Ok, this army is not a pure Zombie horde - yet. I lack way too many Zombies, but I'm slowly getting there. A few Skellies had to be proxied for the fight last night, against a nasty Skaven army. My list:

Necrarch Vampire Count, lvl 2(3)
Nehekara's Noble Blood
Unholy Cynosure
Dark Acolyte

Necromancer lvl 2
Cursed Book

Necromancer lvl 2
Power Familiar

Necromancer lvl 2
Book of Arkhan
Dispel Scroll

9 Ghouls
9 Ghouls

5 Dire Wolves
5 Dire Wolves

35 Zombies with standard and musician
35 Zombies with standard and musician
35 Zombies with standard and musician
34 Zombies with standard and musician

4 Fell Bats

Casting Pool: 12
Dispel Pool: 7
Models in Army: 175
Total Army Cost: 1998

As me and my friend unpacked I told him I had 12 power dice so he better have some good magic defence.

He responded with deploying one of his nasty SAD lists- 5 units of clan rats with a Ratling Gun each, Rat Swarms, Warp Lightning Cannon, 10 Jezzails, 3 Engineers and a Seer on a Bell. He had 15 power dice with the Storm Daemon, 7 dispel.

He eagerly grabbed the first turn and advanced as fast as he could. I was quite surprised by this, had I won the roll I had given him the first turn anyway, having the last turn can be vital against Skaven. Anyway, I shambled towards him as fast as I could, keeping the general and the Cursed Book thrall in my center unit. I could charge that unit into the Bells unit, he let my Vanhels through. Later he told me he thought to sacrifice his Bell unit to concentrate fire on my general in hope of fast crumbling of all Zombies. But it was not to be. Zombies popped up all over the table, Vanhels or not they soon had most Clan Rats (and Jezzails) flanked and reared.

Even when my main unit was flanked the almighty Cursed Book proved too much for them, I think I lost combat with only 3-4. The turn later I could flank him, and panic spread fast. I made a suicide charge with a lone Fell Bat and managed to cause a wound on an Engineer, when he later rolled a 1 for a Warp Lightning he died. WLC exploded and, well, it was pretty much all over in turn 3. Three Ratling Guns panicked and one exploded. One fled from a redirected charge.

The Book and the Staff was useful, especially to draw out dispel dice, even if both was burned out in our game. The Awakening proved valuable as I had to soak up a lot of punishment, and in ensuring outnumbering in freshly raised units charging Jezzails.

Undead hordes are a good matchup vs SAD. I just took the magic and shooting on the chin, moaned "Braaains!" and kept walking towards him, waiting for his toys to backfire. This list looks very good on the table too, feels solid and hard to flank with the right terrain. Of course it has horrible matchups but it's very very fun to play with.

There's an army I would like to play with. Necrarch hordes are always fun and there's just something justifying about having them soak up the fire power of a Skaven SAD army.

I haven't taken Awakening for such a long time I've forgetten how good it can be.

Do you feel the battle went the right way and that the Skaven self destruction parts were with the odds and not slightly lucky on your part?

Nice , good job NIB! , I tried a necromancers horde against a shooty army like yours and the skaven opponent did what he tried to do , shoot my generals unit to bits except it worked and general died :pinch:

But anyway that is one huge horde of zombies!

The dice gods where fairly even to us both, I had three miscasts and two irresistible force, he had no miscast but suffer a couple of wounds from 1's instead, and he had at least one irresistible force. Two toys blew up for him, but both my bound items were drained, and he had some very good rolls with the Ratling Guns.

So luck had no deciding hand in the game, though I think he would have fared better if he had played more defensive.

I challenged the GW store champion to a 1'000 pts game (post Christmas) yesterday. I'd take a horde as it's no holds barred and I expect much SADness, but since it's sub-2'000 I think I'll go with a Sylvanian Wolf Army. That was totally irrelevant wasn't it? Anyway, well done.

I played a Gobbo army yesterday with this list, he had 3 dispel dice... He conceded after the third turn when I had something like 250 Zombies on the table and he had 35 Gobbos and a 5 Wolf Riders left.

Next game I got a sound beating from a balanced Tomb Kings army (aren't all Tomb Kings armies balanced?) mostly due to me miscasting "magic phase ends" two times with my first castings.

I really need Unholy Cynosure to get more stable results.

I massacred a Dwarf list tonight. In my second turn I had neutralized all 5 war machines and surrounded his infantry blocks. Not too enjoyable a game for either of us, had he brought a less shooty army had he stood a better chance.

Lessons so far: for more effectiveness (and less character unfortunately) switch The Awakening for Unholy Cynosure. And almost anything is better than Staff of Damnation in a list like this. Rerolling hits with Zombies won't win any games, it has done jack so far. This army win through static CR, not wounds. Probably change for a Power Familiar. Or the Rod of Flaming Death, or more scrolls.

*edited - deleted some ramblings about the Black Periapt which doesn't exist in this list.

A lot of people tend to put unholy cynosure down. I am not one of them, so I can see why'd you'd buy it. Reliability is king.

Indeed. To fit the character of this army I summon Zombies at 7+ four times with 3 dice. With my updated version it will be one time with 4 dice at 11+. That gives a very relentless magic phase, kind of like Tomb Kings.

Out of interest, what sort of Magic defence was the Dwarf player packing?

And also, who got the first turn?
I'd have thought a shooty Dwarf army would have been able to put up a half decent fight against this army.

He sported 5 dispel dice and 3 scrolls, all gone before the end of my second magic phase. He got the first turn, or I would have given it to him. Having that last turn is preferable when most magic defence is gone and Invocation/Vanhels wins the day. Also no rallying for your opponent.

He wanted to give up at the third turn, but I convinced him to stay in. A miscast almost let him in the game a again, and his Miners on my flank seemed to have nine lives, but it wasn’t enough. Thinking about it, the O&G army gave up after the third turn too.

VC are normally a hard matchup for Dwarfs, they do stand slightly better odds against the typical elite heavy Blood Dragon army that they can shoot to bits and take in the front. But they tend to really suffer against VC hordes with good magic. You just replace the casualties and raise new units behind him.

He deployed quite spread out to make room for the war machines and advanced on me which gave me lots of nice space for new Zombies. I do think that a standard corner hugging with table edge on one flank and Slayers anchoring the other, would have served him better, sparing points in useless war machines and taking more hard bottom Clan Warriors with some small units protecting their rear from raised units.

He had a nasty Lord though, charged 20 Zombies single-handedly and stood there for the rest of the game, even with 3 air swings each turn. Stubborn and immune to fear and terror… My Ghouls killed every single Slayer, with a little CR help from Zombies.

The only time I was worried was in the first turn when a lucky cannonball could have smashed my general if I had failed a look out sir.

Added to my list of massacres tonight, drowning Dark Elves in a tide of Zombies. He had a Highborn on a Black Dragon as the only unit that worried me. I deployed refused flank and could marchblock his fighty infantry with Fell Bats and Ghouls in a nearby wood. His small crossbow units were soon dead to raised Zombies and Bats, the Dragon fell for a trap and charged a Zombie unit containing a necromancer in the front in his second turn, he would stand there 'til the end of the game.

Ghouls were ace, they rearcharged and killed both Executioners with a Noble and Black Guards, with a little help from Wolves.

Fell Bats caught up with his Sorceress in the end.

Raised Zombies stalled and eventually broke the War Hydra but failed to catch.

The main action took place in the centre were the Dragon was helped out by chariots. However my general and his bodyguard with Cursed Book flanked the Chariots. I put Hand of Dust to good use, killing off two chariots. He made 3-4 break tests in a row and stayed in the game. I stalled a challenge with his general until my last turn when I had both Hellish Vigour and Hand of Dust active on my count. I killed the so far unhurt Black Dragon with a single delicate touch of the Hand, Cursed Book helped me survive the attacks back from the Highborn before I ran him down. With only the Hydra alive he conceded the game, I had lost a unit of Ghouls and a necromancer.

looks mean!! keep it up, have you considered the 6" extra range power? 24" invo could well be worth a try.

Nah, my raising can usually be dispelled with some degree of success for two turns, and after that I'm probably within the 18" range of most of my enemy's army.

Do your fight VS Wood elf? l have a big problem VS Treeman, driads and dancers (+ green dragon). I dont take Wights too. Zombies, skelies + Hosts+ ghoule or wolves.
My Second problem is a Tank.

True, Wood Elves are a very tough customer for Zombie blocks. But with a Highborn on a dragon, I'll have magic superiority and would try to make that work to my advantage. I'd probably deploy like the old Dwarfs in a corner, and summon as crazy. And the Cursed Book is probably the best VC item you can have against WE, so I'd try to keep that necro alive close to the action.

I've found that even Dryads break when flanked, sooner or later. Catch them on Zombies and flank with Zombies. But don't let him send in reinforcements.

Ghouls make a mess out of Wardancers, depending on the situation. The ideal is if the Wardancer charge a unit of Zombies and they survive for two turns, leaving very few Zombies alive. Then Ghouls charge their flank.

So, two years and two months later I'm beginning to see the Night of the Living Dead realized. Coming into 7th edition, the local tournament standard is now 2250, which really is great for this army, as I can add loads of support units. However, true to the theme I only added two units of Ghouls for support, the rest went into more Zombies. I have about 50 models with unfinished paint jobs, but I'm getting there.

Current army:

Necrarch Vampire Count, lvl 2(3)
Nehekara's Noble Blood
Unholy Cynosure
Dark Acolyte
Biting Blade
(As I post this, I realize I forgot about Dark Acolyte in the game! Oh well.)

Necromancer lvl 2
Cursed Book

Necromancer lvl 2
Black Periapt
Dispel Scroll

Necromancer lvl 2
Book of Arkhan
Dispel Scroll

9 Ghouls
9 Ghouls
5 Ghouls
5 Ghouls

5 Dire Wolves
5 Dire Wolves

24 Zombies with standard and musician (Count here)
25 Zombies with standard and musician
25 Zombies with standard and musician
25 Zombies with standard and musician
25 Zombies with standard and musician
25 Zombies with standard and musician
10 Zombies (Necro bunker behind the Count's unit)

5 Fell Bats

Casting Pool: 12 (13)
Dispel Pool: 7 (8)
Models in Army: 206 (whereof 159 are Zombies :wub: )
Total Army Cost: 2248

I currently have about 180 Zombies, and I think having some 230-250 will be enough in the end, so I won't have to proxy Skellies for my raising.

This list was baptised tonight, against Slaanesh mortals - 3 units of knights, 2x3 Minos, 3x5 Warhounds, Furies, 10 chosen warriors with BSB and Raptorous Standard, mounted Exalted general of Slaanesh, mounted lvl 4 + mounted lvl 2 Slaanesh magic. I rolled two Vanhels, one of my count.

Not much to say, he got the first turn, advanced and then burned both scrolls in my first magic phase to stop my summonings. But Fell Bats and Wolves delayed his chosen knights with general on the right flank long enough for me to take care of the rest of his army. I just had too many units - wherever he could charge, I could counter charge in a flank, and just drow him in raised dead.

On the other flank, I stuck Minos on Zombies and then Ghouls hit their flanks and fresh (well..) dead their rear, and ran them down. The other Mino unit was invited to charge my general's unit (a calculated risk) but they air swinged (thanks to the Cursed Book) and where run down.

I summoned new units for FIE purposes in all important combats and waited for the break. By the end of turn 3 both his wizards where gone. After half the fifth turn, he only had his chosen knights with Exalted left alive, and conceded.

I had lost about 200 points, a total massacre.

Freak moment was 4 Ghouls flanking 4 Slaanesh knights (with lvl 4), and killing 3 knights! :blink: Not likely to happen again in my life.

I had one miscast with the general, Unholy Cynosure saw me through. Joakim had pretty lousy dice, but in the end I don't think average to good dice would have made any major difference for him, he was on the clock so to speak.

Night of the Living is a pretty evil list (probably not against Ogre Kingdom or Wood Elves) and looks awesome on the table. Takes forever to set up though, and the magic phase is very time consuming so I probably won't take it to any tournament. Just really fun to whip out a proper undead shambling horde from time to time :)

Second game, against Skaven. Fredrik brought

Warlord general for Ld 10 with Weeping Blade
2 lvl 2’s packing 2 scrolls, Warpstone tokens and Storm Daemon
Plague Priest

23 Plague Monks (Priest here)
24 Storm Vermin (Warlord here)
3 x 25 Clan Rats with full command and Ratling Guns
3 x 25 Slaves

7 Censer Bearers
7 Jezzails
3 Gutter Runners with poison
4 Gutter Runners with poison

1 WLC

I rolled two Vanhels on the necros, 1,2,6 on my Count.

1.
Skaven
I won the roll for first turn and gave it to him, since he wouldn’t be able to get the most out of his shooting and magic and I wanted that last turn. He advanced and killed 5 Ghouls with a Warp Lightning spell, and 5 Zombies with the WLC but I made my look-out-sir with the Count.

VC
I went forward with Ghouls in front, right flank and behind my Necro bunker. Burned a scroll, raised 7 new Zombies and charged the flank of a Slave unit. After combat I had 4 guys left.

2.
Skaven
Fredde advanced, charged a unit of 5 Ghouls with Slaves, we stood for a turn before I ran and then drove them away with a counter charge. Magic shut down. WLC killed my 4 raised Zombies in the flank of the Slaves, and some more in my front lines.

VC
I charged a Clan block on my right, and was punished during the course of a couple of turns, only 10 Zombies left, even though I raised a small unit of Zombies and flanked them in the magic phase. I took the hill to my left. Bats flew behind my lines with no good options. Dire Wolves speed bumped Slaves in front of the Storm Vermin. My Count jumped to the unscathed Zombie unit in front of the bunker, to benefit from the Cursed Book. I were a little wary of his Plague Monks and more notably, the Censer Bearers coming down the center towards my Count, so I had them a bit back to avoid combo charges. My right line advanced on a curved line to encircle his army. Ghouls and Wolves stood planted on his Gutter markers. Curse of Years drew out the second scroll, I reinforced my Count’s unit a bit and raised a flanking unit to my right as mentioned above.

3.
Skaven
Gutters popped up to the right of my bunker, both charged my 9 Ghouls and ran them off in spite of Cursed Book nearby (rolled crap on my counter attacks). They restrained pursuit to get a charge on my bunker later.
On the left he charged Zombies on the hill, in the center Slaves charged and killed Wolves. Slaves tried to charge my Count’s unit but fell short with flank exposed to a Zombie unit, 3 Censers made it to my front though. Fredrik turned his Plague Monks to avoid getting flanked by the Zombies who where bound to go through the Slaves beside the Monks.
Magic uneventful, a Rattler panicked 9 Ghouls trying to help out on my right flank. WLC beamed down more Zombies in my Count’s unit and necro bunker.
The Censers whiffed on my Count (thanks to Cursed Book and sub par rolls to wound) and were ran down. Now I was almost in a position for a flank charge on the Monks.

VC
I charged the exposed Slave flank with Zombies, and the unit of 3 Gutter Runners with Fell Bats, Runners ran and were FIE’d on the bunker so I got EIW on the 4 Gutters behind them.
On the right I moved up a block in a flank position to help out my poor Zombies getting killed by Clan Rats. The raised Zombie unit in their flank was gone by then. I Vanhelsed the large block in and ran the Clan Rats down, panicking a Rattler behind that never rallied.
I moved my Count’s unit a little sideways so I got in the flank arc of the Monks, and then Vanhelsed them in, broke them and ran them down with a 12” pursuit into a surprised Ratling Gun.
The Fell Bats killed all Gutters except the champion who stood with Insane Courage, but he died in the next turn.
My Zombies on the hill in combat with Clan Rats including a Warplock Engineer crumbled to the last man, but not before inflicting a wound on the Engineer.

4.
Skaven
Fredrik charged a Zombie block with his Warlord’s Storm Vermin, using Halberds. A unit of Slaves rallied beside my Count’s block. Clan Rat block with Engineer moved towards a Zombie block to get their flank out of LOS from my generals unit.

Clan unit on the hill turned inwards center, their Ratling Gun followed. Slave unit turned towards the Storm Vermin fight, presenting flank to 5 Wolves and some Ghouls.

Magic, Storm Daemon and WLC combined to kill a necromancer in the depleted bunker, along with most Zombies (he pulled out the tokens and the Daemon, rolled high and I had burnt my scrolls).

Storm Vermin killed some 15 Zombies. I killed the Ratling Gun in combat.

VC
Zombies charged an Engineer Clan unit, was reinforced by magic (raise and Hellish Vigour) and scared them off. This panicked the WLC who fled off the table after causing much damage.
My Count’s unit turned, moved a little forward to get flanking position on the Warlords Vermin, and were Vanhelsed in (Fredrik couldn’t stop both Book of Arkhan and my spell).
Wolves and Ghouls flanked the Slave Rats nearby.
Necromancers left the remains of the bunker and aided with the Cursed Book. My Count only did one wound, but Fredrik couldn’t make up for the loss of ranks and lost with 3 points. Commence autobreak! Nearby Slaves panicked.
I pursued 11”, enough to take me into the Clan block on the hill. The smaller surviving Zombie unit in the front pursued into the rear of the Slaves, who flanked by Wolves and Ghouls couldn’t hold it and were ran down.

5.
Skaven
It was only mapping up now, Fredrik tried to cast Warp Lightning into combat with my Count’s unit but failed, he fled and panicked the Ratling Gun nearby. Fredde conceded with only 5 Jezzails left (two had exploded) on the table.

Massacre to the Living Dead!

Well I thought I’d have an easier time, but one can’t just walk into Plague Monks and Censer Bearers with Zombies, and Fredrik made wise decisions about what to dispel. And he held patiently on to the Warpstone Tokens and Storm Daemon until the right time.

Fredde had better dice in the first half of the game, winning combats even when flanked etc, while I had no miscasts and one irresistible force. After the third turn, the Night of the Livind Dead flexed it's magic muscles and it was over.

I'm sorry that I'm asking... I'm new here.
What is the main tactic by a necro bunker, and how many necros do you put in thoughs bunkers? And how many bunkers do normally use?

Well as you can see I have three necros in this particular list, and you also can see I use a single bunker of 10 starting Zombies, behind my general's unit.

I never use more than one bunker.

The only reason it's there, is for protection. When the bunker is standing with it's front touching the rear of the friendly unit in front of it, nothing can attack the necromancers, as all three are standing in the center of the 5 wide unit, with zombies on the edges. The Cursed Book makes it even more protected. If need be I can increase the size of it too, and I usually have Ghouls guarding the flanks from tunneling teams like Gutter Runners, Tomb Scorpions and Miners.

The largest threat to the necros are miscasts - as they stand shoulder to shoulder an explosion can cripple my magic phase.

Okay, now I understand it much better!

Thank you!

One more thing I thought about:

How can the necro's cast any spells when the only thing they can see is the backs of the Zombie unit in front of them?

The only spell that needs LoS is Gaze. That's why.