Evening, everybody!
Well, if you hadn't already guessed, this is going to be a pretty lengthy one. There is plenty of meat on these bones (pun completely intended), and we've got a lot to get through, so pull up a chair, get your snacks and cold beverage ready and let's dive in!
Legions of Nagash has been a long time coming, and I can say with complete confidence that it was worth the wait! This battetome is the business. So, before we go too deep on the different legions and all the flavour elements, let's start at the base level and assess the updated war scrolls.
War Scrolls
There's been a lot of small changes to the War Scrolls, in many ways just making them more relevant, more versatile and more streamlined to the army. Easily the biggest and most notable change comes in the form of Deathly Invocations. This special rule is new, and has been bestowed upon every Death Hero in the Battletome. While it's range (between 6" and battlefield-wide) and number of targeted friendly units (between two and five) vary between each Hero depending on their influence and power within the army, it allows you to automatically heal wounded models, or replenish a number of wounds worth of models to a battle-damaged unit (rounding down to whole models; you cant bring a Black Knight back on a single wound, as it goes by Wound Characteristic, which never changes). This is an absolutely huge change, and follows in the same veins as Maggotkin of Nurgle, by turning off the beaten path and away from the traditional summoning methods we've been used to. All 'Summon X unit' sections have been stripped from the scrolls in place of Deathly Invocation.
While Deathly Invocation sounds very strong, it does have an asterisk or two. Firstly, it only affects units with the Summonable keyword. This keyword encompasses everything you might imagine; Zombies, Skeletons, Dire Wolves, Spirit Hosts, Black Knights, Hexwraiths, Fell Bats and Bat Swarms. This is a really important limitation, as it cannot affect Heroes, Morghasts, Corpse Carts, Zombie Dragons and so on. I'm in complete support of this, as it keeps the theme of the powerful beings holding together and reanimating a shambling horde, without unintentionally creating a system that allows you to heal elite sledgehammer units with limitless impunity.
The second big (and I mean... BIG) change is that Standard Bearers no longer replenish their units. Instead, the Standard Bearers (the banner models themselves, not their unit) emit a 6" -1 Bravery Aura. What this means is, to keep your hordes sustained, you're going to need several heroes in range to keep that reanimation going! Blocks of Death infantry are still going to be raising as fast as your opponent can kill them, but it's no longer just a built in mechanic. You need to think about which units you need to sustain in order to control the battlefield.
Wight Kings gained Deathly Invocations, but lost the ability to carry a banner. He lost the wound prevention, but gained a cure, so to speak. The Wight King with a shield now just comes with a flat 3+ save (nothing to sniff at), while the Wight King with the Black Axe dons the Barrow Armour, offering him a handy little element of wound mitigation.
Something we all kind of knew was coming (thanks to news around the Knight of Shrouds) was the change to the Ethereal rule for Nighthaunt. Saves could never be made worse (through Rend, etc), but now they can't be made better either. It doesn't matter if your Spirit Hosts are hiding in terrain with a Mystic Shield; they will always have a 4+ save. Modifiers, both positive and negative, are irrelevant to them. While we're on the topic of Nighthaunt, it's worth noting that you can no longer summon Cairn Wraiths and Banshees for cheeky shenanigans.
The Coven Throne deserves a special mention, too! This is probably one of the least used Heroes that Death has ever had, but the slightest of tweaks has made it amazing. That tweak? The Coven Throne's command ability is no longer a tie-breaker for Priority rolls (situational at best, downright irrelevant at worst). Now (and hold onto your shorts), the Tactical Insight command ability lets you pick a friendly unit within 12". That unit can re-roll 1's for Hit, Wound and Save rolls until your next Hero Phase! Amazing!
There are a few more units that have a new lease on life (OK, OK, I'll stop...) but I don't to spoil ALL the surprises.
Cough*Corpse Carts with Unholy Lodestones*cough.
Ok, now I'm done.
Magic
Speaking of Corpse Carts with Unholy Lodestones (but seriously, 80 points!), Death gets two swanky new Lores of Magic with which to tighten their cold grip upon the realms. These are split into two tables; the Lore of Deathmages and the Lore of Vampires. Only Necromancers and Deathlord Wizards can use the Lore of Deathmages, which is lucky for everyone who's not a Death player, because that Lore is STRONG! The whole (well, almost whole...) lore is based around dishing out negative modifiers, stripping the damage profile on Hero's weapons, debilitating movement or flat out crippling the ability to charge. A 3" charge might sound easy, but on one dice, all of a sudden, it looks pretty sketchy. The only spell that veers away from the concept of crippling your opponent's dice is Soul Harvest, which allows you to dish out mortal wounds to enemies within 3" and heal yourself. I can't see this being of any use to Necromancers, as it's cast in the Hero Phase, which means you need to be in combat from the previous turn AND survive to even cast it. Seems very situational, and a little counter-intuitive for what is essentially a support caster. Even if it allowed you to dish out mortal wounds to nearby friendly units, it'd have it's use for keeping him alive, but with five other incredible spells, I don't see Necromancers using this one a whole lot.
Deathlords on the other hand, can (and predictably will) get a huge amount of mileage out of Soul Harvest. I can just see Mannfred launching into combat, going on a bloody rampage, then sucking the souls out of his foes before continuing on his path of slaughter. In the context of Deathlords, I see this as having huge potential.
The Lore of Vampires (also accessible for Deathlord wizards) is going to see a lot of use (with its far larger list of canditates for use), and is a little more utility/multi-purpose. Whether you want to materialise wings, siphon the life force out of enemies and into friends or just lob an Unholy Hand Grenade into battle, there's a spell here for you!
The Locus of Shyish is gifted to all wizards as well. You might have already heard about this one on Warhammer Community, but a natural (unmodified) casting roll of a nine or more (that isn't unbound) allows you to resolve the effects of the spell twice. It's nothing to depend on, and you can't do anything to increase your chances, but I don't look forward to being on the receiving end of ANY of these spells twice in a turn! It's important to remember, however, that the Locus of Shyish only affects spells from the Lores of Vampires and Deathmages, so spells found in the War Scrolls are not privy to its benefits.
Legions
The next natural step is looking at the four Legions. Each legion may include any of the units from the Battletome, with the exception of Nagash and the three Mortarchs. Nagash can lead a Grand Host of Nagash, must be the general and can have Mortarchs join him, but the three specific legions can't have Nagash, and can only include their specific Mortarch, who must then be the General. This is hardly a hindrance, and really opens up the Death Grand Alliance for time on the tabletop. Now, units that were previously trapped behind an allegiance barrier are sharing the table in all of their unrestricted, macabre glory!
All four allegiances return with old favourites like Deathless Minions, while also bringing new elements to the game in the form of Gravesites. You can place up to four points (not restricted to terrain pieces or anything like that), and units placed in the Graves before the game starts can be summoned from one of these four points by a nearby hero; no dice rolls, no casting attempts. It's very much in line with how Maggotkin summon units onto the board. Gravesites also emit a replenishing, healing aura in the same manner as Deathly Invocations, making their chosen locations of utmost importance when planning out your path to victory.
The Legions also gain an additional command ability that let's them summon a unit that's been destroyed previously in the battle. As always, this costs points as it should, but it remains to be seen whether it's going to be of use or not. With much more limited conventional summoning, leaving points in reinforcements specifically for this ability may be a double edged sword, as you're depending on your units getting wiped out to even be able to bring new units on.
With the broader, universal bonuses covered, let's take a look at each legion, and pick out some highlights.
I can see the Grand Host of Nagash being really practical for running those skeleton horde armies. From the bonus attacks from the Lord of Nagashizzar trait, to the damage mitigation for Deathrattle units the Ossific Diadem and (you guessed it...) ANOTHER healing/replenishing mechanic from Legions Innumerable, it's no surprise that massive Deathrattle units can find the emotional support they need to march ever onward in the ranks of the Grand Host.
There's also a cheeky, and frankly pretty scary buff to Morghasts that makes them just a nightmare to get punched in the head by. I wouldn't say it has the most flavour, but vanilla is a flavour too, you know... It is by far the most flexible in regards to list building, as you can take your pick of Mortarchs, but it certainly favours those boots on the ground infantry lists that will surely pose huge problems to players who can't burn through large units fast.
Also, if you have the Battletome handy, have a look at the Grave-sand Timeglass... It's truly is a thing of beauty.
The Legion of Sacrament, war host of Arkhan the Black is all about that Magic! With +1 to cast on all of their wizards, traits to make people wizards or learn more spells, raising freshly slaughtered foes or simply summoning from the graves with an increased range, the Legion of Sacrament know what it's about. Between the bonuses to cast, the chance to double-tap spells with Locus of Shyish and the sheer number of magic users, you can fit into a list, the army is truly terrifying. It doesn't sugar coat or hide behind a thinly veiled guise. If you want to unleash a dark arsenal of magic, this is your legion!
They also get some pretty incredible defensive Artefacts in the form of Wristbands of Black Gold, Azyrbane Standard and Shroud of Darkness. The Black Gem is also a pretty terrifying prospect, having the potential to shatter and instakill multiple models with a single blow! If you face a Death General using the Black Gem, kill it, kill it with fire and do it from outside of eleven inches!
The Legion of Sacrament also gets a pretty nifty Warscroll Battalion based around Arkhan and a Mortis Engine, which further empowers the magical potency of your army! It's nice and cheap too, at only seventy points (a huge drop in what we've seen in recent battletomes), but it won't be for every Sacrament army. It will all come down to your specific build.
The Legion of Blood is definitely more focused on Vampires and Bravery bombing your opponent! Neferata's minions follow down the Soulblight path (without actually being Soulblight), with every vampire in your army getting an extra attack for each of their weapons as a static buff, as well as a -1 Bravery aura for every unit from the Legion of Blood (units with banners are walking around with -2!!). With traits like Soul Crushing Contempt, and units like Banshees and Terrorgheists, I could totally see some terrifying combos involving dropping bravery through the floor and then nuking a unit with screams and howls.
There are also some very handy artefacts for mitigating opposing magic in the form of the Amulet of Screams and the Oubliette Arcana, both capable of crippling opposing wizards, either with a flat out shutdown, or mind-wiping an opposing wizard of their knowledge of spells! The Orb of Enchantment is probably my pick, however. Once per game, you can reveal the Orb to an enemy hero within 3', and that hero will see visions of enrapturing possibilities. you can effectively turn the hero off for a turn. No piling in, no attacking and no abilities can be used. That is crazy! There are no dice involved, there is no chance or luck. It could be a Stardrake or even Archaon himself; it doesn't matter. If you can get the bearer of the Orb into combat with them, they're going to derp out and stand dumb-founded while the battle rages around them.
The Command Traits also offer a tough choice, because there is a wealth of great traits to choose from, between the mobility bonus from Sanguine Blur to the defensive mechanic of the Aura of Dark Majesty. Walking Death is also an extremely, EXTREMELY scary ability that will make your opponent think twice about trying to slay your general in combat!
There's also a cheeky Battalion for the Legion of Blood, which contains Neferata and her coven of Vampires. Again, I don't think it well see much play in a competitive environment, as you're very much pushed toward a certain build that may not be optimal, but it's definitely nailed that 'Rule of Cool'.
Lastly, we have the Legion of Night; Mannfred's own host of undead minions, and this legion is focused on board control. Deathrattle units in your own territory (not always to be confused with your deployment zone) gain a flat +1 to their save as they form a bulwark upon which your opponent's army can shatter, which is incredibly cool, because this still allows terrain and Mystic shield to benefit them! With The Bait, unit placement and movement is very important, because the rules are very clear that your unit must be wholly within your territory to gain the bonus, so make sure there are no stragglers or overly ambitious skeletons making a dash out of the 'green zone'.
But you don't take the Legion of Night for The Bait, regardless of how practical it is. You're taking it for Ageless Cunning, which allows you to place up to three units in reserve to be set up on a table edge at the end of any of your movement phases, giving you another huge tactical tool in your arsenal. This is really useful, as there are no limitations on what units can or can't be put in reserves. It could be sixty Zombies to mob an unguarded objective, or a Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon to blend his (or her) way through anything close enough to poke holes in.
I think, in regards to Traits and Artefacts, there are some great options, but I just can't seem to look past Morbheg's Claw. This fantastic little talon lets the bearer scribble some stick men and sketches on the ground. If the bearer doesn't move, charge or attack in that turn, you can add 2 to casting rolls for all friendly wizards within 12" of the bearer! That's huge! Looking at other units in the army, the Mortis Engine and Corpse Cart with Unholy Lodestone (there it is again!) can layer another two auras for a whopping +4 to cast for your little council of Necromancers.
What? Legion of Sacrament is the magic heavy Legion? Mannfred would disagree.
Skeletons
Deathrattle plays a huge role in the new book, and appears to be the building blocks of the army in every way. They got their own Warscroll Battalion (actually, it's the third rendition of this Battalion with one on the app and one in the Death Grand Alliance book), and it's really solid. It gives you (say it with me now!) yet another way to bring back infantry and cavalry models back to the fold. You can automatically return a single model to every unit from the Battalion that's near the Wight King, but that's not all. The Wight King also gives nearby units a 4" move in the hero phase, giving them some much needed speed! This is your plug and play Skeletal Horde.
Summary
I think this is a really solid Batlletome. It feels like a dark, spooky twin brother to Nurgle. Life and Death jokes notwithstanding, while they have similarities in being able to interact heavily with the table itself and being pretty sturdy, they are both very different. Where Nurgle is a tough-as-nails, low model count army, Legions of Nagash is an implacable horde of infantry supported by lots of characters (but seriously... lots of characters) and ever-replenishing magics keeping the army sustained in its perpetual hunger.
I think that the Legions are very well balanced, as there's not one that's just blatantly better than the others. I'm leaning toward Legion of Night as my favourite, but each build will benefit from a different Legion.
Deathly Invocations is a great change, and I think it adds a great deal to the army. You have to think about it more than Banners required, but you can also stack a significant amount of healing on multiple units with Heroes that were gonna be in your army anyway.
And I think that, once again, the strength of the Battletome is going to be in its combos and it's players. A savvy and cunning Death general will be a truly ominous foe. It's less about 'auto-includes' and more aimed at designed a well oiled machine of war. In short, I love the Battletome. The artwork is beautiful, there's a great portion of the book dedicated to the other two ways to play, and all of the Warscrolls have had lots of time and attention lavished upon them. I would have loved to see a few new kits (Oh, for a Zombie Giant!), but at the same time, I think there is so much to explore in the army now that it probably doesn't NEED new kits to be beautiful and current.
Well... Zombies aside.
So there you have it. Hopefully, this was an enjoyable read for you. While I'm by no means a Death expert, I'd love to see what your plans are if you're planning on taking your shambling hordes to battle! Favourite Legion? Go-to general? Must have combo? I haven't scrupulously covered absolutely everything (every trait, artefact, spell and allegiance shenanigans) because, well, half the fun is reading through all the cool new stuff for your army. But I hope that this post has piqued your interest, and I can't wait to see your Legions in action; slow, shambling action, but action nonetheless.
It will be interesting to see each Death player's take on the book and watch certain combos rise to the top. I'd love to know your thoughts!
Cheers for reading,
Gabe
