[experiment 626]

Konrad
145 pts.
+++ i likely wouldn't take konrad at only 1000pts... you're stuck with Ld7 at best, so konrad is bound to go stupid at some point. he's good, but he can be too unreliable at times.
a basic fighty vamp or wight king can serve his purpose, and while they won't kill as much, they're far more reliable!+++

Mannfred the Acolyte
Sceptre De Noirot
200 pts.
+++ he's actually 210pts total w/scepter. i'm not a fan of manny the acolyte at all. he's a caster who has no summoning powers and can't be given any kind of armour/ward save! thanks, but no thanks... you're much better off getting a (cheaper) vampire w/dark acolyte and a summoning power or avatar of death + toys.
manny really isn't going to kill much in combat either, since a naked 2 wound/T4 character isn't hard to take down.+++

Vampire
Lord of the Dead
Dark Acolyte
145 pts.
+++ he's naked... naked vamps die quick-quick fast! get him some armour at the very least...+++

10x Skeleton Warriors
Champion
Standard Bearer
Musician
Banner of the dead legion
141 pts.

10x Skeleton Warriors
Champion
Standard
Banner of the endless nightmare
141 pts.
+++ these units are too small IMO... anyone who decides to focus fire onto one of these units can likely wipe it out on turn one before you could have a chance to bulk them out!
plus, with only a max of 4 power dice turn 1 for summoning, you'd have to hope for very generous dice and your opponent not deciding to dispel any of your invo spells!

i'd drop manny altogether and bulk out your skellies starting numbers a bit more... 13-15 is a good starting size, and even missile heavy armies will have to get lucky to kill off an entire unit.+++

8 Black Knights
232 pts.
+++ i'd drop them down to 6 and add in a hell knight... i find that cavalry in warhammer tend to pack far too many rubber lances!
also, right now these guys are your only real threatening unit. if you drop a few, you might be able to afford some dire wolves to act as a missile screen! without that, these guys are bait for bolt throwers/organ guns/hellblasters/hand guns/repeater xbows and magic missiles...+++

1,004 pts.

i recently used this quite effective 1,000 point list in a game against a scary lizardmen army and i was wondering what other people think about its effectiveness. Basic plan is to start the game raising as many skeletons as possible then black knights shoot down one flank getting flanks/countering enemy cavalry and generally killing stuff whilst skeletons move up center and grind down the enemy infantry in a war of attrition

well, what was in this 'scary lizzardmen army' just out of curiosity?! if he went saurus heavy + steggy, then i'm havign a hard time seeing how he lost?! there isn't much you've got that could deal with a truely scary lizzy list... (considering they can put 3-4 steggies on the table!)

i think the main problem you have is that your support vamps are either too expensive for what you're getting, and/or they're naked and thus an easy target for assassination attempts...
your starting unit size for your skellies is terrifyingly small! any semi-shooty army could potentiall wipe out a unit if your lose first turn, then you're forced to hide everything into a very fragile unit and have only a unit of black knights to help support them!

sorry, but i really think that this list is far too top-heavy and doesn't have enough starting troops/units to weather losing the roll for first turn...

cheers!

 

[experiment 626]

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!