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Noobranomicon (Beginners guide to Death)


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Theming

An army theme is when you match your models under a single idea. This could be a unifying colour scheme, a consistent use of kitbashing/conversions or even both. As long as your army can be looked at from a distance and look like they belong together. 

Most Death players (myself included) will be drawn to the Shyishan theme for their army. After all if you are collecting Death you probably like the Deathy aesthetic and this is what comes out the box. But don't let that limit your theming potential. AoS has a lot of ideas you can draw upon to set your army apart from the rest. This section will simply just include some brain storming to get your creative juices flowing. 

 

Realm themes

The Mortal Realms hold a vast plethora of civilisations and living creatures. Here are but a few examples of how you can bring them in line under their true master, Nagash. Alternatively you can use the colour of the realm to help with your themes.

 

Ashqy (Red)- fire themed undead with burning eye sockets and charred bones.

Chamon (Gold) - an undead army from the realm of metal may have skeletons coated in gold and silver. Maybe have glittering robes for your necromancers and Nighthaunt.

Ghur (Amber/Orange)- Animal skulls aplenty could decorate a Ghur army.

Gyran (Green) - life and death are polar opposites. A death army from the Realm of life may have creatures and plants thriving in the empty spaces of the dead.

Hysh (White)- polished bones and glittering, white spirits could provide a strikingly unique Death army.

Ulgu (Black) - the realm of shadow is a tempting for Death with a twist. Ethereal creatures could be composed of shadows. You could apply this to skeletons and even ghouls.

Azyr (Blue) - lore wise Azyr has few undead. But the temptation of converting a star drake into a super cool zombie dragon may be too much.

Shyish (Purple) - Your bread and butter undead. Lost Empires shackled under Nagash. You could even create an army around the worshipers of a fallen Death God.

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Theming an army around another Alliance

This can be a great way to separate your army from the the crowd. Giving your army a unique look in your local gaming group. There may even be times when people double take at the sight of your army, mistaking your undead horde for something fleshier.

This can be great if you collect another army already. You will already have a lot of parts that you can kitbash into a neat theme. Alternatively, if you have the cash you can use this theming to make a statement. Friends collect Grots? Then maybe use some Destruction models as the basis of your army. Maybe you really like duradin and just want them to be immortalised in glorious undeath.

The possibilities are as wide and vast as Shyish, but here are a few examples to spark your imagination.


Order

Order is the easiest to theme around. There are a lot of small based models with easily interchangeable parts. Free Guild and Aelven units are ripe for the taking. Armoured units can be made into striking Grace Guard and lightly armoured units can be made into unique zombies or skeleton units. Then you take into account the range of character models you can really make some unique necromancers and vampires to lead your forces. The ideas for undead Order armies are vast and simple to implement. If you are looking for an easy way to set your armies apart from the rest but don't want to deal with anything too fiddly on the modelling front then an order theme is the way to go. 
 

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hi not sure where to post it but i cant find a decent LoN group anywhere but here

i just got into AoS and got a Malign portents box, nighthaunt from soulwars, 20 Direwolves, the Grand alliance death battleforce, Nagash, and a box of skellies

currently im thinking of my 2k list to be

Nagash, 30 skellies, 3x5 Direwolves,2 Morghasts, Arkhan,20 Chainwrasps and an umbral spell portal

hows this list for you guys?

also, i have a couple questions

What spells do you give nagash?

do i need more wizards for him to take spells or is this fine?

is arkhan worth it or are other mortarchs better?

if i can choose a realm spell which do i take?

most importantly, how do you keep Nagash alive? do u play him far away? does he ever go into combat?, what buffs do u give him to make him survivable

 

sorry for the bomb of questions, really excited to start but i cant find a place to ask :) no one in my FLGS has LoN yet so internets my answer :))

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13 hours ago, flufee02 said:

sorry for the bomb of questions, really excited to start but i cant find a place to ask :) no one in my FLGS has LoN yet so internets my answer :))


Hey no problem. I am happy to help. I am just gonna finish up this theming section and get to work on a detailed reply. I will do it before my next section :)

 

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Chaos

At first you may look at Chaos and think “why would these be undead?”. Well you are forgetting one of the most iconic heroes from "the world that was", Krell. Chaos warriors can make intimidating Grave Guard with a mere head swap. Skaven Pestilence models are just one step away from being some Skaven zombies. The crux here are demons, they don't leave a body but can make for great decorations on your bases, or even be bound to the necromantic power of a Mortis Engine or Coven Throne. Chaos themed undead can be quite intimidating. 

 

Destruction

The Destruction Grand Alliance can be tricky. Fortunately everything here leaves a corpse. Undead Orruks and Gobbos may be your first choice and it’s a good choice. Both can fit really well on larger models, though I would lean more toward Gobbos. Maybe an Arachnarok Mortis Engine or some Grot zombies. Pale, vampiric orruk cavalry could make a unique Blood Knight unit, or maybe an Orruk Flesh Eater army. That’s before we even touch ogurs. Who can make equally good Flesh Eaters. Think about it, a horde of grot ghouls lead by some ghoulish orgurs. Maybe zombify some Beastclaw monsters to be used instead of zombie dragons.

 

Other miscellaneous themes

Take a bit of real world inspiration for your conversations. Nighthaunt or Flesh Eater ninjas, creeping through the shadows. Sultans and Pharaohs lead their undead armies from glittering, golden thrones. The latter is a bit easier with Tomb King parts floating about. If you are confident with your green stuff and kitbashing then there are no limits to your armies potential. 

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1 hour ago, Avatar Rage said:

Yes and yes. It is a very versatile kit. You can also build crypt flayers if you so choose.

Okay great! I wasn’t sure, sometimes they’ll put in a sprue for some armies with a kit that can make multiple things but not include certain parts because they sell that particular thing separately... Bloodthirsters/SKARBRAND comes to mind. If you piece all the total sprues together you can make any of them but in their respective boxes they’re split up but have overlapping sprues. 

Didnt know if the vampire lord himself came in a separate box or something. 

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On 9/5/2018 at 8:32 PM, flufee02 said:

sorry for the bomb of questions, really excited to start but i cant find a place to ask :) no one in my FLGS has LoN yet so internets my answer :))

It sounds like you have a solid starting force for LoN. There is a lot of room to grow and expand. However, if you don’t mind I would be happy to answer some of your many questions. :) 

First off let’s look at your heroes, Nagash and Arkhan. Together they make a meaty team. As I said earlier they “share” spells. Make sure you keep them no more than 15” apart so that Arkhan can cast the spells known by Nagash and use his command ability on Nagash.

Spell choice is really up to you. If you have Nagash and/or Arkhan in play then will want to make sure they they have different spells from each other. Making sure there is no overlap will bring out the most of this spell sharing ability they both have.

With this said the Umbral Spell portal might be more of a hindrance. Remember the portal works both ways, I would instead use Arkhan’s command ability to increase the range of your spells. Freeing up some points should give you access to another command ability. Letting you use Arkhan’s command ability to buff Nagash and Nagash’s command ability to buff your troops.

Arkhan is a solid mortarch choice. He is the second best spell caster in the LoN and Death GA. He has access to a pretty nasty spell too, Curse of Years. If you want a magic focused army then Arkhan is the way to go. He compliments Nagash nicely. I would not have him charge into combat (leave that to Neferata and Manfred).

Nagash himself is a caster through and through. He dishes out a lot of spells early game. When at full wounds he casts 8 spells with a hefty bonus to casting rolls. He will be the one dealing the big damage in your army. Although he is no slouch in combat he will struggle against combat orientated heroes. You will want him behind your forces blasting spells over their heads. Plus his command ability lets you just ignore battleshock, which is super useful.

Your Battleline is solid to start with. A lot of skeletons to form your armies core is standard. Chanwraps will help deal with rending units and dire wolves will help tangle up units/objectives early game. These units are summonable so are subject to regeneration, you will want to position them in accordance with your heroes and gravesites to make the most out of them.. Morghasts are expensive but powerful so use them to mop up units that have been bogged down by your skeleton blob.

From here you just need to play a game or two and hone in on what aspect of your army you like. Grow your army from there. So here is just some very general advice for where you might take your army:

  • Focus on growing your army heroes with spells and abilities to regen your units. These will help buff Nagash and Arkhan as well as keep your troops alive.
  • Maybe work in a battalion to your army. Increase those command points, Death has great command abilities so really take advantage of them.
  • Larger summonable units are also a great way to move forward in an LoN army.  Having a variety of units to choose from can help keep LoN from growing stale.
  • You have a very high point and powerful army at the moment. But at the moment it has no real focus. Once you find what aspect of your army you like then double down on it. Really make it your own.

Final note about mortarchs. Each mortarch has its own pros and cons. Arkhan is a caster, Neferata is dps and Manfred is a bit of a hybrid. I would suggest looking at what legion you is affiliated with your mortarch of choice. Being able to use another legion without Nagash will allow to experiment a bit more with new troops and character combinations. 

Hope this massive wall of text helps.

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Thanks

8 hours ago, Avatar Rage said:

It sounds like you have a solid starting force for LoN. There is a lot of room to grow and expand. However, if you don’t mind I would be happy to answer some of your many questions. :) 

First off let’s look at your heroes, Nagash and Arkhan. Together they make a meaty team. As I said earlier they “share” spells. Make sure you keep them no more than 15” apart so that Arkhan can cast the spells known by Nagash and use his command ability on Nagash.

Spell choice is really up to you. If you have Nagash and/or Arkhan in play then will want to make sure they they have different spells from each other. Making sure there is no overlap will bring out the most of this spell sharing ability they both have.

With this said the Umbral Spell portal might be more of a hindrance. Remember the portal works both ways, I would instead use Arkhan’s command ability to increase the range of your spells. Freeing up some points should give you access to another command ability. Letting you use Arkhan’s command ability to buff Nagash and Nagash’s command ability to buff your troops.

Arkhan is a solid mortarch choice. He is the second best spell caster in the LoN and Death GA. He has access to a pretty nasty spell too, Curse of Years. If you want a magic focused army then Arkhan is the way to go. He compliments Nagash nicely. I would not have him charge into combat (leave that to Neferata and Manfred).

Nagash himself is a caster through and through. He dishes out a lot of spells early game. When at full wounds he casts 8 spells with a hefty bonus to casting rolls. He will be the one dealing the big damage in your army. Although he is no slouch in combat he will struggle against combat orientated heroes. You will want him behind your forces blasting spells over their heads. Plus his command ability lets you just ignore battleshock, which is super useful.

Your Battleline is solid to start with. A lot of skeletons to form your armies core is standard. Chanwraps will help deal with rending units and dire wolves will help tangle up units/objectives early game. These units are summonable so are subject to regeneration, you will want to position them in accordance with your heroes and gravesites to make the most out of them.. Morghasts are expensive but powerful so use them to mop up units that have been bogged down by your skeleton blob.

From here you just need to play a game or two and hone in on what aspect of your army you like. Grow your army from there. So here is just some very general advice for where you might take your army:

  • Focus on growing your army heroes with spells and abilities to regen your units. These will help buff Nagash and Arkhan as well as keep your troops alive.
  • Maybe work in a battalion to your army. Increase those command points, Death has great command abilities so really take advantage of them.
  • Larger summonable units are also a great way to move forward in an LoN army.  Having a variety of units to choose from can help keep LoN from growing stale.
  • You have a very high point and powerful army at the moment. But at the moment it has no real focus. Once you find what aspect of your army you like then double down on it. Really make it your own.

Final note about mortarchs. Each mortarch has its own pros and cons. Arkhan is a caster, Neferata is dps and Manfred is a bit of a hybrid. I would suggest looking at what legion you is affiliated with your mortarch of choice. Being able to use another legion without Nagash will allow to experiment a bit more with new troops and character combinations. 

Hope this massive wall of text helps.

Thanks! I think this is the best reply I’ve gotten ever since I started collecting AoS, more questions if you don’t mind

when sharing spells I can still only cast 1 of each spell right?

do I mystic shield nagash? I’m scared that ranged units can just shoot him up with massive + buffs to hit and wound how would you protect him from that?

i see a lot of people use the portal? Is it just for hand of dust? :D 

 

lastly, should I include a necromancer for VDM instead? And do u have any general tips for placing grave sites :D

 

 

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On 9/7/2018 at 5:26 PM, flufee02 said:

Thanks

Thanks! I think this is the best reply I’ve gotten ever since I started collecting AoS, more questions if you don’t mind

when sharing spells I can still only cast 1 of each spell right?

do I mystic shield nagash? I’m scared that ranged units can just shoot him up with massive + buffs to hit and wound how would you protect him from that?

i see a lot of people use the portal? Is it just for hand of dust? :D 

 

lastly, should I include a necromancer for VDM instead? And do u have any general tips for placing grave sites :D

 

 

1. When sharing spell it can be cast once per caster. Its less sharing more knowledge by osmosis but that is less catchy. So let's use an easy example: Nagash knows any spell known by a Death Wizard on the battlefield. So I use Vanhel's Danse Macbre with my Necromancer to buff some skeletons. In the same turn I can cast Vanhel's Danse Macbre on another unit with Nagash. So you end up with multiple casts, but only one per caster. Which is why I recommend taking as many different spells as you can in a Nagash list.

2. Mystic shield is always useful to protect priority targets. Fortunately you have a lot of spells on Nagash that will rarely fail. So yeah, self cast that on Nagash if you feel vulnerable. It will never hurt.

3. The portal is a good way to extend the range of one of your most powerful spells. However, I personally feel that one should build a list around this rather than simply try to throw it in. Remember the spell portal works both ways and will leave Nagash vulnerable against magic armies. I am not saying don't use it, but I would caution against it until you are more familiar with the army.

4. Necromancers are a nice cheap hero model. It's a good way to give Nagash an extra two spells as well. However, be aware of how many command point you have available. Death Command abilities can change the tide of battle.

5. Working on a section for this, but just in case I don't get round to it, here is a preview. Gravesites should be situated where combat will be thickest. In your territory it should be where you can take advantage of it for healing important units and characters. As for enemy territories you should place it near where significant targets are (or where you predict they will go). The latter is kind of cryptic but enemy territory Gravesites are there to regen and revive your offensive units. 


Hope this helps :D

 

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42 minutes ago, Avatar Rage said:

So you end up with multiple casts, but only one per caster.

Sorry, but rule of one says each spell only once... 

 

44 minutes ago, Avatar Rage said:

So yeah, self cast that on Nagash if you feel vulnerable. It will never hurt.

With Nagash Command ability your whole army rerolls saves of 1, so everybody already has the mystic shield rule. Another rule of one, you can only reroll one dice once, so double reroll 1s not happening.

 

48 minutes ago, Avatar Rage said:

Gravesites should be situated where combat will be thickest.

You can also consider using gravesites for unit summoning, which can be pretty funny with a Legion of Night ambush. It also can really speed up your skelli block.

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14 minutes ago, Honk said:

Sorry, but rule of one says each spell only once... 

 

With Nagash Command ability your whole army rerolls saves of 1, so everybody already has the mystic shield rule. Another rule of one, you can only reroll one dice once, so double reroll 1s not happening.

 

You can also consider using gravesites for unit summoning, which can be pretty funny with a Legion of Night ambush. It also can really speed up your skelli block.

Thanks for catching that. I forgot about the saves on his command ability and the rule of one on the spells. As I said gonna do a whole section on grave sites, so spoilers ;).

I am gonna go through and make amendments on the main section when I get a minute.

Moral of the story: I need to triple check the rules before I post anything.

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So. Right now I want to focus on a Vampire oriented army with skeleton and skeleton-like beings making up the majority of my forces. 

Right now I have the LoN book online (AoS app) and 1 box of the Blood Queens army which provided: 1) Wight King 1) Mortrarch (I made Neferata), 2) Morghasts I made the 3d6 charging sort, 10) Grave Guard (I built them with 2 handed weapons) and 20) Skeletons (I made 2 sets of 10 with sword and shield atm). 

My overall plan is to get 1) Start Collecting! Death Rattle for 1 Mortrarch (probably Mannfred), 5 Black knights and 10 skeletons. Then I want 2) Start Collecting! FEC to create 1 VoloZD and 3 Vargheists then 1 solo Terrorgheist and 3 Vargheists. I also want 1) Start Collecting Malignants for 5 more Black Knights, I think a coven Throne and 3 Spirit Hosts. I also thought another blood queen army would be a good idea for a 3rd Mortrarch (debating between another Neferata cuz I adore her or an Arkhan cuz it makes more sense buuuuut I kind of built my Neferata wrong and I’d like a second chance....) 2 more Morghasts, 10 more Grave Guard and 20 more Skeletons. A box of skeletons for a solid 60 and some Dire Wolves at some point in my life plus 2 Vampire Lords, probably one on a steed plus another Wight King on steed.... a necromancer or so...

So all told 2,000+ points planned, many vampiric units, many bone based units and so forth. 

Given the above in which order would you make your next purchase: what’s the most logical progression and growth of my army based on the contents I wish to purchase.

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14 hours ago, Ravinsild said:

So. Right now I want to focus on a Vampire oriented army with skeleton and skeleton-like beings making up the majority of my forces. 

Right now I have the LoN book online (AoS app) and 1 box of the Blood Queens army which provided: 1) Wight King 1) Mortrarch (I made Neferata), 2) Morghasts I made the 3d6 charging sort, 10) Grave Guard (I built them with 2 handed weapons) and 20) Skeletons (I made 2 sets of 10 with sword and shield atm). 

My overall plan is to get 1) Start Collecting! Death Rattle for 1 Mortrarch (probably Mannfred), 5 Black knights and 10 skeletons. Then I want 2) Start Collecting! FEC to create 1 VoloZD and 3 Vargheists then 1 solo Terrorgheist and 3 Vargheists. I also want 1) Start Collecting Malignants for 5 more Black Knights, I think a coven Throne and 3 Spirit Hosts. I also thought another blood queen army would be a good idea for a 3rd Mortrarch (debating between another Neferata cuz I adore her or an Arkhan cuz it makes more sense buuuuut I kind of built my Neferata wrong and I’d like a second chance....) 2 more Morghasts, 10 more Grave Guard and 20 more Skeletons. A box of skeletons for a solid 60 and some Dire Wolves at some point in my life plus 2 Vampire Lords, probably one on a steed plus another Wight King on steed.... a necromancer or so...

So all told 2,000+ points planned, many vampiric units, many bone based units and so forth. 

Given the above in which order would you make your next purchase: what’s the most logical progression and growth of my army based on the contents I wish to purchase.

Well there are two ways you can build up from what you already have. A good place to go from would be to pick a Mortarch and go from there. 

Neferata excels at leading fast armies and taking down priority targets. Dire wolves make a great battleline for a Legion of the Night army. Add a couple of Vampire Lords, a Coven Throne will allow you to take Neferata's battalion.  If you get the Malignant box to build the Coven Throne you can enhance them with some Black Knights too. Blood Knights will make a find addition to this army too (I would recommend converting some).

Alternatively you could build around Manfred by getting the Deathrattle box and using the Legion of the Night. This will give you plenty of deathrattle to use as bait. Letting you set up ambushes with Manfred, your vampires and morghast. Your opponent will have a bit of a surprise seeing these beefy units popping up in their territory. A necromancer won't go a miss in this army to be set up near your skeletons, along with your wight king too. 

As for the Flesh Eater set, I would get this if you really, really want a zombie dragon. Unless you collect Flesh Eaters it might be a bit of a waste of ghouls, but you could always convert them into some zombies if not. The vargheists go well in either of these proposed armies, but getting your hands on some will let you use the Manfred battalion. 

Hope this helps, I don't know what kind of budget you have so I tried to suggests lists around a certain box set. 

 

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5 hours ago, Avatar Rage said:

 

Neferata excels at leading fast armies and taking down priority targets. Dire wolves make a great battleline for a Legion of the Night army. Add a couple of Vampire Lords, a Coven Throne will allow you to take Neferata's battalion.  If you get the Malignant box to build the Coven Throne you can enhance them with some Black Knights too. Blood Knights will make a find addition to this army too (I would recommend converting some).

 

Well as far as I could tell it was cheaper with the FEC Start Collecting than to buy individual Vargheists and Zombie Dragon kits, plus everyone seems to make out that zombie dragon is an absolute must have unit (I want one for cool factor and because a vampire rides it)

So right now I have 20 Skeletons, 10 Graveguard, 2 Morghasts, a Wight King and Neferata herself. 

Youre highlighting Vampire Lords, Dire Wolves and the Coven Throne (I think her Battalion requires a Blood Palequinn). 

Ive heard people really want to be running 40 skeletons so I was thinking about getting the same box set again to round off my 40 skeletons and get another Mortrarch and the rest of it just because I like those models. 

Otherwise how should I fill out my skeletons or just run them MSU and get a lot of Dire Wolves for a blob? Or 40 skeletons (one way or another) and run 2 MSU Dire Wolves. 

Then get individual vampire leaders then the Start Collecting Malignants box? 

Something looking like this i suppose? 

Allegiance: Legion of Blood

Leaders
Neferata Mortarch Of Blood (400)
- General
- Lore of the Dead: Decrepify (Deathmages)
Vampire Lord On Zombie Dragon (440)
- Deathlance & Shield & Chalice
- Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions
Vampire Lord (140)
- Mount: Flying Horror
- Lore of the Vampires: Vile Transference
Vampire Lord (140)
- Mount: Flying Horror
- Lore of the Vampires: Amaranthine Orb

Battleline
40 x Skeleton Warriors (280)
- Ancient Spears
5 x Dire Wolves (60)
5 x Dire Wolves (60)

Units
10 x Black Knights (240)
15 x Grave Guard (240)
- Great Wight Blades

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 130
 

Edited by Ravinsild
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1 hour ago, Ravinsild said:

Well as far as I could tell it was cheaper with the FEC Start Collecting than to buy individual Vargheists and Zombie Dragon kits, plus everyone seems to make out that zombie dragon is an absolute must have unit (I want one for cool factor and because a vampire rides it)

So right now I have 20 Skeletons, 10 Graveguard, 2 Morghasts, a Wight King and Neferata herself. 

Youre highlighting Vampire Lords, Dire Wolves and the Coven Throne (I think her Battalion requires a Blood Palequinn). 

Ive heard people really want to be running 40 skeletons so I was thinking about getting the same box set again to round off my 40 skeletons and get another Mortrarch and the rest of it just because I like those models. 

Otherwise how should I fill out my skeletons or just run them MSU and get a lot of Dire Wolves for a blob? Or 40 skeletons (one way or another) and run 2 MSU Dire Wolves. 

Then get individual vampire leaders then the Start Collecting Malignants box? 

Something looking like this i suppose? 

Allegiance: Legion of Blood

Leaders
Neferata Mortarch Of Blood (400)
- General
- Lore of the Dead: Decrepify (Deathmages)
Vampire Lord On Zombie Dragon (440)
- Deathlance & Shield & Chalice
- Lore of the Vampires: Amethystine Pinions
Vampire Lord (140)
- Mount: Flying Horror
- Lore of the Vampires: Vile Transference
Vampire Lord (140)
- Mount: Flying Horror
- Lore of the Vampires: Amaranthine Orb

Battleline
40 x Skeleton Warriors (280)
- Ancient Spears
5 x Dire Wolves (60)
5 x Dire Wolves (60)

Units
10 x Black Knights (240)
15 x Grave Guard (240)
- Great Wight Blades

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 130
 

First off sorry, I did mean Blood Palanquin (making a lot of goofs lately).  Although the purpose of this thread is not list building I will comment on this because you know, death buddies. 

That list is pretty much what I was getting at. Though I would personally trade the vampire on the zombie dragon for the blood palanquin and the Neferata battalion. 

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On 9/9/2018 at 9:54 PM, Avatar Rage said:

forgot about the saves on his command ability 

Ask me about it... I was debating and deep thinking about who to shield when my opponent asked me if I was stupid...XD

I didn’t resort to violence, but Nagash did, ripped poor durthus heart right out.

22 hours ago, Ravinsild said:

So all told 2,000+ points planned, many vampiric units, many bone based units and so forth. 

The 40 skellis with 2x5 puppies wrap up the baseline pretty good. I recommend magnetizable the mortarchs, can’t think of ever needing more than 2. And Arkhan is a cheap but good caster. With the throne/palaquine I went for custom mixmatch to use it also as engine depending on the list i‘d Like to field...

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8 hours ago, Honk said:

Ask me about it... I was debating and deep thinking about who to shield when my opponent asked me if I was stupid...XD

I didn’t resort to violence, but Nagash did, ripped poor durthus heart right out.

The 40 skellis with 2x5 puppies wrap up the baseline pretty good. I recommend magnetizable the mortarchs, can’t think of ever needing more than 2. And Arkhan is a cheap but good caster. With the throne/palaquine I went for custom mixmatch to use it also as engine depending on the list i‘d Like to field...

I need more than 2 because I like the models a lot ;) 

also I just really think the skeleton horse things look cool and I’m not happy with the final results on my Neferata and I learned my mistakes in building her and I think I will do a much better job on Mannfred and Arkhan and honestly I would like another go at Neferata herself because I don’t mind having 2 of her. I based her crooked and off center and it’s not my best work. 

Edited by Ravinsild
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Is there a role or guideline for what each units.... purpose is? 

I’ll be honest I think 40k does a better job breaking down the purpose behind units by limiting their equipment, the battlefield role they attached to, and generally why you would bring them. Like generally anything with High strength, High Ap And High damage is meant to kill multiwound tough models: monsters, vehicles and big heroes. 

Anything with moderate AP and light damage and loads of attacks is great for mowing down general infantry, etc. 

i don’t know what like Morghasts purpose or role is, or Black Knights versus Hexwraiths, or Spirit Hosts, or really anything. I don’t know how to or why I would use these things or what purpose they’re meant for. The “this counters this” system is a lot more vague and muddy in AoS. 

What is the intended target for Black Knights to be and why? What are skeletons good for? Why are they better than zombies at it? 

Whats anything supposed to be doing and why does it do that well? 

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1 hour ago, Ravinsild said:

Whats anything supposed to be doing and why does it do that well? 

That’s of course always the big question... and quite a nice reason for hot debate and nerdrage  ;-D 

on the other hand the undefined purpose of units leaves it to you, how to use a unit and if your good at it, get great value out of it.

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35 minutes ago, Honk said:

That’s of course always the big question... and quite a nice reason for hot debate and nerdrage  ;-D 

on the other hand the undefined purpose of units leaves it to you, how to use a unit and if your good at it, get great value out of it.

I feel like I made a mistake not giving my Morghasts glaives/ halbards.... -2 rend is pretty rare and there’s a lot of ways to negate -1 rend but not so many to bypass -2.... :( 

Again: I’m not sure what their roles are meant for. 

I know in 40k my World Eaters Berzerkers are my main combatants and objective takers, my Raptors will either reinforce them in the melee or take unsecured objectives and hold them if the opportunity should arise or defend my back line if needed with the flexibility of deep strike. I know my Helbrutes are going hero and monster hunting and I know my Havocs/Predators will be aiming at their transports and big scary stuff. 

I don’t know what my main offensive component in death is, or what Black Knights are for, and there is no deep striking to quickly reinforce or otherwise take advantage of gaps or emergency help a back line unit getting assaulted. I don’t know what Morghasts really do or even what Skeletons are for. 

I’m not sure what.... roles or battles to pick. Like I know Khorne Berserkers cap af probably 6 strength with AP -1 at best and 1 damage. They really should not be attacking, say, Dreadnoughts. It’s not their battle. They should be attacking Terminator (equivalents) and marine equivalents and guardsmen and their equivalents. Anything stronger than a terminator is probably not going to go particularly well for them. 

What fights should Grave Guard pick? What’s the purpose of Vargheists? Seriously what are Spirit hosts for? They seem useless.... not attacking I would guess. Are they tanks? Does this game have more of a “healer, tank, DPS” system? 40k doesn’t really have anything tanky per say because big guns can just kill it instantly.... but I’ve noticed like Mighty Skullcrushers and Gore-Gruntas don’t do lots of damage in particular but they can really hang around for awhile and tie stuff up and not budge. 

Then you would think Bloodreavers are kind of Killy but no they just instantly die.... and you’d think ‘ArdBoyz aren’t ****** but then they throw a pounding on you and they’re pretty damn tough too! So they’re great! And Brutes can kill anything, basically. 

If you guys want a pro-tip against Khorne: ALWAYS kill the Skullreapers first. Those guys can mow through anything with fistfuls of dice and are absolute monster power houses. Do NOT send a Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon against Wrathmongers: he WILL kill him self and they will hurt him badly too. 

I just don’t know what anything does in Death. What’s the difference between a Hexwraith and a Black Knight? What’s the difference between regular skeletons and Grave Guard they’re both 80 pts. 1 is Battleline and the other isn’t otherwise....? 

 

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1 hour ago, Ravinsild said:

just don’t know what anything does in Death.

I laugh fullheartedly at your confusion... 

FOOL, in AoS everything does anything!!! I had 30 ghouls mow down a mawcrusher... well in total it were more like 80-90, but that’s what’s your courtiers are for. XD

hexwraith or blackknights you say, good sir?! I‘d say whatever they are called, they‘d better be charging now... 

asking for reinforcements on the frontlines?!? Read the rules yet?! Either play legion of night, or summon in your morghast from a gravesite... ooor resummon a destroyed summonable unit for 1CP from a gravesite!!!

 

I think one of the things troubling newer players and players who are stupid (like me): what fight do I pick and to what purpose. Do you want to wipe a unit, stall or grind? Is it even possible?

I had 5 dogs playing with a bunch of brutes for 2-3 rounds, preventing them to find their targets...

I stuck Nagash into a stupid brawl with 30 boyz 

 

so the question is almost the same, you just haven’t get your mind into fantasy mode to think about the offensive/defensive possibilities of your unit and your opponents unit. 

I kinda like the everybody can damage everything approach from AoS

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Update: Hello my fellow followers of Nagash. I just wanted to throw up an update on what I am doing next with this guide. At the moment I am working on chapter 2. Which will cover specific abilities found within Death armies. This will include gravesites and delusions.

I am also going over the previous post (chapter 1 as I am calling it right now) and making sure everything is accurate. I will be leaving an edit note so you guys and gals will know what has been changed.

I have really loved the feedback I have gotten from this doing this this beginners guide. I am so glad that it has managed to help some people out.

Thanks you beautiful people and keep praising Nagash. For he will save us all.

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