Bus Support

[Aedin]

I have been battle testing and working on a 2400pt tournament list.

My main hammer is a unit of 13 Black Knights with a vampire lord and vampire BSB and the unit has +1 movement banner.

Now I was running 2 TG on each flank of the bus. However these just became huge cannonball and spell catchers that were eliminated consistently by the end of turn two.

So I swapped those out with a unit of Blood Knights FC and 4+ ward banner led by a vamp hero. However, this unit dont have the numbers to hold up if it gets stopped by steadfast and subsequently counter charged. This in turn gives up a large amount of victory points. Not to mention even though they have a 4+ ward from shooting a lucky shot still hurts when the numbers are that low.

The army already has 2 units of 25 zombies 1 unit of 35 ghouls and 2 units of 5 wolves. so i feel i have good amount of chaff...

So if not Blood Nights or TG what if anything should I do to support my bus? Or are my support tactics sound and just accept im going to give that 500 points up?

 

[Ravenheart]

Any unit running in support of the bus is going to get hurt but, that's the point really.

Have you considered running vargheists to hunt small redirecting units/mages to help you get your more powerful units in unmolested? Or perhaps hexwraiths as a more reliable option? Both of these can hunt warmachines to protect the bats/blood knights.

 

[Mikael.K]

I´d say crypt horrors or vargheists. CH´s has the resillience and speed to keep up and the vargheists are fast. Maybe even run both? A unit of 8 horrors and 6 vargheists should be fun!

 

[Larro]

At ETC for Team USA, I ran 6 Vargheists as support. I am currently trying 8-10 Crypt Horrors. Both work extremely well.

I never take TGs anymore, they only die.

- Larry

 

[Demian]

Varghulf.

He supports the bus well, providing a very reliable source of str 5 attacks and a thunderstom to deal with those pesky infantry units.

His only downside is he only gets a regen save and that he only has I4.

If you don't fancy the big chubby vampire monster, you can always get Hexwraiths for support.

They move fast, can counter chaff and redirectors pointed at your Black Knights, are only hurt by magic (which you can dispel / use scroll of shielding against) and can wound anything with armour saves.

 

[Aedin]

My metta contains allot of High Elves with frost phoenixes. So i feel CH are out because that means str 3 vs t 6 which is not good. Vargheists are looking like a good option but will still only be str 4 vs a frosty. Im thinking of adding the 3rd vamp into the BK bus and perhaps bringing flying chaff to tie the beasties up. The down side to this of course is my meta contains Ogre Kingdoms and let there be no fury as a hell heart scorned lol.

good suggestions all... any more ideas?

 

[Johnny-Crass]

Be more agressive with the ghiests

 

[Aedin]

More aggressive.. as far as what?

Ignoring the frosty and quickly charging across the board?

Or just go for it and charge the frosty with them?

 

[Johnny-Crass]

Why would you ever charge anything with a ghiest? No i mean use them to pull their points. Toss em to scream something off and make its points back. If they die after its no big deal

 

[Aedin]

Ohh lol i miss understood johnny

I thought you were talking about Varghiests.

Ya that makes allot more sense now lol.

Its just the tournament I been tweaking this list for also scores you by how many points in your list you loose as well.

The entire tourney has a complex scoring system with painting sportsmanship ect being a part of it.

 

[Johnny-Crass]

Sweed or soft comp?

 

[HugoMac]

A small (5 or 6, always with champ) unit of hexwraits helps A LOT the classic bus: they clean chaff almost as well as the gheist, they have all the benefits of the ethereals, they move at the same speed as the main unit, they can make the move through thingie OR support the main combat flank charging the same time as the big cavalry...

Bus + 6 hexs with champ + 3 vargs with champ = fast, hard, easy, and relatively cheap (and with filthy possibilities, like the varg mage hunter dart, for example... hehehe)

 

[The Sun King]

@ Larro: Agreed, TG's are overrated IMO - but I've been saying that for years, but now I have the support of an excellent player like yourself

 

[Aedin]

@Johnny

nothing comped.

The tournament also allows for 1000pt of your list to be swappable. So basically 1400pt of your list is always the same with a 1000pt side board for a total of 2400pt on the battle.

Wizard hunting with varg darts might be a good option. Then if Im faced with a Ogre gut star with the wizard buried I can swap those out for something like the hexwraiths.

 

[Kingside_Bishop]

I personally have some success with running blood knights opposite my black knight bus, though I don't play in a strictly competitive environment. I have to run them with plenty of dogs to deal with opponent's chaff and make sure I get good matchups, but I find that the +4 ward vs. shooting is sufficient to deter most ranged attacks... but, I don't run it with a vamp hero -- that might make for a more attractive target.