Skeletal vs Zombie Necromancer

[exid]

Is it better to just be a skeletal warlord instead of necromancer?

If you try to build a skeletal Warlord, I think you'll find that you start wondering why you're going with skeletons rather than War school soldiers, especially since spell points are so hard to come by for the Warlord to begin with.  In other words, it's (probably) easier to justify a few War conjurations in a Necromancer book than an army of skeletons in a Warlord book.  But feel free to prove me wrong.

I tried and proove you right!

[Puddnhead]

From what I've seen, Necromancer staples are:

[mwcard=MW1J18]Poison Gas Cloud[/mwcard] (2-4 copies)
[mwcard=MW1J20]Sacrificial Altar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ05]Libro Mortuos[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ02]Death Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKI01]Drain Soul[/mwcard] (1 copy)
[mwcard=MW1J11]Idol of Pestilence[/mwcard]
as well as the host of poison curses in the dark school.

As for skeletal army composition I think you want to figure out how you want to win and what tactics you want to shore up against or power through.  Let me elucidate.

If you want to advance with a never ending horde, then yes, you should have 6 skeletal minions, 4 death fangs, 4 sentries...etc.  In that instance, you are hard countered by [mwcard=MW1J21]Suppression Orb[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1J16]Mordok's Obelisk[/mwcard].  You better have a way to kill these things quickly.  On the other hand you get a ton of mileage out of [mwcard=MWSTX2FFJ04]Armory[/mwcard], [mwcard=FWE06]Fortified Position[/mwcard] and, of course, [mwcard=DNC07]Mort[/mwcard].

Contrast that with the "Few Big" or "Buddy" mentality and you could build a book around [mwcard=MWSTX2FFC10]Sardonyx, Blight of the Living[/mwcard] or a few [mwcard=DNC14]Skeletal Knight[/mwcard]s  In this case you'd want to support them with [mwcard=DNI03]Reassemble[/mwcard] and positional cards.  Maybe even some attack spells.  You get around the obelisk and the orb this way, but you don't have an army to stand between you and the enemy and might want to pack some more equipment than usual.

[iNano78]

From what I've seen, Necromancer staples are:

[mwcard=MW1J18]Poison Gas Cloud[/mwcard] (2-4 copies)
[mwcard=MW1J20]Sacrificial Altar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ05]Libro Mortuos[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ02]Death Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKI01]Drain Soul[/mwcard] (1 copy)
[mwcard=MW1J11]Idol of Pestilence[/mwcard]
as well as the host of poison curses in the dark school.

As for skeletal army composition I think you want to figure out how you want to win and what tactics you want to shore up against or power through.  Let me elucidate.

If you want to advance with a never ending horde, then yes, you should have 6 skeletal minions, 4 death fangs, 4 sentries...etc.  In that instance, you are hard countered by [mwcard=MW1J21]Suppression Orb[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1J16]Mordok's Obelisk[/mwcard].  You better have a way to kill these things quickly.  On the other hand you get a ton of mileage out of [mwcard=MWSTX2FFJ04]Armory[/mwcard], [mwcard=FWE06]Fortified Position[/mwcard] and, of course, [mwcard=DNC07]Mort[/mwcard].

Contrast that with the "Few Big" or "Buddy" mentality and you could build a book around [mwcard=MWSTX2FFC10]Sardonyx, Blight of the Living[/mwcard] or a few [mwcard=DNC14]Skeletal Knight[/mwcard]s  In this case you'd want to support them with [mwcard=DNI03]Reassemble[/mwcard] and positional cards.  Maybe even some attack spells.  You get around the obelisk and the orb this way, but you don't have an army to stand between you and the enemy and might want to pack some more equipment than usual.

Just thought I'd point out that Skeletons have an easier time against [mwcard=MW1J21]Suppression Orb[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1J16]Mordok's Obelisk[/mwcard] than an equal number of Zombies of similar cost.  It isn't a bad idea to pack a couple [mwcard=FWA02]Force Hammer[/mwcard]s if you're going swarm, imho. Something like [mwcard=FWJ01]Akiro's Hammer[/mwcard] would be a more thematic choice (e.g. have your skeletal soldiers build a trebuchet out of bones and fling some skulls at the orb/obelisk) if it weren't so slow and expensive - and Warlord-only, of course.