Wight Kings:
Wight King Painted by Curse of Beers
(See more of his excellent work here: http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k242/curseofbeers/ )
It was important to cover the casting characters along with magic at the same time. However there is another important character that needs to be explored-The Wight King.
A Wight King is a cheaper and better fighter than most Vampire Thralls. He comes with armor and a magic weapon that has the “killing blow” ability. He also has the same toughness as a Vampire Lord! The best thing for the VC player he is only 75 pts base!
There are two primary uses for the Wight King. He is an effective BSB since he is so hard to kill. Secondly, he can lead an important unit of combat infantry. Lastly, he can carry some of the bound spell items such as Rod of Flaming Death or the Hand of Dust; both of these are effective bound spells. Relentless magic attack is a trademark of Vampire Counts armies and what better way than to add a good bound spell, on a tough character, that must be handled.
Vampire Counts; Core Units: (by McKnight on the Warhammer Empire forum)
Core Troops:
Zombies
Zombies Painted by Curse of Beers
(See more of his excellent work here: http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k242/curseofbeers/ )
20+Unit Size:
One of the coolest things of the Vampire Counts army are the zombies in my mind.
Zombies are a cheap ineffective fear-causing infantry unit. For the same cost
of a halberdier you get a WS1, S2, T2, I1 model that causes fear!
They have 3 special rules; Undead,
Shambling horde and the Newly Dead.
Because of Shambling horde they are unable to pursue fleeing units or overrun.
If breaking units have been in contact with zombies when fleeing they will suffer
D6 S2 hits from every 5 man rank the zombie unit has. Newly dead enables Invocation
of Nehek spell to add more zombies to the unit. And add D6+4 zombies, instead
of the normal D6.
Skeletons
Skeletons Painted by Curse of Beers
(See more of his excellent work here: http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k242/curseofbeers/ )
10+
Skeletons cost twice as much as zombies but are also a tad better with WS2,
S3, T3, I2.They are equipped with a shield, light armor and hand weapons from
the beginning and can be upgraded with a spear. All skeleton regiments can have
a magic banner for up to 25pts. Vampire Counts now have 7 banners for 25 points.
Skeletons don’t have any special rules like the zombies though... only
undead.
Crypt ghouls
Ghouls Painted by Curse of Beers
(See more of his excellent work here: http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k242/curseofbeers/ )
10+
Crypt Ghouls cost the same as skeletons but are a bit better offensive, while
worse defensively, as they have no armor (but are T4). Their stats remain the
same from the 6th edition, only now they are not skirmishers. Ghouls still have
two poisoned attacks each which makes them great versus Flagellants.
The Ghoulkin bloodline power enables the vampire player to have the crypt ghouls (and any characters in the unit) to make a free move, before rolls for the first turn are done. This is similar to the Dwarf Army’s Strollaz Rune. Potentially, a Ghoul unit can be 16” across the table on the first turn!
Dire wolves
Dire Wolves Painted by Curse of Beers
(See more of his excellent work here: http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k242/curseofbeers/ )
5-20
Dire Wolves are real nice cheap, fast-as-an-elf cavalry. They have Movement
9 and have the fast cavalry special rule. While fast, they have fairly normal
stats; much like a horse. They lost the S4 on the charge from the previous edition.
Lastly, Dire Wolves don’t count towards the number of Core troops.
Batswarms
3-10
The cost per model is quite expensive in some opinions. They are quite dangerous
flankers because they are US 3. They can only fly 10" instead of the normal
20". This makes them not quite as good as other fliers in the game, however
with their US, it only takes two bases to kill you with crossfire.
Corpse Cart
Corpse Cart Painted by Curse of Beers
(See more of his excellent work here: http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k242/curseofbeers/ )
The one you all have been waiting for! For a mere 75pts you get this nice little wagon with a 5+ AS and regeneration. It has a bound spell (level 3), if cast all units within 6" (incl. itself) gain ASF until the next friendly magic phase.
You also get to chose between two
different upgrades that both cost 25pts. The first makes all enemy wizards within
24" get a -1 to their casting rolls; this is cumulative.
The second enhances any friendly unit within 6" so that if they have Invocation
of Nehek cast upon them, they will gain an additional wound. Vampire units still
only gain one wound regardless.
Summary of Vampire Counts Core Units:
Only three of the units count towards the minimum core requirements. This means that instantly you know that you are facing zombies, ghouls, and skeletons in various sizes. Bat Swarms, Dire Wolves and the Corpse Cart are helpful ancillary support units.
Bat Swarms and Dire Wolves can be used to attack artillery and to assassinate your mages. A Vampire with the correct summon ability can also bring them back.
Special Troops: They Heavy Hitters of the Vampire List
Grave Guard
Grave Guard Painted by Curse of Beers
(See more of his excellent work here: http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k242/curseofbeers/ )
5+
Grave Guard are equipped with heavy armor and shields and have a hand weapon.
This makes these guys a tough nut to crack. They may exchange their shields
with a great weapon for +1pts /model. Great weapons make them even harder to
beat with S6 killing blow strikes. They are allowed a magic banner up to 50pts.
A common banner is the Banner of Barrows that gives them a +1 to hit. In combination
with the Helm of Commandment, they will hit even the most elite troops on a
three or better, some on a two!
Black knights
Black Knights Painted by Curse of Beers
(See more of his excellent work here: http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k242/curseofbeers/ )
5+
Black Knights are 24 points per model with the option of barding for an additional
4 pts. Their steed now count as ethereal for moving purposes and will now pose
even a greater threat to the flanks of an Empire army. Most of the same rules
apply to the Black Knights as they do to the Grave guard.
Fell bats
3-10
20pts per model for a flying unit is not bad at all. These guys are good at
war machine hunting because of their better flying movement than the bat swarms.
Make sure your war machines are place FAR back or in a woods to keep from getting
charged too early in the game.
Spirit hosts
3-10.
Expensive troops per model and now you are required to have a minimum of three
models in order to make a unit. There is almost nothing better than near immortal
spirit hosts to take out Empire flankers, pin Flagellants or attack without
ranks or threatening CR.
Summary of Special Choices:
The Vampire Counts have a lot of fantastic special choices. Unlike the previous few books they have plenty of slots to make use of the specials unlike the Orc and Empire books, which are flooded with choices but lacking in slots. The VC choices are so good; I’d take one of each! You have rock hard Grave Guard that can now be brought back. Black Knights have always been good and with the addition of the ethereal movement they have been made even better. Fell Bats are fast and can attack artillery and trap units in crossfire. Spirit Hosts, though expensive, can hold up a unit almost the entire game. To be certain it takes a lot of skill to handle these four choices.
Rare Troops:
Varghulf
Varghulf Painted by Curse of Beers
(See more of his excellent work here: http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k242/curseofbeers/ )
1
A nice big monster with excellent stats! For 175pts you get a juicy M8, WS5,
S5, T5, W4, I2, A5 Ld4! The Varghulf is not a large target, is has the vampire
special rules, causes terror, has regeneration and hate all enemies. Additionally
it doesn’t count as having flanks or a rear, how nice is that?
The Varghulf is nice flanker indeed, but i think it could use some more protective gear to make it less vulnerable to shooting and flaming magic.
Cairn Wraiths
Cairn Wraiths Painted by Curse of Beers
(See more of his excellent work here: http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k242/curseofbeers/ )
3-10
Cairn Wraiths are a new unit in this edition. Cairn wraiths cost 50 pts per
model which might be a bit much for their stats, but they are ethereal. Nonetheless
they still rock!
One wraith can be upgraded to a banshee
at the cost of 25pts. The banshee can make the ghostly howl in the shooting
phase, with an 8" range with no line of sight required and no matter if
either part is in engaged in combat. 2D6+2 are rolled and the enemy takes the
number of wounds equal to what the rolling exceeds their leadership value with
normal modifiers (such as general's leadership).
Oh and they cause terror and are skirmishers!
Blood knights
4-20
Finally, what you’ve been waiting
for; the Blood Knights. Let’s check them out.
First of all they are quite expensive per model, but they can be brought back
again. With mighty stats these bad boys excel at killing and quite easily compete
Chosen Chaos Knights.
They are frenzied though so they need to be kept under control. The frenzy gives them another attack which just makes them even crazier because of their lances now giving them S7 on the charge.
The unit champion can have a magic item worth of 25 pts and they can have a magic banner up to 75pts (enabling them to get a 4+wardsave against shooting). They have the martial honor special rule requiring the unit champion to issue challenges whenever possible (except when a character with higher Ld is in the unit).
Black Coach
1
200pts for this nice chariot with a lot of special things available to it. It
is ridden by a Cairn Wraith and therefore causes terror. It also has the vampire
special rules.
Those are already interesting facts, but even nicer are the special rules. Evocation of death uses the dice in the player's power dice pool and any dice from any wizard within 6". The player then rolls each dice and every “6” is absorbed by the coach and cannot be used by the magicians, the rest can be used as normal. For each absorbed dice the player consults the chart in the book (these absorbed dice are cumulative). These can result in giving the coach: +1 impact hit, Hatred, MR3, Impact hits, wraith and steeds gain killing blow, ethereal, flyer.
This one is awesome and it’s not even a large target. But at least it might suck some power dice from the vampire user
Summary of Rare Choices:
Just like the Special Choices, there are no bad choices. The Varghulf is similar to the last edition flying Strigoi Lord, except that this one isn’t a character. Though different, the Black Coach is a lot better than it has ever been. Losing the large target makes it hard for the Empire to line up a shot on it since it can be screened now by normal troops. The Cairn Wraiths are much like the Wraith character in the old book but now you can take entire units of them!
You will need to not only have decent
magic defense, hard units, but make certain that you take a magic weapon on
every hero that can have one! Ethereal troops will really mess up your day otherwise.