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I've tried 3 types of builds, and been pretty happy with all 3. From what I've seen, you need to build the army to match the count.
Combat Monster: Red fury, eternal hate, good survival and hitting gear (2+ armor 4+ ward, 40 point weapon), or dread knight (4+ ward with 60 point weapon).
Casting: Level 4, with lore master, +1 to cast/dispel, and 4+ ward.
Hybrid: Level 2, lore master death, eternal hate, night shroud, 4+ ward, sword of anti-heroes.

The Hybrid seems to be just effective enough in the magic phase to cause some problems, and he still cleans up in combat. 4 S5 attacks base with hate, tends to take care of rank and file. When heroes show up, he cleans house. Last night this guy jumped into a ghoul unit that had marched in front of a big'un unit and put boar boys on the flank. He had 8 S9 attacks; on the charge the orcs won by musician, and lost by ~15 in the 2nd round of the fight. Death magic forced the issue, he couldn't hold back and reposition, I was sniping at he characters.


What's your favorite Vampire Count lord choice?
Combat, casting, or a little of both?

-Matt

Casting by far. Other models in the Vampire Counts army can bring combat potential (most notably: Grave Guard) and the risk of losing your General (which is terrible for Vampire Counts) is just too big. I do prefer a slightly different build for the casting Vampire Lord though (in my opinion, Master of the Black Arts is superior to Dark Acolyte and well worth the additional 20 points).

I use a Vampire Lord with The Nightshroud, Sword of Anti-Heroes and Crown of the Damned for items. Master of the Black Arts, Dark Acolyte and Lord of the Dead for powers.

He runs 415 points. He's more amazing in combat the more enemy characters are about. He literally always strikes first thanks to the Nightshroud. I run him in a unit with flaming and magical attacks banner and he sticks close to the Battle Standard for stupidity rerolls. He's a level four, with plus two power dice and can invocation my skeletons above their starting size (I'm aware ghouls are better, but I just hate their models and character).

He leads from the front and is very unlikely to die with a 4+ ward and ability to generally kill anything threatening to him. Using Lore of the Vampires is all I ever want or need really, Vanhel's gives him re-rolls to hit, Curse of Years is very potent against large blocks and Summon Undead Horde and Wind of Undeath have their uses. I have another Vampire take raise dead so he can't be stuck with it.

i generally play at 3k, ad i like to run 2 lords one casty/support the other just mean in combat. looks like this

General (ina skeleton bunker)
Helm of Command
Iron Curse
Fencer Blades
Dark Acolyte
Forbidden Lore *light*

"Hitman" (ghoul horde infront of bunker, generally with drakenhoff banner and a hero lvl support vamp)
Sword of Bloodshed
Other Tricksters Shard
Enchanted Shield
Red Fury
Avatar of Death
Eternal Hatred

and in the same unit as the hitty lord and the bsb i like having a hero lvl vamp with thte 2+ magic armour and lore of beasts.

its a bit expensive all together but i find it to be quite efective to have 10 S8 attacks lol

Cheers
Mike

Nitros14 wrote:I use a Vampire Lord with The Nightshroud, Sword of Anti-Heroes and Crown of the Damned for items. Master of the Black Arts, Dark Acolyte and Lord of the Dead for powers.

He runs 415 points. He's more amazing in combat the more enemy characters are about. He literally always strikes first thanks to the Nightshroud. I run him in a unit with flaming and magical attacks banner and he sticks close to the Battle Standard for stupidity rerolls. He's a level four, with plus two power dice and can invocation my skeletons above their starting size (I'm aware ghouls are better, but I just hate their models and character).

He leads from the front and is very unlikely to die with a 4+ ward and ability to generally kill anything threatening to him. Using Lore of the Vampires is all I ever want or need really, Vanhel's gives him re-rolls to hit, Curse of Years is very potent against large blocks and Summon Undead Horde and Wind of Undeath have their uses. I have another Vampire take raise dead so he can't be stuck with it.

You can still get stuck with raise dead. Since it's a spell you can swap for, you allowed to duplicate it, and don't get the option for choosing another. That's why I've been leaning away from lore of vampire.

-Matt

I've had a good run with my Vampire Lord loadout:

Vampire Lord - level 3 Lore of Vampires
Vampiric Powers: Dark Acolyte, Master of the Black Arts, Lord of the Dead
Gear: Wristbands of Black Gold, Armour of Night, Helm of Commandment
Total: 435

I've only lost him twice over the course of about 15 games, once was getting sucked into the Realm of Chaos casting Vanhel's Danse Macabre and the other was failing his 3+ ward save on a cannonball to the face. He's got a -2 to hit from shooting, usually a 4+ Look Out Sir! roll followed by a 3+ wardsave from warmachines (and any shooting that DOES get through), and he gives out his weapon skill to the unit he's next to, usually my horde of Skeletons with spears. If things get a little scary (Empire with 3 cannons/mortars comes to mind) I park him in the unit for a few turns until I close in, then he leaves the unit and does his casting from afar. The best part is after all the shenanigans with shooting at him, a lot of people I've gone against are afraid to charge him too!

I too prefer Lore of Vampires in general. Even Raise Dead has it's uses, so it's not the end of the world when I get stuck with it. Having Level 4 also garuntees at least one of the "Big 3".

I've had a lot of fun lately with this at 1500:

Combat Lord:
Red Fury, Blood Drinker, Flayed Hauberk, Crown of Damned

Caster Thrall:
Forbidden Lore (Beasts), Lord of the Dead, Helm of Commandment, Opal Amulet

The Lord rides in a 20x GG unit while the Thrall bunkers in an initially small 10x Skele unit. Another 20X Skele unit is there as well, hence the LotD. 1 unit of 20x Ghouls and a Varg round it out.

I'd guess I'm 50/50 W/L at this point. Opponents have been WoC, Orks, Dwarves, Skaven, Lizards.

Beast Lore buffing the Combat Lord is so much fun.

The one thing I definitely miss in this list is a guaranteed Vanhel's. When we move up to 2000, I'm definitely adding a Necro for that alone (and maybe a dispell scroll).

I'm a tad mad, but I use the following Lord set-up:

Lord
- Dreadlance
- Crown of the Damned
- Red Fury
- Avatar of Death
- Ghoulkin
- Terrorgheist

He works a treat! Especially when combined with the Beasts buff granting +3A/S...

How do you find enough points for a Terrorgheist riding lord as well as a forbidden lore caster? 4000p games?

ph34r wrote:How do you find enough points for a Terrorgheist riding lord as well as a forbidden lore caster? 4000p games?

Forbidden lore is on the vampire hero.

-Matt

I have enjoyed a caster build recently:

Lord
Master of the Black Arts
Forbidden Lore - Vampires

+1 Magic Level

Wristbands of Black Gold
Earthing Rod
Helm of Commandment

I also run a thrall with forbidden lore metal/light and is equipped to handle the small units that can skip around my line to the bunker. I am thinking of switching the Lord to this build for an upcoming "Lowhammer" tourny

Lord
Master of the Black Arts
Dark acolyte
+1 ML

Havent thought about gear yet, but I would have a thrall with forbidden lore light/metal too.

I really like Master of the Black Arts because I am fantastic at rolling snake eyes for Winds of Magic, and helps offset the Black Coach should I take it. Although double Terrorgheists has been a lot of fun. Really helps with great armor save/high wound units that my Grave Guard are not fighting or can't killing blow (ogres etc).

- Strig

I always run my vampire lord a combat monster, like this:
Vampire Lord
Powers: Beguile, Infinite Hatred
Armour: Walach's Bloody Hauberk
Weapon: Blood Drinker
Talisman: Crown of the Damned OR Talisman of Preservation

Beguile is there just because I like having a suave vampire (and there are so many things to beguile that seems just wrong... Such as Stegadons.)

Im a fan of the lv 4 caster lord, mainly because I like magic and magic is a pretty damn handy thing to have for the undead.

I've been running:
+2 A Sword from the Big Book (can't recall the name)
Flayed Hauberk
Talisman of Endurance
Red Fury
Infinite Hatred

I play against Empire a lot so having 6 S5 attacks with Hatred and Red Fury is pretty useful against Halberdier blocks.