Vlad+Izzy 2000pts (Infantry based?)

[Banat]

Definitely need some help with this one... loads of things I'd love to get in but just am struggling to fit (e.g. more spirit hosts or in a perfect world 2 units of hexwraiths, mortis engine etc). It comes in at 3pts over 2K but I only play casually and we don't mind a few pts over the limit.

Vlad

Isabella

Lvl1 Necro
Book of Arkhan

5 Dire Wolves w/ Doomwolf

5 Dire Wolves w/ Doomwolf

30 Skeletons w/ sword & board, Full command

30 Skeletons w/ spears, Full Command

20 Zombies (Necro bunkered here)

Corpse Cart w/ Balefire

38 Grave Guard, Sword and Board, Full Command, Razor Standard (Vlad and Izzy here ofc)

Spirit Host

Spirit Host
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Couple of issues:

Spirit Hosts - I don't feel that two is nearly enough. I could drop the corpse cart and get at least another two, which I would feel enough, but the corpse cart is pretty instrumental to the Grave Guard for ASF.

Grave Guard - that age old question... gws vs. s+b. I know there are a great many advocates on here for great weapons, however my thinking behind the s+b is this: Firstly, they have killing blow, so that's going to be pushing wounds through regardless of strength. Secondly, lower strength, IMO, synergises better with hellish vigour and rerolling those wounds. Thirdly, +1 armour save and 6++ parry makes them more resilient.

The alternative argument is that actually hellish vigor doesn't synergise as well as I think it does with rerolling wounds, and that as its a spell you have to rely on rolling it (but with 5 wizard levels, it should be FAIRLY reliable). Furthermore the Grave Guard don't need that extra resilience because I should have 1-3 Invocations of Nehek going off on that unit per turn so getting them down below half strength is not going to be easy.

If I dropped the razor standard I could take the Great Weapons and that would leave me 4pts under. I'd like to take the Standard of Swiftness but that would put me eleven pts over, and I don't really want to lose that Doom Wolf as you can do challenge shenanigans to keep the rest of the unit alive.

@najo Looking at you bud, I recall you saying you used infantry lists a lot?

 

[Hellion Nox]

I'd consider S&B GG more if you'd bring along the lore of nehekhara. 5+ KB increases the odds of succes on getting those killing blows through.
And you'll need the power of the GG as vlad and isabella aren't really killy vampires.
Also, bring the BotB instead of razor standard if you're aiming for KB's. If you don't get to hit, you'll certainly not get to wound them.

I'm also not a fan of skeletons with spears if not bringing along a mortis engine and lore of shadow. They're tarpits, more expensive than zombies but also a little bit more durable without tons of IoN support.

 

[Seneschal]

-The thing is, you won't always be facing units that can be KB'ed. Monstrous infantry is all the place now so higher strength is more important (especially if enemy heroes or daemon princes try to tangle with them).
-Having great weapons means you won't need to cast Vigour, saving your dice for other things. Banner of the Barrows is bloody great.
-30 skellies is a bit too small for both units. I would drop the doom wolves and maybe a wolf unit for more.
-Drop the cart, you need more damage sources like vargs. Is there any way I can convince you to at least drop Izzy? If you want to keep them both for the fluffiness that's fine but I suggest taking the wedded couple in higher point games as VC struggle a tiny bit at the 2K level when incorporating our special characters.

 

[Banat]

I had been considering a Fear Bomb BSB vampire instead of Isabella. Without her though, Vlad loses his ASF, and with S6, 5 attacks and ASF, he CAN be a killy vampire, plus her Blood Chalice allows wounds to be thrown back on every turn on top of Vlad's 4+ Hunger and LoV attribute.

Drop the chaff!? I never thought I'd hear a VC player say that!

I know two of the opponents I'll be facing... Savage orcs (x2 hordes, river trolls, giant, boar boys, chariot) and an Empire player, although I'm not sure how he plays Empire but I know he has plenty of options to choose from. Not sure about the third or if there is a fourth or fifth. I think someone might have Dwarves.

 

[Seneschal]

We can make chaff with raise dead. Believe me, I am a big fan of fielding wolves and maybe some bats in every list but you need to strengthen those blocks.

Fear bombing doesn't work most if the time since abig chunk of armies have units that are either immune or have strong leadership coupled with a bsb

 

[jbizzle113]

I feel if you are going to take GG you have to go with GW just because you have nothing that can deal with armour.