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Hey All,

Me and the gamign group are getting a little tired of the 40k scene at the moment and looking into fantasy, I've picked up vampire counts as I quite like the models.

I'm a hobbyist at heart but my mates call me the Cheese hound for some reason, but anyway here is a few lists I was thinking.

Also to note my opponents will be 2 wood elf players, 1 lizardman player and a dwarf player (with the possibility of a WoC player once I peep pressure him back into Fantasy )

Anyway heres the first list, probably more like a, generic list that people like (people seem to love the terrorghiest)

Lord
Master Necro w/ 245
Level 4, Tal of Pres

Heroes 286
Vamp w/
HA, Death, Shield, Tricksters Helm 161

Necro
w/ Level 2, Book of Arkhan 125

Core 305
5x Dire wolves

19 Spear Skeles w/
FC

20 Zombies w/
FC

20 Zombies w/
FC

Special
Varghiests 138

Rare
Terrorghiest 225 (Totally using the FW Mourngul for this bad boy booyeah!!)

I prefer the thought of having the omnipotent vamp lord running the show but the points are so bloody tight in at 1200, so here are another 2 options I was looking at:

Lords 270
Vamp Lord w/
Barded Nightmare, HA, Lance, Vamps, Dragonbane Gem, Enchanted Shield

Hereos 190
Necro w/ 100
LvL2
Necro w/ 90
Book of Arkhan

ore 305
5x Dire wolves

19 Spear Skeles w/
FC

20 Zombies w/
FC

20 Zombies w/
FC

Special
Varghiests 138

Rare
Blood Knights w/ 295
Musician, SB, Flag of Blood Keep

I prefer the feel of this one as I love the blood knight models haha...

And finally this option:

Lord
Master Necro w/ 245
Level 4, Tal of Pres

Heroes 298
Vamp w/
HA, Vamps, Book of Arkhan, Ench Shield, Sword of Might, LVL 1
Wight King BSB w/
GW, Shield, Banner of the Barrows

Core 305
5x Dire wolves

19 Spear Skeles w/
FC

20 Zombies w/
FC

20 Zombies w/
FC

Special 348
29 Grave guard w/
Great Weapons

So Similar to the first list but slowly meandering up the board instead of flank rushing...

I have a variety of other models at my disposal (Ghouls, Horrors, Black Knights/Hell Wraiths, Corpse Carts and am happy to build/convert most things up).

So any pointers or ideas would be brilliant thank you!

Cheers,
TheTrans

Hey mate, I'm a Vampire Count player as well with about 2500-3000 points so I hope I can help!

1st List:
You can afford to drop the Talisman of Preservation on the Master Necromancer. He should be in a "bunker" (20-30 Zombies) unit that is hiding behind the rest of your army, the idea is to keep both he and the bunker unit out of combat in this way. If you want him by himself, then the Talisman will be necessary though. You need to post your Magic Lores for each Wizard in your army, meaning the Master Necromancer, Vampire and Necromancer. I don't have an army book handy, but I'm pretty sure the General must take Lore of the Vampires, meaning your Master Necromancer will have the Lore of Vampires. Death is a good choice for the Vampire, see what you roll, if it isn't helpful just take Spirit Leech and try and snipe enemy characters. At 1200 points limits, this shouldn't be too hard. I'm not sold on the loadout, but for a foot Vampire I think it is ok. The Tricksters' Helm will be funny against Wood Elves, but not so much against Dwarves and Lizardmen. Switching it to a Dragonhelm may be preferable, or even swapping both it and the shield out for an Enchanted Shield - cheaper and the same thing really. I'll be honest and say that I think you should swap the Necromancer to two naked Level 1 Necromancers, both with Lore of the Vampires. Why? Resurrection. Zombies can be raised above their starting unit size, and even a Level 1 Necromancer raises an average of 8 Zombies per unit within 6" at a time. If you have spare Zombies.....well, you can basically drown your opponents in bodies. And at 1200 points, it is unlikely they will have too much that can really scythe through those units quickly enough.

The Core is fine, though the units are too small if you don't plan on adding more to them. Even for 1200 points, the Skeleton unit is too small and should be at least 30ish with characters attached. Skeletons should also never have spears, they can't do much of anything in combat and are thus best used as a bunker unit. This means giving them hand weapon and shields for the 6+ parry save. I would swap the Skeletons for another unit of 20 Zombies and another unit of 5 Dire Wolves. With the 15 points spare, just add 5 extra Zombies to one of the units. From there, your Master Necromancer and two Necromancers can just raise, raise, raise and win through attrition. Keep the Necros behind the units, laugh at the fact that opponents won't be able to draw line of sight to them and pray they don't have fliers. One thing I will say is that if you do go this route, again I don't have my army book on me, but if it is possible to go Death with the Master Necromancer then I recommend doing so. Vargheists are great, though being Frenzied can be an issue if your opponent gets first turn. They have a maximum charge range of 22", meaning that any unit that moves forward a few inches opposite them on turn one will force them to try and restrain a charge. However, they hit really hard and will clear enemy chaff (the equivalent of your Dire Wolves) and any war machines (Dwarves are fond of these). The Terrogheist is raved about for a lot of reasons, it is pretty much the Vampire Count equivalent of a war machine. The scream obliterates chaff, heavy cavalry, monsters, lone characters, war machines, ethereal tarpits (such as Spirit Hosts) and can put loads of wounds on ranked infantry as well. It is one of the best monsters in the game by a mile. So basically, aside from maybe some rejiggering with your characters and maybe changing the Skeleton unit, the list looks solid. Just remember that you need the spare Zombie models for raising extras, if you actually plan on just having 40 to build those two units then you will run into a lot of issues very quickly. If I wasn't planning on raising Zombies constantly I would honestly start at 40 models, even in smaller games.

2nd List:
The Vampire Lord is nasty, but not as nasty as you would hope. For the points, yes, it will do very well compared to other characters you will see with Wood Elves, Lizardmen and Dwarves, but you will be at a definite disadvantage with magic. Once you run into things like Chaos Lords, though, your Vampire Lord won't be looking so pretty. The reason for this is that many combat lords - Vampire Lords especially - are built for larger games. They start off as a good character, sure, but they are so darned expensive. To make the most out of them, you need to spent a tonne of points to really make them scary. Once you start hitting 2000 points is when I would recommend throwing in a Vampire Lord; until then, I would just stick with the Master Necromancer. A hero Vampire with the exact same equipment as your Vampire Lord would do the job just fine. Same comments about your Core and Vargheists. Blood Knights are a tricky unit for a few reasons. First, you can only ever resurrect one per spell cast, meaning that if you lose three, for example, you can only get one back with your lone Vampire (Lord) and only if your opponent doesn't stop Invocation. With you only having a Level Two in this list, that is probable. Second, they are Frenzied, meaning that unless you stick a Vampire Lord in there, they will be doing something regardless of choice about 50% of the time (assuming you switch the Vampire Lord for a Vampire). Third, they are expensive and while certainly devastating, they are no more durable than upgraded Black Knights. Blood Knights are best used as a unit of four to five with a standard bearer and Banner of Eternal Flame as monster hunters. Black Knights are better as an escort for your Vampire (Lord) as they resurrect 1 + Wizard Level at a time. On the Blood Knight models, yes they are gorgeous and some of the most detailed ever made by GW. Unfortunately, they are also the most expensive single unit kit that isn't used for Apocalypse that I know of. If you want them, you had better invest in them!

3rd List:
I think the Book of Arkhan is an item you can afford to drop in all of your lists, actually. With only a 5+ armour save in combat - shields don't work with great weapons - the Wight King won't live too long, even with T5 W3. He is also a big target as he both carries the BSB and the Banner of the Barrows. Don't give him that Banner, give it to the Grave Guard instead. That way, your Wight King can spend points on more valuable magic items which should be freed up by dropping one/either/both of the Book of Arkhan and BSB. Undead don't really need a BSB, it is useful for sure but not too pivotal. Ultimately, your Grave Guard with the Banner of the Barrows is going to mulch most things they come across at 1200 point limits. What you will worry about with them is Dwarven war machines and Wood Elf shooting thinning them down faster than you can resurrect them. An Ironcurse Icon on either your Vampire or Wight King will work here.

Overall, not bad for some beginner lists. Really, a few little changes here and there are all that is necessary. Some units I do recommend though are;

Spirit Hosts - These are cheap as chips and simple to use. Ethereal means most enemies cannot harm them, meaning you can charge them into a Skink Skirmisher unit and just forget about it - and the Ethereal Host costs less points! Don't try this against ranked infantry with more than two ranks though, as static combat resolution will kill the Spirit Hosts.
Hexwraiths - Similar idea to Spirit Hosts in that they are Ethereal, except Hexwraiths are much more expensive and cavalry. The trick here is that Hexwraiths will actually kill stuff with their "flying scythes of doom" as I like to call them. They work better against cavalry/elite armies and thus won't be that great against the armies you will face, but they are still scary as heck and will be awesome if any other Fantasy players start popping up. Not everyone likes them but I, personally, think they rock.
Black Knights - If you want a crazy killer Vampire Lord that you have read about, Black Knights are the next step. Mount your Vampire Lord on a Barded Nightmare and stick them in a big unit of Black Knights. The Knights themselves are there as bodyguards; they rarely do much damage in combat for me, but the fact that they raise quickly, are Toughness 4 and 2+ armoured baddies is enough for me. Plus, Killing Blow means enemy characters will be hesistant to fight them!
Varghulf - A cheap monster that gets overshadowed by the over-powered Terrorgheist. Varghulfs do a lot of damage, are quite tough - especially against war machines with Regeneration (unlike the Terrorgheist) - and are almost as fast as Terrorgheists to boot. These are under-rated for the sole reason that they are in the same slot and are the same unit type as Terrorgheists, but they always impress me.
Crypt Horrors - This is a unit you will have to commit to, but if you do, that "cheesebeard" title you have will certainly endure. Take some huge units of these (I'm talking 12 to 18) and stick a wizard with the Lore of the Vampires behind them. You do this for two reasons. One is that they are Toughness 5, Wounds 3 dudes with Regeneration (5+), making them some of the toughest models in the game for the points. Two is that they resurrect just like Black Knights, meaning 1 + Wizard Level. Yup. It is bonkers and downright mind-bending how hilariously difficult these guys are to shift in big units.

I hope all that helps!

Hey mate,

Thank you so bloody much for that big spiel, this would have to be the most helpful post I've gotten over a variety of forums in the last month of asking for help!

1st List:
I'd have probably Vamp lore on most things for a bit of redundancy
Good idea on dropping the Tal of Pres, just wondering how the rules work exactly if someone drops a stone thrower on the necros head? (Going against multi warmachine dwarfs, that will be getting a buff no doubt in the next week or two).
Pretty sure I put Death on the vamp, so woo to me
Not a bad idea getting an extra necro, should be plenty of room replacing the tricksters helm with enchanted shield and maybe a dragonbane gem?

Alas I love the skeles modelled with spears, maybe I'll just run them as counts as sword and board.
Currently have 40 zombies made, can easily whip up another 20-30 for ressed ones.
Would it be a bit dickish to run a ghiest at this points level?

2nd List:
All good points, I've really realised how hamstrung the lord is at this level, it seems with the lord it is go big or go home.
Ah, I have 10 blood knights, I got them and a whole host of stuff for a steal (you're in oz, this will make sense to you, Got 3 Battalions, a variety of metal characters (vlad, chick vamp etc, old mounted blood knights etc), 10 bloodknights and the army book for $350 which I was happy with!) Thus I love the blood knight models and the rules (my lord is based on a the bloodknight kastellan with conversions and magnet for foot and horse). But yeah looks like this list is the weaker one of the bunch.

3rd list:
Good idea on that, I didn't know that normal standard bearers could rock the barrows, so I'll definitely do that! So I'll drop the BSB happily. Will look up the iron curse icon currently....christ..done! 6+ ward for that many points is golden haha! Why would anyone leave home without them?

Thanks mate, as to the other units:
Spirit hosts I can whip up easy, but what do I drop the squeeze 1 or 2 in.
Hexwraiths I think they are pretty cool as long as you can keep away from magicial attacks, and the fact you can do that whole vanhels forward-backwards over a unit..
Yeah the black knights aren't bad especially as the bodyguard unit, I suppose though to be dedicating them as a bodyguard unit you'd want a pretty costly lord to be making it worthwhile yeah?
Yeah have a couple of vargs I an run if need be, suppose they'd be a bit lower on the "SHOOT IT NOW!" list of my enemies.
Ah crypt horrors, I have re sculpted 6 chests and started making robed legs, so once the ghiests get here I could run 9 crypt horrors quite easily. Is that one model or wound wound ressed each time though?

That all helped very much mate and gave me some thorough food for thought thank you!