Our Buss and the change in the metta

[Hellion Nox]

I'm wondering what everyone runs as their To-Go-To Bus for their Vampire Lord(s).

I'm running a BK bus with double vampire blenders for playtesting. One with ogre blade + ToP and the other with sword of bloodshed + Seed + pot of str.
Swapped out double Tgheists for double ME. Got locked into combat with a nurgle prince (worth about 300 points?). Needles to say, the thing had me locked in place for 2 turns (WS9 S6 poison..). The ogre blade lord never got a wound through. The bloodshed lord about 1-2. 1 from a BK and other wounds were chipped off thanks to screams from the ME.

BK bus.. When we were just VC. It was the only unit that could serve as a Bus. Their overall killing power ? I'd say it's not worth the points.
Their power comes from the charge. Otherwise, they're just a small unit of GG with a better armor save.
I want my blender to do what he is good at, but not vs low point core units. So the Bus is facing special units most of the time and WS3, S4, T4.. doesn't cut it vs most units. I always ran with the priciple of having them as escorts. Any extra wound the BK do is a given. But if you rely on them to be killy, you're wrong.
Solution : TK horsemen Bus. More bodies, fragile nonetheless. But everybody who plays undead always agree's that more bodies is better anyday.

 

[Nicreap]

The one issue you would encounter is that when you encountered that demo prince, he could throw attacks into those weak skeleton horsemen, whose 4+ will disappear and you run the risk of losing your VL via crumble.

 

[Hellion Nox]

@Nicreap Honestly, if it weren't for the ME's screams. That DP would have destroyed my BK bus with duo blender lords through crumble anyway. A nurgle DP WS9 vs WS7 vamp means you're hitting on 5's and thats a tough one to crack with 5 attacks.

 

[The Sun King]

@Hellion Nox : Yeah, I think I was the one who first posted my Skeleton Horsemen list on here and it has served me well ever since But as you say, it is fragile and requires skill to master. Keep the flanks clear (I use Morghasts for this job).

 

[Asmodeus]

I'm running a BK bus with double vampire blenders for playtesting. One with ogre blade + ToP and the other with sword of bloodshed + Seed + pot of str.
Swapped out double Tgheists for double ME. Got locked into combat with a nurgle prince (worth about 300 points?). Needles to say, the thing had me locked in place for 2 turns (WS9 S6 poison..). The ogre blade lord never got a wound through. The bloodshed lord about 1-2. 1 from a BK and other wounds were chipped off thanks to screams from the ME.

BK bus.. When we were just VC. It was the only unit that could serve as a Bus. Their overall killing power ? I'd say it's not worth the points.

Weird conclusion. If we deploy nurgle broken prince against any deathstar in the game - we end with theory, that any deathstar is not worth the points.

 

[Nicreap]

I think he is saying that the Black knight bus adds very little killing power, and isn't worth the points over tomb king skeleton horsemen, not that death stars aren't worth the points.

 

[Hellion Nox]

@Asmodeus the BK bus is not a deathstar on its own. But the prince is kind of broken and will decimate whatever it touches. Unless you've got screams/banishment to back you up.

@Nicreap exactly

I do wonder, however, if having a horse archer unit as a bus isn't beter. Deploy them in your own deployement zone and for go on scouting But shoot whilest your bus is on the move. Taking out chaff or some enemies on the way

 

[Nicreap]

The only issue is your vampires can't start inside the horse archer unit, since your vampires have to be deployed before the horse archers. I think for the exact same price, skeleton horsemen with light armor, are the better choice. If you are running the bus 3 wide, then you are only getting 3-4 arrows a turn, which will basically do nothing most games.

 

[HERO]

@Hellion Nox

I'm currently running:
Full barded kit, Quickblood, Red Fury, Beguile
Dragonhelm, Ogre Blade, 4+ Ward, Ironcurse

If I was to run two, I would change the 4+ ward on the above kit with Armor of Destiny by dropping Ironcurse
Then run a Lv.1 support caster with Peripat and 4+ Ward, with a mundane lance.

That is, because I already have a "support" Vampire in there running Aura of Dark Majesty and Nightshroud. If you don't want the support Vamp, I would probably run Nightshroud, 4+ Ward, OTS.

 

[bigbadbat]

Just jumping in here having not read the entire thread. I think the traditional BK bus is sorta dead.
With Storm Fiends, Lore of Metal, Light Councils, etc running rampant there's just not enough wounds to get those Vamps into Combat. I've never been a big fan of the cav bus, I like the skelly bus, it does suffer from the same problem, just has more bodies to start. It can help break steadfast units, though.

 

[The Sun King]

@Nicreap has the right of it. I have contemplated the Archer bus, but as Nicreap points out you don't benefit much from it.

 

[Asmodeus]

the BK bus is not a deathstar on its own. But the prince is kind of broken and will decimate whatever it touches. Unless you've got screams/banishment to back you up.

I used mental shortcut. Deathstar and buses are quite the same in principle of use - get into combat asap. They are also similar in demands -other units support and magic closely tuned to them. From my perspective - you failed with your support, not with BK and bus concept.

I think, that you did not needed thouse dual ME for getting that bus into action, espetially against non shooting chaos. 440(or 460) pts for bonuses that you could have for about 50pts. Oh, vampire have regen 4+....IMO some ward and better save is more effective.

 

[Aedin]

I like ME idea for bus support but it just cant beat the maneuverability and destructive power of a TG. I have been toying with just a lord on a hellsteed following hexwraiths so he can get the 4up look out sir and dumping the buss altogether. I posted the list in the forum.

Also if you guys don't mind I posted my first pic in the unholy masterpieces section under show us your lords please drop down and give your feedback there

 

[Nicreap]

I like ME idea for bus support but it just cant beat the shooting magnet that is the TG.

There I fixed that for you, The biggest boon of a TG in this kind of list is to eat warmachine/BS shooting/magic missle fire, letting your bus get into close combat.

 

[Aedin]

Well they do a great job at whittling down high armor units and drawing missile fire mostly. I use hexwraiths and Varg darts for war machine hunting and wizard assassination.

 

[Nicreap]

I agree Terrorgheists, can hurt plenty of stuff, but in this kind of list, your vampire lords should be able to mulch high armor anyway, however, in drawing an unreasonably large amount of fire off of your super expensive vampire bus, nothing is as amazing as the terrorgheist. I agree you should still hunt the warmachines, but your bus can be in combat on turn 2, so you only need the terrogheist to distract your opponent for 1-2 turns of shooting, then they can't hurt your vampires anymore.