Introduction:

The next few pages contain lots of tactics which you can use to (hopefully) increase your skills with
Undead armies in Warhammer. Some of these tactics are acceptable even in the strictest of
tournaments whilst others are mainly for battles with your best mates/enemies and may be a bit too
devious to use against someone who you are not familiar with or who is new to the game. Good luck!

Please note: I usually refer to anything alive (or Undead) in this article as ‘him’ or ‘he’ or ‘his’. This
is not because I am sexist, but it saves me writing him/her/it every time I type the aforementioned
words. So girls, if you’re desperate to have female skeletons, go ahead and change my article with
red pen. Thanks!

Disclaimer: Although I have given you these tactics free of charge, I cannot be held responsible for
injury or death caused in any way by them (just in case your opponent thinks they’re too beardy for
the battlefield and decides to have you secretly assasinated!)

The General:

The General is what holds your army together, without him, your army’s magical bonds will break
and most of your army will collapse into a pile of bones. You must protect your general at all costs,
even if that means spending large amounts of points on beardy combinations of magic items.

A Necromancer Lord is a good choice in low point games where special characters can't be
included. He is a level 4 magic user, and also has 4 spells. Equip him with a few well chosen magic
items, and he will beat most other generals that cost the same amount of points. Give him a bow as
well, even if he only kills one Goblin, the bow has still paid back its point cost.

Another good choice in a big game is a Vampire Lord with the ‘Carstien Ring’. Although he is not a
very good wizard (level 3 with 2 spells), he is quite good in combat and is slightly cheaper than a
Necromancer Lord.

Special Characters:

Nagash:

If you can afford him, Nagash is definitely the best general the Undead can ever be led by. With his
superior characteristics and magic items that allow him to store four extra magic cards and avoid the
effects of spells on a D6 roll of 4+, he is close to being invincible. The best thing to do is to place him
in a large unit of Skeletons, their rank and standard bonus will make sure he never loses a combat
(well, hardly ever) and remember, a unit that that loses a combat against an enemy it fears and which
outnumbers it will automatically rout. If this unit contains powerful characters (it will need to if it is
fighting Nagash) the chances are it will be caught as it flees and the characters will be destroyed,
earning you loads of victory points.

Settra:

Settra is very hard, but rather slow, and can't cast spells. Settra is a good choice for a champion to
lead a unit of mummies. If you want to keep with the spirit of the game, don't include Settra in the
same army as Nagash, because they hate each other (see the Undead rmy book for more details). I
personally think Settra is a cool character, and he is (I think) the only Undead special character who
doesn't get killed/imprisoned.

Necromancy and magic:

The most important thing that you must remember is that an Undead army is held together by magic.
Magic can expand your army, destroy your enemies and speed you up as you charge towards the
enemy. Being able to chose your spells, instead of being dealt them randomly, is a great advantage,
especially if you know what type of game you are going to play. You can also re-cast the same spell
over and over again (as long as you have enough power) and the chances are it will be successfully
cast at least once.

Spells summary:

Summon Skeletons: An excellent spell for increasing the size of a unit whilst expending minimum
power. Before you get close enough to use more offensive magic, use your power to cast this spell
on every unit you have. Since it’s only a power one spell, your opponent won’t be able to dispel it
every time.

Drain life: A waste of power unless you’re in hand to hand combat or roll more than 8 on 2D6 for
the range. A S3 hit on each model can panic a few units, but only if cast right in the middle of the
opposing army.

Gaze of Nagash: With higher strength (S4) and further range, this usually works out better than
‘Drain life’. Keep casting this at your enemy’s prize unit, it allows no armour save and eventually the
unit will either panic or lose its combat effectiveness.

Hand of Dust: Great if you’re going to get into hand to hand combat, otherwise it’s useless. A
wizard mounted on a flying creature and armed with this spell is great for taking out enemy
characters, especially wizards. Remember, an enemy wizard killed by this spell will be turned in a
Wraith, an excellent addition to your army.

The Dark Mist: What can I say? An absolutely rubbish spell, only take it if you have to. Its only
good use is to be cast in an attempt to get rid of your opponent’s ‘Destroy spell’ scroll.

Raise the Dead: If you’ve got lots of power or ‘cast free’ magic items, this is another great spell.
On average it will do twice as well as ‘Summon Skeletons’, but if your opponent has lots of dispels,
you won’t get many chances to cast it.

Summon Undead Horde: Although 3D6 Skeletons or Zombies are very nice, at power 3 you
won’t get many chances to cast it, unless you get ‘Total Power’, ‘Rebound’ or ‘cast free’ magic
items.

The Curse of Years: Another spell with the potential for causing great destruction. If this spell
remains in play for even a couple of turns it will almost certainly destroy any enemy unit or cause it to
panic. Try and get this spell into play as soon as possible, even if this means using extra power to
reinforce it.

Vanhel’s Danse Macabre: An essential spell for any Undead army. If you have the choice of only
one spell, this is the one to chose. Without it, your army will be easily out-maneuvered, even by
Dwarfs. Just imagine the look on your opponent’s face when the Skeletons he was expecting to
charge next turn suddenly charge him!

Wind of Death: A useful spell, but unlikely to be cast very often, because of the high power
expenditure needed to cast it. Especially good for use on models with multiple wounds or high
toughness because it wounds automatically!

Troop options:

Skeletons:

As you probably know, Skeletons form the backbone (stop sniggering at the back) of the Undead
army. Because they never take break tests, they can keep most enemy units occupied for at least
three turns. If you increase their numbers with magic items and spells, the Skeletons can hold up your
opponent’s best troops whilst your elite troops get stuck in elsewhere.

Since any unit of Skeletons can have a magical banner, even the best enemy units can be beaten. This
may sound sneaky, but that’s what ‘Undead only’ banners are there for! The best banners to choose
are those which impose leadership penalties. When your opponent takes his fear and terror tests,
he’ll fail even more often, especially with cowardly troops such as Goblins or Skaven.

Another good idea is to create a unit of about twelve Skeletons armed with crossbows. Although
they cannot shoot very well, if you raise extra troops in the unit, and then use 'Vanhel's Danse
Macabre' to allow them to shoot again, this unit should cause quite a lot of casualties. Remember,
Skeletons raised into an existing unit are armed in the same way as the unit they join, so they will all
be armed with crossbows!

Zombies:

I don’t like these troops, and probably never will. However, for all you ‘Zombie fanatics’ out there,
I’ll provide some tactics for you. Zombies are very cheap (4 points for a basic Zombie), so a large
unit is possible for very few points. One thing which is very funny is to make them go suicidal and
charge at any enemy unit in their way. Although they will probaby be destroyed, you'll only give away
a few victory points and will cripple the enemy unit very badly. A large, wide, unit of Zombies is also
useful as a missile screen to protect your troops (10 models wide and 4 models deep is good).

Mummies:

Mummies are very hard troops, but unfortunately they are also very expensive. A small unit is an
excellent way to draw your opponent's missile troops attention away from your other troops. With
four wounds each, they will take a lot of punishment. Because Mummies are nasty in combat, your
opponent will put a lot of effort in to trying to destroy them. With toughness 5, most strength 3 missile
weapons will need 6+ to wound.

Wraiths:

Great in combat, can only be harmed by magic, enemies must take a break test, these are just a few
of the Wraiths’ amazing abilities. Deploy one as a single character (or place him an unit), equip him
with the ‘Skull Staff’ and charge him towards any enemy unit without magic items. Watch your
opponent run as he fails his terror tests and extra break tests he wasn’t expecting.

Wights:

Although their Wight blades allow them to cause D3 wounds, with strength 3 and only one attack
each for the lowest Wights, they very rarely come into use. However, any low toughness, multiple
wound enemy is an excellent target for Wights (especially swarm and Snotling bases).

Ghosts:

Ghosts are just cheap Wraiths, which don't cause terror. A small unit of Ghosts is good as a missile
screen for your main unit, since the missiles will go straight through them without causing any damage.

War machines:

Undead Chariots:

Excellent value at 56 points each, Undead Chariots are a must in any Undead army. Always put the
chariots in as big a regiment as possible. Remember, just one wound on each Skeleton steed will
bring your chariot to a halt. Include sycthes if you can afford them and pick a nice target for your
chariots. If you want some fun, try to get the Skeleton crew killed. The chariot will charge around in a
random direction, and this can be very entertaining (especially if they end up charging into the rear of
your opponent's best unit!).

Screaming Skull Catapults:

Affectionally known as 'Skullchuckas', these war machines can cause great misery for your
opponent. They are best used against low leadership armies, especially Goblins and Skaven. With
other armies, such as Elves, concentrate your fire on the missile units. The chances are that they will
not benifit from the general's leadership, as they are too far away, and will hopefully run off.

Monsters:

Zombie Dragon:

Although Zombie Dragons look good, for the extra 50 points they are no better than ordinary
dragons.

Magic items:

There is a huge range of magic items that you can take, many of which are ‘Undead only’ and so fit in
with the spirit of the game. One of the best of these is the ‘Staff of Damnation’, especially useful if
your wizard with ‘Vanhel’s Danse Macabre’ is killed or has his spell destroyed. Don’t waste your
points on magic items that improve your leadership, most things in the Undead army are immune to
psychology and don’t need to use their leadership anyway. Having said that, units such as Wraiths
which are destroyed if they fail a break test may need leadership boosting magic items or the general
and battle standard nearby.

Destroy magic and dispel cards are essential for any Undead army, especially to keep the high magic
spell 'Banishment' away. Items like the 'Potion of Knowledge' are extemely useful, especially if given
to a Liche. Even if he is made stupid, the Liche isn't affected by physchology and so the stupidity
rules won't apply (see beardy tactics below).

Banners which increase your combat bonus are very useful, as Undead units suffer casualties when
they lose a combat (usually). Banners which impose leadership penalties, as mentioned before, are
also very useful.

Obviously, if you have a Vampire as your general, it is a very good idea to give him the 'Carstein
Ring' to bring him back to life. The 'Tomb Blade of Arkhan' is very useful for your general (if he is a
Necromancer, Liche, or Vampire) as any models with one wound that are killed by the bearer are
ressurected as a Skeleton warrior. This an excellent way to raise reinforcements if you don't have
enough power to raise the dead with spells.

Another very useful item is the 'Chaos Tomb Blade', which allows the bearer to take an extra Winds
of magic card for every wound he causes in hand to hand combat.

General tactics for all the army:

Don’t bother keeping your troops close to your general. Most of them don’t need his leadership
anyway. Use ‘Vanhel Danse Macabre’ to speed towards the enemy and engage them as soon as
possible. Send troops round the flanks to avoid missile fire and to stop your opponent out-flanking
you. Or you can advance slowly but surely, and raise extra troops to replace the ones lost by missile
fire. If your opponent has no missile troops, hold back and hit him hard with magic in the magic
phase.

Beardy tactics:

N.B. I am not beardy in my games, but in an 'out to win' game (see White Dwarf 228), these tactics
can be entertaining and useful.

The Undead have plenty of oppurtunities to include beardy tactics. My personal favourite is to equip
a Liche with the 'Potion of Knowledge'. Even if he becomes stupid, he isn't affected by the rules for
psychology and so stupidity won't affect him. Another great magic item is the 'Forbidden Rod'. Be
warned, using this in a normal game, especially in a tournament, is likely to lose you friends very
quickly.

A good beardy tactic to use is to hide all your troops in cover and bombard the enemy with spells
such as 'The Curse of Years' and 'The Wind of Death'.