Protection for the Vampire...

[LiveUndead]

What gear is everyone giving their vamp to protect him?

I field a footslogger vamp, so Dread Knight is out of the question, and I cant find any combination that I like. For example, there are only two ward save options, and one is...well...it gives my general stupidity.


What does everyone else equip their vamp with for survival.

 

[Lord Fear]

Simply put, another hero with the Drakenhof Banner for a 4+ Regeneration save. Combined with Cadaverous Cuirass, just in case of a lucky Killing Blow.

 

[LiveUndead]

Isnt that a huge point sink though? A big unit with a BSB and your general?

 

[Lord Fear]

Well it's not ideal, but the good thing is that the two characters are free to move to other units (Or even separate if there's not much threat).

Besides, compared to
5 Blood Knights + Flag of Blood Keep
Drakenhof BSB
Vamp Lord
it's cheap!

 

[LiveUndead]

People who have used the crown, how do you feel about it? Because Im tempted to take it.

I always used the Carstien ring last edition. That was my defense

 

[Nermal]

The Crown is very good ... until you have that one game where you fail 2+ stupidity checks during the game ... then it doesn't seem quite so good. The Crown is a risk but if you can get your character into CC asap then you mitigate its bad effects and elevate its nebeficial effects.

 

[LiveUndead]

The current plan is the crown wth the no poison or KB armor.

 

[The Dead of Night]

What gear is everyone giving their vamp to protect him?

Wallachs bloody hauberk will give 4+ AS and 5+ WS. Then a steed with barding and a shield brings it to 1+ AS. If I am allowed the enchanted shield (have to recheck it's rules) and I can afford it then that's a 0+ save with 5+ ward.

Not sure about my heros, will have to look into it a little more carefully.

The problem with the crown is (obviously) the stupidity. ld 10 means you fail on every 12 rolls. there might be 2-3 turns in a game when you are not in combat and even 1 turn of stupidity for your primary spell caster is very bad. Not to mention he is probably in an important unit (hell, if he is in it, it's important) and you really don't want whatever plans you had for him delayed by a turn. In some games you might even be in combat less in order for you to cast more often.

IMO the protection it provides in the games where you don't go stupid, simply isn't as good as a turn of stupidity is bad.

P.S. why is your general a footslogger? Fluff? certain spells that only affect US1 models?

P.P.S Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. Look into options like the nightshroud and/or abilities/items that will allow you to kill all models in B2B contact. For the most part your unit will protect you from spells/shooting and a low AS is good protection against the law of gold et cetera. Good deployment and terrain placement is another solid strategy. A horse is a big help too, apart from the AS boost, the speed is very good defensively (and obviously offensively), hence the first postscript.

Also if you have your vamp on the end of the unit you will reduce models in B2B, and if you go a step further and add files to your unit you might only have 1 model in B2B. You are all but guaranteed to not get hit back. Furthermore having your vamp on the end of the unit means he can help destroy flankers aswell.

This is probably going beyond the scope of the topic... sorry.

 

[The Dark Lord Mr Fluffy]

I used to never use the Von Carstien Ring. Far too pricey.
I'd always go with the dunce hat/crown, as I just like it really. And some tight armour too. Maybe mudane?

 

[Nedar]

3+ with 5+ ward (or 2+ if you dont use a magic sword) or a 2+ without a ward (or 4+ with stupidity) is probably the best way to go if you're on foot. Cadaverous Cuirass is nice and cheap. Problem is you can't combine Enchanted Shield with magic armor, so you're limited to paying 20 bloodline points for simple a shield, or a HW/shield if you don't use a magic weapon...totaly lame.

Just take Vlad, heh.

 

[Arion]

I like walachs hauberk. Gives a ring of the night like WS and a 4+ AS combined with shield and barded mount is 1+. But for on foot shield + fullplate = 3+, not so good but okay.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

I was thinking as mentioned above as in a good defense is best offense, nightshroud, plus a nasty attacking combo - red fury, infinite hatred, not sure of points cost so don't know if you can get beguile in there as well. Maybe support with a vampire with the bears anger, (7 re-rollable attacks that can generate potentially another 7 at S7)

Is it just me or is Specteral Horror the worst bloodline power? Since you can't take any other magic items and most other armies have hero's and some units wielding magic weapons your just leaving your vamp open to a world of pain.....

 

[Synthesis]

yeah, you can get Beguile into that combo =)

Spectral Horror does have it's uses, but they're more 'fluff based' than competitive as the entire world doesn't revolve around a select group of tournament obsessed gamers who tailor everything for maximum 'metagame efficiency' (as much as some would like it to) *rant over*

.... although who wants to be on the receiving end of a Wraith Lord (Horror, Avatar of Death and infinite hatred on a Count) in a unit of Cairn Wraiths if they're not expecting it.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

Even better so if your opponant fails his LD test and you successfully cast Bears Anger you could potentially have 14 S7 attacks re-rolling the misses and re-rolling to wound. Methinks there might be a big cry of "cheese!" though especially if in addition you take the hand of dust for an additional 2d6 S5 hits in the magic phase.

I do like the idea of putting an ethereal vampire with the Cairn Wraiths, might look further into that, can you still take the armour from the Avatar of Death then?

 

[The Dark Lord Mr Fluffy]

You can on a lord, but not both on a regular vamp.
If you do with a lord, it would be a bit of a waste if he'll not have any magic items then...
Just some armour and etherealism wouldn't really seem worth it to me.