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Howdy gang! Following is the "rough" Vampire Count list I'm working towards buidling. Pretty much everything you see I already have, most of which is primer coated, some painted and even more unassembled. Directly following is my newbie usage notes (I'm still a wee bit green in WHFB), and after that what figures I'm using and what figures I have. Without further ado, here's the list:

2250 Pts - Vampire Counts of the Sylvanian Fens

Lords & Heroes
Vampire Count Moires von Straub
General; Von Carstein; L2 MU; HW; Extra HW; Ring of the Night; Aura of Dark Majesty; Wolf Form

The Black Hags of Hel Fen (3 Necromancers)
Orgoch - L2 MU; HW; Power Familiar
Orduu - L2 MU; HW; Book of Arkhan; Dispel Scroll
Orwen - L2 MU; HW; Dispel Scroll, Power Stone

Core
14 Zombies (Musician, Standard)
14 Zombies (Musician, Standard)

10 Dire Wolves (Doom Wolf)
10 Dire Wolves
10 Dire Wolves

4 Bat Swarms

Special
4 Fell Bats
4 Fell Bats

8 Black Knights (Full Command & barded)
8 Black Knights (Full Command & barded)

Rare
1 Banshee

Total Roster Cost: 2249
Starting Model Count: 77
Power Dice: 11 (+ 1x Power Stone & 1x Bound item)
Dispel Dice: 7 (+2 scrolls)


The big wolf Count Miers von Straub could be be placed in the unit of Dire Wolves (the one with the Doom Wolf). I'm thinking his wolf pack would form my line's center, with the other two packs to one side or the other, whichever is optimal. To the unused side will be the two zombie formations, which will naturally contain the three Hags spread between them, who will, of course be raising dead as fast and Danseing away as fast as they can. The one power stone will also get used in some critical magic phase, my guess being turn 2 or 3, to completely overwhelm my opponent. Hopefully the Book of Always Taken (Arkham) will not have burned out by then either, which (I think) gives me 14 power dice being rolled every turn.

Fell Bats and Bat Swarms will be on march blocking, war machine sniping and MU hunting expeditions (whatever?s needed), ditto with the screeching Banshee. Last, but not least, will be the Black Knights, who will be right behind the wolves, will either hit flanks or get Dansed into combat and/or protect the rear.

I guess. I really am a WHFB n00b! All I can hope for is my army will look really cool getting slaughtered. Which is the likely outcome. So, what you say? Am I working in the totally wrong direction or missing some vital component? Is this super duper cheese and very unfriendly, or merely a challenge, if that, in my noob hands? Or very boring and predictable? Enquiry minds wanna know!


For figs, here's what I'm using, and their status:

Vampire Count Moires von Straub is Reaper's Zombie Werewolf, whom I've managed to get on a 20mm scenic base currently black primed. The Black Hags of Hel Fen are the witches from Reaper's Witch Coven. The banner bearing one has had the banner cut off above the hand and replaced with a single skull from the old GW Marauder standard. All currently black primed. (Bonus points if you can figure out where their names are from!)

Zombies! Arrghhh! Brains! The list contains just under on quarter of all the zombies I have (120), all which are painted up and just awaiting basing. I must say, I don't know if I'll ever raise 90+ zombies in a game, but I figured it'd be better to have more than I need, than not enough. The Dire Wolves are mostly GW wolves (from the Gobbo Wolf Rider regt. boxes, with a smattering of the ridiculously overpriced Dire Wolf packs) with four Reaper Dire Wolves in there. Those are all the Dire Wolves I got (30), and all of which I'm currently painting.

I have five Bat Swarm stands (though just using four, as you can see), which were made using a mix of GW's Bat Swarm packs, the plastic bats from that old GW evil/dungeon critter plastic toy set (you know, the ones in the tiny 4x6x1 inch boxes sold for $6-$10 several years ago?) and one of Reaper's bat swarms. The stands on all the GW figs were replaced with various lengths of brass rod and all secnic bases have (or will have) a similar mix of stuff and look the same, which combined with the paintjob, should blend everything together. Currently painting these.

The fell bats are all GW, and the eight included here are all I own. Currently painting these too. The Black Knights are a little over half of what I have (28 mtd knights of one sort or another), most of which were made with the Empire Knightly Orders regiment box sets with a few simple conversions using extra zombie/skellie bitz & greeblies from my bin. If neeed, I can create up to 3 units with full command, including two mounted Vampire counts, a champion/thrall/wight lord (converted from the mounted Luthor Huss model!) as well as a BSB converted from the general in the current big red box set. All are still in need of some GS details, but otherwise assembled & awaiting primer coat.

Lastly, I'm using Reaper's lovely Banshee to filling the same role. Currently she's just primer coated, but I hope to give her a more ethereal effect, possibly similar to GW's take on the LotR Army of the Dead (mostly grey with greenish washes).


Ok, that's what I have in this list, but I also have quite a few more figs that can be used to tweak the list and/or make it go in a completely different direction by swaping stuff out. Here's what I got, and how far along it is (or isn't):

Heroes & Lords
For Vampires, this Reaper Crypt Bat I picked up to be a Strigoi Bat Count (or thrall). I have two vampiresses for what will probably be a never used Lahima contingent, one being GW's  Classic Lahima, and the other Reaper's Vampire Seductress. Lastly, also have two GW Blood Dragon Vampires on foot (the mounted versions I mention w/the Black Knights). I figure any of these could also be used as thralls or what have you. All are black primed.

For Necromancers, I have a couple Reaper figs that seem to fit the bill, Ashkrypt the Liche and Leisynn, Chaos Wizard, as well as GW's old Mordhiem Necromancer, whose sword was replaced with a converted rams head staff. Again, all are black primed.

Core
30 skellies with spears (obviously assembled before I knew the power of LA+HW+Shield), mostly GW plastics with those old casket shields from years past as well as a couple Reaper skellies, all which are converted to look like they're coming out of the ground (front rank standing, rear rank up to their necks in the muck). All of these are are black primed too. If need be, I have a box of skellies plus an extra sprue and one or two TK horserider sprues I can use to model another 4-8 guys coming out of the ground. With creative conversions, and a couple other extra Reaper skellis, I could build 30-40 skeletons (which, if I do, will have LA+HW+Shield).

For ghouls, I'm looking to pick up a pack of Old Glory's Transylvanian Peasant Infantry, which could also get pressed into WAB service.

Specials
I have a couple Bret Men at Arms boxes, which with leftover skellie & zombie bits, I plant to do up a nice Grave Guard unit. All of which is still on the sprues.

For Spirit Hosts, I've picked up several Reaper figs, namely Gauren, Wrathful Spirit,  Railor, Aysa, Ghost, and Moandain, Lich Warlord. I might stick all of these on a removable 20mm bases (that would set atop a scenic 40mm base as required), as they are all quite nice character models and I could use another banshee (which "Aysa, Ghost" was originally purchased for). Alternately I might just use some leftover empire figs and give them the LotR "Army of the Dead" paint scheme I mentioned before.

Rare
I have shamelessly built two Great Cannons with spikes and skull gubbins, zombie crews and scenic bases to use in some fromunda cheese smackdown gladiator list. The need some texturing on the bases and then they'll be ready for primer & painting. I presume these would not be welcome in most comped tourneys nor friendly group play?

Is the black coach even worth taking? That's a lot of pointage for a model that can go poof with one hard cavalry charge... If I did build one, it'd be scratch built.

Misc/Unknown
I did get a couple Rackham figs supposedly for this army, namely The Gorgon and The Corpse Collector of Salaüel, both which look as fabulous in your hands as they do on the web. They also fit GW's scale perfectly, despite being 30mm. The Gorgon might make a good Banshee while the Corpse Collector would be another great Necromancer choice. I just love the miniatures (Rackham gets me all hot and bothered, I'll admit).



Yes, that?s a lot of minis! (and this is one damn long post!) So, is there any thing missing? Am I insane? Do I really need to stop everything and get building Skellies and Grave Guard? Or paint what I have and quit worrying about everything else? Not to mention my horrible tactics and lack of skill on the table. It doesn?t matter so long as it looks good dying (or, in this case, dying again), right?

Your list is a fairly typical siummon hoarde but I really like your useing non GW minis.  It reminds me of a site i found pictures of a Russian company who make a game called ring of rule.  now I would never play this game but Squadron mail order tries to get rid of the minis at ridiculously low prices IE $5 for 20 multipart plastic zombies.  I almost bought 10 boxes of them just to make a simmon hoard.  The crappy pics below are from a fan site that took me forever to find of the said zombies.  Not bad with lots of bits that could be used for LATD in 40K or Nurgle in fantasy.

Pretty sure I'm on par with your n00bness, Nyarla, but let me thank you for the long post all the same! I like where your army is headed, and love that zombie werewolf!

As far as the list goes, from what I've seen on Dakka it looks to be a pretty nasty standard summon horde that should hold up wickedly on the table. Clearly I'm not the guy to offer nasty tweaks or anything, but I'm pretty sure your burgeoning vampire legion would squish my gathering ogre horde hands down ...

Good luck with Fantasy!

- Boss Salvage

Hah, well, I am trying to tweak it down so it's not quite so deadly. I really had no idea the power of the army when I started, I just like gothy vampy things and new I could find plenty of alternatives to GW's muck when starting it. Strangely enough, I found out some of the GW stuff was cheaper than the alternatives.. Just plastics though. And Fell Bats. That and I liked a lot of Reaper's sculpts better. In fact, that's how I got into it, Reaper's lovely figs, me wanting to find a way to use them, and a cagey old shop keeper that showed me the great deal that the current big red box is.

So, for a kindler, gentler list, how's does this fare:
2250 Points

Heroes
Black Hags of Hel Fen (3x Necromancers)
Orgoch: General; L2 MU; HW; Dispel Scroll; Spell Familiar
Orduu: L2 MU; HW; Power Stone; Dispel Scroll
Orwen:L2 MU; HW; Power Stone; Dispel Scroll

Lord of the Barrows, the Wight Lord of Hell Fen
Nightmare, Barding; HW, Great Weapon; Heavy Armor; Wailing Helm

Core Troops
15 Zombies (Musician; Standard Bearer)
15 Zombies (Musician; Standard Bearer)
15 Zombies (Musician; Standard Bearer)

10 Dire Wolves (Doom Wolf)
10 Dire Wolves
10 Dire Wolves

5 Bat Swarm

Special Troops
4 Fell Bats
4 Fell Bats

7 Black Knights (Full Command, Barding, Banner of the Barrows)
8 Black Knights (Full Command, Barding)

Rare Troops
1 Banshee

Total Roster Cost: 2245
Starting Model Count: 108
Power Dice: 8 (+2 Power stones, no bound items)
Dispel Dice: 5 (+3 Dispel Scrolls)

Less nasty, yes? Same general usage as before, with the Wight Lord obviously going into the smaller Black Knight unit. I do think this list will be a bit more unforgiving of my guaranteed newbalicous mistakes. Whatcha say?

Don't worry too much about kindler and gentler when you're starting out.  Both lists look solid, but it'll take practice and a decent understanding of the rules before you can really start pounding people.  I like your model choices.

BTW, Lloyd Alexander rules.  He had the whole Harry Potter idea forty years ago, only better written in a tiny fraction of the page count.

Hah! Your're the first to get it! Lloyd Alexander does indeed rule. I think I even read him before Tolkien the first time. That or I read both right at the same time. That was a loooong time ago too...

Thanks for the comments too. That goes for everybody. I'll probably practice with the friendlier one, as it (or some variation) is what I'd like to take to the Colonial, if I can finish in time. And right now, that's not looking so good. But the local group is going, so even if I'm not "in" the tourney, I might be there for pick up games Friday and Saturday evenings and general socializing. Rumour has it some FoW gaming will be going on too... Whee!

I agree with Mannahnin in regards to power.

In referance to Lloyd Alexander however, you must both realize that he got those names from old (pre-norman) Welsh mythology. He does indeed rock.

Dude, where's Taran, Cole, Flewddur, Doli, Eilonwy, Gwydion, and the rest?

Double-post. Whoops.

Man, if he had undead Taran, Coll, and Eilonwy I'd be forced to smack him. That's one childhood memory that doesn't need trampling.

Not knowing what the hell you all are talking about (Lord Alex who???) I'd say this is a completely solid list. Really, it kinda scares the crap out of me...

I'd even recommend taking this to the Colonial, though if your general is a level 2 you need to drop 1 power level.... I believe 9 is the max. And if you are really that new to the game I don't think you have to worry about power level that much. There should be enough competition there to find people who can handle the necro summon horde.

Lloyd Alexander! (or are ya pulling our leg there? Hmm?) It was from his five volume "Chronicles of Prydain", specifically "The Black Cauldron" (of which Disney flubbed in their animated adaption of) that I picked the names of the witches. And Mannahnin is quite right, undead Taran, Eilonwy, Fflewddur & others would be quite contrary to the tales! Even now, I'm portraying the three sisters as evil beings, rather the neutral light Alexander has them in.

All sounds good. I am currently painting towards getting the friendlier list done. Haven't a clue if I'll finish in time for the Colonial, so who knows. I'd love to go and it seems the locals I just discovered are all heading there (so the pressure is on).

Where are the details for the Colonial again? I did a quick check through the forums for dates and such and came up dry. Anyone hook a brother with a link?

Here ya go: The Colonial GT. Lookin pretty good, lots of discussion over at the Warhammer Forum last I checked too. Enjoy!

Holy hell! I go to school at UVA in Charlottesville and had no idea this was happening! Curse my measly 1000 pt ogre army ... and incredible unfamiliarity with WHFB in general

All the same, might stop by and see how things look (i.e. bother Nyarla), especially as for all I knew nobody in Cville played Fantasy - it's all 40k at The End and Warmachine downtown. Damn, maybe I'll even kick my painting into gear (as in, get it started) and pray for pick-up games or something ...

- Boss Salvage