The Tomb kings have risen, and are set to restore the ancient Kingdom of Nehekhara which has been decaying for centuries, carved up by foreign invaders, and now plunged into war once again as each Tomb King to fight for dominance.

Books of Nagash
The books of Nagash are powerful tomes containing the secret spells of Nagash, the first necromancer. They’ve become scattered throughout the world, and are sought by the Tomb Kings to claim control of the Black Pyramid of Nagash, part of the victory conditions in the Eye of the Vortex campaign.

The books are in the possession of other factions, some held within settlements and some held by Rogue Armies. All of them must be defeated or conquered to take possession of the book.

TIP: Rogue Armies carrying the Books of Nagash wont declare war on you. Make use of this time to watch where they patrol and bolster up your forces, as they’ll likely prove a tough fight with experience troops in their ranks.

In either campaign (Eye of the Vortex or Mortal Empires) 8 of the 9 books can be collected, with one being already held by Arkhan the Black which cant be taken from him. Each book offers a different bonus when they’re collected, from increasing unit capacity, to bonuses to trade and income. Take the time at the start of each campaign to see where the books are and what each book offers, as the effects they carry are randomized at the start of each campaign and each Tomb Kings Legendary Lord will have books in different parts of the world to collect.

Day of Awakening
Tomb Kings have a unique recruitment process, raising legions of the dead takes a lot of power, but it is free. There are restrictions to the amount of higher level units that you can recruit. To begin Tomb kings can recruit two limitless units, Skeleton warriors, and spearmen.

To recruit higher level unit’s and increase the capacity, you’ll need to construct specific buildings to unlock the unit and grant you an initial capacity. The more of these buildings you have the larger your capacity will become.

Now if you should lose a settlement containing these buildings, your capacity for that unit will be reduced. Your armies will be unaffected, but you may find that you have now exceeded the current units capacity.

TIP: You may find it more advantageous to disband wounded units without much experience and recruit a fresh unit of the same type within a couple of turns, rather than waiting for the wounded unit to replenish itself which can often take much longer.

 

Dynasties
Tomb Kings have a limitation with the number of armies that they can field at one time, and must awaken more Tomb Kings to command further armies. To do this they will spend time looking into their past, to discover long lost dynasties, their army traditions, and former Kings.

Having discovered one of the six major Nehekharan dynasties, you will be awarded with a new army slot, standard Tomb King Lords can be recruited straight away like any other faction, but a more powerful Lord, of the dynasty you have just researched can be recruited instead, by researching the top slot of that dynasty. Make use of the Canopic Jars you have been earning in the campaign to unlock this more powerful commander for your new army.

Take note though that once a Dynasty has been researched, the time is will take to research your next Dynasty will be greatly increased. The time spent on researching these dynasties can be improved by capturing additional settlements, with major settlements providing larger research boosts, over minor settlements.

TIP: Try capturing iconic Warhammer capital settlements (Khemri, Atldorf, Lothern, etc..) to gain much larger research boosts when playing as Tomb Kings.

Additionally, further benefits can be had within the Dynasties panel from unlocking Tomb Heralds which improve the quality of units within your Lords army, announcing both military and civic decrees to enhance your kingdoms infrastructure and Heroes which can be unlock and the capacity of them you can field via Gold or Canopic Jars.

Mortuary Cult and Canopic Jars
Throughout the campaign you will gather canopic jars from winning battles, taking settlements and engaging with dilemmas. These can then be used, along with tradable items, and gold, within the Mortuary Cult to craft magical items, that can be equipped to your Lords and Heroes.

TIP: Trade Resources can be secured either through military conquest in capturing a region and constructing a trade resource building within it or by the agreement of a trade agreement with a faction which already has access to the trade resource.

They can also be used to awaken Legions of Legend, elite units with specialist abilities and attributes to bolster your ranks and strengthen your armies, or to craft a new Dynasty, allowing you to field an additional army within the campaign.

TIP: To find a trade resource location quickly, left-click on the trade resource icon from the crafting recipe to have the game show you the closest location of that trade resource to your factions capital.

Rites
The tomb kings also come with their own rites to help them along the way, which provide a wide variety of benefits, using these at the right time can make a huge difference down the line, giving you bonuses to create stronger armies from the start, help with colonizing ruins, summon sandstorms to cause attrition to invading armies, and spur growth within your regions.

TIP: Try using the Great Incantation of Ptra on ruins of a major settlement if one is available, it will produce a far greater return on your investment for performing this Rite.

Buildings
The Tomb Kings economy can certainly play out quite differently to other races, with only basic infrastructure buildings on offer to aid growth and your treasury.

TIP: Make use of the cheap income buildings throughout your regions to provide a constant cash injection however small it may seem to start with.

More enticing military buildings can be used to bolster forces in the early game, but it can quickly stifle growth and development, thus preventing you from getting to the later, and far stronger, units in the roster.

TIP: If you’re after the higher tier units then focus on depth rather than breadth with your faction capital. It can be tempting to upgrade your minor settlements main building, but keep the growth back in reserve to quickly get your capital to level 5 and have the option of constructing the buildings that go with it.

Victory Conditions
For victory in the Eye of the Vortex campaign you’ll need to secure 5 of books of Nagash, gain ownership of the Black Pyramid and win the campaigns epic final or meet the domination victory conditions, which focus you on destroying a number of the main factions in this campaign.

Victory in the Mortal Empires campaign is somewhat different with the focus being much more on securing your local lands and then expanding out into the world to conquer your biggest rivals. The Books of Nagash still feature here in this campaign, but are not a part of your victory requirements.