So I dug up my Tomb Kings. . .

[Tepogue]

As a means to support myself while in school. I've been Ebaying my minatures I've collected over the past 20 odd years. I just recenly sold off my War Master TK army and have dug up my WFB TK army. Before I decided salvage and make them into a playable army or off to Ebay land, I have a few questions. Apologies if any of these are black and white in the new Army Book, I'm not buying it until I make a decision.

I have ~25 Heavy Horsemen, is there any use for them? The only other fantasy army I have moved to the keep pile is my Skaven and they don't have cavalry. My normal opponents are Lizardmen and O&G neither of which use Cav.

I have 5 'centaur' archer horsemen, I actually see this unit used in TK battle reports so they seem good. ( modeling explanation - cut the heads off the horses, place the upper half of a skleton on the remaining horse spine and poof - undead centaur)

I have ~250 skeletons of various styles. I was cheap and just did the newer ( at the time) TK sprues to put khemri heads/ shields to make Tomb Guard and other skeletons became the normal troops.
Is there any point to running ~50 non upgraded sword and board skeletons like Skaven Slaves? just a 5x10 bus to remove steadfast?

I have 5 of the old Screaming Skull Catapults, but looking at the 8th rule book, I could only field 2 of those in a normal sized game. I guess they are tiny compared to the newer models.

I did buy the newer Setra model and removed the four horses and replaced them with 2x giant Scorpions( watched the Scorpion King too many times) is Setra any good?

3 ancient Undead Chariots ( from back when there was only 1 undead book) and 3 of the newer plastic chariots. I hate that they don't match so it feels like I have 2 under sized units.

~10 carrion

~3 tomb swarms of the old scorpions.

I have a feeling this army is not viable under 8th but maybe someone on here will give me hope.

Some questions.

Is there any good reason to get 2 Casket of Souls? Since it appears catapults no longer ignore armor, I feel this army needs at least 2 things that ignore armor saves.

Does the Herotitan<SP> give his boost to Casket of Souls? looking at battle reports, I see alot of people with Herotitan, 1 Casket of Souls and 2 Catapults as their normal rare choices.

[Chronowraith]

I'll take my best shot at answering these...


I have ~25 Heavy Horsemen, is there any use for them? The only other fantasy army I have moved to the keep pile is my Skaven and they don't have cavalry. My normal opponents are Lizardmen and O&G neither of which use Cav.

The new book makes them slightly more viable but I doubt you'd find a use for 25 of them. 5-10 tops and even then, there are better choices.


I have 5 'centaur' archer horsemen, I actually see this unit used in TK battle reports so they seem good. ( modeling explanation - cut the heads off the horses, place the upper half of a skleton on the remaining horse spine and poof - undead centaur)

I actually like Skeleton Horse Archers in this addition. They gained the scout ability so they can really wreck havoc on units of skirmishers, solo characters, and can tie up warmachines for a few turns as well. Interesting conversion by the way.


I have ~250 skeletons of various styles. I was cheap and just did the newer ( at the time) TK sprues to put khemri heads/ shields to make Tomb Guard and other skeletons became the normal troops.
Is there any point to running ~50 non upgraded sword and board skeletons like Skaven Slaves? just a 5x10 bus to remove steadfast?

Skeletons work, but not as well as they work in VC. Still, Skeleton Hordes for TK are a viable build. As for the specific unit of 50 skeletons with sword and board... honestly... I would never upgrade skeletons beyond sword and board and while I think 50 is a bit overkill (and expensive compared to your skaven slave example) they will certainly be a pain to remove from the field.


I have 5 of the old Screaming Skull Catapults, but looking at the 8th rule book, I could only field 2 of those in a normal sized game. I guess they are tiny compared to the newer models.

Max of two in a sub-3k point game. Honestly though, there are plenty of other rare choices out there. Keep two, sell the rest, and look at the other rare choices.


I did buy the newer Setra model and removed the four horses and replaced them with 2x giant Scorpions( watched the Scorpion King too many times) is Setra any good?

There is a large debate about this character. He lost some of his oomph from the previous edition but they also chopped his point cost considerably as well. For his points, he's very effective.


3 ancient Undead Chariots ( from back when there was only 1 undead book) and 3 of the newer plastic chariots. I hate that they don't match so it feels like I have 2 under sized units.

TK Chariots are amazing now. Simple as that.


~10 carrion

~3 tomb swarms of the old scorpions.

Tomb Swarms are point fillers and placement drops only. Carrion can be useful for dealing with skirmishers and war machines but this role can be filled by a number of other models.



I have a feeling this army is not viable under 8th but maybe someone on here will give me hope.

Some questions.

Is there any good reason to get 2 Casket of Souls? Since it appears catapults no longer ignore armor, I feel this army needs at least 2 things that ignore armor saves.

Does the Herotitan<SP> give his boost to Casket of Souls? looking at battle reports, I see alot of people with Herotitan, 1 Casket of Souls and 2 Catapults as their normal rare choices.

The army you listed as a whole isn't very viable. With a few tweaks and unit additions though, it could be made into a good list. Although this will cost some money as you lack some key units. For starters, War Sphinx and Necropolis Knights are two of the best units in the book (along with the Chariots).

Twin Caskets is an "uber" build that ranks right up there with twin hydras and twin Abominations. The Casket itself is toned down from the previous edition, but it no longer takes a character to run the thing. I've never tried to run the casket with heirotitans and I don't have my rulebook nearby so I can't comment on that line.

The Heirotitan, twin casket, twin catapults selection is common because some of the more successful lists for TK are magic heavy ranged lists. So lots of Skeletons with bows backed up by caskets and catapults with some horse archers, some chariots, necro knights, and/or a war sphinx or two for counter units.

Hope I helped. I know I enjoy running my Tomb Kings when I get a chance to use them. They are completely different then any other army out there and have a number of playstyles they can accomodate (Infantry Horde, Mounted, Monsters, Ranged, Magic-Heavy, etc)

[TheCastigator]

The Heiotitan is a good utility monster, as it is a construct and if is within 12 inches of a caster gives a bonus to the casting attempt. The casket, while toned down, can obliterate low leadership armies, especially when you start combining it with leadership debuffs. Have a problem with Vampires, skaven, or beastmen? Not anymore.

I would disagree about skeletons to a degree. Loading a unit of them up with characters, specifically something with My Will Be Done and a Necrotek, will make a unit of skeletons actually decent in combat, the thing is that you have to hedge with numbers. That being said, I would roll with a ton of chariots if I were you. A unit of 6 chariots with a king and the golden mask can delete units off the board. Most of the special and rare choices are very good and taking swarms or carrion as redirectors/speed bumps is not a bad idea either.

The stuff that you have, unfortunately would require a fairly substantial supplement if you're looking to be highly competitive.

[Tepogue]

Thanks for the feedback.

Looks like I'll have to just play around with it. I'll try something like this:

King

High priest

Prince

couple of low priests

2 fighting units of skeletons - lead by king/prince, spears perhaps

2 Steadfast busters - 5x10 should be ~200 points not sure if they would get anything but std & Mus

2 catapults

2 caskets

1 unit horsemen

Carrion perhaps

I'll have to get the book and check points. Local games are all at the 2250 level.