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Neffy

Skeleton
Aug 15, 2007
94
Hello fellow vampires! This post is dedicated to one of the major problems of making an VC army, that i've spotted throughout time.. Im talking about the character choices that we have when fielding an army of 2000 pts. Many players ask the question of whether it is a good idea or not to field a Vampire Lord in these game sizez, or Master Necromancers for more magic..

I would like this thread to be used as a link between us vampires to tell each other what choiced we use in 2K battles - without having to make a whole army list (but just concentration on the chars)
This would be the place to ask, if one should pick a Thrall and 2 necromancers as heroes or 2 necros and a wight lord( maybe including what bloodlines?)

we all have different oppinions, so be kind - maybe post and tell how you equip them (against specific enemies/all enemies) and enjoy the fun at this thread during our unholy afterlife..

As a start, I tell me favorite uses, and some of my wonderings:

I use the carstein bloodline - sometimes also blood dragons, and mostly always field a count, 2 necros and a thrall.. For some time i have been wanting to use a wight lord with the sword of kings - as its just nasty! :D, maybe fielding him with a BK units will spice them up. Note that im not into BSBs and i think the model for the mounted wight lord sucks.. my Count is either armed with the Ring and a GW, or some other kind of ward save and some bloodline powers(aura maybe?) My thrall is the infamous wolf thrall - GW, wolf form, flayed hauberk, and my 2 necros have staff of damnation, and book of arkhan..
Now.. the thrall is what i most likely would like to swap with a wight lord, adding some other things than vampires as killing machines..

How do you use your 4 character slots?

Regards Neffy!
 

Agifem

Skeleton
Aug 20, 2007
66
I come from dark elves, and my habits is to use as few points in characters as possible in order to achieve my goals. And in my opinion, characters are only useful for three things : magic (and magic items, to a lesser extent), leadership, and monstruous mounts. As a dark elf, in 2K, i field a level 4 sorceress on pegasus, and a level 2 on foot or steed, and that's it. A total of about 500-550 points.

For my vampire army, i had to reconsider, as characters are more important. But my policy remains true, and i try to not use too many characters. So, i generally go with a necrarch vampire countess and 2 necromancers. When i need hitting power, i use elite troops, not characters.
 

FatOlaf

Varghulf
Aug 15, 2007
770
London
Against High Magic Defense armies (since I play Carstein) I would go for Count Olaf, Thrall, WL BsB and LvL 2 Necro.
Against other armies, I drop the WL Bsb and take a second Lvl 2 Necro.
The BsB works very well with using Banshees to take on non ranked units that outnumber her in CC...

100 posts! Woot
 

Lord Firmshaft

Grave Guard
Aug 15, 2007
228
Liverpool
I think for an all commers the standard count, thral and 2 necros works well though the wight lord with the sword of kings also is a nice combo but you then have to work out which to drop to get it to fit

Which is better a thrall or wight?

Also to throw into the mix Is a lord really worth it in 2K. Doing so loses a character option so is his improvement as a mage and better stats (read extra attack and wound) offset the drawbacks?

For theme my blood dragon army has a lord and 2 necros to do the magic while he goes on a kill spree - not nesasary the best combo but its fun
 

FatOlaf

Varghulf
Aug 15, 2007
770
London
No I never use a Lord (and fluff wise never will till Count Olaf fulfils his destiny).
And as for Thral v WL, it depends on whom I'm fighting, if I need speed, then Torst VC in wolf form with Flayed Hauberk and GW gets a run about, otherwide good old WL with SOK or Hauberk if he is a BsB..
 

Neffy

Skeleton
Aug 15, 2007
94
i never use a vampire lord, as the extra hero slot is very vital.. i want some magic, making it more possible for me to raise etc, so i'd rather have the ekstra necro, than the lord and onle 2 heroes..

otherwide good old WL with SOK or Hauberk if he is a BsB..

you cant both have the hauberk and the SOK, as it totals 55 pts. nice combo though :D
 
Aug 15, 2007
136
FatOlaf, we don't need to hear your character names when you can't bother writing the full name of units:).

As for myself, I play under danish restrictions, so only 1 necromancer for me, and either a lord or a count.

My Lahmia army, with Lord, Thrall Battle Standard Bearer & Necromancer did very well, I only had problems against Bretonnia which I of course happened to face twice...

For more combat oriented lords, or simply characters who have better defense (Carstein Ring, Strigoi ward save + fly away ability, Blood Dragon armour) I tend to take a count, with Necrarch & Lahmia I tend to take a lord, as they simply need that extra level of power (as well as magic to maximise it under the restrictions!).

Only with Necrarch would I consider taking a Wight Lord, a Thrall is superior in all other ways in my opinion:)
 

Lord Fear

Master Vampire
True Blood
Aug 15, 2007
4,834
Well I'm re-working my army to go Lahmian, but I still prefer the use of Lords over Counts, as Counts are simply too vulnerable (Unless put they're a Blood Dragon on a Zombie Dragon, given the von Carstein Ring).

Nikolaj says that a Vampire Thrall beats Wight Lords with every bloodline except for perhaps the Necrarchs- I would count Lahmians in here too, as Lahmians can't take any extra mundane weapons, which is a huge pain. A Thrall unable to take a Great Weapon is a horrible idea- I could take a Thrall with Cursed Book but not even being able to go to 3+ save with armour is atrocious. My army shall certainly still have a Wight Lord in it.

And of course, a Necromancer for a bit more magic...

So that's:
1) Vampire Lord
2) Wight Lord
3) Necromancer
 

Belladamma Voltaire

Vyrkos Primogen
True Blood
Aug 15, 2007
2,829
Manchester, UK
For the sake of experimentation, I am running a Vampire Lord on a Zombie Dragon along with a Necromancer for my character slots. This actually uses up all of them while fitting in with the theme of hitting people hard. The guy on the Zombie Dragon has the cursed book, the crown of the damned and a spell familiar.
 

Danceman

The Devil in Pale Moonlight
True Blood
Aug 19, 2007
3,472
Lord, Thrall/Wight lord and a Necro with BoA + scroll is pretty much my default setup.

Considering I am a strigoi and Necrarch player I think having, 1. A strong killer lord cause I very often use batform on my strigoi lord, IMO its too risky with "just" as a count and 2. A necrarch add more to his army than a count even though I could then pick another necromancer. The extra lvl and range of spells helps out and of course even though he is necrarch he still can bring a beatdown.
 

Neffy

Skeleton
Aug 15, 2007
94
seems that this threads is going well :) thanks for posting people!

im considering using 1 count, 1 wight lord and 1 necro, to spare points for unit of the last hero choice.. i never really have the upper hand in the magic phase of 2K battles, and neither the lower... all i need are some power dices which a count and 1 necro generates pretty well in an good amount. At least 6 is nice, and maybe another dice from the black periapt, if i tend not to use staff of damnatioen og book of arkhan - and with these 6 dices i might be able to get ION off 2 times pr turn with 3 dices for each.. when raised models are not a need, i will just use them on the COY or HV-spells..

do you think that i should field book of arkhan+scroll or staff of damnation OR the periapt when only having to wizards in the army?
 

Skaramak von Carstein

Vampire Count
True Blood
Aug 13, 2007
1,636
St Helier
Neffy said:
do you think that i should field book of arkhan+scroll or staff of damnation OR the periapt when only having to wizards in the army?

I tend towards the arkhan+scroll or staff of damnation combination.

On the Lord question, I normally go Count until 2,500, and take 2 necros for 8 dice. Yuo couls also consider 2 with Necromancy and 1 with Lore of Death.

Also, dependant on your opponent (low LD), a Wraith is worth considering.
 
If you don't run a Lord level vamp at 2k then a necromancer will have to be the army general (unless you have a Necrach thrall).

Doesn't that make the army a bit vunerable as Necro's are easy to kill if you get to them.

I'm playing in a 1950pt competition later this year, but they are allowing the use of a non-wizard character as a general because of this point restriction (overly generous in my opinion - I am tempted to take the Wolf Thrall combo and still make a necro the general)
 

Master Vampire

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Jul 12, 2007
2,341
The Netherlands
CH said:
If you don't run a Lord level vamp at 2k then a necromancer will have to be the army general (unless you have a Necrach thrall).

Ehh.. no? Because the Lord has a magic level too and a higher Ld value, so he'll be the general.

I'd normally go for 1 Count, 2 Necro's and a Thrall/WL. Though I might take 1 Count, 1 Necro, 1 Thrall and a WL for once.
 

Azahul

Vampire Count
True Blood
Aug 20, 2007
1,036
i always opt for a lord, necro and thrall at 2k. thats using von carsteins so i really dont need too much magic, or too many fighters, so it balances out pretty well as i have 2 great fighters and 2 good spell casters :D
 
Aug 15, 2007
136
EvC said:
Well I'm re-working my army to go Lahmian, but I still prefer the use of Lords over Counts, as Counts are simply too vulnerable (Unless put they're a Blood Dragon on a Zombie Dragon, given the von Carstein Ring).

Nikolaj says that a Vampire Thrall beats Wight Lords with every bloodline except for perhaps the Necrarchs- I would count Lahmians in here too, as Lahmians can't take any extra mundane weapons, which is a huge pain. A Thrall unable to take a Great Weapon is a horrible idea- I could take a Thrall with Cursed Book but not even being able to go to 3+ save with armour is atrocious. My army shall certainly still have a Wight Lord in it.

And of course, a Necromancer for a bit more magic...

So that's:
1) Vampire Lord
2) Wight Lord
3) Necromancer


Lahmia Battle Standard Bearer in Skeleton unit with champion with following magic stuff:
Sword of Battle
Hit first bloodline

Place her in a skeleton unit so champion can protect her. She will do far better than a wight lord due to striking first and BSB;)
 

Lord Fear

Master Vampire
True Blood
Aug 15, 2007
4,834
My Wight Lord generally hits first due to charging, is already a BSB and has a 3+ save meaning he won't die if looked at meanly.
 

Skaramak von Carstein

Vampire Count
True Blood
Aug 13, 2007
1,636
St Helier
Count Homogenised said:
If you don't run a Lord level vamp at 2k then a necromancer will have to be the army general (unless you have a Necrach thrall).

I think that you are misunderstanding the comments made. It is not whether or not to use a lord level vampire, but whether to take a Vampire Lord or Vampire Count. Either would be your general.

Count Homogenised said:
I'm playing in a 1950pt competition later this year, but they are allowing the use of a non-wizard character as a general because of this point restriction (overly generous in my opinion - I am tempted to take the Wolf Thrall combo and still make a necro the general)

I am currently playing in a 1999 league. You could look at my army, which is working well for me so far. It is posted in the Army List section, and Battle Reports posted in a thread in the BR section. The just sub - 2k makes a big difference to us VC players.
 

Neffy

Skeleton
Aug 15, 2007
94
i've decided only to use points on 3 characters, so im able to field more troops.. the slots include: a lord, wight lord and necromancer.. this gives me enough PD, incl a bound spell from BoA.. this is also to tough fighters and to spell casters, varying it a bit :)

i took the count at first, but as i use the crown of damnation i thought that the Ld 10 would be better, as having a count who wont move well or cast spells sucks.. the lvl of the lord also gives me an xtra dispel dice :)
 
Aug 15, 2007
136
EvC said:
My Wight Lord generally hits first due to charging, is already a BSB and has a 3+ save meaning he won't die if looked at meanly.

Wow nice, you're the only one in your playing group charging?:D Even with infantry you charge? awesome:D
 

Belladamma Voltaire

Vyrkos Primogen
True Blood
Aug 15, 2007
2,829
Manchester, UK
Nikolaj-Knude; Please refrain from the use of sarcasm during intelligent discussion as it degrades meaningful discussion into pointless flaming. If you 'read EvCs comment again, the word 'generally' implies that the BSB does get charged. Please try and see the context of a post before replying. Flaming will not be tolerated.

My own Lord choices are as follows;

Lord on Zombie Dragon
Level 3 Wizard
Forbidden Lore, Crown of the Damned, Cursed Book

Necromancer
Level 2 Wizard
Book of Arkhan, Dispel Scroll

This configuration has enough power to sustain my force and a formidable anchor for my rapidly moving forces.
 

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