# Vampire Count Equipment



## Mitchy (Apr 19, 2009)

whats the best equipment for a Vampire Lord?

i like to give him:
Master of Black Arts
Dreadlance
Cadaverous Cuirass
Dark Knight
+Wizard Level
Tailsman of Protection

probably not the best Vampire Lord there is out there, but im new to the game.


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## clever handle (Dec 14, 2009)

Well, what do you want your lord to do?

If you want him to sit back, far from combat, and keep your army going using magic then the way to go is the Skull Staff for the +1, as well as the helm of command to ensure your lowliest pawns have WS7... Couple that with Dark Acolyte, Master of the Black Arts & your requisite summoning power & you have a 6PD +1(2) to cast magical monster

The dreadlord is a terrifying combat build - give red fury, walking death & dreadknight for bloodline powers & equip with nightshroud & dreadlance to ensure you're hitting automatically with 4 S7 attacks on the charge - leading to a potential of 10 points of combat res (8 from kills from the vampire, one from the mount and one from the power) from one model alone. The nightshroud ensures that you're fighting before anyone gets a chance to wound you, even if charged or up against something silly & elvish (of course there are characters that make you "strike last" but they're the exception) and anything with spears / lances that charges does not get the strength bonus...

These are two really powerful builds, but really you must figure out what you need / want your list to do & tool your lord to accomplish this. VC core sucks, their sub-par fighters who really are only good for surviving long enough for your opponent to flub a round of combat meaning your characters need to carry the weight of the army - either by shear killiness or magica supremacy - Vampires can excel at either role, just don't try to be good at everything...

Oh, and of note the only way to get a barded steed is to choose Dread Knight as a bloodline power - you can only buy a non-barded steed otherwise...


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## Mitchy (Apr 19, 2009)

yeah i messed that one up a bit, i remade it though. I switched the Bloody Hueberk for better armour. And i gave him the dreadlance.

I want the Vampire Lord to do good at beating most champions in a fight, and i also want him to have the power to revive dead models. Tell me what you think of the new one.


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## clever handle (Dec 14, 2009)

Pretty sure you're over the 100points of equipment you can buy...

the lance & amulet take you to 75 before the scepter & armor...


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## Mitchy (Apr 19, 2009)

yep by 15 pts, thanks for pointing that out, it would have taken me awile. Ill just scrap the sceptre du noirot. And then i have 10 pts to spend, ill probably just leave it like that.


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## Tombking (Jan 5, 2010)

your vampire lord needs to be tailored to his task - combat or spell casting or annoyance 

they are competent spell casters without upgrades as you can cast necromancy spells as many times as you like, meaning you can pop off 2/3 invoc of nehek's with a bog basic lord. 

dread lance is good but expensive. does a ws 7 (or 8? cant remember) character need to auto hit? its cheaper to give him the vampire hatred ability and he will hit almost always. plus he's st 5! do you need to be st 7 on a charge? maybe if you want to kill dragons but there are bog basic magic items that for 15-20 pts will make him st6 all the time or just get a great wep? 

if your making a combat vampire then he needs red fury. if he’s a combat resolution vampire then aura of dark majesty and the -2 LD skill is so funny it makes elves cry. 


armour is a moot point, but they are all good in there way. all does the same thing realy - keeps your vamp alive. vambraces of black gold are good at this to if your vamp is going solo.

try this one for fun - amulet of lycini and the stalker skill (gives you scout) vambraces of black gold if you like and the armour which gives -2 to hit, not sure the name. its all cheap stuff but you get a mv 9 vampire which has scout, set up close to your foe with scout run 18" and raise a unit of zombies behind him, then soak up all the fire from his missile weps as you cant be hit without a -3 modifier and your vambraces invulnerable save.

Sol


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## clever handle (Dec 14, 2009)

the difference between hitting ALL the time & hitting 2/3 of the time is 4 hits through 3 rounds of combat. That's potentially a LOT of combat res. With 4 attacks on the charge being WS7 (which a Lord is) you're still only hitting the most basic infantry 2/3 of the time - which is 2 or 3. Being S7 on the charge means you can instant kill chariots if need be and being S5 against WoC using shields means they still have a 4+ armor save, whereas being S7 means they have a 6+... Most infantry dont get ANY save. So with this lance you can almost guarantee 3 kills against rock solid troops WoC BEFORE red fury strikes. If you're going for a combat power build for your LORD this is the way to go.

Frankly I believe that since your LORD is integral for your army, sticking him out all alone as a warmachine / etc hunter is ballsy & ... stupid? being at a -3 to hit doesn't mean crap when you get targeted with magic missiles... Or a cannon, Or an organ gun... I'd rather not have a 50% chance to get smooshed by cannon fire turn one...


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## Tombking (Jan 5, 2010)

if you want to play mathhammer - which i personly dont beleive works.

- hiting on 3s with a re-roll from infinate hatred = 25pts
- hiting all the time with a dreadlance = 60pts

balifire spike is a 10pt flaming magic lance if you want to hunt chariots at st7 so thats almost half the points of dreadlance when combined with infinate hatred

if your woried about WOC then sword of might is 15pts makes you st6, reduce there save to 5+ but whats the point when biting blade is 5 pts and does the same aditional -1and you still wound on 3s against most oponants - in every combat round not just the first, important as undead are often in combat for several rounds, especialy if your general is in a unit of skeles.

dreadlance is a nice item but you can get a similar performance for half the points in most cases.


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## clever handle (Dec 14, 2009)

With DL/RF you are almost definitely not going to be in combat for multiple rounds - unless you've hit something unbreakable. With 6-8 kills almost guaranteed from your vampire alone it means almost the entire front rank is not getting the chance to fight back - meaning they're getting next to no kills. Sure you're almost certainly going to lose your unit champion in a challege but hey - you're still probably up at least 4 points of combat res.... Also, find yourself up against a chaos lord, or a bloodthirster, or many elf lords & you'll find that rather than hitting on 3's, you're hitting on 4's - meaning you can expect 2 hits on the charge & then you're wounding on 2's. A general rule for dice games is that the randomness due to rolling can be mitigated by throwing many, many dice (hence Orks doing very well in 40K...) but in this case, the fewer dice you're throwing, the fewer rolls you are failing. In the VC army you NEED to load your characters, they pull the weight for your troops who are really sub-par (aside from the benefits of being undead - they're the worst fighters in the game!) What are you going to spend the 45 or 50 points on in a VC army? that's 8 skeletons - one turn of raising. 2 Black knights, or 4 graveguard. Even if your vampire only hits once extra every 2nd round of combat you are immediately more effective than anything you could buy otherwise after 2 game turns...

And of note, if you're going to advocate spending 10 points on the balefire spike, why not skip that item and instead buy the banner which makes your whole unit dish out flaming attacks?


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## Tombking (Jan 5, 2010)

just giving sum options - i have been playing warhammer since first edition - and spending to many points on magic items has always made me giggle there are to many what- if scenarios to always say one item is better than another 

not to get into a mindless debate that to frequently litters forums, mitchy is askin for some advice. My advice is that magic items are tailored to the game and foe and role your vamp has. 

If your making a combat specific vampire, sure spend your points on a dreadlance. Great item but if you want a general balanced vampire there are other options as i have outlined, this leaves points for other items.

Not every vampire has to have a dreadlance, just remember there are cheaper and better ways to get combat resolution - and as for the reliability factor what about rolls to wound - ward saves and the like its all randomised buy the dice so better prepair for all ocasions and foes buy not placing all your chips on the table in the first round of combat?

Im sure we could go on forever - but we are moving toworda a my vampire is better than yours argument. Would be nice to see alternate vampire builds on here and reasons why?

Sol


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## Mitchy (Apr 19, 2009)

thanks for all the coments and advice, and after hearing what you guys had to say, and a few of the Vampire Counts player i know at my hobby store, ive decided to go with a caster lord

-(cant remember what its called but he gets +2 power dice, and 1 more level)
-living dead(the one where i can raise skellies above starting numbers, and get the +1 to cast IvcoN
- +1 magic level upgrade
-helm of commandment

thats pretty much it, he goes in a small bodyguard of skellies, and that unit goes behind my main lines.

Also, one of the players at my hobby store told me about a beasty Whight King to go with my unit of Grave Guard (im not using it in my basic list, cause i still want people to play me)

Whight King:
-Great Weapon
-Accursed Armour

and i get anouther Vampire to help the Lord raise tons of skellies who has anouther helm of commandment, so the -3 intitive from the armour has no effect, i alwasy strike last anyhow. Plus i use helm of commandment on the Grave Guard, so now the whole unit is WS 6, and they have banner of the borrows, so now i have an awesome charater who has a great weapon, hitting on 2+ most of the time, and has toughness 6.

like i said, im not using that unless i play against someone who plays a really competitive list.

tell me what you think of both those character.


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## Wolf_Lord_Skoll (Jun 9, 2008)

You can only have one of any given magic item, so two Helm of Commandments is out


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## Mitchy (Apr 19, 2009)

ok, i didnt know that but its good to know


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## Tombking (Jan 5, 2010)

its a good build, helm of command and wight lord combo - good starting point for an army


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## matty570 (Jun 14, 2007)

give the wight king tomb blade and nightshroud, pretty much always striking first, killing blow on a 5+, 3 attacks probably hitting on 2+ is nothing to snigger at, yes his armour is weaker (stick him on a barded steed in the unit of graveguard) but he has a damn good chance of killing nasty characters and the likes, plus I've found that HE dont like it when you strike before them


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## clever handle (Dec 14, 2009)

I find the best wight king is this:

Wight King - BSB
Sword of Kings
Gem of Blood.

This gives you a 150 point HERO with T5, effectively 4 wounds (and when you lose that 1st in CC you're going to score one on your opponent!), and killing blow on 5's. Stick him in the unit of GG with the banner of barrows & the helm of command & you've got a killing machine!

If you can find the points for the skull staff I would strongly recommend it! +1 to cast / dispell is fantastic! Couple it with Lord of the Night & when you cast IoN successfully on a 3+ it becomes a 5+!

Of course, all the builds I've suggested are quite powergamey...


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## Mitchy (Apr 19, 2009)

i was thinking about the skull staff, but decided agaisnt it when i saw other people's list in the hbby store, im going with a friendly, but not easy to kill list.

I might use the skull staff against the person who owns the store, he plays HE and WoC, and not very nice lists. But it would be fun to play him, so skull staff would be nice, IoN in a 2+

also anouther buid i discuvered.

Lord:
-(Etheral power, whatsitcalled)
-(+2power dice power)
-(IoN on skellies on 3+, raise them above starting strenght.)
-Skull Staff

tell me what you think about this build, Etheral caster, and when he gets shot at with a magic missile, then he gets the +1 to dispell.


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## clever handle (Dec 14, 2009)

You ALWAYS need a minimum of 3 to cast a spell no matter what extras you have...

& I believe that the power to make you etheral & master of the black arts (I believe that's the power you're mentioning) both cost 50points & will not allow you to then purchase Lord of the Dead which you need to make skeletons larger than their starting size....


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## Mitchy (Apr 19, 2009)

ok, so byebye skull staff.

ok i got the points wrong, heres what it was supposed to be:

Lord:
Dark Acolyte(+1 Magic level)
Spectral Forn(Ethereal)
Lord of the Dead(skellies cast on easy)

Then give him the 
-Black Periapt
-Wristbands of Black Gold(to help against magic missiles)
-Helm of Commandment(wouldnt want that good WS gone to waste)

so theres the newer one, what do you think of him?


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