Synergy Advice needed

[Mnemloch]

So I went a little crazy when I started to build my army, I have always been a min/maxer and look for loophole advantages. Now that I am venturing into tabletop I wanted a wide array to chose from.

Current models avlb (numbers are models not units):

Heroes:

1x Mannfred, Mortarch of Night
1x Neferata, Mortarch of Blood
1x Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament
1x Wight King (Tomb Blade)
1x Necromancer
1x Vampire Lord
2x Winged Vampire Lord
1x Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon
1x Abhorrant Ghoul King


Cav:

30x Black Knights
22x Hexwraith
16x Blood Knights

Inf:
80x Skel Warrior
40x Skel Archer
10x Ghouls
10x Grave Guard

Warmachines:

2x Corpse Cart (both with bell for +1 to spell)
1x Mortis Engine
1x Catapult (working on building 2nd)

Elite Inf:
6x Morghast Harbingers (intent was to field 2 per Mortarch as personal guard *yes i like fluff*)

Other:
3x Spirit Host
3x Vargheist


We are going to be starting an escalation campaign with myself, my best friend and our GW guy (this is going to be a learning campaign for me)

Planning on it lasting about 8 wks with the two of them playing Order vs me.

Best friend is fielding Duardin/Fyreslayers and I know he will have at least 2 cannons and a big gun line, he loves shooty shooty. No idea what part of the alliance GW will be bringing but I would like not to be tabled.


Limit for 1st round is 1500 SDK (www.scrollbuilder.com)

 

[Oppenheimer]

That's many models. Did you just buy all those now? Did you buy the official blood knights or are you using proxies? Did you get them online or from a GW store? How much did all that set you back?

 

[Mnemloch]

1.) First model given to me Jan 10th 2016.

2.) Yes

3.) Proxies, created from mix of chaos knights, dragon princes, empire etc etc (fits fluff)

4.) Ebay, Amazon, GW, FLGS

5.) I have spent less than $700, I had been greenlighted to add 2 new firearms to my collection from future wife as long as it did not total more than $2,000. I bought a Thompson .45 M1927 A1 and had intended to buy a 1911 Gov't model to complete a WWII set. Instead I spent it on models to get started in AoS. Rationale is that I will get just as much enjoyment out of playing and I will pick up the 1911 later (I have no need of another show/range piece really that would outweigh getting involved in a cheaper sustained hobby).

 

[Oppenheimer]

That's amazing that you got all the for such a good price. The Mortarcs are around $100 each.

 

[Mnemloch]

Oh forgot also 10 direwolves...

 

[Mnemloch]

Yea, the mortarchs were happy accident due to Amazon mistake and USPS mistake...

 

[Mad 'At]

@Mnemloch I moved this thread to Understanding the Underworld, since I assume its content is about AoS. Let me know if that is not the case.

 

[Sception]

Going strictly from what you already have, I'd start with the wight king as your general, the necro to provide casting support, plus some skeleton warriors and archers, and the grave guard, with the mortis engine as a support piece.

If you're looking to make additional purchases, here's some options I would consider:

Krell / wight king with black ax. If you're running deathrattle units, this is arguably your best option for commander.

Necrotect (TK model, may require conversion, think a mummy or skeleton with a whip and a dagger). Significantly improves those catapults, useful hero otherwise.

10 more grave guard. Grave guard are good.

Spirit hosts. Get at least a box or two, they're a great unit, and a solid summoning option, even in formats that strictly limit summoning (I personally recommend counting all too-be-summoned units as part of your total force when determining sides, effectively treating summoning as just an alternative deployment method like deep strike in 40k).

Coven Throne: a decent unit, and you have everything else needed to run Neferata's formation from Balance of Power (you can buy just the formation rules in the AoS app).

lots of zombies: corpse carts are nice, but mostly exist to buff zombies, so....

Tomb Heralds. When games are too small for monster heroes, then your general can be very vulnerable if you aren't running krell/black axe wight king. Tomb heralds tank wounds for other death heroes, and come on foot or on a skeletal steed. If you can find the models, get them. I you can't, convert them.



Starting out, I'd theme around one of the mortarchs.

Arkhan likes other casters to steal their spells, especially the necromancer, and because of that also likes casting buffs (mortis engine, morghasts, maybe corpse carts). If taking corpse carts, then big zombie units to bog things down. If not, then maybe skeleton stuff, plus a wight king with black axe as your general, since arkhan isn't the best general himself. either way, larger, slower block units to keep the enemy away from your casters and support units, and to make the most of their buffing spells and effects.

Mannfred, on the other hand, likes to play a fast, hard hitting game, banking on his superior melee abilities, and as such is a good fit to run with your cavalry units and zombie dragon. He also likes morghasts, which can provide him a buff to summoning to bring slower stuff onto the table closer to the enemy.

Neferata can go either way, but in particular she has a strong formation to play with involving herself, a zombie dragon vamp, a coven throne, and two units of archai, and you'd only need the throne to be able to run it. Then again, with three big hero models, that's more for big games rather than something to worry about starting out.


In smaller games where the mortarchs aren't reasonable, run Krell with skeletons, or a vampire lord + herald bodyguard as your commander.


Beyond that, your catapults and archers are a decent support pile that you can add to any of the above, but the catapults really need a necrotect with them to be effective. Two catapults on a hill or castle battlements with the tect between them and archers in front is a great threat. This is especially favorable with Arkhan-style slower lists which may need a long range threat to motivate the enemy to come to you.

 

[Mnemloch]

@Malisteen On the CC, I know in 8th they existed to buff Zombies. Can you tell me exactly how the buff them now? I see them only as a cast buff/debuff now. Not overly concerned b/c I picked the 2 of them up in a lot auction and then picked up some bits to fix them.


I agree on the Tect, been looking to probably convert one b/c I hate the TK model line. I also need to find enough bits to recreate another SSC.

Thanks for the overview though, a lot of it is what I was thinking and I am glad to see I am headed down right direction.

 

[Sception]

The buff to zombies is in the zombie profile (and the dire wolf profile, though dire wolves are faster and tend to range out of it), not the corpse cart profile itself.

Not to say the casting buff isn't also good, I just like trying to get the most out of the model if I'm fielding it (not that I have any corpse carts at the moment). Also note that the casting buff doesn't stack with itself, and the area's pretty large already, and they're not the biggest priority target, so you might want to consider converting one bell to balefire to have both options.

 

[Mnemloch]

Do you have info on it not stacking with itself? The GW guy specifically said it did if RAW...

I see, I don't own any zombies, not a huge fan of them really. I may pick them up later to fit with a flesh eater army I am building up (ghouls on their way). But right now I don't see it happening. The CCs, DWs and Vargheists were all in a auction lot together I picked up on the cheap.

 

[Mnemloch]

Although when I read it, it says 1 for ANY CC so I would think it wouldn't stack... hmm interesting.

 

[Sception]

The zombies aren't obligatory, they just work nice with the cart, mechanically. Model-wise, they're kind of dated, so I can understand not wanting to buy a bunch of them, and you're already pretty good on infantry, so you can take em or leave em.

Cart bonus (and penalty) definitely doesn't stack, though. Are you within range of any? If so, then you get the bonus penalty. Doesn't matter if you're within range of 1 or 2 or 34, you're either within range of any or you aren't. Same with the bonus to summoning from morghasts. Nothing against your GW guy, it's an easy thing to read wrong, but yeah, doesn't stack.

 

[Mnemloch]

Yea, the zombies seem to harken back to the horde war days. I may just end up finishing up painting some of my backlog and selling them to fund further purchases or even other alternate armies (sure the wife will love that)