Welcome to our Introduction Series, articles that discuss why you should play a specific army. This article will cover the Undead, below you will find links to our other army introductions.
Other Introductions:
Undead
Greetings prospective Lords of the Night, it is my pleasure to introduce you to my favorite Kings of War army, the eternal Undead. I played Undead for nearly the entirety of Second Edition, and when Third Edition released I got so excited that I started a new Undead army to continue with the shambling horde. (You can follow my hobby blog working on this army here)
I am obviously a big fan of the masters of death, but why? Well read further, and find yourself opened up to the secrets of the dark arts.
Before I go further, if you are looking for a unit by unit breakdown, you can find our full Undead Army Review here.
Why Play Undead
The Grind
There are many different playstyles in Kings of War, some armies alpha strike, hitting the opponents quickly and with overwhelming force, others shoot their enemies off the board, still, others flood the table with units hoping to overwhelm their foes; Undead have a wide range of strategies they can do, but one of the things they excel at is The Grind!
What do you mean by this?
Well, thanks to a number of very cost-efficient units, that are Fearless, with good Nerve, Undead excel at baiting an opponent into charging into their line, surviving the charge, and then through several rounds of combat slowly grinding their opponents away.
Every Undead unit has Life Leech 1, allowing it to heal at least 1 damage back every time it deals combat damage, and some units are able to have Life Leech 2, or even Life Leech 3 with an item! This means, once battle lines collide you heal some damage back, while, hopefully your enemy is not.
In addition, Undead have several spell casters, which can either take Heal, or Drain Life, to help take even more damage off your units. With the right support Undead battle lines can be incredibly difficult to shift. If you like the idea of surviving an opponents’ punch, and then slowly wearing them away, Undead just might be perfect.
Surge Shenanigans
Surge, a spell that allows you to move Shambling units in the shooting phase, and possible contact enemy units and hit them with a charge, is an incredible ability, and Undead are one of the best armies at utilizing this strategy.
First, and most importantly, they have many, many great options that Shamble. This means, with the right builds, an opponent will not be able to block every Surge opportunity the Undead get, there are just too many threatening options. Wraiths, Wights, Zombie Trolls, Goreblights, Mummies; all are extremely solid choices to Surge into the front or flanks of an enemy, but even Skeletons, Zombies, and Revenants can be threatening when getting double attacks.
Second, Undead has a plethora of great casters that can take Surge. Do you want a cheap Surge caster or two, take 50 point Necromancers; want 1 more expensive character, take a Liche King, even Revenant Kings, Vampires, and Cursed Pharaohs can take Surge, allowing the Undead to have a great deal of flexibility while building their list.
This means that while Undead frequently cannot move as fast as other armies, their flexibility within their Surge bubbles is the best there is. This also importantly allows you to counter flanking forces from your opponent, or slap down flyers trying to envelop your flanks and rears, just pivot, move, and then Surge in!
Surge is an incredible tool, but it does take a while to get used to in order to get the most bang for your buck. If you are new to the game, expect many early games this to feel like a weakness, but as you get used to how movement works, you will begin to see all the possibilities that Surge creates.
Hammers Hammer Hammers
One of the biggest strengths of the Undead list is the wealth of options they have. So many different units that are Regular and provide unlock, so many different tarpits, characters, great fast options, but perhaps more than anything, Undead are spoiled with Hammer options.
In Kings of War, a Hammer is usually a unit that can blow through most opposing enemy choices in a turn, maybe two turns if it is an infantry horde. Many armies possess 1-2, or even no Hammer options; Undead have 3, with 2 further “scalpels” rather then Hammers. Undead can take Soul Reaver Infantry, Wights, Soul Reaver Cavalry, and if you want more of a finesse Hammer, or Scalpel, then Werewolves and Vampires on Dragons or Pegasus.
Each of these choices is fantastic at removing enemy opposition, some of them are better in Surge heavy lists, others better with Alpha Strike, and still others best when used with patience while looking for Flank or Rear charges, but all of them are threats the enemy will have to take seriously.
This wealth of hammer options provide Undead with a great deal of flexibility in how they design successful lists. It also means that someone playing Undead for a long time, such as myself, can go through multiple iterations of a list, and each time gets some of the joy of playing a “new” army, without having to invest the time or money into an entirely new collection.
They are a Forgiving Army
Finally, and perhaps most importantly for a new player, Undead is a forgiving army to learn the game with. They have the fortitude for many of their units to survive charges, letting you move into enemy charge ranges, but often still getting to counter-attack. They have very few bad units, with nearly everything in the list being pretty good, and their hammers are some of the best in the game. And finally, Surge can help make up for the little movement errors that any new player makes.
All of this combined together means that Undead is an extremely forgiving army to learn the game with, and one that as you begin to master aspects of the game, provides some very rewarding ways to win.
In addition, Mantic’s Undead range is quite solid, their Zombies particularly standing out as some of the best on the market. There are enough other Undead ranges too, that you can swap out Mantic models you don’t like, for other companies’ stuff very easily.
Undead, thanks to their dirty appearance, and combination of bone and rotting flesh can paint up extremely fast; basically base coat, and hit them with a wash and you have a solid tabletop finish, letting new generals get them on the table relatively fast.
Well, I hope this has helped you get an idea of how Undead play in Kings of War, if you are looking for a more in-depth Undead Army review, with unit by unit analysis, check out my Undead Review.
