Hi guys ! Did anyone face them yet? are t hey better or worse then before? please share thouts & experience.
Nope. Not yet. Surprisingly our club doesn't have a VC player. But The new models looks pretty sweet imo and I may just have to get some. I, too, would be interested in knowing how others fair against the new VC's. - Lord Cedric
i play lizzy's and VC, and the other VC players at my club prefer the new book. personaly i think VC lost a lot of good magic items and i do not like the new magic because before this book you where able to just cast extra guy to one unit and now you can only one time each turn cast eoa heal. what will be a lot more fun is that the core units became more ballanced so you will see more zombies and skeletons and not pure ghouls core. an other thing that hurts in the new book is that from now on VC can only march 12'' within the vampire and vampires themself (before this you could also march 6'' within a vampire) personaly do not think the new units are that good exept the hexwraiths witch are just IMBA althouth i think the new models are just awesome. most old special and rare unit did not chance to much, small things like black choach 5 points cheaper, blood knights 5 points cheaper, carn wraiths lost skirmish ect. a rule that is good for VC and other people will hate is when the general dies and there are other casters with lore of vampire in the army VC will not crumble. so those are the main changes i am able to come up with out the top of my head if you have any more questions i will be happy to atleast try to enswer ^^
I have now had three games against the new vamps and while I was using elves every time (druchii & wood elves) I think the experience can be easily related to using lizzies (which I will try to do). Overall, I much prefer the new vamps since there will now be a variety of lists and not just the standard ghoul hordes with WS7 and multiple castings of the dance and raise. The book is very much in line with the last several releases so there was no power creep IMHO but the army will still be very competitive. Some of the new monsters can be right nasty and while the magic lore is toned down, it works well in supporting the army. Based on the battles I had, here are a few ideas/views: Core Troops Zombies have gone back to the future with ASL but are now S3/T3 which makes them good tar pits since they also gain an extra d6 models when Invocation of Nehek (IoN) and can go beyond their starting size. Skellies are cheaper and feasible while ghouls are more expensive and neither unit can be increased beyond their starting size - a big change. Since ghouls cannot take command, they cannot do quick reform and that makes it a fair bit easier to move around them. Sallies and winning with large combat resolution are still the best ways of dealing with all choices. Dire Wolves - Got their slavering charge back and are now S4 on the charge. Special Grave guard and black knights - almost the same except that their KB weapons no longer provide magical attacks - important for a HSC/ethereal slaan. Hexwraiths - expensive, terror causing fast cav but with some neat rules. They are ethereal and can move through one unengaged enemy unit and do a S5, no AS, flaming hit each. In CC, only magic weapons can hit them and they are S5 with GW. They will be difficult to catch due to their move rate and rules so grinding by static combat res will be tough. Magic, mounted dragon helm scar vet (for 2+ ward vs their attacks since he won't get an AS) and EoTG are the best options although the latter could be vulnerable to several "fly by" attacks. Crypt Horrors - Imagine monstrous infantry ghouls with regen that are cheaper than ogres! Yes, these are an excellent choice that give the vamps a very good grinding unit that is quite tough and resilient. Either a unit with the flaming banner or a scar vet with the blade of chotec is almost essential just to break the regen and ensure that any wounds that are inflicted are not then saved. Rare In keeping with the big monster theme of other books, the vamps has some really neat choices in the rare slots now. Varghulfs, bloodknights and cairn wraiths are nearly unchanged although you can take a banshee or wraith as a character, thus making it easier/cheaper to get the banshee's attack. Of note, the banshee can only shoot during the shooting phase, not CC, although they can still shoot into CC against a unit they are fighting. Black Coach - only gains from power dice during the vamp magic phase so not nearly as good as before. However, the power dice are no longer "drained" so the vamp magic phase is not reduced at all. [modified based on Omar's observation] Terrorgheist - a very scary, FLYING big monster with a banshee like attack based on its current wounds. Since there are no armour saves, just slightly better than average rolling could drop a steggie in a single turn for the shooting alone. Between flying and the range, it can get to nearly any target on the board very quickly. Hit it with loads of poison skink shots and it should be toast if it doesn't get healed. Mortis Engine - the booster of vamp units and bane of every else near it. It improves/grants regen in a random area of effect (AoE) close to the engine and also inflicts auto hits within the same range with increasingly higher strength as the turns progress. Better yet, it detonates across an AoE when killed so even in its death throws it can really hurt you. Magic flaming attacks at a distance would be best but it can eventually be ground down by skink shooting - just be prepared to lose the skinks when it finally dies. Lastly, an upgrade adds ++ to vamp casting within its AoE but this also forces an additional roll on the table if anyone miscasts within range. coven throne - very cool (and expensive) mount similar to the skaven bell but with different powers and an ability to really nullify any attempts to defeat it in CC. Vamp Magic IoN - now an area of effect and since it is the signature spell, every caster can have it. Most big things and vampiric units can only recover 1 wound/phase (characters & mounts cannot be healed) but the lore attribute is like the lore of life and allows a wound to be healed so it is likely to be used to heal characters. Dance - can only move as during remaining moves so no more dance inspired charges. Remainder - Nothing truly threatening and the ability to pick another lore now only grants just that - random spells and not loremaster. Vamp Characters Vamp fighting characters can now be tuned between bloodline powers and magic items to be absolute killing machines that will slice through anything in their way in rapid order. Between either eternal hatred or ASF, the re-rolls and an ogre or giant blade combined with red fury means they can drop anything in the lizzie army in a single turn with ease. Best method of dealing with them will be to sacrifice champs and hope for the best with life buffs as any scar vet or old blood will be easy fodder if they get in the way. Well, hope that helps. If you can, get a game in against the new vamps as they are a fun and challenging list to play against.
Black Coach - only steals power dice during the vamp magic phase so not nearly as good as before. I believe it doesn't actually steal the power dice anymore, it draws power from them, but the ability is only usable during the Vamps turn as you mentioned which is a huge nerf. I'm not nearly as afraid of them as I used to be.
Thanks for the point - I was going by what my friends were doing with their black coaches. They will all certainly be glad to hear this (I guess they didn't read the BC rules all that well!!) but I can't say the same as more dice for vamps is never a good thing