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2000 Point Friendly Vampire Counts List

997 views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  john15 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey guys, so my brother and I have decided to start fantasy armies, and I chose to collect VC while he chose WoC. This being my first attempt at a list, I would appreciate any feedback on any changes you think I should make, as I have not bought any models yet, everything can be easily changed. Thanks for your help!

Lords:

Vampire Lord- Master of the Black Arts, Dark Acolyte, Lord of the Dead, The Flayed Hauberk, Wristbands of Blackgold, Helm of Commandment
Cost: 385 points

Heroes:

Vampire – Dread Knight, Infinite Hatred, Blood Drinker (rides with black knights)
Cost: 190 points

Necromancer – Riding on Corpse Cart with Unholy Lodestone, Sceptre de Noirot
Cost: 180 points

Wight King – BSB: Royal Standard of Strigos, Sword of Battle, Gem of Blood (with grave guard)
Cost: 175 points


Core Units:

15 Skeleton Warriors
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer: Standard of Hellish Vigour.
Cost: 165 points

14 Skeleton Warriors
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer: Banner of Hellfire.
Cost: 142 points

10 Crypt Ghouls
Cost: 80 points

10 Dire Wolves
Doom Wolf.
Cost: 90 points

Special Units:

5 Black Knights
Barding, Standard Bearer: Warbanner
Cost: 181 points

14 Grave Guard
Seneschal, Standard Bearer: Banner of the Barrows
Cost: 237 points

Rare Units:

2 Cairn Wraiths, Howling Banshee
Cost: 175 points

Total: 2000 points
 
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#2 ·
I think you should take another casting vampire as the more dice you can throw at raising the better.

Your lord seems fine with 6 dice of his own, but you may like to consider dropping Dark Acolyte and instead taking Forbiden Lore. This means you know all the vampire spells or Invocation and another lore of magic from the warhammer rule book, somthing you can choose at the begining of each game. One thing i would question is the Wristbands of Black Gold. Im guessing the Lord will be in the grave guard so it is only specialist weapons like hocland long rifels of the Emprire or cannon shots that will be able to pick him out. In combat they are of no use.

You then only have two lv l1's to do the rest of your raising, and if you loose one even with your lord still kicking about your going to realy feel it. I would drop the necromancer for a vanila vampire with Lord of Dead and Dark Acolyte.

You BSB is illeagal as you cannot give him both a magic banner and magic items. Now i like to take my white king with the Drakenhoff Banner and a barded steed in my grave gaurd unit and he alone comes to 250+ points so thats probably no what you want. What i do suggest is maybe make him bsb, and give him the Sword of Kings for killing blow on a 5+, I would also look at giving him a barded steed to turn his armour save from a 4+ to a 2+.

I am not too sure on the Vampire with black knights. It means they loose thier etherial movment, but at the same time iv not use that combination so it may work well for you.

Move the Royal Banner of Strigos to your Grave Guard as it is much more usefull than Banner of Barrows. I would also like to see this uint at least 20 strong (including characters if must) to allow 3 ranks and outnumber. Most undead units are not designed to win combat on wounds caused but through a battle of atrition in which they keep comming back through raising, as GG cannot be raised above thier starting unit size it is essential to have a nice numbered unit to begin with.

I would drop Banner of Hellish Vigour. Chances are the unit will be in range of a vampire or 12" of the lord. Banner of Hellfire is also an item that isnt going to do a great deal. On the off chance you come up against a unit with regen at ws 2 your not likely to hit much, added to that if you loose models to begin with from the other unit attacking first. What would be more usefull is Banner of the Ednless Nightmare, allowing you to raie up 4 ranks for extra combat res.

Drop the doom wolf and id split the wolves into 2 units, using them to screen your units and blank knights. Failing that get rid of them all together and instead get another unit of ghouls to sit on your flanks. Its good to mention to not have too many units in your army. it means you can concentrate your magic more effectivly.

I would probably forget about the Cairn Wraiths unless you can afford a unit of 5 (including banshee). A magic missile or two will wipe them out, and in combat although they may not get hit back, combat res will also wipe them out most of the time when they could be useful.

If you can find the points give a musician to the black knights. You have already given them warbanner so you done want to loose combat from a drawn combat because you didnt buy the trumpet.

Corpse cart is good as is.

Hope this helps a little.
 
#3 ·
I was thinking I would put the lord behind the battle, lurking around and giving WS 7 to skeletons or zombies, rather than in the heat of battle with the grave guard. As for the wristbands, I gave him those with the thought in mind that he'd be on his own.

I have added the casting vampire, but am unsure as to where he should be placed unit-wise. I also am contemplating which magic items to give him. Possibly Tomb Blade and stick him with the skeleton warriors?

Another idea for the wight king I just thought of is that with him on the skeletal steed with BSB and the save, I could put him in with the black knights rather than the vampire. This way they maintain the ethereal movement special rule. If I do this, where do you think I could put the vampire? Grave Guard?

All your other advice I have changed my list for, let me know what you think about the situations above, and fire any other advice you have for me.

Thanks for your input and here is my new list.

Lords:

Vampire Lord- Master of the Black Arts, Dark Acolyte, Lord of the Dead, The Flayed Hauberk, Wristbands of Blackgold, Helm of Commandment, Black Periapt
Cost: 400 points
Heroes:

Vampire – Dread Knight, Infinite Hatred, Blood Drinker
Cost: 190 points

Vampire – Dark Acolyte, Lord of the Dead, Tomb Blade
Cost: 170 points

Wight King – BSB, Sword of Kings, Riding skeletal steed with barding
Cost: 145 points

Core Units:

15 Skeleton Warriors
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer: Banner of the Endless Nightmare.
Cost: 165 points

15 Skeleton Warriors
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer: Banner of the Endless Nightmare.
Cost: 165 points

Corpse Cart with Unholy Lodestone
Cost: 100 points

10 Crypt Ghouls
Cost: 80 points

5 Dire Wolves
Cost: 40 points

5 Dire Wolves
Cost: 40 points

Special Units:

5 Black Knights
Barding, Musician, Standard Bearer: Warbanner
Cost: 189 points

20 Grave Guard
Seneschal, Standard Bearer: Royal Standard of Strigos
Cost: 299 points

Total: 1983 points
 
#5 ·
Lords:

Vampire Lord- Master of the Black Arts, Dark Acolyte, Lord of the Dead, The Flayed Hauberk, Wristbands of Blackgold, Helm of Commandment, Black Periapt
Cost: 400 points
+++ take forbidden lore in place of dark acolyte & buy the Lv3 upgrade... a few more pts yes, but overall it makes your lord rediculously effective! now you can either automatically get every vampire spell, or else swap out your vamp lore for the one that best suits your opponent's weaknesses! (ie: lore of death vs elves will end their misserable, pointy-eared existance!)

i also second the idea of slapping your lord onto a hellsteed for the added movement... it won't add to your armour save however, since you're stuck at the save the hauberk provides.+++


Heroes:

Vampire – Dread Knight, Infinite Hatred, Blood Drinker
Cost: 190 points
+++ i'd swap out dread knight for avatar of death... mounted vamps should never join black knight units, since it just gimps the knights to no end... (i mean, think about it; heavy cav that charges through all terrain/objects? yes please!!!)
by taking avatar you can get him a great weapon for S7 - enought to auto-kill chariots. give him an enchanted shield + book of arkhan for his magic item alotment and suddenly you've got a fairly solid, all 'rounder of a vamp!
against really fighty stuff, turtle with your shield for a total 2+ save in combat, otherwise, pull out that great weapon, use the book and have at it!+++


Vampire – Dark Acolyte, Lord of the Dead, Tomb Blade
Cost: 170 points
+++ the tomb blade's abilities don't stack w/LotD so it's kind of a pointless item in practice... besides, you need armour on your support vamp!!! even if it's just the nightshroud, it will still give him the drop on anything trying to assassinate him!+++

Wight King – BSB, Sword of Kings, Riding skeletal steed with barding
Cost: 145 points
+++ for some laguhs, try this set-up; lance, BSB, the accursed armour, gem of blood. hit him with your lord's helm of commandment to counter the armour's effects and suddenly you've got a T6/3W hero!!!O.O i don't think any other army can get a T6 hero without the aid of spells like 'bear's anger' acutally, so it's rather funny to see the look on your opponent's face when even a S6 character need's 4's to hurt your BSB!
the gem just adds insult to injury since the first wound that does get through is very likely going to kill your enemy instead of wounding your wight king...+++


Core Units:

15 Skeleton Warriors
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer: Banner of the Endless Nightmare.
Cost: 165 points

15 Skeleton Warriors
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer: Banner of the Endless Nightmare.
Cost: 165 points
+++ as pointed out, you can't take multiples of the same magic item... (dispel scrolls & power stones aside, everything else is unique)
i'd acutally go for banners like the banner of the dead legion, war banner, icon of vengeance or hellfire banners first over the endless nightmare... 4 ranks is decent, but it takes alot of casting to get those added ranks, plus, outnumber is more important in the end. i'd rather only have to raise upto say 24-28 skellies and then sit back counting as US48-56!!!+++


Corpse Cart with Unholy Lodestone
Cost: 100 points
+++ go for balefire instead... loadstone never makes up for it's pts in the end. balefire is just so much more usefull since it can really gimp even magic heavy armies!+++

10 Crypt Ghouls
Cost: 80 points
+++ you need more than 10... otherwise, i'd simply swap this to 10 basic skellies since you can at least bump them up in number!
ghouls are purely offensive since they lack strong static combat res... get them upto 21 strong and run them 7-wide to max out your base-to-base contact & attacks.
however, with your pts already so tight, i'd just take 10 more skellies instead and use LotD to buff the unit.+++


5 Dire Wolves
Cost: 40 points

5 Dire Wolves
Cost: 40 points
+++ make them into 1 unit of 7 w/doom wolf to act as a doggie dragon trap... otherwise lose them since the doggies really do suck at everything else!
fell bats are better screeners/war machine hunters since they have more wounds, can fly and skirmish to boot!+++


Special Units:

5 Black Knights
Barding, Musician, Standard Bearer: Warbanner
Cost: 189 points
+++ make it 6 unless you're going to put the wight king into the unit... also, give these guys the royal banner to protect against rubber lance syndrom.+++

20 Grave Guard
Seneschal, Standard Bearer: Royal Standard of Strigos
Cost: 299 points
+++ if you want a magic banner, then give them the barrows banner so they can at least hit more reliably! remember; just like all other undead infantry, grave win by attrition. don't expect them to plow through stuff on the charge like other hammer units... instead, hese guys will likely have to grind down the enemy over 2-3 rounds. (unless you can flank the unit they charge with something other than zombies/doggies!)
to this end, the +1 to-hit every round is far better than re-rolls for just 1 round!+++


Total: 1983 points
hope this helps,
cheers!
 
#4 · (Edited)
Unfortunatly magic items are unique so you cannot double up on them on the skeleton units (Banner of the Endless Nightmare), so you can only have it one unit.

Having your lord outside units should be fine, you will just have to be realy careful with him is all. what might be interesting for you is to have him mounted on a hellsteed so he can fly about the place. It would certainly add something special o your list and allow him a 20" flying movement and +1 to his armour save.

The white king bsb seems like he should go in the black knights, but a bsb realy belongs in the centre of all your force due to it effects at reducing casualties from combat res. I have just found BKs to easy to bring down in a few rounds of shooting as you can only raise one back at a time, which means a big drain on your magic phase. Then again depending on how experianced your opponent this unit could be realy powerfull, with unit size 12, killing blow, possible WS7, and a standing combat res of 3. just try it out and see how it goes.

You should be raising skeletons easy without the tomb blade, maybe swap it for sword of might so you get to hit at S6, feel free to sit him in skeletons or the GG, GG would probably be better as you should concentrate your main blocks together anyway. Dont worry about challenges as you can always except with your unit champion.

What wil you use your Dread Knight Vampire for if not in the black knights? it could be worth giving him the sword of might in this case as S6 and infinite hatred will be alot better. Blood drinker is good but as you yourself only have 2 wounds it will only bee greatly effective at healing his unit (if you take 1 woud you will probably take 2 and be dead). im not to sure on this point someone else may be better qualified to point out.

Hope this helps on a few points.
 
#6 ·
I like alot of the points made there.

Didnt see you had Flayed Hauberk so yeah got the 2+ save all the time.

When you think you will have 3 dice for your lord +2 from the pool and a posible +1 from periapt that is enough dice to raise with, and as you have another vamp to help raising aswell its worth swaping out Master of the Black Arts Forbiden Lore.

And might aswell go with banner of barrows on your GG seems they will get WS7 off your lord, with +1 to hit your hitting nearly everything on 2s and Bloodthirsters on 3s! (not that you will do much to a blood thirster but nvm).

Your Dread Knight i agree should be put onto foot, and book of arkhan is a must have item for a vamp list with casting, knowing you have that spell for certain to move units or give them always strike first.

I would definatly stick with load stone though, in a raising army like yours it most definatly does pay for itself over and over, especialy when you nerf a roll to raise and get one miserable skeleton. with a minimum of 2 per cast its the way to go (IMO anyway).

Given the choice i would drop the ghouls and dogs for fell bats but looking at you list i think maybe you were looking at getting the battalion box to save on money. try finding someone else who might want to buy the ghouls and hounds if this is the case, for instance your brother might want to use the dire wolves as chaos hounds. Just a little idea.
 
#7 ·
I have done most of what you guys have said...dropping the ghouls and wolves as well as changing the lord and other vampire's items and powers. Unfortunately, with these changes alone, as well as a few other magic item changes that you have suggested. I am over 2000, and that is not even with the addition of fell bats. What could I change here to free up some points? I would love to get a rare unit in my army somehow (anything but blood knights), but from here that seems like quite the stretch.

I will paste my new list on here just so you know what has changed, so you can suggest things to drop.

Lords:

Vampire Lord- Riding on Hellsteed, Extra Magic Level, Master of the Black Arts, Forbidden Lore, Lord of the Dead, The Flayed Hauberk, Wristbands of Blackgold, Helm of Commandment
Cost: 470 points
Heroes:

Vampire – Avatar of Death, Infinite Hatred, Blood Drinker
Cost: 185 points

Vampire – Dark Acolyte, Lord of the Dead, Book of Arkhan, The Cadaverous Cuirass
Cost: 195 points

Wight King – BSB, Sword of Kings, Riding Skeletal Steed with Barding
Cost: 145 points

Core Units:

15 Skeleton Warriors
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer: Banner of the Endless Nightmare.
Cost: 165 points

15 Skeleton Warriors
Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer: Banner of the Dead Legion.
Cost: 165 points

10 Skeleton Warriors
Cost: 80 points

Corpse Cart with Unholy Lodestone
Cost: 100 points


Special Units:

5 Black Knights
Barding, Musician, Standard Bearer: Royal Standard of Strigos
Cost: 199 points

20 Grave Guard
Seneschal, Standard Bearer: Banner of the Barrows
Cost: 309 points

Total: 2013 points
 
#8 ·
Drop a skelton from each of the 15 strong units to make it leagal.

Realisticaly to get your rare choice your looking at dropping the Black knights. Unlike alot of past armies like dwarves where you could expect to see as many as 3 special chioces and 2 rare, vampires are heavily pushed into spending alot of points on characters which mean they will take up the option alot of the time to be able to take multiple rare and special. I myself in my list only have a block of grave guard with everyting else being from the core section of the book. As i have said your looking at dropping your knights, then your looking at either;

1) 3 Wratihs and a Banshee - extremely good and even better with helm of commandment cast on them. just look out for chaos knights and magic weapons which will slice you up.
2) Varghulf - good flanking monster, nice and fast to take out enemy fast cavalry and gets its regen against crumble tests. Dont believe for an instance this guy has what it takes to take on a unit alone as combat res will see him off.
3) The Black Coach - Once charged up is a real power house as a flying etherial chariot with killing blow. Can affect your magic with some unlucky/lucky rolls as it suck out your power dice, but will also suck dice from your opponents pool aswell so not all bad.
 
#9 ·
I am not going to drop the Black Knights, I think they are pretty vital to my army as without them I'd have no cavalry. So I guess I am good to go then, thanks a lot for your help everyone, and if anyone else has suggestions throw them on! I've realized that in fantasy there is a lot more variables because of magic weapons, and so the possible changes are endless.
 
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