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| Your [[Vampire Counts|bloodsucking megalomaniacs]] who have come to show those [[Twilight|pussies]] how to be [[Vampire#Hellsing|a real vampire]]. | | Your [[Vampire Counts|bloodsucking megalomaniacs]] who have come to show those [[Twilight|pussies]] how to be [[Vampire#Hellsing|a real vampire]]. |
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| ==Vampire Counts Summary== | | ==Warscrolls== |
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| While a Vampire Counts player has the biggest potential of being That Guy thanks to summoning spam, if you keep that particular trick in moderation, you actually have a very engaging army that has a whole bunch of keyword synergy in order to reward smart play.
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| Similarly, there is a lot of sex involved. If you give your opponent head, he will have to either let you win or return the favour. Did you always like Ghouls? Play a Charnel Pit Cohort, add a Terrorgheist and a Varghulf and go to town. Love those Ethereal units? Go ahead. Zombie Rape Train? Sure. However, it is imperative that when you play this kind of army, you pull out before you release. If you don't the smile could enter your opponent's necrochasm and that will be a very sticky situation.
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| In fact, the Zombie Rape Train (Zombies buffed to dick-finity) is actually so fluffy and fun that most people will forgive you for playing it despite its potential dickishness.
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| =Vampire Counts Warscrolls=
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| Forenote:
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| The following section will be arranged with similar units and formations being grouped together for easier reading.
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| This is by no means a complete guide. Also due to the relatively recent release of Age of Sigmar most of this is based on theory. Take everything with a pinch of salt.
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| ==Deathlords==
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| ===Named characters===
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| '''Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead:''' Absolute and undeniable overkill in all but the biggest games. You want specifics? Alright. He's got 16 Wounds at a 3+ save with an additional 4+ save against Mortal Wounds. He can also cast up to 8 spells, so sticking him with Mystic Shield is really simple. He also has a huge modifier to his casting rolls in case anyone wanted to unbind his spells and when he summons stuff, he summons twice as much (eg. 2 Zombie Dragons, 2 Banshees, 40 Zombies instead of 20). He's got a strong shooting attack and two unique spells, one that inflicts damage off of Bravery and regenerates him by what the enemy lost and one that has a 50% chance (more if you're good at stage magic) of killing anything in one strike. He also has a powerful melee profile and a great Command Ability. Simply put, you play him, you win. This jerk is why most people house-rule summoning spells.
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| '''Mannfred, Mortarch of Public spending''' The close combat monster of the three, because Mannfred's already powerful melee profiles get added to the powerful profiles of the Dread Abyssal. Like all Mortarchs he heals 2 Wounds whenever he kills a model in combat, can cast twice though with no modifiers and - sigh - gets a bonus to Hit and Wound with his sword if you can't see the sun. The Armour of Templehof also means a lot more on such a huge target like this. Also, the Vigour of Undeath ability that non-Mortarch Mannfred has gets buffed a lot by affecting ALL Death units in range instead of just one, though that range varies with his Wound count.
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| '''Neferata, banker of semen:''' Not as powerful as Mannfred and not as casty as Arkhan but tricksier than both put together. Her Command Ability creates a huge bubble of -1 To Hit for enemy units, her personal attacks (so not the Abyssal) create new Vampire Lords if she kills Heroes with them and her dagger has a chance to auto-kill any model she wounded with it. Set her up at the head of your army for her Command Ability to affect as many enemies as possible.
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| ===Other===
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| '''Morghast Harbingers:''' These things have the works. High movement, lots of wounds with a good sized pemis to really show your opponent who is the biggest billy and five attacks with two damage each. They also grant nearby Death Wizards +1 to summoning spells and have the same 3D6" charge range ability the Stormcast Prosecutors have. The only reason not to use them is because the Archai also exist.
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| '''Morghast Archai:''' Basically a Harbinger, but exchanging 5 attacks at -1 Rend and 2 damage for 3 attacks at -2 Rend and 3 damage and, more importantly, instead of 3D6" charge, they have a 5+ bonus save against mortal wounds, giving them a lot more staying power as everyone and their mom will be gunning for your Morghasts.
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| ==Soulblights==
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| ===Named characters===
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| '''Vlad von Carstein:''' Vlad is tough to kill thanks to The Hunger and his ring and makes a bunch of attacks with great Rend, though they only do great damage if you let Gwen Sta-- Isabella die beforehand. His unique spell is potentially useful, if you roll over an opposing Hero's Bravery with 2D6 they take a Mortal Wound and if they die, you get a new Wight King. He also has a great Command Ability. If you want him, use him together with Isabella.
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| '''Count Mannfred:''' The same as the Mortarch version but without all the generic Mortarch stuff, duh. Use him only for fluff reasons.
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| '''Konrad von Carstein:''' If it weren't for the damn joke rule, Konrad would be absolutely amazing. He does a bunch of attacks, most of them okay, two of them very good and he has Red Fury, so he has a chance to pile in and attack twice that rises the more models he killed. He also has a great Command Ability that grants rerolls to casting attempts to Necromancers within 18". But the real meat is this: If you ''talk to Konrad'' you reroll To Hit. ''If he talks back'' you also reroll To Wound. You so funny GeeDubs.
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| '''Isabella von Carstein:''' With a mediocre spell and a meh melee profile, she won't be doing much. Even her Chalice isn't all that since it requires her to kill stuff. The most use she gets is by dying and thus buffing Vlad significantly or by letting Vlad die and doubling her attacks, thus making her and her Chalice more useful.
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| ===Heroes=== | | ===Heroes=== |
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| '''Vampire Lord:''' Unfortunately, your Vampire Lord isn't the unit-shredding dragon-outdamaging monster he used to be. Fortunately, he's still very decent. While most armies must choose between fighter and caster, your Vampire Lord does both. He's got a great melee profile, can cast a spell a turn and has a powerful Command Ability. And since he can heal wounds by killing stuff, you want him in the thick of it. Can also have wings or a nightmare to increase his movement, with the wings letting you fly while the nightmare grants you another melee weapon. Since the command ability grants an additional attack with each weapon of the affected unit, it's best to use this on models with few strong attacks or better yet on models with more than one weapon profile. If you want to be a real jerk, use the Lord's buff on a Necrosphinx, which turns into an absolute rape machine thanks to this. | | '''Vampire Lord On Nightmare:''' Unfortunately, your Vampire Lord isn't the unit-shredding dragon-outdamaging monster he used to be. Fortunately, he's still very decent. While most armies must choose between fighter and caster, your Vampire Lord does both. He's got a great melee profile, can cast a spell a turn and has a powerful Command Ability. And since he can heal wounds by killing stuff, you want him in the thick of it. Can also have wings or a nightmare to increase his movement, with the wings letting you fly while the nightmare grants you another melee weapon. Since the command ability grants an additional attack with each weapon of the affected unit, it's best to use this on models with few strong attacks or better yet on models with more than one weapon profile. If you want to be a real jerk, use the Lord's buff on a Necrosphinx, which turns into an absolute machine thanks to this. |
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| '''Vampire Lord on Abyssal Terror:''' The biggest, baddest mount you can take without being considered a monster. Unfortunately, for the cool mount, you exchange the Vampire Lord's great command ability for a mediocre one and the meh spell for another meh spell. The sword and the lance are pretty similar, the lance being more consistent, though outside of charges usually only consistently worse. However, that's the price you pay for 3 more wounds, 6 more attacks and a better save. A better way to explain this guy is this: He's got pretty much the exact same melee profile and stat wheel as a winged Daemon Prince that's marked as both Nurgle and Tzeentch, with very minor differences. Seen in this light, the meh spell and command ability aren't that big of an issue, since the Prince gets neither. And funniest of all, your Lord on Terror gets to do all this ''without'' being considered a monster, so in any balancing system that puts caps on monsters, he doesn't count against it. | | '''Vampire Lord on Abyssal Terror:''' The biggest, baddest mount you can take without being considered a monster. Unfortunately, for the cool mount, you exchange the Vampire Lord's great command ability for a mediocre one and the meh spell for another meh spell. The sword and the lance are pretty similar, the lance being more consistent, though outside of charges usually only consistently worse. However, that's the price you pay for 3 more wounds, 6 more attacks and a better save. A better way to explain this guy is this: He's got pretty much the exact same melee profile and stat wheel as a winged Daemon Prince that's marked as both Nurgle and Tzeentch, with very minor differences. Seen in this light, the meh spell and command ability aren't that big of an issue, since the Prince gets neither. And funniest of all, your Lord on Terror gets to do all this ''without'' being considered a monster, so in any balancing system that puts caps on monsters, he doesn't count against it. |
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| '''Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon:''' Finally, finally the Zombie Dragon actually out-damages the Vampire riding it. It has a bunch of devastating attacks and what might be the meanest breath attack in the game, as it hits units of 6 or more models automatically and then Wounds on 2+. The Vampire, on the other hand, provides a bunch of healing to the Dragon and yet another powerful melee profile. Like all Vampires, he's a Wizard, but with a very gimmicky unique spell that will never see use. However, his Command Ability, providing rerolls To Hit to a friendly Death unit.
| | =External links= |
| | | Rules [http://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Compendiums/warhammer-aos-vampire-counts-en.pdf here] |
| '''Coven Throne:''' For when you really want to cherry-tap some shmucks. This thing pours out TWENTY-FIVE attacks in melee, but only one of them is actually powerful and can potentially make new generic Vampire Lords, but don't bet on it. They also allow you to reroll a single dice roll per game. Don't you dare forget that, it might help. It's also a wizard with a meh unique spell and its Command Ability lets you auto-win ties on the Initiative roll, which is potentially powerful. It's also ridiculously fast with a 14" flying movement.
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| ===Cavalry===
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| '''Blood Knights:''' Vampires on undead horses. Now ''these'' guys will be winning you best cavalry ever awards. They do a lot of damage, ridiculous amounts of it on the charge and they can regenerate lost wounds.
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| ===Other===
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| '''Vargheists:''' Like most 4-Wound models, Vargheists have to endure the obligatory comparison with Ogres. And they don't come up short, as they have a 12" Flying movement and -1 Rend on their weapons over Ogres. Unfortunately, unlike basically all Vampires, they can't heal lost wounds.
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| '''Fell Bats:''' These are odd. They have surprising staying power with 3 wounds each, but their damage output can generously be described as lacking. However, once an enemy model in their vicinity bite it, they double their attacks for the rest of the game, granting 6 attacks to each bat.
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| '''Bat Swarms:''' They're swarms. Lot of attacks, awful Hit and Wound rolls. Their flavor heals all wounds if it inflicts a wound. But that's not why you take them. You take them because all enemy units within 12" of them take a -1 penalty To Hit in the shooting phase, which is fucking massive considering they have a 12" flying movement.
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| ==Deathmages and Deadwalkers==
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| ===Named Characters===
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| '''Heinrich Kemmler:''' Old Heinrich is nothing more and nothing less than a Necromancer who's better in almost every specification. He has the same Look Out Sir rule the normal Necromancers have, only better, has a stronger melee profile that can make more Zombies or Skeletons, better mobility thanks to his Cloak, can cast twice and gets a bonus to unbind. The only thing about him that's not as good is his unique spell and in the right circumstances, that one is also amazing. It simply requires you to play a lot of multi-wound Death units like Vargheists, Crypt Horrors, Ushabti and monsters.
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| ===Heroes===
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| '''Necromancer:''' They can use what is basically 40k's Look Out Sir, allocating wounds they suffer to Skeletons and Zombies around them, which grants them significantly more staying power. That's great because you really need these guys alive and out of harm's way. They can cast a spell a turn and, for one, they have a very powerful unique spell that lets a friendly Skeleton, Mordant or Zombie unit (most infantry and cavalry) pile in and fight twice, which gets A LOT more mileage out of your Zombies.
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| ===Infantry===
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| '''Zombies:''' Zombies are awful. Really fucking awful. But they also have the most potential in the entire game. They start out with a single attack at 6+/6+/-/1 but get better the more you have. If you add a bunch of buffs, you can turn that to two attacks apiece at 2+/3+/-/1 that can pile in and attack twice. So yeah, the Zombie Rape Train relies more on support than anything else, but gets you quite a lot of mileage. Zombies can also infect the guys they kill and two Zombie units can actually combine in order to get to greater numbers, which grants them better To Hit and To Wound rolls.
| | {{Age_of_Sigmar_Compendium_Tactics}} |
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| ===Other===
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| '''Dire Wolves:''' They're like normal wolves, but they're dire. With most units of the vampire counts, the tenor has been that their strength is in numbers and that one-on-one they lose out to most other similar units. Not so with Dire Wolves. These are what Chaos Warhounds wish they could be. In a game that loathes tarpits and chaff, these guys are the best there is. They have high movement, two wounds each and a 5+ save that can be increased by being close to a Corpse Cart. They can roadblock anything slower than them and take forever to kill and have just enough attacks that people don't want them to strike first.
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| '''Corpse Cart:''' On its own, the Corpse Cart is awful. They have a bad save and a bunch of weak attacks and a choice of +1 to casting rolls for Death Wizards or -1 to casting rolls for enemy Wizards. What they do however, is turn Zombies into the unholy rape train that they are by adding +1 to their Hit rolls and making it easier for your Necromancers to summon more of them.
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| '''Mortis Engine:''' More or less a Coven Throne with less attacks and more special rules. It's main shtick is to get quickly into enemy lines and dish out a whole bunch of Mortal Wounds. Alternatively, you can keep it close to make your Wizards better.
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| ==Flesh-Eaters==
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| ===Heroes===
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| '''Strigoi Ghoul King:''' Surprisingly awful when compared to a Vampire Lord in terms of killing power, but they help Ghouls out a lot and are really hard to kill. Their unique spell grants a Flesh-eater unit one more attack with each melee weapon, which makes Crypt Ghouls and Horrors better and Varghulfs terrifying, but if you cast this on a Ghoul King on Terrorgheist, he'll pluck whole units apart by himself. His Command Ability adds +1 To Hit and Wound for those same Flesh-eaters, so, again, cast on a Ghoul King on Terrorgheist and take out your tearcup.
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| '''Strigoi Ghoul King on Terrorgheist:''' Oh heck yes. The Ghoul King adds a lot to the already powerful Terrorgheist, such as magic and a Command Ability. This guy can summon a bunch more Ghouls and make them run and charge. Really though, the most the Ghoul King gives the Terrorgheist is the Flesh-eater keyword, as an on-foot Ghoul King can now use his awesome buffs on the already murderous Terrorgheist.
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| ===Infantry===
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| '''Crypt Ghouls:''' Are to Skeletons what Skeletons are to Zombies. Better initially, but less opportunities to buff them. Which you take is up to you, but make sure you've got the correct Hero to buff them, as nothing can buff Ghouls the way a Ghoul King can.
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| ===Other===
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| '''Crypt Horrors:''' Another Ogre-equivalent, this time with buffs by being close to a Ghoul King and regeneration.
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| '''Varghulf:''' Oddly not a monster. The Varghulf flies, has a bunch of strong attacks with more if it's in melee with ten or more models and if properly supported can be pretty much unkillable. If not, it'll die in turn 2.
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| ==Nighthaunts==
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| ===Heroes===
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| '''Cairn Wraith:''' A hero with only four wounds, that's unusual, but understandable since the Ethereal rule already makes him annoyingly hard to kill, as it makes his 4+ save unaffected by Rend and 4 Wounds is enough to survive a perfect Arcane Bolt. What he does is swing a big honking scythe that's basically a Stormcast's Grandhammer with three swings and rerolls To Hit if the target unit has 5 or more models, so he's pretty blendy, too.
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| '''Tomb Banshee:''' For all intents and purposes, a Banshee is more or less a Cairn Wraith with much weaker attacks (though at -2 Rend, that's pretty decent) and a scream attack that causes damage off of Bravery.
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| ===Cavalry===
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| '''Hexwraiths:''' A bunch of okay attacks, the ability to damage units they move over/through and a high flying movement. They're also Ethereal, so their saves are damn good, too. In fact, there's very little reason other than keyword synergy to ever use Black Knights instead.
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| ===Other===
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| '''Spirit Hosts:''' Compared to other swarms, Spirit Hosts have less Wounds, but way better attacks and a 4+ unrendable save, which makes them pretty tough against anything but Mortal Wounds. Unfortunately, this only means that they're the best of a rather poor lot. However, keep them away from stuff that causes mortal wounds and send them at stuff with high Rend and tough armour and they're amazing. Be'lakor in particular hates these things with a passion.
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| '''Black Coach:''' Theoretically, the Black Coach is pretty good, especially if you keep buffing it with Wizards. The problem with this is that in order to get all those buffs, you pretty much need to spam Wizards, which equals summon spam, which equals not needing the Black Coach in the first place.
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| ==Monsters==
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| '''Terrorgheist:''' Frankly, the most the Ghoul King gives the Terrorgheist is the Flesh-eater keyword, so if you don't use Ghouls, feel free to play the Terrorgheist on its own.
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| Pemis dragon: this thing is a gobbler. He will take pretty much anyone hard enough,mouth be careful, he has a tendency to bite as he swallows. That said, he is a real life saver on a lonely night with no other source of head.
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| '''Zombie Dragon:''' Don't. Scroll way up. Play this thing with the Vampire on top. Seriously, the Vampire adds so much to this thing it isn't funny.
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| =Formations=
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| '''Flesh-Eater Charnel Pit Carrion:''' A Strigoi Ghoul King (either on foot or on a Terrorgheist), 3 units of Crypt Ghouls and a unit of Crypt Horrors. It allows you to choose a scenic element to represent the charnel pit, allowing every unit in the formation within 15" from that scenic element to get an extra attack for each model in melee, and also every model gets +1 to their save rolls after their unit wiped out an enemy unit in combat phase.
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| =External links=
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| Rules come from the Tory party.
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