Vlad and Isabella @ 2500pts

[Milos]

Hello everyone, i was thinking of using both Vlad and Isabella in same army.
Idea is that they go in skeleton horde, Wight king goes with Black Knights, and necro is in zombie bunker. Ghouls are here just to protect flank of skeletons.

I have never used blood knights, and i don't have idea how strong/weak are they? Any advice on them?

So here is the list:


Count Vlad Von Carstein - 495

Isabella Von Carstein - 175

Wight King - 180
Barding, Bsb, HA
Enchanted Shield
Sword of Antiheros
Talisman of Protection

Necromancer - 170
Master of the Dead, lvl 2
Dispel Scroll
Ruby Ring of Ruin


50 Skeleton Warriors - 305
Standard, Musician, Champion
Screaming Banner

5 Dire Wolves - 40

5 Dire Wolves - 40

20 Zombies - 60

20 Crypt Ghouls - 200

5 Blood Knights - 345
Standard, Musician
The Flag of Blood Keep

14 Black Knights - 394
Barding, Lance, Standard, Musician

1 Spirit Hosts - 45

1 Spirit Hosts - 45



What i have learned from my first couple of games with new VC, is that black knights need some char in them to win combat. Is same case with blood knights? Can i just smash them in front of smaller blocks?

 

[Seneschal]

Hello Milos,

Skellies never work well in horde formation. They rarely do any damage and give up combat resolution like nobody's business. I would drop them to 35 (especially if you have LotD) and field them 5 wide.
Talisman of Protection doesn't do much. Bring the Iron Curse Icon instead.
20 Ghouls can't do much, get to 30-35 if you can. Use points from the skellies.
5 Blood Knights make for a fragile unit that can give up victory points easily. They really function best in a big unit.
14 knights with one character doesn't work too well. Drop 5 of them.
Dropping 5 of each knight unit should get you at least 8 crypt horrors which is a solid unit. You may want to squeeze a varghulf in if you can.

Another take on the list,
You've spent a lot of points in characters so the rest of your army will suffer because of it. If you want to run the happily married couple, I'd drop the WK (and thus, the black knights as well) for a few more helpful units.

 

[Milos]

Thx, i will split skellies in 2 units of 35, and use something like 30 ghouls, and swap Black Knights and WK with Terrorghais and (I don't have my book with me now) some more blood knights and vamp to go with them...

Only concern is will Vlad and Isabella work well in army... Maybe to put them in same unit, and some other char in other skellies?

How big should Blood Knights unit be to function well?

How about hexwraiths? Is 2x5 as support any good?

 

[Seneschal]

Vlad and his white haired bride really aren't worth their points. If you want to use them, that's perfectly fine but they can fall short of the mark more often than not. Normally I would say split them up (all your eggs in one basket syndrome) but since you don't have another combat character on foot, put them in the same unit in case she falls (which happens rather easily with her lack of a good save). If you want another fighty character on foot, then by all means put him/her in a unit with Lady Von Carstein.

Blood Knights are bloody expensive, no pun intended. I wouldn't include them in the same list as Vlad and Isabella to be honest. 7-8 is a minimum I think before characters are added (one hero is enough).
2x5 Hexwraiths is pretty solid. Even just one unit can worry your opponent.

 

[Milos]

Well, I will try them, but probably will use normal chars...
Thanks for advice, I'm playing for weekend probably, so i could try everything then before i go to buy models