Expanding skeleton horde box set

[Praecautus]

Hi Deathers

one of my sons friends is starting AoS and has received the start collecting skeleton horde and a box of zombies. 

I want to help him expand this towards 1000 points in a cost efficient manner as he only has his pocket money.

We mainly play narrative games so being competitive is not a priority, but likewise don't want an army that can't do anything.

any thoughts on next purchases? 

I was thinking he should expand his skeleton unit and add a leader but I am not sure of the best route.

thanks

[RuneBrush]

36 minutes ago, Praecautus said:

I was thinking he should expand his skeleton unit and add a leader but I am not sure of the best route.

I'd agree with this - it's similar to the way I'm going too.

Assuming he's going with the contents as per the box (i.e. Mannfred) that's 720 points with the Zombies.  Bump the Skeletons up to 30 strong (armed with spears for that essential 2" range) and a Necromancer will comfortably take him to the 1000 point mark.  Alternatively you could use a Wight King instead of Necromancer (both the same points) which provides a nice command ability.  Cost wise, that's two boxes of Skeletons and a blister - so at the most expensive £42 if you buy from GW (but you can get cheaper online).

[Mortarch]

24 minutes ago, RuneBrush said:

I'd agree with this - it's similar to the way I'm going too.

Assuming he's going with the contents as per the box (i.e. Mannfred) that's 720 points with the Zombies.  Bump the Skeletons up to 30 strong (armed with spears for that essential 2" range) and a Necromancer will comfortably take him to the 1000 point mark.  Alternatively you could use a Wight King instead of Necromancer (both the same points) which provides a nice command ability.  Cost wise, that's two boxes of Skeletons and a blister - so at the most expensive £42 if you buy from GW (but you can get cheaper online).

Yes, depending on how he has built the Mortarch. If he has built the Mortarch as Mannfred, then the above is probably a good shout. If he has built as Arkan as per the box art, then you have another 120 points to play with and could take both the necromancer and the wight king, which makes for some good synergies with the skeletons. This would be £51. That takes you to nigh on 1000.

But At that price point it's really a choice with that Theme he wants to follow - as for the same money you could get the Start Collecting Flesh Eater Courts for £50, and build everyone's favourite general (from reading around here anyway...) The Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon. Does he want a Skeleton theme or is he happy with more general death?

i would echo RuneBrush and advise to go to the Independent sellers to make the pocket money stretch that much farther. 

[RuneBrush]

1 hour ago, Mortarch said:

Yes, depending on how he has built the Mortarch. If he has built the Mortarch as Mannfred, then the above is probably a good shout. If he has built as Arkan as per the box art

Oops, my bad - had brain fuzzle and forgot it's Arkhan on the box!  I think he's at a good junction point to decide on what style of undead he wants to play, focusing on one base troop type is generally seen as providing a better army (plus less rules to get your head round initially).

[Praecautus]

Thanks both

 

So far skeletons and horses are built. Mortach is being built so we can change the rider at this point. I was wondering to magnetise the riders so he can change them (something else for me learn). Yes I have volunteered to build and paint it ?

Is mannfred generally better than arkhan?

He seems to be leaning towards skeletons but I can't rule out the rule of cool throwing in another part of death. However I feel a bit more comfortable advising him now when we next all goto GW.

Really good thought through feedback from you both. I have limited death experience and feel responsible as I am guiding the kids on their first steps into the world of warhammer. So really appreciate the time you took to respond.

[Praecautus]

24 minutes ago, RuneBrush said:

Oops, my bad - had brain fuzzle and forgot it's Arkhan on the box!  I think he's at a good junction point to decide on what style of undead he wants to play, focusing on one base troop type is generally seen as providing a better army (plus less rules to get your head round initially).

Thanks, mainly it is me having to keep the rules in my head at the moment ?

[RuneBrush]

15 minutes ago, Praecautus said:

So far skeletons and horses are built. Mortach is being built so we can change the rider at this point. I was wondering to magnetise the riders so he can change them (something else for me learn). Yes I have volunteered to build and paint it ?

Is mannfred generally better than arkhan?

He seems to be leaning towards skeletons but I can't rule out the rule of cool throwing in another part of death. However I feel a bit more comfortable advising him now when we next all goto GW.

Sounds like you're making good progress.  I've heard other people had magnetised the rider too, rare-earth (neodymium) magnets are pretty straight forward to fit, I've done loads over the years for 40k/30k.  Just make sure you get the polarities matching  

Though I've not played either (yet), Arkhan is generally viewed as a better choice when you have more spell casters in an army.  Both Mannfred and Neferata are combat monsters by comparison.

I tend to approach most armies as having 1k "core" and then look into other areas once I go up in points.  The Death army I'm currently putting together has 50 skeletons, 10 black knights, 10 grave guard plus characters - really focused on bones for that first 1k!

[Veillotron]

If he's financing his army with pocket money, one efficient way to add to his team would be to leverage the remaining bits...

if he built the Black Knights, he still has the bodies of the Hexwraiths. Go on ebay and you can get five skeleton horses for $15.

Re the Mortarch, what I did for my son was to build it with Arkhan, and then put Mannfred on a chaos knight horse I bought on ebay for $3 to create a Vampire Lord on steed.

 

My 2 cents...

[Praecautus]

Great idea, he does have a tonne of other bits that can be reused

[WillofNagash]

2 hours ago, Veillotron said:

If he's financing his army with pocket money, one efficient way to add to his team would be to leverage the remaining bits...

if he built the Black Knights, he still has the bodies of the Hexwraiths. Go on ebay and you can get five skeleton horses for $15.

Re the Mortarch, what I did for my son was to build it with Arkhan, and then put Mannfred on a chaos knight horse I bought on ebay for $3 to create a Vampire Lord on steed.

 

My 2 cents...

Exactly this, except for i used arkhan on a black knight horse as a mounted Wight King with banner.

 

[Veillotron]

That is one sweet model...

[Kyriakin]

If GW fiddle the Death keywords in the future, Arkhan might make the most sense as he would likely take whatever keyword they evenetually use for the current deathrattle/skeleton faction.

This might matter if you want to go mono-faction and have Black Knights as battleline (TBH even now, I would happily allow "skeleton" as being the de facto equivalent of "deathrattle").

However, if the eventual plan is a more general Death army (i.e. with less glamourous battleline), obviously the above isn't applicable.

[Praecautus]

You have all been really helpful and given me lots of ideas to advise him.

Some plastic horses from eBay seem like a great way to make the most of spare parts. Plus I saw some small rare earth magnets so may try magnetising the mortachs and a horse so he can swap and choose. So with some additional skeletons and maybe 1 more hero he will be set for the time being.

now to convince my son that he should finish his seraphon before his elves... and to convince myself that my khorne should not be ignored for these projects haha

[Praecautus]

One more question. He decided to build arkhan and use mannfred as a mounter vampire lord. What to do with Nefferata (spelling?), she has an odd pose and I was wondering if I could use a flying base to make it look like she was flying/doing a big jump and about to smack someone with her staff. Any thoughts or alternative ideas?

[Mortarch]

With the pose the way it is - losing the long dress/cape thing, would help you swing a pose like she was jumping backwards from something, which would be good for a duel piece... however if you have a spare horse from Ebay, you could mount her on that and use as a Necromancer or another mounted Vampire Lord (Lady) - you could make use of the spare covers for the mortarch horse heads to help with that.

[Praecautus]

So this is my good deed for the day, I bought a gore beast chariot for myself but of course it has two horses spare. Welcome to the horse boys mannfred.

 

thanks for the advice. I have a great plan for neferata and will share the build in the coming weeks when I get the bits.

[BrocknerTheBear]

For neferata I would simply attach to a base using the bottom of her dress. Then attach some bat wings from the dark eldar range scourges or some wings from the vargheists and she's a winged vampire lord.

[Veillotron]

4 hours ago, Praecautus said:

So this is my good deed for the day, I bought a gore beast chariot for myself but of course it has two horses spare. Welcome to the horse boys mannfred.

 

thanks for the advice. I have a great plan for neferata and will share the build in the coming weeks when I get the bits.

Nice - this is exactly the same horse I got for my kid's Mannfred, it looks great. 

 

I am looking forward to seeing what you do with Neferata, I did not find a good solution yet... 

[Praecautus]

8 hours ago, BrocknerTheBear said:

For neferata I would simply attach to a base using the bottom of her dress. Then attach some bat wings from the dark eldar range scourges or some wings from the vargheists and she's a winged vampire lord.

That was pretty much my plan ? - I am just way over budget this month so she will have to wait. The bonus is I can look to using another scourge as valkia the bloody for my khorne on the cob army.

@Veillotron this is what I had in mind - not my work - just imagine some wings on her back.

 

 

[Veillotron]

That does look good, better than what I was thinking. I might do that pose without wings. 

[Praecautus]

I am planning to add wings as there is a specific rule in the warscrolls about wings and movement (plus I would like to get the scourge kit to make valkia ?