Desperation

[Molochmaschine]

Hey, all.

 

Like the title suggests, I am at the end of my rope. I'm trying to piece together a death army, but I'm spending so much time bouncing back and forth between ideas that I'm actually losing sleep over it. I want to be sure that, before I invest heavily into this army, it is viable. Now, I don't mean I NEED to win the next big ol' tournament, just that the army works to an extent, and isn't just a ramshackle assortment of units.  I want to be sure I'm spending money on units that will be of true use. Cash isn't quite as expendable these days,so if I'm going to indulge this habit, I had to be careful(ish).

 

If possible, AT ALL, I would love to to piece together an army that takes advantage of the models-in-waiting that I already have, namely:

A mortarch kit,

A Mortis Engine kit,

and Nagash himself (though i doubt he'd make it)

 

I'm leaning toward 2000pts, something size-able but not absurd, and I really need help or suggestions on this. With what I have, I would love to make the following:

(Grand Host of Nagash)

Arkhan

Necromancer

Necromancer

Mortis Engine

40x Skeletons w/spears

10x Grave Guard

10x Grave Guard

5x Hexwraiths

4x Morghast Harbingers

& Lords of Sacrament formation.

 

Any advice on this would be truly, truly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[AlphaKennyThing]

Looks good to me, though Hexwraiths can be a bit mehhh. Certainly not bad though, I just don't like them that much. The list you've put up won't be bad by any means.

As dumb as it sounds, get yourself a sheet of paper or some card and cut out the outline of the area a blob of 40 Skellies would take up, and do the same for your other units. Write on it what each unit is, and then trawl these forums for another faction's tournament list and do the same for that army. Download all the warscrolls, and literally simulate a game against yourself. It will very quickly give you an idea of how the army plays. If you like it, invest.

Once you've bought it and played with it in a few games and get better at playing it (and the game in general), you'll find you'll start to get a better idea of what areas of your list are a bit weaker etc. Then you can start to expand your collection.

As a start, looks pretty solid to me!

[Bradifer]

I actually like your list as it is but here's some alternatives.

Google Scrollbuilder and you can use this same tool.

Version A (Buy 10 GG & 5 Dire Wolves)

Allegiance: Grand Host of Nagash
Arkhan The Black Mortarch of Sacrament (320)
- General
Necromancer (110)
Necromancer (110)
40 x Skeleton Warriors (280)
- Ancient Spears
5 x Dire Wolves (60)
4 x Morghast Harbingers (440)
- Spirit Halberds
30 x Grave Guard (420)
- Great Wight Blades
Mortis Engine (180)
Lords of Sacrament (70)
Total: 1990 / 2000

Version B: (Build Hexwraiths as Black Knights & Buy 10 Dire Wolves)

Allegiance: Grand Host of Nagash
Arkhan The Black Mortarch of Sacrament (320)
- General
Necromancer (110)
Necromancer (110)
40 x Skeleton Warriors (280)
- Ancient Spears
5 x Dire Wolves (60)

5 x Dire Wolves (60)

15 x Grave Guard (240)
- Great Wight Blades
4 x Morghast Harbingers (440)
- Spirit Halberds
5 x Black Knights (120)
Mortis Engine (180)
Lords of Sacrament (70)
Total: 1990 / 2000

Alternatively, build more lists based models you might buy in the future.

I think Dire Wolves and Hexwraiths are really good and I don't like GG very much.

Nagash is awesome but certainly requires every army building and gameplay decision to be based around him.

My biggest tip is that if you're newer, slow down and focus on a 1000 or 1500 point list. If you haven't build/paint/played a lot of this game, you realize how much time it takes for each part. Don't overwhelm yourself and instead let those first 5+ games just be fun learning experiences.

 

[TheOtherJosh]

Nagash won’t really work at less than 2000 points. (And he’s nearly 1/2 of your points at 2k.)

If you’re not including Nagash ... and you are including Arkhan, consider Allegiance: Legion of Sacrament. The only bad piece is that would require reworking Battleline  choices.

Regarding the lists proposed by  @Bradifer, It looks like you may be short on Battleline choices in List B. (Even with Legion of Nagash)

You need 3+ Battleline at 2000 points.

Morghast aren’t battleline unless Nagash is the General.

Edit:

Your best bet would be to work around the start collecting sets or Battleforce sets as your overall best value.

Battleforce of the Blood Queen (This Battleforce box has several Morghasts)

https://www.games-workshop.com/Battleforce-Blade-Of-The-Blood-Queen-2017

Start Collecting: Malignants

https://www.games-workshop.com/Start-Collecting-Malignants

Start Collecting: Skeleton Horde

https://www.games-workshop.com/Start-Collecting-Skeleton-Horde

Deathrattle Barrow Lords

https://www.games-workshop.com/Deathrattle-Barrow-Lords

[CharnelChimera]

Consider the following list. It's about as good as I can get to min-max a list with Arkhan in it. It's what I'll be taking to tournaments, but if you really wanna hit the top 10 tables, just take a  standard Nagash meme list and call it a day.

Allegiance: Grand Host of Nagash
Vampire Lord (140)
- General
- Mount: Flying Horror
- Trait: Lord of Nagashizzar
- Lore of the Vampires: Vile Transference
Arkhan The Black Mortarch of Sacrament (320)
- Lore of the Dead: Spectral Grasp (Deathmages)
Necromancer (110)
- Artefact: Ossific Diadem
- Lore of the Deathmages: Overwhelming Dread
Necromancer (110)
- Artefact: Grave-sand Timeglass
- Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour
5 x Dire Wolves (60)
40 x Skeleton Warriors (280)
- Ancient Spears
40 x Skeleton Warriors (280)
- Ancient Spears
2 x Morghast Harbingers (220)
- Spirit Halberds
2 x Morghast Harbingers (220)
- Spirit Halberds
Mortis Engine (180)
Lords of Sacrament (70)

Total: 1990 / 2000
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 152

[Molochmaschine]

Wow, all of this feedback has been extraordinarily helpful! Thank you, all of you. Maybe I can finally calm down and get painting now. 

 

Looks like I’ve quite a bit of work ahead of me. Gonna start with a few mock-up battles as suggested, and tweak it from there!

 

thanks again, fellas, much appreciated. 

[Honk]

Maybe combine the morghast to one big mean unit, instead of splitting up their power.

[CharnelChimera]

9 minutes ago, Honk said:

Maybe combine the morghast to one big mean unit, instead of splitting up their power.

I've had people tell me both 1x4 and 2x2, so I think it's going to be up to personal choice and how you want to use them. I've found that maneuvering 1x4 morghast is sorta tough on cluttered boards and sometimes I wish I could project force in two places at once to force tough decisions. 1x4 will absolutely blend everything it touches, assuming it can get there in the first place, but 2x2 is usually juuuust enough to be a scalpel, especially when they have +1 attack a pop.

[Honk]

6 minutes ago, CharnelChimera said:

but 2x2 is usually juuuust enough to be a scalpel, especially when they have +1 attack a pop.

Wish you all the best...had a sad moment with 2x2, but I guess both approaches are valid.

opponent, scenarios and scenery probably tipping the scales, just go for it

[CharnelChimera]

2 minutes ago, Honk said:

Wish you all the best...had a sad moment with 2x2, but I guess both approaches are valid.

opponent, scenarios and scenery probably tipping the scales, just go for it

What happened? I'm all for learning from the experience of others.

[Honk]

Played legion of the night and charged them in, kinda piecemeal, into 30 fyreslayers...

on the other hand killed two of them 3 goregruntas, which really pleased me.

[ledha]

27 minutes ago, Honk said:

Played legion of the night and charged them in, kinda piecemeal, into 30 fyreslayers...

on the other hand killed two of them 3 goregruntas, which really pleased me.

The problem is not the morghast here, just that the vulkites berserker (i suppose it was the 30-man unit) are completely and absurdly overpowered right now. Everything bounce back on them.

[TheOtherJosh]

51 minutes ago, CharnelChimera said:

Allegiance: Grand Host of Nagash
Vampire Lord (140)
- General
- Mount: Flying Horror
- Trait: Lord of Nagashizzar
- Lore of the Vampires: Vile Transference

Why flying over mounted on Nightmare? (Flying is handy ... but Mounted gives you 2 additional attacks. And the move is largely the same at 10” )

And why not add in the Chalice of Blood on the Vampire Lord?

[Honk]

Yes, was kinda silly...but against 40 skellis within graveyards, they loose the grind. Very nice thing was overcharging with the flying harbringer launching over chaff units into the heros behind.

[Wraith01]

Dude, just buy what you like and have fun.

I would recommend getting the Start Collecting boxes: Malignants, Skeleton hoard, DeathRattle Barrow Lords and NightHaunt Tormented Spirits, in any combination. 

[Bradifer]

18 hours ago, TheOtherJosh said:

Regarding the lists proposed by  @Bradifer, It looks like you may be short on Battleline choices in List B. (Even with Legion of Nagash)

Fixed.

[CharnelChimera]

15 hours ago, TheOtherJosh said:

Why flying over mounted on Nightmare? (Flying is handy ... but Mounted gives you 2 additional attacks. And the move is largely the same at 10” )

And why not add in the Chalice of Blood on the Vampire Lord?

The two horse attacks aren't as useful as the extra move and possible fly-over on units, especially since he's going to be bubble wrapped and locked inside his own chaff on the horse the entire game. You aren't going to be brawling and risking your general which should be giving 80 models +2 to attack (or at least I haven't been). I think me not adding the Chalice was an issue on Warscroll Builder's part, it's certainly an auto include. I also think a flying lord is much more fun to model, but that's just personal preference there.

[TheOtherJosh]

23 hours ago, Bradifer said:

Version B: (Build Hexwraiths as Black Knights & Buy 10 Dire Wolves)

Allegiance: Grand Host of Nagash
Arkhan The Black Mortarch of Sacrament (320)
- General
Necromancer (110)
Necromancer (110)
40 x Skeleton Warriors (280)
- Ancient Spears
5 x Dire Wolves (60)

5 x Dire Wolves (60)

15 x Grave Guard (240)
- Great Wight Blades
4 x Morghast Harbingers (440)
- Spirit Halberds
5 x Black Knights (120)
Mortis Engine (180)
Lords of Sacrament (70)
Total: 1990 / 2000

I’d actually recommend looking at Legion of Sacrament ... the casting benefits are solid, especially with multiple necromancers in the list.

you’re getting the potential for additional spell casting with the Lords of Sacrament battalion and +1 to casting from Legion of Sacrament .. and +1 from the Mortis Engine within range... (and your opponent is at -1 casting).

You loose out on some of the + healing from Legions Innumerable ... but gain a casting benefit.

If you give yourself some additional reinforcement points ... you could leverage “the master’s teachings” to bring harasser units back onto the board. (Perhaps dropping 2 of the Morghast?)