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I'll start with the obligatory disclaimer, I'm not a GT winner, nor do I have a Tomb King army that dominates all comers. I'm mostly a 40k guy who picked up Tomb Kings a year or so ago because they reminded him of Necrons. I'm just listing my observations from using the army against a fairly limited set of opponents.

Playing Tomb Kings vs. playing normal armies:

The most important distinction between Tomb Kings and everyone else is that they can't flee. This is more important to realize than anything else. It's vital. No Fleeing means that if you are in range of an enemy charge at the end of your move phase they can charge you.

The next most important distinction is the magic. Tomb King magic is absolutely vital to the army, and its effect on movement lends the Tomb Kings their distinctive stutter style of moving. Its rare to manage a charge in the movement phase, you will be relying on Urgency for your effectiveness.

The last distinction is the most obvious, you are Undead, and hence suffer combat resolution issues rather than breaking. The No Fleeing rule is, of course, a sub part of this difference but I put it first to emphasize. The undead rules have a number of interesting consquences, which will be explored under each unit.

Tomb King characters/magic phase:

I've put this section here because the two are inseparable. Tomb Kings units are pointed assuming they are augmented by Tomb King's magic, and it only comes from the characters. The most important thing that the characters do is cast urgency. Smiting and healing are of lesser importance but have their place. Urgency, however, is absolutely vital. When you think about characters, think about their magic phase. You want every possible cast, and you want every one of them to be something the opponent needs to counter.

Character assessment:

Icon Bearer: This is a bad character. First off, he's only got 2 wounds, he didn't pick up the extra wound that the rest of the fighty characters got. Next, all the banners that cost > 50 points aren't any good. Next, the translation to Undeath has changed the Battle standard bearer's role from allowing the reroll of morale to protecting from one wound of CR damage. It's probably not worth his points right there, but it gets worse. This guy casts nothing. No urgencies, no nothing. He uses up a character slot and he doesn't contribute to the magic phase. He could be half, or a fourth of his points and he still wouldn't be worth it.

Use/Equipment: Don't.

Tomb Prince: By contrast, this guy is a fine character. The Tomb Prince has t5, 3 wounds, and can cast urgency/smite. His big restriction is that he can only cast it on his own unit. Incorrect used, this can allow the enemy to ignore his cast. Still, he's a cheap warrior hero who also casts. He is manifestly worth his points and a competitive choice for the hero slots. In fact, if you go with a Liche High Priest the Tomb Prince is required.

Use: Basically your choices for him are to put him into a chariot unit or an infantry block. I prefer the chariot (as this makes his urgency more menacing), but keeping him with your infantry will help with crumble if he's your general and the Hierarch eats a stone thrower shot. Whichever way you use him, don't depend on him getting his spell off. Instead, he should be used to drain the enemy's dispel dice so that the later casts get through.

Equipment (foot): Great weapon. The enemy won't usually swing on him, and if they do his t5 should protect against wounds light armor would help with. His goal as a foot slogger is just to urgency his unit and to bop 2 enemies on the head to help with combat res.

Equipment (chariot): Flail, shield, light armor, Chariot of the Sun: With the chariot in the mix, enemies are more willing to swing on him, if only due to not reaching his unit. The chariot also helps with his save, so its worth it to grab the defensive upgrades. Chariot of the Sun is, on average, 2 more hits on the charge, which ought to equal out to one more wound. In a unit as dependent on breaking the foe as this one is, every little bit helps. I've experimented with defensive upgrades on his chariot, but on the whole it shouldn't be out of combat for too long so I think saving points is the priority.

Tomb King: The King is an incredible character. T5, S5, 4 wounds, and 2 casts...which can be on units other than his own! His presence also upgrades certain aspects of the army (chariots become core which lets you have less normal core, you get a banner of skeletons) Obviously he eats your Lord slot, which means no High Priest, and that's a hard choice. He's a fiend of a fighter, and makes an incredible contribution to your magic phase.

Use: I may be biased, but I don't like putting the King into a chariot. He belongs in your ranked units, surrounded by your force. If he's off in a chariot you can't be guaranteed that the second cast will be well used. In an army as dependent as the Tomb Kings on magic, you can't let the enemy ignore any of your casts. In addition, being on foot permits him to wield the Destroyer of Eternities, which is an incredible thing on its own, but when combined with Smite becomes practically obscene.

Equipment (foot): Destroyer of Eternities. Nothing else is really required. He can't afford any magic armor, and the reasoning under the Prince indicates why conventional armor isn't any use to him. The hope is that after swinging away during smite and then the charge round nobody is alive to swing back. Using the DoE in both the Smite and the charge round ought to kill most enemy characters (even Lords) without giving them a change to strike back, whether through a Killing Blow or just through rolling enough s7 magic wounds. With good ws, t5 and 4 wounds it's likely that he'll survive if they've got Strike First, and you might even KB them in the Smite phase.

Equipment (chariot): Flail of Skulls (for character killing), chariot of the Sun, shield/armor (either or both could be magic). Same notion as the Prince on Chariot, but with 2 urgencies you are far more likely to get the charge, or at least drain 4 dispel dice.

General Prince/King note: There's a Tomb King non-mage item that is a dispel scroll equivalent, forget the name right now though. I like to get that in my army if at all possible. You aren't usually going to run out of scroll slots, but spreading the love out is always worthwhile.

Liche Priest: Liche priests are excellent, and should be the default use of a character slot you don't have any plans for. They form the engine of the magic phase, able to cast at long range and using a respectable amount of dice.

Use: These should be the characters you rely on to actually get the spells off, after the bound items/fighters have drawn off the enemy's dispel dice. You want them securely in a ranked unit or on a Casket, or perhaps flying around with the Cloak of Dunes (although that precludes a scroll and I don't recommend it.) They are also your only source of dispel dice, and your main scroll caddies.

Equipment: (foot) Staff of Ravening or Dispel Scroll. The SoR is another addition to the endless magic phase, and is lowthreat by comparison to the urgencies, smites and caskets the enemy is going to be focusing on blocking. I like it on that principle alone. You can usually steal a rank from a ranked unit you fire it at, or force a check in a 5 strong light calvalry unit running around. If you don't go for the Staff a Dispel Scroll is practically mandatory.

Equipment: (casket) Dispel Scroll or 2 Dispel Scrolls. The primary equipment, of course, is the casket itself and the nearby catapult you are smiting. Given the TK's relatively scarce supply of dispel dice the scrolls can be crucial.

Liche High Priest: The Liche High Priest is practically a magic phase all on his own. With 3d6 twice a round, never failing to cast and threatening Urgency on game winning charges the LHP could take up to 8 dispel dice to shut down. That power befits his high price tag.

Use: The LHP needs to be protected. He's your hierarch, and probably the majority of your magic phase. I consider taking him out of a ranked unit to be almost unacceptably risky. In particular he shouldn't be put on casket duty. There's something to be said for putting him in the Cloak or on a horse, but there are a variety of assassination methods in this game. I'd prefer to keep him securely in the midst of the army, next to a unit champ who can throw up challenges if the need arises.

Equipment: (foot) Dispel Scroll and/or Staff of Ravening. For all his power I think he's to be used just like a Liche Priest. Same role, same distance of casting. Same gear.

General LP/LHP note: The Hieratic Jar is mandatory. Give it to your Hierarch and try it on those turns that you absolutely have to get your spell off. If nothing else it costs precisely as much as the scroll it's going to draw, so you haven't lost anything.

Coming soon: Core Units!

Some comments.
Smiting is an ausome spell. Ignoring the obviousness of shooting a catapult twice it is also great to use to reduce a rank from enemy units or kill that chosen knight who would swing before your ubshapti. How many other spells in the game give a single unit +1 combat res for a turn?

Prince. I would always put this guy in a chariot. This way his cast cant really be ignored well. In tomb guard it is only usefull half the time (short movement) in skeletons it is usually a waste (never seen him joined to ubshapti so cant comment)
Also he just doesnt help most foot units. Against units they would beat his added kills dont help (outnumber + fear) and against units that beat them he can die to easily (no armor). This leaves the units that might or might not beat them which will lose in the long run anyways (to outnumber + fear + luck)

King. This guy rocks. Toss him somewhere where his spells cant be ignored (chariot) and he will do great. Between urgancy and smiting you can almost always use all spells.

Lich priest on casket. Give this guy a save. Preferentially the 4+ ward save that kills his buddy. Otherwise you will be cannon sniped turn 1 and that just sucks.

High lich priest. I don't think i would ever put this guy in a unit unless the enemy had a lot of shooting on a hill. Flying is so much better at staying hidden. Spells don't require LOS and you don't want a unit running in and directing all attacks at him (he is easier to wound than skeletons).

Icon bearer - he has a couple uses.
1) combined with construct army (ubshapti and giants) he makes them really hard to kill in combat because they wont crumble. Taking less damage is equal to healing the unit.
2) +1 to hit for giant or ubshapti on the charge banner. It is a huge bonus.
3) Actually, I cant think of 3 at the moment. thats it. He sucks other than those two things.

Lastly
"He is manifestly worth his points " Is that really a valid use of the word. Nice use of big word. =)

Bad word choice: I'm primarily writing to myself, just to sort of see my thoughts on paper and test vs. laughter, so I reserve the right to mangle English.

Smiting: I concur, it's awesome. I just think Urgency is even more important. I was going to rhapsodize (there I go again!) on its greatness when I talked about Screaming Skull Catapults. Usually when you can smite you hate the option to urgency someone into a charge instead, which is going to be better. On the other hand, I'm a DoE spammer, so I can certainly get behind a good smite.

Prince: Mine has definitely migrated to a chariot, but I'm loathe to dismiss his usefulness in infantry blocks. Chariots have a tendency to be turn 1/2/3 casualties, while having him swinging a great weapon in a block of skeletons or what have you that he brings into a flank can be crucial.

King: Long live the

Liche Priest on Casket: The casket is a model that has several parts, as defined on page 87 of the BRB. You can't get sniped by a cannon, and the randomization is protection enough. Besides, most armies don't have cannons.

HLP: It may be a local thing, but there always seem to be hills with war machines. I concur, though, that he's got to get out of the unit and take his changes in the midfield right before combat starts.

Icon Bearer: Fair enough. I still hate him though.

Liche Priest on Casket: The casket is a model that has several parts, as defined on page 87 of the BRB. You can't get sniped by a cannon, and the randomization is protection enough. Besides, most armies don't have cannons

No it is a warmachine! page 33 TK armybook..
Cannons don't use randomization rules, so you liche priest can be sniped without problems.
Every model under the template-line is hit.
So I would suggest you read the cannon rules: BRB page 87 and further especially the section above the multipart stuff you want to invoke. The section mentions what models are hit if you fire on warmachines..

For nomal shooting the randomization might work.. but an extra wardsave would be better
No liche priest-> no casket :(

Casket: We can work through that in YMDC. This thread is just for me to talk get my TK thoughts down so I can see if I'm making any sense.

Edit: Ah, heck with it. The Casket of Souls isn't a war machine. It "acts much like" a war machine, with 3 exceptions. 2 of them aren't pertinent, but one of them specifically details how shooting at the casket is to be handled.

In addition, Cannons specifically state how they handle multi-part models, which the Casket either is or isn't.

If it isn't, then you can't snipe pieces of it, as the whole thing is one target. The guards, priest, etc. simply don't exist until someone charges. In that case the Cannon hit anywhere on the model is "on the casket" and is ignored completely as described under the CoS's rules exception to its war machine status. I think we can agree that that's madness.

So it's a multi-part model. As such, you treat it like a dragon or a chariot with 3 riders. Randomize to hit the crew, then randomize again for which crew member you hit.

RAW aside, You seem to want the Casket to be treated as a war machine like the catapult which is separate from it's crews models. That's not how it's sold. It's sold as a set piece for your army, a multi part model.

But alright, say your desire to cannon the priest carries the day. I mean, even if that notion was born out by RAW you would just prompt TK players to dissect our pretty diorama piece and take 2 generic tomb guard and a priest and hide them behind a wall nearby. You would actually have less chance at cannoning the Priest and the model would look slowed.

Anyway, back to ruminating on units:

General: Tomb Kings armies challenge the dogma that core slots aren't as good as the others. Chariots and skeletons are the core of the army, the area where the magic engine hides while it moves around the hammers. Don't automatically presume that you want min sized Core units. (if you do though, you can get through it with 205 points)

Skeletons: Skeletons aren't anything to write home about in terms of statline, but they aren't atrocious. Their primary attraction, of course, is their lack of morale issues and the fact that they cause fear. The bows that always hit on 5's aren't bad either.

Use: Ranked units of Skeletons will form the primary building block of most Tomb King armies. Usually you want to spread out into a row 10 wide and 2 deep so as to let more of your bows fire, but pull into a typical fighting formation when the enemy draws near. (I can't believe I just repeated advice from a GW army book) Although they are mediocre fighters at best, Skeletons can win by hitting the front and then bringing in allies on the flank (usually during the magic phase). One or two units of skeletons are a virtual must in Tomb King armies. They can hold the front while your meaner units hit the flanks, or hit the flanks when the enemy charge a menacing unit. Primarily, they are bunkers for your characters to hang out in.

Equipment:Bows, hand weapons, standard bearer (if TK leads army use Banner of the Eternal Legion on one unit) Keep the bows over the shields, they are useful, and don't buy light armor. If you want fighting skeletons go with Tomb Guard, who are better than Skeletons with hand weapons, shields and light armor by leaps and bounds. Skeletons will rarely win combat in a face to face, you win by static combat res + a flanking buddy (who may be just about anything).

Skeleton Light/Heavy horsemen: These aren't to my taste. They are essentially the same as Skeletons in terms of fighting, minus the rank bonuses. They've got a longer charge range, but so do Chariots, which fight better for the points, even without considering the impact hits. Seriously, a chariot outfights its point-weight in horsemen, moves identically, and gets hits when it charges. It even does so if they charge it! The horsmen fight well for their points vs. skeletons, but here they lack the rank bonuses to win. The only real edge I can think of for these guys is that they hide Liche Priests that need mobility and can't afford the Cloak of Dunes, while still permitting them Look Out Sir from their full ranks.

Use: As chariots, if you must

Equipment: No command, no items. In fact, don't even bring these guys.

Chariots: These are what everybody thinks of when they think of Tomb Kings. The chariot is your hardest fighting Core choice, and also your most mobile. It can't hide your Priests and High Priests, and has less shooting, but in every other way they are the superior to Skeletons and Skeletal Horsemen. 160 points will give you 4 chariots or 20 skeletons. Even if you give the skeletons the charge (through some miracle) their static combat res isn't anything like enough to make up for the volume of attacks coming back at them. If you give the Chariots the charge (which they will get every time in an actual game) they'll obliterate the Skeletons on the second combat phase.

Side Note: I'm revealing my own prejudice's here by putting chariots in Core. This is, I think, one of the best things about using a Tomb King as your Lord choice, as the Core chariot choice is the best available to Tomb Kings.

Use: Chariots aren't used quite like anything else. They have an absurd threat range, but actually getting to use it is troublesome, as most enemies will flee and take you in the flanks. You usually want to deploy them in units of 3, one of whom is a standard bearer, with a character, which will beat and outnumber an average enemy infantry block on the charge. A good strategy is to charge an enemy unit at long range who you know will flee, and then have everybody urgency until you can charge again to hit the flanker, or just trop back. Urgencies on a chariot are rarely ignored, so they are a good way to draw out the enemy's scrolls and the like. It is easy to overvalue them. They are pretty cheap though, so if you need to let someone flank them or charge them to give you a flank charge with a more important unit, go right ahead. a unit of 3 isn't even as expensive as a skeleton block. Use and abuse.

Equipment: I like to put the Mirage standard on a unit of them, but the Icon of the Sacred Eye that gives +1 to hit is also great. I prefer to join a Prince to this unit, as it makes his urgency harder to ignore, and if you put the King on such a fast moving unit he frequently loses out on his second spell (and can't wield the Destroyer!)

Tomb Swarms: Clocking in as the cheapest choice in the TK army list, a Tomb Swarm is also one of 2 Burrowers in the TK army, and restricted to 0-1 availability. I don't think I've ever seen a TK army without at least one of these guys, whether the player has chosen it to lessen his expenditures in the Core area, to get a decent skirmish unit in an army that lacks them, or to get another burrower to attack enemy war machine crews.

Use: Far and away the most popular use of these guys is to take one or two and burrow them under a war machine of the enemy's. I also like to put them in a wooded area on a flank and use them to march block and threaten to flank enemy units that go near it, providing one of the cheapest ways on record to slow an enemy flanking action. Their ability to charge in any direction and poison also renders them useful for preventing dragons and other large creatures from swooping around your army with impunity, although TK are already well protected from such things by the turn + urgency maneuver.

Equipment: None

Alright, more comments are needed.
First cannons hit what they hit. If you want a full explanation start a topic in YMDC (your right, it would take over this post)

Skeletons. Never drop shields for a measly 5 bow shots. Either take a large ranked units with shields or smaller units with bows. Skeletons with shields and light armor will actually usually win combat if they arent flanked. It just takes time. Eventually the enemy will fluf their attack, be outnumbered, and run.

Not sure how good skeletons with bows are. Never really seen them in action.

Light cav - I have no idea why someone would take these guys. Perhaps as war machine hunters if they didn't take one of the better special units that do this.

Heavy cav - I actually think these guys rock. Try playing a game where you replace all skeleton blocks with units of 15 of these guys. You now have skeleton blocks that have US 30, charge twice the distance, and have double the attacks (for a price hike of not to much actually)
15 heavy cav on the charge will break most basic units out there.

Chariots - I would actually run units of 5 or units of 4 with a char. This gives you a guy who can die and you still get the maximum possible number of attacks on a 5 wide unit.
I also agree the king is sooo worth it to give you the chariots as core.

Edit: o, and agree with everything about the swarms

I'm a big fan of bows on the skeletons because it lets them contribute even if the enemy declines to engage them. I also haven't had the experience of them winning combat without a flanker. Then again I haven't tried using light armor in conjunction with shields, I've only tried using shield skellies, and was disappointed.

For bows: Increasing your frontage by 5 gives you 10 shots, or 20 at a giant and the like, and can be done while moving forward slightly. If you are castling bows give you something to do after smiting the catapult(s). If you are walking the field you are unlikely to be able to get the leisure to smite, but sometimes you've got range issues and it's all you can do.

Vs. Heavy Cav.

I like Chariots better than heavy cav. For 160 you can get either 10 heavy cav or 4 chariots. The chariots move as light cav, while the heavy cav don't. The chariots can be joined by a fighty character, while the heavy cav can be joined by a priest. The chariots can have a 50 point magic standard, while the heavy cav are stuck at 25. The chariots have a few bow shots...ok, that's sort of irrelevant. The chariots are t4 with a 5+ save and take hits at ws3, while the heavy cav are t3 with a 4+ save and take hits at ws2. The chariots degrade more gracefully (only every 3 wounds actually change the unit's attack ability).

I could forgive these issues if the heavy cav actually hit harder on the charge, but I don't think they do.

Ten charging heavy cav gives you 10 s4 ws2 swings and 10 s3 ws2 swings. 4 charging chariots give you 4 s4 ws3 swings, 4 s3 ws3 swings and 8 s3 ws2 swings...but then adds in 4d3 s4 auto hits. I think that the chariots actually charge harder than the heavy cav.

Anyway: next up, Special units

Well if you want to bend the rules.. go ahead, untill someone accuses you of cheating.

It follows the rules of a warmachine with exceptions, none of which declare it to be a multipart unit.
A rule called warmachine makes it one..

Against normal shooting randomization is in order and any shoot randomized to the casket is negated.

Cannon rules says it hits all models under the template, no randomization required.
If your liche priest is under the template, it is hit, and it probably dies without a wardsave.

Cannon rules can be tricky for people who never used a cannon, but sniping is a possibility.
The cannonit has it's own rulesset for which model is hit.

Declaring it to be a multipart model because it is modeled like one is a very tricky stunt you are trying to pull.

Good thing with skele heavy cav is indeed that it can autobreak several things due to high US and ranks. For example I can see a unit of 15 (with standard and 2 ranks) going through 25 swordsmen and even through 20-25 dwarf warriors from the front with a bit of a luck (for example). Unfortunately if you start throwing in some special rules and equipment, such as high elves ASF, the amount of breakable targets will lessen. I think you can't use these guys as your solo fast unit though as they should work better with some of your other fast stuff as support.

The cav unit (with warbanner for full +5 combat res) is better than the chariots against the following
Largish stubborn unit (30 us almost always outnumbers them)
Small very hard targets (ones the chariots will strugle to wound with their str4 such as ironbreakers)
Providing protection for a litch priest (who is on a horse)
Reliability breaking large units (such as clan rats)

Chariots win at
Actually killing things
Manourvalibility of fast cav (this is huge)
Aura of fear (people know what chariots do)
Beating elves

Eh, the fast cav rule isn't so hot with chariots in some respects. Since no model can move more than 8 inches, snaking is pretty pointless. The unit just kind of stands there and reforms. I prefer to think of chariot fast cav as an uberwheel.

Very important that most infantry blocks are large. Undead win by outnumbering, and it don't work if you don't outnumber when you finally win combat. Since TK raises aren't as powerful or unrestricted as VC, big units to start are important.

I've found mummies to be fairly vulnerable in melee combat. Light armor, distinct lack of magic armor, decent but not stellar WS, no barding, and no lookout makes them all vulnerable to enemy troops with a decent weapon.

Eh, the fast cav rule isn't so hot with chariots in some respects. Since no model can move more than 8 inches, snaking is pretty pointless. The unit just kind of stands there and reforms. I prefer to think of chariot fast cav as an uberwheel.

It is vitally important when trying to get through/arround terrain.

Special Units:

General: The special units are all excellent choices. The choice of which special units to use is much harder than either rare or core.

Ushabti: Ushabti are simply the heaviest hammer in the Tomb King list. A charge from a 4 wide block of Ushabti will put ~7 wounds on a ws 3 t4 sv 5+ enemy infantry block, enough to overcome 3 ranks banner mass. They lack static combat resolution (and hence are vulnerable to flank charges) and vast unit strength to take advantage of fear. As mentioned, however, they have the fiercest fighting ability in the TK army, adequate mobility and the undead constructs rule. Their high leadership enables them to resist chasing fleeing enemies (which might expose their vulnerable flanks) and survive away from the general if the Hierarch gets gakked.

Use: Ushabti hitting the flank dooms any ranked unit, and they are even able to mount a front charge vs. most ranked units. Their ability to strike at initiative at s6, and their ws 4 both contribute to their ability to fight well in almost any circumstances. There isn't really a good way to get a fighty character in there, as chariots can't join up and walkers are too slow, but Ushabti fight hard enough that they don't need help from the Princes/Kings. To use Cypher's terminology, in an army of anvil units this is a hammer unit.

Equipment: I like a block of 4 Ushabti, as this allows you to lose one to missile fire and still have a shot at winning combat with a ranked unit.

Carrion: I think Carrion are the best flyers in the entire game. Their weapon skill, toughness and 2 wound nature lets them stick for a round or so vs. most enemies that can turn and catch them, and the fact that they are TK flyers makes their mobility unmatched. Forget burrowers, the Carrion are the ultimate answer to a war machine nest. You either get a guaranteed first turn charge on their war machines, which will block the march of any of their units clustered around the strongpoint, or you drain their dispel dice/scrolls stopping the flight. The fact that they are flighers also means that the enemy can't do the flee/flank trick that other TK units get hit with.

Use: As mentioned earlier, Carrion are best used by moving them forward a moderate distance, then urgencying with the entire hieratic hierarchy (minus princes) until you get them an urgency. Then either charge a war machine or simply land behind their army and block their march. Carrion are also extremely dangerous in the immediate aftermath of devouring a war machine crew, as they've got 360 LOS from the enemy's hill, basically pinning their wizards in their units. Also, if possible, Carrion are extremely good answers to 5 man calvary teams/ogre units, as they can hit a flank and pin the enemy for some time, and even if they manage to turn and beat the Carrion they end up going the wrong way. An important thing to notice about carrion is their rubbish leadership. They need to be used early, before your Hierarch goes down, or they'll simply crumble. Similarly you always need to hit from an angle where chasing won't hit woods or the board edge.

Equip: Carrion usually are sent out either 3 strong (minimum + usually as many as can fight a war machine crew) or 5 strong (US 5 for crossfire)

Tomb Scorpion: This guy is right up there with the chariots in terms of "what people think of when they think of Tomb Kings". The Tomb Scorpion is practically another character. It is excellent in a fight, unchallengeable and highly mobile. On top of this it's dirt cheap and capable of burrowing beneath enemy lines for a backfield threat, and unlike most such units it is capable of charging the turn it arrives.

Use: The Tomb Scorpion has 2 major uses. Assassinating characters and devouring war machines. In order to assassinate a character the Tomb Scorpion simply charges the enemy unit and devotes it's attacks to the character, then crumbles from combat resolution as the enemy ranks inevetably get the better of it. When operating in this manner it is better not to burrow the scorpion, as the enemy is unlikely to be able to conceal it's characters from your army. The other use is done the same way as it is with the tomb swarms, simply burrow the scorpion beneath the enemy's war machine/backfield. Besides the 2 primary uses for the scorpion it can simply be used to add combat resolution to a battle, charging in and swinging beside a ranked unit. The only way a scorpion normally dies is by combat res, if it's protected from that it's actually a little more resilient than a Prince.

Equipment: No options

Tomb Guard: The tomb guard are the Tomb King's only semi-serious infantry. For a small price increase over skeletons they gain a point in virtually every area on the statline, and are infinitely better soldiers because of it. It is important to note, however, that they still aren't a match for enemy elite infantry, despite being in many cases just as expensive. As always the goal for the undead is to win via outnumbering, static CR and the contribution of the characters, kills are a minor point. Note however that TG will suffer far less damage than skeletons when attacked, due to higher ws, toughness and in many cases armor saves. Magic weapons and killing blow are nice fringe benefits, but they are rarely applicable.

Use: The Tomb Guard are often used as the hard core of the army, the refuge from which the hieratic hierarchy casts. Arming the unit with the Icon of Rakoph makes this a mobile refuge, and protects against fliers as well, by granting the ability to threat 12" around the unit in every direction. Tomb Guard are basically anvil units that are much more mobile (with the Icon) than is typical for ranked infantry.

Equipment: First off, the Icon of Rakoph is practically mandatory, it may be the best standard in the entire game. If you are hiding characters in the unit you ought to take a champion to soak challenges from enemy character killers and the like. I prefer to put my Tomb King with Destroyer of Eternities in this unit, which basically upgrades it to a hammer unit with unparallelled mobility, at the cost of the all eggs in one basket scenario. I like a unit of 20 Tomb Guard with full command and the Icon of Rakoph. The musician (ordinarily skipped in undead units) is useful if you end up reforming and charging a flying terror causer and taking it on the champ. If they only manage 5 wounds you still win and they might fail their test and lose their dragon.

Alright, more comments time
First off the best tactical articles on tomb king specials is found here
http://z4.invisionfree.com/Khemri/index.php?showtopic=572

Man these are great.
Ubshapti - these guys rock. 4 ubshapti can hold and win vs 10 knights, they can take on most infantry units in combat, and wont run away quickly. They rock.
Since you want 4 to make it to combat I would recommend starting with units of 5.
Just dont let them get flanked.

Carrion - what can be bad about a unit of 2 wound fear causers that almost always have the option of a first turn charge??? Nothing.

Scorps - The only comment I have here is that they cannot take on combat chars. Dont try unless the guy has 1 wound and it is a good VP trade. You will generally lose the scorp and not kill the char. As for everything else, spot on.
Scorps are great to have.

Tomb guard - For a few points more you get a unit that performs almost the same as skeletons. There isnt much that this unit can do that skeletons can do. Unless you use one of those niches (such as taking the world's greatest banner) dont take these guys. If you do, use them the same as skeletons.
Basically, when creating this unit watch the cost. Compare it to equal costs in skeletons and see which unit would be better.

One last note, always always take a musician if you have the option. You don't want to lose ties and it is cheep.