DE: Things are not looking too good

Stare into the void.

The rumors have been floating around the internet these days about DE are being confirmed by several sources around the world.  Let's just say that it's not looking too good so far for the Dark Kin. That's a damn shame really.

I'm still holding off until I have the book in my hand, but nothing I read so far has been great.  In short, if there's not drastic point decreases in all areas, I don't think DE will have anything going or them.

Check out the rumors here and here.  Let me sum it up for you:

• Combat drugs offering stat boosts can be useless to decent.  I would say they're worse than the current ones.
• Nothing looks great from the Warlord Traits.
• No ways to take troops outside of Warriors and Wyches.
• Raiders/Ravagers lose the ability to take Flickerfields.  This is gigantic because this means they have no protection vs. Ignore Cover now.  Even with a 5 points cost decrease, the 15 point Night Shields make them the same price they are now.
• This also means that Ravagers lose their ability to maintain fire and reap some kind of protection from Flicker Fields.  They must hug cover at all times or continuously Jink.
• The Glaive thing that the Succubus gets is the only form of AP2 melee outside of Incubi.  It's as if they never want us to kill SM characters.
• All the artefacts look subpar and generally not worth it.  Most of the psychology-based stuff is wasted on ATSKNF.

A little disappointed so far, but I'll wait for the final book to do a full review.

VC: Playing as Undead Legion

I googled Blood Knights and I got boobs.  Was not disappointed.

Before you dig any deeper, please see the article I wrote about VC/TK interactions here.  I'll start off with my VC list because I have the most experience with them (I got into them when they got their new 7th Ed. book).  My playstyle has always been a killy armored Vampire Lord because that's how I envision myself if I was to personally take command of the army.  It just sings well with me.

For now, I'll skip the Special Characters and all the Nagash Vol. 2 units.  I want to concentrate on the original army books.

Vampire Counts Unit Bucket:
Vampire Lord, Master Necromancer, Necromancer, Vampire, Wight King, Tomb Banshee, Zombies, Skeleton Warriors, Crypt Ghouls, Dire Wolves, Grave Guard, Black Knights, Crypt Horrors, Vargheists, Fell Bats, Spirit Host, Bat Swarms, Hexwraiths, Terrorgheist, Mortis Engine

Tomb Kings Unit Bucket:
Tomb King, Liche High Priest, Tomb Prince, Liche Priest, Necrotect, Skeleton Archers, Skeleton Horsemen, Skeleton Horse Archers, Skeleton Chariots, Necropolis Knights, Ushabti, Khemrian Warsphinx, Sepulchral Stalkers, Hierotitan, Necrosphinx, Screaming Skull Catapult, Casket of Souls

Preliminary Observations
I don't think Skeleton Horseman and Archers are worth it because of the price range.  Skeleton Horse Archers maybe because of the Fast Cav, but I'm not sure if I like the price on Horseman vs. just having Dire Wolves for chaff purposes.  Our Skeleton Warriors are better than the TK book, Ghouls are excellent forms of core choices as are the Skeleton Archers.  The good thing here is that they fulfill very different roles and thus, do not compete for choices.  Skeleton Chariots are up in the air because while they can be good, I think with Archers, Dire Wolves and Ghouls they will be hard-pressed for a slot.  That is, unless you want a take an all-moving list with perhaps a Tomb Prince or King in tow.

The next big observation is that VC stands out in two unique ways from TK, and that's via the Ethereal units, and with the scream mechanics.  For TK, it has to be shooting, and Undead constructs for me.  This is why you see me listing out a lot of the competitive options from the TK book that you normally wouldn't see by itself.  I'm talking about the Necero Knights, Ushbati, and Sepulchral Stalkers especially.  These guys were subpar until all of a sudden, you can take 2x Mortis Engines and a Necrotect in the same list with them.  All of a sudden, 4+ Regen is very, very scary for a lot of people who thought they can just shoot them to death.  VC also provides the UL with 2+ armor via the Black Knights, and as we all know by now, that's our main mode of transportation for the Blenderlord if we a well-placed hammer blow.

From a lords/heroes perspective, the Vampire Lord remains the strongest melee component that we have.  Tomb Kings and Princes are more unit buffers more than anything, until you fit the Golden Death Mask and then their role changes (only the King, and only mounted on a Chariot I feel).  More on this later.  Master Necros and High Liche Priests are always good, especially since we have such diverse magic coverage now.  For example, you have access to Death, Shadow, Lore of Vampires, and Light, Death and Lore of Nehekhara.  This is great, but you have to also consider the fact that you can't mix and match magic items.  The VC magic items just destroy TK in terms of competitive selection, and I think that outside of Light and LoN, there won't be much that the TK casters will offer us, simply because the best item there forces through an IF.  That might be a game changer with Purple Sun, but we'll see.  In terms of BSB, VC dominate the arena with Vampiric powers and the beefy WK, but also because of magical items like the Nightshroud.

Last, but certainly not least, we just gained an ass ton of monsters that we can bring in our lists.  That's the only thing that can be said right now because there is a significant price-tag that comes with it.

Exploring Different Archetypes
Before we look too deeply into how we can expand on the archetypes, we need to explore what the existing archetypes are for the armies.  In VC, because we have a more flexible book, we have a ton of different archetypes to explore.  To give you an idea, here are a couple of things:  Walking Blenderlord with an infantry heavy army, Blenderbus with fast moving options, magic-heavy double Necro lists with Regen engines Crypt Horror meatwalls, magic-heavy double Necro with infantry armies, magic-heavy scream machines with Terrors/Banshees, Blenderbus 2x Terrorgheist, and any combination of these.

When you look at TK, you have either your balanced playstyle of some shooting, some combat, and a block of Tomb Guard, or you have flat out all shooty lists with minimal combat.  Monster-heavy was something that people experimented with in the beginning, but with the changes that everything can wound anything, this quickly went out the window because a lot of people hated spending a lot of points for minimal protection.  Even with the Lore of Nehekhara's awesome healing aura, this was not enough to keep the expensive constructs up.

OK, so now that the boring stuff is over, let's talk about how we can combine the strategic flexibility of the VC book with the TK book.  Just to let you guys know before hand, I see the TK book as a support book to our more powerful VC book.  This is quite apparent when you look at the units and uses of the units.  Things like the Tomb Prince for a WS buff, Necrotect for Regen + Hatred buff, Archers/SSCs for shooting solutions, Casket for magic buff, Hierophant for magic buff, all of these things are buffs at the end of the day.  The only combat elements (close combat) that the TK book has to offer us is when you can combine Regen from the Necrotect, with the Regen aura that our Mortis Engines can provide.

With that said, here is the first and most apparent archetype of the combined books..

The Regen Undead Construct Engines of Doom
No, I'm not really calling it that, but the pieces of the puzzle should be pretty self-explanatory.  The first thing you'll notice here is the vast amount of points needed to sustain this combo.  Not to crap on anyone's parade, but the first thing I need to call out is the vulnerability to flaming, and the fact that Dwarf Cannons with RoBurning and Skull Cannons of Khorne will make your life really miserable.  Sure, there will healing, sure, there will be shooting, but you need to keep in mind that laser cannons with flaming shots makes large things with Regen very unhappy.

Here is what you will need:
Necotect in a zombie bunker - The dude that gives as 12" bubble of 6+ Regen to all Undead Constructs.  He needs to survive, he needs to be protected, and you might as well put a MR3 Black Peripat Master Necro with him in that bunker to give him added magic sniping protection.

Mortis Engines - These are your Regen engines because they stack with each other and give the rest of army bonuses to Regen.  If you have 2x Mortis Engines and the Necrotect, you will see 4+ Regen on all of your constructs as long as they're within range of the engines.

Any Undead Constructs that you can think of - Necropolis Knights, Ushabti, Khemrian Warsphinx, Sepulchral Stalkers, Hierotitan, Necrosphinx.  Choose some of these guys that you want in your list and go to town.  Even with a sole Mortis Engine and some decent healing, you will greatly increase the lifespan (lol) of these units.

The shooting that never existed in VC
OK, so here's what you do here.  You take all the cool shooting components from the TK army and then supplement your existing VC army with it.

What you do:
Gut your entire core and replace them with Skeleton Archers.  How you want to take them completely depends on what you want.  A big unit does a lot of damage, you don't need a musician because you always hit on 5s no matter what you do.  I would probably roll with units of 10-15, or bigger units of 20-30, I would take at least 2 units of these.  You want to maintain your deployment advantage with Vanguarding Dire Wolf chaff, so make sure you have save 160 points for 4x units of 5.  The rest can either be all shooty, or if you want, take a unit of Ghouls and have some combat in there.

Next, you take 2x Screaming Skull Catapults and keep them cheap, the 90 point variant is fine.  Then, you add a Casket of Souls because it's the most awesome thing in the world and gives you a pseudo-shooting solution that can buff your magic as well.

This will allow you to keep the rest of your army how you want.  From here, you either branch into an counter-punch style Blenderlord bus, or you can play a beefy counter-punch Regen style block, or you can play a bunch of fighting infantry like a Tomb Prince in Grave Guard with Banner of Barrows block.  Basically, at this point you can pretty much freestyle because you just reprimed your core for archer-based chaff removal, kept your own chaff superiority, and added a cheap firing solution in the form of 2x SSCs, which can potentially remove large monsters from the field, like Chimeras.  The first time you hit a Regen WoC Chimera with this thing, he will be pissed that you now have this option.  Infantry blocks from other armies will also be shocked by the fact you can now rain terror onto his face.

Another cool addition would the Lv.4 High Liche Priest taking LoN.  This gives you a greater chance to get Incantation of Righteous Smiting, and possibly allow your big archer units shoot a lot more.  Just something to keep in mind.

Terror Bombing you into the ground
OK, this one is a little more gimmicky as you guys know, but the idea here is to deliver a Tomb King with Golden Mask into the enemy lines along side your Vampire Lord's knight bus.  I think this one is the least competitive out of all of them, but the option is definitely there.  The best way to deliver this kind of combo because....

1. It's effective, not because of the fear-bomb, but because Golden Deathmask is amazing as an item overall.
2. When it does fear-bomb, it's hilarious because it makes your army godly.
3. Blenderbus + Chariots is the key:  It allows you to dictate where the combo is delivered and with all the speed and precision to do it.
4. You might as well bring Terrorgheists because if you're taking this combo, you're not out to make friends anyway.

So here's what you need:
-To be able to play 50% Lords.
-Golden Deathmask on a Tomb King (because it was deemed unfun for it to be on a Tomb Prince), on a chariot, with some more chariots from core.
-You need a Blenderlord in a Black Knight bus, with LoV because you need to be able to heal stuff and move the fast-movers with VDM.
-You need 2x Terrorgheists because they move fast, and combos insanely well with the combo you're going to produce.
-No matter what, you will need the Golden Deathmask, Screaming Banner (on knightbus), Fear Incarnate (on Red Fury, Quickblood Lord), Aura of Dark Majesty (on supporting Vampire BSB).  You might as well go Supernatural Terror too while you're at it.

The Splash of TK
This one is pretty self-explanatory.  Here, you just take the bare essentials from TK and add it to your army.  I'm talking about just adding the Casket or something else, because you want the rest of your army to be VC for some reason.

Biggest additions to the VC army:
Casket of Souls
Liche Priest with Incantation of the Desert Wind
Necotect, for Hatred on Ghouls
Skeleton Archers
Screaming Skull Catapults

A sample army list

2491 UL
12 drops

LORDS:
Lv.4 Vampire Lord = 553
Lore of Vampires
Dark Knight, Quickblood, Red Fury, Beguile
Dragonhelm, Ogre Blade, 4+ Ward, Ironcurse

HEROES:
Lv.1 Vampire BSB = 250
Lore of Vampires
Dark Knight, Aura of Dark Majesty, Beguile
Nightshroud, Gem, PoFools

CORE:
15x Skeleton Archers = 90
15x Skeleton Archers = 90
36x Ghouls, Ghast = 370
5x Dire Wolves = 40
5x Dire Wolves = 40

SPECIAL:
13x Black Knights, FC, BoSwiftness = 383
Spirit Host = 45
Spirit Host = 45
Spirit Host = 45

RARE:
Screaming Skull Catapult = 90
Screaming Skull Catapult = 90
Casket of Souls = 135
Terrorgheist = 225

This army likes to sit back and shoot to weaken the enemy force, and then counter-charge with a Blenderbus, Terrorgheist and 6x6 Ghoul block to do the damage.  The shooting elements consist of the 2x SSC, Casket of Souls and 2x Archer units.  Ethereal Spirit Hosts are a must so you can have extra shooting with the SSC.

I mean, compare it to something like this pure VC list..

2497 WHFB
14 drops

LORDS:
Lv.4 Vampire Lord = 548
Lore of Vampires
Dark Knight, Quickblood, Red Fury, Beguile
Dragonhelm, Ogre Blade, 4+ Ward

HEROES:
Lv.1 Vampire BSB = 245
Lore of Vampires
Dark Knight, Aura of Dark Majesty, Beguile
Nightshroud, Gem

Lv.1 Necromancer = 100
Lore of Vampires
Cursed Book

CORE:
37x Ghouls, Ghast = 380
25x Zombies, FC = 85
5x Dire Wolves = 40
5x Dire Wolves = 40
5x Dire Wolves = 40
5x Dire Wolves = 40

SPECIAL:
11x Black Knights, FC, BoSwiftness = 331
5x Hexwraith = 150
3x Vargheist = 138
Spirit Host = 45
Spirit Host = 45
Spirit Host = 45

RARE:
Terrorgheist = 225

The first thing to note here is that I lost some drops when I decided to cut the Dire Wolves. The Spirit Hosts are still there so that's super good, but losing 2 drops means that you're on average instead of above average drop-rates for most balanced lists (armies range from 8-12 on average). This simply means that you might get out-deployed by a cannier opponent.

Let's look at what we cut from the list. I'll use the first VC list I posted as an example and you'll see there, that I lost: Vargheists, Hexwraiths, 2x Dogs, Zombies, and my Cursed Book Nercro. What I gained was: 2x units of Skeleton Archers, slightly increased the number of Black Knights that I have, put in the Casket of Souls, and bought 2x SSCs.

What this means overall is that I lose some of my mobility for a slightly more durable knightbus, +D3 PD per turn, 2x flaming stonethrowers, and I see the dogs cancel out as chaff for anti-chaff because that's what the Skeleton Archers will be used for. Because of the mobility loss, the army will have to play a little bit more static, basically having the VL bus observe the first couple of rounds of combat while the Archers and SSCs do their job clearing up the board. Archers will kill chaff, SSCs will hopefully kill big beasties or put dents on enemy infantry formations, and the Terrorgheist will hang out in the back looking for a good opportunity to jump on something.

Keep in mind that this is one way of playing this particular mixed/shooting hybrid, and incorporates a mounted Vampire Lord. Like I pointed out above, VC have a huge array of different builds they can muster, so this only the tip of the iceberg.

You can follow this living thread on the VC forums here.

WHFB: Army tiers and hypothesis

The lost art of dominating with an outdated book.

Now, I will talk about uncomped and very slight comp based off the WHFB 8th system (2400 and 2500 games).  I will rate the armies based on tiers from what I've experienced. Here is what I think of the tiers in respects to the armies under them.

Tiers Explained

• Tier 1 - This tier represents the pinnacle of army power in the current metagame.  There are a lot of viable, competitive choices and they're all strong vs. netlists and cookie-cutters from other armies.  This level also indicates that regardless of build, the army is able to minimize on the number of bad matchups it will most likely encounter in a tournament setting.  Most of these armies have flexible magic, multiple viable builds, and strong options all over the book with some major power units that just soars above the rest.

• Tier 2 - This tier demonstrates a solid book with many competitive choices. Whether it is due to good internal balance or a few stand-out units, the army preforms fluidly on the table.  While certain builds are strong vs. netlists and can compete on equal footing with other armies out there, there are not as many as Tier 1 armies.  There will be more bad matchups that exist in this army tier, but not much since the majority of the book has the answers it needs.

• Tier 3 - This tier demonstrates workable unit choices with few competitive options. While some of these options are strong, the rest of the book suffers from not enough viable choices for a tournament setting. Whether it is due to subpar internal balance, or just that the units are not powerful enough compared to the other armies, there are noticeable weaknesses.  As a result, the number of bad matchups increases.

Tier 1
Warriors of Chaos
Dark Elves
Skaven
Empire

Tier 2
Lizardmen
High Elves
Undead Legions*
Daemons of Chaos
Ogre Kingdoms
Chaos Dwarfs
Wood Elves*
Vampire Counts
Dwarfs

Tier 3
Orcs and Goblins
Bretonnia
Tomb Kings
Beastmen

*Represents fairly new armies that I'm not sure about yet.

Here is what I have to say about some of the armies, not all of them.

Warriors of Chaos - Have some of the most BS builds in the game. While a lot of the book has a lot of uncompetitive options, the bulk of the book are competitive and very competitive at that. You have some of the best lord/hero build options in the game, from Chaos Lords to flying DPS to 3++ BSBs, with some of the best magic, the toughest core in the entire book that rivals other book's elites, and can take multiple monsters and Hellcannons. I would say this book has the highest amount of competitive options, which results in the largest degree of raw face beating. This is an example of a book that has too many over the top elements.

Skaven - An archaic book in terms of age, since the book literally came out forever ago. However, because it's an old book, it retains a lot of flat out BS elements from another edition. This is the one book that benefited the most from 8th Ed. changes, and from a raw price to power ratio, there's no other army that can pay so little for such devastating results. Sure, the results vary, but when your entire army is virtually unbreakable, ignore armor saves and cause D6 wounds, and for dirt cheap, that doesn't matter. This is an example of an older book that just benefited too much with new rules.

Dark Elves - Has multiple builds that can utilize fast cav characters, strong/flexible magic presence, multiple Executioner and Witch blocks, with powerful supporting Warlocks. You can construct the army around avoidance, flying circus, combat blocks, and take either an infantry heavy or cavalry heavy force, built from core. All of which circulate around mobility and superior shooting for chaff solutions. This is an example of a book that can just about do anything.

Empire - Can take arguably the strongest shooting force in the entire game. It has the damage, the range, and most importantly, the points efficacy to invalidate a lot netlist and metagame threats. Cheap wizards allow you to utilize light councils while the rest of the army builds allow for multiple Stubborn blocks, armored knights, Demigryphs and Steam Tanks. This is an example of a book that is just geared at fighting the current metagame.

Lizardmen - Can take an all skink core that gives you multiple, accurate poisoned shots while providing you with deployment advantage. Saurus Warriors are above average troops in terms of bang for your buck, Slann's magic ability, multiple mounted characters with strong saves and damage, with the ability to go monster-heavy, character buses, Slaan magic + Temple Guard, or avoidance. This is an example of a book that has all the right tools in all phases.

High Elves - A lot of people say that High Elves are the leader of the mid-tier and I think that's very accurate. Although this list isn't in order of power or whatnot, I think that High Elves has one of the best internally balanced books in the entire game. You can build flexible shooty avoidance core, or armored core, or infantry core. Then you have Phoenix Guard which are ridiculously good, White Lions with Stubborn, and some of the best magic items in the game via the BotWD and Book of Hoeth. Not to mention the flexibility of knowing all lores, having one of the best monsters in the game via the Phoenix, and having multiple playstyles to the army itself. You can either take monster bash, infantry, mixed balanced, cavalry-heavy, or very shooty. The only thing that keeps this book in check is the pricing, which is priced very well, which is also its reason why it's kept in the middle. There's simply not enough High Elves to go around in terms of body count. Why not top tier? Power to price ratio.

Undead Legions - This is basically built off of VC with a few star units from the TK book, and by default, this just means more options for the VC player. You gain access to the TK movement spells, can march within the general and no longer crumble. Tag on the fact that nothing changes except for your player options and you have a good solid army. Why not top tier? Because at the end of the day, you're just VC, so yeah, bad matchups.

Demons of Chaos - Despite having what I consider to be a trainwreck of the book, this book exemplifies what it means to be highly competitive with poor internal balance. While Khorne and Tzeentch are pissed off to all hell at the options it offers players, Slaanesh and Nurgle units are rolling around in wins. It goes without saying that Nurgle is questionably one of the most overpowered elements to ever grace the table, Slaanesh magic is out of control, the Eternal Blade as a default option is hell on wheels, Soul Grinders are closet OP sleepers that everyone comps low and ignore, Beasts of Nurgle are way over the top, and Khorne cannons humble the Ironblaster in game balance. Why not top tier?  You see the same units over and over again.  Predictability, although different in playstyle.

Ogre Kingdoms - This is a prime example of solid, competitive choices, but cookie cutter builds. While this army book has strong elements that work in its favor, there is limited build variation. You can take a bruiser wall, but most builds default on 2x Ironblaster, 3x Sabers, a big block of Ironguts and Mournfangs. If not Mournfangs, then you see Maneaters, and you hardly ever see a Tyrant over the default SM. If you Gutstar, you Runemaw, but if you don't, then you see more characters. You basically take the same shell of a list and then change a few things here and there for the metagame and that's all you see. The other rare choices are subpar, and there's not a lot of choices to begin with. Its simple, straight to the point, cookie-cutter, and brutally effective. Predictability with very little variation in playstyle is what keeps it from top tier.

Chaos Dwarfs - You are a better version of Dwarfs with more over the top elements like the K'daai Destroyer, Ashstorm and Hellcannons. The entire army pretty much shoots and everyone is very well-armored and has a lot of powerful abilities. Unlike the Empire, you lack diversity in army builds and tunnel vision into specific cookie-cutter lists that yields the same maximum damage output. This cookie-cutter means you're susceptible to the same weaknesses and this is what keeps you in this tier. Why not top tier? Predictability and completely linear playstyle.

Vampire Counts - This book is capable of two very strong playstyles, and although very powerful, are very predictable. This is also the book with the largest variance of bad matchups to any given army because of the gimmicky nature of screams and ethereal. You roll up in an event and everyone is running Ogres with no magic missiles? You have a field day with large units of Hexwraiths. You fight a lot of WEs? You might as well get tabled. The same goes with Terrorgheists and their susceptibility to Cannons and Light councils. You either win big or lose big with this army, and while it can Blenderbus and meatwall magic players to death, it has gimmicky options that are either stellar, or terrible depending on the matchup. Why not top tier?  Because most VC builds either work great, or completely flop vs. certain matchups.

The rest of the armies are just missing some things that make them truly competitive.  I would say Dwarfs and OnG lead the pack of the semi-bad books, but the rest of the books are just subpar and need an update really badly.  For example, I can't think of a reason to take TK as a standalone army now that Undead Legions is a thing, but I can see people just taking VC.

Why is Undead Legions not Tier 1?

There a very few things that I would add to my existing VC army from the TK arsenal. Magic is the big one because you have the most amount of combinations from the interactions there. Because this is centralized around magic, and magic as we all know is fickle, you can't rely on it with absolute certainty. The only thing that is a must-take for me from TK is the Casket of Souls.

Undead Legions does make things a little bit easier for us, but the fact of the matter is that TK just offers us very little. All of those options that you listed are fairly mild in terms of power or overpriced for what they do. Boosting of magic is already a boon, but not from the Hierotitan because I don't like the cost associated with a +D3 to cast. The thing costs a lot, is not terribly effective in combat, and has nowhere close to the flexibility of the Terrorgheist. Remember, when you take this thing, you're literally sacking Mortis Engine/TG points. The same goes for duders like Horse Archers or normal Horseman, both of which are Core, sure, but lack the lovely price tag that is the Dire Wolves, which IMO should be considered one of the best chaffs in the game for the price (and in Core!). I would never take a Tomb Price over a Wight King because I find his stats to be subpar, magic items from the TK book to be disgraceful, and he has no options to be mounted with you in a knight-bus. Remember that thing I wrote a while ago about the playstyles of VC? When you look at the TK book, it doesn't really fit into either playstyle as well as you would think.

TK characters cannot travel with us in a bus, and only by themselves via the Chariots, which IMO is a tax to deliver them into battle in a fast list. The only TK realistically adds to the VC army is magical flexibility, via the Casket of Souls and with the Lore of Nehekhara. These are the only 2. Undead Legion gives us no crumble (yay), the ability to multi-lore (another yay), and the ability to take TK allies (meh). As you can see, this is still primarily a VC army because in a competitive setting, our options are flat out stronger in all areas.

We are blessed that we have such a nice book. It really is one of the top3 best internally balanced book in WHFB right now, and I've done a lot of research/design work on figuring out the armies. While some options are there: Necrotect adding Hatred to Ghouls, WS5/6 Grave Guard + Banner of Barrows, and being able to take High Liche + Master Necro in the same list, it all comes down to bang for your buck. Is your list truly stronger with TK elements? If so, which elements are you taking and how does it increase your army's power level compared to your previous list with just VC? I really am interested because outside of the Casket, and maybe a Lv.1 Liche Priest scroll caddy, the rest are really subpar. Next up would probably be the Necrotect though.. the Hatred on Ghouls is out of control.

Lastly, the reason why I don't put the new VC+ in the top tier is because we run into pretty abysmal matchups. Terrorgheists/Hex-heavy armies just get eaten alive by Allerielle/Empire gunlines, but can be super good in other draws. I think that degree of RPS (rock paper scissors) is what's keeping us out of the top tables in all areas (ETC, uncomped, slight comp, and definitely not hard comp), and that won't change with the addition to TK. Unless you roll a baller magic phase and then IF both movement spells to close into light councils gunlines, you're just going to have a bad day.

Alright, I'm finally done.  Bring on the comments!

40K: Dark Eldar comes out soon

This book better not suck.

One part of me is excited that Dark Eldar will get a new book, the other part is apprehensive because they're a tricky army to get right.  They exemplify what it means to be a glass-cannon army, and that can be really difficult to design in an atmosphere like Warhammer 40K.  I really hope that the design team gets it right this time around.

As for things I would like to see, it has to be either damage increased across the army, or the army gets cheaper.  It's really that simple:  More points buys you more units, which in turn buys you more guns.  Or better quality guns buys you more hurt.  I would be fine with any of these.  I'm not going to talk any more on this matter because I don't want to set myself up for disappointment.  The latest string of 40K codexes have been pretty stale as the books seem to be streamlined at its core.  A lot of what was the previous Space Wolves and Grey Knights have been gutted for something much more simple.

I can only fear the worst for Dark Eldar, so I'm not going to make another comment until I get the book in my hands.  For better or for worse, I will be playing a few games with my favorite army of all time.  I pray that the Voidraven will be dropping large template bombs, because a small blast template as the "triumph of Dark Eldar weapons tehcnology" is a god damn joke.

WHFB: A few places adopting ETC

There is something hilariously appropriate with this picture and this article.

Word on the street is that next year, Crossroads GT in NE USA will be using the latest ETC restrictions.  For those of you who don't know what ETC is, it's the European Team Championships, a format that players over in Europe have been using for some time to help steer the game into more balanced lineups.  However, they normally play in a team setting.

Let's be honest for a second here.  I dislike the idea of comp because at the end of the day, it's just dude's houserules.  I will say that some forms of comp help mitigate the enormous amount of crazy shit that can happen in a game, and that's always a good thing.  A lot of the time, it's a good thing that some light comp is imposed, but only when it's fairly light and doesn't change the game too much.  Unfortunately, when you have some kinds of light comp that affects certain armies and not other armies, you end up with the meta for that tournament just shifting what kinds of filth will be present at the event.  The latest Crossroads GT restrictions can be found here, and despite WoC being comped pretty hard, you saw light council Allerielle White Lion deathstars with full on shooting.  I think the winner was some dude running VC scream with congoline zombies.  Not to take away from the hard won victory, but this is literally just picking your poison when it comes what's being played under a comped tournament setting.

ETC borderlines what I feel comfortable with because I think there's a good amount of fundamental game changes.  While this version is a lot better than the previous editions of ETC (they got rid of the ridiculous channeling shit), there's still some things I have a bit of an issue with.  Magic changed from max of 6 dice to 5, that's a big change to how probabilities work for some armies.  For Death, 4 dice is the cap and for Mindrazor in particular, this is also restricted to 4 dice.  This makes the spell fail on just below average and this changes how the Shadow lore should be used entirely.

Then comes the army-specific restrictions.  I personally think my VC army at 2400 points ETC is very solid.  All I really do is drop the Necro, fix my core, drop a Spirit Host for some Fell Bats and I'm good to go.  The rest of the army is still intact and retains much of its existing power.  My High Elves on the other hand, is completely restricted under this comp.  My regular list right now runs with a Shadow Book of Hoeth Archmage, 2x Phoenixes and a BotWD on the White Lions unit.  Not only can I not take Shadow with the Book, but Phoenixes/BotWD/BoH are considered max 2, which means if I want to take my Phoenixes, I have to drop both the BoH and BotWD.  As for my Demons, I can't help but laugh to think I can take my standard competitive DoC list with very little changes.  Sure, I need above average dice to mass Caco Choir, but much of the potency remains the same (double Soul Grinders for example).

What do you guys think?  Do you guys like ETC?

VC: Adding the Casket of Souls

Releasing all dem souls!

In a previous article, I wrote about how to play with both VC and TK in the same army.  I mentioned in there that the Casket of Souls was practically a must take in all lists.  Why is that?  Well, here are some of my reasons:

• It gives you +D3 PD to use per phase, and it doesn't have to be for the casket. No matter how you dice it, there's just not many things in the game that gives you this kind of advantage.  You want it to boost your normal casting? Go ahead. You want to use the Casket? Sure. You want to feed your Peripat? That's fine too.
• It gives you a pseudo-shooting option that you will always have.
• It allows you to remove a key pieces off the map if it goes off. I'm talking about serious key pieces here: The Skullcannon is Ld.7 with 4 wounds, Empire Cannons away from their general are also under threat, Ogre Ironblasters are Ld.7, although 5W will be harder to manage. Most of the other danger pieces only have 3 wounds. Elf RBTs only have 2W are are Ld.8; thus auto-dying on average rolls. Mournfangs in a flanking position are now suddenly threatened big time, so are most low Ld. chaff: Furies, Dogs, Sabertusks, the list goes on. And it has the potential to bounce.
• Once your opponent have figured out that this is a dangerous piece on the battlefield, he will throw dice to dispel it. The fact that he has to throw DD at a FREE spell potentially (D3 averages 2 dice free), you will now be ahead in the magic phase. This increases the chances you will have VDM, Desert Wind, or anything else you want to conjur up with your opponents are on a 2-dice deficit. If he fails to dispel and loses concentration, while the probability is low, it's just a shutout.
• This limits your opponent's movement, deployment and chaff potential. Will he risk bounces and lose large amounts of low. Ld chaff? He will need to deploy tight, or not be very careful of his movements or risk getting blasted off the board.  Forget about low Ld flankers, forget about warmachines trying to get flank shots, anything that can possibly threaten flanks is also threatened by the Casket if their leadership is low enough.
• With Peripat and Casket, you're literally +2 PD/DD on your opponent from the beginning of the game. You get 2 from the casket, you decide to bank it, and thus you're up 2 while you negotiate your existing magic phase. This is free advantage on both offense and defense.
• It works with a number of things that messes with your opponent's leadership.  Doom and Darkness makes it more effective, Golden Death Mask of Kharnut, Aura of Dark Majesty, anything that reduces or prevents superior leadership from being used.  While I'm not saying that this is the best use of points in the army, the synergy is there and cannot be overlooked.
• It's relatively cheap, small and you can keep it out of LoS because it doesn't need it to do its stuff. The effect is Direct Damage. It's also T10, I've had people shoot it with a cannon and call it a waste on a 1,2,3.  Most people don't even bother with it, and if you tuck it away in a corner without LoS, no one really bothers.

Aside from the magic that Liche Priests can offer, I don't think there's too much from the book that VC can use to their advantage.  If only Tomb Kings can take their steeds, maybe I would be able to utilize that Golden Deathmask in more of my army lists.  Sadly, that is not to be.

What would I change in my existing VC army to incorporate the Casket and Liche Priest?  Cut the Vargheists and Necromancer for a Lv.1 Liche Priest, Lore of Nehekhara with a dispel scroll.  Unless you get something you really want, you'll almost always default of Invocation of the Desert Wind.  Otherwise, just place the Vargheists for the Casket and you're good to go.

VC: Analyzing my current 2500 list

Long reads require a beautiful vampire chick.

Before anything else, I'll throw up the army list so we can go over everything piece by piece.  My current rendition of VC is pretty much the same of what I ran in the past.  I still have an all-powerful Vampire Lord, but I've changed a couple of components around the rest of the army to fit a more aggressive playstyle.  Probably the biggest change here is the fact that I dropped a Terrorgheist for a greater selection of units and magic support.

2497
13 drops

LORDS:
Lv.4 Vampire Lord = 548
Lore of Vampires
Quickblood, Red Fury, Beguile
Dark Knight, Dragonhelm, Ogre Blade, 4+ Ward

HEROES:
Lv.1 Vampire BSB = 245
Lore of Vampires
Aura of Dark Majesty, Beguile
Dark Knight, Nightshroud, Gem

Lv.1 Necromancer = 100
Lore of Vampires
Cursed Book

CORE:
33x Skeleton Warriors, FC = 195
30x Ghouls, Ghast = 310
5x Dire Wolves = 40
5x Dire Wolves = 40
5x Dire Wolves = 40

SPECIAL:
11x Black Knights, FC, BoSwiftness = 331
5x Hexwraiths = 150
3x Vargeists = 138
Spirit Host = 45
Spirit Host = 45
Spirit Host = 45

RARE:
Terrorgheist = 225

First, let's take a look at my Vampire Lord.  He runs Lore of Vampires obviously, and comes with the standard kit of Quickblood and Red Fury.  I always run my Vampire Lords with Beguile because the chance to make someone re-roll successful hits against you is just too good to pass up on.  This combined with your 1+ save, 2++ vs. fire and 4+ ward, you're extremely tanky while still capable of putting out ludicrous amounts of damage yourself,  With 13 deploys, you should be able to drop your characters last, placing your VL and supporting Vampire away from enemy characters so you're not forced to fight them.  If you do, I have strong faith in my lord's ability to take them down because of..

The Vampire.  I chose the Vampire over the Wight King BSB that I regularly take for 3 main reasons:  You can take another Invocation of Nehek that can be used close to your general, you are S5/S7 on the charge, and you can take vampiric powers.  The extra IoN gives me sustainability on my unit once I enter combat and allows me to heal up any characters that take damage.  S7 on the charge is just huge for me these days because there's a lot of T5 out there that I want to force damage through.  While the Wight King's main advantages over the Vampire is the extra wound and T5, he lacks the raw killing potential that the Vampire delivers.  Over a sustained fight, you need to be able to pile on those additional wounds, especially if the WK can't KB stuff like monstrous infantry.  In terms of durability, I'm already sporting the Nightshroud and 1+ AS, but the -1 Ld aura plus Beguile tests at -4 for both Lord and Vampire is remarkably good.  The Nightshroud's ability just can't be underestimated:  It is seriously one of the best defensive items in the game, rendering most magical weapons and GWs ineffective vs. your vampires in combat.  Not only that, but it strips away ASF and allows Quickblood to do its thing.

When you deploy these guys in a bus, you want to put them on the edges, away from any characters that you might face.  The first rank of 5 should look something like this:  VL V CH BK BK.  The VL on the edge means that hopefully, the least amount of attacks will be going towards your lord on a unit of similar size.  Since the last model swinging will also be in BtB with your Nightshroud, the Lord will reap all the advantages and additional protection that the NS will provide.  In addition, you will have 2 instances to apply your -4 Beguile, and hopefully that will be enough to push the damage through the unit instead of into characters.  Should you absolutely need to fight enemy characters (such as a challenge), the character fighting your VL will also be in BtB with the Nightshroud, and lose ASF in his fight as well.  Let's just say I got money on our guy.

Lastly, we have the humble Necromancer.  Sure, he gives me yet another IoN to cast around if he so desires, but he carries the awesome Cursed Book.  I don't know about you guys, but I think this is one of the best magic items in the game.  For an average of 2 dice, he can cast a lot of spells that a Lv.1 Necro would normally struggle with.  He has a 33% chance to cast a great spell on one dice, and I think that's a great price to pay for some of the best combat-swingy spells in the game.  All of them are hexes that can be cast in combat, and some of them are Remains in Play.  To make it even better, a lot of them have greater range than your other spells, allowing you to stay back a little further and still be a threat on the battlefield.  I absolutely love this item and I think it's a great way to improve your magic flexibility while keeping your LoV spam strong.  Good players can often play fine without a scroll in their army, so give this handy little thing a go for a couple of games and see where it gets you.  I promise you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Alright, now we enter the bulk of the army and you'll see some set staples here.  I always take some kind of chaff and that's why we'll see 3x Dire Wolves and 3x Spirit Hosts.  Personally, I think VC have some of the best drops in the game for cheap and effective chaff.  Spirit Hosts might be one of the most annoying things ever since they can kill other cheap chaff, work as redirectors, and offer static combat res if your opponent is already tied up.  They can tie naked knights up all day, and being Ethereal means they can get places other units cannot.  In short, they're probably one of the best units in the entire book and everyone should have 3x for chaffing purposes.  Later in the game once your forces hit combat, make sure to run them behind enemy units and rear charge them for a static +2 combat res.  If they can't reform and all their characters with magical weapons are already fighting in the front, then it sucks to be them.  The same would apply to your Hexwraiths.

Speaking of Hexwraiths, I always like running one unit whenever I play VC.  Their applications are truly outrageous and they can do so many things its unreal.  I only like taking one unit of them because if you take too many, you risk drawing a bad matchup in the form of heavy magic missiles, magic shooting, or something else that can just wipe them off the board.  They're relatively expensive, and you can only heal a single one per IoN, so you gotta be smart about how you use them.  For me, they're excellent chaff killers since they can pass through enemy (and friendly!) units and deal good damage.  They can kill chaff, hunt warmachines, threaten any unit that won't beat them in combat res naturally, provide Terror tests, strip Regen, and offer static combat res in later parts of the game.  You just need to make sure you keep these guys away from magic attacks and within range of your general.  Since I'm running a relatively fast army, I don't really have an issue with that.

My Skeleton Warriors are there to be a bunker of my Necromancer, and the Ghouls in 6x5 allow me to fight on a semi-decent level.  The 2 poison attacks each really help once I push these guys up and tie up something nasty.  I always like some Ghouls in my army because they threaten a lot of the big beasties out there with high T.  Apply enough wounds either through luck, or with Vanhels and Ghouls become really threatening to some armies.  My Black Knights form my VL's armored bunker and BoSwiftness helps me get to where I want to be.  The Vargheists are just there to keep pace with my army and hunt down anything that threatens to block me or can threaten my flanks.  Since they're not the toughest things in the world and they have Frenzy, then tend to fly out to kill chaff and enemy warmachines.  Their plentiful attacks at S5 can really make short work out of most light units, and the fact that they're vampires allow me to reach out to other areas of the map I wouldn't otherwise be able to.

Finally, we have the lone Terrorgheist.  I've ran two TGs for the longest time, but as new armies come out and high S, D6 wound shooting becomes more and more accessible, things can get really bad, really fast.  Multiple Terrorgheists, Ethereal units and scream-lists are purely a meta thing I feel because there are some armies that just don't care they're on the board.  When you're playing something like Wood Elves, or Daemons of Chaos, investing in multiple units of Hexwraiths is just a bad idea.  You're essentially giving them points because you WILL lose them.  If you don't lose them, you know you've probably played them too conservatively, and thus they're not making back their points.  The same philosophy holds true for Terrorgheists because while they're god damn amazing, cannons just erase them from the board.  Unlike the Hexwraith unit that costs 150 in your list, these things are 225 per pop and each one lost is a huge chunk of your points.  Hexwraiths are also easier to hide and keep out of range.  Terrors need to be within 8" of something to scream, and if they're not screaming, they're not making their points back.  For this reason, I've reduced the number down to 1 and used the points to buff up other areas of my army.  Losing one is bad enough in a poor matchup, but losing two before you can get any use out of them is disastrous.

That's it from me, good night folks.

WHFB: What 9th Ed. will hopefully bring

Bring on 9th Ed., but not yet.

There's a lot of talk on the streets right now about what will happen after this whole The End Times thing comes to an end.  Several rumor sources hint at 9th Ed. being less than a year away and that makes total sense to me.  I don't think GW will spring 9th Ed. WHFB on us mid-way through their end of the world campaign, but it will make perfect sense to whip it out right after.  That way, the players have time to digest what has happened and be ready to embrace a new edition.  With that said, I have high hopes for 9th.  What would make 9th great for me would only be a couple of minor changes, since I think 8th is pretty good except for some major issues.

Here is what I want to see in 9th:

• Allies is definitely the most probable from what I see right now.  I'm not sure how the rules are going to be for WHFB, but you will definitely be able to take different components from other army books.  Whether or not this will resemble Undead Legions or not, I don't know.  All I know is that it's the most reliable change.
• Simpler rules for movement, as seen in Kings of War.  You will still have the core fantasy mechanics, but more streamlined movement rules will reduce the amount of clutter you have for funky movement issues while preserving battlefield tactics and maneuver war.
• Magic needs to be looked at to be not as killy.  There's just too many kill spells in the current edition of the game and it's not fun for anyone, in fact, it's quite frustrating.  I think spells like Dwellers, Mindrazor, Final Transmutation, and other spells of that sort will be reduced in power.
• They might limit the amount of PD wizards can cast again; so instead of 6-dicing spells in hopes of getting IF, they might bring back the older system where wizards can only cast with max dice equal to their power level +1.
• Perhaps a change to Steadfast, making it so more things are able to disrupt ranks from the flank or rear.  The current playstyle of Steadfast just makes the game turn into a grind fest instead of letting of letting you outplay your opponents via maneuver.
• Cannons and Stonethrowers will also need to be reduced in effectiveness if larger, more expensive models are to be played.  I'm anticipating maybe a scatter or damage reduction for the cannons, but I can't be so sure.  All I know is that if these things don't change, all those centerpiece models GW is selling right now will be collecting dust real soon.

Overall, 8th Ed. is a pretty solid edition.  It just needs a few fixes here and there, much like what 7th Ed. is compared to 6th.  I'm pretty stoked.

WHFB: Some Fantasy rumors and what it can mean

Shit is about to get epic.

Just recently, Harry decided to spill the beans on what he think is down the line for WHFB.  You can see most of the rumors here, but I want to personally tell you what I think will happen.

What this whole End Times ordeal is right now is GW's way to forward the storyline and put us into a more sinister and grimdark era.  Among all the lore changes and alliances, there's real money to be made and I think GW's actually onto something here.  From a business perspective, this is the direction WHFB should be going in.

Let me explain:

• Nagash and the rest of the upcoming The End Times books gets players excited.  I mean, really excited.  Not just new players, but most importantly, older players.  I'll use myself as an example in this clause:  I was not interested in WHFB at all because the meta in my area was as good as dead.  Most people left the game to play other game systems because there's just enough players.  Why are there not enough players?  Because the older players just sit there, wait until they get a new book, buy a new unit or two maybe and then give the game a couple of tries.  After a couple of games, the hype dies down and that's the end of it.
• WHFB is often avoided because the barrier of entry is so high.  Nagash, the Mortarchs and 50% Lords completely destroy this philosophy because you can now take a big, bad character on a monster and play games with it.  Will it be effective?  Most definitely not.  Does it eliminate the barrier of entry and have newer players join in big games faster?  Absolutely.
• This barrier also affects older players as well.  I already have my big, expensive High Elf army, and I don't have the finances to start another army.  Here is where allies come in, and why GW is using the same tried and true business model for 40K and is now applying it to WHFB.  By letting players take allies as a common thing e.g. Undead Legion's VC and TK, you are giving older players purpose to buy new models.  Newer players don't really care about this particular point, but this is GW's way to sneak a gateway drug into your daily coffee.  The idea behind it is:  Allies give the player more player options, this in turn gives players the incentive to buy different army components from different books, and this will mean you will eventually buy multiple armies.  When you look at the army rosters from the latest 40K tournaments, you will see allies all over the place.  The only thing I see aside from ludicrous combos and questionable abuses is all the cash that GW's making.  It boggles my mind to think about how many Tau players bought Eldar detachments in the last edition and vice versa.  More importantly, how many of those players are playing both armies now?
• Advancing the storyline into something more grimdark and gritty is exactly what GW needed to do to generate hype.  I mean serious hype.  I've been playing the game for 14 years, and even though I've seen Storm of Chaos come and go, this is something that I've been waiting for.  It's something huge, something epic and something everyone can get their hands on.  When you look at it from a business standpoint, it's a win-win:  Newer players just joining the hobby has a lower buy-in cost.  Older players are now looking to expand their existing armies.  New and old players are coming back, buying models and increasing the concurrency of the game.  This means more events, more blog posts (such as this), and thus, more free advertisement.  If you guys have ever seen the marketing campaigns that other successful media companies have done, you will see a common thread here.  Generating hype, releasing badass models that no one else in the miniatures industry can rival, and releasing rules to go with it is absolute genius.  I seriously never thought I would say genius and GW in the same sentence a little over a month ago.
• Now enter preparations for 9th Ed. WHFB.  Once this whole The End Times thing blows over, GW will be ready to release 9th Ed. upon the already expanded playerbase.  All those players will pick up the new book, and rave to newer players how they've spent the last 6 months or so fighting the most epic battles ever with brand new Mortarchs, Greater Demons (rumored) and Dragons (also rumored).  Boom, congratulations, you have just potentially increased your playerbase by 2x-3x from what it was months ago.  The new 9th Ed. will have even simpler rules (such as movement mechanics from Kings of War), better magic (not as crazy as it is now), 50% Lords allowing newer players to field their favorite big model their parents bought them when they first started the game 6 months ago (by now, they've probably noticed 50% Lords equates to cannon-fodder), and allies as a staple thing.  Undead Legions was the first, but expect to see Chaos Warriors and Demons holding hands across the table real soon.
• I keep talking about this, but 50% Lords is really just a impulse buy for newer players.  They see a big model that they really like, the GW employees blows it up and says: Yeah! Now you can play 2500 with 1 model!  And once the new kid buys 5 boxes of shit plus Nagash, he will be ready to enter his first game.  Then you give him a little experience, play a few Ogres, Empire and Demon players, and he'll decide he needs more units instead of big fancy favorite Mortarch.  Out he goes to buy more models and before you know it, poor Neferata is sitting on the shelf with a counter that reads 79, indicating how many times she's taken cannonballs to the face.

No matter what the outcome, this direction can only be positive for the WHFB scene.  More hype, more players, older and newer players joining the game, all of this makes for a better community and shocks new life into a declining game system.

For all those that wanted to see GW fail, sorry, not this time.

WHFB: How well does VC and TK play together?

Let my legions pour forth and consume this world!

Hey guys, just a quick article here about how I'm going to incorporate some of the new Undead Legions rules to my existing Vampire Counts army.

Here are some of the big things to take note of:

• There is no more Nehekharan Undead or specific Vampire Counts Undead, there is now only one Undead.  This means that all the magic, magic items and special rules that target a specific undead entity now affects all Undead models in your army.  The same applies for the Lore of Nehekhara and Lore of Vampires.  This is absolutely huge, and something I will expand on in a bit.
• You now have access to all of the units in both army books so you and mix and match like you please, following the normal army restrictions of course.  By normal, I mean now you can play with 50% of your army as Lords.  You want to take a beefy Tomb King along side your pumped up Vampire Lord in 2500 points?  Sure thing.
• Tomb Kings' units can now march within 12" of the army general, just like Vampire Counts.  This is gigantic because the army was never able to march before, and made up their movement with magic spells.  Let this sink in for a bit, because it's going to get wild in a little bit.
• Finally, your general dying no longer makes your entire army crumble.  If you lose your big bad Vampire Lord, nothing bad happens because Nagash's power is able to sustain your army during these dark times.  This can be a huge boon for late game attrition when your general rolls horribly to save.

If you guys haven't figured it out already, this unlocks a huge new can of worms that the Old World is not ready for.  Just when you think it's bad enough that some of their greatest heroes have fallen, the world is in ruins and they're being bombarded by Undead and Chaos at all sides, what more can go wrong?!

Here is where it goes wrong:

Tomb Kings can now march with your Vampire Lord right?  Both Lore of Nehekhara and Lore of Vampires can be used on all Undead units right?  Bring on the movement shenanigans!  If anything WHFB has taught me over the years is that these slow-moving, corpse-ridden undead guys sure can move when you want them to.  Between Incantation of Desert Winds and Vanhel's Danse Macabre, you can move your entire army into your opponent's backfield soon after you deploy.  Why?  Because there is no more restriction which Undead units are affected by these spells.  Incantation of Desert Winds is a signature spell that was built into the TK lore to make up for the fact that TK could never march before.  Now that every Liche Priest and their mother can take it, you have a grave decision to make when your opponent wants to cast this spell.  On a 8+ augment Undead (was Nehekaran Undead) units within 12" can immediately make a normal move as if it were the Remaining Moves sub-phase.  You can extend this to a bubble 24" on a 16+, but that might be out of the realm of possibilities for a Lv.1-2 supporting Liche Priest.

Now think about this for a second:  Your entire army just marched, and now it can move again?  What happens when you get off VDM (Vanhel's Danse Macabre) on a bubble 12+?  If that goes off, every Undead unit within 12" can now make another 8" move followed by re-rolls to hit until the next round of magic.  If you think Wood Elves are fast, or Slaaneshi Daemons, think again:  Undead are the new masters of movement and they do so with basic spells, one of which is a signature spell that every Liche Priest can take, and VDM with Book of Arkhan (BS PL3) from a Necromancer.

Sure, sure, but we can dispel that right?  Of course you can, but that's the beauty of it all.  For a spell like Incantation of Desert Winds, it just became questionable to a must dispel lest you want Terrorgheists screaming behind your units.  This level of magical commitment forces your hand and there's a possibility that it won't be enough to stop it all.  The fact that this is available on every wizard in the TK army means that you will always have it in your arsenal.

What happens when you combine an army with re-roll hits via VDM with Incantation of Righteous Smiting?  You have a dramatic increase in damage potential as your army is now capable of re-rolling hits with +1 attack.  Both of those can be stacked and both of those can be cast in a bubble if you so desired.  With Tomb Guard and Grave Guard benefiting huge amounts from these magical effects, it's no wonder that they stayed in different books.  If you think that's rough, think about what happens when you cast Hellish Vigor on a unit in combination with Incantation of Cursed Blades?  Your Skeletons now gain re-roll wounds and the ability to Killing Blow!  Throw this onto your Grave Guard and you now re-roll wounds and KB on a 5+.  If that's not crazy, I don't know what is.

When you throw magical items into the fray, things get even more ridiculous.  Incantation of Vengeance is a hex that not only reduces the movement's by D3, but it treats all terrain as Dangerous Terrain so everyone has to test if they move.  Combine this with Rod of Flaming Death (BS PL3) and the unit will take an immediate S4 hit on every model if it moves.  More interactions can be Death magic's lovely Soul Blight with Incantation of Desiccation that's essentially the same thing, but a possibility of a stronger, more expensive to cast -D3 S/T version.  As we already know, Incantation of Smiting is a great spell because of the +1 attack it gives, but when you combine this with Staff of Damnation (BS PL4) and its ability to give Extra Attack to every Undead unit within 6", things get really ridiculous if these spells start flying out.

Alright, enough about spells, I get it.  What more do the armies have that can help each other?  Well, think about it like this for a sec:  A lot of these items never interacted with each other before and certainly not on a competitive level.  I frown upon the decision to put something like Golden Death Mask of Kharnut (TK magic item) together with a unit with Screaming Banner (VC magic banner).  Your model now causes Terror, all enemy units within 6" of the wearer cannot use their general's Inspiring Presence or their BSB's Hold Your Ground rule.  Screaming Banner requires that enemy units in combat with the thing roll an extra dice for a fear test and discard the lowest result.  Add in the already existing fear-bomb that VC have such as Fear Incarnate (successful fear tests must be re-rolled) and Aura of Dark Majesty (-1 Ld aura), and you have something much greater.  Although seen as a gimmick by some, other armies are not as fortunate because they don't have plentiful ITP units.

Another popular unit being talked about is the Necrotect.  For a very affordable price in your hero slot, you are able to grant any unit Hatred.  Slap this in a unit of Great Guard with Banner of Barrows and you'll be hitting things with re-rolls with +1 to hit.  If that's not enough for you, add in a Tomb Prince or Tomb King special rule My Will Be Done! and give your WS to the entire unit.  WS5 or 6 Grave Guard will hit most things in the game on 2s, wound with 2s.  Slap on some of the magic spells we talked about earlier and things get out of control.  One of the other rules that that Necrotect lends the army is his ability to give Undead Constructs within 12" range of him a lovely 6+ Regen.  This doesn't seem like a lot at first, but then you apply the Mortis Engine's ability to improve Regen saves and your perspective changes a lot.  For your opponent, this changes in a very bad way as most armies already struggle with T8 Necrosphinx, and now they have freakin' 5+ Regen and take 2 less wounds from losing combat if you have a BSB nearby.

Lastly, expect to see a Casket of Souls in every list.  Not only does it work wonderfully with the whole scream-machine that VC tends to throw out every now and then, but it supplies a lovely +D3 PD to the army.  Combined with something like Black Peripat and maybe the Mortis Engine's +2 to cast for Lore of Vampires, you might just dominate the magic phase.

Just how powerful is all this?  Aside from the movement shennigans, I'm pretty sure it's going to be very powerful, but not unbeatable.  I'm not going to get into all the crazy Mortarchs just yet, but this should be enough to get the gears in your head moving.

VC: The book is not so bad

I remember when this card dominated..

Coming back to WHFB after a long hiatus, I took the last couple of days to learn about the new armies.  I stopped playing a few months after Dark Elves got their new book and during that time, Dwarfs and Wood Elves also got their proper updates.  Good for them.  It's been a long time coming since these armies got their updates and I hope everyone gets updated relatively soon.

So what prompted this post exactly?  Well, I've been hearing quite a bit from the online community that VC lost a lot of their appeal.  Wood Elves bring a lot of magical arrows into the fray and Dwarfs just have enough shooting to make your Terrorgheists miserable.  While these are both true, I don't think it's all doom and gloom for VC.  Out of all the books that have been released so far, I think VC has the best magic item selection and very powerful playstyles overall.

There are three main playstyles that is VC for the most part:

• The offensive style plays with a Blenderlord, loves to apply pressure with a knight bus and fast movers that jam up and annihilate the enemy.  He sustains himself via magic, chews through units through his lord and plays a more isolate and destroy game.  The lord likes to focus on one unit, annihilates it utterly and then moves onto the other while the rest of the army supports this action.  When you look at the army itself, it runs with fast movers like Hexwraiths, Terrorgheists, multiple drops of Dire Wolves, Vargheists, Bat Swarms, basically anything that can keep pace with the Blenderlord's bus of Black Knights.
• The defensive playstyle is on the completely opposite ends of the spectrum.  You like to footslog, keep your army as compressed as possible and win the game through attrition.  In order for VC to do this, they must have a strong magic phase in the way of magical items, namely the Black Peripat.  You might see one or two Master Necromancers in this list, forming your basic casting engines to be combined with the Mortis Engine's +2 to cast for Lore of Vampires.  The rest of the army is made out of anything with good staying power:  Big units of Ghouls, a big unit of Crypt Horrors, Mortis Engine for additional Regen, and anything else that can take a beating and stick in combat.  These lists tend to be slower than the offensive style of playing.
• The last style that you'll see is a mix of both.  You might have a Blenderlord bus, a fat stack of Crypt Horrors with Mortis Engine, and/or anything else that combines the ideology of both.  These lists might have more options when fighting against specific archetypes in the metagame, but they're definitely not as focused as the other two playstyles.  Personally, I think players that focuses on either pure offense or pure defense have better lists overall.  The reason for this is because the VC army likes to either move and move fast, or move slow together.  Breaking that 12" march bubble with your General causes some serious problems most of the time, especially when most of the spells you cast are best in an AoE.

I will say one thing that is the major flaw in the VC book:  Some of the units are gimmicky and very swingy in terms of effectiveness.  For example:  Hexwraiths can be great against something like Ogres, but they'll be hiding for their lives vs. Wood Elves.  Terrorgheists basically have nowhere to hide against multiple cannons, but against an army with little shooting, they can dominate.

At the end of the day, you gotta take what playstyle you playing with most and utilize units that can face anyone in a tournament setting.  That means knowing your meta and which archetypes out there give you the most trouble.  If you're expecting to see a lot of magic flying around, you probably don't want to load your list with Hexwraiths.  If you're expecting to see Ogres, Dwarfs and Empire a lot, multiple Terrorgheists might be a point sink more than anything else.  You just gotta know what you're fighting against and build a balanced list based on your own playstyle.

Lastly, for christ sakes people, revisit your magic items selection once in a while, you'll be surprised with what you'll find.  Black Peripat allows you to absolutely dominate magic phases and it might be one of the best Arcane items in the game, rivaling that of Book of Hoeth.  Nightshroud has been absolutely absurd for me, shutting down opposing ASF and removing the threat of magic weapon/GW-totting models entirely.  Shit, even that cheap little Cursed Book that you have there for 35 points might be one of the best items in the game right now.  A little Lv.1 Necromancer can potentially cast a Soul Blight with 1 dice that'll normally take him 3 dice to cast.  Not just that, but your opponent will throw at least 2 dice on his Lv.4 to dispel it.  If that's not magic power, I don't know what is.

Know your meta, know the archetypes, and know your opponents.  Above all else:  Know your own army.  It will drastically increase your win % as far as preparation is concerned.

VC: Undead elves are real

She can lead my army anytime.

Now that GW has officially confirmed the fact they exist, I'm going to add on some undead elements to my current High Elf army to make it into Vampire Counts.  I already have an asston of High Elves, all I need to do is get myself some undead elements and make it real.

• I'm thinking about using my Spearmen as Skeleton Warriors.
• Dragon Princes as Black Knights, although Blood Knights would be better.
• Ghouls I will need to buy, probably Mantic Ghouls because they look great.
• Dire Wolves I will need to buy as well.
• Pick up some Hexwraiths because I love the models and they look very different than the rest.
• I will need to pick up a Terrorgheist because there's not really a model like it.
• New Spirit Host models are coming out, so I'm going to pick myself 3 of them.
• Vargheists right now are a toss up, I might use them, I might not.  I gotta playtest more.

On another note, so what about those Undead Legions?  Being able to combine VC and TK will lead to a lot of crazy stuff.  Seeing how TK couldn't march before and now they can, do you think they will be more competitive?  What about the fact that Incantation of Desert Winds can now affect both TK and VC units? Would you like the ability to march twice?  Then put on a big bubble VDM?  Add in 2x Necrosphinx and a Casket of Souls and you have one potent list.

2500
13 drops

LORDS:
Lv.4 Vampire Lord = 548
Lore of Vampires
Dark Knight, Quickblood, Red Fury, Beguile
Dragonhelm, Ogre Blade, 4+ Ward

HEROES:
Lv.1 Vampire BSB = 250
Lore of Vampires
Dark Knight, Aura of Dark Majesty, Beguile
Nightshroud, Luckstone, PoFools

CORE:
33x Skeleton Warriors, FC = 195
30x Ghouls, Ghast = 310
5x Dire Wolves = 40
5x Dire Wolves = 40
5x Dire Wolves = 40

SPECIAL:
12x Black Knights, FC, BoSwiftness = 357
Spirit Host = 45
Spirit Host = 45
Spirit Host = 45

RARE:
Casket of Souls = 135
Necrosphinx = 225
Necrosphinx = 225