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So after reading and re-reading the army book I have come up with a list.


Vampire Lord
Master of the Black Arts
Dark Acolyte
Lord of the Dead
+1 Magic Level
Skull Staff
Helm of Commandment

Vampire
Master of the Black Arts

Vampire
Forbidden Lore (Lore of Vampires)
Summon Ghouls

Vampire
Forbidden Lore (Lore of Light)
Dispel Scroll

Wight King
BSB
The Flayed Hauberk
Sword of Kings

30 Skeleton Warriors
Full Command
Banner of Hellish Vigour

23 Skeleton Warriors
Full command

30 Crypt Ghouls
Full Command

30 Crypt Ghouls
Full command

30 Grave Guard
Full Command
Banner of the Barrows


Essentially I was trying to create a list that wins through attrition. Vampires go magic heavy and just keep increasing numbers in units and buffing at key points with the lore of light. Now I'm no master so I was hoping on some feedback, no matter how harsh. I was also focussing my vampires to keep them good at one particular thing. Comes in at just under 2.5k. On the table I guess that the aim is to move forward in 1 large block so I can march with minimum effort, while using Vanhel's Danse Macabre to stop annoying flyers and flankers. Any comments or criticism welcome.

You got 4 Casters. thats a lot of PD you'll need to spread out. Also you're investing a lot in vampire core which is ehh. I'd drop a unit of skeles or 2 for either knights, grave guard, or a monster.

kenshin has some good advice. With the cap at 12 on power dice in 8th ed you might not have enough to go around even with two motba. You might want to cut one vampire hero and turn one of the other heroes a combat vampire.

Unfortunately the battle of attrition is hard for skeletons to win, even with all the tricks VC have to get more. Ghouls it depends on what they fight. They kill more but with no armor they still can take considerable wounds.

Adding Knights, a Varghul (or 2), or more grave guard will give you some more punch to the army.

Ok so how about a new list looking like this:

Vampire Lord
Master of the Black Arts
Dark Acolyte
Lord of the Dead
+1 Magic Level
Skull Staff
Helm of Commandment

Vampire
Forbidden Lore (Lore of Vampires)
Summon Ghouls

Vampire
Forbidden Lore (Lore of Light)
Dispel Scroll

Wight King
BSB
The Flayed Hauberk
Sword of Kings

30 Skeleton Warriors
Full Command
Banner of Hellish Vigour

30 Crypt Ghouls
Full Command

30 Crypt Ghouls
Full command

30 Grave Guard
Full Command
Banner of the Barrows

27 Grave Guard
Full Command

So now I have some more hard hitters in combat. Only 2 vamps that really keep my numbers in check, but at least they are good at it and they only really need to use 2 dice per casting. The Lore of Light vamp is there to just pump up units when I hit combat.

Just bumping this up to see if there are any more comments...doesn't seem to be that many VC lists or players about.

VC's got a hit with the change in addition so it doesn't appear there are too many followers around.

I'd probably swap out the 2nd GG unit for Black Knights - more expensive but abetter punch in close combat. If you decide to keep both GG units give one great weapons as otherwise you are relying on killing blow and a couple of vampires to do any damage in hand to hand.

Thought Lore of Light was the one thing that Vampires couldn't take (or am I just thinking of Manfred's specific restriction?)

Lore of Life is off limits to the army. A generic Vampire can take Light. I don't know about Manfred as I don't normally play special characters.

The VC's did take a hit for a few reasons. How much is subject to debate. It is harder to win but it is certainly not without hope. I think the part that hurts the most is that there are fewer viable options to VC than before. Competitive all comers lists start to look the same after a while. I still field my fell bats and dire wolves on occasion just for some variety.

Back to the army it is an improvement. As Sceleris said make sure one or both have great weapons. GG with GW and banner of the barrows is by far the best infantry you can throw out there. I can't say if two gg units will perform better than one GG and black knights. I don't have enough gg to field two so I can't speak for its effectiveness. In theory with Vanhel's it should work well enough.