Just like the Bretonnian Starter Box, the Tomb Kings Box comes with all you need for a 1250pt army and can actually be pushed by the best part of another 250 if you really wanted to (you don’t). In this article, we’re going to look at the best way to progress this 1250pt army up to a 2000pt army. In the same way as the Bretonnian one I’m going to keep all the models from the suggested 1250 list and just expand on that.
Thanks to Games Workshop for providing us with a review copy of the Tomb Kings Starter Box
Anyway, what’s in that 1250pt army I hear you cry? Well have a look below;
Neferkare –Â High Priest (Hierophant), Lv3 (335)
Prince Ptelethor the Radiant – Tomb Prince (General) Flail of Skulls, Light Armour, Shield (127)
Nebuset the Bold’s Regiment – 20 Skeleton Warriors inc Champion, Musician & Standard Bearer, Spears & Shields (115)
Hakaros the Dutiful’s Regiment – 20 Skeleton Warriors inc Champion, Musician & Standard Bearer, Spears & Shields (115)
Prehoaten the Elder’s Regiment – 3 Skeleton Chariots inc Champion, Musician & Standard Bearer, War Banner (172)
Aphohs the Archer’s Regiment – 16 Skeleton Archers, Champion (85)
Intenebu the Hunter’s Regiment – 16 Skeleton Archers, Champion (85)
Khadesh the Valient’s Regiment – 8 Skeleton Horsemen inc Champion, Musician & Standard Bearer, Spears, Light Armour & Shields (112)
Saphta the Swift’s Regiment – 8 Skeleton Horse Archers, Champion (94)
There we have it, a 1250pt army fit to raid any lands of the living. Before moving on I just want to reiterate what I said above, which is that we’re expanding the above list. if I was starting from scratch I’d without a doubt look at putting the Tomb King on the Dragon and having the Priest on foot hiding between different Skeleton Archer regiments as the battle went on. The kit doesn’t make this easy, but a competent modeller should be able to get the Priest on foot looking decent, even if it isn’t what’s intended with the kit. In addition I’d only build 6 of the Skeleton Horse Archers and build a 10 man unit of Skeleton Horsemen as the skirmishing horses don’t need to be that big while another few bodies in the melee block certainly would help.
So what else can we add with the releases on the first weekend? We’re mainly going to be picking up a nice selection of options to add some real hitting power to the army where we can. Before that lets look at what we can do with upgrading the models already in the army. The first thing I’m going to do it promote our Tomb Prince to a Tomb King, which increases his stats and increases his magic item allowance allowing him to pick up the really useful Crown of Kings for 30pts. The upgrade itself costs another 70pts for a total increase of 100pts. We’re also going to increase our Liche’s Magical Powers by increasing his level to 4 for an additional 30pts. We’re also going to pick up the Earthing Rod for a bargain 5pts to stop his magical powers from going totally out of control and a Talisman of Protection for 30pts to give him a 5+ ward save which means 1/3rd of all wounds done to the Dragon are ignored which combines with the regeneration rules to allow him to take even more punishment before falling.
The newly promoted Tomb King needs somewhere to live and we’re going to do this with a unit of Tomb Guard. We’re going to use every models you pick up in the box with a unit of 20 and give them the Halberds so they can do up to S5 when needing to wound the tougher models in the game easier. At 11pts per model this can be a little expensive but they’re the best melee infantry you have and the Nekekharan Phalanx rule for another point per model means they won’t be shifted by all but the biggest and nastiest of enemy units. Along with a full set of command options this unit is costing 258pts and over 1/8th of the force but it’s a nasty little brick.
Our Liche is going to need a little bit of backup and raising even more warriors is always great, so we’re picking up another Priest in the form of a Lv2 Mortuary Priest. This sets us back another 85 points but magics fun right?
At this point we’ve spent 508 of our remaining points so we’re only really getting our hands on one unit. Now there isn’t a wrong choice here but it depends on what you like and all the other options available on release weekend come in around 200points and they all fit within our points limit. I’m going to recommend either the Necrosphinx who comes in at 200points with the small upgrade he can take or a unit of Necropolis Knights which with upgrades and a possible magic banner come out at 186 plus the cost of any Banner. If you take the Necropolis Knights without the Musician or Great Weapon we can also fit in a small unit of Tomb Swarms for 74, so I’m going to head in that direction. Of course if you wanted the Necrosphinx please do that and spend the points on a few upgrades for characters or similar and take that beasty boy instead.
This leaves us with this force at the end;
Neferkare –Â High Priest (Hierophant), Lv4, Earthing Rod, Talisman of Protection (400)
Prince Ptelethor the Radiant – Tomb King (General) Flail of Skulls, Light Armour, Shield, Crown of Kings (227)
Ketmoyef the Cunning – Mortuary Priest, Lv2 (85)
Actiphrop the Composed Regiment – 20 Tomb Guard inc Champion, Musician & Standard Bearer, Halberd and Nekekharan Phalanx (258)
Nebuset the Bold’s Regiment – 20 Skeleton Warriors inc Champion, Musician & Standard Bearer, Spears & Shields (115)
Hakaros the Dutiful’s Regiment – 20 Skeleton Warriors inc Champion, Musician & Standard Bearer, Spears & Shields (115)
Prehoaten the Elder’s Regiment – 3 Skeleton Chariots inc Champion, Musician & Standard Bearer, War Banner (172)
Aphohs the Archer’s Regiment – 16 Skeleton Archers, Champion (85)
Intenebu the Hunter’s Regiment – 16 Skeleton Archers, Champion (85)
Khadesh the Valient’s Regiment – 8 Skeleton Horsemen inc Champion, Musician & Standard Bearer, Spears, Light Armour & Shields (112)
Saphta the Swift’s Regiment – 8 Skeleton Horse Archers, Champion (94)
Netichaph the Elegant’s Riders – 3 Necropolis Knights – Champion & Standard Bearer (176)
Devils Runners – 2 Tomb Swarms (74)
I feel this is a fairly rounded force and is built around that Starter Box, a box of Tomb Guard, a box of Necropolis Knights, a set of Tomb Swarms and a Liche Priest. This really sets up the army for future releases and lets you add in and swap out cool stuff as additional things get released moving forward.
I hope this gives you some ideas for the force moving forward if you’re picking up the Tomb Kings as you take either your first steps into the Old World.
