2000 Balanced Death

[IronjawzBrian]

So I've had my fill of my Ironjawz for awhile so ive decided to go back home(long time VC player in Fantasy) and paint up some new Death stuff.  Here is the army I'm going with I think its a solid balanced all comers list.  Thoughts on Archai?

Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon

Necromancer

Wight King with Standard

Tomb King

 10 x Zombies

10 x Skeletons

20 x Skeletons

5 x Black Knights

20 x Grave Guard

2 x Morghast Archai

2 x Morghast Archai

 

 

[CoffeeGrunt]

I would consider ditching the Zombies, running the Skeletons as 3x10, then taking the Legion of Death battalion instead. Gives the skeletal core to your force a bit more mobility and staying power, as I'd say 10 Zombies will achieve very little in a game if they attract even a bit of attention. This battalion also lets you take an extra artifact, which can be handy.

Also curious about the Tomb King. I'm assuming the Vamp Lord on Dragon is your General, so I'm not sure what it'll bring to the table, unless this is based on an old collection you already have.

Other than that, I think it's pretty solid. Archai are right nasty, their attacks bring solid Rend and decent Damage which is rare for Death outside of the two monsters. They're fairly nippy as well, a good support for your main lines.

[Andreas]

This is my take on it (given what you seem to have and want to play):

Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon -  Tomb Blade maybe

Necromancer

Wight King with Standard - Sword of Unholy Power just in case

20 x Skeletons

10 x Skeletons

10 x Skeletons

5 x Black Knights

20 x Grave Guard

2 x Morghast Archai

Legion of Death

240pt Reinforcement Pool

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Reinforcements depending what you need in this battle and what you have availible

A) 2 x Morghast Harbringers (probably better to summon due to the 3D6 charge)

B) 10 x Black Knights or 6 x Spirit Hosts or a mix

C) 20 x Skeletons and a Cairn Wraith or 10 Zombies

[Solaris]

I agree with Andreas more or less, but think differently on a couple of points. First off, I'm not sure about the summoning pool. With the VLoZD I would definitely consider spending the remaining 240 points on a unit of 6 Spirit Hosts, since their mortal wound output is simply excellent with the VLoZD command ability. I would also drop 10 Skeletons and run 10x3 instead of 20+10x2. This will give you an 100 point reinforcement pool, that you can use to summon something useful for the scenario (Banshee or Cairn Wraith comes to mind). You could also spend them on a Necrotect or Tomb Herald, which would both be fantastic in your list. The Necrotect in particular would make your unit of Grave Guard extra scary.

The Tomb King is a great combat model, but doesn't add so much else to the army. If you have a model for him that you want to use, then go for it of course =) It is not bad by any means, but it's not the most efficient option for your list.

[Andreas]

I agree that 6 spirit hosts is probably the best unit to add to the list for 240pt.

I would still probably "waste" an artifact to keep them outside the list even if it is not 100% optimal in most cases.

What it might add in some cases it that it messes with the opponent deployment or choice to go first or second ie maybe I am going to alpha strike with harbringers. It also gives you the opportunity to forward deploy the spirit hosts, maybe on to an objectiv. It also gives you the opportunity to go for something very unexpected, maybe congaline 10 black knights to cut off the opponent from moving more than 9" forward for one round while you score if he would charge your units on the middle objectives otherwise for example.

[Solaris]

23 minutes ago, Andreas said:

I agree that 6 spirit hosts is probably the best unit to add to the list for 240pt.

I would still probably "waste" an artifact to keep them outside the list even if it is not 100% optimal in most cases.

What it might add in some cases it that it messes with the opponent deployment or choice to go first or second ie maybe I am going to alpha strike with harbringers. It also gives you the opportunity to forward deploy the spirit hosts, maybe on to an objectiv. It also gives you the opportunity to go for something very unexpected, maybe congaline 10 black knights to cut off the opponent from moving more than 9" forward for one round while you score if he would charge your units on the middle objectives otherwise for example.

... of course you're right, I derped really hard there. I saw you wrote the Sword of Unholy Power, but I didn't stop to think about what it did  In that case the only thing I would change from Andreas suggestion is dropping 10 Skeletons and adding in a Necrotect instead. The list is very solid and versatile.