Some hints and insight into building a list and playing with the Ossiarch Bonereapers.
via the Warhammer Community
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/10/29/ossiarch-bonereapers-tactics-from-a-progw-homepage-post-2/
With Battletome: Ossiarch Bonereapers available to pre-order RIGHT NOW and legions of them on the way this weekend, we’re looking at some tactics for this sinister new army. To help, we have reality’s closest thing to master general Katakros – expert gamer Russ Veal.
Russ: When I was commanded (asked…) by the Great Necromancer (Martin…) to write an article about the new Ossiarch Bonereapers, I jumped at the chance! Luckily, I had the opportunity to playtest the army so I have plenty of insights into achieving victory with the Ossiarch Bonereapers.
Choosing a Commander
Like most Death armies your characters are the linchpins of your force and deciding on your character load out will be key for your battleplan. Making sure you have the right combination of command abilities, spells and relentless discipline point generation is very important.
On top of that, the decision of what Legion you will use needs to be made. This might be something you decide around the units you want to use and play style that suits you or it could be driven by paint scheme or background. Whatever you pick, build a force which plays to the Legion’s strengths.
For example, if you are building an army around Kavalos Deathriders then the Stalliarch Lords is an obvious choice, giving you the ability to run and charge, as well as the ability to retreat and charge. If you’re using Katakros then the Mortis Praetorians would be the Legion of choice so you can benefit from his powerful command ability.
Both Nagash and Arkhan gain the Ossiarch Bonereapers keyword, so they can benefit from the Legion abilities, be boosted by a range of great command abilities and heal your army’s units – yes, even themselves!
Arkhan is a fantastic utility piece your army, giving you access to the entire lore of the Mortisans, 3 casts per turn and bonuses to cast.
Nagash is also a truly terrifying commander. He’s a hefty investment at 880 points but some of the subtle changes to his warscroll, such as casting arcane bolt multiple times, make him a great offensive threat. He can buff units (and himself!) with spells and abilities, and thanks to the Ossiarch Bonereapers keyword he can be buffed by spending relentless discipline from other characters.
He also benefits from the Legion keyword, so in the Petrifex Elite he can increase his rend with Bludgeon and has a 2+ armour save. He has access to a brilliant command ability which allows units to re-roll 1s to hit and save across your entire army too.
However, you may struggle to generate enough relentless discipline points for the army and you will also have a smaller number of units in your force. I recommend taking a Liege-Kavalos to generate 2 points per battle round and trying to include multiples of smaller units for more chances to get those nifty points.
Managing Relentless Discipline Points
Speaking of relentless discipline, managing this resource is the key to victory with the Ossiarch Bonereapers. These points are generated at the start of each battle round which means you don’t need a hero phase to replenish your resource.
This allows you to mitigate the effect of the dreaded double turn – or the flip flop as Jervis calls it! But this does present its own challenge as you cannot bank the points you don’t spend, meaning efficient use of them is key to getting the most out of your small elite force.
To do this you need to decide which abilities you are likely to use in your turn, as well as your opponent’s turn. If you’re going first, ensure you have enough for defensive abilities when your opponent has their turn and try to conserve points for your turn.
Going second is often preferable to going first, the army is so resilient that it really can absorb your opponent’s offensive plays then spring in to counter-attack. Giving away a priority knowing you have a fresh set of points means you can really load up the abilities to mitigate the double turn, and puts you in with a double turn chance later in the game.
Top Units
The Ossiarch Bonereapers units are strong alone but deadly when used in combination. Unlike other Death allegiances they can operate and benefit from death saves from unit champions, be wary of abilities like the Stardrake’s Cavernous Jaws ability which can pick out your Hekatos champions.
The Mortek Guard are amazing for holding defensive positions, with the Reinforce Battle-shields spell and the Shieldwall command ability, this unit won’t be going anywhere.
Placing units with reach behind a line of Mortek Guard allows you to protect them from damage while still swinging against attackers. If using Morghast Archai or the new Necropolis Stalkers they are then able to counter-attack, flying over the Mortek Guard in your turn.
The Gothizzar Harvester is very powerful when used in this way. By positioning it within 3” of a charging enemy, but outside of their reach, you can pile in and swing over the 25mm base of the Mortek Guard. Its best synergy is allowing you to return models and heal units via the Bone Harvest special rule. Bear in mind this impacts both sides’ models, so when a Mortek Guard is killed on a 4+ it is returned!
Then there’s the Mortek Crawlers. These fearsome machines cost as much as an elite unit but can hit enemy characters and units at long distance. Its Necrotic Skull attack is effective against lightly armoured targets like Skaven Plague Monks and Slaanesh Daemonettes but also at sniping characters, with its Damage 5 hit one failed save can result in a 5 Wound Hero being killed.
These attacks can also be boosted with spells like Soul-guide, giving you re-rolls on 1s to hit and Endless Duty from a Liege Kavalos for +1 attack. The powerful Cursed Stele, one shot per game ability can be used for killing characters especially if the Crawler is damaged, the Cauldron of Torment can be used to decimate low bravery units like Moonclan Grots and skaventide infantry. These machines will force your opponent into engaging and gives you an option to deal with threats at range.
As I mentioned your heroes are important – they give you relentless discipline, access to spells and command abilities. Protecting Arkhan or Nagash, for example, would be a top priority so giving them a bodyguard of Immortis Guard means they are extremely difficult to kill, absorbing wounds with the Soulbound Protectors special rule and then being healed back by the character they are protecting!
To sum up, the Ossiarch Bonereapers reward meticulous planning and careful resource management. Being an elite force will mean that you will often be outnumbered on the battlefield, so success lies in using your limited numbers in a deadly combination, empowering your units with magic and effectively utilising your relentless discipline points.