# TK- Yea or Nay?



## Caxton (Jun 15, 2010)

I've been considering Tomb Kings for a while now, waiting to see what is in the new book. I am disappointed that the unique magic of the army seems to be gone, but there are other neat things. So what's Heresy's opinion, have the TK finally woken back up, or are they laying back down for another century?

Also rapidfire yea or nay:
Chariots
Casket of Souls
Special Characters


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## Masked Jackal (Dec 16, 2009)

Definitely waking back up, the new army book has a great variety of cool options. As for the options you describe, I'd say they're all quite good. Chariots are probably the least of the options you described, you can't form an army around them, but they work good as flankers, especially with the new updated impact hits.

As for the Casket of Souls, without it being a character mount, and it's new method of damage, it's probably quite good at removing flankers. Just pick a warmachine hunter, as those are often put on the flank, and go down the line.

Special Characters vary as always, but all seem to have reasonable costs for what they do.


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## Akatsuki13 (May 9, 2010)

I've played a few games with the new rules and I have to say that they risen from their tombs once more. Even though those old incantations have been replaced with a more normal Lore of Magic, their magic is a lot stronger than before, not counting the additions of the Lores of Light and Death to their magic. Trust me, they're back and better than ever.


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## Caxton (Jun 15, 2010)

Interesting. It's good for the TK to be strong again. I do enjoy undead that aren't evil. What about the Hierotitan? I've heard that it's...interesting.


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## Akatsuki13 (May 9, 2010)

Adding +D3 to the casting result of every TK wizard within 12", not to mention holding two items that each contain bound spells, Shem's Burning Gaze (power level 3) and Spirit Leech (power level 4) respectively is nice thing to have on the field. Of course don't forget it's martial counterpart (and the other unit replacing the Bone Giant), the Necrolith Colossus. You can upgrade these guys with bows so big they're bolt throwers with a range of 48", Strength 6, multiple wounds (D3) and no Armor Saves can be taken against their shots. Then there's their Unstoppable Assault rule which allows them every time they charge an enemy and inflict an unsaved Wound to make another attack that also uses this rule.


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## Abomination (Jul 6, 2008)

I think 'Yea' is insufficent, 'Hell Yeah!' would be more accurate. The new book is great and makes Tomb Kings an awesome force once more. There are some excellent units in the army and the magic seems adequately strong. They should be a force to be reckoned with for quite some time I think.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I think there's a lot of potential with Tomb Kings now. They certainly have some extremely powerful options now, and there are a lot of different ways to put an army of Tomb Kings together and have them be good on the table. I'm actually really excited to see them have a viable army again-- it really felt like Fantasy was missing something important without them.


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## coke123 (Sep 4, 2010)

yea. It's a well done book. and some damn fine minis to boot.

and what's this about unique magic gone? they have lore of nehekhara! (which is awesome btw)


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## Jim (May 1, 2008)

I've picked up the book and magic deck and fully intend to start an army once I've finished painting rats (could be some time - there's so many of them :suicide...

Plus Points:

Cheaper core skellies
Good synergies between troops and characters ie Tomb King/Prince My Will Be Done buffs, Necrotects Hatred, etc...
Variety of different viable builds, so could go magic heavy, shooty, combat, contructs, etc...
Solid unique magic Lore
IMO Great new models - love the Warsphinx and Tomb Guard a lot

I'm interested to see the 2nd wave as I'm hoping it will include a new plastic Collossi/Heirotitan kit but fear it will just be the Necrotect, Prince Apophas and bow Ushabti 

In summary - they are well and truly arisen!!!

Jim


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

I picked up the new book the other day and I am impressed with it so far. None of the units really strike me as being underpowered for their costs so far and some of the new rules and units are downright sweet. The two biggest changes that stand out to me are the changes to the My Will Be Done rules and the magic system. My Will Be Done now gives the unit the King/Prince is attached to their base WS which is freaking huge. Join a King to a unit of Tomb Guard and you suddenly have a unit of WS6 skeletons with Killing Blow. Upping the base WS of a unit is huge as now our units will be hitting far more often than they once did. Add in a Necrotect to give them Hatred and Frenzy and holy hell does that unit become vile.

The magic is better now in that you will be raising far more bodies than you ever did. In the old armybook it was a single spell that you cast to get D3+1 wounds back. This was severely limiting as you often had to give up other spells to use it and it was fairly easily dispelled. With the new book, each time you cast an augment spell on a unit it will auto heal them in the same manner but now it is a blanket effect as most of the augments are bubbles now, not cast at a single unit. Cast the spell to give a unit Killing Blow and they will heal immediately. However, cast the more powerful version and it affects all units within a certain range, causing ALL of them to heal. And that is off a single caster. Just think what might happen when you have multiple casters doing so with multiple augments. Keeping your skeletons alive and kicking to tarpit the enemy while your heavy hitters get into position is going to be far, FAR easier now.

Also huge is the new Entombed Beneath the Sands ability as this gives several units the ability to pop up anywhere on the table. While they may not be able to charge when they come up they can still move and shoot and this will make warmachine hunting a piece of cake, same with lining up rear charges.

I could go into far more detail but the upshot of all of this is that the Tomb Kings are very much alive and kicking ass now. That said, they are not going to be a power army like Daemons or VC were but instead will be upper middle tier most likely as they are very much a finesse army. Point and click they are not. Still, we once again have a very competitive book and for that I am happy.



> You can upgrade these guys with bows so big they're bolt throwers with a range of 48", Strength 6, multiple wounds (D3) and no Armor Saves can be taken against their shots. Then there's their Unstoppable Assault rule which allows them every time they charge an enemy and inflict an unsaved Wound to make another attack that also uses this rule.


Yeah that is a very tasty option as well but does UA work with the bows? And if you take the bow, does it replace the hand weapon? If so, that will definitely alter their usage. Still, a Bolt Thrower that can move and shoot is nothing to sneeze at and I will have at least one, possibly two.



EDIT: came up with a really vile combo. Take a Tomb King with that unit of Tomb Gaurd and give him the Death Mask and watch your opponent flee like crazy. The Death Mask negates Inspiring Presence and the BSB entirely, forcing the affected unit to take a Terror test at its base LD. Run the unit right in front of a big enemy block and then shoot it with the Catapult with Skulls of the Fallen. So long as they take a single wound they will be rolling Panic at -1 to their base leadership thanks to the Mask. And even if they pass it they are going to be facing an ungodly tough unit that keeps getting back up. I for one can't wait to try it.


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## Masked Jackal (Dec 16, 2009)

The Wraithlord said:


> EDIT: came up with a really vile combo. Take a Tomb King with that unit of Tomb Gaurd and give him the Death Mask and watch your opponent flee like crazy. The Death Mask negates Inspiring Presence and the BSB entirely, forcing the affected unit to take a Terror test at its base LD. Run the unit right in front of a big enemy block and then shoot it with the Catapult with Skulls of the Fallen. So long as they take a single wound they will be rolling Panic at -1 to their base leadership thanks to the Mask. And even if they pass it they are going to be facing an ungodly tough unit that keeps getting back up. I for one can't wait to try it.


Forget that, just kit the Tomb King up for combat and put a Necrotect or that special character in there. I lost 20 temple-guard in a single round to this. o.o


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## Creon (Mar 5, 2009)

My plan is to necrotect my 8-ushapti mass and watch it grind through the enemy.


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