Tome of Undead Tactic
verse 66: "XBOW formation basic" [Summon], [VHDM], and [Cross-Bow]
Note: All basic tactic does not and should not include terrian consideration ...
One should first familiar with all elements function and intra-support before
move to more advance stagging.
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X-Bow Army Roster (2,000):
Characters (1,000 pts) ---------------------------------
4 VP 453 Liche [Amulet of Fire, Cursed Book, Rending Sword, Vambraces of Lightning], X-Bow
1 VP 87 Bat.Std.Bearer <-> (shield)
1 VP 168 Mummy King [T.K.Crown, Relic Sw] (shield, L. Armor)
1 VP 98 Wight Lord [Free Wight Blade, Heart of Woe, The Jade Amulet] (Shield, Light Armor)
1 VP 129 Wraith Xbow Regiment Champion [The Black Amulet] (shield, Heavy Armor)
1 VP 65 Wight S. Horsemen Champion [Free Wight Blade, B. Gem of Gnar](shield, L.armor, horse)
Regiments (781 pts) : -----------------------------------
VP cost Troop Type Number
1 130 Xbow S. Warrior (5) [B. of Might], musician, (Xbow, shield, H. Armor)
1 148 Halberd S1 Warrior (5) [B. of Def], musician (Halberd, shield, H. Armor)
1 116 Spear S2 Warrior (5) [War B.], musician (Spear, shield, H. Armor)
1 198 Zombies (34) (non-magical std), musician, (Shield H. Armor)
1 44 Mummy King's Zombie (6) (non-magical std), musician, (shield, L. Armor)
1 145 Skelly Horsemen (5) [Doomrider Banner], (Lance, shield) !Fast Cavalry!
War Machines (219 pts) : -------------------------------
1VP 87 Undead Chariot#1 [B. of Sorcery] (Crew shield, L.armor)
1VP 66 Undead Chariot#2 [ - ] (bow, Crew shield, L.armor)
1VP 66 Undead Chariot#3 [ - ] (bow, Crew shield, L.armor)
18 VP TOTAL
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"XBOW formation"
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzmbzzz
smb
ss2 HBGCbmx mbs
xx ss1
CbH zbKm ch1+b
HH zzz
ch2 HH ch3
B=Battle standard bearer
b=Standard Bearer
C=Regiment Champion
ch=chariot
ch+b=chariot and a magic standard Bearer
CSH=wraith/wight champ, standard (doomrider banner), horsemen ...
G=general
H=any hero with 2 magic items
Kzz=Mummy king (T.K.Crown) and zombie guards
m=musician
s=skeleton warrior (shield, Heavy Armou) movement 3", charge 6", and musician "reform" option
s1 = Halber, s2 = spear
x= skelly (shield, H. armor. x-bow), ... want it longer ?
SHIELDING UNITS (the two "sss", one big "zzz", and one small "zzz" units):
Halberd & shield unit: You will lose the protectioin of shild in h2h. But at missile range you
will need that shield. This is your best H2H but have weak armor in H2h so watch out!
Spear unit: Against something really fast and not of high T. or AC, like their skirmish
or fast cavalry units.
ZZZ, zombie are your big cheap unit: For any high T. units like some monster, nothing will
help much here if you cannot get through its hide/armour, just tie them up and win on RnF with
this punching bag. Better to hit them critters with your hard hitting units from the side.
Get as many shielding units with at least one of each type and support them with fast hard
hitting cavalry and chariots. If you know in advance what your enemy's army is consist of
as powerful character, shooting games, or RnF (big block) then you should counter it with
the appropriate units.
XBOW BLOCK: (skeleton foot warrior unit)
AC 3+ = 4+ save (shield + Heave armour + xbow) -> 3+ save
WS 6 = WS 2 -> WS 5 (MK ) -> WS 6
or WS 10 if MK can have blessed sword. (then banner of Might is replaced with something else.
Enemy -1 to hit = Curse book
Combat Resolution = +2/+3 [Regiment banner, BSB, and (banner of war)]
(Relic Sword table) | (Blessed Sword table)
you score a hit on enemy
WS 1- 5 66% | WS 1 - 9 66%
WS 6-10 50% | WS 10 50%
enemy scores a hit on you
WS 1-2 needs a 6 | WS 1 - 4 needs a 6
WS 3-6 needs 5,6 | WS 5 - 10 needs 5,6
WS 7-10 has 50% |
| WS10 is great w/ Halberd since its AC is only 5+ in H2H
then you xbow still have 3+ AC save : shield +1, H. armor +2, banner of Shielding +1.
Summon them Xbow critters ASAP and that's in CAPITAL! And when you have enough in this unit,
I like 24+ in one loooong line, cast Danse ... and there goes the bolts !
After a few load of bolts, if enemy still can attack me from the front with force,
I then fold the xbow unit back to 4+x6 prior or during H2H and attack enemy's flank
with my mounted units or other screening units.
*** MOST IMPORTANT ***
Your character block: General, Battle Standard Bearer, and Wight Lord can move to different
unit as situation warrent. They are your key to victory and it draw any intelligent enemy
fire like magnet, always put them in with RnF, the bigger the better.
Characters are the main killing machines. So I like to field a big block of
heavy armoured foot unit and put my general, BSB, and Heros in it. I also
use single long line formation, assumeing I got a few good summoning, to screen my chariots
and cavalry in the back. The mounted troops in turn protect the back and flank
of the foot soilders in addition to be able to hit enemy unit after the main unit engage in H2H.
Its always fun to see what other would do to counter my "XBOW formation"
Battle Standard Bearer and Musician are a must have in this lineup, also
x-bow sometime have two different targets to shoot
I omit the other screening blocks, bat swarm and such , but it is there,
This x-bow is my main hitting block ... so summon like creazy !
My opponent has to try to take this out asap. Sometime I don't even
have to move, just chuck those bolts away. Then switch back to (4+)x6 prior
to H2H depend on how good my shooting is ...
It did back fire a few times though. There is a couple of weakness to
this ... ...
For this to work my general must take summon 1st lvl, Danse, and one more,
make it count!
Mummy King's BODY GUARDs: Zombie with Light armor & shield ... almost never fight with
this unit ... just a RnF for the Mr. Mummy King really. Lots of missiles ...
TACTIC:
Number is key in undead h2h. Mine anyway ... Summon like creazy ...
BofS or PofK are top on my list of items of choice for my General ...
But bear in mind ... your main hitting critter is your character/general
No matter what you put on that shitty SW2 ST2 S3 2 bit no good skelly/zombie ...
Well ... there is a way to fix that too ...
To jack up your ws2 ans st2 skelly and make it a better hitter you have
to really think it through ...
A mummy king (hero) with T.K. crown and Relic/Blessed SW hanging back a bit
will almost double the value every point you spend in your h2h skelly units.
And with a standard of shielding and other protection magic items adding
onto your main units champion will certainly make your opponent cry ...
Utilize magic standards every chance you get. It does not come out of
your character point allocation ... so use it !
Wight champion is dirt cheap and with good choice of some cheap magic, black
gem, HoW, can effectively screen your cheese (the general) ...
As for general, I always make him take skull staff ... so he would know
to hit who with what ... or at least who has what to hit him ...
Horsemem Wraith champion with a protection item, Doomrider banner, and
lance/spear horsemen is terror on the loose ... but only 5 on LDship ...
Don't forget one chariot can buy a dirt cheap magic standard !
Have some mix feeling about BSB ... but you get 2 break test for your zombies !
Its my 2 cents, ok half a dollar, worth so don't blame me if it is not
bullet proof. And it shouldn't be, tactical deployment is much much
more deadly than static stuff here.
Just don't loose your sight of getting VPs large and small anyway you
can and don't give your opponent an easy VP to pick.
Nickles and dimes, hum .. bones and chips do add up you know ...
- Tony C. Ko - 10/6/97