Step into a world where bones rattle with purpose and skeletal warriors stand tall with unwavering resolve. Meet the Ossiarch Bonereapers, led by the enigmatic Katakros. These bony battlers bring a bone-chilling intensity to the battlefield, armed with marrowvellous formations and a bone-fide dedication to their cause. With their bone-appetit for victory, they’ll leave their adversaries shaking in their boots, proving they’re not just humerus, but truly bone to be wild!
Who are the Ossiarch Bonereapers?
All Ossiarch Bonereapers are built for a specific purpose and assigned a role based on the souls from which they’re formed. This is codified through a caste system, with Nagash at the top, the highest ranking Ossiarchs underneath him and various ranks beneath that.
While many Ossiarch Bonereapers are warriors, there are castes of crafters, like the Ossifact, or preachers, like those in the Priad caste.
There is movement between castes, but only downwards, as a punishment for failure. A Liege Kavalos who fails in their mission, for example, may be remade as a Kavalos Deathrider, or as a steed, if he has truly disappointed the Great Necromancer.
The Ossiarch Bonereapers can be found all across the Mortal Realms, aiming to conquer everything from Azyr to the Eightpoints. At present, the main factions of the Ossiarch Bonereapers are concentrated in Shyish, inhabiting the great nations that surround the Shyish Nadir. This allows them easy access to a vast source of magical power and establishes them as a permanent garrison around this most valuable of territories.
Playstyle
As in the shift to 3rd, the 4th edition ruleset has introduced dramatic changes to the command point system. As a result, the mechanical identity of the Ossiarch Bonereapers has undergone a shift…. no longer can they spam commands with impunity. In addition, their durability and recursion have both taken a hit. However, their melee combat prowess and adaptable toolbox remain their great strengths
Battle Traits
The Ossiarch Bonereapers have what is effectively one large battle trait – Relentless Discipline. Comprising of six separate abilities, you are presented with a strategic choice in your movement phase, the charge phase, and the combat phase. Each option provides an effect within a 12″ range of a Hero of your choice in your army. In your movement phase, you may pick between an additional 2″ to your units’ Move characteristics or the ability to use Retreat abilities and still Charge (though your unit will still take the associated mortal damage for using the ‘Retreat’ ability). In the charge phase, you may pick between +1 to charge rolls and Anti-charge (+1 Rend). This is generally going to be the +1 to charge rolls in your turn and the Anti-charge (+1 Rend) in your opponent’s turn, but the ‘Counter-charge’ ability means that occasionally you may plan for more unconventional tactics. In the combat phase, your options are +1 to wound rolls for offensive power and Wᴀʀᴅ (5+) for defensive power. Both of these are powerful buffs, although it’s not uncommon for them to end up being redundant.
Battle Formations
Like every other faction pack, the Ossiarch Bonereapers have four battle formations to choose from. Each of them focuses on different units in the army, but none of them are strong enough on their own to feel like build-arounds.
• Mortisan Council – This formation gives all your Ossiarch Bonereapers Infantry Wizards +1 to their casting rolls. I believe that this is likely to be the ‘default’ subfaction for lists. It provides the most universally applicable bonus, as most lists are likely to be running at least one of our Mortisans (or Vokmortian).
• Mortek Ballistari – The Mortek Crawler is actually a solid damage dealer this edition. Unfortunately, it comes with a steep points cost at 280. As a result, it’s not particularly viable to spam. However, even with only one Mortek Crawler, it will still save you the CP you would have spent on an ‘All-out Attack’.
• Kavalos Lance – This formation gives all your Ossiarch Bonereapers Cavalry a 6″ pregame move. I cannot really ever see taking this formation even in a Kavalos-focused list unless none of the others provide any effect to you.
• Mortek Phalanx – Having access to replacement units of Mortek Guard is powerful even if you only take a unit or two. Unfortunately, the random nature of it means it can’t be relied on to score tactics. Even so, bolstering the ranks of what is often an army a bit short on bodies can be incredibly helpful if you get your 5+ rolls off.
Enhancements
Heroic Traits
• ‘Diversionary Tactics‘ is a returning all-star this edition, albeit nerfed to only subtracting 2 from charge rolls instead of 3. It’s still an incredibly powerful effect, especially with the looming threat of ‘Counter-charge’ ever-present.
• ‘Aura of Sterility‘ also returns in a lesser fashion, subtracting 1 from wound rolls for shooting attacks that target your units wholly within 12″. This is more a meta call than anything – I don’t quite think it’s worth taking anymore, as it’s still useless in many matchups while no longer being such a silver bullet against others.
• ‘Mighty Archaeossian‘ rounds it out with a defensive ability allowing the bearer to only take hits on a roll of 4+ – a powerful effect, but only really meaningful at all on a Liege-Kavalos.
I think ‘Diversionary Tactics‘ is generally going to be the pick among these three heroic traits, unless you’re being personally victimized by Kharadron Overlords.
Artefacts
• ‘Helm of Tyranny‘ is probably my favourite of the artefacts. Subtracting 2 from the control scores of all enemy units within 12″ helps make up for the often poor board presence of Ossiarch lists, and the wide range means that even if this is on a Mortisan it can do its job while staying safe in your backlines.
• ‘Lode of Saturation‘ gives out Ward (5+). While a solid effect, Mortisans aren’t tanky enough where the better ward will save them if anything substantial hits them, and it’s somewhat redundant with other abilities in the army.
• ‘Marrowpact’ is too niche to be particularly useful in comparison – once per battle, it reflects mortals to the attacker on hit rolls of 1-2. You could try to put it on a Liege-Kavalos and have it charge into a horde, but this isn’t a particularly efficient plan.
Spells
The Lore of Ossian Sorcery has three returning spells, all great. ‘Empower Nadirite Weapons’ is the Unlimited option, and provides the target unit critical hits on rolls of 5+. Unfortunately, it’s received a massive nerf in the form of its range – it’s now wholly within 12″, and Arkhan no longer has his range extension. As a result, while this is an incredibly potent spell combined with the Crit (2 Hits) ability most of our units have, it really requires you stay castled up close to your Wizards until you’re ready to go in swinging. ‘Drain Vitality‘ still gives -1 to hit and save rolls, although with the range once again shortened to 12″. This can often be a nice option to cast with ‘Magical Intervention‘ if there’s a unit you’re concerned about. The final spell is ‘Shard Storm‘, which was formerly the Mortisan Boneshaper‘s warscroll spell. It is a 5+ horde clear spell at 18″ range – a solid damage option.
The Horrors of the Necropolis is also a very solid manifestation lore – each provides unique utility, and can be summoned fairly reliably. The Bone-tithe Shrieker gives units -1 to ward rolls, which given the prevalence of wards in this edition is a fairly ubiquitous ability. It also has a shooting attack with a 12″ range, which means that it can shoot the turn it is summoned. The Soulstealer Carrion subtracts 5 from the control score of all enemy Infantry units within 6″ of it, which is a strong effect to have in many of the more elite Ossiarch lists. The Nightmare Predator is the damage-dealer of the bunch, and has an ability to try to come back at the end of the turn if it was destroyed. Manifestations whose job is damage can struggle to be effective since they need to make a 9″ charge to get into combat and are often destroyed before they can do anything, so this is a nice effect to have on.
Units
The Ossiarch Bonereapers have a relatively limited roster to choose from, but their units have pretty distinct roles. As far as Heroes go, our three centrepieces all look very solid. Nagash is finally worth playing again – being able to return a full reinforced unit is incredibly potent. The Mortarchs are also great despite losing their healing potential, but I can’t really see lists running both anymore. Arkhan is still a great caster and has a variant of the Null Myriad ability on his scroll that provides a spell ignore for all nearby units, allowing him to provide both magical prowess and anti-magic defense. Katakros extends the range of Relentless Discipline abilities he uses, buffs the control score of nearby units, has a chance to steal CP, and is one of the few valuable ways to save stack – a veritable command centre of abilities.
Of our smaller Heroes, the Mortisan Soulmason stands out to me the most. It has a warscroll spell (rare for a non-Unique Wizard!) that gives a unit wholly within 12″ Strike-first. Unfortunately, it only lasts the rest of the turn, but it can be very backbreaking to let you double-tap in your turn or to try to push through a devastating ‘Counter-charge’ in your opponents. It also natively casts 2 spells and has an extra health compared to our other Mortisans.
For non-Hero units, the Teratic Cohort stand out to me. They’re only 10 points more than Mortek Guard, but have a deepstrike ability. With a little setup, these are great for scoring battle tactics and can chain Take Their Land into Take The Flanks or Inevitable Demise. For combat prowess, Morghasts seem the winner. Morghast Harbingers reclaimed their 3D6 charge and can benefit from Relentless Discipline abilities anywhere on the battlefield, making them an excellent cruise missile. A reinforced block of them pairs wonderfully with Nagash. Morghast Archai recieved a ward against spell damage as well as a 3+ Save characteristic, making them the option if you’d rather keep them in your castle.
Kavalos Deathriders have also gotten a glow-up in combat with their Charge (+1 Damage), and are another great option if you want a cheaper mid-tier hammer. If you want to invest in ranged pressure, the Mortek Crawler is a dependable but expensive choice. It does approximately 10 damage to an Infantry block at a quite respectable range of 24″, and can hand out Strike-last to boot. ‘Covering Fire’ can apply this in your opponent’s turn, rendering it difficult to approach a castle backed up by one.
Sample List
Battle Formation: Mortisan Council
Manifestation Lore: Horrors of the Necropolis
Spell Lore: Lore of Ossian Sorcery
Regiment 1
Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead [880pts]
General
Morghast Harbingers [540pts]
Reinforced
Regiment 2
Mortisan Soulmason [160pts]
Teratic Cohort [140pts]
Teratic Cohort [140pts]
Teratic Cohort [140pts]
TOTAL POINTS: (2000/2000)
Nagash and Morghast Harbingers are a powerful combination. The Morghasts can go out and smash whatever they need to, die, and be brought back. Their speed and manoeuvrability makes them incredibly hard to play around, and the threat of a 3d6+1 countercharge leaves them unable to be ignored. While CP-intensive, the Mortisan Soulmason can even give them Strike-first with the use of ‘Magical Intervention’, letting them obliterate their target in your opponent’s turn before it even gets to fight. The Teratic Cohort round out the list by being cheap and versatile units that score battle tactics well, helping offset the eliteness of the list.
