by Calvin Rarie

The best and worst part of books coming out in the Army box is spending months waiting for the actual release so the app can update. I personally know several people who had been waiting VERY patiently for the Cities of Sigmar book to officially release because making lists by hand in an Excel document is hell. That said, I’ve been brewing pretty much non-stop since the brand new Flesh-Eater Courts was unveiled to the world, as the book is as deep as it is wide, and the possibilities are almost endless.

I made it my mission to see if I can build a list with every Grand Court, and even a list with Nagash and one with an ally from Soulblight Gravelords as well. Hopefully these will help spring-board some ideas to life if you decide to jump into the delusions!

Let’s get into it.

The Heaving Masses

This is a Ghoul churning machine, with an absolutely STUPENDOUS amount of recursion between two Arch-Regents bringing back 3 SERFS a turn and an un-targetable Marrowscroll Herald farming Deed Points via Morgaunt’s subfaction ability and the Rousing Oration heroic action–don’t shoot the messenger indeed. The Chalice is just extra on top, letting you top off wounded units with ease, especially the ones that come back after being destroyed.

That said, between the recursion and the 5+ ward granted by the Charnel Conviction prayer, shifting these blocks are going to be much easier said than done. In all honesty, since Morgaunt is designed specifically to benefit the most from standing on objectives, this is probably THE subfaction to take the “+1 to save while standing on objectives” Court of Delusion, since you’re going to be there anyway–a 6+ save becoming a 5+ save is a 50% increase in survivability, after all.

At the end of the day, the goal is to swarm, swarm, swarm. If you’ve played Zombies before in SBGL, it’s a similar concept, though this time with significantly higher damage output from the chaff that don’t have to be baby sat by support heroes nearly as hard. The singleton unit of Crypt Flayers exists to specifically enable tactics, as otherwise the army will struggle to score the book tactics as is.

The Royal Airforce

The goose is loose!  I’ll be honest, I struggle to include the Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist (GKoTG) in most of my lists–at 450 points he can still randomly outright dumpster whole enemy units, but with the re-rolls to his Maw attacks–which do 6 MWs on 6s to hit–locked behind a spell, his damage output is even swingier than before.  That said, between the Horribly Resilient mount trait which buffs is his hero phase healing to 2d3, and the prayer Bless This Feast which heals him 1 wound each time he slays an enemy model, he can become very hard to take down as long as you are just suiciding him into combat.

Additionally, Blisterskin–which turns ABHORRANTS into priests, but they can’t cast and pray at the same time–lets you take advantage of battleline Crypt Flayers, which I’m high on.  For one, they carry around foot heroes that can’t fly, which in this case is an Ahorrant Arch-Regent, who keeps the unit topped up by bringing back 1 friendly KNIGHT model to 1 KNIGHTS unit in each of your hero phases.  He can also top off your SERFS units as well, which you’ll need to reliably contest objectives. The Deranged Transformation spell also helps squeeze out extra efficiency from your Flayers, giving them both +2” to movement and +1 to wound rolls, which also includes their shooting attacks.

Rounding out the Crypt Flayer package is the Crypt Infernal Courtier, who has a hellacious warscroll ability: In your shooting phase, if your Crypt Infernal Courtier slays any models with its shooting attack, then friendly Crypt Flayers units wholly within 9” of him get +1 damage to their shooting attacks.  At 4 shooting attacks each, a unit of 9 Crypt Flayers is 36 attacks, which start at 4+/3+/-2/1D and can jump through the All-Out Attack and the previous buffs all the way to 36A/3+/2+/-2/2D. That’s a LOT of Dakka.

Ultimately, what this list does very well is score the book tactics.  Screamed to Death requires an enemy unit being uh, screamed to death by shooting attacks from Flayers, Infernal Courtiers or a Terrogheist, mounted or not.  The aforementioned shooting profile above is very effective at accomplishing that. The secondary unit of Morbheg Knights helps opens up the Lance Formation tactic–charge with two or more KNIGHTS units on a charge roll of 7 or more–while also being bullies that hit VERY hard for their points.  Gormayne hanging out in the chair handing out judgments surrounded by some Ghouls makes for a relatively easy grand strategy.

The Lance Formation

Long live the King!  Ushoran’s the kind of king who doesn’t want to be seen leading the unwashed masses of peasants into combat–no, such things are beneath him.  Instead, Ushoran benefits the most–and provides the most benefits for–leading blocks of KNIGHTS into combat, which means he’s naturally at home in Hollowmourne, which gives +1 damage to KNIGHTS that successfully charge. Honestly, why are you bothering with tactical finesse when you can just bulldoze your opponents?

The big reasons for Uhsoran in Hollowmourne over other subfactions are three-fold:

1. In your hero phase, you can pick a secondary Court of Delusion to apply to units wholly within his Epicenter of Delusion–which starts at 30” and brackets down from there.  Having both Feast Day and +1 to Run/Charge for essentially your whole army is insane value.
2. While he has 6 Noble Deed points, he has a 24” Feeding Frenzy bubble instead of 12”, which is a LUDICROUSLY large bubble.  This is a bonus, because under Feast Day he gets a 12” Feeding Frenzy bubble at 4 points, which then upgrades if he maxes out his deed points.  Mind you, he’s a two cast-wizard that also hits like a brick shithouse, so getting to 6 points will not take long.
3. His Shroudcage Fragment ability sets up some awesome activation sequences: basically, at the start of combat, he subtracts 1 from bravery for each enemy unit within 3”, and then rolls 2d6 for each enemy unit within 1”–if you roll higher than their bravery then those enemy units get Strike-Last. Comboing this with the Grim Garland which gives out -2 to Bravery to enemy units within 9” of the bearer means your opponent might have to wait a long time while your gallant knights beat the fuck out of them.

The said KNIGHTS in the list start off with a 9 block of Crypt Horrors who, mind you, are already Damage 2 base before the Hollowmourne buff.  Between +1 to damage from the charge and their warscroll ability of unmodified 6s to wound adding +1 damage to their attacks, they will end up drowning your enemies in high damage attacks.  Morbheg Knights round out our Battleline, thanks to the Abhorrant Gorewarden general unlocking their battleline role. These guys are fast, tanky, and do stupendous damage on the charge. What’s not to love?

The Abhorrant Cardinal is the only real question mark on the list, as I went with him to make Expand the Empire easier–as Defend the Throne requires someone to hang out in the chair at the end of the game, and in reality you’re going to put Ushoran into combat pretty much ASAP.  Expand the Empire just requires you to have an Abhorrant in your opponent’s territory and the enemy general to not be in there, which to be honest pretty much everyone is going to run their general the fuck away from Ushoran at any given opportunity.  If you were to swap out the Abhorrant Cardinal, I would take a Crypt Haunter Courtier and give him the Charnel Vestments artefact so he can hand out 5+ ward prayers to his Knightly retinue, or you can drop barricade to squeeze in a Varghulf Courtier instead.

The Menagerie

Do you hate moving horde units?  Does the idea of returning dead monsters back to the life pump happiness into your jaded, burnt out cinder of a heart? Do you enjoy your games ending in an hour, one way or the other?  This is the army for you!

The Master of the Menagerie command trait lets you bring back slain non-hero Monsters back from the dead with 6 Deed points, rather than the bringing back KNIGHTS or SERFS units.  Since our unit recursion happens to the end of our movement phase, this pairs very well with the Abhorrant Arch-Regent’s warscroll spell, which gives friendly FEC units that are set up at the end of the movement phase a free d6” move.  Oh, and did I mention the Royal Zombie Dragons can deepstrike, coming on at the end of your movement phase as well?

Speaking of, the Ghoul King on Royal Zombie Dragon has the Venerated Zombie Dragon mount trait, which gives out a 12” +1 to hit bubble from friendly Monsters, including their shooting attacks.  That means in one turn, you could deep strike all the Zombie Dragons to wholly within 12” of him, make a d6” move thanks to the Archregent, shoot on 2+s, then make relatively easy charges.  Additionally, Zombie Dragons are the ONLY source of Rend -3 in the whole book, being on their Fanged Maws.

The Flayers are, once again, a tactic scoring unit and not much more, and the Crypt Guard is there to keep Gormayne alive while he hands out his judgments, or bodyguard your General while he continues to rack up Noble Deed points in the Charnel Throne–+d3 deed points each of your hero phases. 

What About Mannfred?

Do you hate the concept of alternating activations? Of course you do, you play Warhammer.

Gristlegore’s schtick–beyond unlocking battleline monsters–is that at the start of your combat phase, you can pick 1 friendly FEC monster to gain Strike First. So what if you added Mannfred into the mix, who gets Strike First whenever he successfully charges?

Well, lets say it’s your turn, you have the Feast Day Court of Delusion and you successfully charge with both mounted Ghoul Kings as well as Mannfred. You pick the Ghoul King on Zombie Dragon to gain Strike First, and Mannfred already has it since he charged.  You fight with GKoZD first, getting 4 Noble Deed points to activate Feeding Frenzy, then fight with Mannfred, and then you moved to Strike Normal, and get to activate with the GKoTG who–being wholly within 12” of the GKoZD–has +1 attacks from Feeding Frenzy, and then pops Heart of the Gargant (1/game +1 to ALL attacks on the bearer, including mounts) to gain an extra attack, fishing for those 6s on the Fanged Maw to really lay down the hurt.

Expand The Kingdom is the pick here because fuck it, you’re going full send here anyway, so get those mounted Ghoul kings in your opponent’s territory as fast as possible.

Speaking of Allies: Lauka Vai

So here’s the deal with Lauka Vai–my buddy Walter brought this idea to my attention: what if you created the toughest block of Morbheg Knights in the world?

The big point for taking Lauka Vai is her warscroll ability Nightmare Miasma, which worsens the rend of enemy units within 3″ of her by 1. Lauka and the Morbheg Knights both move 12″, so it’s fairly easy to keep the literal Death Star mobile and contesting objectives, which is great since one of the Courts of Delusion gives friendly FEC units +1 to save while contesting an objective.

So, theoretically, you could get a unit of Morbheg Knights (who are a 4+ base save) absolutely loaded with the following defensive buffs:

1. +1 to save from the Court of Delusion
2. +1 to save from All-Out Defense
3. +1 to save from Mystic Shield
4. -1 rend to attacks targeting the Morbheg Knights.

Which brings you to a 3+ save ignoring Rend -3. DISGUSTING.

What About Nagash?

Fun fact: Morbheg Knights have the MORDANT keyword and are only 3 wounds–that means you get Morbheg Knights back from both Supreme Lord of the Undead AND the Invocation of Nagash abilities for a truly obnoxious amount of recursion on hard hitting units.  Umbral Spellportal and the Aethervoid Pendulum lets Nagash really flex out of his spellcasting, since without it you run the risk of not being able to take advantage of 8 spells a turn. Between the Aethervoid Pendulum, Crimson Victuals (which the Beastflayers are there to enable), Arcane Bolt and Nagash’s Soul Stealer warscroll spell, Nagash can lay out a maximum of 2d6 + 3d3 mortal wounds a turn, which is pretty gnarly.

Is this list good?  Maybe not, but having KNIGHTS coming back from Nagash who get +2 to charge from the Court of Delusion and their musician means your opponent is going to get charged a A LOT. I will almost assuredly take this to an event at some point.

Do You Like Bad Combos?

So I alluded to this in the main review article, but there’s a really bad combo that you can do for the most minimal of gain, but by god I’m going to include it here anyway:

1. Have an Abhorrant Gorewarden, Abhorrent Ghoul King on foot, and another Wizard who can cast Levitate.
2. Have the 3rd party wizard cast Levitate on the Ghoul King, giving him Fly.
3. Have the Gorewarden cast his warscroll spell Winds of Shyish and teleport both him and the now flying Ghoul King outside of 9” of an enemy hero.
4. Have the Ghoul King cast his warscroll spell, which gives him a hero phase 3d6” charge into an enemy unit. 
5. Give the Ghoul King +1 damage vs that hero.

Congratulations, you just spend almost 500 points and multiple spells to get your Ghoul King into combat with an enemy hero where he deals–

Checks Notes

An average of 4 damage to a 3+ save. What a value!

CONCLUSION

The book is currently wide open, and a whole world of possibilities exist right now for list building.  I’m currently about 20 lists deep, and the ones above just barely scratch the surface.  I’d love to hear what you have in mind for what your favorite subfactions are, and where you plan to take your noble warriors next!

All credit goes to Games Workshop for all images unless otherwise noted.

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