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So please be honest but don't tear me to shreds because I've been playing 40k my whole life and this is my first foray into WHFB and I have no idea what I'm doing.

1000 pts (999 used) VC army:

Lords:
Master Necromancer (General) - 310 pts
-Lv3
-Black Periapt
-Power Stone
-(Embedded in the zombie unit below)
-LoV

Heros:
Vampire - 239 pts
-Lv2
-Heavy Armor
-Sword of Strife
-Enchanted Shield
-Fear Incarnate
-Quickblood (I've seen people mention this is more effective than Red Fury in low point games?)
-LoV

Core:
Zombies x20 (Necro's unit) - 70 pts
-Musician
-Standard Bearer

Skeleton Warriors x20 - 120 pts
-Musician
-Standard Bearer

Skeleton Warriors x20 - 120 pts
-Musician
-Standard Bearer

Dire Wolves x5 - 40 pts

Dire Wolves x5 - 40 pts

Special:
Grave Guard - 130 pts
-Musician
-Standard Bearer

So my thoughts are using the Skeletons as my anvil, Wolves to flank, Zombies as a bunker, Grave Guard as the hammer and the Vamp to just generally f*ck things up/hunt special units and characters. Does that make sense at all? Again this is my first list and I've never played a battle (trying to figure out what to buy) so any advice is appreciated.

One thing I've noticed (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that champions seem useless in low-point units because they only benefit they have is an extra attack, when for the points of a Skeleton champion I could just buy two more Skeletons, right?

Cheers!

Your units are all WAY too small.

The purpose of skeletons is to act as an anvil by absorbing a charge long enough for your hammers to get in. If your opponents kill 10 skeletons in a turn then they're crashing clean through that unit in one round of combat, because of crumble.

Secondly, 10 grave guard aren't going to do a damned thing. Most things are going to strike before them, and they'll disappear before the even get to hit. Not to mention that they're not going to have a rank bonus by the end of combat, so they're probably coming up against opponents with +3 static combat res against them. That's tough to overcome.

As an undead player you have to build units to withstand crumbling. That means 40+ for skeletons, 30+ for grave guard, etc. Black knights can get away with smaller numbers because their armour means they won't take as many casualties. Zombies you can get away with 20 because they'll be 40 by the time they're in combat, and you can counteract losses+crumbles with Invocation. IF you get it off that is, though you have two cracks at it here.

If you have the models then I'd drop the skeletons for another min-sized unit of zombies and more skeletons. I'd drop the grave guard too and take something like a varghulf. You've also got two arcane items on your master necro it looks like, which you can't do (only one of each type of item allowed per character). I'd also drop one of the units of dire wolves at this level, since you don't need chaff in the same way in these small games where units are typically much smaller.

Thanks for the reply!

Okay so I dropped the Power Stone from the Necro, dropped one Skeleton unit, added another Zombie with musician and standard bearer, upped the other Skeleton unit to 33, and added a Varghulf. We're back at 999 pts total like this. Does that really have the necessary killing power? The Varghulf and Vamp are the only really killy things in there, and putting all my eggs in two baskets makes me nervous (though I do see your point about the GG getting wiped before doing much).

Also, would switching one of the Vamp's powers for Flying Horror perhaps make him more dangerous? Or should I leave him on foot?

Two hammers in 1,000 is just fine. At that level it's hard to get much more than that in, and though your Varghulf is a little vulnerable your vamp is not (save in combat).

For the vampire, I don't think that flying horror is the answer. Remember that he crumbles, so against anything with SCR he'll die if he whiffs his attacks (which CAN happen). He's also pretty fragile with 3+ T4 2W, which is why I've never really been a fan of the hero vampires unless they're mounted. Maybe a wight king would be a better choice? Or drop the hero altogether and put all those points into a proper-sized unit of grave guard.

Wow for some reason I didn't notice the Vamp was only 2W! Yeah that's too much of a gamble. All right, how does this revision sound: Master Necro (Lv4) vanilla with LoV, 20 Zombie bunker with SB+M, 40 Skeletons with SB+M and Screaming Banner, Varghulf, 20 GG with Great Weapons and Wailing Banner. I know that you said GG should be 30+ but the only way to make that work is drop the banner and Great Weapons, and drop the Skeletons to 37 and lose their banner. Is that worth it? Should I just forget the GG and invest in some cavalry instead?

Alternatively I could keep the 40 skellies with their banner and swap the GG for 10 BK with a Wailing Banner and Barding...?

umm your necromancer isnt allowed in this list as it is 300 and some odd points and your only allowed 250 max on lords at 1000pts sorry,
Zinogre

What, his necro is 200 on the nose at level 4.

Yeah the Lv4 upgrade is the only thing on him in that version. Anyways, what are your opinions of the lists proposed? I'm still trying to figure out what to buy since this will be my first WHFB army.

Cheers!