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So i picked up the new VC book thanks ot the new super-zombies in it and started thinking about what i would take in a list that would feature massed zombie death alongside fly abuse. Just a bit of a blue-sky list so far, just owndered what people thought...

ghoul king
-t.geist
- Infested
-dragonbane gem

necro
necro
necro
-d. scroll

167 Zombies, 2x 56, 1x 55

5 Bat swarms
4 Vargeist

terrorgeist
terrorgeist

Now this should be around 2000 points, perhaps 70 or so under as i think 2 of the necros are Lv2 but can't remember. bat swarms screen the vargheists until the vargs want to charge on t2 into whatever needs their loving. Use the 3 necro to invocation spam the zombies generating possible 6D6 new bodies a turn to add depth to the ranks via an effective 9D6+9 p/t split over the 3 units. use the geists to scream at either pesky warmachines, stray wizrds or combine to blitz deathstars and mainline hordes.

Any thoughts?

I don't think being on a large target extends the marching bubble. It extends the Inspiring Presence bubble I believe, but not the marching bubble.
What I'm curious to is the lack of a lvl 4 Wizard in this list. You wanted to base it on Zombies? Well, then you'd want to raise as many as possible, right? An lvl 4 would be ideal for that, raising D6 + 4 instead the of the current D6 + 1... And also have a better chance at succeeding.
Actually, if you want to REALLY abuse zombie-raising or zombie-hordes, you should have 4 units, with the lvl 4 in the middle, raising D6+4 in each of those units per successful IoN. That's 4D6 +16 new Zombies, preferably per turn. And even more if you include lesser Necromancers.

Also, you can dispel Raise Dead. The part about "You can't dispel the unit." or whatever it says is just there to prevent people from arguing that it's a Remains in Play-spell, and therefore should be dispellable.. I believe.

Just my 2 öre (Swedish money).

My apologies, you are indeed correct about the bubbles.

A Lvl4 is all good and well, very good in fact but i'm of the school of thought that believes a Vampire Counts army should be led by, as the name suggests, a vampire. this leaves little room for the frivolities needed with fielding a lvl4.

As said i've only just got the book so i'm still missing parts of it but 3 castings giving 9D6 +9 has a much higher yield than the slightly more reliable 4D6 +16. Admittedly it requires a couple more power dice however the 5 extra D6 at the cost of 7 guys is a much happier risk i feel.

The zombie idea was based on the fact i dislike all the other core choices really. Nothing wrong with them rules wise, i just like the look of a zombie more than a skelly or ghoul.

Good shout on raise dead. I was too keen to believe the doomsday rantings of the wishful.

Will amend the list in the op.

At first I couldn't understand how 3 castings gives you 9d6+9, but I think I get it now you're counting in points? (I was counting in actual models, if your zombies were split into 4 groups).
Also, a lvl 4 Vampwizard isn't unviable. True he would cost almost as much as your current Lord whilst not being mounted, but he would be a quite formidable foe.
However, if you're totally set on Strigos then there's not much I can say. You could try to fit a Master Necromancer somewhere behind your Ghoul King.. But I can see that it would be rather problematic.

I guess i'm not set on the strigoi as the general, it was more a case of wanting a 3rd terrorgeist and him fitting the purpose. Will look in to investing the points back in to a guy on foot (so i can use the awesome Isobella mini).

The 9D6+9 was the same format as your 4D6+16. I was just assuming that i run 3 units of 67ish. But i think i got it wrong.

3 necro x (2d6+1 per unit x 3 units in the radius) = 18D6 + 9 raised assuming they all have invocation leading to a huge potential raising which would be higer with a vamp in there. That's a disgusting amount of raise due to the zombies newly dead which gives them an extra D6 raised. Admittedly it makes a lv4 targetting 4 units equally nasty generating 8D6+16 rather than the 4D6 you originally stated.

To be honest, if i took a lvl4 on foot, i would most likely drop a necro for Konrad. Sure he lacks the magical ability, but he makes a nice unit champion and gives the zombies so much potential to win the combat without the need for the lvl4 to be too fighty. Maybe it'd be easier to use a wight king instead of Konrad to avoid the stupidity etc?

I think you're confusing IoN with Raise Dead. You raise D6 + level witn IoN. Raise dead creates a new unit of 2D6 + 3.
Also, even if you take a lvl 4, you can still keep the Necromancers. It's just that a lvl 4 has a better shot at getting it through the opponents defence, or drawing a lot of Dispel Dice in the process (allowing your Necromancers to cast theirs instead).

Quoting from the army bok "In addition, when zombie units are succesfully targeted by Invocation of Nehek they regain an extra D6 wounds." That is taken from the end of the Zombies Newly Dead rule on page 34.

So with the D6+ level from IoN plus the extra D6 from the zombies The Newly Dead rule that makes 2D6+lvl per unit does it not?

I realise i may be a little unclear with my wording so i'll rephrase...

Necro A cast IoN on an area including 3 zombie units. each zombie unit raises 2D6+1 new guys. This gives a total raise this cast of 6D6+3. Necros B and C do the same leading to a total raise of 18D6+9 zombies over the 3 units.

Yeah you are right about keeping the necro but again there is something niggling at me in terms of the 'character' of the army. Every Vampire Lord has an underling who he would take with him as a bodyguard or champion so why not field one? I think in that area it's something i'm going to have to play test a few times to see what fits best for me.

OOOHHH
I totally missed the Zombie special rule! Sorry about that!
Also, if you want a champion, you could always take a vampire hero, right? They are as good as Necromancers i terms of magic, but way more killy.

Well, I do know one thing, if you want this to work, you are going to need to paint up a LOT of zombies. YOu have a base 167. If you plan to raise at least 18D6+9 every turn. You might possibly need over 300 zombies, painted and ready for action! lol

@ Cornerfag - that's cool, we all miss stuff as I managed to prove in my original list. Yeah a normal vamp could work and i suppose for 155 i get a similar effect pretty much as konrad without stupidity and the added bonus of a lv1. just need to find 40/90pts depending on if i want red fury.

@Eldenfirefly - Yeah that was kind of the thing i was dreading. I was originally toying with around 250ish which gives 83 spare which about 30 above average average assuming the all go off. Looking at the idea of incorporating a number of unit fillers in the front ranks to fill out the unit without having to put in too may generic zombies which in turn will stretch my zombies per box ratio that bit further.

On a side note, I was curious to see how this idea translated to their Khemrian kin and well that appears that it translates into the perfect army to face off against this list with each unit seemingly mirroring the VC equivalent. So i guess i'm a bit torn about what to do... perhaps both? That's just crazy talk.