Hey! Im new please help!

[Wasteland]

Hi all, i am new to warhammer and have decided to go VC for the win! I have played 40k for about 3 years and wanted some different for a bit.

Can anyone give advise on a good army set up and how to equip your vampires ( alot more confusing than 40k lol) for a 1k army to start with.

I would love to have as many vampires and 'batty' units as possible cos i love the idea of vamps sending out bats to swarm the town folk before going in for the bite. Thanks!

 

[TMS]

Hi there, welcome to CN!

The first things that spring to mind if you want to build an army with plenty of bats and still remain decidedly effective is to include a unit or two of Fell Bats, a Vampire caster or two with the corresponding master power and a Varghulf (it does look like a big, bloodthirsty mutant of a bat) at the 1000 points level.

What I'd do for a Vampire would be something like this...

Vampire - Dark Acolyte, Summon Creatures of the Night, The Flayed Hauberk, Black Periapt - 185

Aside from this guy I would probably also include a Necromancer, perhaps with a Power Stone or two, or a bound spell. A Wight King could also be useful to increase the combat potential of your army. Anyway, the SCotN-power on the Vampire above means that he can raise units of Fell Bats beyond their starting number, adding +D6 wounds with each succesful casting of Invocation of Nehek. He'll have access to a minimum of 4 power dice to use to this end, 5 if you make use of the Black Periapt.

Anyway, throw in a unit or two of 3 Fell Bats and a Varghulf and you'll have a nice base for a batty army, in my opinion.

Again, welcome to Carpe Noctem.

 

[Oronare]

You can use necromancers as basically generally scroll caddies, you can get a lot of good use out of them if you equip them out like that.

The Flayed hauberk is a must on one of your Vamps, a 2+ save? thank you very much

 

[Coyote]

You may also want to pick up the model of Konrad, with that lovely cape of bats that it has. He'll do well bunkered inside a unit of Skeles or Ghouls. It's best to keep his unit close to someone who can cast IoN, in order to top it off if it get shot, magic'd, etc.

On the subject of Fell Bats, I LOVE 'em. I can't get enough. I do not, however, use the Fell Bat models, favoring instead heavily converted skeletal riders on flying mounts. It might make for a change if you get bored.

Bat Swarms are interesting for many reasons, like they don't need to worry about marching and still benefit from the +1D6 wounds from IoN. They're just not as efficient as Fell Bats. But if you want to field 'em for fluff, I say go for it. They make one heck of a missile screen and can tarpit smallish units into next Thursday. Arguably more efficient that Zombies. Oh, and the LoTR Bat Swarm model is AWESOME!

On VC FTW, I am surprisingly not a Win At All Costs VC player. In fact, most of the folks on this forum aren't. I play VC strictly for fluff. (Odin's Wild Hunt comes riding out of the sky a la the 'Night at Bald Mountain' scene from Fantasia.)

That doesn't mean that we don't know how to play for blood, we do. :konrad: Just that most of us get much more out of VC than playing a strong list. And VC can be beaten. In fact, you're likely to find out how to beat VC better by playing them for a bit. So, my suggestion there is to make sure that both you and your opponent are having fun. That's what it's all about. :thumb:

 

[Capt Rubber Ducky]

Lots of bats, hmmm the vampire with the massive wing might be worth getting then

The Vampire suggested by Materspark is very good, I would be carful if he or she is the general though as even with a 2+ armor save hero lvl vamps can be quite fragile and if the general dies bad things happern.

 

[Wasteland]

I love the Vamp with a wing for an arm, great looking model!. In fact i have just ordered it he he.

I'm going to take it very slow building this army, fulling painting the models i have before getting more. i have loads of 40k stuff i have not painted and its depressing!

So at the mo i have the winged vamp coming in post and have 10 skeleton warriors. Go Me!!

Thanks for the advice and the Lotr bats look ace so i might have to get some of them.

I will keep adding to this post as i progress with the army.

 

[Capt Rubber Ducky]

I'm going to take it very slow building this army, fulling painting the models i have before getting more. i have loads of 40k stuff i have not painted and its depressing!

I know what you mean I have hundreds of unpainted Lotr's models (my first game) That i know that ill never accally get round to painting.

 

[Wasteland]

I would like to field a Necromacer on a Corpse Cart and have the cart in a unit of Skeleton Warriors. Any advice on what would be a good model count for skeleton warriors at 1k points and the magice iteams and the extra 15 spell(s) for the Necro?

Also are command options worth taking on core units?

....And Balefire or Unholy Lodestone?

 

[TMS]

A Necromancer on a Corpse Cart is certainly a good way to boost the rank bonus of an infantry unit but remember that the enemy will be able to single him out in close combat. If he's destroyed (and chances are likely that he will be) the Cart will leave the unit automatically at the end of the phase, possibly diminishing your rank bonus that was earlier reliant on said Cart.

The spells Invocation of Nehek and Vanhel's Danse Macabre are both good to have around on a Necromancer. A Power stone or two is also a sound investment as it'll let you throw a powerful casting of the VHD when you need it the most. The Book of Arkhan is also a good choice for a bound spell but not so much on a Necromancer atop a Corpse Cart as the enemy will single him out for some punishment when he finds out what he's holding.

For starting size I've found 20 Skeleton Warriors to be a good place to start. That'll let you take some casualties while advancing and also not put too much pressure on your raising powers to keep them at a worthwhile strength. Command options are almost always worth it if you intend to use the unit in the front lines. Giving one of your units the Warbanner is also recommended.

Both of the upgrades on the Corpse Cart are worth considering, really. If you expect to go up against enemies with a bit of magic the Balefire will help you out while the Unholy Loadstone will pull its weight in pretty much every battle. They're both good options.

 

[Wasteland]

So is it worth having a necro on foot in a unit or is he best on his own?

 

[TMS]

The way I prefer to use my Necromancers is to keep them outside of my units on their own, often behind an infantry unit. From there he can usually make good his escape if things start to get hairy because he won't be of much use in a fight.

You could certainly try out all of the different alternatives to see which one works out best for you though.

 

[Capt Rubber Ducky]

If he's on his own he won't benifit from look out sir and wounds won't be distrobuted onto the unit so he could die easily to magic missiles, stone throwers, cannons, comet of casandra etc, normal archery (if they can see him) etc.

But if he's in a unit if the unit goes into combat theres a good chance your opponent will choose to strike him and has a quite a good chance of killing him as the only armor he can take is nightshroud which is only a 6+ save.

Edit: Ninjaed by MS

 

[Pyrrhus]

Just to hijack this topic a tinsy little bit -how does a corpse cart with a 'mancer add rank bonus to a unit? Its just a big plate with unit size of 3+1, isn't it? Or does every 25x25mm count as one rank-and-file?

Also: Gratz to Mastespark for mod status.
And good the forum's up again.

 

[TMS]

Thank you, Pyrrhus.

It has been clarified to work in a way that lets the Corpse Cart count as just as many models that it displaces/takes up room for. Unit strength is ignored, you're simply going after the space it takes. A Corpse Cart will count as an additional 2 infantry models on the width and 5 (!) on the height, substantially cutting down the number of miniatures required to fill out for maximum rank bonus.

 

[Wasteland]

Hi there, welcome to CN!

The first things that spring to mind if you want to build an army with plenty of bats and still remain decidedly effective is to include a unit or two of Fell Bats, a Vampire caster or two with the corresponding master power and a Varghulf (it does look like a big, bloodthirsty mutant of a bat) at the 1000 points level.

What I'd do for a Vampire would be something like this...

Vampire - Dark Acolyte, Summon Creatures of the Night, The Flayed Hauberk, Black Periapt - 185

Aside from this guy I would probably also include a Necromancer, perhaps with a Power Stone or two, or a bound spell. A Wight King could also be useful to increase the combat potential of your army. Anyway, the SCotN-power on the Vampire above means that he can raise units of Fell Bats beyond their starting number, adding +D6 wounds with each successful casting of Invocation of Nehek. He'll have access to a minimum of 4 power dice to use to this end, 5 if you make use of the Black Periapt.

Anyway, throw in a unit or two of 3 Fell Bats and a Varghulf and you'll have a nice base for a batty army, in my opinion.

Again, welcome to Carpe Noctem.

Im defo going to get fell bats, also i like the build for the vamp above too. But the range for IoN is 18" and the move of the Fell bats are 20" for flying. I would have the bats on a flank to fast move to harass units but how would i keep the range for the IoN to work?

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I have been thinking of a 1k army and here it is....

Vampire - Dark Acolyte, Summon Creatures of the Night, The Flayed Hauberk, Black Periapt - 185

Necro - Extra lvl (VDM), Power stone *2, Book of Arkhan ( don't understand how this works but have read its good please explain lol) - 145

2* Skeleton Warriors - (20), full command, 1 unit has war banner and spears ( cos thats the models i bought without looking lol) - 405

Fell Bats - (4) - 80

Varghulf - 175

Total - 990

I probably will drop the spears on the skeletons, other than that i would have preferred 2 units of bats but don't know were i would find the points. Any advice welcome!:konrad:

Or I have 3 Fel bats and drop the spears thats 40 points spare if i could find another 20 i can have another unit of 3 fell bats....?

Oh and how many spell dice and dispell dice would that be, im still rusty on the rules but reading the book almost every night so getting there !

 

[Sephiroth Von Carstein]

Necro - Extra lvl (VDM), Power stone *2, Book of Arkhan ( don't understand how this works but have read its good please explain lol) - 145

Whilst you're correct that it is legal to have 2 power stones and a Book of Arkhan *In theory*, that would have to be on a Lord Level character, Power Stones still count towards to Magic Item points limit of 50 on your Necromancer.

The Book of Arkhan contains a bound spell, in the magic phase in addition to your normal magic spells the Book of Arkhan may cast Vanhel's Danse Macabre automatically, and counts as if you rolled a '3' on the Power Dice.

 

[Wasteland]

Oh Yeah over 50 points of magic stuff ... opps!

ok i will go for the Book of Arkhan on the Necro making him 105 points saving me 40 points, giving me a total of 950. So i will drop the spears giving me 930

Vampire - Dark Acolyte, Summon Creatures of the Night, The Flayed Hauberk, Black Periapt - 185

Necro - Extra lvl (VDM), Book of Arkhan - 105

2* Skeleton Warriors - (20), full command, 1 unit has war banner - 385

2* Fell Bats - (3) - 120

Varghulf - 175

Total - 970

What could i do with the 30 points?

 

[TMS]

I would consider dropping the Black Periapt from your Vampire. You could then add a unit of 5 Dire Wolves. To nicely round out the list, hand the Biting Blade over to the Vampire and you'll land right on the spot.

 

[Wasteland]

Vampire - Dark Acolyte, Summon Creatures of the Night, The Flayed Hauberk, Bitting blade- 175

Necro - Extra lvl (VDM), Book of Arkhan - 105

2* Skeleton Warriors - (20), full command, 1 unit has war banner - 385

2* Fell Bats - (3) - 120

Dire Wolves - (5) - 40

Varghulf - 175

Total - 1k

Thanks the list looks good and is what i will be working towards. i will keep updating after i go past 1k.

Also would it be best to have my Heroes in a unit or have them stand alone? Ideally i would like the vamp to stay a bit closer to faster bats and dogs but harder to do. If i could find 10 points and give him the Talisman of the Lycni ??