So, at the end of the previous post I had a first draft of my list, and had arranged a game against some High Elves. Well, suffice to say the game did not go too well and it ended as a big loss. I don't mind losing games, especially when they were a lot of fun, but as this was essentially prep for an event I thought about how I could improve things. Firstly, I focused on the positive aspects of the game:
- The army is certainly fast! With 4 flyers, 3 Vanguards and 2 monsters that can march 16" even on their own, I managed to redeploy almost everything to one side of the battlefield in 2 turns.
- The Terrorgheist scream is really useful! I've been on the receiving end of these before, but getting to take off a unit of Reavers turn 1 was very satisfying.
- The baby Vampires are actually pretty hard! The fighty one nearly took out the Elven Prince on the charge, and had I remembered my Potion of Foolhardiness I may have actually done it. The BSB was especially useful to stop things losing wounds in combat, an ability I had almost overlooked when building the list.
All that being said, there were a great many disappointments also.
- Magic. With only 3 level 1 wizards, all on the Lore of the Vampires, I had nothing really to draw out the inevitable Dispel Scroll. This meant that when it mattered I was forced to go for IF which cost a baby Vamp a wound, leading to her downfall.
- Target choices. I threw the Lord into a unit of Dragon Princes with the Terrorgheist, hoping to kill enough with the scream and in combat to break their Steadfast. However, I rolled poorly and forgot the Breath Weapon, meaning my Lord was stuck in place. This lead to a countercharge and enough combat res to pop the Lord.
- Vargheists. I knew that Vargheists are pretty easy to kill, so I was worried about throwing them into anything. I ended up wasting them completely for three turns, then their Frenzy kicked in and I was forced to declare long charges that I didn't make.
So, the list needed improving. The first change was easy, and out went the Vargheists. In their place, Hexwraiths looked appealing. They didn't have to worry about missile fire, and they added a fourth Vanguarding unit to the list. They were also the perfect choice to threaten enemy War Machines that could kill off the big monsters. Job done. This saved me 80 points, so I began to revise my character selection.
I decided that the way to improve my magic phase was to switch the two baby Vampires to the Lore of Death. That would at least give me two of Spirit Leech, and with the ruling at the event that Inspiring Presence can be used for this spell, I could be Ld10 as long as I was within 18" of the Dragon. That should scare some people into using their scroll in the first few turns! This meant that I lost out on a backup caster to keep the army going if the Lord died. The easiest thing to do was to put in a Necromancer, and I moved the Dispel Scroll over to him - freeing up points on the BSB.
The only things left that I can change are the items on the characters. I wanted the Lord to be able to get out of scrapes once she had become stuck, so a Potion of Strength seemed like a good idea. This would be used if she was ever in combat with something at the start of my opponent's turn, hopefully freeing her up to charge again in my next turn. I also upgraded her to a Level 2 mage, letting her have 2 shots at getting either Vanhels or Hellish Vigour (amongst the best spells in the deck). This obviously needed points from somewhere, and the compromise was the Sword of Might and Quickblood on the BSB. I saw her in more of a casting and support role though, so a lance should still le her help out if needed. Moving a few things around, I also found the points for the Book of Arkhan. An additional Vanhels could be crucial at the right time, especially giving rerolls against an opponent who also has ASF.
With these revisions, the list now looks like this:
2500 Vampire Counts
Vampire Lord: Charmed Shield; Talisman Of Preservation; Potion Of Strength; Quickblood; Level 2 Wizard, Lore of the Vampires; Zombie Dragon; lance; heavy armour. 616
Vampire: Enchanted Shield; Book of Arkhan; Dragonbane Gem; Level 1 Wizard, Lore of Death; Hellsteed; lance; heavy armour; Battle Standard. 207
Vampire: Sword Of Anti Heroes; Dragonhelm; Luckstone; Potion Of Foolhardiness; Quickblood; Dread Knight; Level 1 Wizard, Lore of Death; Hellsteed; shield; heavy armour. 231
Necromancer: Level 1 Wizard, Lore of the Vampires; Dispel Scroll. 90
36 Crypt Ghouls 360
15 Dire Wolves 120
5 Dire Wolves 40
5 Dire Wolves 40
20 Zombies: musician; standard bearer. 70
5 Hexwraiths 1505 Dire Wolves 40
5 Dire Wolves 40
20 Zombies: musician; standard bearer. 70
Terrorgheist 225
Varghulf 175
Varghulf 175
I have another game penciled in for tomorrow evening, against the same High Elf opponent I played last time. Hopefully the additions and changes should make for a different result than last time! I'll try and take some photos and maybe there will be a third blog post in the offing! :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment