8th Ed. Vampires took a hit. not

[forlustria]

Why is it all i see vampire players say is oh we arnt as good in 8th theyve weaked us. Well its rubbish. Played 2 games against them the other day (me being lizardmen) won one lost one. The one i won was extremly lucky.

Vampires owned my slann . He had 3 with master of the black arts and he was spamming van hels and invocation and I never had enough to dispell. Plus the stupid gravestar unit buffed with helm of commandment. and manfred on top of that . They are pure cheese.

anyway rant over

 

[strewart]

Sounds like you faced an overpowered army anyway.. They certainly aren't weak now, but yes they are a bit weaker in 8th ed than they were in 7th ed. You need to try to predict what spells he is going to want to throw out and ignore the ones that won't matter too much (increasing a unit from 40 to 45, who cares) but block thes that do matter (increasing a unit from 10 to 15, they are closer to death). Also remember now that if he fails to cast a spell, that means no more spells from that wizard, so while they used to happily throw 1 dice at the easy stuff, now they risk ending magic from that caster by doing that.

The magic users are obviously the strongest part of the army, and the general makes them crumble, so thats what you need to try to focus on killing if at all possible. They are usually pretty tough, so you need to pick a target and gang up on them with a couple of units.

 

[forlustria]

thanks for the advice. The thing is last time we played I won every game. I dont want to win every game I would just like a chance of not being serverly crushed. I did forget a few things in the last game like belcalming but that only effects one wizard. Also that game was the only one I took a proper slann.

 

[Hasnat]

What about Engine of the Gods? Vampires have no cannons, and if you stop anything like Pit of Shades going off, the EotG would cause your Vampire opponents some problems.

 

[Scalenex]

In Seventh Edition, Vampire Counts had one competitive build with very little variation possible. Now their best units got more expensive (except Grave Guard) and their crappier units got cheaper so now a VC has more choices available to make a competitive list.

Grave Guard took a hit now that the VC lost a very powerful magic item that could transfer an unengaged WS to a nearby unit. This combo was crazy good with Grave Guard. Now they can't do that anymore. I heard they lost some other twinky combos but I can't name them off the top of my head. Basically their best stuff got worse and their worse stuff got better. On the whole I'd say they didn't take a hit.

 

[MOMUS]

They didnt take a hit at all. The new vamp book actually has more than build, which is fun to play against.

 

[Vallek]

Banner of eternal flame on a big block of saurus warriors with a lore of life slann backing it up. Banner brings magic attacks to the unit so ethereal are laughable. With lore of life you can make your saurus T:8 and can regrow them.

The reason VC suck these days is they used to rely on hard hitting units to break you first turn and in 8th that isn't possible. So VC have to fight using a battle of attrition style. Constantly regrowing their ranks to lock into you for as long as possible and hopefully take you on the flank with grave guard/black knights.

Run a skink priest with cube of darkness and hold onto it until you lock horns with one of their units. Activate it the moment you are toe to toe and with a bit of luck you'll end any remains in play spells and end their magic phase. Denying VC even one magic phase can destroy their army. They will still be suffering unit losses from last CC and whatever extra losses due to unstable. You are trying to deny them the chance to recoup before drilling them again.

In addition, if you aren't already running 2-3 salamanders then this is a good chance to revamp your list. One of the best ways to make a VC player flounder is to force them to choose which unit they NEED to get units back on. Knock a couple ranks off a zombie unit and they'll sweat.. knock off a rank of grave guard and they'll squirm... kill even 3-4 black knights and you might even see them openly weep.

If you find a battle of attrition to not suit your tastes then go lore of light instead. Having to roll 5's or 6's to hit (based on spells) is a sure way to win combat and stuff unstable down their throats.

 

[Vallek]

Oh, forgot to mention that their only true anvil unit relies of regeneration saves. Banner of eternal flame on saurus blow them away with ease. Same with salamanders.

So yeah, flaming magic attacks remove their strengths.
Cube of darkness can shut out their magic
Lore of Life/Light can really bring the hurt
Make them eat unstable, it really is a great way to defeat them.
Force them to prioritize their heals and exploit the ones they miss on.
For some extra fun, skink chief with war-spear on ancient stegadon flank charging any of their units will basically make it explode all on it's own. Just saying.