Blood Dragon Converts to new book

[Sphynx]

This was my old list:

• Blood Dragon Vampire Lord
  • Level 3 Wizard
  • Zombie Dragon
  • Blood Drinker
  • Master Strike
  • Dependant on Army Faced
    • Strength of Steel
    • Enchanted Shield
  • Or
    • Heart Piercing
    • Shield
• Wraith
  • Barded Ethereal Nightmare
  • Cursed Book
• 14 units of 5 Dire Wolves (70 Dire Wolves)
• 4 units of 5 Fell Bats (20 Fell Bats)

I'm trying to convert it to the new system, having finally gotten the new book. I'm highly dismayed that the Dire Wolves no longer count towards Core minimum, since I refuse to use Ghouls, zombies or Skeletons. I just don't like them. Best I can do, and still play Vampires, is by playing with only 1760 of my 2000 points, handing my opponent a free 240 VP's before the game even starts....

Anyhows, first obvious change is the Cursed Book. Totally worthless now. But I find myself in love with the new Varghulfs. I love their Bestial Fury (no rear or side flank bonuses for the enemy)! I'm using my Sphynx's (Lions from the Lion Chariot with Pegasus Wings) to represent them (For those that don't know/remember, I play Wood Elves, so my Vampire Lord is an Elven Lord, my Bats are Warhawks, my Dire Wolves are just Wolves).

Here's my first re-creation attempt.

• Vampire Lord
  • Level 3 Magic
  • Zombie Dragon
  • Bloodline Powers
    • Red Fury
    • Walking Death
    • Infinite Hatred
  • Magic Items
    • Cadaverous Cuirass (What a God-Send!!!)
    • Blood Drinker
    • Crown of the Damned
• Varghulf (Protect Lord's Right Flank)
• Varghulf (Protect Lord's Left Flank)
  
  
• 6 Dire Wolves (Draw and Bait unit)
• 6 Dire Wolves (Draw and Bait unit)
• 6 Dire Wolves (Draw and Bait unit)
• 6 Dire Wolves (Draw and Bait unit)
• 6 Dire Wolves (Draw and Bait unit)
• 6 Dire Wolves (Draw and Bait unit)
  
  
• 5 Fell Bats (WarMachine and weak Mage Hunters, Draw and Bait bonus)
• 5 Fell Bats (WarMachine and weak Mage Hunters, Draw and Bait bonus)
• 5 Fell Bats (WarMachine and weak Mage Hunters, Draw and Bait bonus)
• 5 Fell Bats (WarMachine and weak Mage Hunters, Draw and Bait bonus)

 

[Sphynx]

Hmmm.... just found out that I don't need the Avatar of Death to wear the Cuirass, so I think for those extra 25 points, I'd rather have the Walking Death for the +1CR.

 

[Grish]

I'll check the book tonight but I thought it was REQUIRED to have 3 units of infantry. You can't opt not to take them and give the VPs to your opponent. They would still have an impact on the game, for overrunning, getting in the way of your own troops and such.

It's an illegal list but if your opponent is fine with it then it looks ok.

I'd swap Avatar of Death (20pts for a +1 AS?) to Walking Death, and personally I think Flayed Hauberk will be more useful than Cadaverous Cuirass, but from your notes it looks like you'd much rather have the Cuirass.

Also curious why you have 6 direwolves instead of 5; do you find the extra one makes a difference?

Edit: posted finally after Sphynx, seems he agrees already.

 

[Sphynx]

I don't do tourneys, and to be honest, I doubt anyone I play against would care if I did the whole 2000 points without Ghouls, Zombies or Skeletons. If they did insist, I'd just put 30 models against my battlefield edge, way behind my actual battle-line, and wait til someone ran into them since that would free me up a bit on dealing with a unit or 2. They'd never actually have any other effect on the game other than to soak up a turn or 2 from some of the enemy units and possibly even help in refuting table-corners for VPs. Ie: Win-win situation for the enemy to just take the 240 points.

As for 6, 5 is always better since they are purely sacrificial, and I originally had 7 units of 5 instead of 6 units of 6. I just prefer even numbers. If I find I need 8 points at some point, I'll go back to 7x5.

The Wolves are mostly to keep my flanks free of charges. Too much rides on the Vampire Lord for him to get stuck in combat for longer than a single turn, so the idea is to occupy flankers with wolves, hit hard with the 3 main hitters, and keep the Lord protected by the Varghulfs once the Wolves are of no more use, as he hits all the weakest units as quickly as possible early in the game.

 

[Grish]

I think the Lord does not have enough punch. Against regular RnF it's ok, but anything with decent armour is going to be difficult to punch through. It's as good as it's going to be but I don't see this as being a fun list to play against. It might do ok though, but concentrated shooting might ground your dragon.

 

[Sphynx]

I tend to agree. Obviously, this Lord would treat things such as units of Armoured Knights as blocks to be avoided (easily since they're r-n-f). But it's not that huge of a difference from my original list. I lost alot of armour on the Lord, some stat points, but gained 2 Varghulfs in an army where I'm quite use to the Lord being the only unit that does any damage at all. I lost a ton of Wolves (14 units down to 6, maybe 7), so I do think I'll haev to improve upon my old strategies, but I don't think it'll differ too greatly from my methods of playing the same-ish army last week.

 

[Staks]

Is it the models or their purpose which makes you dislike skeletons, ghouls and zombies? Surely you could design some units of skeletons which are made up with a mix of fell bats and skeletons in there? Since bats are on 40mm bases that can represent 4 skeleton models, so why not run 4-6 bat models with some skeletons running underneath them on the bases to make it look like a mix of a skeleton / bat swarm? Or just make a cemetary of 20mm bases with a few arms and heads crawling out of the ground.

I would find it a little strange if my opponent just gave me a 240 head start, i can't see the game being all that challenging with such an advantage.

 

[Sphynx]

I play Vampires because it's the only army that lets you have an all animal army. Well, did let you anyhows. Ie: 1 Vampire, and a bunch of animals. It made it more like a role-playing game with your main character and his summoned animals.

I do that because, as I stated in the post, I play Wood Elves with my Vampire Army. Elf Lord on Forest Dragon, Warhawks and Wolves in place of a Vampire, Fell Bats and Dire Wolves. Except now, I get to add in my 2 Sphynx's (Winged Lions from the Lion Chariot and Pegasus Wings) thanks to the Varghulfs. I just don't want any other humanoids in my army.

I think I should replace my Death Master with Animal Lord. An invented 25 point Vampiric Power that lets Wolves count towards Core minimums at a cost of 2 units per Core slot, but you can't take any other Core units. That would be a cool Vampiric Power.