Tomb Kings Army Book Review (intro) and a Casket of Souls

I know I promised a look at some historical figures; however, I have postponed that for two reasons.  First, 15mm models are annoying to paint, so I have washed my hands of them for a short time.  Second, the new Tomb Kings army book is out!

Obviously this book has been a long time coming, and with the old book being one of the weaker WHFB armies, Tomb Kings players have been anticipating this release for a long time.  By now, everyone has seen the models, and while I think they are a mixed bag, there is no doubt that this release represents a pretty significant reimagination of the army.  Where once I lamented the fact that we were too VC like; the new TK book seems to sever all ties between the two armies.  I'm really excited to get them on the tapletop.

Overall, I think TKs are my favorite WHFB army.  While I think a handful of armies have a better aesthetic (including my High Elves), I really like the background and flavor of the Tomb Kings, and I'm hopeful that the new book preserves that.  What I plan to do here is work my way through the book and share my reactions and thoughts as I attempt to get them ready for the next tournament (personal things got in the way of my attempt to give the 7th ed book one last go at the May tournament, so I don't have a tournament report).  I'll tell you what I think of the book, review some lists, and then tell you how they performed on the table.  My TK army also is lagging a good bit behind the High Elves in appearance, so I'll also show you my progress as I get the army ready of the table top.


Speaking of painting and modeling, the new book inspired me to finish a model that has been in permanent work in progress mode:  my casket of souls.  This was another salvage job, and unfortunately, the model was missing the two  birds that are supposed to decorate the lid of the casket. The model seems to be Indiana Jones inspired, so I wanted to pay homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark (I'm not the first to think of this, I am sure).  I had put this together a while back, but I never finished painting it.  I finally got back to it this weekend, and here's what I ended up with:

I really need to redo the flying skulls.  My skill in creating them got better with each one that I made.  The first one is really rough (even has a big ol' thump print in it).  The third one (the one that goes over the priests head) looks pretty nice.  I need to tear the first two back down and try to make them look as nice as the third.  Making them was pretty easy.  I took a paper clip and bent it into the shape that I wanted.  I then wrapped some green stuff around and smoothed that out.  A little paint, and it was ready to go.  Here it is from a couple of other angles:

When I go back to redo the model, I'm going to make a couple of changes.  First, I'm going to use a hobby drill to make some holes to insert the ends of the paper clips rather than just green stuffing them to the side of the casket. Secondly, I would like to base it.  My vision is to find some sort of ancient temple terrain piece that it could sit on.  I'm thinking it should be circular and have a few steps up to it, maybe with some pillars around it.  Unfortunately, I haven't found anything that will work.  For now though, I think the model is good enough for the table top.  I would like to find the birds that are supposed to go on the top.  If anyone has some casket birds lying around the house or knows where I can find some ancient temple terrain., let me know!


I've gone a bit long here.  My plan was to begin the review in this post by reviewing the new background section of the book, but I am already in TLDNR territory.   I'll save that until the next post.