Special
Crypt Horrors - ✪✪✪✪✪
Our Crypt Ghouls vampire-blood fed big brothers. With T5, W3 and Regeneration (5+), Crypt Horrors are only second to Beasts of Nurgle as the greatest anvil in the game. But unlike the Beasts, these big boys are healed 1+level wounds from Invocation of Nehek and being multi-wound models also benefit from the Curse of Undeath Lore Attribute. With 3 S4 Poison attacks they are not exceptional in combat but they play the grind game just fine. Like Crypt Ghouls, they are strongest against low armor and are twice as deadly with a Van Hel's reroll. With support from Invocation, there are few units in the game Crypt Horrors cannot take on and come out on top. Because of poison, T5 and Regeneration, Crypt Horrors can threaten high Toughness monsters and units normally outside a S4 unit's capability. Plus with M6 they are also one of our more mobile units, which is just icing on the cake really. Oh, and did I mention that they work well with Mortis Engines? Just one mortis engine pushes their Regeneration to 4+ and a second keeps it there should a Mortis Engine fail. They play well with Terrorgeists too. Let your Crypt Horrors tie something powerful up, and then have your Terrorgiest scream (and shout and let it all out) right in their face (...umm, please disregard the Britney reference). Crypt Horrors do great in 4 and 6 man units, but they really shine in 8 man units as two ranks of 4. An 8 man Crypt Horror unit has 25 poison attacks, 4 stomps and a total of 24 T5 wounds to eat through. Disgustingly good really.
Spirit Host - ✪✪✪✪✪
Oh my, where to begin? Spirit Hosts are insanely cheap, have many wounds, good movement and are Ethereal! Need to harmlessly kill Night Goblin Fanatics? Done! Need to hold Monstrous Cavalry for perpetuity? Done! Need to redirect that big, scary unit? Done! But wait, there's more! Need to bait frenzied units? Kill bunkered Wizards? Target saturation? Throw out multiples of these and...Done! Done! and Done! It slices, it dices, it Juliennes! This unit is pretty much the Veg-O-Matic of the Vampire Counts, and is there anything it can't do? Well, needless to say be very cautious taking Spirit Hosts in units of 2 or more. They can act as an anvil against certain armies, but lose their target saturation role and become a big target in exchange for less risk of crumbling. Spirit Hosts also are ✪✪✪✩✩ against armies with high amounts of magical shooting like Wood Elves or Dwarves. It doesn't hurt to take a base or two of Spirit Hosts in most armies. If you are going to field more than that, they start to compete with the coveted Special choices and require you to build your army around them
Hexwraiths - ✪✪✪✪✩
Either you love them or your hate them. Truth be told, Hexwraiths are one of the trickier units for the aspiring Vampire Counts general to use properly. They are expensive, are T3 with no real protection and they strike last, plus they contend for attention in that ever popular Special choice. But Hexwraiths are a very unique unit. First, they are Ethereal, have great weapons and magical, flaming attacks (take that Hellpit!). They ignore armor (Skullcrushers? What Skullcrushers?) and they are Fast Cavalry. But the real secret to the Hexwraiths is their unique rules: Soulstrider and Spectral Hunters.
Soulstrider let's Hexwraiths move through unengaged units (say what?). Yes, move .. through .. units. Mastering this is key to getting the most from them. Along with Fast Cavalry reforms, Hexwraiths can stay close to enemy, while remaining out of charge arcs and line of sight. They can hug flanks and rear arcs or move through units to take the shortest route to a piece of cover, becoming highly inconvenient for an enemy to pursue. With Vanguard, M8 and a well-timed Van Hel's Danse Macabre, Hexwraiths can move 30" on the first turn, placing them behind enemy lines with little exposure to threats. The real trick is keeping your Hexwraiths within 12" of your general so they keep marching throughout the game.
Spectral Hunters makes all of this moving around and harassing your enemy worth it, as Hexwraiths automatically deal a S5 flaming, magical hit that ignores armor for each model in their unit that rides through one unengaged enemy unit. Say good bye to chaff or ride over Chaos Knights and watch them die. Hexwraiths used properly are brutally effective.
Now all this awesomeness does make them magic missile magnets (which is a bonus in itself if we're going for target saturation). But there are a lot of ways to mitigate this:
Vargheists - ✪✪✪✪✩
Highly mobile and hard hitting, few lists can do worse than picking Vargheists. On the other hand, if used poorly they die fast and become a total waste of points. But what makes Vargheists attractive is how independent they are. As a Vampiric unit, they can always march and with Fly they can move very fast. They are Monstrous Infantry, S5 and A3 with Frenzy, so these beasts have 4 attacks and a stomp against most enemies they fight. Vargheists are best when flanking, creating a threat on a second front your opponent must react to (usually by dividing his forces). Make sure they have a couple of targets, and can get into combat without facing a lot of attacks as Varghiests only have T4, I4 and W3. If used properly, Vargheists tear through an enemy unit and easily overrun into the next one. Vargheists are very flexible too. A unit of 3 can be deployed in a single file with a champion and go Wizard hunting all day long! A unit of 4 can be deployed 2x2 and get the majority of its attacks into an enemy's flank while minimizing attacks back. That same unit can go 4 wide if the enemy are little threat and maximize their own attacks and stomps. In addition to their squishy nature, Vargheist's Frenzy and Ld 7 makes them a bit unruly, so move them carefully (moonwalking towards the enemy if you have too) and then choose your targets with care, ensuring you get the charge. Because of this, if you aren't proficient at moving or facing them or your opponent is effective at baiting them, Vargheists can be difficult to use.
Grave Guard - ✪✪✪✩✩
Grave guard have two distinct roles in our army. Want to punch through enemy armor? Give them great weapons, deploy in horde formation and you got a solid hammer. With a bucket load of S6 attacks and Killing Blow, these bad boys cut through armor like a hot knife through butter! Need a solid slab to tie your enemy up and grind them down round after round? Throw hand weapons and shields on these T4 infantry and deploy them five wide. Now you've got a reliable mini-anvil that enemy characters want to avoid and is the perfect home for a tooled up Wight King or Vampire blender. In either case, Grave Guard draw a lot of heat and can die fast, so support them with Invocation of Nehek. Fortunately, they regain d6+level Wounds per casting which is amazing for an elite unit like this. Although Grave Guard come at a fair price for what they do and are good standalone fighters, they compete with many other Special options. If you field them, plan your army around their role. Keep in mind which units and characters they threaten the most with Killing Blow and that they only have M4. Grave Guard do best when controlling key positions, so staying within range of the general's march bubble and a Van Hel's Danse Macabre is important. Likewise, their Killing Blow synergizes well with Hellish Vigor, especially when equipped with hand weapons or fighting against an enemy whose Toughness is greater than their Strength. Furthermore, Grave Guard can carry a Magic Standard of up to 50 points. What you choose specializes them similar to Skeletons and their options include the Razor Standard, but most of the time Banner of the Barrows is auto-include since Grave Guard have that pesky WS3 and it adds +1 to their To-Hit Rolls in combat.
Black Knights - ✪✪✪✩✩
These are the bread and butter of a mounted Vampire Lord list, easily being a ✪✪✪✪✩ for those armies. In other lists, they lack some punch and mobility, hence the rating. Regardless, Black Knights are tough to kill, deal decent damage on a charge and can move as ethereals (when not accompanied by a vampire). They also have a solid armor save, allowing them to tie units up and absorb a lot of damage. Because they are not ethereal or vampiric, Invocation of Nehek raises an impressive 1+level wounds. With their armor save of 2+ (when barded), this makes them easy to keep alive. Unfortunately, they deal very little damage on subsequent rounds, though this can be improved with a Wight King or Vampire armed with a great weapon or Ogre Blade. Black knights are best fielded in units of 12-15 models and used as either a flanker that supports your general's infantry unit or as the infamous Black Knight bus to deliver your mounted Vampires and Vampire Lord. Since they can take Magic Standards, popular choices include Banner of Swiftness (with Vampires), Razor Standard (to help punch through armor) and Banner of the Barrows (when using them as support or with Wight Kings). There are some tricky formations that involve leveraging Black Knight's armor, Killing Blow and movement, putting Wight Kings and full command in the front rank to push mounted necromancers into the second rank, thus allowing Black Knights to carry Invocation of Nehek and Death sniper spells with them. Black knights can also be built into death stars housing all of your characters in an even larger unit, though this severely limits your army's flexibility.
Fell Bats - ✪✪✪✩✩
These bloodsuckers are versatile. They are cheap (same cost per wound as Dire Wolves), have a small frontage, and they Fly! Their only downside is they are competing for those ever popular Special points. That said, Fell Bats are great as redirectors. Where Dire Wolves are best used in the early game, Fell Bats can hang out behind the ranks and near your general. Then at an opportune moment drop in the middle of everything and ruin your opponent's plans. This allows Fell Bats to get into places Dire Wolves can't go, and it’s whether you need this advantage or to save your Special points for something else that determines if you should take them or the Dire Wolves instead.
Corpse Cart - ✪✪✩✩✩
This filthy wagon has some valuable features, especially against elven MSU lists. Its biggest merit is giving our troops Always Strike First (thus negating elves' reroll To-hit). Unfortunately, the Corpse Cart is only M4 and a chariot (thus cannot march). To properly use the Corpse Cart, we need to cast Van Hel's on it, and that's just so it can keep up with even our infantry! With that said, proper use of the Corpse Cart can be effective when your army is built around it, as undead with Always Strike First are frightening for anyone to face. Also, unlike many other undead units, the Corpse Cart does well thrown into multiple combats. Its' T4, W4 and Regeneration makes it fairly durable, so it doesn't tend to bleed much combat resolution. Corpse carts also have some interesting options that a creative general can build around. Balefire's -1 to enemy casting rolls within 24" weaken enemy magic phases and make our dispel dice go further. While Unholy Lodestone's Invocation of Nehek reroll helps grow our infantry quicker. For general's attempting to raise up an unholy and disgusting amount of zombies (and possibly break the world record for most raised in a single game), this upgrade is essential!
Bat Swarms - ✪✪✩✩✩
You might immediately notice the Bat Swarms & Corpse Cart combo. The cart gives your units Always Strike First, the Bat Swarms give enemy units Always Strike Last. Just like peanut butter and chocolate...how could that not be good? It looks so nice on paper, but fact of the matter is that both units are very circumstantial and managing the two properly is more effort than it’s usually worth. This is partly because where Bat Swarms should give you the upper hand in close combat, they all too often bleed combat resolution even worse than zombies. Bat Swarms have great movement and keep up with the units they are meant to support. However, they don't deal much damage and with their T2, die all too fast. Bat Swarms are used best flanking enemy units (where fewer models can attack them) and in a single file of two ranks. This minimizes their contact to the enemy and keeps the Bat Swarm in combat as long as possible. Like many of our Special choices, Bat Swarms require being built around and are not worth taking if you aren't going to make use of their effect.
Our Crypt Ghouls vampire-blood fed big brothers. With T5, W3 and Regeneration (5+), Crypt Horrors are only second to Beasts of Nurgle as the greatest anvil in the game. But unlike the Beasts, these big boys are healed 1+level wounds from Invocation of Nehek and being multi-wound models also benefit from the Curse of Undeath Lore Attribute. With 3 S4 Poison attacks they are not exceptional in combat but they play the grind game just fine. Like Crypt Ghouls, they are strongest against low armor and are twice as deadly with a Van Hel's reroll. With support from Invocation, there are few units in the game Crypt Horrors cannot take on and come out on top. Because of poison, T5 and Regeneration, Crypt Horrors can threaten high Toughness monsters and units normally outside a S4 unit's capability. Plus with M6 they are also one of our more mobile units, which is just icing on the cake really. Oh, and did I mention that they work well with Mortis Engines? Just one mortis engine pushes their Regeneration to 4+ and a second keeps it there should a Mortis Engine fail. They play well with Terrorgeists too. Let your Crypt Horrors tie something powerful up, and then have your Terrorgiest scream (and shout and let it all out) right in their face (...umm, please disregard the Britney reference). Crypt Horrors do great in 4 and 6 man units, but they really shine in 8 man units as two ranks of 4. An 8 man Crypt Horror unit has 25 poison attacks, 4 stomps and a total of 24 T5 wounds to eat through. Disgustingly good really.
Spirit Host - ✪✪✪✪✪
Oh my, where to begin? Spirit Hosts are insanely cheap, have many wounds, good movement and are Ethereal! Need to harmlessly kill Night Goblin Fanatics? Done! Need to hold Monstrous Cavalry for perpetuity? Done! Need to redirect that big, scary unit? Done! But wait, there's more! Need to bait frenzied units? Kill bunkered Wizards? Target saturation? Throw out multiples of these and...Done! Done! and Done! It slices, it dices, it Juliennes! This unit is pretty much the Veg-O-Matic of the Vampire Counts, and is there anything it can't do? Well, needless to say be very cautious taking Spirit Hosts in units of 2 or more. They can act as an anvil against certain armies, but lose their target saturation role and become a big target in exchange for less risk of crumbling. Spirit Hosts also are ✪✪✪✩✩ against armies with high amounts of magical shooting like Wood Elves or Dwarves. It doesn't hurt to take a base or two of Spirit Hosts in most armies. If you are going to field more than that, they start to compete with the coveted Special choices and require you to build your army around them
Hexwraiths - ✪✪✪✪✩
Either you love them or your hate them. Truth be told, Hexwraiths are one of the trickier units for the aspiring Vampire Counts general to use properly. They are expensive, are T3 with no real protection and they strike last, plus they contend for attention in that ever popular Special choice. But Hexwraiths are a very unique unit. First, they are Ethereal, have great weapons and magical, flaming attacks (take that Hellpit!). They ignore armor (Skullcrushers? What Skullcrushers?) and they are Fast Cavalry. But the real secret to the Hexwraiths is their unique rules: Soulstrider and Spectral Hunters.
Soulstrider let's Hexwraiths move through unengaged units (say what?). Yes, move .. through .. units. Mastering this is key to getting the most from them. Along with Fast Cavalry reforms, Hexwraiths can stay close to enemy, while remaining out of charge arcs and line of sight. They can hug flanks and rear arcs or move through units to take the shortest route to a piece of cover, becoming highly inconvenient for an enemy to pursue. With Vanguard, M8 and a well-timed Van Hel's Danse Macabre, Hexwraiths can move 30" on the first turn, placing them behind enemy lines with little exposure to threats. The real trick is keeping your Hexwraiths within 12" of your general so they keep marching throughout the game.
Spectral Hunters makes all of this moving around and harassing your enemy worth it, as Hexwraiths automatically deal a S5 flaming, magical hit that ignores armor for each model in their unit that rides through one unengaged enemy unit. Say good bye to chaff or ride over Chaos Knights and watch them die. Hexwraiths used properly are brutally effective.
Now all this awesomeness does make them magic missile magnets (which is a bonus in itself if we're going for target saturation). But there are a lot of ways to mitigate this:
- Good magic defense - Balefire, Black Periapt, Book of Ashur, Dispel Scroll, Scroll of Shielding, Staff of Sorcery, and level 4 Wizards.
- Get them into combat (though choose selectively as they are better when kept moving).
- Keep them out of range, charge arcs and line of sight.
- Bring something more terrifying for your opponent to target (Terrorgeists are good for this).
- Keep them in range of Invocation (difficult as Hexwraiths operate away from most of your Wizards).
Vargheists - ✪✪✪✪✩
Highly mobile and hard hitting, few lists can do worse than picking Vargheists. On the other hand, if used poorly they die fast and become a total waste of points. But what makes Vargheists attractive is how independent they are. As a Vampiric unit, they can always march and with Fly they can move very fast. They are Monstrous Infantry, S5 and A3 with Frenzy, so these beasts have 4 attacks and a stomp against most enemies they fight. Vargheists are best when flanking, creating a threat on a second front your opponent must react to (usually by dividing his forces). Make sure they have a couple of targets, and can get into combat without facing a lot of attacks as Varghiests only have T4, I4 and W3. If used properly, Vargheists tear through an enemy unit and easily overrun into the next one. Vargheists are very flexible too. A unit of 3 can be deployed in a single file with a champion and go Wizard hunting all day long! A unit of 4 can be deployed 2x2 and get the majority of its attacks into an enemy's flank while minimizing attacks back. That same unit can go 4 wide if the enemy are little threat and maximize their own attacks and stomps. In addition to their squishy nature, Vargheist's Frenzy and Ld 7 makes them a bit unruly, so move them carefully (moonwalking towards the enemy if you have too) and then choose your targets with care, ensuring you get the charge. Because of this, if you aren't proficient at moving or facing them or your opponent is effective at baiting them, Vargheists can be difficult to use.
Grave Guard - ✪✪✪✩✩
Grave guard have two distinct roles in our army. Want to punch through enemy armor? Give them great weapons, deploy in horde formation and you got a solid hammer. With a bucket load of S6 attacks and Killing Blow, these bad boys cut through armor like a hot knife through butter! Need a solid slab to tie your enemy up and grind them down round after round? Throw hand weapons and shields on these T4 infantry and deploy them five wide. Now you've got a reliable mini-anvil that enemy characters want to avoid and is the perfect home for a tooled up Wight King or Vampire blender. In either case, Grave Guard draw a lot of heat and can die fast, so support them with Invocation of Nehek. Fortunately, they regain d6+level Wounds per casting which is amazing for an elite unit like this. Although Grave Guard come at a fair price for what they do and are good standalone fighters, they compete with many other Special options. If you field them, plan your army around their role. Keep in mind which units and characters they threaten the most with Killing Blow and that they only have M4. Grave Guard do best when controlling key positions, so staying within range of the general's march bubble and a Van Hel's Danse Macabre is important. Likewise, their Killing Blow synergizes well with Hellish Vigor, especially when equipped with hand weapons or fighting against an enemy whose Toughness is greater than their Strength. Furthermore, Grave Guard can carry a Magic Standard of up to 50 points. What you choose specializes them similar to Skeletons and their options include the Razor Standard, but most of the time Banner of the Barrows is auto-include since Grave Guard have that pesky WS3 and it adds +1 to their To-Hit Rolls in combat.
Black Knights - ✪✪✪✩✩
These are the bread and butter of a mounted Vampire Lord list, easily being a ✪✪✪✪✩ for those armies. In other lists, they lack some punch and mobility, hence the rating. Regardless, Black Knights are tough to kill, deal decent damage on a charge and can move as ethereals (when not accompanied by a vampire). They also have a solid armor save, allowing them to tie units up and absorb a lot of damage. Because they are not ethereal or vampiric, Invocation of Nehek raises an impressive 1+level wounds. With their armor save of 2+ (when barded), this makes them easy to keep alive. Unfortunately, they deal very little damage on subsequent rounds, though this can be improved with a Wight King or Vampire armed with a great weapon or Ogre Blade. Black knights are best fielded in units of 12-15 models and used as either a flanker that supports your general's infantry unit or as the infamous Black Knight bus to deliver your mounted Vampires and Vampire Lord. Since they can take Magic Standards, popular choices include Banner of Swiftness (with Vampires), Razor Standard (to help punch through armor) and Banner of the Barrows (when using them as support or with Wight Kings). There are some tricky formations that involve leveraging Black Knight's armor, Killing Blow and movement, putting Wight Kings and full command in the front rank to push mounted necromancers into the second rank, thus allowing Black Knights to carry Invocation of Nehek and Death sniper spells with them. Black knights can also be built into death stars housing all of your characters in an even larger unit, though this severely limits your army's flexibility.
Fell Bats - ✪✪✪✩✩
These bloodsuckers are versatile. They are cheap (same cost per wound as Dire Wolves), have a small frontage, and they Fly! Their only downside is they are competing for those ever popular Special points. That said, Fell Bats are great as redirectors. Where Dire Wolves are best used in the early game, Fell Bats can hang out behind the ranks and near your general. Then at an opportune moment drop in the middle of everything and ruin your opponent's plans. This allows Fell Bats to get into places Dire Wolves can't go, and it’s whether you need this advantage or to save your Special points for something else that determines if you should take them or the Dire Wolves instead.
Corpse Cart - ✪✪✩✩✩
This filthy wagon has some valuable features, especially against elven MSU lists. Its biggest merit is giving our troops Always Strike First (thus negating elves' reroll To-hit). Unfortunately, the Corpse Cart is only M4 and a chariot (thus cannot march). To properly use the Corpse Cart, we need to cast Van Hel's on it, and that's just so it can keep up with even our infantry! With that said, proper use of the Corpse Cart can be effective when your army is built around it, as undead with Always Strike First are frightening for anyone to face. Also, unlike many other undead units, the Corpse Cart does well thrown into multiple combats. Its' T4, W4 and Regeneration makes it fairly durable, so it doesn't tend to bleed much combat resolution. Corpse carts also have some interesting options that a creative general can build around. Balefire's -1 to enemy casting rolls within 24" weaken enemy magic phases and make our dispel dice go further. While Unholy Lodestone's Invocation of Nehek reroll helps grow our infantry quicker. For general's attempting to raise up an unholy and disgusting amount of zombies (and possibly break the world record for most raised in a single game), this upgrade is essential!
Bat Swarms - ✪✪✩✩✩
You might immediately notice the Bat Swarms & Corpse Cart combo. The cart gives your units Always Strike First, the Bat Swarms give enemy units Always Strike Last. Just like peanut butter and chocolate...how could that not be good? It looks so nice on paper, but fact of the matter is that both units are very circumstantial and managing the two properly is more effort than it’s usually worth. This is partly because where Bat Swarms should give you the upper hand in close combat, they all too often bleed combat resolution even worse than zombies. Bat Swarms have great movement and keep up with the units they are meant to support. However, they don't deal much damage and with their T2, die all too fast. Bat Swarms are used best flanking enemy units (where fewer models can attack them) and in a single file of two ranks. This minimizes their contact to the enemy and keeps the Bat Swarm in combat as long as possible. Like many of our Special choices, Bat Swarms require being built around and are not worth taking if you aren't going to make use of their effect.
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