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So what is the preferred core troop choice for Vampire Counts Ghouls or Skeletons?

Ghouls
Pros
Toughness 4
Ghoulkin so can charge sooner.
Poison attacks.
Cons
No armor save.

Skeletons
Pros
Can have Shield and Handweapon for 4+ save.
Can buy Spears for more attacks.
Cons
Toughness 3

Some of my friends tell me that Ghouls are better for toughness 4 and poison attacks but alot of lists I'm seeing on forums run Skeletons are even Zombies. What's your opinion?

Don't forget the ghoul master power, which makes them move across the table faster than
skeletons and more likely to reach the other side.

I'd say go with ghouls. You have invocation of Nehek and you want to be using it to pump up your ghouls up to win. Ghoulkin makes them start out farther and Vanhel's is going to throw them into combat as soon as possible.

I think the main reason people have zombies or skeletons listed in their lists is because they have these painted. Ghouls have new models and no one has a ton of them to use yet, and it takes a ton of them to make it work. I'm still working on my first 120.

One of the tourney regulars here in Brisbane has gone ghoul spam with great success.

He has a vamp with the ability that allows ghouls to take a free move.

From memory he takes 5x25 ghouls or 6x20.

Both have different uses in the game I feel.

A Skeleton unit, due to there save, can take on a little more units w/ less casualties. So these guys take a charge and keep going....


Ghouls on the other hand are made to charge. Between Ghoulkin(ability I love) w/ the ability to raise more Ghouls(an ability I love) AND the dance...it's fun magic happy hour! Throw 8 PD to add more Ghouls to that unit and watch it get large very fast....Toughness 4 does help some(as long as your not fighting things like WoC or other such high strength things)but more importantly is that when they charge..they get 2 attacks a pop that are poison. Only thing I suggest....6 wide. More attacks is great...6 wide is your friend.

Personally I use both for different things. I am a big fan of raising a crap ton of Ghouls and Dire Wolves during a game(like a lot....like 50+ extra models a game easy)and dancing them into various combats or just putting them in annoying places. I'm trying out Ghouls more and more because I have had good luck w/ them

MY flatmate uses both. Perhaps as a hangover from the previous book, he keeps his Ghoul units small, around 10 strong but always with Ghast.

Normally he runs 4 such units (all metal old ones. He is daft him) and positions them between his Skeletons and Graveguard to supply competent Flank charges.

So normally, his line looks akin toooooo....

10 Ghouls, 15 Graveguard, 10 Ghouls, 30 Skeletons 10 Ghouls, 15 Graveguard, 10 Ghouls.

5 strong unit of Wraiths on one flank (sometimes laid out as a frontal skirmish screen though) Corpse Cart behind the line for support, and a Varghulf looking threatening on the opposite flank to the Wraiths. Works pretty well thus far.

Oh yeah, he fields his Skellies with Spears in case anyone was wondering. Proper old school Vampire player him!

Ghouls are useful if you want to actually fight and kill things the hard way. The skellies are great for staying around and winning through static res and outnumbering. I use both and just get them where they need to be.

Ah, the age old Skellies vs. Ghouls debate.
It all comes down to what you want to do with the unit and what you actually want in your army. My army was based off an undead Brettonian, so Ghouls didn't fit. Instead I made these to fit my fluff. Skeletons aren't fast, but their tough as nails and you can raise incredible numbers of them. Use them to take charges and hold objectives. Use the Ghouls to actually charge and attack the enemy aggressively.

I use 2 20 skelie units and 2 20 grave guard unts.
So it comes down to theme.

I think Bat Manuel hit the key point. It depends whether you intend to win by killing off your opponent or by making them lose to your combat resolution. Most of my army builds for the new VC are designed around making your opponent lose to resolution and getting caught fleeing. So for myself I like skeletons as my core blocks and dire wolves, fell bats and black knights as my flaking. To me there's nothing more insulting than 40 points of dire wolves catching and eating a fleeing block of chaos mortals with a hero in it.