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So I was mulling the Forbidden Lore vampire power with a view to wrong footing my opponent with Lore of Shadow, but I start looking at other Lores and come across Flaming Sword of Rhuin in the Lore of Fire. Nothing special when used by Empire Wizards, but it can make a Vampire Lord very nasty. First up it gives him an extra attack for 5 in total. Second it increases his strength from 5 to 8. Third, all of these attacks hit on 2+. And finally, these attacks are flaming.

As pretty much every army has access to regeneration these days, this strikes me as a useful combination. Take that regenerating Great Unclean One!

However, is it worth the loss of Necromancy? (although you do get to keep IoN). And what's the best way to protect my Lord against counter attacks from that aforementioned Great Unclean One?

How about you tarpit that 600pt GUO with zombies and kill the rest of his army?

Forbidden lore is nice. The temptation of other lores is great. If you have necros with Danse and Power Stones, changing lores isn't a bad idea. If you don't, and Danse is key to your plan, I stick to Lore of Vampires.

Flaming Sword of Rhuin is great except it never works when you need it. Mark my words....

Very true. If your lord charges into combat and tries to cast that it will probably be dispelled and same goes for if you have it up and they charge you.

yeah most people don´t like models that hit on 2´s and wound on 2´s and negate all your armor save. it like saying i automatically do 5 wounds. top that off with 5 attacks and that is just deadly. i know i´d be saving dice for it.

i think it would be worth taking though. if for the fact alone that the opponent will not dispel your other spells to prevent it from happening. and then you can always really disapoint them by getting irresistable force.

Vamps and tzeench deamons are the ones that actually have a chance of getting the flaming sword off. They have enough magic to pull dispell dice before casting the flaming sword.
It is just tough.

All good points, cheers! I guess I have to make sure enough spells are cast beforehand to tempt those dispel dice. The idea of a Vampire Lord hurling fire balls left, right and centre is growing on me anyway

**takes Red Fury**

What?

OMG, that combo with Red Fury would be awesome. Potentially 10 wounds. Could you up it to 12 with Walking Death to get the extra close combat weapon?

The balefire spike gets you +2 STR on the charge and flaming for only a few points. And it can't be dispelled. ;-) You should be hitting on 3s most of the time anyway.

Only when you're mounted.
Besides, that'd be normal and boring.

Yes, much of the attraction of the Flaming Sword is the +3 Strength in all combat situations (provided it's not dispelled).

@ Saldiven - Good call re: Red Fury. Avatar of Death (which is what I think you meant) wouldn't work because you can't use an extra hand weapon in combination with the FSoR.

EDIT - Oops, it was ungulateman who suggested Red Fury. Apologies

why not go with a Red Bear's Fury?

(7-14 str 7 attacks?)

I mean short of the great unclean one, that kills about everything.

Do we like the other beast spells, though? Fire seems chock full of awesome fun but beasts?

That's OK. I like Red Fury on my combat lord if I take one.

EDIT: I think the Helm of Commandment would be funny as well. WS9 Zombies!

On the other hand, how 'bout adding to the Vampire that armor piece that boosts toughness but lowers weapon skill. Then use the FSoR to get the always hits on 2+ to avoid the penalty of the reduced WS. That way, you've both increased the Vampires offensive and defensive capabilities.

robertsjf wrote:Do we like the other beast spells, though? Fire seems chock full of awesome fun but beasts?

Beasts has the bolt thrower magic missile, the cav/monster movement spell (not really an issue though with Danse), multi-d6 MMissile, and Beast Covers to shut down cav and monsters. True, it doesn't have the "all fire, all the time" aspect to it but it is a damn effective lore.

My local GW employee worked out this combo the day the book came out. So he actually said "If the Internet has advanced this far, I'm sad."

It wasn't a question of "working out the combo," though. It was a question of whether it was feasible for the loss of necromancy. Everyone's been looking at ways to make flaming sword worthwhile since wizards got a severe nerf in HtH circa 6th ed....