Raze and Ruin 2015 - Tally Comp Preview Part 5

You'd think after doing three of these I'd have figured out what to say in the introduction by now... Anyway, here is the comp for the last of the regular army books. This time last year, this would be it. However, the End Times has given us many more options and tomorrow's post will deal with some of those. For today though, we have the two Undead armies, Warriors and Wood Elves.

Tomb Kings

-Tomb Kings start on a Comp Score of +3

-2 High Queen Khalida, only if a unit of 40+ Skeleton Archers is in the army
-1 Arkhan the Black

-1 Neferra’s Scroll of Mighty Incantations
-1 per unit of 4+ Necropolis Knights after the first
-1 per Casket of Souls
-1 for the 2nd Screaming Skull Catapult

+1 for a Tomb Herald Battle Standard Bearer
+1 for the first unit of 20+ Skeleton Warriors (not Archers)
+1 for the first unit of Skeleton Horsemen (not Horse Archers)
+1 per unit of Tomb Swarms
+1 per unit of Ushabti
+1 per unit of Sepulchral Stalkers

+1 per Warsphynx
+1 per unit of 15+ Tomb Guard

+1 per Necrolith Colossus
+1 Prince Apophas
+1 The Herald Nekaph

+1 Settra The Imperishable

Changes

I've tried to make Tomb Kings a more inviting prospect this year. They have been seeing a mini resurgence this year, mainly thanks to the very kind ETC comp. Unfortunately with my format, making the necessary rules changes to get to that sort of level is beyond the scope of this comp document, as I want to play Warhammer almost out of the box. What I can do is give them some fairly easy to get bonuses. 

To start, a +3 basic score, and very few individual negatives. I've also shifted the negative for Necropolis Knights to the second unit of 4+, giving them another pseudo-bonus. It would surprise me a lot to see a Tomb Kings army with a negative score now.

The positives remain as they were last year, except for the number of Tomb Guard needed for the bonus unit. I've also added in Settra to the bonus pool - I'd be surprised if we saw him, but if someone did take the plunge they should be rewarded.

Vampire Counts

-1 for the first Red Fury, -2 for each subsequent Red Fury (only if on a Lord level character)
-1 per Quickblood
-1 per Ethereal character after the 1st
-1 per unit of Dire Wolves after the 3rd
-1 per unit of 7+ Crypt Horrors
-1 per unit of 9+ Black Knights

-1 per unit of 1 Spirit Host after the 1st

-1 per unit of Hexwraiths after the 1st
-1 per Terrorgheist, increased to -2 for the second Terrorgheist

-1 per unit of 4+ Morghasts (Harbingers or Archai)
-2 Count Mannfred

+2 per Zombie Dragon
+2 per Abyssal Terror
+1 per Coven Throne

+1 for the first unit of 40+ Skeleton Warriors
+1 per unit of Bat Swarms
+1 per Corpse Cart
+1 per unit of 15+ Grave Guard

+1 per unit of 5+ Vargheists
+1 per Varghulf
+1 per Black Coach
+1 per each 4 Blood Knights in the army

+1 Krell, Lord of Undeath

+1 Konrad von Carstein

+1 Isabella von Carstein
+2 for Vlad and Isabella Von Carstein in the same army
+2 for Heinrich Kemmler and Krell in the same army

 

Changes

Some minor modifications here rather than a complete overhaul. Some of the unit sizes for negatives have been changed, for instance you can have a unit of 6 Crypt Horrors without it costing you now. I tried several different options to combine the comp for the Ethereal units, but all of them left holes that could be exploited. In the end, I settled for the simple option of hitting each type after the first.

The Terrorgheist comp is interesting, in that only the 2nd Bat gets the higher negative score. This means that it is still possible to take the entertaining 3 Bat list without it being penalised more than needed.

I've also added a line for Morghasts. They are very good in larger numbers, so needed a negative, but picking the unit size was an issue. I've put it in at 4+ for now, we will see how that works. Count Mannfred also saw his penalty increase - a standard Level 4 comes in at -1, so Manny certainly needed to be hit harder than that!

As for the positives, there are few changes. To match the Tomb King equivalent, the size of a Grave Guard unit needed is dropped to 15+. The Blood Knight line is modified to models rather than units, and bonuses for 3 of the weaker Special Characters are added, in addition to the rather characterful 'Family' comp lines at the bottom.

Warriors of Chaos

- Mono God Armies. If your army consists solely of units/characters with the same Mark of Chaos, you may apply the below bonuses. Note that anything that does not have a Mark of Chaos, or an option for one, can all be included in such an army without costing it this bonus, but everything that has the option for a Mark must have a Mark and it must be the same Mark.

+1 Mark of Nurgle

+1 Mark of Slaanesh

+1 Mark of Tzeentch

+2 Mark of Khorne

-1 per character with a 3+ ward save, with an additional -1 should that character also have the Third Eye of Tzeentch
-1 per Daemonic Mount

-1 per Disc of Tzeentch
-1 per Gorebeast/Chaos Chariot after the 3rd
-1 per Chimera with the Regeneration special rule
-1 per unit of Skullcrushers of Khorne

-1 per Hellcannon
-1 Throgg the Troll King
-1 per unit of Chaos Trolls taken as a Core choice

-1 per unit of Putrid Blight Kings
-1 per Daemon Prince, with additional penalties for the following options taken:
     -1 for Daemonic Flight
     -1 for a 2+ Armour Save or better

+1 per Manticore

+1 per unit of 15+ Chaos Warriors

+1 for the first unit of 20+ Marauders

+1 for the first unit of 10+ Forsaken
+1 per unit of Dragon Ogres
+1 per unit of 6+ Chaos Ogres
+1 per Warshrine

+1 per unit of 15+ Chosen

+1 per unit of Skullreapers

+1 per unit of Wrathmongers                           
+1 per Giant                                                                       
+1 per Shaggoth
+2 per Slaughterbrute                                         
+2 per Mutalith Vortex Beast
+1 Archaon
+1 Kholek Suneater
+1 Sigvald the Magnificent
+1 Valkia the Bloody

+1 Skarr Bloodwrath

Changes

Another army that are very hard to comp correctly, as so many of their units are decent yet overshadowed by some that are broken. Warriors players may like to know though that I've actually reduced the comp on them slightly. The obvious places to see this are the Disc Rider and the Daemon Prince. These guys are good, but previously they were potentially a -3 and a -5 at worse which seemed over the top. So, the 3+ Ward line has had the armour save restriction removed, and the Daemon Prince is now allowed to fly and be marked as Nurgle without penalty. 

The three End Times units all have a line in the comp - Blight Kings on the negative side and the two Khorne units each get a positive. I've also added Skarr Bloodwrath to the positive Special Characters scorers. There seem to be plenty of ways to get a positive scoring list, and an all-Khorne list certainly seems a good option at this point!

Wood Elves

- Enchanted Arrows:

Add up the number of models with Enchanted Arrows in the army. Models with Trueflight Arrows or Hagbane Tips count double for this. If this number is above 60, you score -1 for each 10 (or part of 10) above 60.

-1 per Spellweaver on the Lore of Shadow
-1 Moonstone of the Hidden Ways
-1 for each character mounted on an Elven Steed after the 2nd

-1 per Glade Rider unit after the 3rd

-1 per unit of 7+ Sisters of the Thorn  

-1 per unit of Wild Riders after the 1st
-1 for 7+ Waywatcher models, increased to -2 for 15+ Waywatcher models

-1 for each unit with the Scout special rule after the 2nd

+1 per Unicorn

+1 per Great Stag

+1 per Branchwraith (max +2)

+1 for the first unit of 20+ Eternal Guard
+1 for the first unit of Dryads
+1 per unit of 15+ Wildwood Rangers
+1 per unit of 10+ Wardancers
+1 per unit of 6+ Treekin
+1 per Treeman (including Durthu and Treeman Ancients) after the 1st

+1 per unit of 3+ Great Eagles
+1 Araloth
+1 Drycha

+2 Orion

+3 if the army contains 10 or fewer models equipped with an Asrai Longbow

Changes

There have certainly been a few changes here! It was pointed out that there were several units in this list that were unfairly comped, with Waywatchers being especially singled out. Two small units came in at -2 due to the Scout line, and effectively banned other Scouting units from being taken. I've upped the Scout line to after the 2nd now, but I'm still not sure if this is too low. I'd love to hear from some Wood Elf players on the subject!

I've also tried to give them some options for positive scores too. As with other armies that rely on shooting, there is a high scoring option if you decline to take it - though as some of their characters come with bows a small amount of shooting is allowed to get the bonus. I'm not sure that all the units have been considered though, so as always if you think there is a unit that needs a bonus, let me know!

Well, that's all I have for today. All army books have been covered, and all that remains are the End Times lists. We will get on to them tomorrow, but for now I'll leave you as I always do - with a plea for feedback. If you have any strong feelings about this, either about something that is too harshly negative or something that should be a positive that isn't, get in touch and let me know. You can reach me through Twitter, via PM or the event thread on TWF, or by email. I may not be able to reply to everyone immediately, but everything sent is read and will be at least considered.

Hope you've enjoyed these, see you tomorrow for the conclusion!