So, Heinrich Kemmler's ability says:

"May use reanimate to reinforce up to 3 "skeleton" disks."

So am I to understand he can EITHER

1) Use his reanimate ability to bring back a small disk from the casualty pile within short range of his disk with a reanimate token on it.

OR

2) Use his reanimate ability to reinforce 3 skeleton disks from the reinforcement pile using the normal reinforcement rules? (Ie. in a deployment zone or on ruined windmill, for example?)

To be clear, he cannot use his reanimate to bring back 3 skeletons from the casualty pile with reanimate tokens on them, right?

I got the following answer from BoardGameGeek Forums:

I think you can reanimate 3 skeletons, and I believe that the wording from the Vampire Counts preview proves that you can:

"Heinrich Kemmler’s necromancy is particularly effective in that he can use a single action to reinforce up to three “Skeleton” disks. Accordingly, you can throw your Skeleton Warriors into harm’s way turn after turn with reckless abandon, and you’ll want to send them forward as your vanguard in order to pin key enemy units and block enemy traffic." -- Found from the preview here: http://fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4809

They would not have used the words "turn after turn with reckless abandon" if you were not reanimating them. Also they referred to the ability as his "necromancy" which provides further proof that this is a reanimation and not just a reinforcement.

So it seems you can in fact use his reanimate to bring back 3 skeletons from the casualty pile. It would be nice to hear from someone from FFG though.

Thanks Kazik

I think there does need to be a clarification, because nowhere in the reanimate rules themselves to they use the word "reinforce" except for Kemmler.

Another question would be since they use the word "reinforce" does that mean that if he brings in the three skeletons, do they come in with an activation token on them? As opposed to normal reanimate where they do not...

To answer your second question, I'm fairly certain that the ability allows you to reanimate 3 "skeletons" completely within short range of Kemmler. The 3 disks will NOT have activation tokens on them, but will have the "reanimated" tokens.

You should check out the discussion on the topic over at BoardGameGeek (you will need to scroll down a few posts before people start talking about Kemmler): http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1193857/first-expansion-game-dwarves-vs-vc

The general consensus seems to be what I've described above.

We played a mini tournament yesterday and used "reinforce" as only from reserve. By mid game I was able to 100% control all the enemy units on the field with just 1 reanimated skeleton from Kemmler. IF he could bring in 3 then I would consider this to be major broken as it gives a HUGE advantage in disks late game.

Please FFG we need a clarification. The biggest thing confusing everyone was your preview text where it indicated that reanimate is a reinforce.

We played a mini tournament yesterday and used "reinforce" as only from reserve. By mid game I was able to 100% control all the enemy units on the field with just 1 reanimated skeleton from Kemmler. IF he could bring in 3 then I would consider this to be major broken as it gives a HUGE advantage in disks late game.

Please FFG we need a clarification. The biggest thing confusing everyone was your preview text where it indicated that reanimate is a reinforce.

For me it seems clear that his reanimate is that he can bring back 3 skeletons using the reanimate effect or he can bring back one grave guard, dire wolf, or tomb banshee. So you have to lose the three skeletons for Kemmler's ability to be effective. It is nice, but you have to be putting Kemmler in close danger for the skeletons to actually be useful and hope that you can keep getting his ability off before your opponent can close to pin and kill him.

I actually don't like Kemmler, and prefer the Von Carsteins over him.

Ok - given all the discussion here and on the boards, I believe (and this is just my opinion, for what its worth) that I will be playing with it as he can use his reanimate to either bring 3 skeletons OR 1 other small disk from the casualty pile within short range with a reanimate token on it.

Ok - given all the discussion here and on the boards, I believe (and this is just my opinion, for what its worth) that I will be playing with it as he can use his reanimate to either bring 3 skeletons OR 1 other small disk from the casualty pile within short range with a reanimate token on it.

That is correct.

So far I love Kemmler.

Three Skeletons is enough to wound anything if they can pile onto it.

As for Kemmler being broken, I don't really think so, he himself is fairly fragile, and of course, once he's pinned, it's pretty much over for him. In late rounds, I think it is especially important for Vampire Counts to win the first card flip of the round. Because their army is fragile, they end up with less and less bodies on the table, and the line to their casters get's easier and easier to make. Winning that first draw lets the VC player get more bodies onto the table to protect his casters, and of course to a VC army, casters are everything.