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I like the idea of a ghoul army, and the infantry version seems predisposed to a point denial game.

Is this a good foundation for the list, or does it need a lot of work?

Lords
SGK - Dispel Scroll, OTS, Dragonbane Gem, Red Fury, Creatures of the Night - 355
Master Necromancer, Lvl 3 - 165

Hero
Vampire, Lvl 2, Heavens (Forbidden Lore), BSB, Addl HW, Heavy Armor, 5++ Talisman- 227

Core
20 Zombies, Banner - 65
39 Ghouls, Ghast - 400
6 Dire Wolves - 56
6 Dire Wolves - 56
6 Dire Wolves - 56

Special
18 Crypt Horrors, Haunter - 694

Rare
Varghulf - 175
Varghulf - 175

Initial Thoughts
BSB Vampire to keep me from auto losing blood and glory. I could just refuse to play the scenario, but it seems unsporting. Probably goes in zombie bunker, but could fight in the ghoul black against favorable matchups.
No Mortis Engine. On the surface it synergizes, but I don't want to pay 220 points to get a few more regen saves.

A sort of budget blender SGK, relying on his innate rerolls and poison.

General idea is to point deny and play a grinding game. Blocks of 700, 785, and 457. Wolves for drops/chaff, and the pair of Varghulf's offer me a versatile hammer unit. One option would be to smash something up, earn their points back, and use the M8 to play keep away.

Why did you pick Heavens out of curiosity? , I think it looks like a fun different way to play warhammer, defiantly let us know how it goes in games

The baby vamp's lore is the part I'm most undecided on.

Heavens vs Beasts

Iceshard Blizzard (-1 to hit) compares favorably with wyssan's +1T and is a lot easier to cast on a secondary wizard. The rest of the heavens lore is also IMO more useful than beasts - Midnight (KB protection), Convergence, Comet vs. Savage Beast, Amber Spear.

I also consider pocketing the points for vampires (roll second on the chart for curse of years and the vortex) or shadow.

Since I posted, I'm leaning towards breaking the horde into two units of 8 and putting the baby vamp next to the ghoul king with nightshround and dread knight to protect both of them. The forced challenge goes away because the SGK is there.

More chaff.
You're missing fellbats and spirit hosts, both are amazing and cheap.

Mortis Engine isn't "just" a few more regen saves. It's also a banshee scream, impact hits, a bubble of pain and +2 to cast spells from the lore of vampire.

I'd split the horrors into 2 units of 8, and pick up 2x2 fell bats with the point saved. If you swap vargheists for mortis engine, you save enough to add in spirit hosts.

Wait, someone uses Dire Wolves for something other than Khymerae?!

 Scipio Africanus wrote:
Wait, someone uses Dire Wolves for something other than Khymerae?!

Hey. I use 600 points of the things!

 HawaiiMatt wrote:
More chaff.
You're missing fellbats and spirit hosts, both are amazing and cheap.

Mortis Engine isn't "just" a few more regen saves. It's also a banshee scream, impact hits, a bubble of pain and +2 to cast spells from the lore of vampire.

I'd split the horrors into 2 units of 8, and pick up 2x2 fell bats with the point saved. If you swap vargheists for mortis engine, you save enough to add in spirit hosts.

This is all very solid advice.

Furthermore though, I'd make your Master Necro a Lvl 4 (you really need a Lvl4) and grab a magic weapon on your Ghoul King (kudos for the Dragonbane Gem combo as well). If you fiddle around with the powers, you should get a lot more out of the characters. I.e. try the following:

Master Necro - Lvl4 - 200
SGK - Ogre Blade, OTS, Dragonbane Gem, Red Fury, Beguile/Dispel Scroll - 390/395 (you can always put the scroll on your Hero Vamp)

I'd also reduce your Dire Wolf units to 5 each. That's all you need for a chaff unit, and the extra points will come in handy, without taking you under minimum core.

Also, if you're worried about auto-losing Blood and Glory, perhaps drop a Dire Wolf unit for another 20 Zombies with a Banner. Zombies are always helpful, and I'm not a big fan of VC BSBs. The -1 to crumble is ok, but you don't need the BSB for what other armies need it for, so it's really not that useful. On top of that, it just gives away extra VP when your Vamp is killed, so I often find it does more harm than good. I think the points would be better spent making your Vampire killier, *cough* Red Fury *cough*. If you're set on the forbidden lore though, perhaps take Beguile, which always comes in handy. And, unless you're taking the Potion of Strength as well, I find that a Great Weapon is more use than AHWs.

Hope this helps

I don't have my book handy at work, but how about this?

SGK - OB, OTS, Gem, RF, Dispel - 395
MN - Lvl4 - 200

Vamp, Lvl 1 Shadow (Miasma), Nightshroud, Seed of Rebirth, Dread Knight, Heavy Armor, Shield - 171

Minimum Core (600 exactly)
5 Wolves
5 Wolves
20 Zombies Banner
20 Zombies Baner
38 Ghouls, Ghast

8 Horrors
8 Horrors

Varghulf
Varghulf

The OB was a stroke of genius. I was fixated on bloodshed, which cost me my dispel scroll. Unable to deal with armor, I started looking to other avenues (magic, curse of years/vortex). The OB is much simpler, but a Lvl 2 LoV vamp rolling for the vortex sounds nasty.

Leaves 76 points worth of fell bats, which I think is 2x2 and thr chaff I'm most skilled with. I still like the Varghulfs strategically - I need something fast and vampiric and I don't like Vargheists, too fragile for my play style.

Dread Knights draw back won't apply due to the SGK. With miasma and nightshroud, both vampires will be much sturdier and with some luck could be hit on 5s. Rebirth > Parry due to OTS.

If I scaled this up to 2800/3000, I would then add a ME, extra necromancer, and minimum core. I think it fits.