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Noobranomicon (Beginners guide to Death)


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Section is now defunct it will remain here for prosperity 

Lore Vampiric/Soulblight Bloodlines

 

The vampiric bloodlines of the Warhammer lore shift in and out of importance. However, it is important to know a bit about their background, their origins and their equivalent in Age of Sigmar.

The vampiric bloodlines hold their origins in Lamia and the first vampires. They were Neferata, Aborash, Ushoran, Vashanesh and W’soran. Each had a place in the Lamian court, each had their own obsessions that drew them forward and pulled them apart.

The Von Carstein bloodline was the youngest bloodline hailing from Vashanesh’s blood. Vashanesh was killed by his kin after his rebirth into unlife, but he was resurrected by Nagash centuries later. Donning the alias, Vlad Von Carstein he infiltrated the Reikland Empire. They were among the most active bloodline in the Old World, responsible for the Vampire Wars. They were known among their kin, not for their physical or magical capabilities but for their tactical prowess. The Von Carstein name carries on now with Mannfred and the bloodline named Lords of the Night.

Blood Dragons were the warrior bloodline under Aborash. Aborash was the crown guard in the Lamian court and upon being gifted with vampirism left to train in the Southland jungles to test his strength. He returned to Lamia in its time of need to save his queen before the bloodlines split.

He traveled with his most trusted warriors until, searching for challenges worthy of their prowess. Aborash was drawn to a red glow at the top of a mountain. Atop it he found a powerful dragon that he duelled against for days on end. Eventually the vampire won and drank deep the dragon’s blood, curing his vampiric thirst.

Aborash the Immortal left his followers with a single task, to defeat ever greater challenges. The believed it was the fight against the dragon, not the blood that cured the vampirism. So they traveled far and wide, honing their martial skills with duels against worthy foes. The ripples of the Blood Dragon credo are still alive in Age of Sigmar with the Blood Knight unit and the Dragon Warrior bloodline.

Lamian vampires are arguably the oldest bloodline tracing their heraldry to Neferata herself. The queen of the vampires famously inducted many women into her ranks. Although some men found a place in her court, she found the majority of them to be boorish, too quick to act.

The Lamian vampires had a tendency to focus more on guile and deception than raw strength or magical power. They would embed themselves into various walks of life, manipulating mortals over the centuries. Yet on the battlefield they are swift and deadly hunters. Moving onto combat and darting away for their foe can react. The Lamian bloodline is still alive and well with Neferata and the Swift Death bloodline.

The Necrarch line are all disciples of W’soron. There are among the most monstrous of the vampires, appearing to be very withered and corpse like. Despite their fragile appearance they are more than a match for a mortal in combat. They focus on the necromantic arts above all else. W’soran himself was the first of the vampires to throw himself into the study of Nagash’s tomes and even sought out the Great Necromancer to learn under him.

Necrarch vampires often lived isolated lives. Cloistered away from distractions they would study the arcane arts, aiming to grow ever more proficient. Their obsession with magic often draws perspective necromancers to their lairs. More often than not they would accept these mortals as pupils, with the most promising becoming vampires themselves. In Age of Sigmar the Necromantic Bloodline best represent them.

Strygio are named after the fallen kingdom of the same name. This kingdom was a ruled by Ushoran after the vampiric lines split. Eventually found the other heads of the vampiric lines in his service, but treated them cruelly. He spread the vampiric curse among the warrior nobles of this kingdom.

Ushoran’s kingdom fell, destroyed by orcs. His followers attempted to seek out the other bloodlines for aid, but the other vampires remembered their treatment and spurned them. So the Strygio were left to scavenge for their blood, often living in isolation. They were often surrounded by ghouls, often descendents of the Strigio mortals. Their spirit lives on in the Flesh Eater Courts.

Edited by Avatar Rage
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Update: I’m still writing up some lore stuff but life has gotten in the  way and the process is slow.

I will be adding a section on the Legion of Grief. We can’t ignore the new kid on the block after all.

Finally, I am compiling  the Noobranomicon into a google doc so it is easier to read. 

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Hail brothers and sisters of the dead

 

i have found myself returning here as I build up my deathly empire, and especially with the announcement of the new legion we will be getting. I am going to be building a grand unified army of death, from nighthaunt, LoN and the Ossiarch. 

I just picked up the skeleton horde start collecting box and I can’t decide which mortarch to build. Thematically I think it should be arkhan or Neferata. Does anyone have suggestions?

is it possible to magnetise the three options?

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26 minutes ago, Rockythedog1 said:

Hail brothers and sisters of the dead

 

i have found myself returning here as I build up my deathly empire, and especially with the announcement of the new legion we will be getting. I am going to be building a grand unified army of death, from nighthaunt, LoN and the Ossiarch. 

I just picked up the skeleton horde start collecting box and I can’t decide which mortarch to build. Thematically I think it should be arkhan or Neferata. Does anyone have suggestions?

is it possible to magnetise the three options?

I have saw people magnetise the mortarchs but I could not advise you one that.

As I mentioned earlier, Arkhan is great for a caster army. While Neferata excels as an assassin.

So I suppose it depends on what you want out of your army, or what you want to build on.

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Update: First page now has the google doc.

I will be using the google doc as a "complete" version. Taking into account any mistakes or edits made from feed back. 

I am still going to post here first before it goes into the doc. This means that I can add new info to the guide fairly promptly, while still having a more presentable form available. 

There is still plenty more to add in the future so watch this space.

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I kind of want to collect a Legions army with an emphasis on the ghosties.
What would be a good starting point? Most lists I see tend to focus on optimizing so there will be things like grimghast bricks and not running anything uncompetitive

Was thinking Soul Wars for battleline then maybe adding some vampires cause I kinda like vampires.

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18 hours ago, Indecisive said:

I kind of want to collect a Legions army with an emphasis on the ghosties.
What would be a good starting point? Most lists I see tend to focus on optimizing so there will be things like grimghast bricks and not running anything uncompetitive

Was thinking Soul Wars for battleline then maybe adding some vampires cause I kinda like vampires.

You have come to the right place. 😁

A ghost filled LoN army is definitely a thing you can do and be effective with it. I would suggest the Legion of Sacrament for your chosen legion as it has the least amount of waste. But before we dig in I want to point out the downsides of it, first off you won’t have a lot of battalion access so you will be short on command points and magic items. Also you open yourself up to Nighthaunt weaknesses with none of their specific benefits, but you can mitigate this a bit (I’ll touch on that in a moment).

You could run Chainwrasp as your battle line, these will be great to bog down your opponents with a ghostly mass. Like all Nighthaunts focus them on those high rend units. If you opponents are using low rend hordes, maybe replace one of these with a different battle line (any will do really). 

General and hero wise you have access to Arkhan, who is great especially if you want to run his battalion. However, if you want to go for those vampires as your general then go for it. The vampire command ability is a boon to any Death army as it works on anything with the Death keyword. Same with the Necromancer and their spells. A Vampire Lord on Zombie dragon can be a very fearsome addition too. Finally a Guardian of Souls can keep those Nighthaunt alive (well undead) during the battle. Basically, keep it casty and build on the Legion’s strengths, but there is still a lot of flexibility that you can work with.

I would recommend investing in the Malignant starting box. This will give you a Mortis Engine, giving you even more bonuses and a decent damage dealer. Plus you get some Spirit Hosts and Hexwraiths to round out your ghost theme and will compliment those units from the Soul Wars box. If you need more of a punch without the ethereal rule then sprinkle on some vargheists too (because you know, vampires).

 

Hope this helps, feel free to ask away with anything else.

 

Oh and Praise Nagash 💀

 

 

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Ossiarch Bone Reapers (Requires Ossiarch Bone Reapers Battletome)

 

The Ossiarch Bone reapers are the Death equivalent of the Stormcast Eternals. This army is a small, focused force that maintains a lot features that makes a Death army so great. Their most defining feature is their use of Command Abilities. They have their own unique pool of points to use, which is a double edged sword. On one hand you can’t horde command points. On the other you have new points to horde that can be used by units other than a hero.

Bonereapers have a fair few advantages over other elite armies. For a start they are immune to battleshock. This is combined with a decent amount of regen and wound mitigation. So those long slogs may just swing in your favour more often.

The Bonereapers have access to Death’s big two spellcasters, Arkhan and Nagash. Although there are no dedicated battalions these two top tier casters should not be overlooked. Lots of spells, lots of regen which is big outside of LoN.

Furthermore, there are plenty of other lesser spellcasters in the Bonereaper's ranks. Granted these are only low tier wizards but they are plentiful and not too expensive. Each one is designed to perform a particular role so feel free to stack up or cover your bases. 

This alliance is very versatile in terms of unit types. Decent melee infantry and cavalry. Elite, monster units that pack a punch. The star here is the catapult, presenting a rare ranged unit in a Death army. However, like some other elite armies they lack variety. Although thematic this can be frustrating with the selection of battle line unit and battalions.

This lack of variety is somewhat mitigated by the sub factions available to this army. Each one provides an advantage to a particular play style.  I will give a brief overview kind of play style each one benefits. 

The Mortis Praetorians are your most bog standard, Death themed option. They debuff your opponents bravery and are geared toward the factions named characters who have abilities and command abilities tuned to them. Either only affecting them or providing additional bonuses.

The Petrifex Elite are similarly bog standard, just not in a Death kind of way. All of their bonuses provide some bonus in combat. These bonuses are mainly defencive. The most interesting to me is the Unstoppable Juggernaut ability, this adds 1 to save rolls that target Petrifex Elite units. This means that it can be used in conjunction with any abilities you can dredge up that affect your save rolls. 

Stalliarch Lords are next. They are themed around cavalry units which makes sense when you look at their abilities. They are all based around mobility, namely running and charging. Although you don’t need to run them as a cavalry army, the already high movement of your undead horses compliment them greatly.

The Ivory Host is where things interesting. Much like their Petrifex cousins they are combat based, but with a twist. Their main ability involves them getting a bonus to their attack rolls while in range of wounded units. This comes at a cost of a negative to their saves. Their other bonuses seek to either compliment or enhance this abilities. These are basically bone berserkers.

The Null Myriad is a very flavourful subfaction. No big bonuses here but rather they can negate spells and endless spells. This can be quite situational, not much good if you are up against a non-magical army, but amazing against magic focused armies. The bonuses to heroes are decent enough giving you useful bonuses, but ultimately the usefulness of this one depends on how magic focused your gaming group is.

Last but not least is the Crematorians. This is a fiery little number has a chance of dealing damage to a foe when a model in a unit dies. So another damage dealer, but a damage dealer that can turn your opponent’s advantage in combat against them. Especially when combined with some regen from Nagash or Arkhan.

 

Lore

The Ossiarch are Nagash’s true vision of undeath. They are formed from reshaped bone and the melding of souls. Each Ossiarch legion was created for a purpose, some are immortal guards, others berserkers, others still are living weapons to destroy and cities. 

Many of these legions are so ancient they predate many civilisations. They have been buried, locked away or even voluntarily resting since ancient times. They have mobilized once more thanks to titanic shifts in the magic of the Realms. Now they once again seek their most valuable resource, bones.

The Ossiarch demand tithes of bone from civilisations. These Bone Tithes must be met by any means. Most do not seek ou violence when collecting the tithe, but it is often unavoidable when dealing with those who are stubborn and unmoving. As a result many give the bones of their dead willingly, preserving the lives of their people in exchange for the bones of their dead, hoping that they do not fall short of their arrangement. 

Edited by Avatar Rage
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On 8/30/2019 at 12:11 PM, Rockythedog1 said:

is it possible to magnetise the three options?

I have done so, they are pretty easy to magnetize if you dont want the dragon armor, if you want to magnetize the armor it will be a little more dificult but it can be done.

 

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On 5/12/2020 at 4:00 PM, Avatar Rage said:

Update: I have started making changes based on some of the updated rules. These are on going, but some minor edits have been added to the google doc.

Turns out these changes are more than minor and I have uncovered things that kind of undo things I have already written. 
 

Happy Holidays all. Should be updated with changes in the new year.

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Underworld Units

There are a growing number of Underworld units in the game. Each one has their pros and cons, but tends not to be a deal breaker for an army. Hopefully, I will be able to shed some light on which ones are worth taking, which are not, and which might fit in your list.

 

Sepulcher Guard

Army: Deathrattle (Legions of Nagash)

Points: 80pts

A single entity unit: The Sepulcher Guard

 

This is a decent all around unit. It will not shift your game in any significant way. Stat wise, they are decent enough. They gain bonuses around Death heroes, but that’s nothing special for a Death unit. The major reason to keep these around is the Sepulchre Warden that can bring back D3 slain models per turn. This can make this unit surprisingly tanky. 


 

The Grymwatch

Army: The Flesh Eaters Court

Points: 120pts

A two entity unit: Duke Crakmarrow and The Grymwatch

 

The Grimwatch can be very helpful in certain lists. The stickler here is that they are classed as Hollowmourne, so they are useless in any other Flesh Eater army. If you are running a Hollowmourne army, then these are a good, cheap unit. They provide a nice extra point of damage toward monster units. Depending on the model, this can do 2 damage or 7, so they can pack a punch. 

 

When Duke Crakmarrow is within 3” he might return 1 slain model per turn. While if he is injured within 3” of the Grymwatch he can negate wounds and mortal wounds. 

 

The Briar Queen and the Thorns

Points: 160pts

Army: Nighthaunt

A two entity unit: Briar Queen and the Thorns of the Briar Queen 

This is the most underwhelming of the Underworld units. The Thorns of the Briar are very underwhelming, however the Briar Queen herself is a solid hero. Wound wise, she is a kind of underwhelming. But with a 10” ranged attack and her Howling Vortex spell potentially slow enemy units to a crawl. This makes this Underworld box a nice support addition to a Nighthaunt army.

 

 

Crimson Court

 

Army: Soulblight Gravelords

Points: 200

Two entity unit: Prince Duvalle and The Crimson Court

 

A bit expensive with such a low model count. Prince Duvalle is an alternative vampire. Nothing too fancy. The Crimson Court are just vampires with less wounds. They lack any real synergy with each other. However they are powerhouses in combat. Each member has multiple attacks with and with a decent roll can do some damage. They can be buffed by anything that buffs Soulblight Vampires. If you have the points left over then there are worse point investments you can make.

Edited by Avatar Rage
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Another update: Soulblights have thrown a wrench in the works for a lot of the stuff I was working on. I have to not only write up the new stuff but work on rewriting the existing stuff that is no long. 
 

The shorter stuff will go up first. Including the Mega-Gargant and the Soulblight Underworld group.

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Mega Gargant Mercenaries 

 

It is the Gatebreaker that graces the hordes of the undead. These are big old, stonking, stompy 35 wound monsters that can add to any Death army as a mercenary. The Gatebreaker, as the name suggests, specialises in damaging garrisons and terrain, which can be handy but situational. 

The real benefit for the Gatebreaker as a mercenary is the Grievous Halitosis rule which can potentially deal a nice bunch of mortal wounds (on a roll of a 6) after a combat phase. Combine this with a hearty 10 attacks from it’s signature weapon and a few more from standard mega gargant attacks and you can dish out a lot of damage. 

Mega Gargants also have terror, which causes your opponent to take a hit on their bravery. So if you are working on your bravery manipulation lists, you can really do a number on hordes.

If you have the points to spare for these big expensive units, then you can really lend a hand for cheaper armies. Bogging down your opponent with skeletons and zombie hordes, while the Garagant does the heavy lifting.

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Hello, this is a great post and seems a good place for my Noob Death question. Are all forces or followers of Death Dead/Undead or are there currently alive people who serve Death?

I know that Cities of Sigmar can have wizards (Mages?) who are from the Realm of Death, where do they fit in? Do they worship and get their power from Nagash? Are they alive or undead?

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On 6/6/2021 at 6:18 PM, EntMan said:

Hello, this is a great post and seems a good place for my Noob Death question. Are all forces or followers of Death Dead/Undead or are there currently alive people who serve Death?

I know that Cities of Sigmar can have wizards (Mages?) who are from the Realm of Death, where do they fit in? Do they worship and get their power from Nagash? Are they alive or undead?

An important question indeed. The Death Grand Alliance has some link with Death as a concept and to the death god Nagash.

The Flesh Eater Courts are the odd one out. Ghouls aren’t entirely dead. They kind of tow the line. Living creatures that are warped by death magic and the will of their monarchs.

Wizards, like in the Cities of Sigmar harness the powers of the Realm they are most connected to (usually the one they are born in). So wizards from these armies that cast death magic are usually from Shyish, the Realm of Death. They are very much alive and probably don’t worship Nagash.

Necromancers, like in the Death Battletome SoulBlight Gravelords, are wizards that do worship Nagash. They can be alive or undead, there is no hard and fast rule for a Necromance. 
 

Hope this clears things up.

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Soulblight Gravelords - Requires Soulblight Gravelord Battletome

 

This army replaces both the Soulblight subfactions and Legions of Nagash of the AoS 1st and early second edition, while removing the Nighthaunt units from the mix. Much like the Legions of Nagash, there are several sub-factions rolled into one. I am going to outline some of the key features of the faction and then its sub-factions.

The major rules are largely the same, just a little more refined. So let’s start with the old favourite grave markers. These remain the same as before, but have more universal benefits. You get 4 markers, 2 in your territory and 2 in your opponent’s. These markers provide a plethora or benefits to your summonable units. The most notable being that summonable units can be set up within range of these markers during your movement phase (12”). Additionally, you can summon additional units at these sites after slaying your opponent’s units completely.

Next up is damage mitigation and regeneration. Deathless Minions does what Deathless Minions always has done. On 6+ you mitigate wounds and mortal wounds allocated to a unit while within range (wholly within 12”) of a hero or gravesite. Which allows for your undead units to be quite durable with a little luck. Not to mention with proper manoeuvring and set up you can cover a lot of your army with this effect.

Deathly Invocation is a powerful tool in your arsenal. This allows you to recover wounds to a unit while wholly within 12” of a hero. Units affected recover D3 wounds to a summonable unit, and return lost models back from the dead. The number of units that can be affected depends on the hero. Mortarch can effect 4 units a turn, vampires effect 3 and Deathmages and Deathrattle heroes effect 2. A unit can only be affected by this ability once per turn. I often find this ability to be the lynchpin of many strategies, especially when combined with Deathless Minions. A few lucky rolls and you will cause your opponent to be pulling their hair out.

Next up is the magic this faction has magic to a lot of spell casters, from lowly necromancers to Nagash himself. Which is helpful when they also have access to a plethora of other spellcasting tools. The first thing you will notice is that there are two spell lores to learn spell from, one for vampires and one for deathmages. One lore is for Nagash and Vampires, which based around dishing out more direct damage. 

The most prominent tool in this arsenal is when you activate the Locus of Shyish, which doubles the spell effect on a roll of a 9+. Which is handy, but not as handy as their handy extra spell Invigorating Aura, which is known by all Soulblight Wizards. This is a healing spell that works similarly to Deathly Invigoration. Giving you more control over your healing. Just remember, it’s one the other not both.

So what about the sub factions? Well, they are each very flavourful and skew toward a particular kind of gameplay, while not alienating undead mechanics. The Legion of Blood is themed around Neratta, The Mortarch of Blood. Mechanically, this faction focused around deathrattle units being bolstered by vampires (not just vampire heroes), ignoring negative modifiers to hit and wound. Add in that Black Knights are a battleline for them and they can be a powerful cavalry army when combined with Bloodknights. 

Legion the Night is an ambush army allowing for more powerful units to be set up after turn one in ambush. While giving your skeletons and zombies a bonus of save rolls on your first turn. The idea is that you have your disposable units within easy reach and pull your opponent forward to drop your heavy hitters behind the opponent. This can be quite devastating when combined with the general’s trait Unbending Will allowing your Bait units to have an extra hit of defence along with Deathly Minions and Deathly Invocation.

Ambushes with a Legion of Night army work really well with a Deathrattle army. Giving you a nice bonus for your units on the first turn, while saving your hard hitting units like black knights for later or even closing the gap by having Grave Guard appear behind the enemy line.

Vyrkos Dynasty is one of the new dynasties. It’s another vampire leading skeletons and zombies army, but this one leans more towards zombies. Deathrattle gets the core bonus of adding 1 to their wound rolls while close to vampire heroes. But Deadwalker units get additional bonuses from command traits. So the army is slanted toward a zombie theme, specifically the dire wolves.

Another pro of this faction is that you get a lot of named characters that have a rule that lets them act as general even when not the general, specifically Belladamma and Radukar the Beast. While also having other unique named characters to field alongside them. If you like your special characters, this is the one for you. 

Kastelai Dynasty are themed around the Blood Knights, and their named character Prince Vhordrai Blood Knights are a battle line unit here and can be set up in ambush. To top that off, vampires that defeat enemy units receive permanent upgrades to their stats ranging from their damage to their wounds.

This is an elite army of fast moving designed to grow more powerful as it picks up steam. The catch is that to make the most of those elite units and not the summonable chaff units. I would suggest filling out your army with fell bats as they are quick, flying summonable units.

Avengorii Dynasty if the powerhouse Soulblightt faction. Like their Flesh Eater cousins this sub faction allows for zombie dragons and terrorghiests. This faction goes well with the monsterous Vengorian Lords and their named character equivalent Lauka Vai. Both make excellent generals to lead these behemoths, providing healing or combat bonuses depending on who you chose. There is also the option of a vampire lord on a zombie dragon if you want to forgo the command abilities and buffs.

The biggest flaw with this sub faction is that their artefacts are lacking. Each one is a once per battle item which is not my cup of tea. To balance this out they have access to Cursed Mutations that apply artefact like bonuses to one of your monsters. 

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