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Lords:

Necromancer Lord (Lvl 4, Talisman of Preservation, Black Periapt, Lore of Vampires) - 300

Heroes:

Necromancer (Lvl 2, Dispel Scroll, Lore of Vampires) - 125
Necromancer (Lvl 2, Lore of Vampires) - 100
Necromancer (Lore of Vampires) - 65
Wight King (Armour of Destiny, Great Weapon) - 140

Core:

Zombiesx50 (Standard, Musician) - 160
Zombiesx50 (Standard, Musician) - 160
Zombiesx50 (Standard, Musician) - 160
Zombiesx50 (Standard, Musician) - 160

Special:

Grave Guardx30 (Full Command, Great Weapons, Razor Standard) - 435
Corpse Cart (Balefire) - 105
Corpse Cart - 90

Total - 2000

EDITED: minor miscalculation, (95pts off so dropped corpse cart and swapped Barrows for Razor, works out better anyway) can't read my own writing

The point of this army is to make each unit as hard as possible to kill, then through a war of attrition simply win out because the enemy cannot raise units. Since all the Necromancers are Lore of Vampires it means that the army will only very rarely crumble (even then it will be very late game before that happens). Each vampire throws out IoN if they don't roll a spell they want, whilst the one which is garuanteed to get Macarbe is designed to push the army forward the full distance every turn. Corpse Carts stay at the back and accept Macarbe or an IoN bubble and give those pesky zombies some speed. Grave Guard stay on the flank and act as the hammer once a zombie unit engages another unit in CC. At 2500pts we start adding fast flankers and this army is still a true pain to kill.

That's a lot of zombies.
I don't think you need 3 carts, 2 at most and you could get away with one. All you need the cart to do is buff the GG. I mean the re-roll is nice for all the zombies, but at 2d6+caster level; you don't need it.
I'd pick up some of those fast flankers with those points instead.

No Mortis engine? I thought that was kinda a must have if you run a necromance themed army.

Looks frustrating. I'm trying to think which of my armies could beat it... Perhaps my ogres... Maybe.

Something to consider: One of your corpse carts could be dropped for two individual spirit hosts. Some monsters and small elite units could give you problems. Use the spirit hosts against these units (assuming they have no magical attacks) and they will be stuck, unable to win combat, until help comes.

You are also a bit light in the hammer department. The grave guard are decent, but Crypt horrors could be a better option. With all the necromancers running around, horrors will be able to regain tons of wounds in each of your magic phases especially since the lore attribute can be applied to them.

Mortis Engine is a rock star.
The +2 to cast really pays off. Low level casters can safely single die invoke, and 2 dice gets many of the augments off as well.
6+ regen does help over the course of a grind out, and you shouldn't discount the banshee shooting or the pulse of hits that it inflicts.
Finally, you'll note that the all miscasts within 12" roll twice affects both you and your opponent. If you're opponent is stuck in close, it is a bit of a deterrent for throwing too many dice.

-Matt

HawaiiMatt wrote:Mortis Engine is a rock star.
The +2 to cast really pays off. Low level casters can safely single die invoke, and 2 dice gets many of the augments off as well.
6+ regen does help over the course of a grind out, and you shouldn't discount the banshee shooting or the pulse of hits that it inflicts.
Finally, you'll note that the all miscasts within 12" roll twice affects both you and your opponent. If you're opponent is stuck in close, it is a bit of a deterrent for throwing too many dice.

-Matt

Regardless of modifiers, a single power die roll still fails on a 1-2. when you use 2 dice a 1/3 chance to fail becomes a 1/36. You can't throw one die at everything like 7th.

Mortis engine could work but firstly points, secondly size (hence cannon fodder) and also if I am versing Dwarfs it dies to a flaming cannon first turn no exception.

Ehsteve wrote:

HawaiiMatt wrote:Mortis Engine is a rock star.
The +2 to cast really pays off. Low level casters can safely single die invoke, and 2 dice gets many of the augments off as well.
6+ regen does help over the course of a grind out, and you shouldn't discount the banshee shooting or the pulse of hits that it inflicts.
Finally, you'll note that the all miscasts within 12" roll twice affects both you and your opponent. If you're opponent is stuck in close, it is a bit of a deterrent for throwing too many dice.

-Matt

Regardless of modifiers, a single power die roll still fails on a 1-2. when you use 2 dice a 1/3 chance to fail becomes a 1/36. You can't throw one die at everything like 7th.

Mortis engine could work but firstly points, secondly size (hence cannon fodder) and also if I am versing Dwarfs it dies to a flaming cannon first turn no exception.

Not the case at all. That squatty little dwarf cannon has to see the spot on the ground it's shooting at. It's actually quite easy for horde armies (3 pt zombies) to block LoS to where you want the cannon ball to start, simply be deploying blocks on infantry on that spot. Deploy the engine sideways, and he only has 2" or so of target to try and hit.

3 level 1 necromancers, + mortis engine means you can single die cast invoke x3. The most common result will be 2 successful castings at a casting value of 6 to 9, and one failed.
So you're spending 3 power dice for 2 successes. You're opponent is likely going to need at least 4 dispel dice to counter your 2 successes. You start magic phases with a power die advantage, and multiple single die casting expands on this. Not all theory hammer either, I've had good luck with this so far with my VC.
The other way to look at it... my opponent uses all his dispel dice stopping my level 4 from doing the area hellish vigor and van hels. My level ones then round out the magic phase by single die casting invoke and added 18 ghouls and 32 zombies to the table, and giving my front two hordes of ghouls ASF via corpse cart.

-Matt

Do you really need to see the ground that is the tabletop, exactly, and not the ground that is a base on top of it? That's lame. I mean, except cannons are awesome, but they shouldn't be toned down in stupid ways like that. Yet I digress...

Yeah, even with a Dwarf Cannon, you'll usually need two shots to bring it down, though. Non-dwarf cannons need to shoot at it an average of four times, assuming they're hitting each time. It's not a sure thing, but it's not exactly fragile.

I support the 1-die casting in this case, fo' sho'. The Mortis Engine seems...awesome.

Alright here's what I see when I look at a mortis engine: risk.

That +2 can also cause my opponent have a major advantage over my miscast. Roll a S6 hit on all my wizards? They have no saves with the exception of the Necromancer Lord. Also that craptastic doubles for regen radius = wound with no save. For over 200pts I'd expect something a bit more meaty than T5 as well. Mortis engine seems too gimmicky (much like the coven throne) and will probably find a counter or hard counter in about 3 months when it starts being played properly at tournaments.

Also the average cannon roll when hitting then bouncing is 10". Firstly a 4" or 6" for the hit, then the inverse for the bounce. A 5x10 horde is 8" deep, and with a 1" gap to the mortis engine (to keep all necromancers in range) hits the mortis engine. Only every 1/3 rolls should be a misfire so that means they will get at least one shot off, which will do on average 3/4 wounds, and from there, one double on your radius before you get any chance to heal the engine = over 200pts to the enemy and no effort involved. Cannons are simply point and click, if you survive you're lucky, not smart.

If the horde is 10x5, it's just as easy since you still place it at the very front of the unit or 1" out if you're feeling unlucky and point/click.

Then it explodes. It explodes with the force of 1000 suns and blasts across your own battleline. If you are using this at the end of the game to suicide into your enemy and hopefully take some out: you've probably already lost or won and are praying for some kind of return. This list is not intended to play in that manner, if you have to throw a mortis engine at something it's a risk.

What this army has is consistency. A hard as nails list which can very reliably get back up, not having to rely upon a single caster or vulnerable model to function.

It's not even worth considering as a character mount (forget whether you can in the necrolord entry...) same way an Engine of the Gods. For thematic or fluff purposes or if you just like the model: fine, but within the confines of this list: probably not.

As for Grave Guard vs. Crypt Horrors: Poison at S4 - the horror! I2 means that your opponent is pretty much always striking before your unless they also have great weapons or are lizardmen (who can take the punishment and deal it back just as well). They are tough ogres, that is all, same WS, same Wounds just that these have permanent toothcracker. Also on a base-to-base analysis, I get 4 attacks from Graveguard as WS3 S6 ASL, from Crypt Horrors that's 3 WS3 S4 I2 hits, not that much better. Also where do my ranks come from in the Crypt Horror unit? They are not Gutstar material.

K.

@ehsteve not sure why you ask for critique and then blow off the responses. If your list is so solid in your opinion why ask?

I appreciate the feedback as always, however I am allowed to respond. My response is that the Mortis Engine upon closer inspection isn't spectacular as an addition to this list.

If I were to fit it in - which I can humour if given some time it would change the entire scope of the list because to do so it would require me to drop wizard levels, reconfigure deployment and figure out the magic phase. I don't think the Mortis Engine is an addition, rather you'd have to build a list around it in order to best ultilize it's points (such as regen units, a more mobile core to keep up with it etc).

As part of a 2500pts list it could work as an addition, but I am also testing Vampires with the ability to reroll a d6 of the Winds of Magic (for a more reliable magic phase).

I played a 2k game (almost same character setup, only with skeletons instead of zombies and a mortis engine instead of corpse carts) vs very shooty skaven list (2 wlc, 6 forgot their name but they are those st6 shooting rats, 1 plague thrower catpult, 2 plague mortars, 1 wheel and 2 warlocks and a grey seer.)

yesterday I have to say that the engine is very good, yes it takes wounds from shooting, but most of the times it will surfive and will be healed back to full health very very fast.

The regen it gives is pure awesome sauce as well and later in the game it did some real damage against the small units he had.

In the 4th turn it did explode and killed very much of him and everything it killed against me i just summoned back.

the +2 to cast is great as well cause it leads to the fact that i have to use less dicce to cast my spells (so less chance to miscast) and with only 1 miscast in the entire game it wasn't all that bad.

My take on the mortis engine is that it's worth every penny.