2000pt Tournament List

[Tarondor]

I'll be facing High Elves with Eagles and lots of magic
High elves with Swordmasters
Vampires (based on strigoi)
and wood elves (the guy apparently has the beardiest army he could come up with, don't think he's lost so far)
Here's my list;

Vampire (level 3)
+1 Magic Level
Read Fury
Infinite Hatred
Book of Arkhan
Blood Drinker
Flayed Hauberk

Mannfred the Acolyte (Level 2)

Vampire (Level 1)
Summon Ghouls
Ghoulkin
Nightshroud

Vampire (Level 2)
Dark Acolyte
Summon Creatures of the Night
Sceptre de Noirot
Sword of Battle

20 Crypt Ghouls

20 Crypt Ghouls

20 Crypt Ghouls

5 Dire Wolves

5 Dire Wolves (or 10 Dire Wolves as one Unit)

3 Fell Bats

3 Fell Bats

Varghulf

Varghulf

I have only bought 10 Crypt Ghouls as of yet so I want atleast those in the army, DOn't want to buy any minis I won't use as I'm on a strict budget.

 

[Master of Shadows]

If you will be facing High with lots of magic then I would consider dropping the tomb blade(since the vampire already has the Lord of Dead) and getting a scroll. That one scroll could save your life. I had a similar setup of characters in my list and I dropped the tomb blade for a scroll.

Just my .02

 

[Tarondor]

The way I thought of it was, dispel scrolls cost 25 points and just dispel one spell, whereas tomb blades will keep adding units and with lord of the dead means I can boost the unit above its starting number. With Nehek spells like flames of the pheonix can be counter-balanced with healing and dispelled later on, which, if i'm not mistake, becomes easier to dispel after the turn it's cast (because it' a 'stay in play' spell).
What's everyones views on the list as a whole for competitive tournaments?

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

As posted elsewhere find some points to give Mannfred the skull staff especially if your playing against HE, the +1 to cast/dispel combined with his lord of the dead is very effective.

 

[Tarondor]

My list is in the original post. I'll edit it the original one every time there's a new list.

Ok, so i've not got the 3 legal core units (Corpse Cart and dire wolves don't count) I've gave Mannfred the ever useful Skull Staff dropped the Vampires tomb blade, dropped the black knights full command so they are now flankers and dropped 3 Cairn Wraiths (Including Banshee) for a Varghulf. I've also split the Dire Wolves into 2 units and gave the grave guard great weapons and Royal Standard of Strigos. Im wary of the great weapons, swapping 3+ save for S6 with 5+ save, or will sheer spells make up for this enough do you think? What about a magic based high elf army with alot of dispel dice?

I haven't had many replies but thanks to Master of Shadows and Disciple of Nagash for theirs. I thought this forum would be alot more responsive.
Any further comments/help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Master of Shadows]

Your most welcome Tarondor,

Its looking pretty good. I do have a few questions though.

Where are you planning to put Mannfred? I had a problem with that with my list(I will be using Mannfred aswell, you can find my list on here too.) I had him in a unit of 5 Black Knights with Full Command. I gave them Command so my Champion could accept challenges I dont want Mannfred fighting. He has Heavy armour but no ward save. I found that I had to boost the unit to 6 so I could have 5 rank and file models in the unit, so Mannfred can benefit from the "Look out Sir" rule and not have to eat a cannon ball in the face.

I also dropped the Wraiths/Banshee for a Varghulf. It rocks and is good choice.


The Royal Standard of Strigos is a pretty cool banner but it has one problem, if you win combat you must pursue because of hatred. This can be bad because your opponent can use to his advantage and expose your flanks. I would think about changing it to the Banner of the Dead Legion(doubles your unit strength), I like this one because you shouldnt have a problem now breaking most units, even if they charge.

If you wanted to you could drop your Skeles down to 15 and spend the extra points and pick up the Banner of Barrows for your GG and maybe give the skeles a war banner.

Our lists are rather similar, but instead of the Grave Guard, I have another unit of Black Knights and a Wight King and I run 3 skele units.

Hope that helps a little.

P.S. I found repsonses a little slow too, but all the ones I got were solid advice.

 

[Tarondor]

Where are you planning to put Mannfred? I found that I had to boost the unit to 6 so I could have 5 rank and file models in the unit, so Mannfred can benefit from the "Look out Sir" rule and not have to eat a cannon ball in the face.

This is exactly what I've done with the new list as i've edited in the original post.

I would think about changing it to the Banner of the Dead Legion(doubles your unit strength), I like this one because you shouldnt have a problem now breaking most units, even if they charge.

Exactly what I've done, was my original idea but someone on another forum suggested against it.

Thanks for the help again, Master of Shadows!

My new list is in the original post.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

You've got a vampire with Flayed Huberk and AoD which to me is a bit of a waste as your paying the points for a GW or extra HW. I personally would stick with AoD (HW & S) which free's up 25 pts, drop the Sceptre on you're necro and and then with the free points give the vamp Helm of Command & enchanted shield - Your vamp has the same save in combat as before, 3+ from shooting but can also give his WS to the GG when needed. If you combine this with the above suggestion of dropping one of the skellies uits to 15 (which is feasible as you have a caster have Lord of the Dead) and giving the GG Banner of the Barrows the combined effect will be that against most opponents the will be hitting on 2+ and wounding with thier GW on 2+, get the vanhel's off the Book of Arkhan on them and you've got them ASF and re-rolling too.
The only other thing I might change is that since Mannfred already has Lord of the Dead is to swap the other vampires master power to Summon Ghouls, whilst the Ghouls are better in combat you really at least want them upto 15+ before they get into combat to give them some extra CR.

 

[Tarondor]

Ok, so I've completely overhauled my army.
The idea of slow infantry such as skellies (which i'm opposed to having anyway) and zombies (which I see as a waste of points as i can just raise them) added with the fact dire wolves don't count towards minimum number i've decided on 3 units of 20 crpyt Ghouls for my minimum. One unit will have my vampire lord in, another my 'Ghoul Vampire' and another with my zombie pumping themed Vamp. With the Ghoulkin Vamps ability all 3 Vampires and their ghoul units will get a free move, then with the varghulfs and dire wolves being fast enough to keep up will move along the flanks. The Ghoulkin vamp also has Nightshroud which will hugely set back high elf armies, hopefully this Vamp and the unit it's with will get into as many combats as possible to nullify the high elves. I'm thinking of using him against the likes of Swordmasters but it seems like they're get shreaded to pieces!

I'm thinking of using Dire Wolves are screens for my varghulfs/units or make the Dire Wolves a 10 strong unit and stick Mannfred on Barded nightmare with them for look out sir roles and protection in general, which I see as a better idea.
my two units of 3 Fell Bats will do the usual hide behind terrain, take out war machines stuff then if they survive (which they should quite easily thanks to 'Summon Creatures of the Night') then I'll use them to support my varghulfs.

Any comments or strategies will be greatly appreciated.

You'll find the new list in the original post, i've just edited it and will do this from now on.
Thank you.

 

[Mikael.K]

Looks good to me. Nice character selection there. Plenty of support for your ghoul blocks. Nice list, its mostly based on core choices aswell . Good luck with it!