Life Stealer: If any enemy models were slain by this general, regain D3 wounds. This is great, while the army has access to a lot of healing, the Kavalos will often be far from the rest of the army, either flanking or stealing objectives, so giving it some survivability on its own is great.

Steve: That’s a good point; it’s always nice to see a variety of units in lists. Finally, do you have any thoughts on how you would go about designing an army list that would work to counter some of the things we have discussed here?Incorporate an auto-unbind artefact or ability – for instance, a Knight-Incantor or an Aetheric Navigator with a Voidstone Orb. While these abilities are single-use only, they may be crucial to stopping that one vital spell. Katakros, Zandtos and Vokmortian are part of the Mortis Praetorians subfaction. You can include them in other legions but they do not gain the benefit of that subfaction. Nagash and Arkhan gain the benefit of whatever Legion they’re in, being the only named characters in the game to slot in to whichever subfaction you so choose. While constructed to fight Nagash's wars without question or hesitation they are not unthinking automatons and are capable of independent thought but limited to matters of conflict. During the soul-crafting process it is made sure they have total obedience and devotion to Nagash but are given sufficient autonomy to ensure that they can fight on skilfully should their Hekatos leaders or even the generals themselves are cut down. [1a] The Ivory Host are defined by a trait that fundamentally changes how they function as an army. Should any of your multi-Wound models be injured, they and their nearby allies suffer from a reduced save but get a bonus to hit in return!

Mortis Praetorians benefit more from Katakros’ unique Command Ability, Supreme Lord of the Bonereaper Legions, than any other Ossiarch legion, gaining an additional +1 to their saving throws as well as the +1 to hit Katakros gives ALL Ossiarch units.

List Building

Command Trait: Katakros’ Chosen –Once per battle gain D3 Relentless Discipline points. A bit of a downer, since its once per game and you could get garbage. The forms of the Ossiarch Bonereapers are created by the Mortisan craftsmen using the bones collected from the Tithe of Bones. But unlike most Necromancers who simply imbue it with unlife wherever it lies via the use of Shyishan energy, the Mortisons process the material extensively, for though bone has a natural resonance with amethyst magic it is brittle and porous. Instead, they mould it through arcane means into sculpted new shapes that are harder, denser and more suited to war. The spirit that animates an Ossiarch Bonereaper is also manufactured using the souls of their enemies. There is one newcomer, Impenetrable Ranks which gives a unit a +1 to ward rolls. While in most situations that means a unit can get a 5+ ward, which is still pretty good, it doesn’t just say Deathless Warriors which means if you’re crazy and run Nagash, you can get a 4+ ward. Have fun. Command Traits A bit of Undead catapult shooting to remind you of the Tomb Kings. You’ve got three shooting profiles, all with the potential to inflict ‘Strike Last’ on their target. Sample Ossiarch Bonereapers Army (1000 pts) For one, you get pretty burned on Heroic Actions. One of the most frustrating is that Heroic Leadership to give a Hero a free CP to use doesn’t help, as it doesn’t give an RDP. This means unless a Hero is injured you can’t do a ton on your turn. You can unbind an endless spell with Heroic Willpower but that’s…about it. You’re obviously saving Their Finest Hour for when it matters, so it’s a lot of sitting out of a major mechanic on your own turn.

Your basic infantry unit here, and they are GREAT at holding up threats. Their Nadrite Weapon ability gives them exploding 6s, and their command ability gives them unmodifiable saves. Put your Boneshaper behind them, and they’ll rarely move. 4. Immortis Guard Big changes here – the self-proclaimed Supreme Lord of the Undead has been completely rewritten conceptually. Some things have stayed the same, he still casts up to 8 spells that degrades down to 4 through the damage table and he’s still a Warmaster that knows all the spells of the army you take him in, and hand of dust is the same. Everything else has changed. Command Ability: Unstoppable Advance: The first of the Bonereapers Unique command abilities, this allows you to add 3″ to movement of a unit. You cannot use it on the same unit multiple times, but this is really useful since many of your infantry and foot heroes have some awful movement speeds so this gives them the extra movement they need.The basic difference between the Nadrite Spears and Blades (aka Swords) is that the Spears have a 2″ reach and the Swords have -1 Rend. They have the same profile otherwise. What makes this such a tough decision is that they are on 25mm bases! First among their kind, the Mortis Praetorians are Orpheon Katakros’ personal army. Disciplined and effective even by the standards of their brethren, these peerless conquerors rely on tactics as much as might to secure victory on the battlefield. The Rules Dire Ultimatum: -2 Bravery to enemy units within 12″ of this general. Combined with similar traits, this can add up, though make sure to screen your general from harm, as 12″ is getting awfully close. That’s right, you didn’t lose access to your old Command abilities. Basically all of them returned intact and unlike other command abilities you can still use them multiple times in a turn. The issuer and receiver must be different each time, but you can still, say issue Unstoppable Advance onto several units for that +3″ of movement. Both are now allowed to cast Mystic Shield and Arcane Bolt multiple times, which is a huge buff for Nagash who would often run out of useful spells to cast when at high health.

Petrifex Elite used to be the big boogey man of Age of Sigmar. Oh, how we long for the simple days where +1 save was the worst an army could do to you. Now only rerolling 1s to save in melee, there’s arguably no great reason to take them in competitive play. The extra rend, wounds, and artefact are nice, but you’re comparing these competitively against the +1 to hit and save and five RDP with Katakros in Mortis Praetorians, or the excellent movement shenanigans of Stalliarch Lords. That being said, Petrifex Elite aren’t bad, and you can probably still make a very viable competitive list out of them. We just haven’t seen one perform well yet. Stalliarch Lords Overall a pretty solid bunch, but a few of them rely on bringing specific models and you won’t be able to fit everything into your list. Units Heroes Scroll of Command: -2 bravery within 6″, the Kavalos will want to get into melee combat often so this is pretty good, especially if you can combine it with other bravery traits. If you can’t it’s only so-so. You may become ‘That Guy’ in your local meta. Some of your options are pretty strong and may not make you friends easily. Yes, we’re looking at you, Mortek Crawler.

Legion Ability: Unstoppable Juggernauts – Formerly+1 to saves for all units, which was incredible, as of the July 2020 FAQ reduced to simply reroll save rolls of 1 in melee. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Especially hard hit are Mortek Guard, who for a single RDP can reroll all saves, making this Legion Ability useless. If you want the +1 to saves now you need to look to the Bad Boi of the Necropolis, Orephon Katakros in Mortis Praetorians. D History Lesson over, what did they go with? Well the answer was to give the army Command Points like everyone else but they get an absolute ton of them Katakrosian Deathglaive – 2 Necropolis Stalker units and 1 Morghast Harbinger Unit –Basically gives all the units within the battalion scout, giving them a free 6″ of movement at the start of the game. Good for getting those units into melee faster, which is exactly what you want from them. Katakros also grants an additional three if he is your general and is on the board, taking him to a whopping five RDP per turn; three for his innate ability, one for being a hero, and one for having the Liege key-word (the fellow on his right being a Liege).