Vampires of the Scwarzenschloss - Opinions please!

[Eternus]

After much deliberation, and an unfortunate incident concerning an army of large bellied Ogres, these are the characters I have settled on as my 'Standard' for games of 2000-3000 Points Vampire Counts.

Please let me know what you all think.

Erik Scwarznacht, Vampire Lord, First Son In Darkness of Vlad of Sylvania - 440 Points

This Vampire is essentially von Carstein in lineage, but I've taken advantage of the new Vampiric Powers system to make him more a more powerfull magic user. He usually leads my 20 strong unit of Grave Guard.

-Master of the Black Arts, Lord of the Dead, Beguile

I've gone for Master of the Black Arts because I'm only having 2 Vamps and a Necromancer for magic, and wanted an extra kick, Lord of the Dead to make replenishing my usual 2 Skeleton units easier and to increase size, and Beguile works great when I get to charge and can get into base to base with an enemy character.

-Blood Drinker, The Armour of Eternus (same as Flayed Hauberk, but doesn't look like a flayed man), Talisman of Protection, Black Periapt

Ok, Blood Drinker because I couldn't decide on a better weapon, and having this sword would save having to cast to regenerate wounds on my Lord, The Armour to protect him against most CC attacks, the talisman for a minor ward save, and the Periapt to store any of my Lord's 5 power dice that don't get used.

-+1 Magic Level - Nuff said

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Karlos Morgan, Captain of the Army of the Scwarzenschloss - 160

For this second Vampire, I just wanted a character that can lead a unit of Skeletons and provide some killing power.

-Infinite Hatred, Avatar of Death

I wanted to maximize on this Vampire's killing ability, so Infinite Hatred allows re-rolls to hit every combat round, and I've gone Heavy Armour, Hand Weapon and Shield for Avatar, for some protection.

-Sword of Might

I know the Vampire goes from a 3+ save to 4+ save in combat by taking a magic sword, but think it's worth the swap for +1 strength, making him Str6 with -3 save mod in combat. Between the increased strength and re-rollable attacks, I'm hoping there won't be much left to strike back at him!

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For my other 2 characters I take:

Necromancer with all 3 Necromantic spells, the Sceptre of Noirot and a dispel scroll.

Wight King, Heavy Armour, Wight Blade, Battle Standard - usually Screaming Banner.

Any comments are welcome!

[Jasfmpgh]

Hi there, I have been thinking about your characters some and here is what I came up with

For your lord..
why not try 'Walach's Bloody Hauberk' instead of the 'Flayed Hauberk' + Talisman combo. If your worried about losing your good armor save you could always give the 'Black Periapt to
your necro and take a enchanted shield as well. (I like the blood drinker as a weapon, I haven't tried it myself but thats only because we never play with lords and a hero will often die without being able to use it.)

For your Vampire hero..
When your paying the points for 'Avatar of Death' I don't think it really pays off to take a magic weapon, so I'd say just go for broke and take a great weapon instead of a hand weapon and shield. (Three strength seven attacks rerolling misses isn't too shabby.) If your worried about surviving to use said great weapon you can always take either the flayed hauberk or bloody hauberk, which ever suit your generals not wearing. Also the Flayed Hauberk and The Gem of Blood go very nice together on a hero.

The Necro..
I really like the zombie summoning staff, but if your gonna take it you may as well spend all your time summoning new units of zombies, so save yourself some pts and just take raise dead and forget about the other spells.

Wight King..
Great unit, very strong as a Battle Standard Bearer.. but if you decide to equip him as a regular warrior I always like the Accursed Armour + Sword of kings combo.

Hope this helps, and sorry if it was long but I love talking about the different ways you can equip the vampires.. they're troops aren't very varied, so you gotta concentrate on the bosses :)

[Eternus]

Thanks for the input. I've got a battle on in the next day or so against Dwarves, using these characters, so I'll let you know how I got on. If the combo I've settled on doesn't seem to work too well, I'll try your suggestions next.

Thanks!