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.

After a few 600 point games with my Zombiefest list my eyes have started to turn to the 1000 point bracket. Unwilling to leave my Zombiefest roots, I've made my list zombie heavy and without the now cliché hammer units that one sees in almost all VC lists.
The idea behind the list is more firmly rooted in the Undead theme. A powerful necromantic vampire leading a few enthralled necromancers and their veritable legion of the dead. As I've said in my other posts, I'm not a big fan of the current VC book. Too much emphasis on vampires, too little love given to those of us that liked to play the "Undead" not a Vampire and his drinking buddies.
Enough chatter, to the list!

Necromancer Coven - 1000 point Undead list

Ardach du Sable (Vampire)(General)
- Dark Acolyte
- Lord of the Dead
- The Book of Arkhan
- The Cadaverous Cuirass
= 195 points

Barlag de Talweiss (Necromancer)
- Raise Dead
- Sceptre de Noirot
= 80

Rothhurgur (Necromancer)
- Invocation of Nehek
- Rod of Flaming Death
= 95

Corpse cart
- Unholy lodestone
= 100

Corpse cart
- Balefire
= 100

23 x Zombies
- Musician
- Standard bearer
= 104

22 x Zombies
- Musician
- Standard bearer
= 100

20 x Skeleton warriors
- Full command
- Warbanner
- Spears
= 225 points

Total points = 999

Some notes on the list.
Three powerful caster characters supported by loads of undead minions. Don't let those starting numbers fool you since before I ever get into range with my opponent I should have increased their size plenty. Since I've got 6 power dice and 4 bound spells I'm confident I can dominate the magic phase against most armies. A dispel pool of 5 coupled with the Balefire makes me also conifdent in that I can shut down enemy casting. This leaves me to worry about ground units, especially fast moving units like heavy cavalry or tarpit units. Since all my units are themselves tarpit units, I'd prefer to avoid any tar on tar combat. Sceptre de Noirot means I'm summoning a base of 10 zombies per Raise Dead. Along with the Book of Arkhan it'll tip the scales nicely in my favor once a legion of zombies smashes into flanks and rears. Being paranoid about my vampire from previous games I stuck him in a Cuirass to soak up any sneaky units that might get a shot in on him.
The tactics. Trundle across the board keeping my Lodestoned corpse cart close to my Skeleton block. Set up the skeletons to receive a charge with a zombie unit lagging abit behind to smash into a flank. If it looks like I'll be denied a flank charge then delay any supporting units with Raise Dead + Vanhel's. The skeletons have a static +6 CR with 11 return attacks which are possibly ASF...not too shabby. Snipe flankers with the Rod of Flaming Death or rely on the zombies to slow 'em until I can deal with them properly.

Thoughts, comments, notations on my madness all welcome!

Edit: Removed biting blade due to being over the max equipment allowance. Added a zombie. Removed Banned of the Endless Nightmare in favor of the standard magical warbanner, which hilariously gives me the same effect, same points just no condition. Kinda silly.

Why waste the points on zombie units bigger than 20, you can form them pretty much however you want with the minimum of 20.

Also, While skeletons are really really good, I like the idea of Zombiefest, and if you arent taking the tomb blade, forego the skellies all together.

necros on corpse carts are sweet, If i were you though in a 1000 pt game where i have 3 casters, i wouldnt bother with balefire, two unholy lodestones mean your whole army gets raised really really fast.

Power stones are a necros best friend.

If you must take skellies, banner of the endless nightmare, while nice, is not as good as a straight up war banner. Especially if you start them in a unit of 10, that way you could bolster them to 20+ with your vampire+unholy lodestones easily before you get into combat, AND take another unit of zombies with the points you save.

Keep up the good work!

That's a good point about unit sizes.
Since my main problem is not being able to make new units of skellies I really should maximize the amount of them from the start.
I'll mess around with the list abit to accomodate this.
As for the warbanner I had already decided to switch out the banner of endless nightmare but I'd just forgotten to adjust the list (made a note at the bottom of the post). I was kinda surprised when I saw there was another magical banner for the same price that did the same thing as the Endless Nightmare just without any conditions...makes the Endless Nightmare banner kinda silly (But the name is kickass though).

I'm certainly not abandoning my zombiefest roots. However, in a 1000 pt. game I must do something to help my rotting comrades deal with the whole host of new nasties that can show up when we're no longer playing by warband rules. The skellies are my solution to this. They're a step up from a zombie with armor, spears and better stats and still pretty weak by comparison to other block fighting units. At the point where my necromancers can summon legions of zombies I find it not too strange that their magic starts to animate the bones of the fallen as well. Though they still have a long way to go before wights will heed their summons ^^. From my experience vs. the Clan Pestilens plague monks, then I have trouble enough already facing anything with toughness 4, so I think skellies might be the ticket.

The idea for the Balefire is to help in case I run into another magic heavy army. Since I know that one of my opponents will certainly be a Ogre player who has a fondness for Butchers I'm trying to ensure I can stop that incoming gut magic (every little helps, eh?). However, two lodestones would be a great boost for my raising. I'd like to hear more comments on this. On one hand I think the utility of the Balefire is great and on the other I think that another +1 raising is almost vital with such a fragile list.
If I knock back the starting numbers of my units in favor of having more blocks of them I think two Lodestones are a must to be honest.

I'll revise the list later today. Thanks for your feedback JoeOrks!
*scuttles off*

VC army book pg.43 "If a friendly unit within 6" of one or more Unholy Lodestones, including the corpse cart, is target by Invocation of Nehek, the unit gains an additional wound."

Maybe if the lodestones stacked it would be worth the points for two, let alone one. For 50 points you could have casters at a -2 to cast, even magic missiles get kinda hard to cast with that.

Lets say you have 9 power dice and your casting invocation on a 4+, that's like 4-5 successful casts not including dispels. All in all your getting like what, 4 or 5 extra wounds? Just the inability to cast magic missiles with one die could save you that many casualties in one failed cast, not to mention what ever else your opponent has up their sleeves.

Of course I could be horribly wrong, it wouldn't be the first time.