Liche Priest or Necromancer?

[CoffeeGrunt]

Hello everyone,

So my everchanging list has finally settled into a kind of final form that seems to hold its own fairly competently in most games, and operates incredibly-aggressively in games like Border War. Like seriously, this list seems to smash Border War, which is hilarious. However, I'm at an impasse for which purveyor of dark magic to incorporate into my force: Liche Priest or Necromancer?

For context, here is my current list:

Settra

Legion of Doom Death:

Mounted Wight King, Tomb Blade
30 Skeletons, Spears
20 Skeletons, Swords
20 Skeletons, Swords

10 Grave Guard
10 Black Knights

Now, as-mentioned this list seems to perform well in mobility, with Settra's Invocation of the Desert Wind comboing gorgeously with units like the Black Knights to allow me to shift them 24" in a turn if-needed, threatening objectives, retreating away from out-of-position units, or hitting an unprotected unit my opponents thought safe. The bonus movement in the Hero Phase also helps, as does the extra regen of slain models, though that's less of a boon given that it's mostly just the odd  Skeleton Warrior or two. For the sake of Deathless Minion I'm used to clumping up my army anyway. The Skeletons with Swords form the front ranks, with Spears and Grave Guard moving behind them. Black Knights and the Heroes operate on flanks or in the center, depending on scenario and opponent.

However, I feel the list would be better served by removing 5 Black Knights and putting a 120pt Hero in there somewhere. I was thinking either a Liche Priest or Necromancer, as both have very cool abilities to augment my offensive power, while also offering Mystic Shield for protection. Both units seem to be pretty much identical save their unique spell, and I think having another Hero will be necessary for holding objectives in some scenarios, as well as distributing Deathless Minion and buffing the To Hit of Skeleton Warriors.

Liche Priest:

With this guy I get Righteous Smiting. He is also 1" slower than the Necromancer, but that's not really the focus. Righteous Smiting has a CV of 5, and a range of 18". If successful, it allows a unit to make an extra attack on a to Hit roll of 6 until the next Hero phase, which is nice. However, in the context of this list my Skeleton Warriors get +2 to Hit rolls, effectively making this go off on a 4+. That's an average increase of attacks by 50%, not too shabby! He also gets a nice, one-use "Auto Unbind" ability, which could help at a crucial moment. Overall, he could make a unit of Skeleton Warriors very killy, and wouldn't be worthless assisting the Grave Guard in a pinch, who'd get it off on a 5+ for an effective 33% increase in attacks.

Necromancer:

This guy gets the extra 1" of Movement and the ability to "look out sir" to Death units within 3" of him on a 4+, making him more survivable, especially against Ranged attacks where a screen of troops means nothing. His ability, Vanhel's Danse Macabre is pretty potent. With a CV of 6 and a range of 18", it allows a unit to pile in and attack twice during their next combat phase. Nasty, as everyone knows. It can effectively double the output of a unit, provided it doesn't take damage in between.

Now, I'm leaning towards the Liche Priest for two reasons. One, their ability is slightly easier to cast and lasts until the next Hero Phase, which is pretty major. Two, the +50% attacks is immediate and delivers in one smack, whereas Danse Macabre allows your opponent a moment to seriously attack back before the next wave of attacks hits. Given how easy it is to reduce the amount of attacks coming their way by killing one model to knock them below a threshold, this means that there might not be much left to attack with when the chance comes around. Your opponent could end up ignoring them, but then that's only likely to happen if the first wave of attacks was negligible, in which case you either buffed the wrong unit or rolled like I regularly do.

I don't wanna discount the Necromancer though, so I figured I'd open it to the floor for discussion. Which Hero do you think would work better?

[Solaris]

With Skeletons innate +1 to hit when they are close to characters and a general that improves hit rolls such as Settra, TK, VLoZD or Mannfred, I'd always go with the Liche. I much prefer the front loaded damage over letting my opponent strike back in between, and I've found the scroll very useful several times. The Necro is a very strong second though, and having one of each in a list might not be bad at all. In lists that are not based around Skeletons and to hit bonuses, the Necro is definitely the better choice though.

[CoffeeGrunt]

It's a pity I can't work a Tomb King in there, if only to give Skeleton Warriors 2+ to Hit with exploding attacks on 3s, haha.

I agree with preferring frontal damage over staggered damage. The more damage you do, the less you take, after all.

[Hans]

If u fancy mobility, take necromancer, out in a skeletal mount, 10" move.

[CoffeeGrunt]

Liche Priest can do that too, for a 12" move. Sadly the model I was going to use to represent either doesn't have a mount though.

[mmimzie]

I like the pile in and attack twice, as it gives your skels abit more mobility.  It lets them  draw other units into combat or if the charge and decimate a unit they can pile in toward another closer unit.

[CoffeeGrunt]

The main problem I had when using the Liche Priest at this tournament, was forgetting that I'd even used that ability. There were many, many facepalm moments this weekend, but overall I won two, lost two, so I'm pleased. (One of the losses was a very close game as well.)

Tweaking my list from here though, aiming to try the Unholy Sword and leave 80pts free for Summoning.

[Solaris]

4 hours ago, CoffeeGrunt said:

The main problem I had when using the Liche Priest at this tournament, was forgetting that I'd even used that ability. There were many, many facepalm moments this weekend, but overall I won two, lost two, so I'm pleased. (One of the losses was a very close game as well.)

Tweaking my list from here though, aiming to try the Unholy Sword and leave 80pts free for Summoning.

Unfortunately, there is no way to build your list to prevent this from happening  Unless we're talking about a check list of things to remember  Are you paying for the Legion of Death formation? Because I can't see it in your list. If you are (you should include it), then you also get to take a second artifact. In your list, I would definitely shift 10 Skeletons from one of the sword-units to the spear-unit, making it 40+20+10 instead of 30+20+20. I would probably also take 10 away from the other sword-unit and add an extra 5 Grave Guard. That way, your two main damage-dealing units have some extra models for redundancy.

Summoning may not be a bad idea, I have yet to try it out properly though.

[CoffeeGrunt]

Yeah, it's accounted for in there, just didn't note it specifically.  Interesting point about the second artifact, by the way, didn't notice that. Hmm...

Well my list atm is:

Settra 360

Liche Priest 120
Ring of Immortality

Legion of Death: 60

Wight King, Mounted 120
Tomb Blade

20 Skeletons, Swords 160
20 Skeletons, Swords 160
30 Skeletons, Spears  240

10 Grave Guard 160
5 Black Knights 120

Now I was debating giving the Wight King the Sword of Unholy Power and dropping 10 Skeletons from the Spear squad. This would give a pool of 80pts for me to call in 10 Skeletons, a Banshee or 5 Grave Guard, being able to strike them in up to 18" away and choose what I need when the moment arises. I feel like it's a good compromise as the Sword is a guaranteed summon and I only need it once, and the Tomb Blade never came up once in four games last night.

What do you think? I reckon 5 Grave Guard to threaten a priority target, 10 Skeletons to drop on a point or a Banshee to scream at things might be a good set of options, without reducing my model count on the table.

[deynon]

@CoffeeGrunt: I always support the summoning^^

The tomb blade is not quite useful on the Whight knight. Moreover it can be usufel too not only to add momentum  but also to ggain the objectives in a lot of scenarios.

[CoffeeGrunt]

What's people's thoughts on the Magewrath Throne? I'm thinking I could run 2x Wight Kings and Settra, have one sitting on the Throne, and hand out buffs like there's no tomorrow.

(Give both Wights the Banner for extra jank!)

[Solaris]

Man, that piece of terrain is strong as hell. However, unlike the Balewind Vortex, you are not in control of it. It's set up on the table before you choose sides, so if you're unlucky your opponent will end up controlling it.

[CoffeeGrunt]

Hmmm, yeah that's a point. Still, worth a try I think. If only to get a Grave Guard unit with 4 attacks each at 2+/2+ with Dam 2 on 5+, haha. That'll slice and dice almost anything!