with Call To Arms coming up in two weeks time (and because i have been forced to drop from the last two tournaments because of other events/ roster stuff ups) i thought it was once more time to put the goblins to the side and bring the vampires back to the fore. for this i am going completely mad and running a Vampires list WITHOUT A BLACK KNIGHT BUS!!!!!
since lists where handed in yesterday i feel no problems with reveling the unconventional list that will be making its debut. here it is....
VAMPIRE LORD ON ZOMBIE DRAGON
with a lance, heavy armour, shield, the night shroud and the talisman of preservation, he has the quick-blood trait and is a level 1 wizard with the lore of vampires
as Hamish found out, he is a tank. with the zombie dragon imposing a -1 to hit him and/or the vampire lord in combat, and with the night shroud forcing all those touching his (sizable) base to strike last and lose all their great weapon/ lance/ ensorceled weapon strength bonuses, he is suddenly really hard to kill. at a wopping 599 points he is a massive point sink who will make or break my force.
WIGHT KING BATTLE STANDARD BEARER
with a great weapon, the armour of fortune, and the iron-curse icon
designed to hide in the massive skeleton block, hes only their to hold the banner and keep as few troops crumbling as possible
NECROMANCERS A & B
one with a dispel scroll and one with a channeling staff, both are level 2 wizards with the lore of vampires
both of these guys are here for mainly defensive magic, keeping the wagon going when the wheel falls off (which might happen more than i would like with my usual tournament luck)
50 SKELETON WARRIORS
with spears, light armour, shields, and a full command group
designed to at least be the major damage dealer of the core, these guys are hopefully going to hold troops up for a long time
30 ZOMBIES & 29 ZOMBIES
with hand weapons, musicians and standard bearers
lets face it, zombies are balls of the highest caliber. these guys are only here to try and hold up the enemies troops for (at least) a round, and at 100 points each their not that big a deal to throw away. yay zombies!
2 UNITS OF 8 DIRE WOLVES
hand weapons and vanguard
welcome to chaff hammer. these guys are just here to hunt small (small) units, as they are going to die in droves. pretty much artillery and scouts are the only thing these guys are good for (apart from making up the minimum 600 points of core)
2 UNITS OF 2 FELL BATS
hand weapon
continuing on the chaff list is these two 32 point units of flapping awesomeness. being skirmishers and unpanicable (trade mark Jebson 2013) these 4 wound units are going to cause some real headaches (hopefully)
2 UNITS OF 9 HEXWRAITH'S
with great weapons and skeletal steeds
i know i said their was no black knight bus, but these guys are pretty much the exact same thing. in tandem with the vampire lord these guys are the bread and butter of this list. allowing no armour save i am hoping they will cause a nasty surprise to all those people who rely more and more on their heavy cavalry/ monstrous cavalry to carry the day. being ethereal means i only really have to worry about warriors of chaos being able to harm them in combat.
BLACK COACH
with two skeletal steeds and a wraith rider
we don't see enough of the old black coach. it used to invoke terror in opponents wherever it went as it just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. recently however it has been relegated to the shelf by most of the vampiric opponents i face. well NO LONGER! as it does not actually drain your magic pool to power itself anymore their is no reason why this beast of a chariot should not be supporting the hordes of the night.
i feel the list can fight most fights, but will lose out in four situations.
1. Level 4 lore of light/ lore of fire wizard.
lets face it, lore of light means death for my list if i can't get into combat fast enough. with no possible save on my ethereal units against S4/5 magic missiles they will die in droves. also since lore of fire has both an over abundance in magical missiles and a spell to make a unit have magical shots/strikes, i do not fell confident in those line ups
2. Dwarves
need i say more. magical artillery will make a mockery of my wraiths and zombie dragon lord.
3. High Elves
with their powerful magical lore and new fangled magical archers i will struggle to get my ethereal's to the other side of the table. also the banner of the world dragon will instantly shut down the wraiths magical attacks. and lets not mention the phoenix.
4. Wood Elves
having versed Rex Foote last week i have realized his list at least is not going to be a walk over. sure he lacks magical shooting, but with all those magical close combat attacks from his treemen and dryads i cannot allow myself to get bogged down. also never send the vampire against the treeman ancient (handy hint to all of you planning on versing him, don't get a character locked in combat against it)
