Toddy Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 Having recently doned my Necromancer Initiate's robes, and bought a 'Start Collecting... Skellies' set, I'm faced with the conundrum of which Mortarch to build. I can think of cool ways to take my army thematically based on any of them, but lacking experience on the battlefield, how do people think they each perform? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varyn Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 Firstly, I would recommend magnetising parts so that you have the option to run either of the options! I magnetised the head of the monster and the riders and it was very straightforward. Regarding how they perform on the table, I haven't gotten around to using mine yet But I think the general consensus is that they're a bit overcosted, Neferata is good for her debuff, arkhan is the cheapest and has decent casting buffs and manfred is more of a beatstick. I think most people prefer vampire lord on zombie dragon for a beatstick behemoth/leader though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toddy Posted May 5, 2017 Author Share Posted May 5, 2017 8 minutes ago, varyn said: Firstly, I would recommend magnetising parts so that you have the option to run either of the options! I magnetised the head of the monster and the riders and it was very straightforward. Regarding how they perform on the table, I haven't gotten around to using mine yet But I think the general consensus is that they're a bit overcosted, Neferata is good for her debuff, arkhan is the cheapest and has decent casting buffs and manfred is more of a beatstick. I think most people prefer vampire lord on zombie dragon for a beatstick behemoth/leader though Thanks Magnetising sounds very sensible, any tips? Never attempted something like that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Countmoore Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 Overall the Mortarchs suffer from a low wound count at 11 and a high points cost at 375-460. That said they all bring unique things to the table Mannfred - solid combat and offensive magic output. Ignoring first wound a turn helps the low wound count somewhat. Slightly more than the Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon who with access to red fury/cloak or ruler/sword just has much better reach and/or survivability than Mannfred. 3/10 Neferata - before the rule of one restricting spell usage she was my go to girl as her spell (ignoring tend) is fantastic. Never a fan of her as the general though with a Mourngul and a cursed book in the list it makes the army very survivable. She also suffered from having to keep point aside if you use her to turn an enemy into a vampire. She still has a place but the army needs to be built around her. 6/10 Arkhan - least expensive of the mortarchs at 375 with little loss of damage output and similar survivability levels. His bonuses to cast make him an excellent support piece and I tend to run him in this way with a more righty general. His real threat is curse of years which can delete any unit of you get down to the magic 1. 8/10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FRoper Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 18 minutes ago, Countmoore said: Overall the Mortarchs suffer from a low wound count at 11 and a high points cost at 375-460. That said they all bring unique things to the table Mannfred - solid combat and offensive magic output. Ignoring first wound a turn helps the low wound count somewhat. Slightly more than the Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon who with access to red fury/cloak or ruler/sword just has much better reach and/or survivability than Mannfred. 3/10 Neferata - before the rule of one restricting spell usage she was my go to girl as her spell (ignoring tend) is fantastic. Never a fan of her as the general though with a Mourngul and a cursed book in the list it makes the army very survivable. She also suffered from having to keep point aside if you use her to turn an enemy into a vampire. She still has a place but the army needs to be built around her. 6/10 Arkhan - least expensive of the mortarchs at 375 with little loss of damage output and similar survivability levels. His bonuses to cast make him an excellent support piece and I tend to run him in this way with a more righty general. His real threat is curse of years which can delete any unit of you get down to the magic 1. 8/10 Completely agree, with what is said below. they are a bit overcosted and could do with some more survivability as they do seem a bit weak. you can easily magnitize the throne for the various options the problem come with the head and frontal armour plates. the head and frontal plates would pick which ever you like most and stick with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varyn Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 There are lots of guides for it, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9aN_LHQmwA The only suggestion I would have is to look carefully how the parts fit together and where you can put the magnets to get the best adhesion. I usually use N52 neodymiun magnets (ebay has lots of sellers), something like 3mm/4mm x 1mm should be fine I'll try and put some pictures of mine up in a bit, although I'm very much a novice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acid_Nine Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 it really depends on what you want from them, as others have said, but I will give a little more info on Manfred at least as that is the only guy I regularly use. manfred's biggest ability, the one who makes him probably better than a zombie dragon, is his command ability, and probably why I use him in the first place. a 15" bubble of re-rolling ones to hit and to wound is just amazing for skeletons, morghasts and grave guard, and often times I never have to commit Manfred to combat because of the added help these re-rolls have. I am sorry to say I need this, and I am more than willing to pay 460pts for this over the zombie dragon. when I do commit him to fighting I always make sure he casts a spell first, as his blade hits on a 2+ and wounds on a 2+ with re-rolling ones, plus all his other attacks benefit from the simple re-rolls. he has less wounds and less armor than the zombie dragon, but played right he could be a monster against the squishier or infantry. I also find that, naturally, Manfred has a much better damage consistency than the zombie dragon, but that could just be to bad rolls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FRoper Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 how strong is rerolling hits and wounds of 1, i am wondering about running manfred and is this very strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acid_Nine Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 1 hour ago, FRoper said: how strong is rerolling hits and wounds of 1, i am wondering about running manfred and is this very strong. when covering with two squads of 30 skeletons, one unit of 15 grave guard and four morghasts? very, very strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deynon Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 If you want to magntize a mortarch I just realised a video^^ If you want to give a glance about^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toddy Posted May 8, 2017 Author Share Posted May 8, 2017 Thanks for the advice everyone! Leaning towards Mannfred, though I'll give magnetising a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 Definitely try magnetising. It can be a bit daunting at first if you've never done it before, but get past that and it's actually pretty easy and satisfying - not to mention giving you more value for money from your models. My top tip - be very sure that you've got the poles lined up correctly. There's nothing more exasperating than finishing up and realising that your two magnetised parts are repelling each other rather than attracting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deynon Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 1 hour ago, Jamie the Jasper said: Definitely try magnetising. It can be a bit daunting at first if you've never done it before, but get past that and it's actually pretty easy and satisfying - not to mention giving you more value for money from your models. My top tip - be very sure that you've got the poles lined up correctly. There's nothing more exasperating than finishing up and realising that your two magnetised parts are repelling each other rather than attracting! I've even made a video about it, and I continue to repeat in each one of my videos^^ and yet doesn't seem enough^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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