Legion of death battalion

[Rob]

Recently I've been looking at the legion of death battalion and wondering if I can make it work.

Main drawback I see with it is the units required aren't exactly thrilling, however I've been finding that I've been using two or three units of skeletons every game as objective holders anyway so suddenly doesn't look so bad.

What I'm thinking is the following;

Wight king with black axe - you have to take one and the bonuses depend on him being alive so halving all damage taken is great.

10 black knights - take a nice big unit, it's only job is to pin a target in place so I can kill it later, should be fairly survivable especially getting an extra model back a turn.

20 grave guard with great weapons - this is where the damage output comes from.  Normally move four is a massive drawback, but getting an extra four inches every hero phase should be very useful. Fairly large unit so should remain large enough to still be dangerous.

Three lots of ten skeletons - these are just there to objective cap and speed bump enemy units, a job they do brilliantly.

 

Including the formation that lot comes to 8.75 clash pools or 37 scgt.  Leaves plenty of space for magical support and scary big hitting units.

What are people's thoughts and has anyone tried running this battalion?

[Nico]

It just seems a bit "meh" to me.

Death have three things going for them - the best heroes in the game; summoning; and a couple of special mechanics (models coming back  to life to units and ethereal units). This formation doesn't really major on any of these. Fundamentally Grave Guard are just a really mediocre version of Phoenix Guard, Stormvermin or other elite infantry - their shield mechanic is abysmal as it means they are on a 6+ save against -1 rend - I'm not a fan.

If you are going long on Deathrattle units, then get a Necromancer to cast Vanhels Danse Macabre. Moreover, the Tomb King Deathrattle units are simply much better (although you could synergise Settra, a Tomb King and a Liche Priest with your army as described above). 

[Darth Alec]

This could work. It is mostly meh though. Not because of the idea, but because the buff the formation gives doesn't synergize much with the units you have to take. The only thing that can do damage in the group are the grave guard. Unless you choose to go 30+ with one (or all) of the skeleton blocks. The extra move just doesn't compensate for the real problem, lack of killing power and lack of staying power. The formation would be much better if it gave a decent regeneration boost or something. Doesn't mean it's terrible though! If you're already taking 4/5ths of the formation, you might as well go all out. 4 ekstra move isn't a bad buff by any means, and it does help the grave guard. If you're taking Grave Guard, use the Great Weapons. 3+/3+/-1/1(2) is a solid statline. Absolutely on par with other elites. They aren't great, lacking any sort of survivability, but they do have a role.

However, grab a necromancer. Double Grave Guard attacks is amazing. 4 attacks per model on the aforementioned statline? Sweet.

 

Ultimately, the main weakness is the three units of skeletons. They are much better in a single unit. If I had 90 skeletons however, I'd be all over this!