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pander

Zombie
Jun 13, 2012
15
Okay so I have been wanting to create my own death star ( I've never played one before being a keen skaven player) and i wanted to take some blood knights as i have the fine cast models from gw (I got 50% discount because i know the guy that owns it for my birthday mwahahaha)

My lgs store is filled with deathstar lists 15 minotaurs with two minotaur heroes, chosen star, gut horde and big blocks of dwarf hammers and i just wanted something that could give them a scare maybe there is better ways to beat them but i just wanted to try this out.

ANYWAY just want to see if this would work in a 2400 list.

Standard mounted blender vamp lord level 4 lov

baby vamp with lance, steed, lore of death cursed book and spellshield.

7 blood knights with full command and flag of blood keep

This gives the unit 4++ ward save and 3++ ward save against magic missiles, 26 strength 7 attacks on the charge from bloods and baby vamps then all the attacks from the blender lord.

Just something I wanted to try from my normal vampire counts lists something with a bit of cheese. :perv:
 

bigbadbat

Harbinger of Dandelions
True Blood
Jun 14, 2012
1,240
Minneapolis, MN area
Why not 10? You dont need a champ as any BK can accept a challenge. Then you can run them 6 wide. Ob Amulet works the best to get 2+ ward against ranged spell damage.
 

pander

Zombie
Jun 13, 2012
15
Hmmm that does sound tempting hopefully have a game this week or next so ill try 10 and ob amulet should be a fun game ill post up a report see how it goes thanks mr Bat

Pander
 
Jul 13, 2012
131
I'll recommend Book of Arkhan instead of Cursed Book.

This is the unit you want reroll to hit on.

Also consider making the Vamp a bsb. While you cant use the magic banner if you want his other kit it is always useful to reroll the failed frenzy test. LD 10 or not.. failing it can cost you the unit and probably the game if the setup is unlucky
 

TK6445

Zombie
Feb 17, 2012
34
I've been going 10 wide (8 + 2 char) with the staff of damnation as that effects our mount too. Plus the MR(2) talisman.

Very, very nasty until you meet a horde with killing blow. You need to avoid those.
 

The Sun King

Moderator
Staff member
True Blood
Aug 22, 2012
4,989
Copenhagen
I wouldn't make the lord a level 4, leave that to a master necro who's with the rest of your army. Just give him Cursed book and use the extra points on more BabyBlenders. Also I would throw Banner of Eternal flame on a BSB vamp in there just to make sure that you can take regen speedbumps out(like trolls, HPA's, Hydras.. yeah plural, my meta is pretty cheesy :D) also the BSB will help you make sure that you NEVER EVER lose that frenzy test.
 

Tamodan Varison

Grave Guard
Dec 5, 2008
288
I would give your lord the lvl 4. Getting yourself a lvl 4 necro is gonna cost you 100 points more, and he's far miore difficult to protect. if you lose the Lord, you lose anyway. Why then have the risk of suffering a major blow in a different place?

I would, just like Friendly, advize for Book of Arkhan. You do wana rerol to hit with these guys, since that's the only part where they can fluff. They will hit most dangerous stuff on 4s, so those rerolls can really help to put the damage in.

And finaly. Definately, definately, definately DON'T give them the flaming banner. You will kill Hydras, Hellpits and trolls on the charge. Buy yourself a flaming banner however, and every character in the game with a 2+ ward against flaming, and that's pretty much all of them, becomes a perfect counter against these guys. Give him a GW, and he'll slowly grind them down ;) never ever make your deathstars flaming, there's far too many characters out there that will be immune to that.
 

BloodbathMcGrath

The Butcher of New Liberty
Sep 9, 2012
493
Joliet, Illinois
This deathstar could potentially devastate anything. 15 minotaurs, Idk if they're that tough, but I guess the blender will definitely help with that. I would employ some fell bats (or vargheists) to tie up any wizards to keep their magic missiles off of that unit though.
 

Aedin

Black Knight
Oct 23, 2011
381
Its a win big or loose bigger strategy.

Redirection units will ruin your day and if you were to loose the unit its defiantly game over.
However, when it does work the look on your opponents face .... (priceless)
 
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Gatti

Ghoul
Apr 11, 2012
162
Take hexwraiths. I'd say 2+ units of 6. The drive-by auto hits can clear most chaff. As those hits are worked out in the movement phase, if someone tries to redirect you with their chaff, you just move a hexwraith unit over it, deal the hits, remove the chaff, and your bloods are free to move through the space previously occupied by the chaff unit. Much better than having to quick reform and move another direction, only to be redirected by the same chaff unit next turn. These hexwraiths are, I think, invaluable to keep a frenzied deathstar pointed in the right direction. Otherwise, any savvy player can prevent that deathstar from seeing any meaningful combat. Why 6? Well, some of the best chaff is fast cav, who you will wound on 2+. With only 5 hits from hexes, one of the fast cav units is likely to survive, but with 6 you will likely remove the fast cav unit.

As an added bonus, they cause terror, so you can also charge enemy chaff units, forcing a terror test. As most chaff has low-ish LD, they have a chance of failing, which would allow your Blood bus to charge, despite your opponent having tried to block them. You could even consider aura of dark magesty (the -1 LD bloodline) on the BSB or blender lord. For chaff to work, it has to be close to the unit it intends to redirect, so they should be in range of the bearer. It would give you a greatly increased chance of causing a panic check with a hexwraith charge.

Also, I'd go OTS on one of the vamp characters in case you face another deathstar with a natural ward save. Also, it is a good safety for a blender vamp to have, as that means he will always force ward re rolls. Ward save are the one thing that seriously hurt my blender lord's potential in combat.

Oh, and shadow wouldn't be a bad idea for your BSB to use. Miasma is great and really couples well with bloods against enemy elites. If you face something WS 5, lower the enemy WS to hit on 3s, OR if you are facing something I5 or I6, lower their I to ensure you get all attacks before he swings (potentially removing some of his attacks back). Also, it is really useful against High elves. As bloods are I5, the same as the I of high elf elites (well PGs are I6, but they're also only S4), dropping the I of either WL or SMs will remove their re rolls, which greatly decreases their killing power. Also, I don't think I need to elaborate about how useful enfeebling is if your blood face a GW-wielding unit, and pit, while situational, can be HUGE in certain match ups (though withering is probably a waste of time against anything that isn't a sphinx).
 

Yorga

Vampire Count
True Blood
Apr 7, 2011
1,844
Gatti said:
Take hexwraiths. I'd say 2+ units of 6. The drive-by auto hits can clear most chaff. As those hits are worked out in the movement phase, if someone tries to redirect you with their chaff, you just move a hexwraith unit over it, deal the hits, remove the chaff, and your bloods are free to move through the space previously occupied by the chaff unit.


How do you counter rat darts? Hex Wraith hits are distributed like shooting. So you have to randomize the hits with rat darts, no?
 

Gatti

Ghoul
Apr 11, 2012
162
^Gah Yorga! Skaven are above the principles of normal logic when it comes to list design! :)

There are many reasons that skaven are often considered broken, and this is just more evidence. Their chaff are harder to take down with shooting than any other chaff units out there. They would pose a problem. This strategy mainly works against every other army (since hexwraiths won't survive long against skaven anyway, stupid warpstone weapons). I don't think that its possible to build a list without a hard counter, but working against all chaff except one isn't bad in my opinion. But, assuming hexes survive against skaven, the rat darts wouldn't be impossible to handle.

For them, I would rely on rat darts being LD 6, being at -1 LD from the bloodline (so LD 5), and rely on them being out of range of both general and BSB. They are likely to fail the terror test caused by charging hexwraiths. That would be one way. Otherwise, 12 hits (6 from each unit) should be enough to drop them with drive by. Sure, probably overkill, but, as I said, there are many reasons skaven are seen as broken. After all, no need to distribute if you kill all of one unit type. But true, they are much much harder to take down, and could pose a serious problem.

Though realistically, against skaven I would shatter my BK bus at the first available opportunity, and use the solo vamps to charge into stuff, laughing maniacally while the bloods handle other stuff. Skaven aren't good in combat, and a deathstar isn't needed to break their units. there is a reason I always keep my vampires on hellsteeds even if they are supposed to be in a unit.

Unless you can think of a better way to handle them Yorga? Screams, after all, are also distributed as shooting, and are done in the shooting phase anyway, so would be of no help towards removing chaff and allow the bloods to move. Not sure what we have that could be better at taking down chaff before the bloods move in the movement phase, but I am open to any other ideas.

(Stupid Skaven)
 

MageoftheBones

Skeleton
Sep 27, 2013
63
I like the idea of a Level 4 Vampire Lord myself being your main caster. It does make our lists even more eggs in one basket but for most of the Vampire Counts history that has been the case anyway. One thing to be careful of when casting and its helpful to have a level 4 for this would be to cast your easier spells earlier in the phase making sure they go off and forcing your opponent to either ignore them giving you some benefit to the phase or spend dispel dice giving you a much better chance to cast your more desires or higher cost spells later in the phase.
 

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