Undead Legions sweet combos.

[PureSphinx]

How about this... Vampire Lord Light Council!

SGK on TG + 6 lore of light liches, all buffing him

 

[Undying Scourge]

Deathstar that I like to run:

2 blender Vampire Lords on barded nightmares, Giant blade + Ogre Blade for monster killing, ASF and Red Fury, Ward Save trinkets. Both Level 3, one with Death one with Vamps.

Liche High Priest with Golden Death Mask, Lore of Light on a skeletal steed.

3 hero vamps with ASF / Red Fury (depending on who you're facing I suppose). Obsidian Lodestone, Dispel Scroll, Fear Incarnate and Aura of Dark Majesty, all level 1 with LoV.

Core: 43 Skeleton Horsemen / 33 Skeleton Horsemen with 22 Dire Wolves.

 

[The Sun King]

I like the idea of using Core for the Delivery system for the Blender vamps... frees up our ever coveted special points.

 

[Archamedius]

What do you guys think about this? Take a Master Necromancer (Lvl 4 Lore of Death, Hellsteed, Power Scroll) and Mortarch Mannfred with 4 Lore of Undeath spells. Now take two Lvl 1 Lore of Death casters (I use mounted vampires) to guarantee the Purple Sun on the Master Necro. If your opponent gets first turn you hide the Master Necromancer in a Cavalry Unit. On your turn 1 the Master Necromancer zooms out 20" (make sure he ends up next to an enemy unit in case of Misfire), Mannfred makes sure you have at least six power dice (with Master of the Black Arts). Six-dice a augmented Purple Sun with the Power Scroll (so any double is IF) and generate a bucket of new Power Dice. Some dice will be lost due to the miscast but Mannfred can get up to 3 back. Use the Power Dice with Mannfred to raise hordes and hordes of new Undead. Next turn your enemy Magic Phase is non-existant as he has to dispel the Purple Sun.

Unfortunately one other gotcha with your tactic is if you are pulling the dispel scroll turn one (due to no IF being rolled) then you are not generating gobs of power dice from lore of death's lore attribute. And then you have to deal with whatever will gibb your Necro who is sorely exposed and hope you can try again on turn 2.

 

[Macarian]

It's a very cool idea, there is only one problem that I see: you're throwing away 250+ points of your army. Sure, you might kill a good quarter of their army, but that might is nowhere near a guarantee, especially against elves and anything I 4 or better. Then after you account for the 150 ish points of necros and the expensive manny, you're not left with much in the way of troops, therefore hinging on 1) getting off purple sun and 2) summoning enough troops to make up for the 250 points you just sacrificed.
Don't get me wrong, it's a cool idea and I'll definitely play test it, but I can see it running into problems.

I was considering ways to make him cheaper and if you let Mannfred take 2 Lore of Death spells and 2 Lore of Undeath spells, you might get away with running a lvl 2 Hero Vampire (Hero Necromancers can't take a Hellsteed). This saves about 60 points and as long as I IF the Purple Sun I don't even need to meet the 25 casting value, so I'm going to try both and see which is better. The rest of the army is basically a clean-up crew as Mannfred annihilates Light to Medium troops and the other Death casters are Blender Hero Vampires who run with a Blood Knight deathstar (without magical weapons to counter the Banner of the World Dragon) with Crypt Ghouls in core to deal with any remaining monsters, spam in some Monstrous Infantry from Ryze, the Grave Call and I'm set I think. I can certainly see how Elves (certainly the Banner of the World Dragon horde) are going to be a tougher match-up. And yes, if Purple Sun fails or doesn't make an impact I'm screwed :tongue:

Unfortunately one other gotcha with your tactic is if you are pulling the dispel scroll turn one (due to no IF being rolled) then you are not generating gobs of power dice from lore of death's lore attribute. And then you have to deal with whatever will gibb your Necro who is sorely exposed and hope you can try again on turn 2.

With Power Scroll any double (not just 6's) cause IF. So on 6 dice, the chance of not getting IF is really low as I literally have to roll every number once.

 

[Archamedius]

With Power Scroll any double (not just 6's) cause IF. So on 6 dice, the chance of not getting IF are really low as I literally have to roll every number once.

That's a fair assessment, I won't argue that. But if that happens you are not drawing out the dispel scroll like you suggested. All I am pointing out is it's not like this one maneuver is going to both generate a lot of power dice AND draw out the dispel scroll. It is likely to do one or the other. Which is good in it's own right.

 

[Macarian]

That's a fair assessment, I won't argue that. But if that happens you are not drawing out the dispel scroll like you suggested. All I am pointing out is it's not like this one maneuver is going to both generate a lot of power dice AND draw out the dispel scroll. It is likely to do one or the other. Which is good in it's own right.

Ah, I'm sorry I didn't quite get you the first time, I didn't even consider the possibility of drawing out a dispel scroll for the spell. I was thinking the enemy would really want to dispel the Purple Sun rolling around by using Power Dice. But you're right he will have his Dispel Scroll for other spells, which is something to consider for the follow-up with summoning spells.

Also, I just remembered a potential weakness, if the Necromancer dies for what ever reason (like getting sucked into a black hole from the miscast) the Purple Sun ends in which case I will only get one use out of it. So, I also have to be wary the enemy doesn't zap the Necromancer with a Magic Missile since the Purple Sun won't move untill the very end of the Magic Phase. On the other hand it will provide a very nice Movement problem for the enemy

 

[PureSphinx]

Ah, I'm sorry I didn't quite get you the first time, I didn't even consider the possibility of drawing out a dispel scroll for the spell. I was thinking the enemy would really want to dispel the Purple Sun rolling around by using Power Dice. But you're right he will have his Dispel Scroll for other spells, which is something to consider for the follow-up with summoning spells.

Also, I just remembered a potential weakness, if the Necromancer dies for what ever reason (like getting sucked into a black hole from the miscast) the Purple Sun ends in which case I will only get one use out of it. So, I also have to be wary the enemy doesn't zap the Necromancer with a Magic Missile since the Purple Sun won't move untill the very end of the Magic Phase. On the other hand it will provide a very nice Movement problem for the enemy

If you give him Talisman of Preservation and keep him out of charge arc you might be able to fly out cast and fly back next turn, with the ward hopefully keeping him alive against shooting. It's a gamble though.

 

[Demian]

Ah, I'm sorry I didn't quite get you the first time, I didn't even consider the possibility of drawing out a dispel scroll for the spell. I was thinking the enemy would really want to dispel the Purple Sun rolling around by using Power Dice. But you're right he will have his Dispel Scroll for other spells, which is something to consider for the follow-up with summoning spells.

Also, I just remembered a potential weakness, if the Necromancer dies for what ever reason (like getting sucked into a black hole from the miscast) the Purple Sun ends in which case I will only get one use out of it. So, I also have to be wary the enemy doesn't zap the Necromancer with a Magic Missile since the Purple Sun won't move untill the very end of the Magic Phase. On the other hand it will provide a very nice Movement problem for the enemy

There is also another thing to consider:

I remember that Power Scroll doesn't work that way, it was FAQ'd: Lower the casting value by half of the desired spell, but can't be boosted.

Buuuuuuuuuuut we have a replacement for that

The Scrolls of Nefera (don't know the name in english) that appears in the TK armybook: Gives you your Wizard's Level in Power Dice while casting, and any doubles you get will make it IF.

Just one problem... High Liche Priests can't fly, unless you also give them the Cloak of Dunes... so there you hae +100 pts in magical items needed, but I suppose is very effective.

 

[Macarian]

Aha, good to know. Thanks for the headsup Demian!

Well, that cancels the hero version, still the liche high priest variant is cool enough. Gonna try a list with him next week

 

[The Sun King]

Another combo that I just thought of: Necro Knights (or any animated construct) within range of Morghasts suffer 2 less wounds from crumble. Combine this with the BSB bonus and you have a unit that almost never crumbles. Probably best for thematic armies, but still cool.

 

[Seneschal]

-dessication + soulblight. Double the debuffs! Also, if one gets dispelled you still have a backup
-GG horde with Barrows, cursed blades spell and smiting. Throw in a prince for fun times

 

[Aedin]

Tomb King in zombies with baby fighter vamps casting +1S +1T from lore of beasts. Then repeat the unit as many times as points allow lol.

 

[Kir]

Not necessarily a combo of units, but something to remember: your General is no longer required to take LoV. This means if you have a supporting caster or two with the lores that heal (LoN, LoV) you can keep your general more cost efficient by leaving levels off of him and giving him miasma to spam, or a death spell. Alternatively you could throw on some levels and give him forbidden lore for access to other lores that might work well for your army. For example, in my new list he's gonna use Lore of Beasts in concert with a Master Necro on a Corpse Cart with LoV and a Tomb Guard horde, to make them as strong as GG while still benefitting from ASF, and also in hopes that he gets savage beast to dramatically increase damage output.

To make beasts vamplord even better, level 4 beasts has a high chance of rolling kadon's. You get to keep vampiric power in kadons, meaning a boosted kadon to mountain chimera nets you a VL with 7's in everything, 10! wounds, fly, 4D6+1 POISONED S7 QUICKBLOOD RED FURY ATTACKS!, a S4 breath weapon( red fury,ASF), thunderstomp S7( red fury, I7 due to quickblood) , and terror. the sheer prospect of that should draw all of the power dice/scrolls.

Red fury, quickblood and forgotten lore makes 100 pts of vampiric powers, spend your 100 pts on magic items on periapt (so you can have enough dice to do this, and in case you don't roll it magic phase domination) and a 4+ ward against miscasts/when you don't transform. Best thing about this is that it's the same amount of points as a normal kitted out VL+25, and as long as you're not transformed you hide in your bunker per usual, and when you transform you can stay in your unit (also, the mountain chimera is NOT a large target! handy vs cannons if you've got terrain or units to hide behind/in).

Even if you don't roll kadon, most spells buff your VL, default buffs his unit, and two magic missles in the lore helps vs redirectors, S2 sucks but 48" 2D6 is pretty okay for removing chaff, and the possibility of a bolt thrower/cannonball in normally warmachine-less VC will throw opponents for a loop.

A lvl 4 vampire lord with lore of light would also be vehemently funny, heavy armoured light council leader.

 

[PureSphinx]

Red fury, quickblood and forgotten lore makes 100 pts of vampiric powers

Sadly this is 105 points, not 100 :/ still a sick combo even without ASF

 

[Pirate Robot Ninja of Death]

My favourite combo is Lore of Vampires + warsphinxes. March them 12", hit with vanhels for another 8", then lay down a flame template in the movement phase. Use them to chaff up big scary infantry units, so that when they charge you get a thundercrush that rerolls to hit, plus rerolls on the rider attacks. Nasty business.

 

[GhoulKing505]

My favorite is the Vamp Lord on a zombie dragon with lore of light. WS 10 zombie dragon anyone? Nothing can even hit me. Throw a nightshroud in there and all of a sudden nothing can wound me either. A very strong combo I believe.

 

[The Sun King]

Except for cannons

 

[Macarian]

If 9th fixes cannons I will have to try that one out, otherwise let's pray combined profiles for generic characters on monsters is a thing.

 

[John Rainbow]

If 9th fixes cannons I will have to try that one out, otherwise let's pray combined profiles for generic characters on monsters is a thing.

I think it will be. My issue is that it goes too far the other way though - combined profiles make these things too hard to kill.

 

[Archamedius]

I think it will be. My issue is that it goes too far the other way though - combined profiles make these things too hard to kill.

Does it? Largely the combined profiles we have seen to date have little in the way of ward saves, so they just survive a bit longer against triple cannon BS. A Mortarch who survives with 2 wounds to get into close combat with an infantry block is not necessarily in great shape.

 

[GhoulKing505]

With lore of light you also have the spell that makes it so cannons can only fire at you on a 4+. If they get that then they have to hit, wound, get through your vamps ward save, and do 3 or more wounds. It makes it less likely. Plus with this build I always take at least one unit of hexwraiths that can get to cannons by turn one if not turn two. So at most they'll have two rounds of shooting. If you can place your dragon behind impassable terrain or a barrier you should be fine.

 

[John Rainbow]

Does it? Largely the combined profiles we have seen to date have little in the way of ward saves, so they just survive a bit longer against triple cannon BS. A Mortarch who survives with 2 wounds to get into close combat with an infantry block is not necessarily in great shape.

Karl Franz has a 4++, Imrik has a 5++, the Glottkin have regen and Malekith has something too right? Only the vamps miss out on the saves but they can heal more quickly.

A cannon needs to hit and wound these guys with 9/10W 3 times to kill them statistically speaking. This makes them super resilient.

 

[GDD]

Malekith has a 2+ ward vs non magical attacks, and is immune to multiple wounds special rules. And he has a bunch of wounds. So he doesn't give a fuck about cannons, unless there is like 8 of them.

 

[Archamedius]

Karl Franz has a 4++, Imrik has a 5++, the Glottkin have regen and Malekith has something too right? Only the vamps miss out on the saves but they can heal more quickly.

A cannon needs to hit and wound these guys with 9/10W 3 times to kill them statistically speaking. This makes them super resilient.

Fair, but the poop monster guys from nurgle don't have anything special either (Mini Glottkin guys, I forget what they are called).

Having played a lot against cannons in tournaments and my regular dwarf opponent (before he moved to North Carolina) Cannons usually only miss when a missfire is rolled on the first die. So thats ~ 16% chance to miss. With 3 cannons on the opposing line (very easy to do in empire and dwarf armies) costing ~ half the cost of a Mortarch, that's still 1 Mortarch type model a turn removed. Easily in 2 turns.

I don't disagree with you that the combined profiles provide the opportunity to really create negative play experiences (imagine a 1+/3++ re-rollable chaos lord on a chaos dragon...) but I believe cannons and stone throwers (less so) are collectively the single reason you never see monsters in competitive play, and rarely outside that. Combined profiles might take it a touch the other direction, but its surely better than what we have today.