Master Necromancers - Our go-to Lord?

[drmooreflava]

I haven't read my new book yet(too busy playing with new models and looking at the pictures) but without even looking at the profile I know I'm more comfortable with the idea of a dedicated caster working in tandem with a more combat oriented counterpart.

Last edition I resented pumping so many additional points into already points intensive vampire characters. Out of the box vampires had such great statlines it seemed wasteful not to be putting them into combats. The other side of the double edged sword was that once committed their spell casting could be compromised.

I think over the course of this army book I am seriously considering a no vampire build just to see what might happen with a few necromancers with some wight kings (or maybe wraith or banshee characters) to see how that might work out. I might get around to reading the rules and discover this is a bonehead idea but thematically I am liking the idea.

By putting in wight kings you would be wasting points to spend on necros. Also if you want any combat non bsb chars, go with vamps. As I stated above, the most magically efficient army is the one with the most power diceerv: MotBA gives you the chance to turn a bad or decent magic phase into a game changing magic phase. For example 3 necros with VHD each casting 4 dice on the 12 plus could make your army move 24" in one turn:|! Not including regular movement. AND your vampire wouldnt even need to be higher than lvl 1 for this to happen. meaning he can still be a kick ass pain train.

 

[Squid]

I personaly dont think we need to take a vampire character in the army at all. I played my 1st game with 1 master necro and 2 little necros as my character choice and spent a little under 500pts on all 3 of them (less than i spend on a vamp lord)

Master necro
+lvl
Black periapt

Necro
+lvl
D-scroll

Necro
+lvl
Staff damnation

This is set up i used. Along with the +2 to casting from the mortis engine my opponent could not stop my magic phase. All 3 of the necros were in a zombie bunker behind my main line. they dont need any protection, because they will never get in combat... and if they miscast you just give them a wound back. Necros are deffinatly the way to go as far as casting.

 

[Dklyn]

For example 3 necros with VHD each casting 4 dice on the 12 plus could make your army move 24" in one turn:|! Not including regular movement. AND your vampire wouldnt even need to be higher than lvl 1 for this to happen. meaning he can still be a kick ass pain train.

My book doesn't get in until next wed, so sorry if I sound ignorant but how can 3 necors take VDM? Normally you can't take a non-signature spell without loremaster. Do they get to select their spells still, or is there some special rule I'm not aware of?

 

[Count Darvaleth]

I personaly dont think we need to take a vampire character in the army at all. I played my 1st game with 1 master necro and 2 little necros as my character choice and spent a little under 500pts on all 3 of them (less than i spend on a vamp lord)

Master necro
+lvl
Black periapt

Necro
+lvl
D-scroll

Necro
+lvl
Staff damnation

I'm assuming you gave all of them IoN, otherwise you'd be wasting VC spells...? Or at least two of them anyway. But this seems like a solid base; although I'd be tempted to take a Feedback Scroll somewhere, just to kill off that pesky Wizard hidden in my opponent's lines.

 

[Duke Danse Macabre]

You see that to me looks like allot of summoning but allot of squishy spell casters as well.

Ncromancers are a great choice but can never lead from the front, in huge bunker/ deathstar armies they would be a solid choice but in fast moving versatile forces they are not as they do not have the ability to give as good as they take and must be hidden away in bunkers and their magic is limited wher as the vampires have a much larger lore choice.

Also with not being able to take extra power dice with our abilities changed (and Mannfred being over 500 points and unusable in 2000 point games) it may be worth taking a power stone.

 

[Elbisrever]

I think a Combat vampire lord, backed up by a master necro and a little necro would be a good go for a 2000 pts list. Let the vampire do the talking ( with his sword, lance, fists of fangs) and the necros ofcourse the casting. Keep them close to your Mortis Engine with the Blasphemous tome and you'll have a good chance of bubble-cast ION, VDM or HV. As said before, making a big caster out of your vampire is good, but hell-expensive too.

These Master Necromancers are really good to put in an army, but having them alone without a vampire makes you rely a lot on our other hard hitters ( crypt horrors, vargheist/ghulfs etc)

 

[drmooreflava]

For example 3 necros with VHD each casting 4 dice on the 12 plus could make your army move 24" in one turn:|! Not including regular movement. AND your vampire wouldnt even need to be higher than lvl 1 for this to happen. meaning he can still be a kick ass pain train.

My book doesn't get in until next wed, so sorry if I sound ignorant but how can 3 necors take VDM? Normally you can't take a non-signature spell without loremaster. Do they get to select their spells still, or is there some special rule I'm not aware of?

You can't, but if you rolled VHD on 3 necros... man oh man thats a fast dancin army.

Secondly! MASTER OF THE BLACK ARTS PEOPLE!

stop suckling on the tit of a master necro, he cannot reroll that winds of magic! If you want A GO TO LORD, take a fighty lvl 1 vamp lord with MotBA and fix him up with a bunch of combat gear. This way you might be able to have room for a master necro in large pt games or you vamp will be able to be supported by lil necro heroes.

Seriously rerolling the winds of magic is a blessing no other army has erv: Use it or watch your oppenent laugh when you have 2 master necros and 3 necro heroes and you roll a pair of 2's on winds of magic :swear:

 

[desfer]

You can't, but if you rolled VHD on 3 necros... man oh man thats a fast dancin army.

I think 2 wizards can't have the same spell unless it is a signature spell or you've "bought" it somehow (e.g loremaster). So if a necro already knows VHD no other wizard can take it.

 

[drmooreflava]

You can't, but if you rolled VHD on 3 necros... man oh man thats a fast dancin army.

I think 2 wizards can't have the same spell unless it is a signature spell or you've "bought" it somehow (e.g loremaster). So if a necro already knows VHD no other wizard can take it.

:slapface: Didn't know that. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Zhatan]

You can't, but if you rolled VHD on 3 necros... man oh man thats a fast dancin army.

I think 2 wizards can't have the same spell unless it is a signature spell or you've "bought" it somehow (e.g loremaster). So if a necro already knows VHD no other wizard can take it.

:slapface: Didn't know that. Thanks for the clarification.

It's easy to forget as we have been spoiled up until now being the only army that could select multiple spells on our casters without resorting to magic items.

 

[baynexilos]

I love master Necromancers. As stated a few times now, him and a fighty vamp are a great choice. Last book i had serious problems with miscasts and losing my general turn 1 or 2 and that as we know is game breaking crumble wise. Now that i can have a tough fighty lord for general and my beefy caster be cheap and hiding in the back its win/win. Even if i do drop him in a hole (2-4 miscast) i dotn have to worry about crumble (though ill still be sad).

My two cents on Master of the Black arts. I hate it so far and right now i dont think ill ever use it except to make silly inefficient lists. By taking that power you neuter your lord combat wise. yes he is still a little better then some armies characters but you just gave up the ability to take quickblood or red fury which make your vampire lord from 3 kills a turn to about 7. Throw in combat gear like sword of bloodshed and your killing an average of 11 guys with 16 theoretical(remember that you get rerolls with ASF as our initiative is really high and your going to be hitting troops and ignoring their characters (with a few exceptions, also unit champions can take challenges so you dont have to be bogged down losing attacks)). The only way you can viably even take MOTBA is on a caster vampire lord that in my opinion is just too expensive and if you lose him from miscasts your hosed.

 

[The Dead of Night]

You can't, but if you rolled VHD on 3 necros... man oh man thats a fast dancin army.

I think 2 wizards can't have the same spell unless it is a signature spell or you've "bought" it somehow (e.g loremaster). So if a necro already knows VHD no other wizard can take it.

Makes the book even more useful now, and it's cheaper.

 

[Pietr Von Carstein]

I shall be using a master necro backing up a super fighty lord (I'm thinking sword of bloodshed + redfury shenanigans) in every game I play with ny vamps. Vamp in a decent unit of gw grave gaurd, the master necro behind with some skellies popping neheks and such to keep me moving and maybe using the lore attribute to heal the vamp.
Twill be fun me thinks. Well, for me anyway.

 

[N1AK]

I don't think the book is more useful now than it used to be. It makes it getting VHD a certainty but as VHD no longer allows us to make a magical charge the benefit of having the spell is hugely diminished.

 

[N1AK]

Given the cost of upgrading a Vampire Lord to level 4 a Master Necromancer is so cheap as to be an automatic pick unless you really want the level 4 Vampire.

Having a level 4 caster gives you three main benefits:
> Huge improvement to your dispel rolls
> Ability to cast the boosted IoN and high level spells on 3-4 dice not 4-5
> A good chance to get the spells you want/need

 

[Sception]

I consider a caster lord to be approximately equivalent to a dragon lord. Expensive, inefficient, and risky; but cool and fun and able to do amazing things when he works. I'd consider it a 'casual games' choice, rather then a competitive option, but still one that can work for you. As with the dragon lord, just make sure you have some spare casters to keep your army together if things don't go your way.

 

[Duke Danse Macabre]

Just got to work out a Necro Caster in my army and the worlds hardest combat lord.....
Should be fun at 2400 Points.

 

[Dklyn]

Given the cost of upgrading a Vampire Lord to level 4 a Master Necromancer is so cheap as to be an automatic pick unless you really want the level 4 Vampire.

Having a level 4 caster gives you three main benefits:
> Huge improvement to your dispel rolls
> Ability to cast the boosted IoN and high level spells on 3-4 dice not 4-5
> A good chance to get the spells you want/need

And more guys raised with IoN

 

[eggsPR]

Just got to work out a Necro Caster in my army and the worlds hardest combat lord.....
Should be fun at 2400 Points.

Oh Really?? Details?

 

[HERO]

Just got to work out a Necro Caster in my army and the worlds hardest combat lord.....
Should be fun at 2400 Points.

I will raise you my combat lord!

 

[Duke Danse Macabre]

Just got to work out a Necro Caster in my army and the worlds hardest combat lord.....
Should be fun at 2400 Points.

Oh Really?? Details?

Vampire Lord: 404
Red Fury
Quick Blood
Sword of Strife
Talisman of Preservation
Dragon Helm
Heavy Armour and Shield

Master Necromancer: 185
Power Stone


The Necromancer is going to be in a bunker near a Mortis engine so he will not need more than a level 3 and a sneaky power stone thrown in there, Factor in the heros level guys and no point in the multiples.
The Lord can cause 14 wounds a turn by himself with rerolls to him and ASF, a 3+ armour save and a 4+ ward which is a 2+ against flaming.


Whats your lords build?.....
I built mine to cut through rank and file to swing entire combats by himself.

 

[HERO]

My VL is running on a horse and riding with Black Knights.

Currently, he has Red Fury, Quick Blood.
4+ Ward, Dragonhelm, Heavy Armor, Shield, barded steed, Ogre Blade, Talisman of Foolhardiness

Pretty much the same combo but runs with S7 to punch through heavier stuff.

Then I take a Lv.3 Necro w/ Book of Arkhan

Total points come to 623/625 of a 2500pt game :konrad:

 

[Mr Saturday]

I can see a theme developing here. I think folks are so overjoyed at actually being able to field a combat vampire who can be reasonably be put into the fight that we're going to see a lot of vampires smashing face in the next while. Sure, vampires are pretty much the most ferocious combat monsters in the game (when tooled up appropriately), but only with this edition will vampire counts opponents get a really horrific taste of how nasty they can be considering the consequences of losing the combat vamp are now considerably less, and so they are going to be stepping up a lot more.

 

[Duke Danse Macabre]

Liking the sound of it, I was tempted but the attacks got me, in fairness I will probs run the ogre blade more as I fight allot of chaos warrior players.
Would prefer to fight at about 2500 and up so I could gear him as a hero slayer, maybe dump the dragon helm and replace with the tricksters other shard to help do the deed.
Just wish they had given the lords 4 wounds and I would of been happy.

 

[Squid]

For combat Lord I like to run this

Vamp Lord
Red fury
Quick Blood
+2 attack sword
Dragon Helm/Enchanted shield
5+ ward
Potion of STR!!(my favorit)

This way I have a lot of attacks for those rank and file moddles, but when i run into a big nasty thing i pop the potion and hay I have 7 Str 8 attacks now... by by