwing another tarpit at it is better than expensive charriots.

You can use Tomb Scorpions for some extra hits too.

The big monsters (like colossus) would work IF he didn't have a cannon. But if he does, it's kind of dicey.

I know it's counter-intuitive but try running your TK and NEcrotect in a block of 50 skeletons as opposed to Tomb Guard. Use those special points to buy a few warsphinx - those beasties are brutal!!! In the last game I played my warsphinx was charged by 28 Bloodletters and wiped the unit taking only one wound in the process.

While Killing Blow on the Tomb Guard isn't effective, Heroic Killing Blow on your Tomb King is! This is what my "Death Star" unit looks like:

Tomb King with Destroyer of Eternities (5 S7 KHB attacks)
Necrotect with that gem which gives Magic Resist (3)
BSB with Banner of Undying LEgion.
47 Skeletons with spears.

The pro of this unit is it's beastly and will wipe anything it touches. The con is an opponent who is good at maneuvering can easily avoid it with his fragile units and throw a tar pit at it (like 80 slave rats in 5 x 16) or something nuts like that.

Where is your screaming skull catapult? That thing is a beast against low Ld. armies. At 2K points I always field 2. I know there is risk in hitting but when you do land a wound, and you will, there's a decent chance of causing the unit you hit to break.

Other than that - focus only on the lore of Nehekara to ensure you get the incantation of protection and get it off every turn.

Do you just copy-paste that post in every TK thread?


Correct me if I'm mistaken, but isn't there a spell for Nehekara that gives units with KB the HKB rule instead? And a buff spell, at that. Get some Tomb Guard back, and give them the ability to instagib MI?

No, it just makes KB work on 5/6 instead of 6. Or gives KB to units who don't have it. Though that's still plenty good.

HKB is probably the rarest ability in Warhammer. Giving it to a horde army like TK would be unwoedainsoable. Yeah, so crazy it gets it's own word!

Anvildude wrote:Do you just copy-paste that post in every TK thread?


Correct me if I'm mistaken, but isn't there a spell for Nehekara that gives units with KB the HKB rule instead? And a buff spell, at that. Get some Tomb Guard back, and give them the ability to instagib MI?

I probably should I do in instances where there's too much to write or I see the same question 3 or 4 times in one night but for the most part I try and personalize my posts.