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I've played 9 games of 8th now at 2,000 points with Vampire Counts and... won all nine of them. Vs High Elves twice, Lizardmen twice, Empire twice, Dark Elves twice, and Ogre Kingdoms.

Using the following list.


Vampire Lord

Magic Level 4, Dark Acolyte, Lord of the Dead, Crown of the Damned, Nightshroud, Infinite Hatred, Sword of Hero Slaying

410

Wight King, Battle Standard Bearer

100

Necromancer

Invocation of Nehek, Vanhel’s Danse Macabre, Dispel Scroll

95

Vampire

Nightmare, Helm of Commandment, Master of the Black Arts

203

30 Skeletons Full Command, War Banner

260

30 Skeletons Full Command

260

Corpse Cart, Unholy Lodestone

100

20 Grave Guard with Great Weapons, Full Command, Banner of the Barrows

311

5 Wraiths, Banshee

275

1999 Points.



Lore of the Vampires remains very strong. Wraiths are great. Sword of Hero Slaying is brutally effective.

Everyone at my FLGS is bitching about Vampires now...

I've had quite a few games against a lot of armies with the new rules now. Playing as Vampire Counts every time.

Just a guess as to their strength:

Skaven: Top tier, very strong shooting, magic and hellpit abominations taking on armies alone. Steadfast benefits them inordinately.
Empire: Top tier. The amount of war machines and deadly shooting this army can take is silly. Empire Gunlines are frightening. Very strong magic defence.

Lizardmen: High tier. Slaan are overwhelmingly strong with Lore of Life. Step up benefits their low initiative.
Daemons of Chaos: High tier. Their magic no longer destroys armies on turn 1. Their list is still crazy strong. Flamers got BETTER.
Vampire Counts: High tier. Lore of the Vampires is still one of the best lores and they can still dominate a magic phase. Step up benefits a lot of their units, especially Grave Guard.
Dark Elves: High tier. Lost a lot with step up, kept a devastating magic phase and shooting phase.

Orcs and Goblins: Middle tier. Gained a lot from the newfound effectiveness of Horde infantry. Animosity still sucks.
Tomb Kings: Middle tier. FAQ helped them greatly. They can use ALL their dice on dispelling remains in play or bound spells. Their magic scales with points unlike all others.
Warriors of Chaos: Middle tier. Their big blocks of infantry are much scarier. Marauders with great weapons are underpriced and deadly. Still lacking shooting and vulnerable to shooting.
High Elves: Middle tier. Their dispelling is game changing and they gained Hatred vs almost everything with the new Always Strike First. Step up hurts.
Dwarfs: Middle tier. They can actually get the charge now. Shooting is better. Still slow, but step up helps. Magic defence may be good but they can't take advantage of the new lores.
Ogre Kingdoms: Middle tier. Ogres in Horde are close to unstoppable. Very fast army. Much improved magic. Still vulnerable to shooting.

Beastmen: Low tier. A bit lacking across the board.
Brettonia: Low tier. Cavalry are much reduced in effectiveness. Everyone who built a peasant/trebuchet based army will be okay though.
Wood Elves: Low tier. Step up and skirmisher rules cripple them.