Rediscovering the love with the Undead

Don't worry people, I've not just become a necrophiliac, I've been one for a while!

In all serious though, for those that know me, you'll know that I've been struggling to get back in to fantasy for a while now having fallen out of love with the Warriors of Chaos and still being unsure which direction to go in with the Beastmen paint scheme. To try and fix this, I was hoping to start with my Empire Army, but due to funding issues it looks like that will have to wait.

However, I do have a large number of Vampire Counts boxed sets which are waiting to be unearthed, so have decided to start again with them. I've put together a 2,400 framework list as follows:
 

2400 Pts - Vampire Counts Roster


Vampire Lord (1#, 390 pts)
1 Vampire Lord, 390 pts (General; Vampire; Hand Weapon; Undead)
1 Sword of Battle
1 Walach's Bloody Hauberk
1 Book of Arkhan
1 Ironcurse Icon
1 Forbidden Lore
1 Master of the Black Arts
1 0. Invocation of Nehek

Vampire (1#, 200 pts)
1 Vampire, 200 pts (Vampire; Hand Weapon; Undead)
1 Armour of Fortune
1 Channeling Staff
1 Master of the Black Arts
1 0. Invocation of Nehek

Skeleton Warriors (30#, 315 pts)
29 Skeleton Warriors, 315 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Spear; Light Armour; Shield; Undead)
1 Banner of the Endless Nightmare
1 Skeleton Champion (Hand Weapon; Spear; Light Armour; Shield)

Crypt Ghouls (30#, 248 pts)
29 Crypt Ghouls, 248 pts (Poisoned Attacks; Undead)
1 Crypt Ghast

Dire Wolves (10#, 80 pts)
10 Dire Wolves, 80 pts (Undead)

Zombie Horde (25#, 112 pts)
25 Zombie Horde, 112 pts (Newly Dead; Shambling Horde; Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Undead)

Corpse Cart (1#, 100 pts)
1 Corpse Cart, 100 pts (Balefire; Regenerate; Thunder Stomp)

Grave Guard (30#, 435 pts)
29 Grave Guard, 435 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield; Undead)
1 The Banner of the Barrows
1 Seneschal (Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield)

Black Knights (10#, 345 pts)
9 Black Knights, 345 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Barding; Hand Weapon; Lance; Heavy Armour; Shield; Undead)
1 Hell Knight (Barding; Hand Weapon; Lance; Heavy Armour; Shield)
1 Standard of Hellish Vigour
1 Skeletal Steed

Varghulf (1#, 175 pts)
1 Varghulf, 175 pts (Vampire; Causes Terror; Hatred; Regenerate; Thunder Stomp; Undead)

Validation Report:
Edition: 8th Edition; Game Type: Normal Game; Army Subtype: Vampire Counts Army
Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules

Composition Report:
Points of Lords: 390 (0 - 600)
Points of Heroes: 200 (0 - 600)
Points of Core: 675 (600 - Unlimited)
Points of Special: 780 (0 - 1200)
Points of Rare: 175 (0 - 600)
Total Roster Cost: 2400

Created with Army Builder® - Try it for free at http://www.wolflair.com

Now, this isn't necessarily going to be the end result but rather an initial framework to give me guidance, however, I wouldn't mind your thoughts nonetheless.

A few explanations first, I don't want this to be an all Ghoul army - I wanted to give the impression of the Lord having gathered forces to him over the centuries, so there is a bit of this and that. I don't believe that magic as it is now that i need to worry with the Lord of the Undead/Summon... powers as the starting sizes seem adequate to me, but again your thoughts.

I like the Varghulf model, that is all - I'll probably give him a trial, and see how he fares, then drop him if he is too much of a waste.

so, then, a focus in the Old World once more, lets see how we do!

As i always try to at least pretend I'm going to paint, I'll attach a picture of my ghoul unit as is.



Ignore the Strigoi, he'll be going, but I'm hoping to develop the existing paint job on the ghouls.

Thanks for reading.

You can snooze for ten minutes, I'm having a shit

Were the first words I heard on the day before my 30th Birthday as my phone alarm woke me and the bathroom door opened to spill light in to an otherwise dark room.

This was saturday morning at 6.30, we had been out for a curry and a few beers the night before and we were heading to Warhammer World later that morning for our Doubles outing.

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed gaming with Mart and his army and we had 10 great opponents, 1 ok one and one first class douche!

Our first game was against Andy and Paul (Ticket number 075) who fielded Imperial Guard and Eldar respectively. The game was Capture and Control Pitched Battle Deployment.

 

In turn 1, I insisted in targetting the Eldar Falcon with the lootas as i saw it as our biggest threat, not least because they wanted us to concentrate on the Bane Wolves. Thereby went my sole tactical contribution to this battle, the rest was Mart and luck. I exploded the Falcon and slew three of the five Fire Dragons inside - they were the reason i went for the falcon in the first place! In response, a guided Wraithlord killed two lootas.

Turn two was a bit of a wash out as the lootas managed a stunned result on one of the bane wolves, but was granted a cover save which it passed. In return, the lootas were reduced to one loota who survived and passed his morale! never underestimate the last man standing! a lesson i've made many an opennent realise with sole melta gunners, flamers and the like!In combat the Harlies killed 3 shoota boyz, but all bar the troop master were slaughtered.

At this point i seem to have misplaced turn 3. even at the time I wasn't sure what i did with it, but in Turn 4 i killed one Bane Wolf and Stunned the other whilst the opponents Autarch and Jetbikes arrived.

Turn five wasn't really an event for me and the game ended in a well deserved draw.

Game 2 was a Spearhead Annihilation against Andy (with his Space Wolves) and Dave (with his Blood Angels) Ticket number 067.

 

 

Long and short, we got mashed! they got 9 Kill points and we got 1. well, I did ;) In fairness these boys well and truly outclassed us and it was a great game, but not one we had any chance of winning or even drawing for that matter! I can't even remember what I got the kill point for other than it was one of the Blood Angels units.

Game 3 was both the most difficult and the most satisfying, but far from the most enjoyable. Basically we played the douche and the ok guy in this one, and i think away from the douche, the ok guy would be great! but when you get followed in to the toilets after the game for the ok guy to apologise for the douche you gotta wonder why he puts up with it.

This was capture and control with Dawn of War and 4 objectives. First off the douche insisted on deploying 3 guard squads and a command squad all in chimeras claiming it as one choice. I disputed this but mart told me to let it go as it meant that we could kill him quicker and get away from him! Everything went right for me and mart in this game. Primarily because we knew the rules, worked together and made informed choices, whereas douche bolshily ordered ok guy around in to some quite frankly stupid as hell maneuvres, messed his own decisions up and generally cheated. Even when he moved his Valkerie nose to base to get nearer an objective, he still lost 2-0 because he thought that he only needed to be within 6"! he ended losing 2 objectives to nil because he also focussed on the throw-away burna boy squad that we wanted him to shoot at instead of the buggy which we used to contest the only objective that he had bothered to hold.

I really have never seen someone react that badly to a loss - the twat even thought he'd have won had he moved the valkerie another 3". he'd actually have still lost 1-0. Never have i enjoyed a victory so much, and the best part was, he killed 1001 points of our stuff and we killed about 3-400 of his max! I am fairly sure Mart agrees with me that although i wouldn't want to play him again, i'd enjoy crushing him again! and crush him i would!

Game 4 was against Adam (Knights Sanguine) and Andrew (Deathwing) Ticket 072. Kill Points, Dawn of War.

 

 
Bit of a boring one for Mart and I i'm afraid. Adam and Andrew were nice guys and tactically you can't fault them (they did what I would do) but they sat as far back as possible and picked us off as we struggled like hell to get in to combat! In the ned all we really managed was to wipe the above assault squad down to 3 strong whilst they picked us off a bit at a time.

Game 5 we plated Crimson Fists and Space wolves though I seem to have decided not to take any notes here and few pictures.


 

All I remember was that we lost this one and Mart was very proud of the number of 6s he rolled!

Game six and we were both a little tired and definately ready for home which was a shame as we were facing two great Lancashire lads with their double Orks. Pete Sims and Steve Tidswell, ticket 003.


 
 
 

again my notes failed me mostly because i wanted to go home by this point, but they were a real treat to face and i'd happily game with them again. I think that a draw was a fair reflection of what each of us deserved and Mart and I finished on a high!

just quickly before I go, a quick mention to Piers and Tim who got a best army nomination. Sorry guys, this is the best photo I got out of a series of 6.


So finally, Thanks to mart for teaming up with me and thanks to Ben, Sam, Piers and Tim as well as all but one of our opponents (and in a very 'in your face!' way, even him) for helping to make my 30th birthday a great birthday!

Procrastination

... I only found out what that word actually meant last year. I always meant to find out, but kept putting it off.

Beleive it or not, thats not a joke. Whats also not a joke is just how many reasons I come up with to put off starting my next assembly: The sisters of Battle exorcist!



I've got two of these big momma's to put together and frankly i'm bricking it! I'm thinking that maybe its one to put together down at the club!

Whilst we are talking about the Sisters, if anyone reading this has any of the following icons spare, give us a shout and we'll try to barter something out! I need at least four of them!



Looking forwards to doubles at the end of this week and we are in to the final preparations. Printing and laminating FAQs, ordering new dice (yes thats right, Mart has banned me from using any of my existing dice) and choosing which toys i'm going to buy at Warhammer World!

I may squeeze in a post before doubles, but if not, wish me luck and i'll see you on the other side!

Are we nearly there yet?

Well we are just over a week away from doubles and I just can't wait.

Mart has made the artwork for our lists and its looking very impressive!


We had our first game as a team and, well, it wasn't great and we got mashed by Skaltar's Dark Elves. Now in fairness, he is a good player, had written a strong list and used it well, but we also made a lot of mistakes, and yet learn a lot too!


We still had optimism at this point

 

we decided to call a Waaagh here. It was a bit premature.
 

There, er, there used to be a big unit of Orks here. Not any more. not any more.
 

huh!
 

we be dead.

Tonight i wheeled out my Sisters army again. I used them last week, but they didn't do so well. This battle was different! i amended the list to St Celestine, two sister squads in rhinos, two seraphim squads and a melta dominion squad. We played Capture and control with Dawn of War setup. it ended in a draw, but i really got the handle of the army and i look forward to using them in the campaign.


Mart's ork deployment - i kept everything off and so my full army arrived on turn 1 meaning that as mart went first, he couldn't get in to combat!
 

lining up for some flamer pain having already taken out a Deff Dread!
 

Did anyone see where those Orks went? deep fried greenskin anyone?
 
Taking out some kans before sling shotting with hit and run!
 

per-twang! getting ready for the final phases
 



these two show where things ended on turn five. as said earlier, a draw as the kans contested my objective whilst the none scoring seraphim were the only ones close enough to mart's objective! one turn later and things may have swung in my favour, but then again, maybe not!