Hobby Update: Undead Cursed Pharaohs

Up now are some powerful Teutonic Pharaohs for the Undead!

The minis are an "Across the Realms" line of sculpts, and I obtained mine from Geek Dad Miniatures on ebay. I was idly browsing, got an offer the following day, and for just a couple of bucks, I couldn't really turn this down, despite not entirely understanding what was for sale. 

With all the options that were presented, I wasn't exactly sure what I'd be getting. As it turns out, this was a build your own mini kind of thing, so I got everything pictured, plus a second Teutonic Great Helm head, which I think was an error to my benefit. In addition to the unexpected second cool head, I got two bodies, one with and one without a cape. I didn't realize that was an option as well, so I ended up with two very imposing Teutons when I thought I was just getting one.

The basic hero.

The pieces are all resin, so after a wash and a dry, I used super glue to assemble things. The body with the cape got the shield and warhammer to make an imposing Def6 Pharaoh, and I used the big sword and readied gauntlet on the uncaped body. I added some resin wings I picked up on etsy long ago, this guy will be the Pharaoh with Wings of Honeymaze that was popular previously, but seems to have fallen out of favor more recently, at least for US Masters and such.

The winged version.

Cursed Pharaoh's are an odd inclusion for the wet, gothic theme of the Undead army. With Empire of Dust being a more prominent thing for Mantic now, I'm not sure if they'll survive to the next edition, but as long as they are options for the Undead, they do look like they are worthy of consideration.

On offense, they are Melee 3+, with 5 attacks, and CS2. They are individuals, so aren't going to go better than that usually (though giving them Scythe of the Harvester of Blade of the Beast Slayer could be fun). Overall, the Cursed Pharaohs should have some ok output for a hero, contributing the usual couple of damage here and there, but defense is what draws my eye to them. They are unfortunately not Fearless, so they can be wavered, but they sport Def6, and Regeneration 5+ in efforts to keep them around. They are Mighty, so while small individuals, they should be able to stick something up for a bit if needed. Additionally, while they can only know Surge from the common spell lists, they are still Spellcaster 1, so can tech into Knowledgeable and take fancy spells if desired. Coupled with their general survivability, these could be pricy but potent utility pieces. 

...and we'll combine the Pharaoh post here with some rambling MMU thoughts. I was hoping to get some Undead MMU games in during September, but didn't end up having the free time that I thought I would. Since I am not sure when I'm going to be able to squeeze those games in, but want to put this out there, in case anyone else wants to give it a go in the meantime.

I'd assert that with regards to units, the gothic Undead are known for their seemingly endless throngs of trashy low-tier units, like the various Skeletons and squishy Zombies. Looking at the unlockable choices in the army roster though, the only Monster to take is a Gorebeast (the Revenant Wyrms are all heros), and the only War Machine to take is the Balefire Catapult. Unless you are teching into these two particular choices, you don't actually need to be taking hordes for your unlocks, and could instead get your unlocks through numerous MMU regiments, like 70 point Zombie units. The point being, is that you probably don't need the unlocks hordes give you, so don't be afraid to run smaller Undead units. 

While individuals dominate the available hero choices, there are still a surprising number of scoring heroes for the Undead, like the Vampire on Pegasus, Vampire on Dragon, Lykanis, Revenant King on Flying Wyrm, and the Burrowing Wyrm (though the Burrowing version doesn't Inspire). Many of these seem a little expensive for what you are getting, but hero-focused Undead or Undead MMU could be a more unique way to play them.