2500 Swedish Comp list

[Archamedius]

Hey all, I am looking for some critiques of my list I am looking to use at a tournament coming soon.

The tournament is swedish comp, so no end times units or armies, but Lore of Undeath is allowed (since it is comped).

This is what I am looking to take, I am deliberately taking a softer list to try and get into the lower rankings on day 1. I am hoping to surprise other softer lists and do well against my day one opponents and then eek out some small victories or draws day 2 to finish high. I feel like there will be a LOT of warriors of chaos armies at this tournament (they are popular in the meta, especially no end times meta) and this list can surprise a meta warriors army. Between the screams and aura damage even a nurgle demon prince should wither away from the volume of damage.

2500 Pts - Vampire Counts Roster

Master Necromancer (1#, 285 pts)
. . 1 Master Necromancer, 285 pts (General; Level 4 Wizard; Hand Weapon; Fear; Immune to Psychology; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable)
. . . . 1 Staff of Damnation
. . . . 1 Talisman of Preservation
. . . . 1 The Lore of the Vampires

Master Necromancer (1#, 285 pts)
. . 1 Master Necromancer, 285 pts (Level 4 Wizard; Hand Weapon; Fear; Immune to Psychology; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable)
. . . . 1 Black Periapt
. . . . 1 Talisman of Endurance
. . . . 1 The Lore of Undeath

Wight King (1#, 165 pts)
. . 1 Wight King, 165 pts (Battle Standard Bearer; Hand Weapon; Great Weapon; Heavy Armour; Fear; Immune to Psychology; Killing Blow; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable; Always Strikes Last)
. . . . 1 Nightshroud
. . . . 1 Dragonbane Gem
. . . . 1 Ironcurse Icon

Vampire (1#, 246 pts)
. . 1 Vampire, 246 pts (Level 2 Wizard; Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield; Fear; Immune to Psychology; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable; Vampiric)
. . . . 1 Sword of Anti-Heroes
. . . . 1 Dragonhelm
. . . . 1 Seed of Rebirth (Regeneration (6+))
. . . . 1 Red Fury
. . . . 1 The Lore of the Vampires

Zombie Horde (30#, 100 pts)
. . 30 Zombies, 100 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Always Strikes Last; Fear; Immune to Psychology; The Newly Dead; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable)

Zombie Horde (30#, 100 pts)
. . 30 Zombies, 100 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Always Strikes Last; Fear; Immune to Psychology; The Newly Dead; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable)

Zombie Horde (21#, 73 pts)
. . 21 Zombies, 73 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Always Strikes Last; Fear; Immune to Psychology; The Newly Dead; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable)

Dire Wolves (5#, 40 pts)
. . 5 Dire Wolves, 40 pts (Slavering Charge; Fear; Immune to Psychology; Swiftstride; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable; Vanguard)

Dire Wolves (5#, 40 pts)
. . 5 Dire Wolves, 40 pts (Slavering Charge; Fear; Immune to Psychology; Swiftstride; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable; Vanguard)

Crypt Ghouls (27#, 280 pts)
. . 26 Crypt Ghouls, 280 pts (Fear; Immune to Psychology; Poisoned Attacks; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable)
. . . . 1 Crypt Ghast

Grave Guard (20#, 320 pts)
. . 19 Grave Guard, 320 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Great Weapon; Heavy Armour; Fear; Immune to Psychology; Killing Blow; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable; Always Strikes Last)
. . . . 1 Seneschal (Hand Weapon; Great Weapon; Heavy Armour; Fear; Immune to Psychology; Killing Blow; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable; Always Strikes Last)
. . . . 1 Banner of the Barrows

Corpse Cart (2#, 106 pts)
. . 1 Corpse Cart, 106 pts (Balefire; Fear; Immune to Psychology; Impact Hits (D6); Regeneration; Swiftstride; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable; Vigour Mortis)
. . . . 1 Corpsemaster (Spear; Fear; Immune to Psychology; Regeneration; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable)
. . . . 1 The Restless Dead (Fear; Immune to Psychology; Random Attacks (2D6); Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable)

Mortis Engine (2#, 220 pts)
. . 1 Mortis Engine, 220 pts (Banshee Swarm; Ethereal; Ghostly Howl; Immune to Psychology; Impact Hits (D6); Large Target; Regeneration; Swiftstride; Terror; The Reliquary; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable)
. . . . 1 Corpsemaster (Fear; Immune to Psychology; Regeneration; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable)
. . . . 1 Banshee Swarm
. . . . 1 Spirit Horde (Random Attacks (2D6); Spectral Steeds)

Mortis Engine (2#, 240 pts)
. . 1 Mortis Engine, 240 pts (Blasphemous Tome; Banshee Swarm; Ethereal; Ghostly Howl; Immune to Psychology; Impact Hits (D6); Large Target; Regeneration; Swiftstride; Terror; The Reliquary; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable)
. . . . 1 Corpsemaster (Fear; Immune to Psychology; Regeneration; Unbreakable; Undead; Unstable)
. . . . 1 Banshee Swarm
. . . . 1 Spirit Horde (Random Attacks (2D6); Spectral Steeds)


NOTES:

The general idea is to setup in a nice formation with ghouls and grave guard in the center, flanked by zombies and then dogs. The smaller zombie unit will be in the back far enough to one side that the Lore of Undeath Master Necro is outside the 12" aura from the blasphemous tomb (so no double miscast for him). Vampire and Wight King go into grave guard unit on one end to provide combat augmentation. The corpse cart is centered behind the ghouls and grave guard for it's aura flanked by both mortis engines.

The goal would be to use dire wolves as war machine hunters or redirectors. If the wolves fail at war machine hunting due to placement, or something similar, then I can use lore of undeath to summon fell bats, spirit hosts, and/or hexwraiths to do that job. eliminate war machines and then it becomes a solid grind fest with the rest of the army. Ghouls take on high toughness low armor opponents or large hordes, and grave guard take on armored units. Zombies claim objectives or tie up super hitty units I don't want to engage immediately.

The regen aura from the mortis engines should keep the army durable, especially the toughness 4 core units (grave guard and ghouls). And if I am lucky, lore of undeath might get me a terrorgheist in play.

I have toyed with replacing one master necro and the baby vamp with a vampire lord, but I am concerned with killing blow. It feels like my vampire lords always end up getting killed by it, no matter how hard I try to avoid it, and being on foot it will be even harder to avoid. Plus I lose redundancy in my lore of vamps and a channel attempt.

I know people recommend starting the game with vargheists or at least fell bats, but its a heck of a lot easier to summon 3 vargheists than 20 grave guard, etc and I didn't have the points for everything. Heck 3 vargheists is easier and less risky to summon than a corpse cart, plus it keeps the comp score low.

 

[Pirate Robot Ninja of Death]

Drop the hero vamp and up the size of the GG unit. T4 3+4++ is super, super soft and very easy points for your opponent. With the points saved you can probably afford Banner of the Barrows on that unit as well.

I might also suggest an extra wight for that unit. They're very cheap under the comp pack, and allow you to decrease the frontage of the unit while preserving the number of attacks. Especially strong with Banner of the Barrows (and especially against WS<3).

I'd also suggest dropping Tal of Endurance off your secondary MN and giving him MR(3). Will probably come in handier than the 5++ will.

What's your final comp score, btw?

 

[Archamedius]

I already have Banner of the Barrows in the unit. Without the vamp I don't have LoV redundancy for the off chance I miscast my MN into a hole, should I bring a baby vamp instead? Also the combat potential I just don't see it in few wight kings over a Sword of AntiHeroes Red Fury vampire. What am I missing?

I do like the idea of swapping for MR 3 on the other necro. They both go in the same unit anyways, so it helps the general.

My current Comp score was a 14.9. I'd like to stay at 14 or higher, but if I stray below 14, then I can go all the way to an 8, but thats as far as I can go.

 

[Aedin]

Would this happen to be for buckeye battles? Watch out for snipe spells. The magic ward is a good idea.

Also because of the engines a smart opponent is going to be able to read your deployment watch and scrutinize the units that get counter deployed.

 

[Archamedius]

Would this happen to be for buckeye battles? Watch out for snipe spells. The magic ward is a good idea.

Also because of the engines a smart opponent is going to be able to read your deployment watch and scrutinize the units that get counter deployed.

What do you mean by snipe spells? Death spells are close range which puts the caster in range of both the blasphemous tome and the reliquary, which is a win for me. Metal snipe spells don't concern me too much as I have MR and/or low armor. Plus the two combat characters have a 2++ vs. fire. I am aware deployment may be an issue, but I feel like mortis engines are naturally prone to specific deployment and as such you kind of have to do your thing and not react to your opponent during deployment but during the movement phase. That can be limiting, but the mitigation should help some. Or were you talking about something else?

 

[The Sun King]

I feel you really lack killing power. Staff of Damnation is a waste IMO.

 

[Archamedius]

I feel you really lack killing power. Staff of Damnation is a waste IMO.

Thanks, do you have any suggestions on adding killing power to the list? I have toyed with lists that use a vampire lord on foot, but that comes with it's own risks and sacrifices things like fortitude, BSB, etc.

 

[Pirate Robot Ninja of Death]

I already have Banner of the Barrows in the unit. Without the vamp I don't have LoV redundancy for the off chance I miscast my MN into a hole, should I bring a baby vamp instead? Also the combat potential I just don't see it in few wight kings over a Sword of AntiHeroes Red Fury vampire. What am I missing?

I do like the idea of swapping for MR 3 on the other necro. They both go in the same unit anyways, so it helps the general.

My current Comp score was a 14.9. I'd like to stay at 14 or higher, but if I stray below 14, then I can go all the way to an 8, but thats as far as I can go.

They do have less killing power, but at 3W T5 they're also much more survivable. With +1 to hit from BotB they will still output a decent amount of damage, and at a much better price tag.

My issue with baby vampires is that they're super fragile and too expensive for what you get, IMHO. Yeah he will output crazy damage against a character star with that Sword of Antiheroes, but at 3+4++ T4 2W he's going to die to rank-and-file.

14.9 is a solid comp score.

 

[The Sun King]

@Archamedius: Have you considered Vargs? They comp pretty low if I remember correctly. Alternatively Morghasts are a prime pick IMO.

 

[Archamedius]

@Archamedius: Have you considered Vargs? They comp pretty low if I remember correctly. Alternatively Morghasts are a prime pick IMO.

So I have considered them, but 1 - I don't have any models for them and I hate the ones GW produces so I would have to come up with a conversion in about a month and 2 - I can't seem to find the points. Where would you pull points from to put them in?

I know most people thumb their noses at the corpse cart, but with this is a heavy elf meta, and ASF on my units really negates a lot of their offensive power. It also practically pays for itself if you take a few vampires as you can forgo quick blood. So really believe it's a sleeper pick.