thedarkavenger wrote:I never said that. It is a weak book, but in the hands of a skilled player, they can do horrible things. I've done it. I do enjoy my
TK army, but I prefer having the ability to dictate movement.
Yes...but it's a weak book because it lacks the flexibility of other books to insert tools for tackling a wide variety of threats. Or...more for defending against all types of threats since you lack the movement to press your advantage, catch points, or dictate matchups.
That's the struggle with
TK at a competitive level. You can take on a certain amount of high armour but not a lot. You can take on a certain amount of high-attack hordes but not a lot. You can counter-battery like a champ, but once someone has you out-ranged you're in serious trouble.
Playing in 20-nil, like playing against less competitive players, helps a lot because they're more likely to push even when they don't have to. But in a WLD environment, or once your friends realize that they can just sit back and pummel you at range, things get much tougher. You have to MAKE them come at you, and that is often easier said than done.
What also helps with
TK is switching up your lists a lot.
TK have a lot of units whose bark is scarier than their bite. Caskets and sphinxes, for instance. The casket *can* be great, and it's undeniably a force multiplier, but the games where it eats ~50 points of chaff will far outweigh the games where it eats 1,000 points of knights and warmachines. Ditto for our catapults, which will go 3 games without hitting a single thing then take out two chimeras in two consecutive shots. However these sorts of things lead people to never be quite sure what is threatening, and the synergy inherent in the book lets you really play around with that.
For instance, necroknights are a very mediocre unit. Throw Smiting and Bironas onto them for +4A per model and
ASF and that changes dramatically. 3 chariots are just a cheap flanking force, and S4 isn't very threatening something like knights with 1+/2+ saves. Charge them into combat and throw Cursed Blades onto them for
KB impact hits and, once again, a whole different story.
Further, while we are hyper aware of the shortcomings of various units many opponents won't be. Sphinxes for instance are much less scary than their T8 4W with
KB attacks profile suggests...but few opponents know this and give them more respect than they deserve. This ends up causing opponents to redirect strength to respond to imaginary threats, allowing you to hit them where they're weak.
That's the joy of Tomb Kings. You use magic and buff characters to dynamically modify your force in response to changing circumstances.
What's unfortunate is that they overestimated our ability to do this, and hamstrung it in certain ways to keep it "in line" with the perceived power curve (which was much lower at the start of 8th, until they abandoned that and pushed for a higher power curve with later books).
The other downside is that the aforementioned savvy opponent will know exactly how you intend to rebalance to respond to their threats and will dispel those key spells required to do so. They'll also be just as aware of your units' shortcomings as you are, and will apply the appropriate counters with the appropriate amount of force.
All of which isn't to say that these games are now unwinnable. Simply that *CERTAIN* matchups become exceedingly more difficult. Especially nimble forces that are resilient against your primary threats (high
LD, resistance to magic or magic attacks, immunity to
KB), or that bring things that are especially dangerous to your units (high volume of attacks that hit before you do, impact hits, shooting attacks, template weapons).
