Vampire
Lord of the dead
Dark acolyte
The cadaverous curaiss
160 pts.
+++ he should have the flayed hauberk or at least an enchanted shield for a 4+ save in combat... i'd go one of these 2 options myself; hauberk + periapt OR enchanted shield + book of arkhan.
either will help your magic phase since bound items is like adding another spell!+++
Vampire
Dark Acolyte
Avatar of death
Sword of Battle
165 pts.
+++ i'd sacrifice his magic items for now... just give him the heavy armour + shield from having avatar and he'll do fine!+++
Wight King
Tomb blade
Flayed hauberk
Skeletal steed with barding
145 pts.
+++ not a very good set-up... first off, the tomb blade won't work on anything other than skellies, so it's pointless when he's going to ride with the knights! also, there's no point giving barding to wights. remember that skeletal steeds have ethereal movement! they don't need the 2+ save since they can move through woods/buildings and such to protect them from missile fire or else keep them out of sight altogether!
finally, why are you giving him the flayed hauberk?!? he already comes with a 3+ save for being mounted w/heavy armour + shield... and the hauberk caps at 2+ anyways!!! the only way to get a 1+ save wight king is w/enchanted shield or the bloody hauberk - both of which are far better on vampires!
for now, i'f lose him and use the points to perhaps kit your other vamp for fighting, and/or adding in a corpsecart w/balefire... ASF will serve you well, especially if you turn that other vamp into a fighter!+++
15x Skeleton Warriors
Champion
Standard Bearer
Musician
Banner of the dead legion
181 pts.
+++ your math is off again... if these guys have hand weapon/shield they'll be 165pts. if you gave them spears they'll be 180 pts.
i'd go for hand weapon/shield option. makes them more survivable which is needed against lizardmen! also, run them 5-wide to minimise his BtB contacts... i'd also go for a war banner since out-numbering saurus shouldn't be too hard at 1000pts...
finally, drop the musician. they're fairly useless i find as i might only get his bonus once per game if i'm lucky! typically, if you're supportign skellies with a vampire/supporting unit, you'll either win or lose outright! ties are fairly rare.+++
15x Skeleton Warriors
Champion
Standard
Banner of the endless nightmare
181 pts.
+++ i used to this the endless nightmare was a great banner... then i found that it hardly ever came into play unless i went for a pure invo-spam army! it frankly a show banner i find... war banner, dead legion, hellfire banner, cursed pennant all rank higher in my book! (the cursed pennant by the way is a great little sacrifical banner that ends up costing you no additional VP's since the unit that captured it will drop it to avoid all the damage it causes!)
and again, your math is off...+++
6 Black Knights
Hell Knight
160 pts.
+++ should be ony 158 pts total. don't ever bard them - it only slows them down! use their ethereal movement to your advantage to protect them from enemy missile fire and they'll be fine.
just keep in mind that right now they're likely going to be slow since they could easily end up out of range of a vampire... it might be worth swaping the hell knight for a standard bearer and giving him the banner of hellish vigor to keep them moving at max speed...+++
is this better? i increased skeleton unit size and reduced the black knights size oh, and i "clothed" the two normal vampires i didn't have the points to give the black knights along with the other stuff will this make a huge difference? i like fielding them as heavy cavalry (i'm also a brettonian player) but i didn't have the points for some barding
it is getting better... your vamps could still do with some perfecting... i know it may seem wrong to sink so many pts into characters, but it's doubly important with vamps since though that are characters are given the right tools since they tend to make-or-break the army itself!
i'd consider the some/most of following for now and for expansion later on;
- drop the wight king. at 1000pts, we really need to focus on the vamps over other characters...
- re-calculate your pts! no need to pay more for stuff when you don't have too!
- keep the skellies w/hand weapon + shield for now to save on pts.
- a screen of 5 dire wolves will help protect the knights and/or help you set-up some redirected charges to open up your enemy's flank!
- a corpse cart w/balefire. you gain ASF which is amazing! plus you hamper your opponent's magic phase a bit which is never a bad thing!
- perhaps swap out the 2nd skeleton unit for a unit of 21 ghouls w/ghast? they'll preform better against lizzies, since now they get hurt on 4's instead of 3's... plus they'll hurt those saurus/steggies alot easier since they have 2 poisoned attacks each!
you could possibly get away with a unit of only 14, just be sure to keep them healed up though! make sure you run them 7-wide to help maximise their Btb contacts too!
- for a fighty vamp to help offset the loss of offense from losing the wight king, try one of these set-ups;
a) red fury. sword of striking + flayed hauberk
b) red fury. nightshroud + sword of battle. (don't get hit though or you're paste! but your are terribly effective assassin!)
c) hatred + beguile. flayed hauberk + sword of kings. (he's a great character killer since he has a decent chance at rolling a killing blow thanks to all those re-rolls!)
d) hatred + walking death. flayed hauberk + sword of battle.
anyways, hope this heps,
cheers!
