1000 pts

[Marmaduc]

This is a themed 1000 point army that I want to be as competitive as possible for a small Mighty Empires campaign for me and three other new players. Right now we are sparring with 500 pt armies to get a feel for the rules and to (hopefully) attract a new player or two before we begin in September. There are two other lists that I'm considering, but I like the fluff of this one best but there doesn't seem to be a method to post the other lists here with the built-in Army Builder.

The theme, in case you were curious, is "The Family", a cursed group of related vampires plagued by internecine rivalry and insanity. The Varghulf is the progenitor of the line, driven long ago to insanity, that imprisoned his progeny (the Vargheists) beneath his fortress out of fear, jealousy, and madness. The Vampire leading the army is his consort, a vampire countess that used her Dark Magic and poison to cause her masters madness in the first place and now rules the the land in his place!

 

[jediguru]

I'd drop most of the zombies and get either some skeletons or ghouls for your core. That's my two cents.

 

[Chaos_Born]

The overall list is good, should work nicely. Couple of things though.

Firstly you'll want to break those bats into two units of two to be more effective as chaff.

Secondly, to take full advantage of fear incarnate on your vamp you should squeeze the screaming banner in there. Cheapest (and IMO best) way to do that is on a skeleton unit. If you scrap one of the zombie units and reduce the other by 10, you can get a good 25 skeletons with the banner and not have to get rid of any vargheists or anything.

 

[Marmaduc]

Wow, you guys are fast, and thanks. I can immediately see the utility of splitting the bats, I am perhaps too concerned over the low T and lack of armor.
The zombies are there for sucking it up, I am at 1000 pts here and 80 zombies in two units seems to offer an advantage in deployment and damage absorption, is it not as useful as I was hoping? Are the skellies so much better that the Newly Dead rule isn't worth it? I foresee 2D6 new zombies in each unit every other turn or so. I can't afford get the Master of the Dead rule on the Vamp to raise the skellies beyond starting and that was pretty much my only justification...that and 80 freakin' regrowing models! I should clarify that the opponents I expect to face are High Elves, Dark Elves, Dwarfs, O&Gs, and TKs (maybe Bretonnians, fingers crossed!). Nevertheless, I already have a pre-designed replacement of 39 skellies with full command and a Screaming Banner as a ready switch-out depending on my experience with the zombies.

 

[Chaos_Born]

The 80 zombies will be good for tar pitting and then dying, but they give away so much combat res that your vargheists and varghulf wont be able to join their combats without dying. I think the inclusion of some screaming skeletons, combined with the fear incarnate on your vampire, will provide a much better anvil for the other stuff to weigh into combats with.

IMO, sticking the vampire with zombies is a waste of the vampire's potential as a fighter. In any serious combat those zombies will die quickly without ever winning a round and leave your vampire to die, and if you try to relieve them with something fightier, then the combat res can easily overwhelm them. Although zombies work okay on their own for delaying stuff, you can see why you'd want some other infantry for the vampire to go in

 

[Velmates]

Your list isn't legal since you spent 235 points on your hero slot. I would consider dropping Dreadknight because it won't do anything of use. Secondly you can't give a vampire MotD. You can just give it to 1 necromancer oder master necromancer in your army. Like Chaos_Born suggested I would swap one unit of zombies against one of skeletons since they are a much better support for your vampire.

 

[Matt217th]

Your list isn't legal since you spent 235 points on your hero slot.

I might be missing something, but is his hero allowance not 250pts for a 1k army?

 

[Velmates]

Your list isn't legal since you spent 235 points on your hero slot.

I might be missing something, but is his hero allowance not 250pts for a 1k army?

Erm... sure. Of course the allowance for heroes is 250 in a 1000 pts army. I can't remember why I posted such a mistake. Possibly I added the points for MotD to his 235 points in my mind or something (even when he can't take it on the vampire)...

So, again, I cry your pardon.