Forbidden Power just came out and with it, two new armies have entered the battle for the Mortal Realms. Join us as we break down the Legion of Grief.
The first army of Forbidden Power we are looking at is the Legion of Grief which takes in a lot of the Nighthaunt models and smashes them together with Legions of Nagash.
A lot of this army is built around what I created in my Nighthaunt army. (I am also doing a 0 – 2000 point series of articles on them as well) The main addition of to this though is that instead of going for those sweet 10+ charges, we are looking at doing a bravery bomb. This is an interesting mechanic to try out as there is not a lot of armies out there that can really reduce the bravery of a unit by more than 1 or 2.
Starting with our leaders let’s look at what we are going to try out.
- Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed: 140 Points, leader 1 of 6 (General)
- Tomb Banshee: 80 Points, leader 2 of 6
- Tomb Banshee: 80 Points, leader 3 of 6
- Reikenor the Grimhailer: 180 Points, leader 4 of 6
- Necromancer: 110 Points, leader 5 of 6
- Necromancer: 110 Points, leader 6 of 6
Total: 700 Points
Characters in the Army:
Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed: Move 12” (fly), 4+ Save (ignoring rend), 10 Bravery, 6 Wounds
He has two attacks the first is sword: Range 1”, 4 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for 2 Damage. Then his horse attack: Range 1”, 2 Attacks, Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 5+, for 1 Damage. Whenever his sword attack slays a hero he heals a wound. He has a command ability Lord of Gheists: Range 18”, friendly Nighthaunt wholly within range, add 1 to their attacks characteristic.
Tomb Banshee: Move 6” (fly), 4+ Save (unmodifiable), 10 Bravery, 4 Wounds
Has a chill dagger attack: Range 1”, 1 Attack, Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, with -2 Rend, for D3 Damage. If the hit roll is a 6 it deals D3 mortal wounds instead. She has a howl attack in the shooting phase: Pick an enemy unit within 10” and roll 2D6, if it is more than the units Bravery they suffer mortal wounds equal to the difference.
Reikenor the Grimhailer: Move 14” (fly), Save 4+ (unmodifiable), 10 Bravery, 7 Wounds.
He has two melee attacks the first is Fellreaper: Range 2”, 4 attacks, hitting on a 4+ (on a 6 deals 2 mortal wounds), wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend, for 2 damage. His second attack is hooves and teeth: Range 1”, 3 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 4+, for 1 damage. Corpse Candles: In you hero phase, before casting a spell you can snuff a candle on himself or an enemy model within 12”.
That model suffers 1 mortal wound and you can add 1 to his casting if it was an enemy or add 3 if you did it to himself. Reaped Like Corn: You can re-roll failed hit rolls for attacks made by Fellreaper if the target unit has 5 or more models. This model is a wizard and can cast/unbind 1 spell per turn, his unique spell is Wraithstorm: Casting Value 7, Range 12”, Target is an enemy unit visible to the caster. That unit suffers D3 mortal wounds and if any are slain that unit immediately suffers an additional D3 mortal wound.
Necromancer: Move 5”, 5 wounds, 6+ save, and bravery of 10.
Staff attack: Range 2, 4+ to hit, 3+ to wound, with 1 rend for D3 damage, you are going to want to stay out of combat with him. He has an ability where, every time he takes a wound, on a 4+ he can transfer the wound to a nearby Death unit. He has Deathly Invocation, where he can pick two summon units within 6″ and heal or bring back D3 wounds or models to the unit. Finally, his unique spell is Vanhel’s Danse Macabre with a casting value of six allows a friendly summonable unit within 18 to pile in and attack twice in your next combat phase.
One main difference between this army and a Nighthaunt one is that Nighthaunt requires you to be wholly within 12” to get deathless minion while Legion of Grief is just within 6”. This is great for keeping your heroes safe while still providing their bonuses.
Next, we need to get the battleline tax out of the way so let’s get some cheap bodies that have an added benefit to carrying more bravery reducing banners.
- 10 Zombies: 60 Points, Battleline 1 of 3
- 10 Zombies: 60 Points, Battleline 2 of 3
- 10 Zombies: 60 Points, Battleline 3 of 3
Total: 880 Points
Battleline:
Zombies: Move 4”, No Save, 10 Bravery, 1 Wounds.
They have 1 attack a bite attack: Range1”, 1 Attack, Hitting and Wounding on 5+, for 1 Wound. If this unit has 20 or models you can add 1 to hit and wound rolls, if they have 40 or more they can add 2 to hit and wound rolls. At the end of the combat phase, roll a dice for each model slain by this unit, on a 6+ add a Zombie to this unit. If this unit is within 9” of a corpse cart add 1 to hit rolls. Finally one can be a standard bearer which subtracts 1 from units bravery while they are within 6” and one can be a noisemaker which lets you charge 6” unless you roll higher.
I mean they are cheap, count as battleline, take 10 wounds to kill, and add a -1 to Bravery if close to enemy units…. Could do worse for battleline. Let’s take a look at the heavy hitters next though.
- 20 Dreadscythe Harridans: 320 Points
- 20 Bladegheist Revenants: 320 Points
- 12 Myrmourn Banshees: 210 Points
- Mortis Engine: 180 Points, Behemoth 1 of 4
Total 1910
Heavy Hitters, Aka Win Conditions:
Dreadscythe Harridans: Move 8” (fly), 4+ Save (unmodifiable), 10 Bravery, 1 Wound.
They have a single attack called scythed limbs: Range 1”, 3 Attacks, Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for 1 Damage. The leader of this unit adds 1 to their attack’s characteristic. Subtract 1 from hit rolls from units within 3” against this unit unless their bravery is 6 or higher. Finally, unmodified wound rolls of 6 deal 2 damage instead of 1.
Bladegheist Revenants: Move 8” (fly), 4+ Save (unmodifiable), 10 Bravery, 1 Wound.
They have a single attack a greatblade: Range 1”, 2 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding 3+, with -1 Rend, for 1 Damage. You can re-roll failed hit rolls for attacks made by this unit if it is wholly within 12” of any spirit torments or Chainghasts. Finally, this unit can retreat and charge in the change turn if they charge add 1 to their Attacks.
Myrmourn Banshees: Move 8” (fly), 4+ Save (unmodifiable), 10 Bravery, for 1 Wound.
They have 1 attack called chill dagger: Range 1”, 1 Attack, Hitting 4+, Wounding 3+, with -2 Rend, for D3 Damage. Once in each enemy hero phase, this unit can attempt to unbind a spell if they are within 18” of the Wizard getting a +1 for every 4 models in the unit. If they successfully unbind the spell they gain +1 Attack. In your hero phase, they can attempt to unbind an endless spell if they are within 6” of it. If it is successful this unit suffers D3 mortal wounds but adds 1 to their Attacks.
Mortis Engine: Move (fly), damage table (14 down to 4) 4+ save, 10 bravery, and 12 wounds.
In the shooting phase, roll 2D6 and any units within a damage table range (9″ down to 5″) suffer D3 mortal wounds if their bravery is less than the number rolled. Then you have ghost attacks, which has damage table attacks (12 down to 4), hitting on a 5+ wounding on 4+, one damage. If a six is rolled to hit, it is an automatic mortal wound. Then you have the Necromancer’s Staff with one attack, hitting on a 4+, wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for D3 damage. Along with that, once per battle, you can unleash Death Energy and roll 4D6. All Death units within that many inches heal D3 wounds, while all non-Death units suffer D3 mortal wounds. Finally, it adds one to all Death wizards casting rolls within 12″ and subtracts one from all non-Death wizards.
These are your main damage dealers, getting support from your heroes they are going to be the ones deleting units and pressing the charges forward.
Finally, you will want the Horrorghast and the Suffocating Gravetide endless spells to make the bravery bomb better. I thought about putting in purple sun as well but at 100 points it’s still just too expensive to justify the -1 to Bravery and a chance at deleting models.
- Horrorghast: 60 Points, Endless Spell
- Suffocating Gravetide: 30 Points, Endless Spell
Total 1970
Endless Spells
Horrorghast: Casts of a 6+, is summoned in wholly within 12” of the caster and moves up 9” (12” if realm of death). It subtracts 1 Bravery from units within 12”, and 2 Bravery from units within 6”.
Suffocating Gravetide: Cast on a 6+, is summoned wholly within 4” of the caster. It can then move 8” (fly) or 12” if realm of death. Each unit that is passed over suffers D3 mortal wounds and subtracts 1 from its Bravery characteristic. Finally, when a missile weapon targets a unit that has all its models within 1” of this unit, the target unit receives the benefit of cover if the attacking unit is closer to this model than it is to the target unit.
Battleplan:
Loadouts: For the unique spell we are going to go with Shroud of Terror on wizards to allow you to pick and choose where to use it best. You need to stack bravery for this to work but it might take some maneuvering to get there. For the general, you’re going to give him Tragic Emanations to give him an additional -2 Bravery debuff to units within 6”. He will need to be where the action is which why I made the Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed your general because he is ethereal, has a high movement, and a decent number of wounds.
In addition, I gave him the Banshee Blade from the realm of Death which on 6’sto hit you roll 2D6 against your targets Bravery if its higher then the attack deals D3 mortal wounds in addition to damage. Which with 4 attacks your odds of getting at least 1 is pretty good.
Tactics: This army is all about lowering your opponent’s bravery and nuking them with the tomb banshee screams and mortis engine. Where you bravery bombs, you’re going to want to focus fire your tomb banshees on that target and take them out. The Mortis Engine might be able to chip away some damage against them as well but 2d6 – the enemies bravery worth of mortal wounds is nothing to sneeze at. You are going to be committing a lot of resources to where that bravery bomb goes off so make it count.
As a backup, your knight of shrouds can buff the bladegheists or banshees combined with Danse Macabre and they can dish out major non-mortal wound output. If you can tie up your opponent near a graveyard as well, you are getting units back for free every turn which is a nice bonus.
There you have it my first stab at trying out this Legion of Grief and seeing what you can do with the bravery bombs. I am really disappointed I am not taking Lady O for this Legion but at 280 and forcing her as your general she is too costly and forgoing the -2 Bravery command trait is rough. If you have a different list would love to see it shoot me an email or leave a comment!
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