In the wake of the Vermindoom, Nagash requires ever more warriors of Death to defend what is rightfully his (everything) from his ancient enemies, and so the legions of the Ossiarch Bonereapers are expanding with a new range of miniatures and a shiny battletome. Here’s Anthony Magro from AoS Coach to tell you about his favourite parts of the new rules.
Anthony: The Ossiarch Bonereapers march upon the Mortal Realms, bringing fresh tools and refined mechanics for generals who value precision, efficiency, and battlefield control. Renowned for their disciplined battlelines, resilient units, and distinctive command economy, the Bonereapers have long rewarded careful planning and technical play. Their new battletome builds on those strengths, introducing updated warscrolls, as well as new strategic options.
Relentlessly disciplined
The Ossiarch Bonereapers collect the bone-tithe, enforce tribute, and expand Nagash’s empire. Their legions fight with efficiency and precision, which is represented through their key battle trait, Relentless Discipline.
Each battle round, you use the Immortal Elite ability to select a friendly Ossiarch Bonereapers hero on the battlefield and generate a number of relentless discipline points (RDP) equal to the value on their warscroll. Select Arkhan the Black for 3, a Liege-Mortek for 5, or Katakros for a massive 10 RDP! Make sure to spend them every battle round, because they don’t roll over.
IMMORTAL ELITE
Once Per Battle Round (Army), Start of Battle Round
The Ossiarch legions march to war in perfect unison, efficiently and precisely enacting the will of their generals without the mortal inadequacies of doubt, fear or regret.
Declare: You must use this ability if there are any friendly OSSIARCH BONEREAPERS HEROES on the battlefield. Pick a friendly OSSIARCH BONEREAPERS HERO to be the target.
Effect: You gain a number of relentless discipline points equal to the number after the target's RELENTLESS DISCIPLINE keyword. At the end of the battle round, any unspent relentless discipline points are lost.
Every hero in the Ossiarch legions has a Relentless Discipline number, so as long as you have a hero on the battlefield, you’ll be able to command your legions. To make the most of your RDP you’ll want to include either Katakros, Arch-Kavalos Zandtos, a Liege-Kavalos, or a Liege-Mortek. Taking more than one of them in your list won’t give you additional RDP on top of the hero you select, but it will give you an alternative option should your main RDP source be slain. Alternatively, select the Manufactured Mind heroic trait and you’ll be able to pick a friendly hero that has been destroyed to be the target of Immortal Elite.
What can I do with Relentless Discipline?
Like a Gothizzar Harvester in a bone store, you’ll have plenty of options for spending your relentless discipline points, with five abilities to choose from: Remorseless March, Impassive Retreat, Ruthless Extermination, Pitiless Assault, and Inviolate Legions. These abilities are spread across your movement, shooting, and combat phases and will vary in cost depending on the unit size.
Remorseless March adds 3” to the Move characteristic of each unit you spend RDP on, which will significantly boost units like your Liege-Kavalos on War Chariot, Morghasts, or Kavalos Deathriders to set up an easier charge, or help control the battlefield with Mortek Guard and Immortis Guard. You could even extend the threat range of your Mortek Triaxes to take out backfield threats. If you see yourself using Remorseless March to set up early charges, you may want to consider the Ruthless Legion battle formation to trigger Crit (2 Hits) for the turn if a unit charged this turn and can roll a 3+ to activate the ability.
Ruthless Extermination is a shooting phase reaction that helps you deal with pesky protected foes by subtracting 1 from all ward saves against the damage inflicted by the unit receiving the RDP. Mortek Triaxes and Mortek Crawlers are the key beneficiaries of this ability, which combines nicely with All-out Attack or Covering Fire commands. This ability can deny your opponent a 6+ ward, like that of the Soulblight Gravelords, or reduce a Nurgle Daemon unit’s 5+ ward to 6+. You can combine this with the Bone-tithe Shrieker manifestation to deny your opponent that 5+ ward roll completely.
PITILESS ASSAULT
Reaction: You declared a Fight ability for a unit that has not used a RELENTLESS DISCIPLINE ability this phase
The Bonereapers deliver blows that make a mockery of enemy defences.
Used By: The unit using that FIGHT ability.
Effect: Spend 1 relentless discipline point. If that unit is reinforced and has more than half of its starting models, spend 2 relentless discipline points instead. Add 1 to wound rolls for attacks made as part of that FIGHT ability.
KEYWORDS: RELENTLESS DISCIPLINE
Pitiless Assault gives your chosen units +1 to wound rolls. Kavalos Deathriders, Liege-Kavalos on War Chariot, Immortis Guard, and Necropolis Stalkers are powerful recipients of this ability, with their high volume of attacks and high damage output. While Morghast Archai & Harbingers already have a 2+ to wound, this can help keep the unit efficient even when faced with a -1 to wound from sources like Nurgle’s Fleshy Abundance spell or the Skaven Bell of Doom manifestation.
This is only scratching the surface of Relentless Discipline. Its interactions will reward careful planning, which is characteristic of the Ossiarch Bonereapers.
New constructs
The Mortisan Boneshapers and Ossifectors have been hard at work developing five new warscrolls to be added to the Ossiarch Empire. Each unit creates new and exciting ways to collect the tithe from your opponents.
LIEGE-KAVALOS ON WAR CHARIOT
MASTERFUL CHARIOTEER
Once Per Turn (Army), Any Combat Phase
As they plough through the enemy's ranks, the Liege-Kavalos leads the War Chariots in complex manoeuvres that prevent the foe from landing telling blows
Declare: If this unit is in combat and has charged this turn, pick this unit and up to 2 visible friendly Kavalos War Chariots that have charged this turn, that are wholly within 12" of this unit and that are in combat to be the targets.
Effect: Each target has WARD (5+) for the rest of the turn.
A Liege-Kavalos on War Chariot is a fast and durable melee-focused hero. You’ll likely want to include a couple of Kavalos War Chariots alongside this unit, to make the most of Masterful Charioteer. When the Liege-Kavalos charges, it can pick itself and up to two visible Kavalos War Chariots wholly within 12” to get Ward (5+). Grind Them to Dust lets the same targets make a pile-in move and potentially inflict mortal damage if they’re in combat. Better yet, spend some of your relentless discipline points on your chariots for the Impassive Retreat ability to let them retreat and charge again.
A Liege-Mortek is a powerful support piece. This infantry hero will generate you 5 RDP if it’s selected for Immortal Elite, and its Clinical Efficiency ability is a reaction that lets you select one nearby Mortek Guard, Mortek Triaxes, or Mortek Crawler unit when you declare a fight ability for the Liege-Mortek. The chosen unit can either fight or shoot right after the Liege-Mortek, and it gets a handy +1 to hit rolls and the Shoot in Combat ability. If it isn’t in combat, the unit can shoot the unit the Liege-Mortek is attacking to help win the fight.
A Kavalos War Chariot, with its 10 health, 3+ save, 10” move, and ability to deal mortal damage on the charge, can be a strong independent unit on the flanks of the battlefield, or support the midfield with other fast units like the Liege-Kavalos on War Chariot, Kavalos Deathriders, or Morghast. We touched on the synergy between the Liege-Kavalos on War Chariot and this unit, but even on its own you’ll have some interesting abilities to leverage, such as Pinning Attacks in your shooting phase, which can inflict mortal damage and stop the target from making a pile-in move for the rest of the turn. This is a powerful defensive play that’ll limit the amount of attacks going into your unit.
Mortek Triaxes are your ranged infantry, which could be an alternative to the Mortek Crawler or support it with real firepower. While the Mortek Crawler is known for its long-ranged, high damage threat, Mortek Triaxes offer medium-ranged, high volume shooting – up to 41 attacks for a reinforced unit. If all of this unit’s shooting attacks target a single unit, after the shooting has been resolved you’ll place a Balefire Brazier token next to that unit, subtracting 3 from their control score and denying them from healing or returning slain models – they’ll remove the token instead.
Mortis Reapers add mobility shenanigans to your toolkit that will pose a real threat to enemy heroes. If the unit isn’t within 6” of an enemy unit and is within 3” of a terrain feature, you can remove it from the battlefield and set it up within 3” of that terrain and more than 9” from all enemies through No Escaping the Tithe. This can set you up for a charge, but as it can be used in any movement phase, you can also use it to get the Mortis Reapers out of harm’s way, disrupt your opponent’s game plan, and set up for your next turn. They work well in the Ruthless Legion battle formation, with the potential Crit (2 Hits) coupled with Anti-Hero (+1 Rend) on their three attacks each. If they do get stuck in combat, then at the end of the turn they can hurl their Necrocaches, inflicting D3 mortal damage on each engaged enemy unit on a 2+, then this unit can move 6” out of combat. It’s tough to pin down the Mortis Reapers.
MORTISAN BONESHAPER
BONESHAPER
Your Hero Phase (1)
The Boneshaper uses their arcane arts to form shattered bones into new Ossiarch constructs.
Declare: If this unit is not in combat, pick a friendly Mortek Guard or Mortek Triaxes unit that has been destroyed to be the target.
Effect: Set up a replacement unit with half the the number of models from the target unit (rounding up) wholly within 12" of this unit and not in combat.
Plenty of existing units have also received significant improvements. Katakros can allow a unit to fight twice with Supreme Lord of the Bonereaper Legions, the Mortisan Boneshaper can bring back a half-sized unit of Mortek Guard or Mortek Triaxes for one command point, and the Bone-tithe Nexus will stop enemies from setting up within a bubble of the terrain feature that grows each battle round, to a massive 21” by the game’s end.
Final thoughts
There’s a lot to like about the latest Battletome: Ossiarch Bonereapers, which reinforces the faction’s identity as a disciplined, durable, and efficient army. With refined warscrolls, flexible list-building options, and powerful internal synergies, Ossiarch Bonereapers generals now have more ways than ever to tailor their armies to both mission play and personal style. Whether you favour grinding attrition, objective dominance, or carefully timed offensive pushes, this battletome provides the tools to execute Nagash’s will with ruthless precision.
Thanks, Anthony! You can get more tactical insight, and a full, in-depth battletome preview, at the AoS Coach YouTube channel, and you’ll be able to pre-order the new battletome and miniatures from this Saturday.
