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This is a really interesting unit. It essentially allows you to field all level 1 wizards and still be competitive in magic.

Consider the tome. It adds 2 to each castor's roll when casting from lore of vampires. So, now all your level 1 wizard suddenly become level 3, and your level 2 wizards become level 4! lol Also, consider the fact that a 1 or 2 is always a failed cast. But with the Engine, even on one dice, you will be able to successully cast ION on a 3+ And to reliably dispel it, the opponent will have to consider rolling 2 dispel dice.

Even if you fail on a 1 or 2, its a level one wizard, no miscast, no biggy, just move on to the next level 1 necromancer or vampire. So, one Mortis Engine with tome saves you a lot of points which you don't have to spend on magic levels. And you have absolutely zero chance of miscasting, which is just as well because the Mortis Engine makes miscast twice as dangerous, so it will be your opponent who will worry once his cators get within 12" of the Mortis Engine. And a few cheap level 1 necromancers all casting ION near the Engine will mean that it may keep on recovering wounds to max almost every turn.

And that's just the tome, which only costs 20 points. The rest of the Mortis Engine, got lots of other abilities, stats, is a chariot, etc etc. I just find this unit very synergistic with the Vampire army.

Also the consider that it will improve your Strigoi Ghoul King from a regen (5+) to a regen (4+), which is pretty huge to increasing his survivability. And while people don't like the blast when it dies, the thing is it may not die, and even if it does, the hits from its self destruction is spread like shooting. VC armies have tons of big fodder units like skeletons and zombie units. A 2d6 hits to such units is nothing, while the same 2d6 hits to the opponent's units will do lasting damage.

So what do you guys think of the Mortis Engine with tome?

By the way, if you have 2 engines with tomes, does that mean a level 1 necromancer within range of both wil add 4 to his spell cast?

You can't duplicate magic items. Only one tome per army.

other then that, this seems to work.

The engine with multiple low level necros has a great return. But I am afraid you will still need your level 4 for dispelling purposes and the double miscasts will cost you games.

But as I said, the return is huge even if you just end up casting 3 vc spells a turn.

I'm planning on running a lvl4 vamp, 2 lvl1s and a lvl2 necromancer (although it might be worth swaping him for a lvl1 with master of the undead).
lvl1s and 2 will only be there for IoN and I don't expect to need to throw more than 3 ever with the lvl 4 so odds of a miscast are low.
I haven't tested this a t all but I'm hoping it goes well, *in theory* it should put a lot of strain on people trying to dispel.

Grey Templar wrote:You can't duplicate magic items. Only one tome per army.

other then that, this seems to work.

You can definitely have two mortis engines with tomes. It is an upgrade and in no way a magical item. It definitely won't stack though as it says if it is in range of "one or more tomes, the caster gets a +2." So no matter how many tomes it is in range of it won't ever get more than a +2.

^ But at least your spellcasters don't all have to be in a 12" bubble.

Iunno about the mortis engine. It blows up, a tome causes your mages to double miscast. I think it works best with the zombie hoard + strigoi list. Giving zombies a 6+ regen is annoying, who cares if it explodes, and a S5 T5 chariot is perfect for the fighty half of the army.

It seems like you would want it in range of your mass lvl 1 necros for single die casting and no chance of miscast, while keeping your lvl 4 outside of the range so you don't have the crazy miscasts. I think it definitely has a place, it will def take some finesse to get it working in sync with the rest of the army.

With 6+ to cast, a level 4 really never needs to roll more than 2 dice and can still be damn effective.
I ran it with the +1 cast/dispel item on my level 4, so my necromancer lord was toting the +7 to cast, and +5 to dispel.
I could safely 2 die a 12" invoke or the enhanced Van Hels.

The thing with the mortis engine is, it becomes super awesome on turns 4-6 if still alive. Blowing up is fine, and helpful some times too. In a recent game against lizards, I had become surrounded by skinks, and the engine died on turn 4. Everything within 16" takes 2D6 S4 hits. That crippled something like 5 skink units, a salamander unit and picked off a few temple guard. My losses were less sever, are were all replaced with a single invoke.

I think 2 mortis engines that could survive and hold back could turn the tables towards the end of the game.
What wants to take 4D6 S4, then S5, then S6 hits?

-Matt

zentdiam wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:You can't duplicate magic items. Only one tome per army.

other then that, this seems to work.

You can definitely have two mortis engines with tomes. It is an upgrade and in no way a magical item. It definitely won't stack though as it says if it is in range of "one or more tomes, the caster gets a +2." So no matter how many tomes it is in range of it won't ever get more than a +2.

Ok, the way it was being used I assumed it was a magic item.

I think its use really hinges on the Hell-Heart ruling

meh, I don't care which way it goes. if there are 2-3 casters in range of the HH I'm happy. i just care about the results that make you lose D6 power dice. everything else is extra.

I care as a VC player and if it rules that HH works I will not be running a engine

Unfortunantly for you, I see GW saying thats how it works.

But the HH still has that insane random factor making it unreliable/tricky to get off properly. The main reason why it can never be OP.