Vampire-general Setups

[Bravo_10]

Thanks to the new Errata, we can no longer field a Wight King as the army general in any games. This particularly hurts a 1000 point VC list because you won't get that nice LD9, and your General will be considerably less survivable than the tough-as-nails WK.

So with this in mind, what kind of Vampire setup do you guys advocate for a 1000 point battle, where your general pretty much is forced to be a normal Vampire? I'll be playing a 1000 point battle this Thursday against a Wood Elf friend of mine, so I may as well post my own idea here.

Count Drystus von Richthoven
Vampire
Dark Acolyte
Summon Ghouls
Talisman of 5+ Ward Save (can't remember its actual name)
Black Periapt
Charmed Shield
195 Points

This guy has a nice mix of survivability and magical powers. His Summon Ghouls allows me to start with a minimal 10-man unit of Crypt Ghouls, then IoN spam them in the first few turns to make them combat-ready, thereby conserving some points in my list. I'll be sure to let you guys know how he does in my upcoming battle, unless of course somebody comes up with a build that's good enough to use in its place before Thursday.

 

[Astorre]

I'd go with Avatar of Death (GW), Dark Acolyte, Flayed Hauberk, Dawnstone. S7 & re-rollable 2+ armour save, and a Lv2 Wizard to boot. Keep in a ghoul or GG unit, the later with the Royal Standard, or maybe Hellfire to take out treekin.

 

[theonetruedonut]

Seeing as how you comlained of survivability, I would definitely use either GW Avatar with one of the ward talismans or the 6+ or 5+ ward Armor with a cheap magic weapon. steer cleer of crown of the damned though. since your LD is only 7, you wont be able to reliably pass the stupidity test like you can with a lord. the rest of your points build you can tailor to your specific list.

 

[Lynks]

How about
vampire lord
crown of the damned
charmed shield (only cause we dont get the 5p enchanted shield )
biting blade

You are still a level 2, you have a 4+ ward, discount the first wound, a pitiful armor save (still a save though ) and you can deal rather effectively against the few heavy armoured enemies you might come across. you also have an extra wound, attack and higher initiative and weaponskill, + that leadership 10.

 

[Arthander]

i think your missing out on the crown of commandment. even at 1k ws 6 troops are awesome!!!

 

[theonetruedonut]

I repeat myself: Crown of the Damned is a no-no. It's kind of like taking Konrad as your general. stupid generals are a bad thing, more so for VC since we need them for march moves. And since there's no Ld10 inspiring prescence, and sinde Doom and Darkness is so common, the chance that you fail your Ld tests is too high for my tastes. You'll be better off with one of the numerous ward save talismans or armors.

 

[Darius the Insane]

I repeat myself: Crown of the Damned is a no-no. It's kind of like taking Konrad as your general. stupid generals are a bad thing, more so for VC since we need them for march moves. And since there's no Ld10 inspiring prescence, and sinde Doom and Darkness is so common, the chance that you fail your Ld tests is too high for my tastes. You'll be better off with one of the numerous ward save talismans or armors.

I do believe that lynks said vampire lord

 

[Vreith]

Vampire lord with talisman of preservation.

alternatively if it was a thrall

Vampire,
Forbidden lore [Vampiric] (so low point value game, 12 dice & 7 spells is fun, esp when your units get bigger)
Summon ghouls/Lord of the dead (Guaranteed SUH, so hell yea!)
Armor of destiny

Thats my caster thrall


Combat thrall:
Vampire
Infinite Hatred, Dread Knight
Dragon helm, Crown of the damned, potion of foolhardiness
(combine with 4 blood knight with banner &the +1 leadership banner & mounted wight king BSB with walach's bloody hauberk & 2 units of ghouls)

 

[Lynks]

Vreith, will the wight king and the combat vampire fit within 250 points though?

 

[theonetruedonut]

Maybe take a Combat/Ld lord and a necromancer? something like:

Vampire
Aura of Dark Majesty
Skabscrath
Talisman of Protection

Necromancer

That's 250 pts exactly if i counted right

 

[Vreith]

Vreith, will the wight king and the combat vampire fit within 250 points though?

good question
Damn it, so used to putting lords in everything
no wight king, & just buy talisman of pres with potion foolhardiness i guess

 

[Clayman66]

I like the lord idea lynks posted, might have to try that in my next 1k game

As for a normal vampire how about this:

Vampire - 195
Sword of Might
Flayed Hauberk
Dark Acolyte
Summon Ghouls

Plus any two of the following:

Potion of Speed/Potion of Foolhardiness/Luckstone/Charmed Shield

This has worked previously for me a couple of times, though to be fair I'm recently getting back into the game so its not
overly well tested ;P The S6 helps with armour negation and wounding some of the tougher targets fielded in small games in the local metagame. The extra magic level strengthens my magic phase more than I thought it would, though I've often thought of switching dark acolyte and one of the 5pt items for forbidden lore for the flexibility of additional spells and lore choice.

Summon Ghouls is probably one of my favourite vampiric powers in smaller games, as Ghouls always seem to do pretty well for a core choice - being able to boost numbers in game means I don't need to start with as many, or alternatively I can start with the same and hit the enemy lines with pretty big units for a good point cost. 2x Poisoned attacks and T4 ftw!!

For some reason in smaller games I tend to find myself less worried about gambling a ward save-less general. Not sure why, in larger lists my general tends to take something with a 4+ ward (usually CotD) :S Still, I guess time will tell if it is to be my undoing

 

[Ghurt]

Vampire Lord with Talisman of Preservation would be my choice. Dont really need a bunker. Just dont put him against serious killing machines.

Or a Vampire with Forbidden Lore (Vampire), Summon Ghouls, Helm of Commandment, Black Periapt. Sits in a small Ghoul bunker.

Or a Vampire with Forbidden Lore (Vampire), Summon Ghouls, Dispel Scroll, Ruby Ring of Ruin. if you face Hydras and such.

 

[Fallen Angel]

I'd go for one of these:

Vampire
-Red Fury
-Flayed Hauberk
-Sword of Striking

Excellent if you face humans or Elves as he'll run right over them!

Vampire
-Dark Acolyte
-Summoning power of choice
-Flayed Hauberk
-Sword of Might

A good all arounder.

 

[Vreith]

i won a 750 min torni with this:
(but it had 50% of points allowed for lords & heros)

Vampire Lord
Summon Ghouls
Forbidden lore, Vampiric
Flayed Hauberk
Talisman of pres

35x ghouls + Champ

5x dire's
5x dire's
remeber you have to meet 3 units min, it sux

 

[Loempiaketzer]

I run my caster like this!

Vampire lord
additional magic level
master of the black arts
forbidden lore
Crown of command
Crimson gem of lahmia

you have 15 points left for bloodline powers and about 50 left for regular powers.
to press the costs for this character i dont use them
Great combo with this one is leaving 2 powerdice left at the end of the magicphase(if oponents DD are depleted), then use 1 wound for crimson gem and cast summon undead horde. If he saves up for it just dont cast the last spell. This makes it really hard to know what to dispel for your enemy.
I think this is the new replacement for nehek spam, as it will heal a lot of wounds.

 

[Lynks]

we were aiming for cheap generals Loempiaketzer, but thats a pretty good setup, id probably use the extra points for some more protection though

 

[Gladius Rex]

You guys are smoking some serious crack if you were using WKs as Generals in the first place.

7th ed VC book, page 64 states:

"The choice starts with your general, who must be a Vampire."

 

[Count Lasombra]

You guys are smoking some serious crack if you were using WKs as Generals in the first place.

7th ed VC book, page 64 states:

"The choice starts with your general, who must be a Vampire."

:rofl2:

 

[Loempiaketzer]

well,... i thought my build was pretty cheap
you could always minimise it to just Flore and Cgof lamiah... but then you only have a lvl 2 which needs loads of dice to get it off.. and probably miscast in the attempt. so that why