Next Sunday at noon, I will be facing off against my new gaming club in a 2k tourney. This club in unremarkable in how players choose to take advantage of rules, and more remarkable for the sheer number of Dwarf players, a good number of whom use the AoD.

Granted, the first time I faced an Anvil list, I was using a dual bat-form Strigoi list, and I managed to smash through their lines and Vampire-stomp the anvil unit, after decimating the rest. I'm not too worried about them in general, but that's just the bulk of what I'll be facing is all..

I'll also likely face a Bretonnian horse-fest, Ogre Kingdoms with big blocks and two hunters, Empire mixed gunline & knights + War Altar/Orc generic cc force (one or the other, but not both), and another Empire gunline army. What are my prospects?

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2000 pts of Necrorks... Tourney Edition

Vampire Count [335] – Level 2 (+1); Ring of the Night; Necrarch: Nehekara’s Noble Blood, Unholy Cynosure

Wight Lord [130] – Lance, Heavy Armour, Nightmare, Barding, Sword of Kings, The Cursed Shield of Mousillon

Necromancer [150] – Level 2; Dispel Scroll, Book of Arkhan

Necromancer [140] – Level 2; Dispel Scroll, Black Periapt

19 Skeletons [205] – Light Armour, Musician, Standard Bearer

25 Zombies [165] – Musician, Standard Bearer

10 Zombies [60]

9 Ghouls [72]

9 Ghouls [72]

7 Ghouls [56]

5 Dire Wolves [50]

5 Dire Wolves [50]

11 Black Knights [344] – Barding, Musician, Standard Bearer, Banner of the Barrows

5 Black Knights [174] – Barding, Musician, Standard Bearer, War Banner

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At my disposal, I also have 2 extra Wolf and 5 extra Ghoul models, another 20-block of Skeletons, 25 Grave Guard, 6 Fell Bats, 3 Spirit Hosts, 2 Banshees, a DoW Cannon, a Giant, a Black Coach, another Necromancer, a Wraith (mounted or on foot), and Vampires and their thralls for any bloodline (excluding Blood Dragons a.t.m.). I'd be open to any suggestions for upgrades changes, or swap-outs, even for a change of bloodline. I am in this to win it! --- There will only be a handful of players, it's a free tourney, and the prize is a $20 box set of my choice!!!!!

Reply quickly, helpfully, and soon!
~J~

It's only 4 pts I know, but the Lance on your Wight Lord is absolutely useless.

No, I'm being serious. You will get no use out of it whatsoever. You have given your Wight Lord the Sword of Kings. When it comes to close combat, you cannot use a mundane weapon if you have a magic weapon (page 121 of the BRB), so with your kit on your Wight Lord, the Lance is just a pts waste.

Other than that, the list looks really solid. Only other suggestions I would have would be to give the skellies full command (I'm gathering your Vamp is going with them?), and to think about dropping the small unit of BK and replacing them with your Fell Bats.

Good luck!

Unless your trying to lure your opponent into thinking your Wight only has a lance. And not the SoK. And it's only a 4 pt deception. Could be a nasty suprise to somebody attacking him, thinking he only has a lance, and you pull out the SoK and take off his head... :D

DE - ok I'll be dropping that for something else... not sure what.

Mid - no, I wasn't being sneaky-devious. I just wasn't sure of the rules.

Another example of what I'm facing... the Orc & Gobbo list that is troublesome has a BO WB on chariot, a BB on chariot, two more special choice chariots, 25 & 24 boyz w/ lvl 2 orc shaman, 24 BO w/ lvl 2 orc shaman, 2x5 wolf riders w/ spears, 5 spider riders, and squig hoppers. No shooting whatsoever, no giant, no trolls... just fast stuff and huge blocks. I found it incredibly hard to panic, even though I kept his lord at bay and terrified him a few times with a wraith, making his chariot flee and get dashed on some trees. But that didn't stop him from getting off an important Waaagh! spell towards the end and smashing 800 points of my army in one turn. He won with a 3:1 ratio.

I need revenge on this army, and I'm not sure taking off knights for bats will do this better than a small unit of Knights can. Plus, in that game I had myself a big elite block of Grave Guard, which due to his animosity, his dispelling of my movement spells, and his complete and utter avoidance to boot, NEVER SAW ACTION. Also, I'm always wavering on whether to take a mounted Wraith or my usual Wight Lord. I don't have a mounted Wraith model put together @tm, but it's a simple conversion away from being possible. It was useful in causing terror... then again, I'm likely to face plenty of high leadership Dwarfs, and perhaps an ItP Wood Elf army to boot. So terror may be wasted, and killing blow seems to be a better choice.

If you can come up with a reason why I should use Bats, switch to a Wraith, or even drag out my Grave Guard to finish painting them, please respond.

Also keep in mind what else I have at my disposal if you have any suggestions as to how to use them effectively as alternatives.

~J~

4 chariots huh. Another reason to take the DOW cannon. Perfect chariot buster. Watch his chariots scatter when you place your cannon across from them.... :D

As for the bats. He may have no war machines, but other armies do, right? And your coming up with a all comers list. You can use them for march blockng by flying them behind his lines.

And he avoided your GG. That's one reason why I don't take them personally. The enemy just goes around them. Taking BK's is much better. But as someone pointed out in Carpe. A BK unit at 11 is just to big a target for a Dwarf AoD.

Cut the BK down to 9, then add a hero in it. That way you can afford the SoTK and some more fast units such as wolves and ghouls. Overall, its a solid list.

regards,
Lord Crosis

Characters:
Vampire could use a horse. Even unbarded one. I use my Necrarh/ Lahmia that way for extra movement, and never regreted it so far. That way you can run with your knights (against some armys), or with skellies/ zombies. Also, they are good at taking out support units that get into your way (ie. i'll never waste my BK unit to charge a war machine, vampire will go out and do it himself).
Wight lord should be the BSB. It will keep your BK alive no matter what. And if you exchange that shield for the Gem, he will be the ultimate character/ brettonian knight killer :wub: .
Necros- don't need 2 scrolls. You have 6 DD, 1 scroll should be enough. So, either simply drop the scroll or exchange it for a power stone. The best option would be to give one necro the Cursed book.

The list is fine, however try to take Bats, making the points by dropping command group from the smaller BK (maybe even 1-2 BK from the big unit). 2 units of 3 bats are great; especially if you know the trick about 'charging the closest skirmisher, and how to place them infront of enemy knights unit so they doesn't face your army'.
As for the BK, imho 6 man unit (no command) and a 10 man unit (full command, barrows; 2 characters can join them) is quite good.

Good luck in the tourney; be sure to write a battle rep!

I've considered both responses carefully, and I really don't think throwing my general out in my biggest fire magnet is the smartest thing. Read up a ways... I'm facing a few Cannons and Anvils this tourney... I wouldn't like them to definitely hone in on my knights. So my general SHOULDN'T be in there. It's just important to me that my main block unit (skeletons) and associates have marching commands and magical support. The knights should hopefully be less in trouble when my opponent has TWO SEPARATE targets to consider.

Also, while I did make my WL a BSB, I only gave him Flayed Hauberk for defense... note the absence of GoB, since he only has 2 wounds, and it has NEVER WORKED FOR ME EVER.

Meanwhile, I found the points to include a few more ghouls, and 5 Bats. Not the 2x3 bats that I would prefer, but I have priorities elsewhere, and a squadron of 5 might survive a bit of Wood Elf or Dwarf shooting that gets distracted for another turn of march blocking or hunting.

Also, you'll note that I cut down on my big zombie block. This does two things... gives me extra points elsewhere for worthwhile fighters, and will make my all-too-familiar opponents scratch their heads in confusion during the deployment phase (they love going for my Necro bunker, but perhaps dropping two potential bunkers might throw them off... plus I can raise into the non-bunker later with great ease!).

Here's the list, followed by a summary of what I have to finish painting by Sunday!

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2002 pt. Necrarch Tourney List:

Vampire Count [335] – Level 2 (+1); Ring of the Night; Necrarch: Nehekara’s Noble Blood, Unholy Cynosure

Wight Lord [130] – Lance, Heavy Armour, Nightmare, Barding, BSB, Flayed Hauberk

Necromancer [150] – Level 2; Dispel Scroll, Book of Arkhan

Necromancer [140] – Level 2; Dispel Scroll, Black Periapt (alternatives? either Staff of Damnation, or swapping DS for PS)

19 Skeletons [205] – Light Armour, Musician, Standard Bearer

10 Zombies [60]

10 Zombies [60]

7 Ghouls [56]

7 Ghouls [56]

7 Ghouls [56]

7 Ghouls [56]

5 Dire Wolves [50]

5 Dire Wolves [50]

9 Black Knights [294] – Barding, Musician, Standard Bearer, Banner of the Barrows

6 Black Knights [199] – Barding, Musician, Standard Bearer, War Banner

5 Fell Bats [100]


TO PAINT: Wight Lord, 14 Skeletons, 20 Ghouls, 4 Knights

Any further tips?
~J~

I've taken another hack at making my army more awesome, balanced, all-comers, less vulnerable, etc... After this, I give up.

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2000 pts even - "Necrork" Tourney List

Vampire Count [335] – Level 2 (+1 for NNB); Ring of the Night; Necrarch: Nehekara’s Noble Blood, Unholy Cynosure
Goes in the Skellies, raise, raise, raise...

Wight Lord [155] – Lance, Heavy Armour, Nightmare, Barding, BSB, Cursed Book
Goes in the 5-strong Knights, keeps them alive, keeps them kicking ass

Necromancer [150] – Level 2; Dispel Scroll, Book of Arkhan

Necromancer [140] – Level 2; Power Stone, Black Periapt (maybe Staff of Damnation instead)
Together with the other Necro in the Zombunker, at least one Zombie apart in case of nasty miscast, raise heavily into other unit of 10, and speed bumps to the flanks and elsewhere

19 Skeletons [205] – Light Armour, Musician, Standard Bearer
Holds center, hopefully making armour saves and not dying so that my Necrorc won't suffer too much negative CR

10 Zombies [60]

10 Zombies [60]
Two potential bunkers to screw with opponents who read up on common VC tactics

9 Ghouls [72]
In a forest, the back lines, or somewhere else in cover to hold the hinge while my knights make a pincer move

5 Ghouls [40]

5 Ghouls [40]

5 Ghouls [40]
Hunters, flankers, screeners... swiss army units

5 Dire Wolves [50]

5 Dire Wolves [50]
See above, also vs. Warmachines, Mages, or hanging back behind lines to make quick speedbump responses, or hold rear vs. Bret PK's

5 Black Knights [194] – Barding, Musician, Standard Bearer, Banner of the Barrows
Main hammer squadron

6 Black Knights [199] – Barding, Musician, Standard Bearer, War Banner
Secondary hammer squadron

3 Fell Bats [60]

3 Fell Bats [60]
Seek and destroy, swoop and disrupt

Banshee [90]
To scream into the combat involving my Count, or go Knight hunting!

~J~

Well, your BSB cannot have a lance so give him Sword of Might instead. That way he can hit with a punch.


I also like your first list better. The other is a bit more fragile. Having fought dwarves any times, I tell you they hate having to fight multiple wolf units, fell bats and raised zombie units right in front of the guns.

I think you\'ll do fine as long the winds of magic do alright for you.

regards,
Lord Crosis