Well it seems that most of the guys are coming to the Tale of Gamers with little to no Fantasy experience, it’s all good, you have to start somewhere with what I believe to be the most rewarding and tactical of GW’s games. I however have been playing the game for around 18 months after coming back to the hobby and deciding that Space Marines didn’t cut it for me (although I’ve dabbled in the newer edition and it aligns more to the fine memories I hold onto of 2nd edition, so in the future I’d like to give it a proper chance).

Currently I run a 2400 point Ogre Kingdoms army which I love to play, generally running them with a mix of filth and fluff (last few games I’ve had 6 Yettis, just because!) So coming from an army that has a relatively high power level (or some would argue had, due to the balancing GW seem to be doing with all of the 8th books) I’ve wanted to use an army that would improve my tactical play as well as bing easy to paint to a decent standard. Loving an underdog, I thought I would go for the widely considered bottom rung army, The Tomb Kings.

This is not to say that I’m not a fan of the fluff, damn, the fluff is sweet. You’ve got the ideal of a united future, brooding dark treachery and rising to extract revenge in full. It plays out like every good hardcore album should. The models are pretty cool too, skellies are a classic but the character models are sweet (no other book has a dude made from beatles, not to be confused with The Beatles) and the TK (as they are known on the street) have a host of cool constructs like the giant Warsphinx and the awesomely named Necrosphinx.

16 Skeleton warriors, primed and ready for some brush action

I’ve had this tomb itch for a while now, so I already had the book in my possession, the next thing I needed was to start buying some models. My first step was to start filling my army’s core and I had my first decision to make: archer skellies or straight up warriors? After a quick chat with my fellow necromancer (albeit Vampire Counts) Steve, I decided that I’ll need both in the coming war on humanity. So off to Games Workshop to buy myself a box of skellies, which can be built as sword and board (shield to the uninitiated), spear (who will lose their parry save for the extra rank of attacks they will receive) and archer dudes.

Unit Champion, extra hand weapon so I hopefully remember his extra attack

I opted to go with making the sword and board guys first as this will give me a broader range of items to paint for my test models. In my mind I thought these guys would be simple to build and I guess they are, but when compared to a fatty ogre, everything just seems fiddly. In total, it took me 4 hours to cut, build and spray 16 warriors, a job that in my mind would take half of the time. Oh well, if the Tomb Kings can wait beneath the sands patiently, I can show some restraint and persevere.

Cool dudeds chillin

“I believe, them bones are me,
Some say, we’re born into the grave”

The catacomb dirge of the Khemri has been calling me for nigh on a year and now I have succumbed to its necromantic charms.