wellofeternity wrote:Necromancer is a separate unit.
Without "look out sir" rule any hit from warmachine shooting without line of sight (hellcannon, mortars, trebuchet) = dead necromancer even with zombie shield-unit.
Fortunately, necromancers are one of the very few heroes in the game with a 'look-out-sir' style rule, bouncing any wounds or mortal wounds to nearby death units on a 4+.
First of all, I would recommend re-thinking how you and your mates handle summoning. Letting a necromancer re-summon anything that dies is no different from letting your opponent just walk any unit you kill back onto the board from their deployment edge. Instead, agree to total forces before battle, and set aside anything you want to summon from that total army instead of deploying it.
As for what to add, a corpse cart is an obvious choice. Also another hero, one with a meaningful command ability, would be a good choice. A vampire is a decent option, but without a 'look out sir' rule, they can be dropped pretty easily by enemy ranged attacks. If you're willing to dip into tomb kings units, a tomb herald could reasonably keep a vampire alive for you. If not, then Vlad von Carstein is a decent commander, and his ring will provide some reasonable durability.
Personally, I like Krell as a commander, but he's more for 'skeleton' armies than zombie ones.
So yeah, a corpse cart, and a commander, either a vampire plus a tomb herald
BSB or else Vlad himself is what I'd suggest.
After that, adding some dire wolves, fell bats, or bat swarms to your collection would be a thematically appropriate fit (zombie animals to reinforce your zombie humans). The wolves and fell bats provide some faster, harder hitting flaking units, while the bat swarms are particularly good at disrupting enemy shooting if that becomes a problem for you.
If you want to stick specifically to necromancers, no vampires allowed, then that leaves you without much for strong commanders, though you might consider picking up Heinlich Kemmler. Kemmler has a 2+ version of the necro's 'look out sir' ability and a teleportation cloak, making him almost unkillable, though sadly he doesn't have any meaningful command ability of his own. His spell also only benefits multi-wound models, so it can heal injured heroes, corpse carts, etc, but does nothing for zombies (
iirc his sword works to re-fill zombies, though, so he's not without synergy there). You might consider looking at more multiwound units to supplement your force though. Spirit hosts are a decent option, as are morghasts. The statue units from the tomb kings compendium are particularly nice with kemmler, though again I don't know if you're interested in a crossover list.
Another thing you might consider is branching out into some more ghostly stuff with the malignant starter box. The mortis engine will help buff your necromancer and
de-buff enemy wizards, the hexwraiths and spirit hosts are decent units (and thanks to their ethereal rule they can make excellent use of an arcane shield from your necro), and the formation from the box, while not overly strong, has some interesting tactical applications.
It's just a shame the mortis engine pilot isn't a hero or a wizard on his own. Ah, well! still a cool model at least. And if you like vampires, and don't care for the formation's bonuses, you could build it as a coven throne, which is a pretty strong unit and a decent force commander in its own right.
1000 Points.
