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Firstly I'll say.. I'm just trying to design an army to stomp hubby's dwarfs into the dust. He plays infantry heavy on his dwarfs (rather than the standard gunline). I think he's afraid I'll cry and throw a pewter model at him if he shoots my army to death before it gets across the table. He also runs a pretty high amount of fear immunity and 7 dispel dice + the thingee that converts one of my power die into a dispel die.

Vampire Lord (430)
Level 3 upgrade
4+ armor save, 5+ ward save
Bound spell power 3, Vanhel's Danse Macabre
Extra Magic Level
+2 casting dice
+1 to cast IoN on Ghouls + increase them beyond their starting size

Vampire (185 -- goes with Blood Knights)
Barded nightmare and heavy armor
Banner w/ hate for his unit

Vampire (150)
Heavy armor + great weapon
Extra Magic Level

Vampire (150)
Heavy armor + great weapon
Extra Magic Level

Crypt Ghouls (120)
14 w/ Ghast

Crypt Ghouls (120)
14 w/ Ghast

Crypt Ghouls (120)
15

Corpse Cart (100)
Unholy Lodestone for +1 on IoN

Dire Wolves (40)
5

Grave Guard (322 -- my Lord goes here)
19 w/ full command
Banner of the Barrows (+1 to hit)

Blood Knights (335)
4 w/ Kastellan and Standard (no musician)
4+ ward against ranged attack banner

Varghulf (175)

The list has 13 PD and 7 DD (not that it matters against.. yanno.. dwarfs)

This isn't the list that I usually run but hubby just swapped up his list to go all fear immune so I figured I'd better get a little more "hard hitty" than I have been, since I can't rely on fear/outnumbering to autobreak anymore.

And yes, yes -- I know it's cheesy to tailor a list just to beat one person, but he does it too! At least when we're just playing against each other :p gotta throw a little spice in to keep the Warhammer relationship going, or something like that.

Hey just a couple quick thoughts/suggestions:

1) Don't the Vampire Counts have a banner that lowers the enemy's leadership? If they do, that might be a lot more useful instead of a bonus to hit. The dwarves would still have the immunity to fear, but would be easier to break/panic.

2) Can you unit of Blood Knights be four? Most units tend to have a minimum size of 5.

Ghouls vs Dwarfs, nice. The problem with the new undead is that there are so many competetive varients depending on your style of play, and i can see you are a caster! This isnt the route i would go vs a dwarf phalanx, but if that is your cup of tea, ill jsut drop my two cents.
The Level 3 upgrade is a bit overpriced in my opinion, i think the 50 points would be better allocated to the other bound spell item, since in essence you are only getting one dice and one spell anyway, you might as well be certain it is going to go off. As a side benifit you can use the saved points and give a lacky vampire the +1 IoN on ghouls also.
I would also consider swapping a vampire for a wight king with the black ax of krell in the grave guard. Lets face it, dwarfs have awesome runes against opponents with Str/T 5+, and the general will no doubt be preparing to grind opposite your toughest block of infantry. Your lord is a bit weak in the 'hitty' department, and im not to sure if the forefront is where you are going to get the best use out of him. On the other hand the wight king will benifit from the +1 to hit, will probably go first (assuming you dont totally botch the movement and the magic phase), with a great weapon that multiplies wounds by d3 and has a game long dot, there wont be anyone left to record the grudge by the time the battle is over. The king is also quite beefy for a hero level char, with a statline better than most lords.

A surefire tactic to ge the upper hand on dwarfs is to use movement to the fullest. As im sure you're aware, Most dwarfs rode the short pony to school, and are slow to this day. i would consider the free pregame movement power for the ghouls, and a unit of etheral spooks to set up flanks. Spirit hosts are probably the best at this but anything ethereal is going to do the trick as long as they are supported with a rankbonus or you negate the stunties bonus.

Ive been curious about the ghoul based army since the new models came out, let us know how it turns out. As long as you are throwing spice and not models at the end of the game i think you'll win either way ;D

LtCraggs wrote:
1) Don't the Vampire Counts have a banner that lowers the enemy's leadership? If they do, that might be a lot more useful instead of a bonus to hit. The dwarves would still have the immunity to fear, but would be easier to break/panic.

2) Can you unit of Blood Knights be four? Most units tend to have a minimum size of 5.

1) It's a Vampiric Bloodline power -- costs 50 points.
2) Yep, Blood Knights start at 4 ^_^

Kiwidru wrote:
The Level 3 upgrade is a bit overpriced in my opinion, i think the 50 points would be better allocated to the other bound spell item, since in essence you are only getting one dice and one spell anyway, you might as well be certain it is going to go off. As a side benifit you can use the saved points and give a lacky vampire the +1 IoN on ghouls also.

This makes a lot of sense to me actually, but I'm wondering which bound spell item you're referring to?
Hand of Dust: 50 points 2d6 s5 hits on a unit in base contact, distribute as if from shooting
Rod of Flaming Death: 40 points 2d6 s4 hits, 18" range, causes panic test
Staff of Damnation: Would have to drop the book, or could put it on a different model, 40pts one friendly undead unit + mounts within 12" make an immediate attack

I've considered a wight king, since he would be nasty with a unit of GG and the Banner of the Barrows.. but I'm undecided. The Grave Guard are the body guard for my general who (obviously) I can not afford to let die. I mean, I could put them both in the same unit, I suppose. Also, this drops my power dice by 2 (so down to 11). I know it still seems like a lot.. but hubby has a hefty amount of dispel dice and I hate feeling like I can't get my spells off. Actually, down to 10, now I think about it, if I dropped the level 3 upgrade for a bound spell. Then hubby steals one die and it becomes 9pd against 8dd. Obviously he'll blow a DD killing the bound Vanhel's. He usually lets the corpse cart go unless he's rolling in extra DD. Anyway.. something to think about, in any case.

I'll admit, I always imagined when I took a Wight King that he'd be a BSB rather than have a magic weapon. Regeneration banner seems ridiculously hot to have in a unit of GG protecting my General.

i usually run the staff of damnation but i guess it is personal preferance, nothing says "dispel me" like 2d6 str 4 hits on a lone runepriest or artillery crew.
In my 2000 i run a king+BaoK with a unit of 5 black knights + BotB; This unit wins me games, period. You wouldn't quite have the maneuverability of insubstantial steeds, but you should still be on the offensive against dwarfs.
I know it seems like you are giving up some magic but really the loss of 3 casting dice would be reduced by the addition of the bound spell and the added bonus of having two casters being able to reliably cast IoN with one dice rather than 2. I think you will find you arnt that much weaker in the magic phase and much more intimidating in the combat phase.

Well, I'll give it a shot in my game tomorrow and see how it goes ^_^

luck with the game
i would drop some of the ghouls to add another knight though, seems small and petty, but 1 moer knight gives the whole unit a much bigger bang, for example, it can now negate rank bonus's.

JD21290 wrote:luck with the game
i would drop some of the ghouls to add another knight though, seems small and petty, but 1 moer knight gives the whole unit a much bigger bang, for example, it can now negate rank bonus's.

Blood Knights are US2 each, and the BSB is with them. The unit as a whole is US10, so three Blood Knights have to die (and stay dead) to prevent the unit from negating rank bonuses.

ty anax
had a brain dead moment then and forgot mounted mods are US2 lol
only reason i was saying to take 5 rather than 4 is my friend is a VC player, against my southlands skinks he doesent do too well (gotta love throwing out over 100 poisoned attacks a turn lol)
i found it much harder to shift his unit when it was at 5 models, and in combat it seems even 1 more BK adds alot of str to the unit.