# Vampire Counts - New Lord Builds



## MrPete

So with the release of the new VC book, I thought i'd start a thread for anyone to throw in some interesting and potentially nasty Lord builds. Anything from combat monsters to magic users, using any of the Lord choices in the new book, and to any points level.

I'll start with a couple i've been tinkering about with - 

_Strigoi Ghoul King on Terrorgheist
Skabscrath
Dragonbane Gem
Aura of Dark Majesty
Red Fury 
Total - 640

Useable in games of 3000 + points. +1 attack on the charge, Frenzied, fairly long charge distance from the Terrorgheist, flaming attacks, 5+ regen/2++ vs flaming attacks, extra attacks from Red Fury.

Here is where it gets interesting. Dark Majesty makes a target suffer Ld penalties. Combined with the screams from the Terrorgheist and the Lord, thats pretty potent. Bear in mind the screams take place in the shooting phase, and can be done even if you're in close combat. You then have a high initiative Vampire generating rerollable attacks and rerollable Red Fury attacks, high toughness to take return punishment with a decent (if not fantastic) save, thunderstomp from the Terrorgheist. If you charge into combat, theres potential for your Vampire to be throwing out 7 rerollable attacks in the first round.


The next guy is one i've put together to try and combat some pesky High Elves

Strigoi Ghoul King on Terrorgheist
Red Fury
Quickblood
Dragonbane Gem
Sword of Bloodshed
Total - 630

Consistant 8 rerollable attacks, rerollable Red Fury, negates ASF vs High Elves and out - initiatives them so goes first, 2+ save vs flaming attacks. High strength vs T3 elves is nice to have, especially with that amount of attacks, and the high toughness of rider and mount means elves will usually be needing 6s to wound. 


_


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## Abomination

Both our very good builds. The latter I can see being quite effective. Only question is will they last long enough to get into close-combat by footslogging. The Ghoul King will be a high priority oppnent and has no ward save. Still very good builds though.


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## HiveMinder

Here's a character/monster killer for you.


Vampire Lord 388 (403) pts
Red Fury
Quickblood
Beguile (opt.)
Lore of the Vampires
Warriorbane
Hellsteed
Armor of Destiny
Shield


This guy has a 3+/4++ save, has ASF (most likely w/ rerolls). He can absolutely cripple characters and monsters due to Warriorbane and Red Fury, meaning each unsaved wound permanently reduces the opponents Attacks by 1, while granting an additional attack to the vampire. His hellsteed will let him fly around to wherever his quarry lies. Lastly, even if he starts taking wounds, IoN and teh Vampire Lore attribute will keep him up. 

While not a necessity, I would reccomend Beguile to help deal with those pesky characters or monsters with Ward/Regen saves, as they probably won't be as cooperative when you try to kill them.


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## experiment 626

HiveMinder said:


> Here's a character/monster killer for you.
> 
> 
> Vampire Lord 388 (403) pts
> Red Fury
> Quickblood
> Beguile (opt.)
> Lore of the Vampires
> Warriorbane
> Hellsteed
> Armor of Destiny
> Shield
> 
> 
> This guy has a 3+/4++ save, has ASF (most likely w/ rerolls). He can absolutely cripple characters and monsters due to Warriorbane and Red Fury, meaning each unsaved wound permanently reduces the opponents Attacks by 1, while granting an additional attack to the vampire. His hellsteed will let him fly around to wherever his quarry lies. Lastly, even if he starts taking wounds, IoN and teh Vampire Lore attribute will keep him up.


Invocation will not heal characters since it doesn't specifically mention them - only 'undead units'
The lore attribute will heal you though, so it's still worthwhile to cast say hellish vigor to allow yourself to re-roll wounds.


Anyways, here's what I think I'll be using as a fluffy Lahmian Vampire Lady;
Warrior Bane
The Glittering Scales
Talisman of Preservation
Other Trickster's Shard
Quickblood
Aura of Dark Majesty
Fear Incarnate
Beguile

Hello old fear rules! Anything failing their fear test needs 6's to hit her! Meanwhile she's got ASF, makes enemies re-roll their wards saves and reduces the attacks of characters/monsters.
To make those fear tests really fun, you get re-roll passed fear checks or else can't use your own BSB re-rolls and are at -1Ld...
Only real grey area is if the -1Ld from Aura stacks with the -3Ld pentaly on Beguile.
By all means, please challenge me for I'm just a helpless little girl who's lost and alone!:wink:


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## clever handle

can anybody find a use for the coven throne?

Loved the model & love the idea of the lahmian vampires... having read the rules I just don't know if throwing a vampire lord on a 230 point chariot is all that good of an idea... I usually play 2500pt games & that would max out my Lord slot (much rather have the lord fighty & a lvl4 master of death necro...)


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## clever handle

experiment 626 said:


> Only real grey area is if the -1Ld from Aura stacks with the -3Ld pentaly on Beguile.


In the previous edition they did stack (as will doom & darkness if you have that caster).


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## Stephen_Newman

I created a Blood Dragon character that was built to defeat characters/T5/6 monsters easily in a 2000 point game:

Vampire Lord (level 1-uses Lore of the Vampires)
-Heavy Armour
-Shield
-Barded Nightmare
-Ogre Blade
-Talisman of Preservation
-The Other Tricksters Shard
-Red Fury, Quickblood and Dread Knight Vampiric Powers

-443 points (roughly)

Comes at you very quickly, swings 5 attacks at WS9, most likely getting re-rolls with ASF, at S7 which means that best armour save is going to be 5+ and forces opponents to reroll successfull ward saves. Then to top it off any failed saves means I get more attacks. Defensively he has WS9, T5, a 2+ armour save and has a 4+ ward save.

Normally I would suggest a nice bodyguard of Blood Knights to travel in style and scare the crap out of people.


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## HiveMinder

experiment 626 said:


> Invocation will not heal characters since it doesn't specifically mention them - only 'undead units'


Actually, I'm pretty sure IoN does heal characters, as the rules for Resurrecting Fallen Warriors on pg. 26 start off with:


VC army book said:


> Some magic spells and items can resurrect fallen warriors in an Undead unit by restoring a number of Wounds' worth of models to the unit. If the target consists of a single model, *such as a lone character* or a Corpse Cart, then it can never exceed its starting Wounds value...


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UPDATE/EDIT: Okay, so I'm wrong. I stopped reading the rule after I found the first bit so I missed the last part of the rule that says:


VC army book said:


> Unless specifically stated otherwise, spells and magic items that restore lost wounds, can not heal characters or their mounts.


This begs the question: Why is the first quote mention lone characters, if they can't be targeted by IoN, the only spell or item in the book that restores lost wounds. Ah well, just more GW contradicting themselves.


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## MrPete

Some nice ideas here guys, keep 'em coming 

After work tonight i'm going to look into doing up some lords to represent some fluffy bloodline vampires.


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## Lepaca

What about these?

Vampire Lord
Quickblood
Red Fury
Sword of Bloodshed
Night Shroud
Shield

403 points

also

Vampire Lord
Quickblood
Red Fury
Sword of Bloodshed
Potion of Strength
Enchated Shield
Heavy Armour

391 points

Vampire Lord
Quickblood
Red Fury
Sword of Strife
Armour of Destiny
Shield

393 points

First version a bit more survivable (3+ save negating all strength boni in base contact), second more offensive (having a potential 16 S8 attacks for one round), third version is actually my favourite because of the 4+ ward. 

What do you think?


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## Abomination

There are some really nice builds here guys. I've got a build or two using the Coven Throne which I'll post later.


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## HiveMinder

Vampire Lord
Dread Knight
Forbidden Lore - Beasts
Nightshroud
Sword of Sriking
Talisman of Endurance
Zombie Dragon

Total - 560

So yes, this guy is a monster in every sense of the word. The combination of Zombie Dragon and Nightshoud means that your opponent will need a 5 or 6+ to hit your vampire, and a 4 or 5+ to hit the dragon. Nightshroud also makes the prospect of punching through the dragons T6 even more daunting.

On the other hand, Sword of Striking and Dread Knight should ensure that your Vampire will always be hitting on a 2+.

The Lore of Beasts is a great way to buff this unit even further. Pann's Impenetrable Pelt, Curse of Anraheir, or the Savage Beast of Horros is great, but if you don't get one of those, you can always default to a solid Wyssan's Wildform. And since the whole unit counts as a monster, the Lore Attribute will make these spells easier to cast.


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## Abomination

This is my build I'll be using for 2250pt games (that's the level I play at most regularly).

Vampire Lord
w/ Sword Of Battle, The Other Tricksters Shard, Talisman Of Preservation
mounted on Coven Throne and the Aura Of Dark Majesty vampiric power.

A solid, if somewhat unspectacular, build. With both coven throne and vampire having a 4+ Ward and 5 T5 wounds it should be pretty durable while Aura Of Dark Majesty helps the Battle Of Wills special rule be more effective. As a whole this unit puts out 10+2d6 attacks at varying weapon skill and strength values that should allow it to go toe-to-toe with most anything. This build could be modified for a hero level vampire too which would make it cheaper.


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## Farseer Darvaleth

experiment 626 said:


> Invocation will not heal characters since it doesn't specifically mention them - only 'undead units'


Characters *are* Undead units...?


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## experiment 626

Farseer Darvaleth said:


> Characters *are* Undead units...?


If they're on their own, but keep in mind the special stipulation in the 'Resurrecting Fallen Warriors' rule that states, "_Unless specifically stated otherwise_, spells and magic items that restore lost wounds _cannot_ heal characters or their mounts." (last paragraph, second sentance on pg26)

Invocation will not heal characters or mounts as there's no specific mention - however the VC Lore Attribute does heal wounds as it specifically mentions "the caster or another model with X"" in it's description!


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## HiveMinder

experiment 626 said:


> If they're on their own, but keep in mind the special stipulation in the 'Resurrecting Fallen Warriors' rule that states, "_Unless specifically stated otherwise_, spells and magic items that restore lost wounds _cannot_ heal characters or their mounts." (last paragraph, second sentance on pg26)
> 
> Invocation will not heal characters or mounts as there's no specific mention - however the VC Lore Attribute does heal wounds as it specifically mentions "the caster or another model with X"" in it's description!


Which again raises they question: why does the Resurrecting Fallen Warriors start out by saying,_"Some magic spells and items can resurrect fallen warriors in an Undead unit by restoring a number of Wounds' worth of models to the unit. If the target consists of a single model, such as a *lone character* or a Corpse Cart, then it can never exceed its starting Wounds value..."_.

I'd say that this line is clarification for the Lore Attribute, except that the Lore Attribute is neither a spell or an item, and it specifically says that it 'recovers a wound *lost earlier in the battle*. I think they're just trying to confuse us.


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## Aramoro

The way I read it. IoN can target a Unit of Skeletons say, and any character in that unit cannot regain wounds. It can also target a unit of a single character/Monster by themselves. 

The Lore Attribute has no interaction with Ressurecting Fallen Warriors as it's not a spell.


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## HiveMinder

Vamire Lord
Skabscrath
Potion of Strength
Shield + Heavy Armor
Barded Nightmare
Curse of the Revenant
Aura of Dark Majesty
Dread Knight

Total = 438 pts

This guy is designed to lead my Blood Knights into battle, offering overwhelming punch to an already brutal unit. He gets 7 S5 attacks on the charge (S8 with the Potion of Strength) at WS9. Basically, he destroys whatever he attacks. He has a respectable 2+ armor save.

Additionally, thanks to both Curse of the Revenant and Aura of Dark Majesty, it effectively increases the number of wounds he inflicts with his Death Shriek by 2.

Optionally, you could drop Dread Knight for Beguile, but I prefer the higher WS. Another option is to swap Potion of Strength for The Other Trickster's shard in case of those pesky Ward saves.

In either case, accompanied by some Blood Knights, that's one unit that your opponent is sure to fear. (bad pun intended)


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## MrPete

Necrarch-y type magic heavy vamp -

Vamp lord
Level 4
Talisman of Preservation
Cursed Book
Master of the Black Arts
Forbidden Lore
505 Points

4++ ward, 6 random spells on top of the ones he generates, can reroll one dice for winds of magic, and can generate his spells from all lores except life. Working on a more fluffy necrarch soon, and trying for bloodline builds.


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## experiment 626

MrPete said:


> Necrarch-y type magic heavy vamp -
> 
> Vamp lord
> Level 4
> Talisman of Preservation
> Cursed Book
> Master of the Black Arts
> Forbidden Lore
> 505 Points
> 
> 4++ ward, 6 random spells on top of the ones he generates, can reroll one dice for winds of magic, and can generate his spells from all lores except life. Working on a more fluffy necrarch soon, and trying for bloodline builds.


Just keep in mind you'll need another Vampire Lord to be your general, since our general *MUST* always take the Lore of Vampires!


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## olderplayer

The corpse cart is an undead unit and often does not have a character. A vampire is an undead model and cannot be raised if it is in a unit but Nehek will only raise one wound on vampiric models and large targets and only if those models are not in units with other models. Of course, the lore attribute recovers one previously lost wound on a character within range. 

As above, I think maybe taking a necro with lore of death might be an interesting idea but generally Nehek is so important and the lore attribute is such that the characters should favour vamp lore given the new crumble rules and the focus of a vamp army. 

Because of the miscast risks, a master necro lvl 3 with master of the dead if running skellies makes a lot of sense as a primary caster and that allow the vamp lord to be a better protected fighting character that attempts Nehek (or danse or vigor) as needed. You are really only paying a low base cost for a 3 wound master necro when you consider the costs of three magic levels. Alternatively, run a lvl 2 necro with master of the dead if you really want to beef up the vamp lord with equipment, magic items, added magic levels, vampiric powers, and mounts. The necro gives you a scroll caddy and extra Nehek and spell caster as a back up.


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## HiveMinder

Lepaca said:


> What about these?
> 
> Vampire Lord
> Quickblood
> Red Fury
> Sword of Bloodshed
> Night Shroud
> Shield
> 
> 403 points
> 
> First version a bit more survivable (3+ save negating all strength boni in base contact)...
> 
> What do you think?


I think this vampire actually only has a 5+ save, unless you forgot to put him on a Barded Nightmare.


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## clever handle

you are correct HiveMinder, but you can give heavy armor in addition to the nightshroud (I believe it is as per the Dragon Helm in the BRB...) to give you the 3+


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## ExtraCrew

IoN does heal characters they are undead.


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## olderplayer

If the character is in the unit or on a large mount with separate wounds, then my understanding is that either the character can recover one wound or the unit/mount can recover wounds from Nehek per the normal rules (D6+level for infantry, 1+level for non-infantry units but only one wound for units/models with vampiric, ethereal or large target characteristics) but only one Nehek augment per unit (can't restore a wound on the vamp and restore wounds on the unit/mount with the same cast spell).


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## clever handle

no - you can't target characters with IoN. In the army rules it states that characters can only be healed if it explicitly states that they can be. IoN can't heal characters - BUT you can heal ONE wound to a character by using the lore atribute


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## olderplayer

clever, you may be right now that I think about it. 

But could you point me to the page where it explicitly says that? The old rule book clearly says that Nehek can target either a unit or character (which was the basis for my answer), but the new Nehek is an area effect spell the hits all "units" within range. Since the rule explicitly addresses large targets, non-infantry, vampiric, and ethereal, I assumed that a vampire on its own could get the benefit as he is considered a unit. The old Nehek clearly said characters had to be separately targetted to benefit from the spell. Given the lore attribute being able to restore one wound of a character, your statement makes sense. Thanks

I was working off the old rule for Nehek that was explicit (can either target the unit or the character but not both). I had the new rule book at home and looked at it last night. The new rule book does discuss Nehek being able to restore one previously lost wound on a character (or its mount). However, on the introductory page to the army section there is a box explaining how wounds are restored in units and it specifically states that characters (and their mounts) in units cannot be targetted by Nehek when in a unit with rank and file models, only rank and file models can be restored per the order discussed (champion and then musician and then rank and file). However, ironically, when the character (and mount) is not in a unit, then it can regrow one lost wound on the mount or the character. It is not clear given the one regrown wound per cast of Nehek whether or not the lore attribute would then allow a second wound to be restored on the character.


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## HiveMinder

I've created a thread in WHFB Rules forum to continue discussion of the IoN debate.

Also here's a fun BSB to bring to the party

Vampire
Battle Standard Bearer - Screaming Banner
Lvl. 1 Wizard - Vampires
Aura of Dark Majesty
Fear Incarnate
Heavy Armor + Shield.

Total = 181

Here's a BSB that will be a boon to any unit (*cough* Grave Guard *cough*) Not only will they get the normal BSB effects, but this guy makes your opponent take Fear tests with -1 Ld on the highest 2 of 3 dice. And if they're lucky enough to pass, they have to reroll it!


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## Aramoro

I swaying towards having the Vampire but just in a Unit of Skellies to make it a Nightmarish Tar pit, so obviously the standard goes on the unit. Then you can spend the spare points on Glittering Scales for him, If they fail the Fear test they're on 6's to hit him.


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## olderplayer

I like the BSB idea but you only need aura on one vamp and beguile is also very good synergy with the aura. In a unit of skellies, the screaming banner with the other synergistic vampiric powers (aura, fear incarnate, and beguile) makes it tough to hit the character. I'd prefer not to put a banner on the BSB because I'd like to give him magic items (like talisman of protection or armour of destiny) to max protect him and minimize the chance of him taking two wounds (one wound can be restored as long as a caster within range gets off a vamp lore augment and uses the lore attribute to restore the lost wound on the BSB. A max ward save is a lot better protection than hoping the enemy fails a fear test given the fact that many units within range of their generals will be testing for fear on LD 8 or 9, even with the aura effect. Also, with the skelly unit, you can run full command and maybe a cheap wraith or two to put a master necro lvl 3 with master of the dead in the second rank to keep him hidden as long as possible. Of course, aura and beguile make a lot of sense on a vamp lord that is fighting oriented. In a challenge, the aura and beguile combo means that the opposing model has LD 6 (-1 penalty for auro and -3 penalty for beguile) or less and must re-roll to hit if failed (plus the lord has a very high WS). Even with the BSB in range, that is a very good chance of cutting the number of hits in half from a nasty character or monster in the opposing unit.


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## HiveMinder

Aramoro said:


> I swaying towards having the Vampire but just in a Unit of Skellies to make it a Nightmarish Tar pit, so obviously the standard goes on the unit. Then you can spend the spare points on Glittering Scales for him, If they fail the Fear test they're on 6's to hit him.


That's also another option, but I went with the more thwompy approach. In a unit of grave guard, they can take the Banner of the Barrows, and with the high probablility of failing their fear test, the grave guard are hitting with great weapons on a 2+.

You could always throw a Wight King or Krell into the unit to issue challanges and keep characters off the BSB.


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## olderplayer

The banner is now +1 to hit for all wights. However, without Helm being available anymore, the grave guard will often be hitting normally on 4+ and 3+ with the banner. Using a wight king makes sense in that regard because of his extra wound, killing blow, and ability to max protect him but you lose a vamp hero that would get you another shot at Nehek and can take vampiric powers. I think that heavy infantry armies will want as many shots at Nehek as possible due to its area effect and the D6+level number of wounds restored per unit and the 1 wound on a character in range restored.


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## Aramoro

With Fear Incarnate and Screaming Banner you're really hoping your enemy will blow the Leadership test so you're Grave Gaurd will be hitting on 2's with the Banner of the Barrows. To make it more reliable though you need a Tomb Banshee in the unit so that you can cause fear in Ogres and the like.


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## HiveMinder

Aramoro said:


> With Fear Incarnate and Screaming Banner you're really hoping your enemy will blow the Leadership test so you're Grave Gaurd will be hitting on 2's with the Banner of the Barrows. To make it more reliable though you need a Tomb Banshee in the unit so that you can cause fear in Ogres and the like.


Good call on the Tomb Banshee.


Here's the Vampire Lord I plan on running as Walach von Harkon. 

Vampire Lord
- Scabskrath
- Potion of Strenght
- Curse of the Revenant
- Aura of Dark Majesty
- Dread Knight
- Shield, Heavy Armor, Barded Nightmare
- Lvl. 1 Wizard - Vampire Lore

Total = 443 pts

He will accompany my Blood Knights into battle. While probably not as optimized as some, he does boast 7 S5 (S8 w/ potion) attacks on the charge and a 2+ armor save. Curse of the Revenant and Aura of Dark Majesty effectively bump up his casualties caused by his Death Shriek by two. More than likely, i'll default his spell to IoN to recover any casualties the blood knights might suffer.


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## Aramoro

I know why you've got Curse of the Revenant in there, but The Quickening is so much better for that kind of Lord, ASF means rerolls to hit against most people. That or Red Fury, or both!


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