2K Tournament: Blender or MN

[Kromul]

Hey guys!

I want to hear your opinions about fielding a Vamp Lord (or SGK) Blender vs a Master Necromancer in a 2.000 points tournament list.

Pros & cons for each one? I can't decide myself, I love both

 

[Vipoid]

SGK:

Pros:
- Relatively Cheap Blender
- Useful if you're planning a scream-based list
- Has spare item/power points for some surprises (if you're playing with closed lists) - e.g. flying
- Can be a nice caddy for an arcane item
- Um... nice model

Cons:
- Much more fragile than a Vampire Lord, and especially vulnerable to Killing Blow and Death Magic
- Can't take a mount
- Can't take mundane or magic armour
- Basically limits your casting to Lv2s in the Hero Section


Vampire Lord:

Pros:
- Can be kitted out as both a blender and a lv4 wizard
- Can be made very durable with a 4+ ward and mundane armour (or Nightshroud and a 5+ ward).
- Can take a mount (not sure how practical/useful that it though)
- Very strong all-rounder, really.

Cons:
- Unlikely to have many points left over to carry an arcane item or utility power.
- You may have to compromise his blending ability very slightly (compared to the ghoul king), or have him as a Lv3 wizard in order to get the most out of his blending ability.
- It can be dangerous to have your main caster as your general - one bad miscast roll can doom your entire army.


Master Necromancer:

Pros:
- Cheap
- Plenty of room for an arcane item (e.g. Black Periapt, Earthing Rod), as well as a ward save.
- Gives good magic defence
- Can be safely bunkered behind the lines

Cons:
- About as useful as a Jam Sandwich in combat.
- Basically limits you to hero level blenders, which are decent but also very fragile.
- Having your main caster as your general makes miscasts very risky (although, not to the same degree as a vampire lord - because you can buy an Earthing Rod and lose far less if he does die).
- Can't take any vampire powers


There is one other thing you could consider - which is a Ghoul King AND a Master Necromancer at 2000pts. [The hyperlink button appears to have committed suicide, but if you're interested there's a thread with that title in the Teachings of Aborash]

Not sure how competitive it is, buy I thought it was worth mentioning in case the idea appeals to you.

 

[Kromul]

Thank you very much for the analysis Vipoid!

I find interesting your idea of fielding a SGK with a MN but I don't know if that would be very competitive :/
I've played several months friendly games and now I have a tournament that I want to win if possible, so I'm focusing on what will be better for whatever army I encounter.

Anyway, I'll keep an eye on your topic and I'll try it after the tournamente with some friends

 

[Johnny-Crass]

I like SGK and some baby casters personally

 

[Kromul]

That's an idea I've thought sometimes Johnny, but I think I'm very exposed to enemy magic if I don't field at least a lvl 3 caster

 

[Vipoid]

That's an idea I've thought sometimes Johnny, but I think I'm very exposed to enemy magic if I don't field at least a lvl 3 caster

You could give a Lv2 Necromancer the rod of +1 dispel.

 

[Seneschal]

Take a VL. You need str 6-7 to deal with the onslaught of 1+ armor saves and monstrous cav as well as a level 4 caster. SGK's fall far too easily without armor and a 5+ save that doesn't work against KB.

 

[Zombaid]

I was in a 3 game tourney this weekend and my master necro seemed way to vulnerable , his zombie bunker provided no help to a double chimera chariot core WoC list and did squat vs a triple stonehorn and gutstar OK list .

he excelled hugely in a game vs skaven where I dominated the magic phase and could recast wind of death ( I wanted to pick direction as his line advanced at all the same pace and he refused to spread out )

I feel a good blender lord caster would have made a diffrence against the other 2 lists being able to damage something as my baby vamp struggled .

 

[Kromul]

Hey guys! I've tried a Vamp Lord Blender with LoV level 3 and he worked really nice, but I had the bad luck on facing a Daemon Prince of Nurgle only hitting him on 6s and with no re-rolls from ASF

Anyway I liked him so much

 

[PrinceCharming]

i tend to bring a lvl 4 master necro , and 2 baby blender vamps, seems towork fine for me, but i think it depends on your playstyle alot

What JC said, a ghoul king with a hero level 2 with +1 to dispel works nice aswell tho

 

[spazmatik]

Hey guys! I've tried a Vamp Lord Blender with LoV level 3 and he worked really nice, but I had the bad luck on facing a Daemon Prince of Nurgle only hitting him on 6s and with no re-rolls from ASF

Anyway I liked him so much

I could be wrong here but i think you should have been hitting him on 5's 4's normally and the -1 to hit for nurgle.

 

[Kromul]

I could be wrong here but i think you should have been hitting him on 5's 4's normally and the -1 to hit for nurgle.

Hmm I'm checking it out right now.
I'm not a expert on WoC so I think you are right and my opponent was wrong (unintentionally I hope >_<). Thank you for the warning

 

[Von Nachspiel]

He could have used the glittering scales though. Did he have any other magic items, and what was his armoursave? both are indications for or against GS, because the DP only have 25pts magic item allowance

Charming and Johnny, how do you field your baby blenders? eg. together in a ghoul unit?

At this point level i prefer a blender, he brings good magic defense, 4+/4++ on foot, and the hitting power needed. This is a subjective matter for my part as i rarely field SGK's because of the theme of the army. I would love to make the MN work, but for him to be worth his points, he needs to do something more than IoN, which for me often puts him in another dimension at some point

 

[Kromul]

He totally missunderstood his codex, he just apologized for that because he thought that the rule Daemon of <Insert God here> was stackable with the rule Mark of <Insert same God here> so he was playing with Chaos armor and -2 to impact him.

So I should have hit him on 5s with my Blender, next time he will die!