How to play Death

[Celestant651]

Isn't death kinda hard to play? I mean they literally have nothing that can reach up to 20 inches. The way to get around it to by Skel Archers off eBay. From this guy named Lazarus. But that's it. The Next highest ranged attack is (I think) is the Crypt Flayers battle cry at 10 INCHES!!! Though one AMAZING factor death is that they can regen guys AND raise units, so you can just walk off like those Irondrakes were never even there. Something else cool is that the heroes from death compliment each other, unlike Chaos and Destruction, who's heroes can't really help each other. But I REALLY think that death needs a new alliance. Or some sort of tomb kings copy. Anything would be nice, Especially because it is the smallest Alliance and had little to no factions.

[RuneBrush]

You're probably best off talking tactics in the Death GA forum area, however I would say that they're no harder to play than other armies.  I regularly play a Bloodbound army that's only ranged attack is 6"   If you're running an army with skeletons then having a huge number of models that can survive (revive) punishment is a huge boon - at least that's where I'm going with the Death army I'm building

[Mohojoe]

40 skeletons taking the buff from a vampire lord that gives them an extra attack is no joke. Might be slow to get anywhere but when they get there they are destroying whatever they hit.

[Celestant651]

Well I mean that if you were facing an Order army, that would have 3 units of archers that would be devastating do someone playing death, even with resurrections 

 

[Squirrelmaster]

It's not like you're just gonna sit there getting shot at, though. Archers can do some damage, but usually not enough to stop you from getting into melee range, especially with fast moving units. Once your combat troops get there, archers aren't going to last long.

It's the same with any close-combat army against a gunline — you will lose a few guys while you run across the table, but the ones that get there can do a lot of damage.

In fact ranged attacks from any army generally can't do as much damage as quickly as close-combat, which only makes Death's resurrection banners more effective.

[Criti]

7 hours ago, Mohojoe said:

40 skeletons taking the buff from a vampire lord that gives them an extra attack is no joke. Might be slow to get anywhere but when they get there they are destroying whatever they hit.

Add in a Danse Macabre, sit back, and enjoy the ride.

[Celestant651]

Thanks, guys. Now I can defeat anyone who stands in my way.

[GRex]

I do feel Death is due for a new Battletome.

[BeachedWhaleFTW]

First post so yay for that!  

Anyway, I play GA Death, and I generally focus on hero synergies as my strategy when using VC units.  Also, I usually keep a few hundred points in reserve for summoning, so I can summon what I need depending on how the battle is going.  18" summon range for some quick zombies to hold or deny an objective is really useful.  Also, the TK stuff is quite nice, but since its OOP I won't talk about those units.

That being said, Death needs more Battletomes since they have only have 1 as a GA whereas Order and Chaos have 5 and Destruction has 2.  Share the love GW!!!

[KHHaunts]

at the end of the day any army may find themselves struggling in a scenario where they are getting hammered by archers every turn . But thats where the strategic excitement comes in. I would hate it if every army essentially had access to the same type of units. The each army would effectively become just an aesthetic shell.

Bloodbound have pretty much no range yet they have various synergy solutions to make up for it.

Stormcast still have no wizards in their army and i hope they keep it that way (Because they have everything else)

Undead have no range however they do have: Massive amounts of numbers, Brutal Synergy, The lionshare claim on the ethreal ability, and great regen.

One example of how i counter a ranged army is by taking the Malignants battlelion (Now i know it dosent come with points but in all matched play games i just cost it as high as most high level battleions and everyone thinks thats fair)

This battlelion requires a mortis engine, 1 unit of spirit host and 1 of hexwraiths.

What it allows you to do is to move your mortis engine across the board and then effectively teleport units from the battlelion to its location.

So i move my mortis engine (Which i think is so undercosted) straight at the enemy which acts as an extra set of spirit hosts with a time bomb inside

then use it to dump a nice big unit of spirit hosts into the enemies face (Hexwraiths already have great movement so i go with the spirits) The enemy will find it very difficult to ignore a unit of 6 or more spirits in their face.

In the meantime i use whatever means i can to move my hordes of skelies and mages up behind them with realative ease.

[CoffeeGrunt]

Stormcast have no Wizards, but they have units that do the same job better without the need for a Casting roll. 

The main issue I've found lately is that it's fairly easy to snipe Leaders in a Death army, and then the rest of the list crumbles.

[Celestant651]

Well, what I find amazing is that if you are facing any units of 3-8, say like prosecutors or slayers. If you have maybe 10 hexwraiths in a unit. BYE BYE, because the have an ability where if they fly over a unit. The amount of hexwraiths in a unit would cause that amount of MORTAL WOUNDS. which is pretty good. Also a unit of spirit hosts say maybe nine. would add up to 54 attacks 5 up 4 up. Which would be fantastic.

[CoffeeGrunt]

Hexwraiths only do Mortal Wounds on a 6, and so 10 flying over a unit is only going to average 1-2 of them. It's a bonus, but not something to rely on.

Spirit Hosts are fantastic though, especially if you give them +1 to Hit or re-re-rolls.

[KHHaunts]

45 minutes ago, CoffeeGrunt said:

Hexwraiths only do Mortal Wounds on a 6, and so 10 flying over a unit is only going to average 1-2 of them. It's a bonus, but not something to rely on.

Spirit Hosts are fantastic though, especially if you give them +1 to Hit or re-re-rolls.

I agree with the hexwraiths. I tend to use the ability only if ive got an extra long charge roll from a short range in which case ill charge over to the other side. or obviously if i just want to fly over to something else. But your right its not to be relied on. Ive goe through quite a few games without even using that ability once.

However the hexwraiths have got plenty going for them without it just be simply being a pain to get of the table.

Yeah spirit hosts can just be brutal.

If nighthaunts get some good synergy down the line the hoo boy!

[CoffeeGrunt]

I'm hoping to get a box or two of Hexwraiths soon and give them a proper college try.

[David Griffin]

35 minutes ago, CoffeeGrunt said:

 

I'm hoping to get a box or two of Hexwraiths soon and give them a proper college try.

 

On Hexwraiths - They don't do loads of damage in combat, and they're mortal wound ability is fairly useless, but I think there is a case for them as a blocker or a sort of "elite chaff" (that might be an oxymoron). Put a mystic shield on them, use the Vampire on Abyssal Terror to blast them all the way across the board and just hold your opponent in place. I've tanked upwards of 15 Brutes that way before. A 3+ save ignoring rend is no joke to get through.

That said, I think they are still too expensive for their functionality. 

[Thanatos Ares]

I pretty always take a unit of Hexwraiths. And their sole purpose is to sit on an objective (that's ideally in or within range of cover) then mystic shield and boom 2+ or 3+ rend immune and 10 wounds


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[Thanatos Ares]

My opponent then has 2 options as I see it:

1- ignore them and freely give me said objective

Or

2- use a disproportionate amount of effort and army to shift those lil blighters thus giving the rest of my forces an easier ride


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[Celestant651]

Well, easily you could take an objective as death. They have GREAT movement and can regen. Especially a pain in the ass would be setting up a unit of spirit hosts on the objective, then hex wraithing to the other side and just harassing the other team 

[deynon]

undead have not range?

Screaning skull catapult, archers, horse archers , terrorgheists, vargheoss, dragon zombies, banshee, they have a luttle bit of range^^

[CoffeeGrunt]

34 minutes ago, deynon said:

undead have not range?

Screaning skull catapult, archers, horse archers , terrorgheists, vargheoss, dragon zombies, banshee, they have a luttle bit of range^^

Well the Horse Archers, Archers and Screaming Skull are Tomb Kings Compendium units, and the Terrorgheist, Crypt Flayers and Banshee are all Bravery-based, and thus useless against a lot of armies. Vargheists don't have a ranged weapon, and the Zombie Dragon has a 10" range.

So yeah, technically there are ranged weapons, but none of them are particularly good.

[deynon]

21 minutes ago, CoffeeGrunt said:

Well the Horse Archers, Archers and Screaming Skull are Tomb Kings Compendium units, and the Terrorgheist, Crypt Flayers and Banshee are all Bravery-based, and thus useless against a lot of armies. Vargheists don't have a ranged weapon, and the Zombie Dragon has a 10" range.

So yeah, technically there are ranged weapons, but none of them are particularly good.

So what if aare compendium or not? They are even avalaible on the AoS app. They are avalaible and playable. 

Being based on Bravery doesn't mean that they are not rnge attacks adn they are not useless, they even do much more damage then regular attacks often cause they are mortal wounds. 

About vargheists, I mistaken them with the crypt flyers, those are yes a bit useless ut they are still ranged weapons.

10" is still a ranged weapon,  so the 9" of the Dragon zombie. 

Not particoalr good? The breath of the Drago zombie? Maybe you're used to play the Death one and not the FEC one, but saying that that thing is not good is almost an heresy. So the Scream of the Terrogheist. 

You may try o combine the screaming skull catapult with some Bravery based weapon in our arsenal and then say again thery're not good...

 

It's not technically, it's they are reanged wapon and they are quite good too. 

[CoffeeGrunt]

Pretty much all my opponents are Bravery 10, so the Crypt Flayer can't attack, the Banshee is useless. The Terrorgheist is decent though. Anything with low enough Bravery to worry about them normally has a ****** armour save and thus doesn't care about Mortal Wounds anyway. I play GA: Death, so yes, the Zombie Dragon breath isn't very good in my experience. I don't play Flesh Eaters.

I mentioned Compendium as some places don't accept them as legitimate, so they aren't an option for a lot of people. The SS Catapult is a pretty good combo with Bravery-based attacks, but that's a lot of short-ranged weapons trying to line up on one target and praying for decent rolls to be worthwhile.

Not to mention how woeful Tomb Kings Archers are at actually hitting anything, which is sad.

[deynon]

2 hours ago, CoffeeGrunt said:

Pretty much all my opponents are Bravery 10, so the Crypt Flayer can't attack, the Banshee is useless. The Terrorgheist is decent though. Anything with low enough Bravery to worry about them normally has a ****** armour save and thus doesn't care about Mortal Wounds anyway. I play GA: Death, so yes, the Zombie Dragon breath isn't very good in my experience. I don't play Flesh Eaters.

I mentioned Compendium as some places don't accept them as legitimate, so they aren't an option for a lot of people. The SS Catapult is a pretty good combo with Bravery-based attacks, but that's a lot of short-ranged weapons trying to line up on one target and praying for decent rolls to be worthwhile.

Not to mention how woeful Tomb Kings Archers are at actually hitting anything, which is sad.

Pretty much all my opponents too, but the TG does anyway massacre everywhere. The banshee is anyway not useless.

Everything has to pay attention to such wounds. Cause they are wounds. In case of masses they sweep them out, in case of elites they  are debilited a lot before the attacks and in case of monsters...beh...they are decreased in power and risk even to be killed befor turning to something else.

The places whodoesn't accept compedium are silly, simply. They are rules avalaible, and they have points. No reason to forbid them, in any cas,e moreover cause they are on the AoS app too, so they can't say anything about compendium. They are an option for all the people:

1) they are avalaible still as compendium

2) they are avalble on the app

so everyone can see them.

Srot ranged weapons? They do what they need...to debilitate or to free space for the units to assault. Except for the banshee every screaming unit is well worth in CaC, so the scream is a more weapon. Decent rolls? Cause hit and wound is not about rolling?^^ It's more probable to do wounds with the screams then with many more things.

The archers can hit really good, you need only a bit of sinergy in your army. Ehi...if you think you only need 10 ones to delete an army are not the arcies the problem.

[CoffeeGrunt]

You're misunderstanding my point. I can buff to hit rolls, I can buff wound rolls, but (2D6 - Bravery) is always a wildcard no list or strategy can plan around, it either hurts or it doesn't. Granted, there's times where you roll 40 1s, but in general you can mitigate failure in hit and wound rolls, which is the point.

Plus there isn't any real synergy for Skeleton Archers aside from the Wight King, Tomb King and Queen Khalida. No-one else really does anything for them because they specifically buff melee weapons, or attacks in the combat phase.