January has come and gone and the challenge is off to a great start! This is the most exciting part of the competition for me as I get to see all the armies for the first time (although the satisfaction of seeing them all finished by the end is also hard to beat). For my first month entry, I decided to start with some of my favorite regiments from the 1994 Undead army book. I feel that these units really demonstrate some of the core themes of the Undead of the Old World—unholy vigor and terror! Let's take a look...
That's it! Just eight individual models, including a scenic pile of skulls. Undead are enormously expensive point-wise and tend to field rather small armies. This will be a theme as we go along... Anyway, let's look at the breakdown:
Screaming Skull Catapult ~ 74 pts
The Screaming Skull Catapult is a terrifying weapon of the Undead. Not only is it as powerful as a regular stone thrower (providing the Undead army with much needed long range firepower and a handy way to quickly dispose of heavily armored knights), but any regiment that takes even a single casualty must pass an immediate Panic test or become broken and flee. Right on the first turn, you can make a regiment run right off the board from their deployment zone! With 48" range, an artillery template, Strength 7 hits, no save and D3 wounds per hit, the Screaming Skull Catapult is a steal at a mere 74 pts.
The next regiment is another favorite of mine: the dreaded Carrion. These are the rotting corpses of great eagles and other gigantic birds of prey that once nested in the highest ranges of the Worlds Edge Mountains. The black magic of Chaos ravaged these inhospitable regions, warping the creatures that dwelt there and twisting them into these mockeries of once noble beasts. Like the Screaming Skull Catapult, Carrion play a vital role in the Undead army, making up for another area that the shambling hordes lack: speed. Carrion can fly (as well as their tattered, rotting wings can carry them) and thus get around the special rule that prohibits Undead from marching. Their effective 24" movement thus makes them the fastest regiment in the army.
The best use of this regiment, in my opinion, is to employ them as war machine hunters. On the first turn of the game, if they cannot reach their prey with regular flight, the Carrion can fly high and swoop down on them in the following turn. Once in combat, they have a terrific chance of devouring the war machine's crew whole or at the very least driving them away (and perhaps off the table) thanks to their ability to cause fear. With 3 Attacks on their profile and the potential to make additional attacks for every wound dealt (as the Carrion's creepy little spirit rider feeds upon the death and carnage), a small handful of Carrion can deal a lot of damage to unarmored war machine crew. You can even field them in packs of three, allowing you to have multiple murders of Carrion circling over the battlefield.
These models were a delight to paint, just bursting with character and attitude. Nothing that has been made since can even hold a candle up to these classic Undead, in my humble opinion. Now that they are finished, I am very excited to crack on with the rest of the army!
