1000 pts Vampire Counts

[ArghaBlargh]

Fantasy Army: Vampires

Hi! What do you think about the following list? It's meant to be fluffy, and it seems to me that the main weakness that it kinda lacks any models that can actually fight. Thoughts about this?


Vampire, lvl2, additional hand weapon, Glittering Scales, Opal Amulet, Aura of Dark Majesty, Fear Incarnate.
228 pts.

Heroes: 228 pts.


30 skeletons, full command, Screaming Banner.
205 pts.

30 Skeletons, full command.
180 pts.

30 Zombies, command.
100 pts.

6 Dire Wolves.
48 pts.

5 Dire Wolves.
40 pts.

Core: 581 pts.


3 Fell Bats.
48 pts.

Special: 48 pts.


3 Cairn Wraiths.
150 pts.

Rare: 150 pts.


Total: 999 pts.


Seems kinda hard to exploit the VC synergies at low points levels.

[Moss]

Going for the fear approach on a vampire seems more supportive than offensive, and you don't have much to support. If you're only taking anvils and chaff, I would make him more killy instead.

[ArghaBlargh]

I'm toying with the idea of replacing the entire fearbomb setup with a Master Necromancer. However, the army will then still not be able to kill anything.

The problem with vampire heroes to me seems to be that you can't get them that killy unless you ignore giving them defensive items or powers. Except if you put them on a barded steed and give them the Dawnstone, but then they won't have any Look out Sir! rolls. They seem terribly fragile actually, especially if you don't have a backup necro to catch the ball and stop the entire army from crumbling.

[Moss]

Have you considered dropping the second skeleton unit for horrors or a varghulf or something? You'd still have two other blocks, and plenty of chaff to keep your investment safe.

[ArghaBlargh]

Varghulf is rare, so I'd have to replace them wraiths then. And the varghulf is a pretty ugly model, though I guess I could use The Thing in the Woods from Mordheim. But if I'm dropping the wraiths I might just as well replace them with a terrorgheist.

Speaking of the horrors, well, they might be really useful, but I don't like the models and it wouldn't fit the fluff. Thanks for the recommendation though! They do seem rock-hard.

I could also add either black knights or grave guard, but maybe they are so expensive points-wise that the units might be too small to be useful?

[Moss]

Good call on the varghulf. Didn't consider that. 15 GG is probably too small, even at this point level. You can get six knights (with musician) and still have something like 20pts spare. I think I would try the knights. The list right now looks as though you're playing for a draw. Knights are riskier but give you a better shot at winning, I think.

[ArghaBlargh]

Hey, maybe I could remove the wraiths and add a few Blood knights? That would give me the needed killing power, and as a bonus it would scare the pants of my regular opponents.

And yeah, I got to redesign that vampire somehow. I'm afraid the cool fearbomb will have to wait until higher points limits. But how do I make that vampire useful? Any thoughts?

[ArghaBlargh]

Ok, new design for the vampire hero general.

Vampire, lvl.2, heavy armour, Red Fury, Sword of Swift Slaying, Charmed Shield, and either Opal Amulet or Potion of Strength. 239/244 pts.

Also allows me to drop the Screaming Banner.

[ArghaBlargh]

I decided to take a bike ride to clear my head, and I think it helped. The problem with the list above was that it had too much boring core, too much chaff, too much support, and too little killing power. So I decided to make a fairly radical redesign. Here goes.


Master Necromancer, lvl 4, Master of the Dead, Talisman of Endurance.
250 pts.

Lords: 250 pts.


Vampire, lvl 1, heavy armour, Red Fury, Sword of Swift Slaying, Charmed Shield, Potion of Strength.
209 pts.

Heroes: 209 pts.


16 skeletons, full command.
110 pts.

15 Skeletons, full command.
105 pts.

20 Zombies, command.
70 pts.

7 Dire Wolves.
56 pts.


Core: 341 pts.


4 Blood Knights.
200 pts.

Rare: 200 pts.


Total: 1000 pts.


The idea is that the Master Necromancer sits in his Zombie bunker with the two Skeleton units in front, and raises them up to fighting strength as quickly as possible. The Vampire sits in one of the skellie units and kills things. The Dire wolves and Fell bats hunt chaff and war machines, blocks marches and redirects, while the Blood Knights come in from the flank when the main skellie blocks are in combat, and seals the deal.

Edit: seems you need to take at least 4 Blood Knights, so I suppose the Fell Bats will have to go.

[Maoriboy007]

I reckon at this points level 2 x 5 man Hexwraith units would give you close to the same killing power as the knights plus some versatility.

[m1acca1551]

4 x blood knights at 1000pts?? ouch i feel really sorry for your opponents... The hexwraiths or even cairn wraiths would be a horror to fight at this level, without access to heavy magic and most army books suffer from expensive lords and often opt for level 2 your master necro can have a fairly dominate magic phase and the +4 to dispel will come in handy in dispeling magic missiles aimed at your ethereal units. Most VC opponents have a knee jerk reaction to seeing ethereal units and often throw every to cast dice at them to remove them from play.

If i were you i'd take the wraiths... waaaayyyyy more fun to play with but other than that i do like your list just be aware that your army can be a one trick pony and a clever opponent will bait your frenzied units (blood knights) away from the main army, revealing VC inherent weakness of poor core units that will crumble hard to small amounts of damage.

[ArghaBlargh]

I'll try out the wraiths at first then! After all I lack Blood Knight figures as of yet and, wow, those Blood Knights are really INSANELY expensive in cash!!!!. And I do have 9 wraiths, or rather, I got the 9 ringwraiths on foot from LOTR really cheaply (like $25), so I'll start with them.

[m1acca1551]

Yeah in aus there $160 aud... if my memory serves... hello kit bashing black knights and knights of the realm

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[Texhnolyze]

I like the list! And I think it was a good choice to bring in the master necromancer. It's really hard on us when we crumble and don't have anyone to take over, I've had that happen to me a lot when I run with just one vampire hero.

Blood knights:

I got 5 chaos knights lingering in their sprues. And I figured I should build some vampire knights from them. But really, what kind of heads would you guys use? I only got zombie/skeleton heads lying around. :/

[ArghaBlargh]

I'd use elf heads! They'd look awesome. I'm actually even thinking of getting this elven model for my vampire on foot, with a quite different paint scheme obviously: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/ca...Id=prod900129a

Furthermore, I think I can have some fun variety in the rare part of the list, shifting between Blood Knights, Wraits and a Varghulf. I hate the Vargulf model, but then I saw this beautiful model, and decided I might copy the idea: http://www.vampirecounts.net/Thread-...84854#pid84854

Speaking of the crumbling issue, do you think I should give my vampire the standard lore, or try out lore of shadow or death? If I do, I can't have him as backup to stop crumbling if the necro dies, but IoN seems kinda crappy on a level 1 who can't increase the size of my initially small skeleton units beyond starting size. Though spirit leach is kinda crappy too, with him only having leadership 7.

[m1acca1551]

I'd be taking lore of vamps due to the chance of your necro lord being sniped, even the ability to throw out invoc to draw out a dispel dice is worth it, but having a plan b is always good.

[ArghaBlargh]

I've decided to drop the Talisman of Endurance from my Master Necromancer and add 6 more Skeletons instead. The reason being that a miscast can't give you more than one wound per magic phase (unless you're sucked into the warp in which case the ward won't help anyway), and I'm likely to be able to heal a wound or two per turn due to the Curse of Undeath. Sure, the ward save would protect me against failed Look Out Sir! rolls, but that's just chances you gotta take. If somebody actually gets into close combat with the necro he'll die anyways, ward or no.

Bigger initial Skeleton units make the IoN's from my vampire more useful as well.

[Moss]

That's actually not a terrible idea. Though the necromancer is still vulnerable to things like suicide missions from flyers and such, your opponent won't know he's unprotected and probably won't even try it.