Necrarch Horde - 2500

[_Revan_]

Alright, well here is one of my first attempts at a new list which is trying to capture the feel of a reclusive Necrarch Vampire and his attendants, experiments, and artifacts.

Ideally, this is meant to be a friendly list not designed with optimized tournament play in mind, while still being a strong army, of course.

LORDS
Vampire Lord - 534

• Wizard Level 4 - Lore of the Vampires

• Mundane Equipment
  • Heavy Armor
  • Shield

• Vampiric Powers
  • Master of the Black Arts
  • Dark Acolyte

• Magic Items
  • Black Periapt
  • Talisman of Preservation

HEROES
Necromancer - 245

• Wizard Level 2 - Lore of the Vampires

• Magic Items
  • Book of Arkhan

• Mount - Corpse Cart
  • Unholy Lodestone

Necromancer - 125

• Wizard Level 2 - Lore of the Vampires

• Magic Items
  • Dispel Scroll

CORE
50 Zombie Horde - 160

• Standard
• Musician

50 Zombie Horde - 160

• Standard
• Musician

30 Zombie Horde - 100

• Standard
• Musician

30 Zombie Horde - 100

• Standard
• Musician

15 Dire Wolves - 130

• Doom Wolf

SPECIAL
Corpse Cart - 120

• Unholy Lodestone

5 Hexwraiths - 150

5 Hexwraiths - 150

6 Vargheists - 286

• Vargoyle

RARE
Mortis Engine - 240

• Blasphemous Tome

So, from a tactical standpoint : The army has to rely on its faster elements to harass the enemy and take out the largest threats, such as monsters and stone throwers and the like. The core of the army will be a phalanx formed of zombies with the Carts making a roughly 12" bubble and the Mortis Engine in the center handing out Regeneration and giving a huge boost to my Magic phase. The extra +2 to all Wizards should be plenty to keep growing the Zombies without to much dispelling, and should give me the option to store some dice for Dispel if facing a strong enemy Magic phase.

The Zombies are more of a demoralizing factor, but in conjunction with the hitting power of the Vargeists, or the Wolves disruption etc, I see them being able to weigh down and eliminate units. Not to mention that I can still create new units to hold off threats until help arrives. While mid/late game the Engine will become a more obvious and looming threat, while the Vampire Lord is available if absolutely necessary.

So, what do you think? Should certain units be combined/broken down? Does the army seem viable? Will it only work against certain armies, or can it be an all-comer? Most importantly, does it feel like a Necrarch force?

 

[SaintsTerror]

Hi man, was thinking on making a Necrarchs army myself and just posted my own thread as well lol. And you build yours like I would have mine, the only differens is that I only went for the fluff and a fun army for me to play whit.
Cant say if your army is strong or not, but I can see myself using it and if I may, borrow some ideas to my own Necrarchs inspired army.

Have you had time to test it yet?

 

[Bullhax]

First of all I would like to applaude you for going completly against the norm and field a badass army! Try it out without altering it waaaaay to much the worst that can happen is that you loose but learn while doing it!

That being said I think you lack killing power hex wraiths and vargheists are awesome but can only do so much.. No close combat Lord/hero or even caster with Death or other magic type... Using that many points on having the upper hand in the magic phase only to be able to cast Lore of Vampires will be a complete letdown.

If I were to tweek it a bit I would go with only one Corps Cart, you can still elect to use it as a mount for a necromancer either use the now spare points for more killing power. An example of this: Take a baby vamp with death magic put him in the same unit as the Lord to make his spirit leech more powerfull and use him as a body guard for the lord in CC.

If you want to go you own way maybe change the book of arkhan for the cursed book to open up for some other spells than the Lore of Vampires.

Don't change it all to much I personally think you will have a lot of fun with a magic and zombie heavy list give it a tad more fire power and give it a whirl

 

[Drakhaol Von Carstein]

You might have difficulty with the idea of building up the zombies in phalanx formation as they have to have the room to be placed. I've found that when trying to accomadate this leaves room for enemy units to sneak in between the cracks. The list does lack any real hitting power, but it also denies points to your opponents with the tarpits you'll have built up.
I'd recommend deploying the wolves in groups of 5 for added drops, and versatility. This is likely the only core that will die anyways so might as well get value out of them.

 

[Seneschal]

You definitely don't want the tome. Miscasts with that thing on the battlefield are not fun!
Split the vargheists into 2 units for more versatility.
The cart doesn't march. I know you are going for a theme so keep it if you like but you may find that your points are better spent elsewhere (like a WK for example to give you more punch).
The problem with your zombies + vargheists strategy is that the zombies will bleed combat resoltuion and your support units will suffer as a result.
Split the wolves into 3 units, they function better that way. Deploy them 3 wide +2 in the back for the "wolf dart" effect (charge enemy casters and you will get all of your swings with that formation).

Dark Acolyte as it is worded is not a good choice since the benefit takes place after the spell is cast.
I would take cursed book of the BoA.
Dropping the level upgrades on the heroes allows you enough points for another caster. Consider taking the channeling rod since you will have four wizards at that point.

 

[Lynks]

To avoid butchering your list like most people on the forum will want to do until you end up with the cookie cutter, I'd suggest swapping one of the level 2s for lore of shadow and probably exchanging the book of arhkan. Even zombies can fight well when the enemy stat line is all ones due to stacking on RiP spells. While I regularly use corpse carts myself, I'd probably take the necro off it and take it in special if you want two. your spells should be hitting it anyway and you can actually get better flexibility out of it. I'd also try to strip some points here and there in order to get another unit that can hit hard because what you have probably wont be enough to earn you points. Other than that, it certainly looks like a necrarch army. It won't be the best, but it'll be fluffy, fun and challenging. for an increase in fluffiness I'd maybe swap the vargheists out for wraiths, btut hats not really necessary and either is a good choice.