Basic vamp + Lore of fire?

[nodmanmatt]

So I'm in the middle of contemplating a 3000pts army for a campaign, and I've been struggling to find a good points balance between characters and the actual army. In order to fit with my fluff I've got a basic vamp with lore of fire and the rod of flaming death. It didn't seem a terribly effective choice for 190pts, but then I read the rules for Sword of Rhuin.

:|

4 attacks hitting on 2s at strength 8?

I figure if I couple that with the nightshroud (and get rid of the Rod) I'd have a damn good fighter for about 150 points. The only problem I can really see is that she'd be lightly armoured and wouldn't be able to cast invoc.

Anyway, how does this look to you? I'm not all that experienced with WH Fantasy, so I'm willing to bet there's some glaring oversight I've made.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

Well first of all she would be able to cast IoN. Any model that takes Forbidden Lore still keeps that spell, so that's pretty good.

Secondly, yes it is a good combo - that no decent opponent will let you pull off twice. It is very easy to dispel and to be honest you would be wasting the Forbidden Lore spell. You vamp will be a level one thus will not be able to cast any of the higher tier spells.

If your looking for a combat vamp, look into the infinite hatred, , dreadknight etc powers.

Of course thats speaking from a tactical standpoint. When it comes to fluff you must of course go with hour your character feels, just be careful about revealing the vamp knows the Lore of Fire, as your opponent will be waiting for you to cast the FSoR.

 

[Zaggo]

but then I read the rules for Sword of Rhuin.

Very nice…

The other option is to take the lore of beasts. This makes a rather tasty combat bias vampire if you can cast the bear’s anger on him

The really nice thing about this option is two fold. Firstly, you can go completely magic heavy (with all the benefits that this bestows) and still have a character that can more than hold his own in combat.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the bear’s anger is the first spell in the lore of beasts; so the caster no longer requires forbidden lore freeing up precious points, perhaps for some sort of defensive protection, or dispel scroll(s)/power stone(s). This is particularly important if the caster in question is only level 1, as pointed out by disciple of nagash, as the top level spells granted by forbidden lore are all but wasted on a cast with a maximum of two power dice at his arcane disposal.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

Unfortunately Zaggo, vampires only have access to the Lore of Fire if they take Forbidden Lore - its all or nothing.

 

[Zaggo]

sorry my bad - i mis read...

However on re-reading the forbidden lore rules, the vamp.'s book states that you can take all the spells from any lore, except life!

So ignore my point saving rate above, but if you want to take the vmapire power in question, I believe that you can still go with lore of beasts if you want to - unless i'm going mad

(you also get IoN with ANY lore that you take - which is really nice )

 

[Silent Requiem]

I use forbidden lore on my hero (and eventually lord) for lore of beasts, in part for bears anger. On a lord with the 50 point martial power (no army book in front of me) , you are looking at up to 12 attacks at st 7.

Trouble is, NOBODY lets you do that more than once. So mostly it never happens. Of course, this means thy have to let other things through, but I don't know if it is worth the investment.

-Silent Requiem

 

[JoshoW]

There's a huge problem with that. Mainly, that the lore of Fire is signifigantly crapper than most other lores in the book.

In addition, with only 2 power dice, you're probably not going to be allowed pull it off. Even then, it'll probably be dispelled in like a turn anyway. Ultimately, you're paying for a lore you're not going to use.

 

[Zaggo]

the lore of Fire is signifigantly crapper than most other lores in the book.

Is the lore of fire worse than any other of the lores??

 

[darebear]

There is no guarantee that it will be dispelled. All you need it for is your turn in combat. Back it up with a magical weapon on the lord in case the spell is dispelled in your opponents phase. if he does fine, he has less power dice to attack you with.

If you go with Mannfred the Acolyte and a Lord with Lore of Fire plus 2 necros with Dance on Corpse Carts with bound items your enemy will be hard pressed to dispel everything. In fact, he will not be able to. Save casting flaming sword until the end. If he saves dice then other spells with get through. Either way, you win. I have used this lore several times and it works wonders, especially when backed up by Mannfred as a level 2 with all the vampire spells and necros casting dance on corpse carts making your grave guard strike first with great weapons. There are so many magical attack options we have that they all cannot be stopped. I personally like lore of fire. Two magical missile attacks per turn against annoying enemy fast cavalry and lone heros are nice to have. Shooting back is not something vamps normally do and it makes the enemy have to re-think some of their tactics. However, Dance will always be the game winning spell for me.

 

[nodmanmatt]

Thanks for the replies all.

So the consensus is that it's not worth it on a hero? I do think that 35 pts for pretty much one spell, which my opponents may always wait for to dispel does seem pretty steep :/

On the other hand what Darebear says is similar to my line of thinking; My characters are quite magic focused, if I cast spells with them and save flaming sword for last would my opponents not be tempted to use their dice and/or scrolls on the earlier spells?