Post: #1

approaching the end of painting my 3000 point army and am ashamed to say I've only clocked up about 5 games of 1000 points in the last 2 years. Mainly because i have little spare time and i have many interests and 2 small kids! Any warhammer time has been spent painting...until now!

I'm hoping for some advice on how to maximise potential with the models i have and the style of play i would like to use

as i love the skeleton models they form the core almost exclusively and would prefer my army to take on an attritional approach to winning games. Basically the characters i choose will evolve around this strategy. I want to smother my enemies with the sheer weight of my debuffs and raising ability.

I have 40 skeletons with spears and 40 with swords. Then there is 10 dire wolves and 50 zombies. I have a mind to get 40 more skeles so i can free up the zombies for raise dead. I pretty much have 1 of every other unit available to me.

How can i best equip my lords and heroes to be successfull at wittling down an undisclosed enemy with my core choices.

Post: #2

Ok I have some good news and some bad news.
Good news s its very easy to beat foes with ungodly amounts of troops under the new rules as raising is now AOE on all units within it.

Bad news, Zombies are now 3 points each and Skellies are 5 so your 3k points has now shrank a bit under the new book.
Now depending on the size battle you wish to play you need to thik about gearing your army, however with what you have listed above, it totals 630 points of core.
Now you will need allot more models if you wish to grind people down.

I am talking another 80 skellies and about another 150 zombies at 2000 point games, skellies to start, zombies to summon.
So my first bit of advice is to buy allot more.

My second is that you should rely on Master Necromancers, 2 level 4's and a pair of level 1's with at least 1 mortis engine with the tomb upgrade and a CC with Unholy Loadstone.

This is what is needed 100% for summoning as you will need the spell casters to raise multiple times a phase.
It may be worth though taking something a little heavier as well to kill hard enemies.
Unless you want to end up fighting a steam tank with toughness 10, 10 wounds, unbreakable with strength 3 attacks?......

Post: #3

Haha that's kinda funny... and when he is finished painting the new models up it's time for a new book again =)

Post: #4

Necromancers are the best for raising on a cost basis. I'd use a lord necromancer with master of the dead as your general, have 1-2 hero necros if you really want to focus on raising. Maybe take 2 lords in 3000, one for death and one for vampires.

I really think you need some sort of Killy hero, if not vampires then wight kings, cairn wraiths and banshees. a vampire in a unit will help out a lot, he's still a wizard so take invo, give him some protective equipment and have him toss a few extra kills your way

Cursed book is a good item that'll debuff the enemy.

A corpse cart or 2 to give you asf and allow you to reroll your invo dice will help a lot in summoning lists. Plus they actually aren't terrible in combat being s3 now and s4 impact hits.

Black coach works wonders with infantry lists. They keep up and toss valuable CR if you can dual charge with skellies.

Post: #5

played a 1500 hundred point game yesterday with my brother who has a very shooty empire army. I started with 2 units of skeletons and 1 level 4 necro. He managed to maintain about 25 models in each unit by the time i got to his line and when they entered combat it got alot easier. My main frustration was not being able to heal the rest of my army for fear of missing the higher casting value to get them in range.

I quickly realised that my 2 big blocks of skeletons with vanhels and fear was enough to take out his state troops but they then got destroyed by his ranged. In hindsight i think i will take 2 necromancers instead of a necro lord for more ion coverage and keep my specials alive. Ill keep fielding the 2 skele units as standard and add 1 more for every 750pts. 4 20 strong units heals twice as much as 2 40 man units without making them any more vulnerable to damage. Tossing in 20 of my 50 zombies gives me plenty of raising room and an extra big unit for only 60 pts extra.

Essentially means i only have to buy around 40 skeles and no zombies which is more realistic than what has been suggested.

Post: #6

In 2k points, I would go for a l4 necro lords +1 or 2 necro heroes- the heroes use the normal version of IoN, while the lord uses the boosted version with master of the dead. The boosted version is incredible for its pd cost on a l4.

Post: #7

Eh new rules are much better with big units. For 2k points I start with 2 40 man skeleton units and a 28man Grave Guard with a level 4 necromancer. 20 man units don't do much seeing as only ONE of your necromancers can take the upgrade for raising skeletons beyond starting point.

Post: #8

Dont forget about Mr. Heinrich Kemmler, for the points he's hands down the best caster we can get. He's level 4, (+5 to dispel) has loremaster:Vamps and can fly or turn ethereal depending on the situation. In a 3k game you will be able to afford both Kemmler and a lv. 4 Master Necro in order to achieve total magic phase dominance.