I would argue that their special trait is their points cost. They are still dirt cheap!
I haven’t played 4th yet. Hopefully next weekend will bring at least a small ambush game.
This is interesting. You raise mostly the same points as previous posters, yet the frame is radically different.
First of all, I don’t think I agree with you, but the truth of the matter has to be confirmed in the tournament results of the coming year. A few reactions:
-Fearless is useless in melee. Yes, true. But the fact that undead don’t waver makes them almost invulnerable to shooting. Combined with the fact that shooting will nearly always waver a unit instead of routing it, makes this rule very valueable.
-Shambling has taken a drop, true. Fortunately the undead command (which is ridiculously easy to pull off) helps a lot. This gives undead the best of both worlds.
-Undead nerve is fine. Revenants have 25, cheapo’s dropped a little.
-Rev king is useless, I grant you that. The rally is okay, but not worth the point cost.
-Necromancers have nothing special, but they are your primary access to surge which we do need. I take a necro + inspiring talisman first every army I build. Army standard with tome second. That gives me 2 sources of command + inspiring + surge for less than 250 points.
-Foot vampires have been tested (see above) and they failed me. They do quite a bit of damage (vicious helps) but their limited nerve compared to their point cost doesn’t warrant their inclusion. They need a serious point drop (to 150 for a troop, 180-ish for a regiment) for me to consider them.
-Undead regulars being useleess: In the few battles I played (again, see above) I lacked hordes of regular shamblers. My next iteration of the list will include 3 hordes of zombies. Dirt cheap and a lot of nerve to kill off. Yes, they die fast to berserker infantry, but cavalry will have nothing to add from their thunderous, so that’s a great bonus. It’s almost as good as spears at a fraction of the cost! Undead has always been a combination of cheap disposables and heavy hitters, this remains more or less the same. Yes, I’d like some more fancy commands and the return of the liche character, but then again, we haven’t lost as much as other lists. (looking at you, Brotherhood of both kinds)
So I’m pretty set on undead right now, if only because it’s the army I transitioned first to KoW 4th. First master this one before continuing to others.
6 Likes
I agree with you on a lot of points, especially the combination of feeling dumped with the movement, and disguising fearless as something that’s kind of extremely valuable. The movement plus of everything else than shambler allows a huge surge protection, while still being so much faster than the majority of undead units. Surge itself is still a valuable tool, but we won’t have open flanks to reach, which is one of the few successful ways to be close to a serious threat of the core units (and some of the 4+ hitters). Also the movement/flexibility increase comes with no cost, surge is still something we have to pay for if we want it (and let’s be serious, we need it).
Fearless might be okay when the first gunlines will rise again, but in my eyes it doesn’t bring us anywhere near “immortal to being shot”. The amount of damage to rout a fearless unit is exactly the same as for a normal one. Yes, that fearless unit won’t be slowed down by waver results, but is also unable to have At The Double speed, so it will be shot one or two time more.
Personally I’m not a fan of werewolves in undead armies. They simply aren’t undead, nor do they have something in common with ghouls or necromancy. They are living humans who transform into wolves, why would they seek company among the living dead? But that’s a personal thing, and I like the unit values while not the unit itself. So it bothers me that they are something now, that more or less every list will show at least once.
Soul Reaver Inf troops have lost their threatening punch with the cs drop, I ran two troops and one regiment in two games. The troops did next to nothing when they charged a front and died pretty soon after, the regiment was a little bit more reliable to survive longer and getting a handful of wounds more to deliver. But they are way too expensive, CS1 with vicious isn’t the same as CS2 when you are facing def5+ , which I did. Twice.
Zombies die faster now in my eyes, thanks to the overall increase of melee bloodshed (more attacks, more aggressive play, and no benefit in decreased CS values or lost TC). They are cheap, but regiments becoming AUX (so no unlocks) feels punishing. Hordes are still cheap also, but doesn’t have their allure any more to be a reliable stopper.
This Sunday my first 4. ED tournament will happen, and I’ll run a list with skellies, rev Inf and werewolves. I’m adapting to the new edition, and maybe undead, or at least my way of undead has to find their new identity too. But I’m happy to try Abyssal Dwarves this year too 
3 Likes
Yeah, the powerful Soul Reavers are the Cav, this edition. As for why Werewolves hang out with the Undead, that’s because they’re just like the Soul Reavers … sort of, those are both products of Wicked One shenanigans!
I think Skellies are still in that ‘not quite Revenants’ shadow, but I look forward to hearing how they do.
3 Likes