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Bump... and i edited it seeing i have not got any replies.. i typed it late at night so maybe my question(s) for advice were not clear...

Ok i have lots of these units in my VC army. My army is not the best anymore, when i actually collected it back in the day it was before they split my undead army into VC and Tomb Kings, so i had more desire to make it toward VC. What i have though is a lot of skeleton units with spears/shield, sword/shield, and skeletons with scythes (which i count as spears as i like the figures too much lol).

I am getting back into the game with 8th edition (was not playing since 6th edition).

My issue with my units is i have a bunch of skeleton units. I guess my army is rather dry ...

They are old OOP and original plastic from the kit that had the horsemen and chariots back in the day. I do not have any standards or musicians for the units. What is the best and easiest way to model standards and instruments for them? I need to keep weight down as these figures are so light weight and i have had some newer plastic undead when they gave you pewter standards continually fall over.. which are now not used by me even with weight they sucked!

Second, should i even spend the time on giving them standards and instruments? By this I am wondering if in game play the units dont really need them... or if they really do need them being i have not played them in a long time.

I am not looking to buy new Vampire Counts models for the army and such. I am just trying to make the army play able for what i have and upgrade things like light weight standards and instruments that they might need. I will maybe update and add an army list here to help show what i have for the army.

From what i've seen so far standards are a must, musicians can be helpful but you do not need to worry with undead about them too much.

Not too sure what to suggest for standards modelwise if you're playing with older stuff with no intention of getting new bits... Maybe something like a zombie standard? That's basically a spear with a crossbar on it. Maybe with something hanging in a way to provide balance?

To make banners you could take a Spear armed skeleton and stick a pennant on the spear shaft.

Both great ideas thx . Any simple conversions to make instruments?... maybe i could make a flute and do army of darkness... but i dont want army full of flutes lol.

I'd recommend buying a small pack of bitz, from Ebay or something similar.
Standards and musicians are both very useful, and I would recommend the prior on every major unit, and the latter on every possible unit.

In terms of skeletons with spears, I think you will find that most people suggest they be equipped with standard hand weapons. For such rag-tag units as skeletons (or my Skaven), I do like the look of spears mixed into a hand weapon/shield unit. As long as the front rank and/or more than half of the unit is modeled as it's supposed to be, I wouldn't expect any complaints.

I actually just got finished (last night) converting my skeletons with spears into hand weapons. In the edition of the game that I played, spears worked differently and they were all (40 or so) equipped with them.

OK so will look into doing some standard/musicians in unit. As for unit size with "horde" rules what have you all been running and how does it work?

I been running standard undead units about 20 strong in past, but maybe ill put them together which also will help with standards n such by making horde unit of skeletons. I have a few so another question is how many models should i save in i guess "reserve" so as to summon to units to build them more as i play?

Yeah i dont know that i really want to cut up my spearmen to make them sword and board. Probably do the mix thing and keep front ranks representing the unit. That way in future no cutting up models and such if want to use spears again. I also have done this too many times in the past and dont play VC historically as much as other armies i have.

Well, that depends on whether you intend to take Master of the Dead. Zombie units can be raised beyond their starting value, but Skeleton units can't unless you take this upgrade on one of your necromancers. If you don't take this upgrade, then you don't need any extra models at all. Instead, you'll just use the skeletons that were removed as casualties when you decide to bring them back.

If you DO take this upgrade... I think most people usually suggest having about 40 extra zombies, but that's because zombies are raised at 2d6 instead of 1d6. Maybe 20 extra skeletons?

 Tangent wrote:
Well, that depends on whether you intend to take Master of the Dead. Zombie units can be raised beyond their starting value, but Skeleton units can't unless you take this upgrade on one of your necromancers. If you don't take this upgrade, then you don't need any extra models at all. Instead, you'll just use the skeletons that were removed as casualties when you decide to bring them back.

If you DO take this upgrade... I think most people usually suggest having about 40 extra zombies, but that's because zombies are raised at 2d6 instead of 1d6. Maybe 20 extra skeletons?

Good to know


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I actually have got disgusted with some bretonian men at arms and archers... (i hate the newer plastic ones... and not to mention i got them used and they are all not how i would have done them but oh well). I was going to use them in Bret army but, i decided to put that on hold largely cause i think they suck lol and i am going to use them as zombies . They are good enough for that in my opinion. I prefer the older Bret archers and Men at Arms so makes my army not look clownish.

Second thing is that i have command squad from the Brets too so that i can put into a skeleton unit with some mods and solve one unit command squad issues .