Vampire Counts, which is better?

[vinny t]

In my current VC list I include both a Combat Vampire Lord in a Black Knight unit and a Level 4 Master Necromancer in some Zombies. Recently however, I was wondering if it would be worth it to instead upgrade the Lord to a level 4 (105 points) and add a regular Necromancer (100 points) in exchange for the Master Necro. This would add another level of magic to the list but also might make my Lord too many eggs in one basket.

Also in my list are 2 level 1 Vampires in a big Skeleton unit.

Any thoughts?

[Wesser]

Personally I prefer just having a lvl 3 Vamp Lord with decent combat gear and lvl 2 necro side-kick at games around 2-2.5k. At that point lvl I prefer the flexibility of the Vamp Lord since I cant afford both anyway.

At around 3000 I may include both unless Im in a Zombie Dragon mood.

In smaller games the Master Necro is the man. Right down to 1k I'd pick him

[Sexiest_hero]

Master necros are for magic, Vampire lords are for fighting.

[bigbear bailey]

I agree with old sexy here. You are going to want to get that lord into combat, and by doing so making the risk of your magic offense/defense go to crap if he dies.

[SteelTitan]

Ive been running a level 4 Vampire Lord and always stick him in the thick of it an never regretted it.

[Vaiuri]

I'm not a fan of the 'Master of All' vampire lords simply because if things do go horribly wrong and you miscast and die (it happens!) thats a LOT of points down the drain. Plus theres the magic allowance and powers, you're forces to split things or favour one side or the other, do you take miscast protection or a badass sword, a Ward save or armour?

Splitting the job across 2 character I feel has much more benefit, and gives you more chances of getting spells off if your Level 4 flubbs it.

I tend to roll with a level 3 or 4 necro (plus combat horror), then a couple of level 2 back-ups, maybe a level one shadow vamp if I have some points knocking around.

[Askari]

Making a Vampire Lord Level 4 costs half as many points as getting a seperate, Level 4 Master Necromancer.

It's up to you to decide if you're willing to spend an extra 100pts in order to share responsibility.

[Athlan na Dyr]

Making a Vampire Lord Level 4 costs half as many points as getting a seperate, Level 4 Master Necromancer.

It's up to you to decide if you're willing to spend an extra 100pts in order to share responsibility.

I find 100 points to be a bargain. Means the general won't take miscast damage (almost), I have more protection from crumble and won't all but lose the game if one model happens to die. Particularly comes to the fore when up against armies with Killing blow, Death magic and so on.
Of course, that 100 points becomes all the more meaningful as the points limit lowers. I'd advise the OP to try both options a few times as which is prefferable depends greatly on the enemies you face and the points limits played at.

[bigbear bailey]

Just make sure you don't get him killing blowed... game over lol

[Askari]

I find 100 points to be a bargain. Means the general won't take miscast damage (almost), I have more protection from crumble and won't all but lose the game if one model happens to die. Particularly comes to the fore when up against armies with Killing blow, Death magic and so on.
Of course, that 100 points becomes all the more meaningful as the points limit lowers. I'd advise the OP to try both options a few times as which is prefferable depends greatly on the enemies you face and the points limits played at.

Which was kind of my point really, at low points games you're going to want a Master Necro as the Vampire is just too expensive. At around 2,000-2,500 you can't have both so take the Vampire Lord, protect him up and off you go. At 3,000, there's a good argument to be made to split the Level 4/General responsibility between a L4 Necro and a L1 Vampire Lord general.