Vampire Counts Vs Dark Elves

[Disk Rider]

After a bit of a poor showing in my first outing with the vampire counts (almost completely tabled by bretonians - despite having TWO terrorgheists to tear through their high armour saves) I made some adjustments to the force and was lucky enough to get a second battle just two days later.
His army is not fully accounted for, but I have everything I could remember here and I am sure any dark elf players amongt you will be able to spot what might have been fitting into the gaps I have missed.



Vampire Counts.

Strigoi Ghoul King
-sword of bloodshed
-dragonbane gem
-red fury
-potion of strength

Spells: Invocation Of Nehek


Necromancer
-level 2
-book of arkhan
Spells: Invocation of Nehek, Vanhels Danse Macarbre, Curse Of Years.


50 Zombies
-command group

50 Zombies
-Command Group

30 Skeletons
-full command


Terrorgheist

Terrorgheist

3 Vargheists

3 Vargheists

5 Hexwraiths

Corpse Cart
-Balefire


Dark Elves:


Supreme Sorceress, Lvl 4, focus familiar, steed, unknown equipment.
Spells: Sould Steal, Black Horror, Doombolt, Bladewind

Master, BSB, Ring of hotek, something making him s5, unknown other equipment.

Assassin, manbane poison, repeater crossbow, unknown other equipment.

25 Spearmen
-full command

25 Corsairs
-full command

25 Black Guard
-full command

Hydra

Repeater Bolt Thrower

5 Dark Riders

5 Dark Riders

10 Shades


Deployment:

Units of dark riders take up position on both flanks, bolt thrower
sits on a hill on the far left. Corsairs, spearmen and blackguard go
in the centre. Sorceress starts in the dark rider unit on the right
flank. Shades and assassin deploy in a building, about 12" from my
line.
Vargheists take up flanking duty, on either side of the board. Blocks
of zombies form a meat sheild for the skeletons, corpse cart and
hexwraiths behind. Terrorgheists guard flanks of these blocks.

Dark Elf Turn 1:

Movement:
The Dark Riders move forward at full speed, eyeing up the vargheists
for target practise. The central blocks of troops and hydra move
forward at full speed. Sorceress , wary of the vicious temprament of
the vargheists, and
detaches herself from the dark riders to hide behind the building
containing the shades.

Magic:
A full power (double 6) magic phase for the evil sorceress sees her
set about the undead army with destructive fury. Doombolt hits the
right terrorgheist for two wounds, bladewind kills three hexwraiths
but the noxious vapours of the corpse cart provide a slight
distraction to her casting of soul steal and the weaker necromancer
was able to prevent her taking a heavy toll on the zombies(was cast on
a 26, but with the -1 from balefire I was able to match that value and
stop it).

Shooting:
The dark riders fire a volley into the vargheist units. On
the right flank one vargheist takes two wounds but the left ones prove
to be too tough to hurt and survive unscathed. .
The assissin makes his presence know, firing three poisoned arrows
into the terrorgheist causing two wounds, one of which is regenerated
(though I discovered when I got home that manbane poison has a cap of
strength 6, so he should have been wounding on 4+ instead of 3 ) . The
shades unleash a volley into the beasts tough hide and manage to put
one more wounds.
The Bolt thrower threw forth 6 finely crafted shafts at the left
terrorgheist but the tough hide of the monster repels all damage.

Vampire Turn 1:

Movement:
With a bloodthirsty shriek , the Varghiests charge both units of dark
riders who brave the charge and fire yet more bolts into the bestial
vampires. On the left flank one dies to stand and shoot, the other
unit takes a woun, but both reach their prey with murderous intent.
With a moan and a groan, the Zombies shuffle forward slightly. The
Terrorgheists rotten wings carry them airbourne once more- the full
strength one to attack the hydra and the wounded one landing behind
the high sorceress.

Magic:
The necromancer chants the ancient Invocation of Nehek , raising
zombies galore in both units (+11 to one unit, +9 to another) and two
hexwraiths return to 'un'life, (one from the casting and another from
the vampire lore attribute)
The strigoi wordlessly casts invoccation of nehek, the magics flowing
forth from his ancient and insane mind and raises even more zombies (I
didnt keep a tally of all the raised zombies, but do rememeber one
unit reached as high as 69)

Shooting:
The full health terrorgheist screams at the hydra, dealing a crippling
5 wounds to the monster, but its incredible regenerative metabolism re
knits the damage caused in an instant and it remains at full health.
The wounded terrorgheist feels a sudden infusion of dark magics
coursing through its rank carcass screams and unleashes a hellish roar
at the sorceress, killing her instantly (it rolled a double 6 on the
attack).

Combat:
The quick reactions of the dark riders allow them to strike first,
even though they sucumbed to their fear - On the right flank one
vargheist is wounded but they lash out with tooth and claw, slaying
three to dark riders who stubbornly refuse to flee and hold. On the
other side of the batlefield a vargheist is slain by the malicious
elves, but it is all in vain as the entire dark rider unit is ripped
to bloody shreds by the monstrous creatures, who overrun towards the
bolt thrower.

Dark Elf Turn 2:

Movement:
With a bellow of rage, the Hydra charges the terrorgheist who tried to
inflict such auditory damage to it.
The units roll forward even further, but declining to make a charge
into combat as the zombies were under the effect of the corpse carts
'vigour mortis' and would be striking first.


Following the death of the socreress, Magic was no longer a phase in the
dark elf army.




Shooting:
sees more shots aimed at the wounded terrorgheist but it
survives with a single one left.
Bolt thrower lays into the vargheists closest and puts two more wounds
onto one.

Combat:
Hydra and co put a couple of wounds onto the terrorgheist, who
retalliates with two on the hydra - it loses combat and loses another
wound.

Vampire Turn 2:

Movement:
Vargheists charge bolt thrower. Other vargheists and terrorgheist move
back to get in range of invocation. Hexwraiths move through black
guard, killing 4 in the process.

Magic sees more zombies raised by invocation, as well as two more
wounds healed to the terrorgheist closest (one with lore attribute)
ring of hotek causes a miscast, which results in a small detonation,
killing 4 skeletons and emptying the power pool.
Shooting, unengaged terrorgheist kills two scouts ( we decided that
since they were in a building, and there was no rule regarding such an
instance, that they should get the -2 modifier added to the
terrorgheist scream) one in combat doesnt manage to exceed the hydras
leadership so does no damage.
Combat, vargheists lose one to bolt thrower crew but inflict a wound -
remaining man holds. hydra inflicts no wounds on terrorgheist but
takes none in return.


Dark Elf Turn 3:
Movement:
The spearmen and black guard decide that, even striking first zombies
are zombies and their superior elven skill would see them clear,
charging both into one zombie unit. The corsairs, likely upset at the
prospect of such meagre opportunity to capture some slaves, charge the
other zombies in a frenzied rage.

Shooting:
The shades once again cannot penetrate the terrorgheist flesh, but the
assassin demonstrates his superior skill, launching a highly accurate
volley of venomous arrows which finally put the beast down for good.

Combat:
The spearmen and blackguard set about attacking with great enthusiasm,
butchering a whole a heap of zombies (about 15-20 )
and watching even more more die after the ferocity of their attack
breaks the necromantic bindings on the putrid creatures and they fall
lifeless once more (leaving just over 30 ).
The Corsairs do what it takes to win combat, but after all the
additional raised zombies have been slain the unit still numbers over
50, and their work is far from over.
The Hydra finally manages to work its heads in unison and kill the terrorgheist.

Vampire Turn 3:

Movement
Waiting in the wings, the Vargheists charge into the flank of the corsairs.
The Hexwraiths have insufficient movement to perform their special
soul reap attack and so hold back to avoid dying to instability if
they entered the zombie combats, instead moving behind the hydra to
attack it next turn.

Magic:
The strigoi reanimates a few more zombies, after another
miscast (and failed casting ) by the necromancer causes a calamatous
detonation and blows up alot of skeletons and zombies (fortunately I

had just moved him a little bit away from the Genera just in case) -
The strigoi puts wounds back on the vargheist unit, raising one with
the lore attribute.


Shooting:
With the final terrorghiest no longer in the land of the 'un'living,
the vampire shooting phase ends.

Combat:
The zombies in combat with two units are chopped down to just 5 men.
The Corsairs are rocked by the power of the vargheists, who do 10
wounds after attacks and stomps, but like wounded animals they lash
out and wreak carnage upon the zombies, The newly resurrected
vargheist dies to combat resolution, as well as one mroe zombie.

Dark Elf Turn 4:

Movement:
Realising the severe danger the ethereal sould hunters pose to their
prized creature, the beastmasters try to move it away from the
hexwraiths.

Shooting:
Assassin and co switch their targets , now the terrorgheist is gone,
and put some wounds on the skeleton unit.

Combat:
Spearman and black guard finally finish off the zombies they were

facing, taking relatively light casualties from the encounter,
the desparation of the corsairs force them to turn the heat up in
their combat, and even though they lose more
of their number to the vargheists are able to destroy them by
inflicting a high number of wounds on the zombies.

Vampire turn 4:

Movement:
The Hexwraiths, ready to claim the still beating heart of their quary,
charge the hydra in the rear.
The lone vargheist attempts a valiant assault, and charges the
spearmen in the rear.

Magic:
Conjuring up the last of his reserves, the necromancer intones the
words of nehek with unstoppable force, raising more zombies and
skeletons, restoring his lost wound, but also the resulting power
drain losing the last of his wizard levels.

Combat:
The dark elf master makes way to face the threat to his unit's rear, and
striking with unnatrual speed the vargheist is killed before he can
land a blow. Hexwraiths set about leisurely killing the hydra, safe
from any retribution, and put two wounds on the
beast. Corsairs continue to hack apart zombies, taking the unit down
to around 30.

Dark Elf Turn 5:


Movement
Spearmen charge into the corpse cart, while their black guard brothers
assault the zombies in the flank.
Assassin and co finally come out of the building to join in on the attack.

Shooting:
A few more shots are put on the skeletons, with some more casualties.

Combat :
The rotten hands, legs and other writhing body parts of the corpse cart
claw and flail wildly at the spearman but the wounds caused are not
fatal thanks to their light armour - it regenerates most damage done
to it, but crumbles from combat resolution.


Sadly we had to call it here, as the game had already over run beyond
the session end, and decided a
draw to be an ok result for us both.

I suspect that, provided he didnt die to combat resolution, my strigoi

was going to pulverise the spearmem, with his 8 rerollable and
poisoned attacks, with red fury to get even more (should have averaged
10 guys killed per combat round).
This would have hopefully allowed him to break the spearmen (who were
down to about 20 ), killing the bsb in the process, and then
chasing after them to avoid combat in the following turns.
Points wise, it was very close, he was leading when we ended but his
hydra was as good as dead against the hexwraiths and if I had killed
the spearmen and master then that would have most likely been enough
to close the gap by turn 6.

[Petrocco]

Good read, thanks for posting! I also play vampire counts and have a question for you. Are you sure you can ressurect models with the lore attribute? All it says is that one model regains a wound, I never interpretted it as being able to bring back a fallen hexwraith or vargheist.

[Blackheart]

Great read, I'm very happy to read about a decent showing by VC.