Editing Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Vampire Counts (section)

===Army Composition===

====Bloodlines====

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">Please note that bloodlines have next to no effect on the game as it is now, they're almost entirely for fluff reasons, so you can have two completely separate bloodlines on the field without any issues.
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Although 7e removed the previous Bloodline traits, they managed to survive in the way that you can kit out Vampire Lords and Vampires with Vampire upgrades that reflect the various attitudes of the families. Invoking a Bloodline army is mainly for fluff, although the army choices reflecting the Bloodlines are still thankfully complimentary of each other. Fluffwise this was explained in [[Ulrika the Vampire]] by saying that when Vamps fuck, they tend to bite and share blood which makes Bloodlines act like each other combined with the fact that as time goes on the younger recruit Vamps have much more in common than their former kinsmen than their Bloodline progenitor that they'll probably never meet face to face. Taking a specific Bloodline rather than just picking and choosing arbitrarily can simplify your listbuilding process if you're unsure, can make the game a bit more fun if you enjoy the fluff, and can earn you a bit of respect from your fellow players as someone into the army rather than just into the strength tier of the army.

[[Image:Lahmians simplified.jpg|right|thumb|100px|The average male and female Lahmian, the latter seen without her magic makeup.]]
[[Queen Neferata|'''Lahmians''']] are the first of the Bloodlines. Mostly (but not entirely) consist of female vampires, they organize into a network of spies from all races and nations of the world controlling as much as they can from behind the scenes. Most Bloodlines dream of world domination; the Lahmians are already there, and they plan to keep it that way. They all answer to Neferata, who is essentially a bisexual Cleopatra. Their army mainly consists of things they can hide or summon from anywhere due to them keeping appearances as civilians in various professions and social levels, meaning you stock up on ghosts, dogs, bats, and skeletons. Centerpieces should be the Black Coach and the Coven Throne. The vamps themselves are mostly magic-heavy. Although the higher ranking Lahmians are usually witty chickenshits and very hedonistically evil ([[Tzeentch]] and [[Slaanesh]] have a baby, it's a Lahmian basically), they incorporate anyone useful into their Bloodline resulting in younger members who are more neutral as civilian merchants/merchant wives looking to increase their family/nations strength and influence, or even some that have been convinced that they can do more good as a Vampire than as a mortal. 

[[Image:Brock.png|right|thumb|100px|Abhorash; the early years.]]
[[Abhorash|'''Blood Dragons''']] are the martial Bloodline. Founded by one of the biggest badasses in either Warhammer universe, the Blood Dragons are made up of mounted Vampire Lords and Vampires, Blood Knights, Black Knights, and whatever you want to use in your Core. These guys ride around looking for challenges to their manliness, drinking the blood of what they kill. If the fight is worthy enough, they're cured of the negative aspects of vampirism (blood thirst, weakness to sunlight, running water, and so forth). Their numbers are increasing and nobody knows if their leader has plans of conquest, taking his place as Khorne's superior, or whatever else may be in plans. Most of them aren't outright evil, just looking for a fight with the biggest guy around. Stay fighty, keep away from Ethereal options or spellcasters (keep your Vamps in the Lore of Vampires and spamming Invocation as a battle cry so they can take over as general however). 

[[Image:Necrarchs.png|right|thumb|100px|Vampires, BEHOLD!]]
[[W'soran/Melkhior|'''Necrarchs''']] are the most magic-heavy Bloodline. As time goes on this Bloodline has become less and less focused since Lahmians took over as the magic spammers, Strigoi were introduced to become the brutes, and Mannfred stole their entire plot. In fact, they work better as the explanation of why your Strigoi brought Necromancers and spellcasting Vamps than a Bloodline to themselves. Despite this they're still fun, and since Nosferatu is STILL the most frightening example of a Vampire the Bloodline that looks like his family to the last is likely to stay. More the mad scientist group than anything else, they're equivalent to the Skaven clans [[Clane Skyre]] and [[Clan Moulder]] for Vampire Counts. They're neutral with most of the other Bloodlines and provide support as needed to advance their cause. They play behind the scenes, creating abominations of new kinds and mass producing existing types like Zombie Dragons. They differ from Lahmians in that Lahmians are more likely to take Forbidden Lores and be slightly fighty and keep ghosts and skeletons while Necrarchs will spam the default Lores and bring in more physical forms of undead like Zombies, Crypt Ghouls/Horrors, Corpse Carts (for gathering up raw materials!), Necromancers (entry-level Necrarchs), Mortis Engines (which fit their theme PERFECTLY), and Vargheists. They're differentiated from Strigoi by taking spellcasters at all.


[[Image:Vampa lisa smile.jpg|right|thumb|100px|On the plus side, there won't be enough of you left to reanimate as an Undead slave.]]
[[Ushoran|'''Strigoi''']] are a newer Bloodline, introduced in 6e. If you haven't seen the movies 30 Days of Night and The Descent, add that to your "to do" list. Those best exemplify this Bloodline. Vicious killing machines, pitiless and animalistic. Mostly Vampires turned by any Bloodline that gave into the bloodthirst, Strigoi Vampires not only drink blood but also eat meat...metal...they'll chew bones, and even hunt other undead and Vampires as fast as they will human peasants. The Strigoi that can think coherently is rare, but they're even more scary fuckers than their kin. Load up on the Ghouls, the Crypt Horrors, the Vargheists, and everything else with teeth all lead by a Strigoi Ghoul King (duh). Kit out vamps to be fighty. A fully Strigoi list will be dangerously low on spellcasters unless you bring fighty Vamps all on Lore of Vampires spamming Invocation like with Blood Dragons.

[[Image:Strahd.jpg|right|thumb|100px|Why mess with a classic style?]]
'''Von Carsteins''', the army based more on [[Vlad von Carstein|Dracula]] and [[Isabella von Carstein|his wives]]. Their characters tend to be parodies of nobility, be they [[Mannfred von Carstein|Starscream style plotting bastards]], [[Konrad von Carstein|Caligula style insane inbred manchildren]], or similar style characters. According to Vlad they're the second oldest Bloodline being descended from Vashanesh, the husband of Neferata and it's possible that he himself is Vashanesh...or that he made it up. Most other Bloodlines treat it as bullshit either way and consider them the nouveau riche Bloodline of children fucking things up (since before they declared war on the Empire and the world Vampires were a threat similar to Skaven in that most humans didn't think they really existed, and knowledge of them was sparse) and being a bunch of little shits (since von Carsteins are very hostile to the other Bloodlines particularly Lahmians and Necrarchs due to seeing them as rivals, and outright manipulative of Strigoi). They're the poster boy army, similar to [[Ultramarines]] and the [[Sisters of Battle|Order of Our Martyred Lady]]. Generally speaking, the von Carstein army will contain any of the options in the Vampire Counts army at will. They're more defined by what named characters you bring along and what you have more of. Vlad and Isabella early in their war on the Empire will probably bring along skeletons more than anything else, since Sylvania is mostly on their side and they've pilfered the ancient tombs of the land to make their army as well as Black Coaches used by the nobility they've turned into Vampires. They'd pick up things like Zombies and Corpse Carts as time went on and more cities fell to them. Konrad would be more like a Necrarch/Strigoi army, the former as his minions keeping shit going and the latter as his kin more than anything else. Mannfred specifically brought in Vampires and minions directly from other Bloodlines into his forces, although by and far he relied on mass blocks of Zombies and anything he could use to bolster them. As for OCs, anything works. GW sells special bits to customize to look more "von Carstein", but despite them looking kind of neat they don't actually look more "von Carstein" than anything else really. 

[[Image:Vampirate.jpg|right|thumb|100px|Booty prevents scurvy.]]
'''Sartosa''' are a new Bloodline from 2008 special models made up of pirates, with their fluff originating in a 2005 issue of White Dwarf. [[Luthor Harkon]] was a Vampire of an unknown Bloodline who was shipwrecked in his coffin. [[Warriors of Chaos|Vikings]] took him aboard thinking it was a floating treasure chest, and he turned them into his zombie crew. He took his crew to Lustria and found a temple filled with gold and a room sealed with magical glyphs. The glyphs were designed to defend against Chaos, and although they didn't kill him they drove him insane and gave him a large number of different personalities. He can no longer use magic, but the strange magic of the gold empowered his undead minions and increased their intelligence greatly to the point that they can use firearms. He has increased the size of his forces to the point that they now populate a large city of the undead off the coast of Lustria which has successfully repelled everything the Lizardmen have sent at him. The exact intelligence and self-sufficiency of his zombies is unknown but apparently the site is now a trading port so it may be that they are a race of quasi-friendly undead now. In [[Dreadfleet]], the main human character's family was slaughtered by the Vampire Noctilus during a raid on Satrosa, meaning that there is also living humans there as well. Harkon trawls shipwrecks to increase the numbers of his minions as well, and has a fleet of ships. He also apparently has the most powerful cannon ever designed by the Empire,called "Queen Bess". The way his army is described can't be fielded by the Vampire Counts army book. Rather, they're best fielded as [[Empire]], [[Dwarfs]], or [[Tomb Kings]] using Vampire Count models. 

There is also a Bloodline of [[Albion]], of which nothing is known as well as various offshoots of the core Bloodlines as vampirism spreads and Bloodline central authority weaken and/or blend and become independent groups. So yeah, feel free to make a Bloodline if you feel so creative. There was originally 11 "firstborn" vampires, of which we only know about 4-5 giving you potential for a new major faction of your making. 

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====Playstyle====

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">If the fluff isn't your thing, then you may be more interested in skipping straight to the crunch of your army. 
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Generally speaking, Vampire Counts really have two strategies; magic, and melee. This makes them a lot easier to play than most armies, and while many choices form a nice synergy together there's less risk at making a "wrong" decision. Anyone can benefit from a Corpse Cart ASF, Mortis Engines still pick away enemy troops, keep a Black Coach intact long enough and it will pick up enough abilities to tear into your enemy regardless on whether you took a magic-heavy or light list. 
A quick glance at the model summaries above should give you ideas on combos, like combining a Mortis Engine with as many Regeneration options as possible, or banking on a Terror/Fear and LD damaging list.

'''Fielding lords'''
The first thing that is apparent in the VC army is just how balls out powerful a Vampire Lord can be, the only other generic Lords in the game that can go head to head with them and survive with any frequency are Chaos Lords. The big draw back with this is the egg/basket problem, you can make them just about unkillable but it will cost you a huge number of points to do so. While tempting as this may be it is tactically unsound. In the current edition of Fantasy, for various reasons numbers are more important than individuals with high killing power. That tricked-out Vampire Lord worth 100 points of magic items, 100 points of Vampire upgrades riding a Zombie Dragon may win you one fight but if you spend those 400+ points on troops you can have four level 2 Necromancers raining spells down everywhere or a 60 Skeleton hoard with command and a magic banner. With Vampires its about value for points be it in survivability, magic superiority, killing power, or battlefield advantage.  if properly kitted out can be made a metric tonne more dangerous than a Chaos Lord. Nightshroud + Quickblood means that you're always going first. I7 means regular re-rolls to hit. Give him the Giant's Blade, and that's S8. Barded Nightmare + shield = 1+ armour save. combined with the awesomeness that is Lore of the Vampires, from a friendly Necromancer, +1A, re-rolls on To Hit and To Wound are possible. Take the Razor Standard nearby, and you are ignoring armour. Red fury and Dread Knight is just the icing on the cake. Against this, every character without a good Ward Save will die (though the ones that do have one and ignore armour will wreck him).  Another way to build him is to take a Zombie Dragon, Glittering Scales, Sword of Striking, Dread Knight and Quickblood and LAUGH as your opponent has to roll 6+ MINIMUM to hit you in melee, while you need a 3+ at MOST.
Ultimately, you must decide if you're going to use your characters for killing or casting. It's certainly possible to do both, but in almost every scenario it's better to divide those tasks between two characters.
Forbidden Lores can be very useful; after all, Time Warp and Danse Macabre both cast on the same Unit can put a Terror-causing Unit into the opponent's start area, Iceshard Blizzard take take yet another point away from your foe's LD while weakening those wretched shooting attacks you don't get, Final Transmutation on top of a crippled LD score can cripple his entire strategy, Pann's Impenetrable Pelt can turn an already impressive combat Vampire Lord into an untouchable monster, and so on. Just remember that the more casters in Lore of Vampires you can manage, the longer your force will probably survive.

The other options aren't so bad either, a Strigoi Ghoul King, with its somewhat mediocre Regeneration can be boosted to a 4+ with the help of a Mortis Engine, and for an insignificant 5 points you could shove a Dragon Bane gem from the Core magic items on him for a 2+ Ward against Flaming Attacks (making it damn near mandatory) so even if the enemy brings Flaming Attacks or spells you just got a massive boost in protection. Ghoul Kings still have a great Initiative score at 8, meaning it will go first no matter what against most units and characters (other than elves). Oh, and taking Quickblood? Cancels out the ASF that what he's fighting might have (*ahem* elves *cough*) so that most won't get rerolls against him, but he will get them against THEM (though they'll strike simultaneously).
Another fairly cost-efficient way to field him is taking the Book of Arkhan (Vanhel's Danse Macabre as a bound spell, which grants an extra 8" to move for his unit and re-roll for failed To Hit rolls, ideal for ghouls) and the Dragon Bane gem, as well as taking the Vampire upgrades Red Fury, Beguile, and Fear Incarnate. This will get his unit straight into combat where they'll tear the shit out of whatever they meet and is a psychology nightmare. Only take Dread Knight if you want him stuck against a unit champion or if you're chasing lone models and warmachines. Then again, overkill against a unit champion is also pretty okay.
The above set-up would set you back 390 or 400 points, depending whether or not you take Dread Knight and nets you a really versatile character.

'''Troops, So Many Troops'''
Unless you are intentionally fielding a small high-value force you will probably outnumber your opponent. This is because Skeletons and Zombies are cheap, spammable, and you can end up with more then you started with and if you don't then you are doing it wrong. However, VC Core also tend to be useless at killing anything with WS5+ or T4. Regardless of this fact, a horde of troops can hold anything that's not packing some serious killing power in place until they have been whittled down to nothing or you bring something bigger to finish the job the twice-redshirts started. Something else about skeletons, is that unlike Zombies, Skeleton Warriors can take 25 points worth of magic standard. A good option is a horde carrying Screaming Banner (enemy units taking Fear tests in combat with the unit carrying the banner roll an extra dice and discard the lower one) marching with a Vampire who has the Supernatural Horror (causes Terror) and Fear Incarnate (enemies that pass their Fear test must reroll it and cancels out their Stand Your Ground from their BSB). Suddenly you increase the enemies chance of failing a test radically. You can also take Banner of Eternal Flame to push your horde up against anything with a regen save. Make sure to watch out for Lords, Heroes, and things with a save against flaming attacks. Ghouls on the other hand are your hammer in the Core selection, a unit of 20 will pack 16 poison attacks in a 5wide formation, unfortunately they are twice the cost of skeletons making a basic horde (10x4) over 400 points.
Dire Wolves generally have no role other than directors, and if you aren't taking Fell Bats or Cairne Wraiths (Rare version) are probably your poor man's option in those roles.
That being said, they work fantastic as redirectors. Most armies can benefit from having a Unit of 5-10 on each side, but generally it's a useless practice to field a massive army of them unless they're just there to soak up points.

A small problem is that everything in the Core slot is slow, except for the Dire Wolves and as with most fast units, use them for flanking if you want them. Their high movement speed and head start in the game means they can rip into an enemy's warmachines before their troops have come into range of anything, and they can get almost anywhere on the map in a hurry. Due to having Swiftstride and M9 it is possible to charge from a very long range meaning most shooters need 6s to hit, and in addition to this they gain +1S on that charge making them very good at dealing with small units of archers.

'''Late Night Horror Special'''
Looking into Special, one sees you have three primary types of options; glass cannon (Vargheists, Hexwraiths), support (Spirit Host, Bat Swarm, Corpse Cart), and better anvil than Core could be (Grave Guard, Black Knights, Crypt Horrors). Fell Bats get the honor of being the warmachine hunters. Which is why ultimately, you'll probably want to decide between Fell Bats, Dire Wolves, or Cairne Wraith (Rare) hit squads. Special is most likely where you'll spend your time changing your mind, trying to come up with special combos to use.

'''The Rape Train Has No Breaks'''
The Rare options in the army are the heaviest. Barring the Mortis Engine, the Rare section is essentially a list of the strap-on varieties you can peg your opponent with.
Every option (still not the Mortis Engine) is the biggest hammer in your army. Each of them is squishy for their points as well, so take them with a plan for use which involves getting them into position. The Engine itself is nice for it's passive damage-dealing, but is probably best taken to bolster your anvil if it has Regeneration and pimp your magic. For example, a naked master Necromancer in range of a mortis engine cast at the same comfortably broken bonus power (+5) in LoV as Nagash, and Nagash casts LoV at the insane and ball shriveling +7.
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