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Okay, so I revised my previous list a little. This is supposed to be a competitive list, that will hopefully go well in trournaments and such.

Lords
Vampire Lord 400
Red Fury, Dread Knight, walking death
Dreadlance, Book of Arkhan
(Level 2 Wizard) Rides with black Knights

Heroes
Vampire 200
Master of the Black Arts
Armour of night, Sceptre of Noirot
(Level 1 Wizard) for raising zombies etc

Vampire 195
Dark Acolyte, lord of the dead
Helm of commandment, crimson gem of Lahmia
(Level 2 wizard) buffing up skelys and raising zombies

Core
10 Crypt ghouls 80

Pretty standard unit, I don't mind on these, I have the models, although I don't really like them abundantly

10 Dire Wolves 80

Same as the ghouls. Although I would use this unit to screen my black kngiths somewhat and IF they survive use them to harass small skirmishing units and war machines
20 Skeletons 200
Full Command, spears

Standard unit

20 Skeletons 200
Full Command, spears

Special

Grave Guard x20 290
Great weapons, full command
I like my grave guard, already have them and would like them to stay

Black Knights x10 325
Full command
Banner of the barrows
The abckbone of this army along with the lord. Should be able to deal with anything that comes there way

Rare

Varghulf 175
[i]Harasser of war machines, skirmishers or used in tandom with the black knights if needed.

2145
105 to spare.

I'm worried I'm a bit too short on magic in this army, which may or may not be a problem. I am contemplating dropping the ghouls and dire wolves, giving me 265 points to play with. This could either be some wraiths, which would be fun. A black coach, mainly like the look of these, never used one so if anyone has experience with them please fill me in. I could also pop in some skelys or even go with 40 zombies and a corpse cart.

Decisions decisions... lol

Any thoughts are appreciated.

you might want to take a corpse cart in this army since it's quite combat reliant.

give your grave guard banner of the barrows instead of the black kights. this meants with helm of command they will be hitting on 2s and wounding on 2s. give the black knights Royal Banner of the Strigoi instead as it is better on the charge than BotB and black kights are best on the charge. you may also want to consider dropping dreadlance on your lord because he will be benifiting for RBotS, he does basicallt the same thing and it will save you 60pts

you can make the skeletons ten men strong each and save 180pts. with this you can get another vampire with dark acolyte and lord of the dead. this will give you a bit more magic power without really losing anything. get rid of the spears because skeletons are so bad in combat that it doesnt really make much difference if 5 can make an attack or 10 can make an attack because the likely hood is you will only cause a wound or 2 anyway. with shields and hand weapons they become much more survivable in combat, which lets you tie up enemy units until your hammer units can get to them. dropping the spears saves you 20pts

dire wolves are one of those units ive found to be really excellent, even if theyre not as good as they were. if you march them 18" you can them book of arkhan them into the enemy for a first turn charge. get some more if you can but field them in units of 5 or 6. there is little point having one unit of 10 because as fast cavalry they dont get a rank bonus. change them to 2 of 5 instead.

now with those changes you have 180pts left whith which you can get a unit of cairn wraiths with a banshee.

Thanks for your help.

Everything you saide makes alot of sence to me.

Is there really any point in having 1 unit of 10 ghouls in this army though?

I might switch them to zombies or skellies, since they can't be raised beyond their starting strength.

a single unit of 10? no there isnt. switch them to skellies

probably the best way to use ghouls is to have a big unit of about 20 and a vampire with ghoulkin and another with septre de zombies. you get a march move before the game, a march move in your turn then can start raising zombies all accross your opponents line. you may also be able to get a charge in (either via vanhels or on the next turn) while your opponent is messing around with the zombies. 2 poisoned attacks each is alright.

that tactic would require a major revamp (excuse the pun) of your list so just change them to another unit of skellies.

I think this list a lot. Grave guard are a really solid unit to have in the middle of a formation flanked by a couple units of lesser troops. I would change the ghouls to skeletons and take a unit of 20. I would split the wolves into two units of 5. They're really just for blocking charge lanes and other harassment. You'll get a lot more out of them with two units.

There is very little reason to take both skelies and ghouls due to how mastery and raising now works. Pick one. Ghouls are significantly better in combat and slightly worse on defense and static CR and cannot take a magic banner.

Because you like the GG, I suggest adding a corpse cart and a wight BSB with regen banner. A wight king is ultra tough, but you don't get the magic with him. Keep the helm nearby and you are looking at an insanely tough unit (WS 6 S6 ASF 5+/4+). If they have the Barrows with them, even meaner. The skellies can guard the flanks and offer support. Then stick the Strigoi banner with your knights.

Wolves are good for WM hunting, charge block/redirection and screening, not much else. In combat they just tend to give up CR. Dire bats are an excellent WM hunter and march blocker. Even better they don't worry about marching limitations and count as infantry for IoN. Downside? US 1 each. Oddly, they can enter buildings....

I am of two minds about the Varghulf. He's solid and great for support, but I haven't been terribly impressed. He's kind of like a fighty character. Good for supporting skeletons and the like to add in some kills. Kind of pricey for a WM/Weapons team hunter but, meh. He's also a vamp which is good for supporting faster units.

I wouldn't waste time with zombies as more than core filler that just hides to secure quarters. They are HORRIBLE and usually give up lots of CR. About the only thing they are good at is to block/redirect charges. They are marginally useful for cutting of fleeing, but usually your PD is better spent in trying to Danse or IoN. IoN on a character with mastery goes off on a 3+, a great way to use extra PD! Drop the Lahmia gem and get a black periapt. Also, a Dispel Scroll is always useful in a tourney environment. A Biting blade is also a cheap way to get a magic weapon to deal with ethereals and the like. Remember that Lvl 3 on your lord is a nice upgrade b/c it doesn't eat any of your blood or item allowance! I really like the bloody hauberk for the WS also, since alot of stuff aimed at him will have high S or be no AS. Infinite Hatred and Balefire Spike can be a good alternative to DL, but the combat monster DL/RF combo is nasty (and sexy). As he stands, he is great in combat and good CR support, but *must* charge or he may be in dire straits against stuff that can actually hurt/kill him.