Nehekharan civilisation has always been ahead of the game, and in the case of Blood Bowl they were playing ball long before the rest of the world caught up. Their royals were demanding games be played while the rest of the world inflicted war upon each other – and Nehekhara – and so the sport took a back seat, many of its greatest players interred in tombs at the heights of their career.
The sands of time trickled down, and Nehekhara became a husk of its former self, but when news of the NAF reached these macabre pyramids, mummies and skeletons cursed with immortality were roused into action. The Nehekhara Nightmares may break a lot of rules, insisting things were different back in the day, and they may also be a little… stiff, owing to the fact they’re basically dead, but they’re not going to give up a second chance to play Blood Bowl.
We’ve covered the key rules changes, and how the gallant knights of Bretonnia have swapped cavalry charges for bone-shattering blitzes, and now we’re documenting the new Tomb Kings. Here’s Jay from the rules team to lead us in.
Jay: Crypts have been opened, bandages are being dusted off, and moans and groans can be heard from beneath the great pyramid stadia, because the Tomb Kings are back! Whilst these shambling skeletons aren’t the most agile of teams, they more than make up for it through their resilience and sheer unwillingness to fully perish. Tomb Guardians have always been the best players on the Tomb Kings team, being Strength 5 and the fact you can take four of them – that’s a lot of bandages and rotting muscle to punch through!
Tomb Kings prefer a slow and steady approach to Blood Bowl, picking up the ball with their Thrower, then using the Mummies to block, bash, and batter anyone who gets too close! With plenty of strength and resilience, the Tomb Kings can be a real force on the gridiron – so long as they can catch the opposition!
Sound tactical advice formed by centuries of practice – and a good long nap to think on it all. Our resident Blood Bowl superfan, Joel, lit his torch and led us into the pyramids to check out some extremely dusty tablets inscribed with tactics and team information so we can provide you with a guide for the Tomb King positionals.
Skeleton Linemen are the bread and butter of a Tomb Kings team. They’re cheap, at only 40,000 gold, and a fairly sturdy bunch. Thick Skull stops them from getting sent back to the tomb when a Black Orc smashes them into a pile of bones, and Regeneration can prevent any long term injuries.
Your Throwers do what you’d expect, and will scramble to pick up and throw the ball – hopefully not with an arm still attached. They have 6 movement, 3+ Passing Ability, and 9+ Armour. Sure Hands gives them a re-roll so that even these creaky corpses can pick up the ball reliably without the use of the new Secure the Ball action, helping them get those crucial start of drive passes, which they also get to re-roll thanks to Pass.
With 9+ armour and Block, Blitzers are quite happy to get in there to start dishing out and receiving tackles. Thanks to their innate survivability and the necromantic powers binding them to this mortal world, they’re quite happy to get smashed up over and over.
One of the things that doesn’t seem to have really sunk in with the Nehekharans is that there’s a sporting agreement on how many Big Guys a team is able to take. The Tomb Kings take four Tomb Guardians as standard, and won’t hear any different from the NAF, because who wants to try and talk down a bunch of mummies with Strength 5 and 10+ Armour?
Decay* (Passive)
Apply a +1 modifier to any Casualty Roll made against this player.
They only have 4 movement, so they shamble more than they hustle, and the Decay rule might adjust the type of casualty they may sustain, though they do still have Regeneration. Their last skill is Brawler, which lets you re-roll a single Both Down result when they declare a block, making them just that little bit more reliable.
For even more information on this team, you need look no further than Spike! Journal Issue 20. It’s packed with articles all about the Tomb Kings and their illustrious past, and brings rules for their pitch and ball and a coaching article to make sure you don’t end a tournament dead last. You can also find out how to run the Khemri Classic Cup, and lots more besides.
The Tomb Kings have waited centuries for the chance to hit a touchdown again, but luckily you won’t need to wait anywhere near as long for the release of the Third Season of Blood Bowl. We’ll have more news on Warhammer Community soon.
