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So what is the new vamps lore looking at? Anything I should know about for tournament play or is the same old same old?

Well, no more spamming spells, and no more charging with Vanhel's Danse are the major changes IMO.
Also, the wierd Vortex might have some impact. D6 S3 hits per rank for every unit it touches, extendable for big template and S4.

Is it posible to "spam" necromansers to give life to zombies?

The spells can't be spammed anymore, but they got a bit stronger.

Invocation of Nehek is a bubble now and restores wounds to all units within range. It's D6 + wizard level (zombies get an extra D6), so a level 4 will restore a minimum of 5 wound to every unit within X inches. It has three tiers, 6", 12", and 18". It's the signature spell so you can have several necromancers casting this one.

Raise Dead also brings up either a new unit of 2D6+3 Zombies OR Skeletons (for a higher casting value).

Is my least favorite spell in the game Fate of Years still there?

Niiai wrote:Is it posible to "spam" necromansers to give life to zombies?

Yes, at least I consider it to be so.
A level 2 Necromancer is 100 points, which is fair enough.
IoN on it's lowest level reaches 6" and is cast on 6+.
Zombies are raised as 2D6+caster level.
If a single Necromancer is within 3 units of Zombies and gets his IoN off, that's 6D6 + 6 zombies raised.
Now, imagine if there where three Necromancers instead...

Johnny-Crass wrote:Is my least favorite spell in the game Fate of Years still there?

You mean Curse of Years, the one rolling a D6 for every model in the unit and on a roll of 6 they suffer a wound? Yep, still in.

Woah woah woah.... Curse of years only does a wound? It does not just remove the model?.... That cheesey .... If you will all excuse me I have a local vampire player to go pummel.

Yep, just brought out my old rulebook to double-check. On a roll of 6, it causes a wound with no armour save allowed. In the following magic phase, the wound is cause on 5+, and so on...

The Cornerfag~ wrote:

Niiai wrote:Is it posible to "spam" necromansers to give life to zombies?

Yes, at least I consider it to be so.
A level 2 Necromancer is 100 points, which is fair enough.
IoN on it's lowest level reaches 6" and is cast on 6+.
Zombies are raised as 2D6+caster level.
If a single Necromancer is within 3 units of Zombies and gets his IoN off, that's 6D6 + 6 zombies raised.
Now, imagine if there where three Necromancers instead...

Now imagine 3 necros doing that an within range of a mortis engine so they 1D6 their invos for added fun!

And if one Necromancer has Master of the Dead or something they can increase Skeletons beyond their starting size.

Grey Templar wrote:And if one Necromancer has Master of the Dead or something they can increase Skeletons beyond their starting size.

Good times!

Just don't cast with the Master of the Dead caster first, otherwise you can bet his invo will be dispelled with extreme predujice! (and for damn good reason too!)

Would IoN be a big target for dispelling?
I've been talking with a mate about how he would go about stopping VC magic (he plays dwarfs) and he seems to think a few extra zombies or skeletons are nothing to fear while curse of years could be pure evil.

jonolikespie wrote:Would IoN be a big target for dispelling?
I've been talking with a mate about how he would go about stopping VC magic (he plays dwarfs) and he seems to think a few extra zombies or skeletons are nothing to fear while curse of years could be pure evil.

Well a few extra peons may not be all that bad, but a boosted one in which 3 or so units are increasing their sizes could be most troublesome

Vc has a lot of good spells that require dispelling. A bubbled vanhels dance puts a lot of strain on defensive armies when you have horrors for example ending their first turn after moving 20", then ofc theres the good old invocation. A vampire casting the 12" version with creatures of the night power can bring a lot of points in per summon, zombies, bats what not. Then ofc theres the decent spells like curse of years and raise dead, they can be very nasty also. Oddly enough, seems like 2d6 s4 hits to 48", an excellent magic missile, might be the spell you need to let through since it "just dose damage"

Invocation isn't a problem till you get multiple units being effected.
It'll be an issue once combat happens and the vamps establish magical dominance. If they have 2-3 casters regrowing their units back it will be difficult to win.

kenshin620 wrote:

jonolikespie wrote:Would IoN be a big target for dispelling?
I've been talking with a mate about how he would go about stopping VC magic (he plays dwarfs) and he seems to think a few extra zombies or skeletons are nothing to fear while curse of years could be pure evil.

Well a few extra peons may not be all that bad, but a boosted one in which 3 or so units are increasing their sizes could be most troublesome

Its also the cheapest way to trigger Vigour Mortis on a Corpse Cart, which can be pretty wicked (if you can get one into position). You can get a lot of work done with one successful casting of IoN.

Ofc the power of IoN is extremely situational. But a tooled vampire in the middle of a chaff army casting the 12" bubble can summon summon 15 wounds of bats, wolves and 20+ zombies per spell making it something that dwarves would like to dispel during the first turns. This type of army wouldnt even be looking too strange powerlevel wise.

Is this a good army to start as a new player? I don't ask from the position of competitiveness, but to learn the rules and the scene. I bought the book last week, and am trying to figure out the magic phase. A lot goin on there.

To learn the game it is probably a bad one, a lot of fantasy is breaking the enemy and running them down. VC don't flee ever, instead they just take a wound for every point of combat res they lost by.

As for their magic phase, it's all about raising more troops and buffing them, they have damage spells but if your prioritizing them your doing it wrong.

yeah, not a great place to start from.

Of course if you really like vamps then go for it anyway. Play the army that appeals to you.

It is always an interesting deal how "new people" armies are approached. Many assume that mean playing a more I guess typical game approach but I am more under the opinion there is no "new" person force.

For example if a new person army was HE(bear with me it is just an example) and a person played it for the sake of it being so. That really doesnt help you learn the anything imo other then to play HE.

If you are new and such reading and playing your army of choice is the ideal way imo to start any game. Playing a "new" person army and investing all that time and money seems counter productive. So In short I say play whatever army appeals to you. It will be a long term investment and many hrs of playing so make sure you make it count!

I see your point, but if we look at it from a "familiarizing the rules"-perspective, I feel that there is merit in playing an army that "suffers" from rules such as psychology and participates in all phases of the game.

Yeah, ultimatly playing a particular army will only teach you to play that army.


But as for learning the basic rules, some armies are better then others.

Empire is as generic as you can get. For magic, its only the 8 basic lores out of the book. For army composition the only difference is the, optional, detachment system that isn't that great of an idea anymore. They don't have any funky army wide special rules. They have a wide spectrum of units, they can run every unit type in the main rule book except for Monstrous infantry and cavelry. You can choose between a CC focused army or a shooty one.

Every other army book will have some sort of deviation from the core rule set, exceptions and all that.



Ultimatly, the best army to play would be the one you like most. Learning the rules easily is secondary to this. If you like another army better you will have an issue with it till you get the one you want.