# Why do people think the Varghulf is so good?



## matty570 (Jun 14, 2007)

Honestly, I can't work out why everyone says its so good, if it was US5 I could maybe understand it or had infinite hatred but as it is I dont understand.

Just before people start bashing me I do think he is alright for his points but my question is that a lot of people talk about how awesome he is.

For me you can get a more effective unit with better saves in the Black Coach (although the time I tried out the Black Coach I managed to get it flying at the start of my turn 3  happy days!!!)


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## Orochi (Jan 28, 2009)

The varghulf is simply the best at what it does.

Instead of thinking about it as a monster (like a gorgor (from ogres) or a spawn etc) think of it as a overally muscled combat hero.

5 str5 Attacks, regeneration, and 4 wounds with a movement of 8 meants its a pretty fast killing machine. Combined with the fact it causes terror, means its more than caperble of breaking flanks.

The best way to use a Varhulf is to use it in groups of 2 or 3. Granted, this means your at the 2k-3k plus level. But when you consider how many undead theres going to be on the board by this point. Your Varghulfs will be able to traverse 'corridors' you create with your zombies or whatever, allowing them to really get stuck into places where they can't be dislodged.

2 of the Vampire rare choices, I see, are ways to bypass taking a 'warrior lord'. The Varghulf and Blood knights allow you to get some heavy hitters on the board, allowing your Vampires to focus on magic and raising. Although, Blood knights will attract every spell and shot on the board, they can ride it out. While a Varghulf allows for a slightly more tactical approach. Lets be honest, it doesn't matter how tough those Ironbreakers are, when they have a unit of 40+ zmobies in their front with a Varghulf in the rear and back.

I also love the idea of fielding a massive bat...Thats my selling point lol.


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## clever handle (Dec 14, 2009)

Well, VC have the 4 options for rare choices - the varghulf, cairn wraiths, blood knights & the black coach,

Cairn wraiths are ridiculusly broken - as long as you're not foolishly sending them solo into fully ranked bricks (or against chaos knights, etc) they're almost unstoppable - 3 S5 attacks each? They are also the only rare choice to take crumble wounds upon the death of your general...

Blood knights become cost prohibitive very quickly - they are (so I've been told) the best cavalry in the game, but their points reflect that - a 5 man brick is 275 points before command & that 5-man brick as stated will catch all the ranged fire your opponent can throw at it meaning all your IoN will be going into them... I just think they're too expensive for a frenzied unit that can be tied up with fast cav / etc

The black coach - I personally haven't fielded yet (but I'm picking one up today...) but it seems to get all of its strength from Evocation of Death, meaning if you don't run a heavy magic list you've just got a chariot - which can be cannon sniped easily since while not being a large target is a friggen huge model!

The varghulf is relatively cheap, counts as a vampire for march-moving & crumble tests, has that regen vs crumble, has no flanks, is WS5 S5 & T5 - frankly its only downside is that it is I2. In a book full of broken units & combos I believe that if the Varghulf were US5 it would be the only rare worth taking - as it is, it can't negate ranks, give flank / rear bonuses or act as a trap for fleeing troops, this means you do have to be a bit tactical with him - you can't send him into a fully ranked unit of ironbreakers (of note, in a tournament I went to my single vargulf held his own against a black orc warboss c/w fully ranked unit of boys for 5 rounds of combat before finally dying... my opponent was not pleased)

so I guess to summarize, I feel that wraiths are not friendly, knights are too pricey, and the coach is really dependant upon the type of army you are fielding where the vargulf is an amazing all around unit


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

I agree. for 175 points its never going to be as good as a Hydra, but serves a more tactical role. It is an awesome unit to hold up other units, its also better at dishing out damage than Zombies or Skeles + Tomb Blade /Infinite Hatred/Lord of the Dead Vamp. It is hard to kill with standard infantry, and is just a good flanking/flank protection unit....


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Personally I hate vargulfs, they are really difficult for ogres to deal with... though being a rare choice of that points means its being compared to a hydra, and frankly its not a good comparison- the hydra is just plain better except for the increased movement.
Becuase its only the movement of the vargulf that makes it great I would use them amidst the battle line, not as blitzsers- send it into a combat along with a nasty unit of grave guard/ghouls and then it can add a couple of extra wounds (or mebbe even break the enemy with terror) and then go off in pursuit while the main unit can keep the battle line solid- it might also get teh vargulf into a good position to go hunt war machines.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

Why is everyone comparing EVERYTHING to the Hydra? It's like going to Cadbury's world, and getting a block of their chocolate for 50p, and going to Tesco's and getting Tesco Value Chocolate for the same amount and the same price, and saying "but Cadbury's is better".

The Hydra is Undercosted for it's effects - in addition to the fact that the Varghulf doesn't have a Unit Strength of 8, and can't break flanks, no breath attack, etc. The Varghulf is balanced for it's cost (compared to the Black Coach/Blood Knights), whereas it's like getting shitty chocolate for the same price as luxury chocolate, and comparing the two, and finding that shitty chocolate is shitty.

bad analogy, I know, because the Varghulf is not shitty. I find it's one of the best units GW ever developed, actually, that, along with the BoC Shaggoth Champion of Tzeentch, at the time, anyway.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

I should have said before: its good for a VC army because it adds what they lack: speed. Sure a few other things are also quite quick but not many of them are commonly used and something like bloodknights which Ive heard are common (though not near me) are going to be far far more expensive .
The vargulf adds in speed to your battle line- its small enough to fit it into the gaps and is fast enough either to blitz out and kill mages/characters, take out small annoying units , send as a terror bomb is the general of a poor army is away (eg an O&G army with the general on a wyvern) or as I said before- throw it into a big combat so that its 3D6 pursuit distance gets to kill broken units that the slower units woulndt manage to catch.


Comparing units for price/effect between codexes is never really going to work: rare units are meant to bring something your army lacks; you have to pay for this gap filling. If you compare ogre maneaters to pretty much any other rare choice anywhere in the game then they dont look good... but they add in shooting and stubborn to an ogre army which could very easily lack both (shooting is generally poor and stubborn can be got with magic but isnt too reliable for the long term).


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## matty570 (Jun 14, 2007)

Cheers guys

Still not sure though, I think for social games I'll stick with the varghulf but for tournie I'm going for the wraiths and banshee.


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## clever handle (Dec 14, 2009)

I guess for tournament play the only thing I'd look at is wether or not there are comp scores... A varghulf won't destroy you there in and of itself where wraiths will - and for good reasons. Magic heavy vampires are usually able to shut down most magic missiles gunning for their wraiths, leaving them only really vulnerable to magical shooting (you should be able to hide from magical weapons like enscrolled weapons on chaos knights)

Of course - opponents will look at a varghulf you deploy and ask you two questions - first: "He flies right?" and second "Whats his US?"

You deploy your wraiths & you're going to almost force his hand with the rest of his deployment


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