Strigoi or no Strigoi - 2500 pts

[Jagosaja]

Fantasy Army: Vampires

Hi there! I've been playing with the idea of using a Strigoi in my 2500 point VC list because of the fluff. Ergo, I've made two lists, one with and one without him. Please help decide which one should I use:

List one - Strigoi list:

Lords:
Strigoi Ghoul King (Red Fury, Dread Knight, Sword of Bloodshed, Dragonbane Gem, Potion of Strength)
Master Necromancer (Black Periapt)

Heroes:
Vampire (Aura of Dark Majesty, Fear Incarnate, Dragonhelm, The Cursed Book, Heavy Armour, Additional Hand Weapon)
Wight King (Battle Standard Bearer, Rod of Flaming Death, Great Weapon)

Core:
27 Skeleton Warriors (full command, Screaming Banner) - All the characters go here
40 Crypt Ghouls
5 Dire Wolves
5 Dire Wolves

Special:
1 Spirit Host
1 Spirit Host
1 Spirit Host
3 Vargheists

Rare:
Varghulf
Varghulf
Terrorgheist



List two - no Strigoi:

Lords:
Vampire Lord (level 4, Red Fury, Quickblood, Fear Incarnate, Talisman of Preservation, Black Periapt, Heavy Armour, Additional Hand Weapon)

Heroes:
Vampire (Aura of Dark Majesty, Supernatural Horror, The Cursed Book, Heavy Armour, Shield)
Wight King (Battle Standard Bearer, Rod of Flaming Death, Great Weapon)

Core:
27 Skeleton Warriors (full command, Screaming Banner) - All the characters go here
40 Crypt Ghouls
5 Dire Wolves
5 Dire Wolves

Special:
2 Fell Bats
2 Fell Bats
2 Fell Bats
1 Spirit Host
1 Spirit Host
1 Spirit Host
3 Vargheists

Rare:
Varghulf
Varghulf
Terrorgheist


Basic idea is to keep Infantry close to each other while progressing towards the enemy, with wolves, hosts and possible bats slowing down and harassing the enemy, vargheists staying close to the lord until later game when they fly over the enemy to face the rear of their lines, and varghulves and terrorgheist keeping flanks in check.

[BlackPawl]

I think both lists are a little bit weak in combat troops.

The spirit hosts will crumble against normal infantry (3 ranks & banner), let alone some armies with access to magic attacks (skaven, demons, wood spirits, chaos knights etc.) or a few magic missiles.

So it would be difficult to hold or protect the flanks.

[madival]

Watch out with that dread knight on your strigo. Having to answer challenge means character killers can single him out easier. *stares at sword master captain of hoeth*

[Jagosaja]

Thanks for the replies.

Spirit hosts won't perform any worse against such units as you have mentioned than any other chaff units, especially at their price, but against many other they can be ace. For 45 points which other unit can put to a halt a monster/monstrous infantry/monstrous cavalry and even ordinary cavalry without more than one banner? Which other chaff redirector can survive a magic missile better than them? They are not there to hold blocks, they are there to mess up with monsters and such and to redirect where necessary. I believe they are just fine.

Also, a pair of varghulves can mess up most ranked up units on their own, with minimum casualties. Same goes for terrorgheist-varghulf pair. Ghouls can do wonders on their own, as can a skellie unit with two vampires in front, especially if lord rerolls and has red fury. I don't believe it is necessary to bring multiple horde infantry to win battles. If planned well, MSU can still work just fine.

As for the Strigoi and Dread Knight I still ask myself if it is a good choice. On one hand he has initiative 8 and will strike before most opponents. Only HE lords may reroll against him, maybe some dedicated assassins too. Other champions I don't believe can kill him in one round, and he will most probably destroy everyone in his path with WS8. Again, everyone except maybe unkillable dwarven lord or hit-on-6 WE characters. I believe challenging keeps him from getting many possible high strength attacks back. And if I decrease him to WS6, he may not have such output as he had with WS8, enabling him to get killed even easier.

Then again, Vampire lord is much more survivable. He may not be able to perform as good as Strigoi, but he will stay longer. And he is a lvl 4 caster, while master necro is a lvl 3. Also, I have 3 more fast chaff units, able to catch enemy war machines faster and tie them up, but they are not a tie breaker in this choice between armies. Should I exchange a 2-in-1 vampire lord for Strigoi+necro, the first one being slightly stronger in magic and having better defence, the second one having massive offence?

[Jagosaja]

Well, I modified my Strigoi list a bit, how do you find it now:

Lords:
Strigoi Ghoul King (Red Fury, Dread Knight, Sword of Bloodshed, Potion of Strength)
Master Necromancer (Black Periapt)

Heroes:
no heroes

Core:
40 Crypt Ghouls - horde style
45 Zombies (Standard Bearer, Musician) - 5 wide, 9 deep
5 Dire Wolves
5 Dire Wolves

Special:
28 Grave Guard (Great Weapons, Standard Bearer, Musician, Banner of The Barrows) - horde style, here go characters
1 Spirit Host
1 Spirit Host
1 Spirit Host
3 Vargheists

Rare:
Varghulf
Varghulf
Terrorgheist

So, no terror bomb anymore, but a unit of Grave Guard that can pack a punch.

[Gloryseeker]

You missed of the ghoul king having the Dragonbane gem. 8 attacks, strenght 8 with red fury and you want him in a challenge? I'd rarther have him murdering lots of people than just 1.

[Jagosaja]

I had no points left for Dragonbane Gem, total 625 for characters, there is no room left. And I'd rather him murdering 1 and scoring 6 combat resolutiom total with overkill, than kill 10 and score 10 combat resolution, and then die from attacks that he gets back from ranked infantry, which these days are most commonly not ordinary A1 WS3 S3 no bonus troops. But that is my experience. I'd rather let my other core soften my opponents a bit for the round two where he will truly shine.

[Lord Skrolk]

Think your build is a little monster heavy and unit light. Your lord is a major points sink too. You basically have 1,000pts in three models. This is a) a little dull to play against. And b) rich pickings for artillery.

List would benefit from dropping a Terrorgheist and spending points on another block of skeles and, maybe a corpse cart. Also suggest finding points to buy a Nero with one level upgrade and master of dead. You can then beef up skeles and raise zombies (which is a way to find some extra points, your unit only needs be 20 as they are sooooo easy to raise with help of corpse cart).

Get some!