Jubilant residents of Black Crag and surrounding lands attacked the symbols of Grimnir's 24 hour Iron Rule over the Greenskins as his regime crumbled.

Greenskins danced and waved their tribe's flag in south-eastern Black Crag's Badmoon Hole after The Witch King's elite guard helped to topple the all-powerful effigy of Grimnir's closest ally, Sigmar, as wielded by his crusaders.

The greenskin army had begun executing several of the Empire's scouts and throwing loin cloths filled with dirt at the effigy. In scenes reminiscent of the Sundering, their darker compatriots began opening rifts and raining ice down upon its sturdy plinth after a column of Chosen advanced upon its minions en force from the rear.

[URL="http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=2332&pictureid=10009"][IMG]http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=2332&pictureid=10010[/IMG][/URL]
[SIZE=1]The Effigy, shown above, as wielded by one of Sigmar's Crusaders outside the perimeter of Black Crag's Badmoon Hole, Tuesday.[/SIZE]

"Dat wuz nutz!" An exclaimation from a local Squig Herder is heard as he stands embracing his beloved pet, a scene of mutual destruction steaming at his feet, where the craters of several bombings evaporates the last of the storm's delivery.

Just two miles away, in nearby Thunder Mountain, an Empire Lieutennant instructs his troops to stay strong. The effigy, he says, cannot die.

[tube]P3ROP1PrOwc[/tube]

[I][SIZE=1][URL="http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/07/07/163236/The-Dilemma-of-Level-vs-Skill-In-MMOs"]From Slashdot:[/URL][/SIZE]

"Since MMORPGs became a mainstream medium, players have [URL="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/70728"]debated the two primary methods of advancement[/URL]. Which is better? Is it the level-based system that is so dominant in today's MMORPGs, or the lesser-used skill-based system? This has been a strong subject of debate on many forums, blogs, and gaming sites for as long as the genre has existed. Ten Ton Hammer's Cody 'Micajah' Bye investigates the two concepts and gathers input from some of the brightest minds in the gaming industry about their thoughts on the two systems of advancement."[/I]

Relatedly, I've seen a growing trend of players saying that such games don't really take much skill at all. The standard argument is that it just boils down to "knowing how to move" or "knowing when to hit your buttons." In the MMO community, people often make references to FPS or RTS games, saying they have a higher skill cap. However, the same complaints also come from within [I]those[/I] communities, with comments like "you just need to know the map," or "it's all about a good build order." At what point does intimate knowledge of a game's mechanics make a player skilled?

In the original Warhammer canon, armies of the Tomb Kings hail from the desert lands of Khemri, the first human civilization to emerge in the Warhammer Fantasy World.

Long before the Old World was civilized, an ancient civilization known as Nehekhara came to power. The land was divided into city-states, each ruled by its own King and defended by its own army. Over the centuries, the power-hungry Kings, frustrated by their short mortal lifespans, sought ways to prolong their lives.

Although true immortality eluded them, the rulers of Nehekhara came to believe that if they preserved their bodies after death, powerful magic could one day revive them and they could return to power. Elaborate tombs and pyramids were constructed to protect the remains of these dead monarchs and to house the many treasures and warriors that were buried with the Kings to serve them when they were reborn.

The plans of the Nehekharan monarchs would one day be twisted by an ambitious Priest-King of Nehekhara known as [B]Nagash.
[/B]
He was the oldest son of the current king, and nstead of becoming the heir, as eldest sons other nations would, he was forced into the ranks of the Liche Priests as the Grand Heirophant, a living sacrifice to the Gods.

Later after becoming a high priest, he killed his younger brother and usurped the throne. His rule was terrible. During this time he began the construction of the [B]black pyramid [/B]as a 'magnet' for dark magic. He also began studies into an elixir of life using human blood, which would later on be stolen by the [B]queen of Lahmia[/B].

Due to his dark nature combined with his tyrannical rule, the other kings rose up against him and he was forced to flee his homeland. Lahmia was eventually corrupted as well by vampirism, thus causing another series of wars culminating in the other kingdoms destroying Lahmia, and causing the vampires to spread to all corners of the earth.

There was one unforeseen result of Nagash's great spell. The magicks he had unleashed animated the Kings in their tombs and pyramids. The vast armies that had been buried with these rulers came to life once again, ready to defend their King in undeath. However, the Tomb Kings and their armies were not reborn as flesh and blood as they had expected. Instead, they were returned to life as skeletal, mummified parodies of men.

[B]Reanimated by the undying Priests of Death, the skeletal warriors of the Tomb Kings march forth to reclaim the lands they once defended in life. To this day, the land once known as Nehekhara is a barren, sun-blasted desert where only the dead stir.[/B]

[COLOR=DarkOrange][B]Tomb Kings Resources:[/B][/COLOR]

[URL="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=726"]Grab Bag 13: Basic Concept Explained[/URL]
[URL="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=800"]Grab Bag 17: Down to the Nitty Gritty[/URL]
[URL="http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=280922"]WHA Interview with Mark[/URL]
[URL="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=813"]Tomb Kings FAQ[/URL]

[I][SIZE=1]Repost of my original [URL="http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/blog.php?bt=243#comment243"]here[/URL][/SIZE][/I]

Within every warband lurks the constant threat of such idiosyncratic creatures of MMO legend, those who can’t get past the unreality of the fact that it’s just a game, those who can’t suppress the worst elements of their tortured personalities despite running around as a sexually confused elf, or those who simply take advantage of the anonymity of the internet to indulge in pure asshatery. The following ten players are those we would all love to avoid, but simply can’t because they are freaking everywhere – and most of us are guilty of fitting the profile at least once.

[B]1 I’M DA BOSS [/B]

Unfortunately almost never an orc, this guy joins your warband presumably because he respects you, or else never spoke up when leadership was up for grabs. He is quiet at first but then in an unexpected act of terrifying speed and precision begins barking out commands in sheer defiance of actual events or other information being given in Warband chat. Like Lt. Gaeta, this guy thinks he knows exactly what should be done because he is clearly right, but we all know what happened to Gaeta.

DA BOSS should be ignored at all costs. His orders are typically idiotic, are making your actual leader want to /ragequit, or are misspelled regurgitations of what someone else just said.
[IMG]http://images.chron.com/blogs/tubular/archives/battlestaroath.jpg[/IMG]
[SIZE=1]"Lock Dragonwake? Clearly we should all be taking BOs in Reikland."[/SIZE]

[B]2 The Doomsayer[/B]

A shorter, fatter version of DA BOSS and not to be confused with your warband’s XO, the doomsayer excels at backseat driving and likes to second guess every direction given, taking on the characteristic passive aggressive standpoint regarding the strategy, and also anything else being discussed in the Forums.

With classic guiles such as [I]‘Shouldn’t we just take the East BO?’ or ‘We’re wasting our time, they’re just going to wipe us anyways, [/I]‘ this guy will spend the entire night informing everyone that everything that he predicted would come to pass has happened. Did he? Probably not. But who knows--no one has listened to the drivel that constantly flows from this guy's mouth since T3.

[B]
[IMG]http://l.yimg.com/g/images/spaceball.gif[/IMG]
3 The Noob [/B]
Even though your warband leader is giving clear instructions, the Noob is there to ask where they are supposed to go. Not only new to Tier4, but to MMOs, social interaction with females, and their character in general, the noob is oblivious of the Map, mouse-look, and grammar. These guys are obvious customers of Chinese power leveling services and like to clutter warband chat with an unending stream of lols, reports of how many times they are getting killed by the bright wizard, and usually evolve very quickly into #9.
[IMG]http://l.yimg.com/g/images/spaceball.gif[/IMG]

[IMG]http://l.yimg.com/g/images/spaceball.gif[/IMG]
The Noob, while painful at times, can also be the source of needed comic relief if you are drunk enough and, in rare cases, can be saved with patient coaching. Nevertheless, using the noob as a scout or bait is also efficient.

[B]4 Phat Lewts and RP[/B]
Some players completely miss the concept of RVR, you know, the part about it including other players. The Phat Lewts and RP guy lacks both because he’s lacked the tact and team player attitude thus far to propel him into the ranks of the Geared Up and knows sporting Renown Rank 20 at level 40 is hardly admirable. He only cares about seeing a digital effigy of his avatar in the main city just once, even if its 10th place.

So while you and your mates are maneuvering in a desparate attempt to lock zones as you progress the campaign, Phat Lewts guy will be urging everyone to go take the BOs next, will spurt expletives when he doesn’t get his gold bag, and will almost always be the dot on the map separated from the warband by at least 2 mins.

[B]5 The Patronizing Cheerleader[/B]
Not to be confused with normal positive reinforcement, the Patronizer compliments DA BOSS by letting everyone know what a good job they are doing with narcissistic tenacity, including the warband leader. Oblivious to her overstated opinion of everyone’s skill, she'll celebrate a relatively innocuous BO take like we’ve just clinched the win, and will instantly show a disturbing amount of concern if a player in her group dies.

[I]“I’m so sorry, I could have saved you if I had known those 3 witch hunters were on you!” [/I]

The only way of dealing with these players is to patronize them back, or thank them for their invaluable contribution by sending them a stack of Soiled Loincloths, indicating they are somehow tied to a secret Epic Quest.

[B]6 Compulsive Looter[/B]

[I]“But it was sparkling!”[/I]

Distant counsin to the Phat Lewtz guy, the compulsive looter is not necessarily obsessed with riches and selfish gain, they just have incredibly poor judgement. This individual loots during combat, ignoring the deathly shrieks of his comrades as they fall lifeless around him, will wipe the warband during keep defense, and is prone to hit need on the Annihilator thighbands which will never, ever fit his fat Maurader stumps.

[B]7 Heal [/B]Hog

Your commader is typing in caps. Everyone is running frantically towards the keep, everyone that is, but you. You’ve stayed behind to see if you can kill that warrior priest who’s at half health behind the ram, even though the door is at 2% and the semi-circle of archmages is /laugh ing at you. As anyone could predict, you die, and what do you do next? You pound out the five words with your Cheeto- cheese covered fingers that immediately nominates you for this prestegious category.

[I]“Can I get a rez?”[/I]

Unfortunately for the warband, you fail to learn your lesson after waiting out the entire duration of your resurrection timer, watching the jittery blur of red labeled characters run over the top of your corpse and slay your last line of defense. Instead, you get caught in a skirmish somewhere between the keep and the warcamp and decide it would be perfectly reasonable to request someone come rez you at your vague location, because you, without a doubt, are a complete heal hog.

[B]8 The Little Kid[/B]

Stealthiest of all warband dooms is the 11 year old kid who, up until the moment when he starts to spam the fart emote and says something like ‘dood wich elfs look totally hawt witout capez’ while everyone else pounds mindlessly on a keep door, seemed like a normal player with average hand-eye coordination and no disciplinary issues (Nevermind that he does look a bit short, green and keeps popping off squigs like pokemons). The Little Kid is only playing as a result of at least one parent’s inability to give up his gaming habit (and possibly weed) for the sake of more wholesome enrichment, so it’s not Little Kid’s fault when he wipes the warband after suddenly morphing into #6, but if he does it again he’s getting an axe upside the head.

[B]9 Screw This I’m Gonna Go Play My Alt[/B]

This guy bails every time the going gets rough, and is a double-douche if he’s the warband leader. He is likely to be queued for scenarios even during a Fort battle, and in the unlikely event one pops will take it right as the warband charges the ramp (added effect if this guy is a shaman or tank). As a final touch, Mr. Screw This will fail to leave the party before he logs off, leaving the Last Pick to continue whining about being stuck on his own without heals.

[B]10 The Last Pick[/B]

Oftentimes a drunk hybrid of DA BOSS, or a close acquaintance, this guy differs from the general /2-RVR patron in that he uses it to assault the rest of the region with a combo attack of all of the above. This schizophrenic attitude is usually the precise reason Channel 2 guy never seems to make it into the warbands and is, instead, stuck tagging along when he should be playing his alt with #9.