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With the rumor of new black knight models coming out this summer, here's a "blitz" style list I'm looking at running, hopefully competitive in tournaments.

Vamp Lord on Nightmare w/Lvl 3, Infinite Hatred, Red Fury, Walach's Blood Hauberk, Balefire Spike, Book of Arkhan: 440 pts

Wight King on Skeletal Steed w/Sword of Kings, Nightstroud: 135 pts

Vampire on Nightmare w/Red Fury, Blood Drinker: 198 pts

Vampire w/BSB, Infinite Hatred, Walking Death, Flayed Hauberk, Sword of Battle, Talisman of the Lycni: 225 pts

10 Ghouls: 80 pts

20 Zombies: 80 pts

20 Zombies: 80 pts

Corpse Cart w/Balefire: 100 pts

Corpse Cart w/Balefire: 100 pts

5 Dire Wolves: 40 pts

5 Dire Wolves: 40 pts

5 Black Knights w/Standard Bearer, Banner of the Barrows: 181 pts

5 Black Knights w/Full Command, Royal Standard of Strigos: 195 pts

Varghulf: 175 pts

Varghulf: 175 pts

7 casting dice, 6 dispel, 3 bound - not too overthetop for VC. Basic character setup puts the VC Lord and Wight King in the unit of black knights with the banner of the barrows, while the other mounted Vampire runs with the black knights with the Strigos banner. The vamp on foot operates on his own (or maybe with the ghouls the first turn) to give him some additional protection for a slingshot attack.
Knights, characters, varghulfs and dire wolves all have Mvt 8 or higher (no barding because I needed the points), so they should be able to get 2nd turn charges no problem. The 2 black knight units with characters should blow through just about any unit in the game, while the Wight Lord will be great for challenges (KB on a 5+, +1 to hit from the banner). Red Fury vamp with the other unit will benefit from the hatred banner and will regen the knights back in his unit from Blood Drinker. Varghulfs can go after EOTG priests, warmachines, skirmishers - very versatile. Dire wolves can accomplish the same thing or redirect frenzied units. The corpse carts will help nullify enemy magic, as well as help draw out dispel dice with their ASF power. Zombies will pretty much be there for claiming table quarters & contesting. The Vamp BSB will be good for charging small units, hitting others in the flanks that are tied up with the knights, going after warmachines, etc. etc. (starting out at +2 combat res, in addition to getting a couple wounds hopefully from his hatred and 2+ AS).
Smaller army - not very expensive to build, but very fast and hits hard. Thoughts?

Looks ok overall depending on what your fighting against. It really comes down to what your opponent fields how effective your army is. Like as a dark elf player my best bet to use against your army is a Black Dragon with a Dreadlord and set up charges because the key strategy of your army is maneuvering to get into your opponents army as soon as they can and try to plow through them. I would drop the Walking Death from the BSB and get Hunter in the Dark instead so you can threaten his war machines much earlier in the game and position him so he can use spells like raise dead early on to march block your opponent. Like the other big threat against your army is shooting so being to lock your enemy in place and tearing into their warmachines asap should help out a lot.

When is using a Dreadlord on a Black Dragon not an effective strategy to any army? LOL.