Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I am hoping to build it out more over time, but some of my friends at my local GW shop are much more into Fantasy than 40K, and I'd like to be able to play some just fun, quick Fantasy games with them (using AoS rules). What would be the best and least expensive way to put together a Vampire Counts army?

Thanks in advance!

SG

If you only play in GW stores: ebay

If you rarely play in GW stores: Mantic

How is your group playing AOS? If it's by wound count, you can certainly make a high wound / low model army that tears faces off. It won't be ultra cheap (because still GW prices), and it won't have summoning (because no extra models), but it will be quick to do and can be quite smashy.

- Salvage

ServiceGames wrote:
I am hoping to build it out more over time, but some of my friends at my local GW shop are much more into Fantasy than 40K, and I'd like to be able to play some just fun, quick Fantasy games with them (using AoS rules). What would be the best and least expensive way to put together a Vampire Counts army?

Thanks in advance!

SG

It would help to know what your budget is.

The Vampire Counts Battalion is only 125 USD and would work well as the core of an Age of Sigmar Vampire Counts army.

It comes with...
20 Skeleton Warriors
20 Crypt Ghouls
10 Dire Wolves
1 Corpse Cart

Alternately, you could just pick boxes off the wall, assemble them one at a time and simply ask your friends to play smaller games with you until you have a larger army.

eBay is a great way to get models cheaper, but keep in mind that if you don't 'pay where you play', the stores you play in for free will go out of business. My policy is that if you let me use your tables for free, I'll buy my stuff from you even if it's a little more expensive.

Mantic is a good option if you don't really care about model quality. They are a much smaller scale and the quality for similarly aged models (i.e., new vs. new) isn't very good. You do get TONS of them pretty cheap though. If you're interested in getting some Mantic models, send me a PM. I have a lot of Undead Mantic models I'm looking to unload.

go to wargames factory hey have skeletons. mantic has skeletons. ebay has cheap things. mantic has zombies...

 Kriswall wrote:

The Vampire Counts Battalion is only 125 USD and would work well as the core of an Age of Sigmar Vampire Counts army.

It comes with...
20 Skeleton Warriors
20 Crypt Ghouls
10 Dire Wolves
1 Corpse Cart

That's actually a pretty decent leap into an AOS Vamp army. 66 wounds with some inbuilt synergy (Corpse Cart gives the Dire Wolves +1 save, both infantry units are large enough to gain bonuses), just add a hero and you've already got a sizable force. I'd probably suggest a Strigoi Ghoul King, as he interacts with both the Ghouls (Unholy Master for reroll 1's to hit & Black Hunger spell for +1A & Lord of the Flesh-eaters for +1 to hit and wound) and the Skeletons (Serve in Death for +1 to hit), on top of being a smashy wizard who can heal himself. Not a bad army at 72 wounds!

For the Strigoi there are any number of not-GW models available (ghouls, werewolves, frankenstein monsters, etc), as well as the plastic Ghoul King from the Terrorgheist kit and even OOP Strigoi vamps on eBay.

- Salvage

Skeletons/zombies especially you can get cheap used bits online and make more guys than come in the box. A torso, arm and head = one skeleton or zombie rising out of the ground, get creative with it.

Depends on what you want your vamps to be themed as... Also there are some tricks for extras if you are ok with conversions... Like take a box of black knights, build a squad, then take the bits left (from the ethereal guys) and you could easily make 2 or 3 cairn wraiths with some green stuff...

Also, if the minis being not games workshop is an option, look on eBay for mageknight necropolis/dark crusade and skeleton models. They have a decent selection of zombies and skeletons, a good number of vampire models, and a bunch of ghouls and necromancers.

If you mix them in with games workshop, the newer models don't even look out of place. They also come assembled and preprinted (not the best, but definitely tabletop ready)

Mantic!

 Kriswall wrote:
It would help to know what your budget is.

The Vampire Counts Battalion is only 125 USD and would work well as the core of an Age of Sigmar Vampire Counts army.

It comes with...
20 Skeleton Warriors
20 Crypt Ghouls
10 Dire Wolves
1 Corpse Cart

Alternately, you could just pick boxes off the wall, assemble them one at a time and simply ask your friends to play smaller games with you until you have a larger army.

eBay is a great way to get models cheaper, but keep in mind that if you don't 'pay where you play', the stores you play in for free will go out of business. My policy is that if you let me use your tables for free, I'll buy my stuff from you even if it's a little more expensive.

I have been eyeing that Vampire Counts Battalion for a good while now. Funds are a bit tight at the moment, but if that's a good starting point, then that's what I'll aim for. I just didn't know if it'd be best to have some other units/characters that had a little more in the way of hitting power and toughness in addition to the Battalion before I started playing... not like Nagash, but maybe a Necro to ride the Corpse Cart. Also, for AoS, this would be for a small setup... probably a one hour game at most.

To your second point, I completely agree. While GW does sell some things at some higher prices than you can find them on eBay, I've bought most of what I have now (40K Dark Angels) from GW. The ony things I haven't bought from them are Dark Vengeance Starter Box Squads or bits for a Librarian on a Space Marine Bike that you simply can't buy from GW seperately without buying another starter box or like a three man bike squad just to get one bike. Everything else, though, I've "payed where I play" at my local GW shop. And, I believe in supporting them for a couple of reasons. 1) The people who work there are really cool and laid back. 2) It's the kind of non-competitive (playing just for fun) environment that I really like. Plus, while there will always be TFGs at any store, for the most part, the guys I've met that play at this store are really cool and laid back as well... also more than willing to help teach a newbie player like me.

SG


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Lythrandire Biehrellian wrote:
Also, if the minis being not games workshop is an option, look on eBay for mageknight necropolis/dark crusade and skeleton models. They have a decent selection of zombies and skeletons, a good number of vampire models, and a bunch of ghouls and necromancers.

If you mix them in with games workshop, the newer models don't even look out of place. They also come assembled and preprinted (not the best, but definitely tabletop ready)

I play at a GW store, so everything is mandatory GW. The manager will let you deviate slightly and do some kit bashing, but his district manager just doesn't like it when non GW stuff is played there. So, that's not an option where I play. I appreciate the suggestion though.

SG