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Hey guys, I just picked up the new Vampire Counts book and I was trying to figure out which units to get first. I put together this army list as a sort of guide to help me start this army. I guess I was wondering if this is an alright list, since I am fairly new to fantasy. I am not really intending to play in many tournaments with it, just kitchen table games. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Master Necromancer- 210
Talisman of Preservation

Wight King- 129
Sword of Strife
Shield

40 Zombies- 130
Musician
Standard Bearer

39 Zombies- 127
Musician
Standard Bearer

18 Grave Guard- 228
Senechal
Musician
Standard Bearer

Varghulf- 175

Total- 999


I wanted to put my Necromancer on a corpse cart, but obviously that is not something I can do at 1k pts (over 25%). I was thinking about maybe thinning the ranks of the zombies or grave guard to accomodate the extra 90 pts. In any case, that would be the next model I would add in a higher pts game, followed by maybe some vargeists or something. As is, I was planning on sticking both characters in the grave guard. Any input on the magic items for my necromancer and wight king would also be nice. I figured the sword of strife is good with the wight's killing blow, but I'm not sure if there is a better option.

Be careful with putting the Necro on a corpse cart. It becomes a very tempting target for the opponent to shoot down, and that's a big risk.
I would switch the Wight for another caster, either vamp or necro, just in case your general dies. Crumbling is bad.
You've chosen a good item for your Necro. I would probably make him lvl 4 too, if I could find the points.

Yep, even at only 1000 points that seems too vulnerable to crumble.

Great advice, good to know about the corpse cart. I do want to add one, but I'll probably just take one as a special choice instead of a mount then. Here is my revision:


Master Necromancer- 210
Talisman of Preservation

Vampire- 136
Sword of Swift Striking
Shield
Heavy Armor

40 Zombies- 130
Musician
Standard Bearer

37 Zombies- 121
Musician
Standard Bearer

18 Grave Guard- 228
Senechal
Musician
Standard Bearer

Varghulf- 175

Total- 1000

I don't think I can upgrade the necro to a lvl 4 unless I cut the Varghulf (and I really want to paint a varghulf ), so that will be an addition for a higher point total. Lvl 3 should still be plenty for IoN tho.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, and this is not going to be until a ways off, I do want to eventually add either a vampire lord riding a zombie dragon or a coven throne. I probably won't field either unless I am using a grand army, but any thoughts to which is better? It seems to me that the dragon would be better at dealing with other monsters and tougher, smaller units, but the coven throne seems better suited to blocks of troops as it gets on average a larger number of weaker attacks.

with things like the cart no real need to bump them above a 2. Though not as suped up as the mortis engine but the varg is holdin down that spot. lol I would suggest another necro and get him a bunker to hide in so he isnt in any of your fighting forces.

What do you suggest for a bunker?

Something cheap like a small unit of skeletons or zombies. extra wounds and all is the idea so he cant be sniped as easy.

This may sound stupid, but I am assuming by the term "bunker" that I put him in the center of it, not the front row?

You may only put characters in the front row.
"bunker" means a unit of minimum models (10 Skeletons or 20 Zombies) that stay behind your other units.
The units in front protect him from CC.
The unit he's in, the bunker, protects him from shooting and other ranged attacks.

Oh, ok, nice! Yeah, that seems solid.