Tuesday 21 November 2017

Armies of Australian Masters 2017 - Part 2

Greetings!

Welcome to part 2 of Armies of Australian Masters 2017!  

Today I would like to present Josh from Victoria who is bringing his trusty Undead army to the tournament. Out of six events Josh took part in this season, Undead were featured four times and I got lucky to play against him and his shambling hordes during the Australian Clash of Kings 2016! 

I must tell you that Josh is one of the nicest opponents I have ever had a pleasure to meet. He was more happy when things went well for me and more sad when unlucky rolls happened than myself. :) 

Who knows, it may be that we will have the rematch during the Masters!

Undead - Josh - Army List

20 Mummies, Regiment
- Liche King, Hero, Banner of the Griffin

20 Mummies, Regiment
- Liche King, Hero

20 Mummies, Regiment
- Balefire Catapult, War Engine  

20 Mummies, Regiment
- Balefire Catapult, War Engine  

20 Mummies, Regiment
- Balefire Catapult, War Engine 

10 Soul Reaver Cavalry, Regiment, Brew of Haste
- Cursed Pharaoh, Hero, Wings of Honeymaze
This army has a great potential to soak up a lot of damage. If you can pass through 5+/6+ Defense, then that will be Regenerated and Healed in no time. There is also plenty of Surge which means that it is not as slow as it may look like and simply has a different dynamics of the movement phase.

Visual representation of the Army.

Let's have a look at the unit choices in more detail.

5 x 20 Mummies - The embalmed corpses of these ancient warriors from the southern deserts are slow, but almost impossible to destroy.

Unstoppable phalanx of Defense 5+ units, which cannot be wavered so one can rely on them to do what they are commanded to do. Regeneration 5+ will make sure that even the most severe damage, if does not result in routing the unit, will be eventually undone. Crushing Strength (2) is great for dealing the damage back even when hindered. 
It will also be a great sight on the battle field for sure! 

10 Soul Reaver Cavalry - The Soul Reavers are composed of Vampire knights, the most formidable living dead warriors – few enemies are brave enough to stand their ground against one of their devastating charges.

Super tough heavy cavalry, one of the few units in the game with Defense 6+, capable of dealing tons of damage but unlike other types of knights, may be good in the war of attrition too. Lifeleech may not be as efficient in fixing the unit as Regeneration but it is a very handy thing to have anyway. 
This unit is also faster than many knightly units thanks to Brew of Haste and that makes them even more dangerous as they can potentially charge first against majority of the enemy units.

3 x Balefire Catapult - Certainly not precise or fast, the skeletons crewing these war machines are nevertheless more reliable than their living counterparts and totally relentless in their occupation.

Ranged support is always useful and in this case may cause a bit shy opponent to start moving the units around. It is good because otherwise Mummies may need to take a bit longer to catch up with the foe. Indirect fire helps to ignore the cover and trio of war engines should make sure something will get hit on regular basis.
2 x Liche King - Ancient kings who prolonged their wicked lives using forbidden arts until their bodies wasted away, the accursed Liche Kings are perhaps the most skilled of undead sorcerers.

Very versatile heroes who provide a lot of support to the army. Sources of Inspire are always useful, if only to prevent the units from being routed by some lucky nerve test rolls. They are not as easy to get rid of either thanks to the good nerve values and Regeneration also allows them to assist the army longer.
In addition, they are the main source of infamous Surge and can really animate otherwise slow army. But just in case, they are also equipped with Heal (6) each to make that damage disappear even faster. One of the Kings brought his favorite banner which really makes some units extremely hard to rout!

Cursed Pharaoh - Driven by a willpower that conquered death itself centuries past, these fallen nobles are almost unstoppable in their unquenchable wrath. Great is their ire and the vengeance they exact on those that are greedy and foolish enough to dare violate their majestic burial complexes.

Last but not least, flying Pharaoh is a really good addition to the army. He can disrupt the enemy shooters, comfortably hold some units all by himself and in general he probably will be given some solitary missions. As an individual he is extremely maneuverable and super annoying to the enemy. His additional Surge abilities will also be helpful, if only to add a few more dice to the rolls, just in case they go below average.
Six super tough units, 3 war engines and 3 very good heroes make for a compact force and tough nut to crack. 

Let me know what you think about this army!

Thanks for reading!

4 comments:

  1. This is a pretty unique list. Very high defense but pretty low offensive output that really will require the warmachines to do a lot of work. Having said that, taking three should average out to a hit per turn. We have a very good player in our region who runs three regiments of mummies to great effect. I’m very curious to see how this list performs!

    If it were me, I may consider dropping 2 mummy regiments for two regiments of the revenant cav which are the same point cost or two troops of wraiths and put extra points into spells or magic. I find that a wider variety of units and speeds across an army help give you more options in a game where you don’t know what army you’ll face or scenario you’ll play. Any opponents that didn’t bring enough crushing or thunderous strength will have a tough time cracking this list!

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    1. Hi Dan,

      It may look like not so killy army but I played against Josh before and these Mummies can win war of attrition on their own! Yes, catapults will help and are a great addition to the army but the shambling hordes are quite good on their own.

      The beauty of KoW is that one can have multiple approaches to the same faction. Personally, I like more variety in the armies but at the same time I am sure Josh had some good reasons to create the army like this one. Maybe I will find out what are these reasons soon! :)

      Cheers!

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  2. CS(2) means mummies are one of those units that keep stacking wounds over time, they're probably the toughest attrition units in the game. And let us not forget the damage soulreavers can do.

    I've tended to find regiments get isolated and flanked, but when there's 5 of them it's a different ball game perhaps :). It might be that the soulreavers are a big unit in the army and that could be the Achille's heel

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    Replies
    1. I didn't have a chance to play against Josh this time but it was really tough when I played against his 3 units already!

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