'Counts as'

[Belladamma Voltaire]

Greetings one and/or all,

I am planning my new VC like any sane person will be and I have decided I don't want the monotony of painting up hordes of skeletons. I do, however, love painting zombies.

Basically I am planning on using empire militia with zombie bits as 'counts as' skeletons - do you think this would be okay? Does anyone do anything similar? What 'counts as' units do you have, if any?

- V

 

[Vampire Ron]

As far as I can see with the new statlines, I don't see any reason to use skeletons rather than zombies... But apart from that, it depends on your gaming environment really, just ask whoever you're playing against?

 

[TMS]

I'm all for using 'counts as' in my games, as long as it is handled well. If you remain consistent with your use of 'counts as' throughout your army, so that you don't end up with your 'skeletons' looking awfully a lot like actual zombies (for example), then I can't imagine running into any issues.

I use Mantic's Zombies as ghouls in my own army. I feel that the rules for ghouls better represent in-game zombies as I see them. I've only got zombies (rules-wise) for raising in my army, and for that purpose I also use Mantic's Zombie models, but only ones with the special kind of base that makes them appear to emerge from the ground. That's a clear defining difference between the two types of units, and it hasn't been cause for confusion so far.

 

[Duke Danse Macabre]

As long as there is a clear difference between your skellies and zombies and the converts have the correct gear I am more than happy.
Bretonian Peasants are also a great choice for skellies.

 

[Narp]

Zombies, in my opinion, represent any random undead peasant who is armed with any weapon that happens to be hanging around (mostly pitchforks, weird halberd-y things and the occasional walking stick), while skeletons are undead soldiers, so they are more skilled and have proper weapons and armour. So as long as they look like undead, uniformed(more or less) soldiers, they count as skeletons.

 

[Alexos]

I really think that it could work, but only if you do it right. Like, try and use as much of the Imperial Militia bits as you can, otherwise they'll just look like big zombies.

Its a good idea to mix this, mind if I steal it for a Necrarch-esque army?

 

[Belladamma Voltaire]

Not at all - its only an idea in my head at the moment, it'll become real when the new book launches and I buy some Militia-men to begin 'Take 2' of my little VC army.

 

[texhnology]

Hmm I was just thinking about "countas"

I really really like the Carmine dragon from froge world. I was thinking of using it as a zombie dragon with a Vampire lord ontop. And just swaping the rider with one of the ladies with flowing skirts that you get in the Coven throne/mortis engine kit.

I know it doesn't look "dead", but still, isn't a carmine dragon a death aspect dragon ?

I would still use the normal zombie dragon stats and all, but would I meet much resistance if I ever wanted to take it to a turnament, as Count as zombie dragon ?

 

[Bishop]

Greetings one and/or all,

I am planning my new VC like any sane person will be and I have decided I don't want the monotony of painting up hordes of skeletons. I do, however, love painting zombies.

Basically I am planning on using empire militia with zombie bits as 'counts as' skeletons - do you think this would be okay? Does anyone do anything similar? What 'counts as' units do you have, if any?

- V

In my experience, "counts as" works fine and is a very nice change from the norm..

IF:

a) there is consistency (ie. all Empire Miltia/Zombie bashes are Skeletons)
b) there is a theme across the army, it's even better!
(I have seen entire armies converted to "count as" other armies... they are very impressive to look at across the table).

Personally. My VC has a lot of counts as models. I have Zombies that are Goblins, Empire, and Zombies.. some raised coming out of the ground.

I have a very DE themed VC army. My Drakkenhoff Guard are DE Executioner models, I have a unit of 10 Black Knights riding Cold Ones, I have 5 Blood Knights also riding Cold ones (when I get around to building them , I have all the parts though). Even my Black Coach is pulled by cold ones. The majority of my characters are converted using a DE base model.

Ghouls are something I don't have much of. I'm think Witch Elves for Ghouls is a good "counts as".

 

[crafty0ne]

Hmm I was just thinking about "countas"

I really really like the Carmine dragon from froge world. I was thinking of using it as a zombie dragon with a Vampire lord ontop. And just swaping the rider with one of the ladies with flowing skirts that you get in the Coven throne/mortis engine kit.

I know it doesn't look "dead", but still, isn't a carmine dragon a death aspect dragon ?

I would still use the normal zombie dragon stats and all, but would I meet much resistance if I ever wanted to take it to a turnament, as Count as zombie dragon ?

You very well Might. When Using difrent models to represent something else, a good rule of thumb is to try and keep the size of the base the same. So if the original model is on a dragon base, the count as model should also fit on that same dragon base. Otherwise you may run into issues where in close combat, the "counts as" model may end up touching more of the oppositions models/units then the original model would have. This could end up giving you a competitive advantage depending on the situation.

 

[Vorpac]

Newly turned nordic chaos vampire warband here.
Marauders as ghouls
Chaos warriors as grave guard
Chaos hounds as dire wolves
A variety of different races mixed as newly raised zombies
Chaos knights as blood knights
Converted chaos knights (centaur style) as my ethereal hex wraiths
Chaos or chaos inspired characters
(contemplating) Minotaurs as crypt horrors.
I have had no objections so far as long as I state clearly the units before the game.

Vorpac x

 

[morewar]

As far as I can see with the new statlines, I don't see any reason to use skeletons rather than zombies... But apart from that, it depends on your gaming environment really, just ask whoever you're playing against?

You have to carry less models!