We are back with another guest article from Brindley. A big shout out of thanks to Brindley for taking the time to write our Empire of Dust army review!
Hello again! To follow up my recent Varangur army review, I have decided to write one for the “dry” undead. While I have next to no experience playing the army itself yet, i’ve played against it many times and have theory hammered lists for years. This is one of the factions that I was already interested in for 2nd edition, but really caught my eye with the release of 3rd. I already had the Mantic Empire of Dust mega army kit as well as a mix of skorne and GW Tomb Kings models, so I was ready to go!
For future reference, I will shorten Empire of Dust down to their typical acronym, EoD.
Lore
The background for the EoD is actually very closely tied with Ophidia, a faction that has been teased by Mantic, but likely won’t be released for a year or two yet. Essentially this powerful kingdom, known originally as the Ahmunites, went down the dark path of necromancy to the point of raising the dead to act as unliving servants, regardless of the complaints of their families. A large exodus of people fled from the northern territories and re-established themselves as the kingdom of Ophidia, setting up new rules to govern their use of necromancy.
Due to fear of the encroaching Ahmunite armies, the Ophidians were forced to unleash devastating magic upon the Ahmunite people and cities, effectively stripping them to the bone with intense sandstorms. I thought this was interesting because not only is it quite dark, but really puts the actions of the Ophidians, aka the “good guys”, in a dark light as well due to condemning an entire civilization.
The background then goes into the reawakening of the EoD and how their vast legions have arisen to the behest of the power hungry pharaohs. I’m a big fan of their military, they have impressive naval fleets, because that is something that really sets them apart with Mantic’s IP. As usual, there is a section that describes each unit in the list, and that unlike the undead faction, there are no “fleshy” units in their ranks (aside from scavengers), only skeletal infantry/monsters, enchanted statues, and mummies. A few standouts for me were the wyrms, which only grow wings as they get older and until then are burrowing creatures, and the djinn, which are trapped into statues and rail against their imprisonment. I can’t wait for Mantic to eventually round out the EoD miniatures line, there is so much potential!
Initial Faction Outlook
The unique army special rule for EoD units is casket of the damned. This has been carried over from 2nd edition, and as before, i’m not sure I would pay for the one-use surge bonus on many units. I consider EoD more of a reactionary army that focuses on withstanding and punishing alpha strike lists, so they are not often stressed about surging units across the table. This can, however, really catch opponents off guard, and I could see it being great for hammers like enslaved guardians.
The immediate change with EoD that I noticed going into 3rd is the reduction of 1 point of nerve for most skeleton keyword units, similar to varangur’s faction-wide hit, but also tended to see a drop in points to compensate for it. This doesn’t bother me, because I thought the nerve felt irregularly high before, and you’re still fearless anyway!
Their infantry now have more defined roles, with clear differences between skeletons, revenants, mummies, archers, and deadeyes. Their shooting has taken a big hit in some areas, while others relatively saw improvements. Catapults are a prime example of this, as they improved greatly, while archers are likely not going to see the light of day for some time. The loss of wyrm riders won’t affect many lists because they were subpar before, but I will miss the scorpion.
Unit Breakdown
Skeletons
The unfortunate side effect of prevalent crushing strength and piercing in 2nd ed meant that skeletons tended to disappear VERY quickly, and were rarely taken. In fact I think the only competitive player I recall seeing utilizing skeletons was Dustin “superbeast” Howard. Most players preferred to instead take a horde or two of revenants, or 2 regiments of mummies for their anvils due to their fantastic resilience and ability to hit back.
Skeletons are much more relevant in 3rd edition because def4 can have more of an impact, alongside their cost reduction. Skeleton warrior troops are stupid cheap now, and in my opinion fantastic chaff or objective holders. Skeleton spearmen are a large points hike for the horde, but with the improved rules to phalanx could work out to be amazing in the right matchup or holding a flank. Never think of skeletons as a unit to deal damage, but rather units to take hits or aim for scenario play.
Revenants and Mummies
These guys now automatically have the two handed weapon upgrade, which both fits the models Mantic has, and distinguishes them from their wet undead counterparts. If you want a jack of all trades unit, midway between skeletons and mummies then these are for you!
Mummies got a warranted price increase, and still function as potentially the most resilient infantry in the game. Thematically I’d either take 2 regiments of these guys with a pharoah/shobik, or none. Troops are still a great potential option though for a tough chaff unit that hits hard.
Ranged infantry
Skeleton archers will feel the effects of the nerve hit the most, as their regiments now are that much closer to being removed by ranged attacks or opposing fast cavalry. Like most archers in 3rd ed, without any piercing access they will likely fall by the wayside for now.
Their elite counterparts the Deadeyes, however, are great! These guys are irregular, which poses an issue for some lists, but they make up for it by being some of the best ranged infantry in the game. If you compare them to elven archers, you pick up piercing and fearless in exchange for reduced nerve, defence, and speed. Considering that this is a backline unit that can be surged into terrain turn 1, that is a stat reduction i’ll happily take.
Cavalry and Chariots
Previously people rarely took the main melee cavalry option, and for good reason (they were terrible). That unit has now been replaced by revenant cavalry, arguably one of the best cavalry units in the game! As a troop, they are a fast, resilient, cheap, fearless, and hard hitting chaff unit. As a regiment, they become far more effective at surging into flanks, and can deal out much more damage. This unit is one of my auto includes.
The archer cavalry were typically phased out by chariots, due to the latter just being so much better in 2nd. In 3rd, they now have a more defined role as a harassing unit and are FAR better in melee. The regiment in a flank may even kill something!!
Chariots took a big hit, with the biggest impact being made irregular, along with every other faction’s chariots that have a ranged option. Their shots were cut in half, but they were given steady aim. This fits a far more thematic role for what you would expect from chariots, but currently I am not planning to use them.
Swarms
As before, EoD have two options for swarms, and both are great (though I will pretend the horde options don’t exist). The first is essentially a bunch of scarab beetles and scorpions, and this is a unit that dies easily due to its low defense, but is extremely cheap. For 60 points you get a scouting fearless chaff unit that can position itself up the field early on.
Scavengers give you a lot more for their increased cost, with their biggest drawback being the lack of fearless. Keep in mind, however, that this means you can move at the double, and for a flying speed 10 unit this is a big deal. They’ll struggle to hit anything due to Me5+, so their lifeleech 2 is largely wasted, however they have decent nerve, def 4, and are barely more expensive than gargoyles! Height 3 allows you to even cover line of sight to cavalry or large infantry units.
Large Infantry
Enslaved guardians no longer have to buy windblast! This is awesome, as not every general wants to try that 3rd level of movement shenanigans on top of using surge. This unit is fantastic now, as they hit nearly as hard as siegebreakers, are fearless, and are cheaper! With items they can be even better, but the priciest I would go is elite/vicious.
The guardian archers also saw an improvement, because they gained potshot and saw a cost reduction when most other ranged units went up. You can still give them elite or vicious to buff their shooting and combat, and they didn’t really need the piercing from banechant anyway.
Monsters and Titans
The bone giant gets a special mention for only seeing a minor nerve hit in an edition where every other faction’s giants now cost more and require bigger bases. Fantastic tradeoff, considering how crucial that small base is for surge shenanigans.
The bone dragon is now a titan, and while I know some guys really like this monster, I think I would prefer the revenant king due to it having higher defense, inspiring, and the ability to move at the double.
The monolith is so cool now! Depending on who you ask, you will get wildly varying opinions on how good this unit is. The fact that this is a resilient inspiring monster than can move up the field and simply sit on an objective is already great. The ability to surge any unit in a 4 foot diameter circle around it is fantastic. I’ve even heard of ideas like sitting a bone dragon behind it, then popping out and surging it into someone’s flank.
War engines
The balefire catapult, like many warmachines in 3rd, saw a big increase in effectiveness and reliability. Piercing 2 and pseudo-vicious allow it to have a much more reliable damage output.
Heroes
The revenant champion is an interesting hero option mainly for the ability to disorder enemy unit or hunt war engines. His inspiring revenants only isn’t massively useful unless you’re doing a more thematic build, but he is VERY resilient for his cost. Good luck finding a def 5 Nerve -/14 unit anywhere else for 65 points. Just be careful because he is not mighty.
The ahmunite pharoah saw a bit of a points increase, and has jumped back to def 6! Yaaay for nigh-unkillable heroes! The elite aura option is really cool, and if using a regiment of 2 of mummies i’ll definitely consider him. The pharaoh with wings is still a near auto-include if you need something to disorder enemies or project threat.
The cursed priest was always seen in 2nd ed lists, no matter what, and often in pairs or even triples. That decision is now much harder to make, because a priest will wind up being a good deal more expensive than the previous iteration if you still want heal+surge. He does however get to essentially add +2 to either of those spells when targeting keyword-skeleton units, which if you look closely is nearly half of our units! Drain life and weakness are also good options here.
Shobik dropped 60 FREAKING POINTS. I actually spoke with some idiots that thought he got nerfed due to dropping down to CS3, because apparently that was the only reason he was good?!? Shobik is an amazing cornerstone to lists that build around high defense, elite core units thanks to his iron resolve aura, very inspiring bubble, and threat as a hammer.
Summary
I think the EoD have retained their unique qualities in 3rd ed, with an abundant mix of resilient infantry, a wide array of ranged options, and a total of 7 monsters/titans! For those of you worried or frustrated about the loss of units, I can only say to have patience and see what happens. I would be willing to bet the pirates skeleton crew and Arkanten come back in a future clash of kings pack, as well as some potential new units down the line! In terms of their relative strength, I would place EoD as a top 10 faction in 3rd edition, though one of the trickier ones to do well with.
Sample Lists
I came up with two 2000 point list ideas below, that while not necessarily super competitive, would be fun to play and give you a good grasp of how the faction works.
The first list is a fun thematic one that only uses units if they have the skeleton keyword, to gain the benefit for surge and heal from your cursed high priest.
Skeletons in the Closet:
Skeleton Warriors Horde – 140
Skeleton Warriors Horde – 140
Revenants Reg – 125
Revenant Cavalry Reg – Strider Boots – 180
Revenant Cavalry Reg – Mead of Madness – 175
Skeleton Deadeye Crossbows Reg* – 120
Revenant Cavalry Troop – 105
Bone Giant – 190
Bone Giant – 190
Monolith – 120
EoD Balefire Catapult – 95
Rev King on Flying Wyrm – Surge, Mace of Crushing – 270
Cursed High Priest – Heal, Surge – 150
The second list utilizes high defense/high nerve units to maximize the benefits of lifeleech, iron resolve, and regen. This list is a literal brick, with some utility from cheap units, chaff, and cavalry.
Mummy City:
Skeleton Warriors – Horde – Fire Oil – 145
Mummies Reg – Mace of Crushing – 185
Mummies Reg – Healing Brew – 185
Revenant Cavalry Reg – Strider Boots – 180
Enslaved Guardians Horde – Blade of Slashing – 230
Skeleton Warriors – Troop – 55
Scavenger Reg* – 90
Bone Giant – 190
Monolith – 120
Soul Snare – 150
Ahmunite Pharoah – Elite Aura – 180
Idol of Shobik – 290
I still love playing EOD and I think they haven’t been impacted too much by third edition changes but the Bone Giants’ nerve dropping to 18 is going to see them dropping a lot faster in combat without some sort of heal happening. I agree completely about the Cursed High Priest, I am more likely to field 2 Pharoahs than even one Priest now. However, whereas the love for the Soul Snare! Still a great piece for any list.