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The long and the short is i should be getting my first game of 8th in today ( i say should because everytime i say i am something bloody comes up :-| )

Characters


Lady Isabell of Talabecland (with grave guard, 7x3)
Vampire Lord
- Level 3 Wizard
- Helm of Discord
- Crown of the Damned
- Sword of Anti-Heroes
- Fobbidden Lore (Vampire lore)
- Lord of Dead
- Aura of Dark Majesty
Total 455pts

Lady Isolde of Talabecland
Vampire
- Sword of Might
- The Flayed Hauberk
- Infinite Hatred
- Walking Death
- Battle Standard Bearer
Total 215pts

Konrad von Raukov
- Van Hals Dance
- Feed back scroll
Total 105pts


Core


24 Skeleton Warriors
- Fullcommand
Total 212pts

24 Skeleton Warriors
- Fullcommand
- Banner of Endless nightmare
Total 237pts

24 Ghouls
Total 192pts


Special


20 Grave Guard
- Fullcommand
- Screaming Banner
Total 310pts

10 Black Knights
- Barding
- Standard
- Musician
- Banner of the Barrows
Total 349pts


Rare

Helmut Feuerbach
Varghulf
Total 175pts


Army Total 2250pts.

With the army I'm still trying to decide if i have taken the best build for my Vampire lord, i am very tempted to remove red fury and make her a level 4, give her + 2 powerdice, Aura of Dark Majesty or something else, unit wise i think i have it what i want just right, grave guard would be better with great weapons but as I'm using mantic models that's for more hassle than its worth, any suggestions would be great.

No suggestions then?

I haven't been playing vampires for long, so here's what little advice I can give you.

Your Lord seems all over the place. If she's fighting them she cant use magic as well and vice versa. I think its better to take a either combat lord or a magic lord, not try to do both. Her armour isnt very good. You're spending 60pts on defensive item, one of which gives her stupidity. It will screw you over too many times for it to be worth its lower point cost. Armour of destiny is a better choice overall.

Considering you only have one unit of ghouls, I think ghoulkin is wasted points on your second vampire. I'm also surprised that you havent given her a magic standard.

Raise dead really isnt that good in 8th. Zombies die far too easily and they give up too many VP when they die. I think a second vanhels would be a better option for your necromancer.

You have a lot of core. VC core choices are down right terrible, particularly skeletons. Always try and take as minimum compulsary core as possible. You will probably also want a corpse cart. ASF improves all the undead massively. Too much so to not take one.

I always run my grave guard with great weapons and they do fantactically for me every game. S4 attacks dont hit hard enough to be really threatening and set up mitigates the problems great weapons have with ASL. Also banner of the barrows is fantastic on grave guard. They need to be effective in protracted combats and +1 to hitgoes a long way. Causing fear does basically nothing now, so the screaming banner is terrible.

Since you are going to give the banner of the barrows to the grave guard the black knights need the royal banner of the strigos. Knights are much more effective on the charge than in drawn out combats and hitting on 4s with rerolls is better than hitting on 3s in the first round on combat. It also works on their mounts, where as banner of the barrows does not.

So far I havent been too impressed with varghulfs. Thunderstomp is very good, but causing terror does almost nothing now, and being I2 really hurts it. It doesnt have the wounds to charge into blocks of infantry of heavy cavalry, so it is only really good for hunting warmachines, a job it is very expensive for.

Its not like i can actually drop my core down that much (10 models as im only 80pts over the min), i think you still have you 7th ed head on. While with 7th ed i would have certainly taken 3 small units to fill the core i think the problem with the current edition is that magic is going to be used to maintain unit sizes rather than expand them. if you roll a 1 or 2 to caste end of the magic phase for you. This in effect means we are going to have two dice IoN which will half the amount it was caste before, factor in also the cap on magic dice and the totally random amount you can expect to get from it.

I agree i certainly wouldnt mind a corpse cart however that would require i had the model.

I haven't tried vargs in 8th but it did me well in 7th ed, certanly I2 will hurt it however i think M9, terror, Regen and being vampire all go in its favour.

Hatred is certainly good however it isnt as good as it used to be, combats are going to last alot long and i think the only way we are going to win combat is through attrition. My plan for this with my grave guard is through fear and making my opponent fail the fear test.

-1 leaders, roll a extra dice and discard the highest is certainly going to help alot with that, on the weapon choice please read the note under the army list which explains why i have chosen HW+SH. If i can find some alternate models i can convert i will certainly change that. Atm im using the matic models with really lack weapon options, i am however looking into the LoTR range for possible models.

If you can drop 80pts of core, then do it. Skeletons are so terrible. Drop 10 skeletons, make the ghouls and the other skeletons bigger and get a corpse cart. With other armies you can afford to get away with having lots of core, but VC core unit cant actually do anything. They dont survive as well as they used to with less IoN castings and they cant fight thier way out of a wet paper bag, so there is no reason to take more than the minimum you possible can.

Corpse carts are cheap to buy but very very good for thier points. They bring your terrible units almost up to the standard of other armies troops. I suggest that you get one as your next purchase.

Trying to make your opponent fail fear tests to make your army work is a recipie for disaster. Its not easy to fail a fear test, especially when there are lots of character running around. It also wont work against thing that cause fear themselves or are immune to it. Banner of the barrows ensures that you almost always hit on 3s, regardless of whether your opponent has high Ld or doesnt care about fear.

Black Knights will die in protracted combat whatever items you give them. They just dont have the models to survive, and 1 S4 attack each after the first turn is nothing to sing about. You have already mentioned hoe much harder it is to cast IoN, and cavalry can only gain a single wound, so you cant rely on magic to keep them alive. Cavalry are a quick hammer unit, they have to do enough damage to break their opponents on the turn they charge, or they quickly become bogged down and overwhelmed . RBotS really helps them with this.

Varghulfs dont really do much anymore. Even with thunderstomp they cant do enough damage to take on block infantry and cant break ranks. Most infantry will do a wound or two before it can attacks, lose a few models in return and then it will crumble to static CR. Terror so rarely works that its hardly worth considering. If it was I4 or 5 then it would be something to think about, but at I2 with only 4+ regenerate it will die too easily to massed attacks before it can do anything significant.

Right here are some changes then, you certainly make some good points, i still thinking your ignoring the value if varghulf, while yes, its not going to break a unit, this is obvious however what it can do is support anothet unit (say my black knights), keep them marching while out of 12" of my general, charge into a unit with them and provide some decent support, so rather than a unit taking 13 lance attacks + 5 steeds its taking BK + a varg from whatever angles i choose, with its M9 it also gives me a unit which can nip through tight gaps to get to units (maybe mortars) which could cause me problems. terror may not work every time but it can still be effective, yes less against other armies but its still useful.

Sure a corpse cart would be great but hey this army was built on a tight budget using mainly the mantic range, why are you even assuming my black knights are going to go head first into a unit anyways? why would i do this, they are yet another support unit, a nice support for my infantry blocks, maybe blood knights would be better, maybe when i get round to converting some i will try them out, until then these will do, atleast unlike other cavalry i do have the option to raise them again which is more the point i was making.


Characters


Lady Isabell of Talabecland (with grave guard, 7x3)
Vampire Lord
- Level 3 Wizard
- Crown of the Damned
- Skullstaff
- Fobbidden Lore (Vampire lore)
- Lord of Dead
- Avatar of death (great weapon)
- Dark Acolyte
Total 455pts

Lady Isolde of Talabecland
Vampire
- Sword of Might
- The Flayed Hauberk
- Infinite Hatred
- Walking Death
- Battle Standard Bearer
Total 215pts

Konrad von Raukov
- Van Hals Dance
- Feed back scroll
Total 105pts


Core


24 Skeleton Warriors
- Fullcommand
Total 212pts

24 Skeleton Warriors
- Fullcommand
Total 212pts

24 Ghouls
Total 192pts


Special


20 Grave Guard
- Fullcommand
- Banner of the Barrows
Total 315pts

10 Black Knights
- Barding
- Fullcommand
- Royal Standard of Strigos
Total 355pts


Rare

Helmut Feuerbach
Varghulf
Total 175pts


Army Total 2250pts.