8th Ed. 2000 points, Necromancer LM versus Undead Legions, 2 games

My list

Slann Mage Priest, BSB, Standard of Discipline Channeling Staff, Relic Blade, Harmonic Convergence, Soul of Stone, Lore of Undeath
Saurus Old Blood, Shield, Armor of Destiny, Piranha Blade

Saurus Scar Veteran, Cold One, Light Armor, Sword of Anti-Heroes, Opal Amulet
Skink Chief, Light Armor, Enchanted Shield, Egg of Quango, Sword of Striking
Skink Priest L2, Heavens, Tormentor Sword

31 Saurus Warriors with hand weapons and shields, FC
20 Skink Skirmishers with Patrol Leader

29 Temple Guard, Standard Bearer with Banner of Eternal Flame, Musician, Champion with
Warrior Bane

Opponents List

Vampire Lord with Red Fury, L4 Undeath and a few cheap magic items.

Tomb Prince with a few cheap magic items

Large Ghoul Horde with Ghast
6 Chariots with full command.

Corpse Cart

2 Morghast Archai
Casket of Souls

Game One

Terrain was a nonfactor.

My Slann got Ryze, Soul Stealer, Abyssal Swarm, and the Dark Riders. My Skink had Midnight Wind and Iceshard Blizzard. My opponent had all four Undeath summoning spells.

Left to right I had my Saurus Warriors and Scar Veteran, then my Temple Guard with Oldblood and Slann. Then my Skink Skirmishers with both Skink characters.

Opposite me, the Casket of Souls was in the far left corner. Opposite of my Saurus Warriors were the chariots. Opposite my Temple Guard was the Ghoul Horde with both of his characters. The Corpse Cart hid behind the Ghouls. In the far right corner was the Morghasts.

LM Turn 1

My Skirmishers didn’t fancy their chances of killing the Morghasts with javelins or by vassaling Soul Stealer so they ran the opposite direction moving left behind my two Saurus blockswith the eventual goal of attacking the Casket. My other two units marched forward.

First I summoned some zombies between my TG and the Ghoul eathstar. Then my attempt to make some Hex Wraiths was dispelled. Then I rolled a Spirit Host, got IF on three dice. Calamatous Detonation killed four or five Temple Guard.

Nothing in range to shoot.

No close combat yet.

UL Turn 1

Ghouls, and Morghasts advanced. Corpse Cart followed behind the advancing Ghouls and the Chariots backed up slightly.

Casket tried to wound me, but didn’t inflict any wounds since everyone was testing on my Slann’s rerollable Ld 10. I dispelled his attempt to summon zombies with dice than scrolled his attempt to summon a L1 Necromancer.

Chariot’s shooting inflicted no damage on my Saurus Warriors.

No close combat.

LM Turn 2

I charged the ghouls with my zombies figuring they were free. A mistake but not a game costing mistake. I should have kept them in place, but I was worried about the Ghouls overrunning through them. In hindsight if I kept them in place I could have summoned another speedbump behind them. My Spirit Host charged the Morghasts. My Saurus and Temple Guard advanced while my Skinks continued their trek around them.

I only got three power dice but I summoned eight dire wolves with a unit champion between my Saurus Warriors and the chariots.

Nothing was in range to shoot.

Zombies died entirely after crumble and failed to kill even a single ghoul. The Spirit Host inflicted no damage but was invincible so it won combat by one. No crumble loss because of the Morghasts special anti-crumble power but My free Spirit Host managed to tie up the Morghasts all game.

UL Turn 2

Ghouls moved forward, chariots backed up slightly. Necropolis Knights popped up right behind my Temple Guard.

Once again the Casket of Souls did no damage. He summoned a L1 Necromancer who took Invocation of Nehek from the Lore of Vampires. I dispelled his other Summoning attempts.

Shooting attempt on the Dire Wolves inflicted no damage.

Close combat saw a bloodless draw between the Morghasts and my Spirit Host.

LM Turn 3

Temple Guard charged the Ghouls. Saurus Warriors advanced to keep the chariots from flanking my Temple Guard. My Dire Wolves charged the chariots. I didn’t fancy my Skinks’ chances of shooting down the Necropolis Knights so I positioned themselves out of danger in hex range of most of the enemy. In hind sight I should have kept the Skinks behind the Temple Guard to keep him from dropping the Knights there.

My Slann failed to cast his first spell. My Skink Priest took over the magic phase, but both of his attempts to hex the ghouls were dispelled.

Still nothing to shoot.

Dire Wolves died to the last pup (or hatchling, since these were zombie Cold Ones), but I inflicted a wound or two on the chariots. My Oldblood beat the snot out of the Tomb Prince with the Piranha Blade, but due to having the same Initiative as the Ghouls, my Oldblood did not prevent the Prince from making the Ghouls WS5 this round. I lost combat due to a combination of the Ghouls being WS 5 this round and the Vampire’s Red Fury. My Temple Guard naturally held. Morghast fight was a bloodless draw.

UL Turn 3

Chariots charged my Saurus Warriors. His Corpse Cart and Necromancer adjusted themselves a bit to hide behind the Ghouls better. Necropolis Knights charged the back of my Temple Guard.

I dispelled most of his magic phase but he dropped 30 zombies behind my Temple Guard.

Nothing to shoot.

Saurus Warriors lost combat by a small margin, but held due being Steadfast and near the Slann. My Oldblood issued a challenge. Not wanting his Vampire Lord to face the Piranha Blade, my Oldblood had to fight a mere Ghast. Many Ghouls and Temple Guard died. I was down to barely more than my command crew and there were still plenty of Ghouls. My Saurus Warriors won against the chariots but not by much. Morghast fight was a bloodless draw.

LM Turn 4

I didn’t want the zombies jumping my already beleaguered Temple Guard so I charged them with my Skinks, hoping to overrun into the Necropolis Knights.

Poor Winds rolls for me, good channeling rolls for the undead. I didn’t get any spells off.

My only missile unit was in close combat.

Skinks killed many zombies but failed to wipe out the unit (I even rolled a 6 with the Egg of Quango). My Saurus Warriors finally finished off the unusually resilient chariots. My Temple Guard were reduced to little more than the command crew. Morghast fight was a bloodless draw.

UL Turn 4

Not much to move, the L1 Necromancer and Corpse Cart were hiding and everything else was engaged in close combat.

I dispelled his Summoning attempts. He cast Invocation of Nehek with his Necromancer healed a few Ghouls and Zombies and triggered the Corpse Cart’s ASF buff.

Nothing could shoot.

My Skinks finished off the remnants of the zombie unit despite the healing they just received. My Temple Guard were all wiped out, but I still had my Slann and Oldblood who rolled snake eyes and held. The Slann himself took a lot of hits, but his Ward Save rolls were insanely good. I think I deflected roughly 90% of the attacks at him this game. Morghast fight was a bloodless draw.

LM Turn 5

Desperate to save my Slann, I charged my Skinks into the flank of the Necropolis Knights.

My Slann summoned five Black Knights with barding, lances, a champion, and Standard behind the Ghouls. The rest of my spells were shut down.

Nothing could shoot.

Close combat saw my Slann and OB both on their last wound. They needed snake eyes, but only got a pathetic “3” and broke. Oddly enough my Skinks got snake eyes, so the Skinks held against impossible odds and the Saurus Old blood fled. Go figure.

UL Turn 5

The fleeing Oldblood was right in front of the Necromancer so he charged. My Oldblood got a very good roll to flee and the Necromancer rolled very poorly so my Oldblood got away. It was still embarrassing to have an OB run away from a naked L1 wizard. The Ghouls pointed themselves at my Saurus Warriors.

I was on my last legs, so I was surprised when my opponent decided to six dice his nuke. I thought that’s what you do when you are losing. He cast augmented Kandorak (the Harbringer) successfully with mostly 5s so no miscast and my Skink Priest failed to dispel it. Now my opponent had a free Terrogheist pointed at the flank of my Black Knights.

The Terrogheist screamed my Black Knights right off the table.

My Skinks were butchered in close combat by the Sphinx.

I saw no way to salvage this game with only about 25 Saurus Warriors on the board (and a stalemated Spirit Host), so I conceded. IMMEDIATE REMATCH!

Game Two

My Slann got all four summoning spells. My Skink Priest got Iceshard Blizzard and Uranon’s Thunderbolt. The Vampire Lord got the Harbringer (Kandorak), Soulstealer (Khizzar), Breath of Darkness (Morkharn), and the Grave Call (Ryze)

Left to right, Skink Skirmishers with both Skink characters, Temple Guard with Slann and both Saurus characters, Saurus Warriors.

Left to right. Casket in the corner. Morghasts next to Ghouls. Ghouls opposite my Temple Guard, Corpse Cart behind the Ghouls, Chariots opposite my Saurus Warriors.

LM 1

I advanced my Saurus troops towards their nearest foes. The Skinks marched towards the Casket.

I got 12 power dice this turn. First I summoned two Bat Swarms on the flank of my Temple Guard. I got IF with three dice and killed five Temple Guard with Calamitous Detonation. Expensive bats. Even after losing some dice, I still had plenty of dice left to summon another Spirit Host diagonally forward on my left to threaten the Morghasts. Note, I accidentally broke the rules here and neither of us caught this till much later. Since both Spirit Hosts and Bat Swarms come from the same spell. I could have done the same thing with a single Cairn Wraith from Kandorak though for less casting cost, so no biggie.

Skinks weren’t in range to shoot

No close combat yet.


UL 1

The Morghasts did not want to get stuck fighting Spirit Hosts forever (again), so flew away behind the Ghouls, units advance.

I dispelled his attempt to summon 30 zombies. I decided not to burn a scroll dispelling his casting to summon a L1 Necromancer.

The chariot’s archer’s killed one Saurus Warrior.

No close combat yet.


LM 2

I charged my Temple Guard straight into the Ghouls, with my Bat Swarms charging the corner. This would have been a great combo, but the Temple Guard rolled snake eyes on the charge, so the Bats flew in alone. My Saurus Warriors charged the chariots and my opponent lamented not backing them up last turn. My Skinks marched up towards the Casket. My Spirit Host kept up it’s harassment campaign against the Morghasts.

My Skink Priest tried to Thunderbolt the Morghasts and failed. I Summoned some Hex Wraiths in front of the Ghoul horde. I only had two power dice against five dispel dice, so went for augmented Kandorak hoping I”d get double sixes and thus a free Terrogheist. My long shot did not work.

My Skinks were barely outside of Javelin range.

Saurus Warriors obliterate the chariots and reform to point at the flank of Ghouls hopefully combo charging them with the Temple Guard later. Unfortunately my Bat Swarms ruined everything. They killed one Ghoul, then were mercilessly butchered. The Ghouls used their reform to tilt so as to offer their front to both my Saurus Warriors and the Temple Guard. No flanking for me.

UL 2

His Ghouls charged my Hex Wraiths. Morghasts moved to try to flank the TG. The Corpse Cart and Necromancer adjusted their position a bit. The Necropolis Knights failed their roll to arrive this turn.

Winds of Magic were not with my opponent, I dispelled everything.

Nothing could shoot.

The Vampire Lord slaughtered my Hex Wraiths.

LM 3

I double charge the Ghouls front with my Saurus Warriors and Temple Guard. I marched my Spirit Host to block the Morghasts from flank charging my Temple Guard’s right. My Skinks marched right into the face of the Casket of the Souls.

I summoned a unit of two Spirit Hosts hoping to hem in the Morghasts in.

The Skinks threw their javelins taking a wound off the Casket of Souls.

I probably ought to have issued a challenge but I didn’t. I killed many Ghouls and won combat crumbling even more Ghouls. My opponent concentrated his character’s attacks on my Temple Guard so most of them were dead, and the Saurus Warriors were virtually untouched.

UL 3

Morghasts could only gnash their teeth at me with the Spirit Host in the way. The Corpse Cart and Necromancer stayed put. The Necropolis Knights tried to arrive and rolled a misfire, being lost in the sands. Free kill for me. I was feeling very confident about my chances at this point.

Casket tried to blast my Skinks. Since they were not in range of the Slann’s rerollable Ld 10, I had to dispel it. Opponent was running out of options so he six diced Kandorak and got IF. He Summoned a Warsphinx right behind my Saurus Warriors. The Vampire Lord was reduced to L2.

His only shooters were dead.

My two Saurus characters were not in base contact with either the Tomb Prince or Vampire Lord, so my Oldblood declared a challenge once again fighting the Ghast. My Oldblood whiffed and barely killed said Ghast. Temple Guard were almost gone, Saurus Warriors were mostly there. I lost combat by a small margin but held.

LM 4

My solo Spirit Host was keeping the Morghasts from my Temple Guard, so I maneuvered my pair of them to try to block the Warsphinx, but I didn’t quite have the distance to pull off that block.

I summoned some Black Knights on the flank of the Ghouls. The rest of my magic phase was thwarted.

My Skinks came nearly shot the Casket to death.

The Temple Guard were reduced to a standard bearer and champion. I couldn’t kill Ghouls fast enough to deal with them before the Sphinx had his say.

UL 4

The Sphinx charged the rear of my Saurus Warriors. The Morghasts could not charge my Slann’s unit so they charged my Grave Guard instead. The Corpse Cart joined the fun charging the front corner of my Saurus Warriors.

I shut down his attempt to magic my Skinks with the Casket and his attempt to summon some troops. He shot my pair of Spirit Hosts with Soul Stealer to grab a few bonus tokens which never got used. I should have scrolled his Invocation of Nehek but I underestimated it’s power.

Nothing to shoot.

With the nearby Corpse Cart in the IoN bubble, all the Ghouls had ASF and the rerolls were brutal. My Temple Guard were slain and my Slann nearly slain. The Sphinx killed at least a dozen Saurus Warriors by himself. I killed a few Ghouls and put a wound on the Sphinx but I lost combat by a wide margin and did not get snake eyes on either of my two units. They were run down. The Morghasts killed six or seven Grave Guard and then the remainder crumbled away.

I conceded. I would have won if my Temple Guard succeeded in their first charge or if he failed to summon the Sphinx. I don’t see turnaround games like this a lot.

I like the Lore of Undeath a lot. It is neither too weak nor too powerful. I just need to be a little less aggressive with my summoned units. Just because they are free does not mean I should send them on suicide missions when there is no hope of a stall with the goal of killing two or three models. That being said, I disliked having no buffs or hexes to protect my Temple Guard.

I plan to use the Lore of Undeath in many casual games. Not sure about tournaments. Most of the ones in my area give bonus points for fully painted armies. The one gaming store that allows Lore of Undeath has strict Wizziwig. I currently only have Wizziewig skeletons, zombies, bat swarms, spirit hosts, Necromancers, and dire wolves. Everything else needs a proxy. Only my zombies are painted and most tournaments give bonus points for 100% painted army, so that limits me further for the time being.

I'm going to work on my Spirit Hosts sooner rather than later. Those are really awesome units, at least when summoned in surprising places.

 

Re: 2000 points, Necromancer LM versus Undead Legions, 2 gam

I didn't summon a Casket in game one because I did not have Kandorak.

In game two I did not want to take the risk. It's 24+ to cast. That's usually a failed spell or a miscast. Though I'm thinking of trying an Undeath Slann and Undeath Skink Priest. A Skink Priest is an acceptable sacrifice to get a Casket. The relative mileage my opponent got out of his L1 Necromancer is making me rethink their utility. I think a LM player would want a L1 Death caster.

I think the key with zombies is to summon a second roadblock behind the zombies for the enemy to overrun into. On the whole I was too aggressive with my roadblocks. Weak units should not make suicidal attacks, they should hold position.

It wasn't that I didn't get to summon things I wanted, it was that they didn't last long. I wanted to test my Theory Hammer that Saurus or Temple Guard would love to fight alongside Bat Swarms but my Temple Guard whiffed their charge and my bats died quickly as a result.

I also wanted to summon troops behind the enemy but that never worked out. Since Slann are in the second rank that's about one less inch than the front rank Vampire Lord had. More important, my opponent hid a lot of support units behind his main block. If I try something similar again, I think I'm going to plant a Skink Priest and Skirmisher bunker behind my Temple Guard to prevent stuff from poofing into existence behind me.

We were strict about having the entire unit being summoned within 12 inches of the caster. When 30 zombies were summoned behind me they were summoned 10 wide rather than 5 wide that would let them naturally do better.

 

Re: 2000 points, Necromancer LM versus Undead Legions, 2 gam

Lore of Light is a lot easier to summon with a liche priest than a vampire. Only takes one token.

My UL opponent has said he normally prefers bigger games but wanted to test his tournament list. We might do a game in the 3000-4000 point range at some point. I might go two Slann then. Without magnetized trays it's a pain to move a lot of models. I'm not sure I want to haul around 4000 points of LM and an undead sideboard.

I do think for a heavy magic game, Undeath should be paired with Light because it's utilitarian and easy to cast or with Heavens (because Tet is a cheap Slann substitute).

I don't like two Slann where one has High Magic. That's 12 spells before you factor in power dice. That's a bit top heavy when you max at 12 power dice.

I only played two Slann armies twice and lost both matches (though one was a campaign game slanted slightly against me).

Theoryhammer I would run a two Slann Undeath with the Undeath Slann bunkerless. The Light Slann would have a big TG bunker and be the general and BSB.

I would telepathically confab the light magic missiles to solo Slann and send the cheap summoning spells to the bunkered Slann. That way the solo Slann could six dice Kandorak with relatively little risk and cast long range light attack spells. The bunkered Slann can summon convenient road blocks (and buffs) near the action.