Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi dakka, i'm thinking of starting a small vampire counts army, scaling from 1000 to 2000 points later on. What are the general tactics/lists/best combinations for vampire counts in 8th edition fantasy
Sorry if this is just repeating threads from before, or you might say it would be easier to use the search button but i thought that it might be easier to just get most of the tactics in this one thread so i could look again in the future.

Thanks alll.

This got posted today, you might find it interesting:

http://www.yesthetruthhurts.com/2010/09/fantasy-cheesing-vampires-right-way.html

That link is... interesting. But it's vastly different from a more conventional setup. But hey if you want a tournament power gaming list then it's something to try. Furthermore the tactics in that link won't work in games under 2k as you won't have the points for all the characters that make the magic phase go nuts.

A more traditional setup would be to take the minimum core for the point level. The better units in VC are special/rare so you don't want to go too much past the min 25%. Ghouls can do more damage than skeletons but with no armor can still die rather quickly. Skeletons role is to tie up the army so your other killy units can do their job. While they lack in the killing power of ghouls they do have a lot more ways to get static combat resolution. Also keep skeletons to hand weapons. Spears are a waste on them.

The star of the VC army is grave guard with great weapons. Supporting them with some other items they will do quite a bit of damage to most units.

For 1k points I recommend running a Wight King as your general along with one vampire hero. The WK has more wounds, 5 toughness and a higher leadership. Also in small games I'd recommend taking all skeletons or ghouls and giving your vampire the appropriate ability to increase their starting size through magic. At smaller point levels it can be quite effective. Generally I take 1 unit of core that just passes 250 points, one 20ish grave guard, the two heroes and then anything left over is on a whim.

Stay away from starting with zombies in your list (unless you're trying the tactic mentioned in the link). They are just terrible in combat. They are very useful as raised units through magic for flank protection, screens or to tie up a war machine for a turn or two.

As for other special / rare, varghulfs are still good, the black coach is good but you have to account for it taking away some of your power dice. I like black knights but they need to be pointed at the right unit, preferably a flank. Spirit hosts like zombies should only be used as a result of magic. Wraiths can be good but are expensive and can die easily to the wrong unit or magic.

Lastly vampires themselves you have a few options. At lower point levels I'd just equip them for combat. Once you get high enough point level to take a lord you can then bump up the magic powers. What a lot of people like to do is give a lord lots of casting bonuses, stick him in a small skeleton unit behind the army and then support it through magic and the helm of commandment. Loosing your general is especially bad for VC as your whole army starts to disappear.

Hope that helps

ramongoroth wrote:

A more traditional setup would be to take the minimum core for the point level. The better units in VC are special/rare so you don't want to go too much past the min 25%.

and you can raise more for free so they won't be going away in a hurry.

Paired blades on your VC Lord, as well as Helm of Commandment. Use those on a GW armed Wight unit with the banner of the barrows - ouch! WS 10 anyone?

Argh. I should have known better than to click on that. It's an interesting, and probably effective idea. Just wish it wasn't wrapped in so much weird gamer machismo.

A lot of the builds I've seen are what Mattbranb has pointed out, coupled with ghoul units in support and other bits to taste (often a Forbidden Lore light vamp).

Actually played against one this weekend set up like that - hard as anything to kill. Ghouls are just so much better for core choices than skeletons.

Only advantage skellies get is bearing a banner.

I've had a lot of luck recently mixing Ghouls and Skeletons, something that was a big no-no in 7th ed but now that the raise spells spamming isn't as important is pretty viable in 8th. I use the skeletons with spears as a defensive unit for my casty Lord and maybe another just as filler/flank guard and then use 1-2 units of 30+ ghouls as the hard hitters in the list. Ghouls in horde formation put out 40 poisoned attacks.

ramongoroth wrote:

For 1k points I recommend running a Wight King as your general along with one vampire hero. The WK has more wounds, 5 toughness and a higher leadership.

Sorry, but just wanted to point out that you can't actually run a Wight King as your general. Pg. 88 of the VC book says the general can only ever be a vampire.

Dassarri that has been FAQ'd. You can have a Wight King as your general now, assuming you are not fielding a lord as that would be your highest LD unit.

Guess I'd overlooked that too. Technically, the FAQ *does* say to ignore page 88. It doesn't limit that statement to only certain segments of page 88 either. Weird.

So... if you have a Wight King and no Vampire Lord, the Wight King *has* to be the general?

I'm pretty sure that is indeed the case.

I have yet to have my ghouls perform as awesomely as other people have. It's probably more due to the armies I have played against. Even with T4 and all those attacks they still seem to loose combat and die as fast as skeletons do.