# Tomb King Shooting



## Cerberus (Dec 18, 2008)

Hi all,

I'm thinking about building a Tomb King army that is heavy on bowmen and light horsemen. Would it be worth it to take Queen Khalida with around 4x10 man units of bowmen and a couple of 5 man units of light horseman, and giving them Posion Arrow? They would cost 560pnt with 50 shots hitting on 5 no matter what. Half the shots that hit will auto wound, and with Incantations you could almost double your shots. Add in some Skull catapults or Casket of Souls, and it looks to me you have some deadly shoting phases. As an added bounus if a unit is wounded by the Queens staff's magic missle attack it can't move the next turn. whatevers left charge with Scorpions and laugh. But on the other hand I have not played yet so this could be a increadably dumb move? Please help a fantasy noob.​
Edited: Please don't post individual costs of items, models or upgrades. It is against forum rules as it violates GW IP rights - squeek


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

I don't play Tomb Kings but I know a little about them having played them and have the book so hopefully this might be of some use to you. Khalida is expensive but she is also key to making one of the most competitive TK lists in my opinion. You are right that Blessing of the Asp is well worth the points, not only that she is able to autocast Righteous Smiting once a turn so you can have any unit nearby fire twice or attack twice in combat. This can be deadly with an SSC, though of course you risk a misfire each time you fire, so it is best not to rely too heavily on SSCs alone.

I think the best way to use her would be with a strong ranged army that has a good counter assault force to deal with enemy that get close. Tomb Scorpions and Ushabti should serve you well here. Khalida is no slouch in combat, she could easily off most Heroes and some Lords but I would think she is best kept out of risky combats and kept to those easy wins or all important killing blows.

As an aside, if you have your archers in 10s make sure they stay out of combat otherwise they wont last long at all, I also wouldn't bother giving them any upgrades for a unit of 10. Personally I think the light horsemen are not a good choice, they are fast cavalry but as they are undead they can't march or flee. That makes them a liability in my book, most fast cav can bait and flee heavy hitters and quickly get to weaker ranged units, they can't do either very well so you are better off taking other units in their place I think. If you want fast cavalry with blessing of the asp why not take chariots?


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## NagashKhemmler (Apr 28, 2009)

For a shooting army to be competitive there's a few things to remember:

Light Horsemen aren't worth it, they aren't fast enough to excel at a harassment role, 8 movement combined with operating outside the usual incantation range means they are as fast as normal infantry that fire as BS2, not worth it.

Next, Bowmen should ALL be in units of 15-20 models in an archer heavy army, get hills as much as you can with terrain, have one line, reform and use magic to do it fast when the enemy gets close. In my experience, 2x Ushabti units of 3 each and probable 1 carrion of 3 and 1 tomb scorpion is your best bet (carrion to march block, TS to hunt war machines/Mages, Ushabti on each flank, use the Archers for SCR and the Ushabti for a flank charge. Your shooting will mean you will almost definately outnumber any chargers, so with Ushabti doing damage and SCR you will autobreak most armies units, hold ground and shoot them more.

Also, don't skimp on standards/musicians in your archers, get them both, they help with this build style.

For your additional units there are two paths:
Casket of Souls (enables more incantations to go off, rarely goes off itself)
Two SSC.

The latter combined with a magic heavy army is very powerful, for me I would go for Queen Khalida and 3 liche priests in 2000 points, magic heavy imo is the only way undead play, esp TK.

My 2000 points would be something like

6 ushabti, tomb scorp, 2 SSC queen, 3 liche priests 3 carrion
should give you enough points for around 100 archers or more. If you have 20 archers on a hill btw all can fire and a single successful incantation is a lot more powerful with larger units, you can also line up in one single line and reform when needed, that said use your incantation of smiting on the SSC as much as you can, ignore those unbelievers who cry about misfires! It's worth it.


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## karlhunt (Mar 24, 2009)

I would take two small units of archers then one MEGA unit of archers with the blessing. Have khalida use her smitting power on them every turn. Never underestimate the effect of 80 poisoned arrows hitting a unit, even one at tough as WoC


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## NagashKhemmler (Apr 28, 2009)

The large unit size is so you can reform and fight once the enemy makes it to you.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

The point is to have something that can counter the enemy unit once it hits your lines.

An archer heavy army requires Things - Khalida, 3x Tomb Priests, one large unit (30 archers on a hill in double lines), and 2x Screaming Skull Catapults.

Next, to back them up, Fill your Specials with 2x Tomb Scorpions and 2 Units of 3 Carrion.

That way, you slow folks down, equalling more shooting, rear charges, Lone Character Hunting, and Fear causing in the rear = good shit.

Ushabti? They're good, but in the wrong sort of army, they're shit. You're moving towards enemy, and with the typical unit base width of 150, (nearly 8 archers wide), you're really narrowing your targets down. Tomb Scorpions do far better at Armour Hunting, due to lower frontage, and Killing Blow. Along with "It came from below", you're looking at one hell of an advantage - rear charge, so no nasty spears, no charging, so no nasty lances, and no charging, so no nasty Great Weapons.

I'm sure the point of a TK Gunline is so the enemy doesn't make it to you. You don't go for the mega unit for SCR (the fuck? what bright idea was that?), you go for the Mega Unit to slap out 60 Shots a turn, at least. 

Go for the requirements - 6 Carrion, Khalida, Priestsx3, 2 Scorpions, and 2 SCC's. Then the Mega unit, which should be equal in size to the amount of units you have, minus 1, times 10 - which is information I got from someone who won the UKGT with them back when they were released. Which means, if you have 4 archer units in total, then you should have 3 units of 10, and one unit of 30. If you have 5 archer units in total, then you should have 4 units of 10, and one of 40. That's a bucket amount of shots being put out, not to mention, should one unit get caught in combat, then you still have 40 more available to twat your opponents with.

Tomb Kings should leave all cavalry at home, unless fielding a Tomb King, in which case, only bother with Chariots. Which, incidentally, maul High Elves and other ASF units, although, Tomb Kings shooting is better.


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