Post: #1

Hi all!

There's a tournament coming on this summer. I wanted to go there with my Vampire Counts as the army is painted now and the comps are fine for my Vampires.

So, here's some general facts about the tournament. It's a two-days tourney and five games will be played (three Battlelines, Meeting Engagement and Blood & Glory as far as I know). Here are the comps of the tournament.

2400 points.
No Power Scroll.
No Fozzrik's Folding Fortress.
No Special Characters.
max. 1 lord level wizard.
max. 1 Loremaster per army.
max. 3 same hero choices.
max. 3 same core choices.
max. 3 same special choices.
max. 2 same rare choices.
max 5 war machines.
max. 50 models per unit / max 450 points per unit.
You can cast a spell with max. 5 PD.
If there's 25% of the unit left at the end of the battle, you get half of the unit's points.

Then there's some army comps, though they are not problem or me. Vampire Counts can't take two units of Wraiths nor two Master of the Black Arts. This means I have quite free hands to build an army, except the max. 3 same core choices. Well, I guess I wouldn't have enough Ghouls to get 4 units of them after all.

So, about the army now... The idea is to stick my Vampire Lord and Vampire into the Skeletons. The Ghoul hordes go into the front of the deployment zone with the Wraiths. I move the Ghouls with Ghoulkin in the start.

Then it's just moving my Ghouls and Wraiths towards the enemy. The Skeletons move behind the Ghouls and the Vampire Lord casts Vanhel's Dance all the time everywhere. The idea is naturally to go and crush the opponent with Ghouls and Wraiths.

There's not too many dangerous things for the army... Hydra and Steam Tank are easy to either block with a rank of Zombies (by Raise Dead) or stuck with the Wraiths. As the opponent can take max. 450 points worth units, there will be not too many Chosens (and Warriors have a comp which means Warshirnes are 0-1 if there are any Chosens ). The Dreaded 13. Spell isn't a threat as there can be only one Grey Seer and he can cast the spell with max. 5 dice. Oh, and there can be only max. 35 repeater crossbows.

So, the army is a quite strong choice. What do you think about it? Any changes?

Thanks for reading and hopefully answering.

- Cheers, Skarsnik.

Post: #2

Looks good,I don't think the skull staff is worth it.you could give him the crown of the damned and a dispel scroll for the cost and have change left over.
A FL or red fury thrall would be alot more help in the heroes section...but I know you REALLY want ghoulkin..so it's pulling teeth.You could give that thrall the flayed hauberk to protect her a little.
I'd drop the extra skelly unit...are they making you take 50% core??

Post: #3

Thank you for answering.

Yep, I've been fighting between Skull Staff and Crown of Command & Earthing Rod, both are quite good choices. Earthing Rod could be golden against WoC (as they have the Infernal Puppet), and 4+ ward is always good. But the stupidity is a bit dangerous... I'd have to keep the BSB within 12" of the Lord's unit all the time, and that is a huge restriction at least in my games as the Lord's unit is a bunker behind the main army (Ghouls and Wraiths). A failed stupidity test means no magic for a whole turn which is awful. The +1 to cast/dispel is surprising important in many cases. Fortunately I have a month and a half time to think about this.

Ghoulkin is a power which is MUST for me just like you said, it HAS to be in my list. The extra move is sooo good. I don't think armor is necessary for the Vampire as she's going to be in the small bunker behind the army with the Lord, so normally she's attacked by using some kind of sniping spell which means armor saves are not important. Naturally I'm going to do everything to keep the bunker (and the Vampires!) away from the close combat.

I think the Skeletons are okay in core. Yes, they are "only Skeletons" but they are meant to be a bunker behind the lines which holds the Vampires, they're not going to be in close combat. Ghouls could do the bunkering better but as I can have only max. 3 same core choices I have to take Skeletons (three rushing Ghoul hordes and Wraiths are win ).

- Cheers, Skarsnik.

Post: #4

Well,you've been around awhile...this isn't your first state fair
I use a skelly bunker too,I like to be able to swift reform and redeploy behind the battleline.
What about the 50% thing?
In a list like this,I'd want atleast one or two fast movers like a VG, or some bats for warmachine hunting.The wraiths are nice though..and will help,but in the support department I think they're kinda lonely.

Post: #5

In the tournament we're using normal rules for taking core choices (min. 25%) except the thing that we can have max. 3 same core choices. I just prefer Ghouls over Grave Guards so I have lots of core.

I agree, bats could be great for taking out war machines but I don't have points enough to take them... If I'd reduce the number of the Ghouls, I'd need to summon them more in game. This means I can't use the dice for VDM, and armies with lots of war machines are usually Empire or Dwarfs, both with great amount of dispel dice. I'm still thinking about taking a small unit or two, but I'm not sure. I have had so bad experiences with Varghulf that I'll leave him home. If I don't have a Varghulf, at least my opponent's cannons have nothing to shoot at. :P

- Cheers, Skarsnik.

Post: #6

YA...flaming cannonball suck.

Post: #7

No specials and only one rare unit, you really push the limit dont you? The ghouls will do great since you dont want any GG. You need 3 fighting units and you have those. Does the skelly bunker need to be that big? For me, 20-22 usually suffice. I give them a magical banner aswell, there are some good cheap ones in the BRB. Deffinetly give them a champ.

Why not give your lord the talisman of preservation, no need for stupidity checks . I only take the cheaper crown when the points are tight. On your hero thrall, give him the dragonbane gem, that way he can challenge bloodthirsters and khorne heralds with flaming weapons, saving your bunker. A nice and cheap item that is almost always in my lists.

Looks pretty good I´d say. Let us know how you did! Good luck in the tourny.

Post: #8

Thanks for commenting.

Honestly the Skelly bunker might be a bit big against many opponents... I just have to hope I don't face my friend's Empire, Mortars do know how to kill Skeletons. I might drop a few Skellies to get points for champion and a couple of other things.

Talisman of Preservation seems good, but I'd need to drop the Charmed Shield to fit all items in. Well, maybe the shield isn't that necessary as it can save only the first hit (which can be healed).

Before this I've had though that Dragonbane Gem is an Enchanted Item, but now after checking the rule book looks like I can take it and still keep the Ironcurse Icon. From now on the Gem is must for me too.

I edited the army list. Now it looks a bit better IMO.

- Cheers, Skarsnik.