Tomb King Uban-Ka stood on the open desert plain, staring into the blinding sun as he scanned the horizon to evaluate the enemy's positions. For weeks his guard and scouts reported repeated encroachments by the scaly lizard-beasts which prowled within the jungles on the far reaches of the bleak expanse that had once been fruitful and blessed Nehekhara.
Although much of their former paradise was reduced to little more than sand and bone, Settra the Magnificent himself had assigned Uban-Ka and his Ageless Legion to patrolling this very important remnant of Maharak, the Holy City. Four mysterious and powerful shrines still held a remnant of the powers bestowed upon all of Nehekhara by their Gods before Nagash the Usurper broke the holy covenant tying the Gods to men. The Liche Priests who still held the Old Way at heart believed this Shrine was important in re-establishing the power of their Gods in this new Age.
The Lizard-men sensed the power here too. His Ageless Legion had survived and repelled an expeditionary force at this same spot less than 2 weeks ago. Now he could feel the power of their bulbous Toad-Priest pressing against his mind like a heavy weight. They had pulled out all restraints indeed... Issuing mental commands to the Ageless Legion and his vassal, the Tomb King Ahriman-Otep, dabbler of mortal magicks, he rallied his men to defend the 4 God Shrines located deep within the sands of this hateful stretch of sand. This battle report details a rematch between a Lizardmen general and myself. He was unhappy at having lost to a
TK army and decided to give it another go, with a list slightly more favorable vs my army than his last. It's a wall o' text. I swear I'll get around to adding pictures one day.
Uban-ka's Ageless Legion
Tomb King (1#, 258.0 pts)
1 Tomb King @ 258.0 pts (General; Hand Weapon; Shield; Flammable; Undead)
1 Spear of Antarhak
1 Scorpion Armor
1 Dragonbane Gem
1 Potion of Speed
Tomb King (1#, 276.0 pts)
1 Tomb King @ 276.0 pts (Hand Weapon; Light Armour; Shield; Flammable; Undead)
1 Wizarding Hat
Liche Priest (4#, 325.0 pts)
1 Liche Priest @ 325.0 pts (Hierophant; Hand Weapon; Undead)
1 Casket of Souls (Causes Terror)
2 Casket Guard (Always Strikes Last; Great Weapon; Light Armour; Undead)
1 Goldon Ankhra
Liche Priest (1#, 165.0 pts)
1 Liche Priest @ 165.0 pts (Hand Weapon; Undead)
1 Dispel Scroll
1 Brooch of the Great Desert
Icon Bearer (1#, 90.0 pts)
1 Icon Bearer (Battle Standard Bearer) @ 90.0 pts (Hand Weapon; Battle Standard Bearer; Undead)
1 Banner of the Undying Legion
Tomb Guard (25#, 330.0 pts)
24 Tomb Guard @ 330.0 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Light Armour; Shield; Undead)
1 Champion (Hand Weapon; Light Armour; Shield)
Skeleton Warriors (30#, 255.0 pts)
30 Skeleton Warriors @ 255.0 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Bow; Undead)
Skeleton Warriors (25#, 215.0 pts)
25 Skeleton Warriors @ 215.0 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Bow; Undead)
Skeleton Warriors (25#, 215.0 pts)
25 Skeleton Warriors @ 215.0 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Bow; Undead)
Tomb Scorpion (1#, 85.0 pts)
1 Tomb Scorpion @ 85.0 pts (Killing Blow; Magic Resistance (1); Poisoned Attacks; Undead)
Tomb Scorpion (1#, 85.0 pts)
1 Tomb Scorpion @ 85.0 pts (Killing Blow; Magic Resistance (1); Poisoned Attacks; Undead)
War Engines (4#, 110.0 pts)
1 Screaming Skull Catapult @ 110.0 pts (Skulls of the Foe; Stone Thrower; Undead)
3 Crew (Hand Weapon)
War Engines (4#, 90.0 pts)
1 Screaming Skull Catapult @ 90.0 pts (Stone Thrower; Undead)
3 Crew (Hand Weapon)
Validation Report:
Edition: 8th Edition; Game Type: Normal Game; Army Subtype: Tomb Kings Army
Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules
Total Roster Cost: 2499.0
The Dirty Lizards!
Lord Kroak (1#, 600.0 pts)
1 Lord Kroak @ 600.0 pts (General; Causes Fear; Flammable; Large Target; Unbreakable)
1 Golden Death Mask
1 X. The Deliverance of Itza
Saurus Scar-Veteran (1#, 163.0 pts)
1 Saurus Scar-Veteran (Battle Standard Bearer) @ 163.0 pts (Hand Weapon; Shield; Battle Standard Bearer; Scaly Skin)
1 Sword of Anti Heroes
1 Gambler's Armour
Skink Priest (6#, 430.0 pts)
1 Skink Priest @ 430.0 pts (Level 2 Upgrade; Hand Weapon; Aquatic)
1 Ancient Stegadon (Engine of the Gods; Causes Terror; Immune to Psychology; Large Target; Scaly Skin; Stubborn)
4 Skink Crew (Hand Weapon; Javelin; Aquatic; Skirmishers)
1 Cube of Darkness
Saurus Warriors (44#, 558.0 pts)
43 Saurus Warriors @ 558.0 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Spear; Shield; Scaly Skin)
1 Saurus Champion (Hand Weapon; Spear; Shield)
Chameleon Skinks (10#, 120.0 pts)
10 Chameleon Skinks @ 120.0 pts (Hand Weapon; Blowpipe; Aquatic; Scouts; Skirmishers)
Chameleon Skinks (10#, 120.0 pts)
10 Chameleon Skinks @ 120.0 pts (Hand Weapon; Blowpipe; Aquatic; Scouts; Skirmishers)
Skink Skirmishers (10#, 70.0 pts)
10 Skink Skirmishers @ 70.0 pts (Hand Weapon; Blowpipe; Aquatic; Skirmishers)
Razordon (5#, 80.0 pts)
1 Razordon Hunting Pack @ 80.0 pts (Aquatic; Causes Fear; Scaly Skin; Skirmishers)
4 Skink Handlers (Hand Weapon; Aquatic; Skirmishers)
Temple Guard (20#, 355.0 pts)
19 Temple Guard @ 355.0 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Halberd; Light Armour; Shield; Scaly Skin)
1 Revered Guardian (Hand Weapon; Halberd; Light Armour; Shield)
Validation Report:
Edition: 8th Edition; Game Type: Normal Game; Army Subtype: Lizardmen Army
Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules
Total Roster Cost: 2496.0
The Scenario
We have a really nice desert terrain field at our
LGS, and we set up four "temples" going across the board. Each time a unit came within 12' of one, we rolled randomly to see what affect the temple had. They were spaced equidistant going across the board center. The 4 shrine effects wound up being, from left to right..
+1 to wound a unit within 6 from the shrine. Undead gain 6+ Regen
Re-roll of failed charges within 12' of the shrine.
Units within 6' of the shrine suffer -1
Ld Units within 6' gain Frenzy.
Deployment
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Uban-Ka impressed more mental commands upon his soldiers. It amazed him how easily troops were commanded in this state of scornful undeath. He could almost understand Nagash's drive to pursue armies of lifeless legions, almost. He formed up his battle lines and checked the placement of his great siege engines. He ordered his right flank of skeletal archers to reform and face the newly discovered chameleon skinks. Their cursed changing hides had allowed them to sneak up within close range of his forces and had his army not already been taking initiative, they might have been in a sore spot with so many enemies already at hand.
Uban Ka began a series of gutteral invocations, urging his skeletal crewman to man their great catapult. The warmachine creaked and groaned, then did no more. Years of non-use had rotted it's thick cords and ropes, and time would be lost repairing them. Ahriman was having better luck, having urged the two ranks of skeleton near his area of the field to open fire on the emerging chameleon skinks. The ceaseless fire of skeletal bows decimated the small but stealthy enemy.
The Gods were pleased.
The Liche Heirophant yelled in alarm as the howling souls within the Heirophants Casket let loose shrill screams and haunting cries, trying to surge free from their prison and scourge the foes of the great Tomb Kings, but the strong will of the enemy Toad-Priest suppressed them...
Maybe they weren't THAT pleased, Uban-Ka cursed and ordered more shooting, squinting through the dust and sun across the field of battle. ( Turn 1 was me shooting skinks, breaking both units between the magic and shooting phases. My other spells/invocations were either countered or pointless at the ranges we were apart. He surged everything forward on his turn and and rallied 1 set of skinks. He tried to shoot me with Lord Croaks uber spell, but fell 2 short of the CN needed. )
Uban-Ka was proud of his archers. They had done well and were holding strong in light of the enemies advance. He knew they were fearless in death, but a part of his pride refused to let him ignore the significance of a line of archers holding strong. His own Icon Bearer and Tomb Guard held deathly still as the rumbling horde of lizardmen continued their flight across the desert on his position.
More chanting to the Gods pushed his archers and warmachines to their limits. Another catapult broke down, but this too was a minor setback. His archers now all had beads on the enemy, many of whom were charging forward then sticking their heads in the sand to avoid the deathly glow of the Casket of Lost Souls! The enemy had learned well from their previous skirmish it seemed. It did little however, to save the dumb beast so arrogantly named the Engine of the Gods. Souls tore free from the casket, breaking past the will of the toad-priest. They surrounded the giant stegadon and tore at it's heart, slaying it outright. It's priestly rider survived only seconds more, being pinned to the desert floor by emotionless archers who relentlessly pulled arrows from their quivers and loosed them into the arid desert sky.
Ahriman-Ka let out a shriek of pain as he pushed a thick scaly armor onto most of the entire army. He shot a pained glance at Uban-Ka and grimaced.
"I miss the Gods power, Brother King! These winds of magic are like a wheat scythe with no pommel grip. Squeeze them to hard and you're as likely to cut yourself as the foe!"
Uban-Ka chuckled at his odd ally, then silently pushed his archers to fire again, nodding with grim approval at the skewering of the great spiny beast that had been plodding towards his men. It's handlers dead, it fled backwards, then roared and turned again on the Ageless Legion.
The broken chameleon skinks continued to run, not noticing the lurking pincers and tail that hunted beneath the sands.. (Turn 2. Gah! Another misfire! Luckily it wasnt serious. I also rolled pretty weak on my miscast for Glittering Robes, taking a wound and losing power dice. Enemy dispelled Casket. He only had two dice, so all my magical shooting and movement happened. Shot some lizards around the board and broke his Razordon, which would rally on his turn. I uncovered 1 Tomb Scorpion, which ran down his fleeing skinks. The other stayed buried. He moved up all units and hit me with his Ruin of Ixta spell, doing about 5 wounds to all my units of archers. He also landed his Saurus Warriors on top of my remaining hidden Tomb Scorpion, which would come in handy later.)
The Agless Legions battlelines had finally began to thin as the enemy pressed forwards. Uban-Ka steeled himself against the enemies magical onslaught and assessed the battle. The enemies scouts on his right flank had all been wiped out. Priests were reviving skeletons and pushing warmachines to operating above normal capacity. The enemies main host of lizardmen had foolishly chosen to charge straight past the temple of Asaph, and the Goddess had stricken the foe a great malady, lowering their resilience and natural toughness. He orders his archers to focus on the new weakened enemy, trying desperately to thin the stinking lizard beasts to managable numbers before they crashed into his lines of Tomb Guard. (Turn 3. I killed off his right side skinks completely and set the scorpion up to countercharge after his Slaan and Temple Guard run into my skeletons. Croaks spell is devastating my lines! I dont know for sure if my skeletons will be able hold for a round for the scorpion to side charge or not. My other Tomb Scorpion emerged and is on the butt of his saurus warrios, as I'm gambling he will ignore it to charge my vastly outnumbered Tomb Guard.
TK revival is weak compared to
VC, so although I save a few models, it's not hardly enough. He declares charges here, and thanks to the Idol of Gork, succeeds with his Saurus block. He fails with the
TG.)
Uban-Ka was fearless. All trepidations of death no longer concerned him or his warriors, but he knew a dire situation when he saw one. In life, these lizards would have been little concern. With the slowed reflexes of undeath, the fight was a hard pressed thing. His archers were now unable to thin the main lizard host, so all were focused on the toad-priest and his retinue. His invocations of Righteous Smiting were easily melted away as he spoke them, and not for the first time he damned their ancient toad-one. It's abilities were fearsome indeed! Nearly 300 archers had been slain by it's foul magicks and it didnt seem to be growing weary at all.
Ahriman reported that the Toad-Priest had been reserving it's powers for his attempts at channeling the winds of magic, so augmentation was difficult. Luckily, the cursed Heirophant had succeeded in unleashing the lost souls within his altar to sap the life from the enemy, and the rushing unit of skinks suffered greatly by his success.
A scarred and powerfully built lizard bellowed a challenge which was answered by the Champion of Uban's Tomb Guard. The Lizard easily dodged the skeletal champions blows and shattered the undead with a single blow before settling it's beady eyes on Uban-Ka. Grinning, the Tomb King quickly dispatched two of the closest lizards with the powerful Spear of Antarhak, then funneled it's powers into his fallen champion... (Turn 4. Assault went well for me. I won by 2 thanks to like, 4
KB. The spear here set a pretty efficient trap for the poor scar vet. It challenges, and is accepted by the
TG champion, who likely dies every time. Fortunately, my spear lets me regen 1 wound to my unit per wound I deal, and with my
TK free to assault the rank and file lizardmen... the Champion is revived first to recieve the challenge again next round. He wisened up and accepted my challenge with his unit champion instead of his scar vet, but it got Killing Blow'd by my champ. He succeeded in charging with his Slaan and Temple guard into my foremost unit of skelly archers with my
TK w/ Wizard Hat whom I forgot to move out of the unit before he charged. We broke even in the Saurus combat on his turn, just like we did on mine. Luckily my cat's and archers got to plunk off some of his temple guard, but Croak was still unwounded. In his magic phase I dispelled his first cast of Ixta, then ate the second, losing more doods.)
Uban-Ka had played his last trick. Both of his Tomb Scorpions charged into his enemies weaker sides. the Saurus Warriors he fought now had a deathless machine of bronze and bone with deadly pincers and a poison sting in the rear of their troops. The Toad-Priest and his guard had a Tomb Scorpion thrashing in their right flank and they tossed skeletal archers about like children. Now he would have to hold faith in himself and his gods, and perhaps rely a little on the fortunes of Ahriman-Oteps weird magicks. (Turn 5. Nothing to shoot. Everything is stabbing each other. Tomb Guard and Scorpion reduce his scar vet to one wound and leave him without about 8 warriors out of near 50. I have about 12 guard left after revives, and my King has 0 wounds on him thanks to his spear. I lose my first rank of skeletons to his
TG but the Scorpion holds true and kills a few more lizards. The bottom of turn 5 changes little, and we end the game here as the store is closing.)
Uban-Ka and Ahriman-Otep both watched in satisfaction as the last of the tribes of Lizards fled for the plains, carrying the palanquin of their great toad-priest. Neither Tomb King understood the motives behind the foray into their deserts, but both guessed it had something to do with the lingering power of the 4 ancient shrines over which they kept their deathless vigil. As each King was again interred into his tomb for sleepless rest, their Liche Priests anointed them again with holy oils and spoke in high fashion of their valourous deeds, mewling and placating the pride and honor of the victorious Kings. Tomb King Uban-Ka and his Ageless Legion again fell into slumber, awaiting the next urgent call of their everliving caretakers.
Thoughts.. I like this list. I channel 3 dispel dice thanks to the priests and the hat-king. I rolled lore of metal and got Glittering Robe and Sharpened Blades, which was a boon in close combat and in shooting in so far as armor peircing was concerned.
TG 25 deep held a unit of 48 charging lizardmen, which lost about 18 of their number to shooting before they made it. The Spear - Champ Challenge loop worked very well. I'd like to think I found a new tactic here, but I'm sure someones been doing this a long long time before I even bought this army.
Casket did little damage, but it DID hold 2 dispel dice back every turn, allowing all my shooting to go off. The opponent had to pretty much save his dice to dispel my lore magicks and my casket, allowing me all the shooting I needed to gain a 800 some odd point lead. I didnt mention much about his Engine of the Gods because the Casket killed it on turn 2. All the randomized dice rolled the Stegodon. Very Nice!
The Tomb Scorpions found a use even against a foe without warmachines. I'll take 2 every game I think, unless I decide to try two blocks of 25
TG.
Catapults did what I expected, though I forgot to make him take panic tests when they wounded.
- Rule Disputes -
#1. Casket of Lost Souls
It says it happens at the end of your Heiratic Heirarchy or whatever it's called. Where does that fall in line with a wizard hat? The Heirarchy pretty specifically only mentions bound items and invocations. So we played it as Invokes first, then casket, then lore magick. Anyone know otherwise?
#2. Casket of Lost Souls
I realize that a unit has to be able to draw
LoS to the Casket and not the other way around. That said, does the casket have to be in their forward arc? I understand he can move his army and flip skink butts towards me so they technically cant see it, but does the model actually have to be in the fwd arc of an opposing unit?
#3. Make Way.
After the first round of combat when he realized what my spear and champion were doing, he made way from the far left of his ranks to the center opposite my
TK. Can you do that? I thought make way was so you could get your hero into combat period. I didnt think you could adjust his position with it afterwards.
Final Thoughts.
I'm still enjoying my
TK's, but I have yet to try Ushabti and Bone Giants. To be honest though, I havent needed them. Perhaps BG's are more for a stabby
TK army using skeleton tarpits so that he can hit from the side? I suppose in that case I'd replace my cats and wizard hat? I dunno, I really like the balance of what I've got now.
8th ed Khemri in 8-4-0 
