Warhammer 8th Edition..haters gonna hate..

So it's finally upon us, the much awaited 8th edition ruleset for our beloved Warhammer Fantasy Battles.  Now, if you are reading this blog I can only assume that you are quite familiar with all things wargaming so I won't bore you with the information on rule changes and how they affect the armies blah, blah, blah.  What I will do, however, is let you know how this edition has affected me, and my favorite army of death, the Vampire Counts. 

To be honest, when the jump from 7th edition to 8th happened, I was still fairly new to the whole Fantasy aspect to GW wargaming.  I've been an avid 40k player since I was 15 years old, but when it comes to Elves and Dragons, I'm a relatively new player.  So when it was announced that there would be a new edition coming in a few months, my first reaction was...meh.  Later, as I began to get closer to the release date and I was playing more 7th edition lists, my worries began to grow.  How would I survive this new edition?  I had fallen into the trap of the typical VC player and had been running small units that could be grown later and relying soley on one deathstar unit to win me the game.  Now, there were going to be percentage caps on characters and magic was being significantly nerfed?  Core choices were becoming more powerful (while ours have always been god-awful) and fear would no longer make enemies break?  This later fact caused great trepedation on my part due to the fact that my one trick pony-that of winning combat by one and causing the enemy to flee-would no longer work.  These were going to be grave times indeed.

Then, my opinion began to change.  While this new edition would certainly make my army less powerful, it would also force me-and my VC thralls-to think of different ways to run our armies.  We would have to use our sub-par core units in ways that would surprise and terrify our opponents..exactly the way a true undead army would operate on the field.  Below I am going to talk about certain Undead units that I have used in the few games I've played and how they have performed under the new rule set.  After that I'll include some pics of the recent 8th edition action at my FLGS.  Enjoy!

Vampire Lord - This guy is still awesome.  I have been running him as a magic heavy lord due to the fact that while gearing your combat lord to be an uber killing-machine sounds fun, losing him to combat resolution and having you army crumble is not.  Face it, our Lords are cool, but any Chaos Hero...even a Champion...will usually school his ass and lose you the game. I have been putting my Lord behind the lines in a skeleton bunker and letting the other units use his WS with the Hat of Ridiculousness. He also takes Forbidden Lore, which lets him choose any Lore of Magic (accept the Lore of Life..obviously) making him great for buffing your units and combat characters.  He also takes the magic item that lets him reroll his Miscast (which, when you're rolling 6 dice for killer spells can really come in handy).  Just make sure that you are still taking protection for this guy, in the form of armour and ward saves, due to the number of snipe spells out there.

Konrad Von Carstein- This guy is awesome.  For a hero-level combat character, there really is no equal.  First of all, his stats are that of a vampire, which makes him deadly enough.  His 3 attacks are augmented by his double swords, which gives him another one.  Oh, btw, one of his swords is a magical one that causes an addition wound for each one in inflicts.  Did I mention he also has cool Vampire Powers. Oh, I didn't?  Well why didn't you say that, asshole?  Anyways, he has Infinite Hatred, which lets him re-roll ALL of his hits in CC...always.  He also has Red Fury, which lets him have an additional attack for each unsaved wound.  Now, remember that each of his wounds causes an additional wound?  Well, if he causes 2 wounds on a character, its actually 4 wounds..and now he can have 4 more attacks..that can be re-rolled if missed....yeah.  If you have your Lord around he can buff Konrad with +3 attacks and +3 strength if using the Lore of Beasts...dirty.  Konrad's only drawback is that he must roll a d6 at the start of your turn, and on a 1-3 he is stupid for that turn.  Don't worry however, as he can use the Lord's 10 LD to take the test, and if there is a BSB nearby he can re-roll that.  Also, Konrad will usually be in combat, making stupidity not an option.  Oh, btw, if he rolls a 4-6 he is frenzied (which cannot be lost) giving him 5 base attacks.  Yuck.

Wight King - As the percentage of Hero's is now 25% of your total points, these guys just became better.  Not only are they cheaper than your Vampire Thrall, they can also carry your BSB (which is now equally awesome).  They also make great body guard characters, as their toughness 5 and 3 wounds can go a long way to keeping your more valuable characters safe.  They can also be given useful items, such as the Sword of Kings, which makes the killing blow happen on a 5-6.  Also, with the new frenzy rules (it can now be restrained by a LD check) their LD of 9 will go a long way in making sure those Blood Knights doing get lured into a trap.  Basically, never leave home without this guy.

Necromancer - This litte turd actually has some great uses now.  Not only are they cheap Dispel Scroll caddies, they also purchase their spells, which means you can have multiples of these assholes running around spamming Invocation and Van Hels.  Also, casting big spells with these guys ensures that, even though they will miscast, the big spell will go off and its better losing a 55 point model than your General Vampire Lord.  This is another must have model..maybe models...that you should have in your army,

Grave Guard - These guys are still awesome and the fact that you will have 2 ranks attacking makes them even more bad ass.  Make sure you run them with great weapons and try to buff their to hit ratio also, either with a banner or a Lord wearing the Crown of Ridiculousness.  As they only wear heavy armour and will get no parry save, its important that you try and protect them as much as possible, which means giving them the Drakenhoff Banner (4+ regeneration save)..but be wary of fire attacks!

Ghouls - Still the go-to core choice for flanking.  As they have 2 poison attacks each they can be quite deady to high toughness models, but be aware that they are only toughness 4 and have no armour save, meaning that they will die horribly to warmachines or any high strength / high volume attacks.

Skeletons - If used in large blocks (around 30-35) with 5 to 6 ranks they can be effective tarpits.  Give them a cheap War Banner for another Combat Res and they are even better.  I find that giving them a hand weapong and shield is better than the extra 5 attacks offered by the spears.  A 6+ ward is better than nothing.  Again, if you have a lord around, they can be buffed to be slightly better in combat, but lets just say that they will still struggle killing even a lowly goblin.

Vargulf - Since I've used him I havent been disappointed.  He is quick and can really dominate a flank or take out enemy war machines.  He has a high number of high strength attacks, and also has Hatred.  He only has a 4+ regeneration save, though his high toughness makes him difficult to harm.  He also now has Thunderstomp, which give him an additional d6 strength 5 attack.  If this guy is buffed using the Lore of Beasts, you get a +1 to cast any spells on him...which is nice.

Fell Bats - I just started using them and am happy with what they do.  They are mosterous creatures that fly and have 2 wounds each.  Basically just throw them on a flank and take out war machines as soon as possible.  Remember to start them next to a Vampire so they can get their full 20" march move on the first turn.  Unfortunately they are no longer classified as Infantry so you can Invocate them on mulitple wounds..ony one per Vampire...but they will usually be out of range anyways.

Well thats it for the units that I have used so far in the 8th Edition.  As I experiment with more of the army I will give you my take on those as well.  Anyways, here are some pics of people enjoying the 8th edition release over the last few weeks at Ork Town in Seoul, Korea..

A rousing game of Chaos Warriors v.s Wood Elves (Hippy Elves)

Finally, the Hellcannon gets its just deserts...

Vampire Counts (yeah!) v.s Gay Elves

Oh, I didn't hear you come in!

My VC Army..its big where it counts..

My mixed unit of Ghouls and Dogs..hey I have to do something with them now!

We'sa eat your face now?

My Vargulf..ready to defecate in your yard..

Alex's Lizardmen..pretty tough army

The bane of my existence..the fat toad wizard thing..

Ancient enemies square off...

High Elf Bolt Throwers take aim at some beardy Chaos Warriors

Grave Guard or The Great, (Skull) White, Hope

Today I want to quickly talk about a Vampire Counts unit that is near and dear to my heart; the mighty Grave Guard!  The remains of ancient warriors and kings, the Grave Guard serve their Vampire masters long after they have perished from the mortal realm.  Unlike their weaker, more slow-witted skeleton warrior brothers, the Grave Guard boast fairly good stats, backed up by a Wight Blade and heavy armour.  No Vampire Counts player would be caught dead without these stalwart spectres and what follows are the main points that I think make them so valuable.

Great Stat Line:  The Grave Guard boast a pretty good statline (we are undead afterall!).  With strength and toughness 4, they are better able to deal with more elite infantry and cavalry than any other Undead infantry unit.  Their strengh 4 guarantees that the enemy will have a -1 to their armour saves.

Command:  While at first glance this seems obvious, it is worth it to note the various Undead units that are not able to take Standard Bearers.  Grave Guard can benefit from mostly all of the Magic Banners available, most notably the Banner of the Barrows (+1 to hit) and the Drakenhoff Banner (Regeneration).

Heavy Armour:  This is an awesome thing for an Undead infantry unit to have, effectively giving them a 4+ save against shooting and a 3+ save in Close Combat.  Yes please!

Wight Blades:  Every Grave Guard skeleton carries the magical Wight Blade, which is a magic weapon that causes Killing Blow.  ALL YOUR OGRES ARE BELONG TO US!

Great Weapons:  So everything listed above doesn't get your underpants a little tighter?  Well, how about strength 6 great weapons that also have Killing Blow?  Oh, why yes, you may go use the bathroom...just dont use all of my hand lotion.

Point Cost:  How much would you pay for a unit with this much awesomenss...20 points a model?  15?  How about 12.  13 with Great Weapons.  Bam.

The best use of Grave Guard is as a hammer unit.  Basically, you throw a combat Vampire Lord, as well as a Wight King with a Magical Army Standard towards anything you want to die.  I have had these boys chew threw giant blocks of Saurus Temple Guard in two turns.  BBQ frog anyone?  They are also good at taking out incredably tough characters, such as Blood Thirsters or Hellpit Abominations.  Whatever you choose to do with these fiendish friends I guarantee you wont be disappointed.

Below are some shots of the Grve Guard that I use in my army.  As you can see I went with the same red and gold them that I have been using throughout the army.  Enjoy!

Cry ZOMBIE! And let loose the dogs of war!

Hello my friends, it is time once again to show some of my painting projects that have (finally) been completed.  This week I have for you a troupe of undead dogs from my Vampire Counts Warhammer Fantasy army.  As you can see I heavily relied on a flat color base, rounded out by some generous washing here and there.  Actually, on these dogs I did use some drybrushing techniques with the fur (because I'm a baller like that).  I will tell you one thing about painting this kit, it requires a lot of attention to detail as there are tons of little bits and pieces that I missed several times and had to go back over.  Anyways enjoy the pics (the good ones are Christian's, the blurry stupidly posed ones are mine).

How to Lose with Vampire Counts: A Process

Hello again to my reader (s), it’s been a while since my last post and for that I apologize. Today I want to talk to you about something that happened a few weeks ago that honestly got me to thinking. I eagerly joined the local Ork Town Warhammer Fantasy League, which is a 2K 6 week event which has a total of around 9-10 players. I would be using my Vampire Counts that I have been feverishly painting for the last 2 months, even though I had not ever used them in any kind of competitive environment. There would be a certain comp restriction in that your special and rare choices could not exceed the point total of your core units, though this seriously hamstringed my choices seeing as how VC lists depend on their special and rare choices to win games and have very over-priced and weak core units (more on this later), other than that there is a 10 wizard level cap (i.e you can’t have 4 level 3 wizards, as this would put you at 12…k?) of course bound spells count as 1 level and VC’s got dinged with a +1 before any list building began (yeeaahhhhh…..). So that’s enough rambling, what follows is what I brought in my first list and why it all failed so miserably..


Large blocks of skeletons: The reason I wanted to take these was because a) I happen to have a lot of these skeleton models b) a large block meant more of a point cost, which meant I could take more special and rare choices and c) they look cool.

The reason they failed me: Taking the initial large blocks prevented me from using more points to buy them magical banners and other important core choices such as Corpse Carts, etc. There is really no reason to start the game with more than 15 skeletons in a unit, as it is unlikely that anyone can destroy the unit in one shooting turn and you can usually raise more skeletons anyways with a nearby vampire (even above their starting number) if you need to.



One unit of fast cavalry: Ok, everyone knows that the VC options for fast march blockers are extremely limited, i.e we have the Dire Wolves and Bat Swarms. Now, in my infinite wisdom I thought that I would only need one unit of 7 Dire Wolves to use to outflank the enemy and to be used as march blockers or prevent the dreaded flank charges that will deny my combat troops their rank bonuses.

The reason they failed me: Dire Wolves are going to die their first round of combat weather you have 5, 7, or 10 in a unit. The only way to get around this is to charge and declare a challenge with your doom wolf (though this only works against single character units). I found it is better to take multiple units of 5 in order to cover more of the board and provide an effective screen for your more valuable combat troops as they try to maneuver into position.

Super Combat Vampire Lord: While it seemed a cool idea at the time to make a character that could chop the head off most units, it was ultimately a bad idea to put the only model keeping you army from crumbling to dust in the front lines.

The reason he failed me: This guy came in at a staggering amount of points, and to be honest, no matter how much of a combat badass you make your Vampire Lord, he is still going to be owned by a lot of units out there. Once that happens say goodbye to your army and to the game. It is much better to make a Lord magic oriented and stick him in the back, away from the danger. You have Hero Vampires that can be used in the combat roles.

Wights and Banshees: What’s not to love about these guys? They are Ethereal (they can’t be hit by anything that isn’t magical) have great weapons (strength 5) have 3 attacks and 2 wounds each (except for the Banshee who has an awesome shooting scream).

The reason they failed me: While VC players got away with the Wight and Banshee shenanigans a few years ago, the rest of the Warhammer world has gotten wise, and now most competitive armies have so many magic weapons and magic attacks (Skaven, Lizardmen) that this unit usually just gets pulverized before they are able to do anything worthwhile. Add in the fact that most competitive tournaments or leagues will have a fair share of Daemons (which count every attack as magical) and your 50 point per model (75 for the Banshee) unit starts to look less and less appealing.

One Hammer Unit: It’s tempting to throw all of you points into one single hammer unit that can make or break the game in one round of combat. For some people it’s a great idea, for me, it proved disastrous.

The reason it failed me: I decided to go with a large block of Grave Guard with a magical banner and the super combat Lord character included for good measure. Now, this unit was able to chop through just about anything, and for the most part, they did. However, they are slow as hell and can be avoided by many things that they, as the only real killers in the army, are tasked to eliminate. Trying to chase a Blood Thirster with movement 4 units is a great way for an army to get picked off piecemeal.



And there you have it. There were plenty of other things that led to my humiliation such as not having adequate magic support for a VC army and misusing some of my units (as I am still relatively new to the game). In the future I will be utilizing some of the other VC units such as Ghouls and Black Knights and will let you all know how those future games go.

Stay Tuned for another update later this week!