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I have recently begun to consider playing Tomb Kings, I have always wanted to, and love the style and lore of the army. I am wondering however, how viable are they in the current edition? And what are the best tactics and ways to play them?

Any advice would be great! Thanks!

As cool as Tomb Kings are, for me there are not many effective builds for them.

i c an think of 2 really.

1) Khalida and all the archers in the world

2) the thundercat army. aka lord+warsphinx, hero+warsphinx and 2-3 war kittys

 mixer86 wrote:
As cool as Tomb Kings are, for me there are not many effective builds for them.

i c an think of 2 really.

1) Khalida and all the archers in the world

2) the thundercat army. aka lord+warsphinx, hero+warsphinx and 2-3 war kittys

Don't forget the 18 necroknights.

Totally depends on your local gaming community and goals (how competative do you want to be?)

I have played my Tomb Kings several times, and I consistantly win with them, however, their book has some serious disabilities when compared to most books/armies. IMHO they are:

1. Unstable - crippling rule that will lose you games on most occasions. None of our troops have much of an armor save and none of them hit that hard to consistantly win combat
2. Magic - our army is very reliant upon it, yet our magic is very weak. We have little to no way to heal our troops when they are in combat effectively, the casting values are ridiculously high, and you can't heal characters, not to mention the hierophant crutch (weak character dies = crumble of the army)
3. Weak Characters per price and funky rules. Tk/TP can't ride a chariot effectively, Hierophant already mentioned. No armor to speak of and a lot of lackluster magic items in the book. And the characters are very expensive for what they do. Tomb Herald, Necrotect, etc are poor choices for what they do.

There are probably some others, but these are the main ones - unfortunately they kind of limit what you tend to use for your army. I had the crazy idea of a great hord e of Tomb Guard, but for some reason, the tomb guard are really expensive pointwise and fairly pooor on the table. Still though, I have had fun building and painting my TK off and on.

buckero0 wrote:
1. Unstable - crippling rule that will lose you games on most occasions. None of our troops have much of an armor save and none of them hit that hard to consistantly win combat
2. Magic - our army is very reliant upon it, yet our magic is very weak. We have little to no way to heal our troops when they are in combat effectively, the casting values are ridiculously high, and you can't heal characters, not to mention the hierophant crutch (weak character dies = crumble of the army)
3. Weak Characters per price and funky rules. Tk/TP can't ride a chariot effectively, Hierophant already mentioned. No armor to speak of and a lot of lackluster magic items in the book. And the characters are very expensive for what they do. Tomb Herald, Necrotect, etc are poor choices for what they do.

Unstable isn't that bad, as if you play tactically you need to make sure that combats will always be in your favour when they occur.

Yes the army is reliant on magic, but your magic does things most other lores don't. Your buffs are doubly special. For instance, Smiting triggers off the lore attribute, giving archers 2 shots each AND raising dead. And if you play the hierophant right, he shouldn't be getting into combat.

Most competitive armies don't run tomb kings and princes as they are only necessary in tomb guard. Which are subpar. When running shooty lists, you only need a level 4. Or 2. The second comes into his own when you run a tonne of necroknights.

The mechanics have changed slightly from the older editions but are still very similar and depending on what people in your area play will dictate what you need.

I would suggest starting with the Battalion box and get a TK and Hiero blisters. Should be about 500 -750 points.

This army is all about buffs - each character buffs the unit somehow - MWBD, Regen, frenzy, hatred, etc. Our spells primarily buff each unit - M spells, shoot twice spell, and the spell ability adds more skellies back to the unit.

Constructs are nice but they don't benefit as much as the skellies do but they are stronger, tougher, and usually have better armor. You can get some nasty looking deathstars too if you put all your eggs in one basket too - MWBD, Regen, Hatred if you wanted to put 3 characters in the unit...

Yeah I am going to start with a Battalion or two, and some Temple Guard.

I have been reading that it is most worth it to fill up the core with Skeleton Archers and Skeleton Horse Archers, as regular Skeleton Warriors are not worth taking, and Chariots are too expensive. But with the Core set up, then take Tomb Guard, Ushabti, and Necropolis Knights for Special.

I am curious though, would it be good to horde Skeleton Warriors? Or just stick with the Archers for Core, and Tomb Guard, Necropolis Knights and Ushabti for Special?

Right now, the set up I am going for is a Level 4 Liche, and Casket of Souls, Skeleton Archers and Horse Archers, with a few solid units of Tomb Guard, and some Necropolis Knights. I was also considering taking a Tomb King or a second Liche as alternatives for Lords.

I am curious about the Warsphinx and the Sepulchral, how good are they to take in comparison to some other units?

Chariots are not too expensive. Tomb Guard are. I would advise against them as you need at least 40 and a prince. They then need light buffs which means a second level 4.

If you take the second level 4 on light, you're better off maxing out on necroknights as they have a higher base damage output, more survivability and are faster.

I'm also just starting TK, and from everything I've read there seems to be two general builds:

1) Magic heavy. Bring two priests, a lvl4 LoN as your hiero, and an at-least level2 Light/Death priest. With the Hierotitan that second priest will be casting at static +3-+5. Not too shabby for just over 100 points.

Tends to be more of a shooty list. Archer bunkers in the back holding your priests, with a casket/hierotitan behind to support the magic, and big skellie blocks in front to shield them from combat. The skellie blocks are basically tarpits, as they tend to bleed too much combat res to be an effective anvil. Set them up 5-wide (rather than horde formation) to increase static res and improve survivability.

Your best anvil unit is going to be TG. They hit hard and are survivable as a result. Whether to go halberd or not depends on whether you go magic heavy or light. Banner of the Undying Legion is a no-brainer here, as not only does it raise d6 TG but an additional D3+1 for being Lore of Nehekara.

Use warsphinxes, necroknights, or chariots as your hammers.

2) Magic light

I haven't seen too many of these lists, but they tend to include more necroknights (3x2), chariots (also 3x2), warsphinxes, and others.



Also if you're just starting, be sure to look to other companies for your skeletons. Mantic has some good skeletons on the cheap, as does wargamesfactory.