Editing Warhammer/Tactics/6th Edition/Vampire Counts (section)

==Necromancy: the Black Art==

The Vampire Counts' unique Lore of Magic is the backbone of the army. Technically you don't have to take it, but you're going to want to: three spells are potentially gamewinning, and only one is actually ''bad''. You do have access to the Lore of Death and Von Anon here has had some success with it, but your Necromancy bases need to be covered with at least two casters first.

# '''Invocation of Nehek:''' the first spell with three different casting values and three different effects. TL;DR, here's the normal plan of attack. Level 1 or 2 wizards spam the 3+ version on two dice to restore rank bonus to damaged units, and heal characters on the last turn so you preserve Victory Points. Level 2 wizards cast the 7+ version on three dice for good odds of raising a new Zombie unit or restoring two ranks to a damaged unit. Level 3 wizards cast the 11+ version when you absolutely NEED a new Zombie unit, guaranteed, or when the Vampire in question has been lucky to survive an Incident and urgently needs their Wounds back.
# '''Hand of Dust.''' Dogshit spell: only relevant when your caster is in combat with something you really urgently need dead, and even if it isn't dispelled, the caster still has to land a single attack and hope the target fails whatever Ward save it has (anything worth casting this to kill will probably have a Ward save). The problem here is that Vampires are already S5-7 with plenty of attacks and will probably do more damage without this spell, while Necromancers are WS3 weeds who have a 50/50 chance of just not finishing the job. If you can swap this one out for Invocation, do so. Anon has been playing Vampire Counts for as long as the army has existed, right the way through the lifespan of this book and back to it after the End Times, and only once been in a position where Hand of Dust would have been useful. And guess what - I didn't have it. 
# '''Hellish Vigour.''' A good, cheap single-target buff which will help nurse a key unit through a crucial combat. Vampire Counts games are won by committing your units across the line and then helping one of them over the edge with Necromancy spells, and this is one spell that really helps. Especially golden on Black Knights and Grave Guard, who hit hard but only have single attacks and mediocre WS.
# '''Gaze of Nagash.''' Bog standard completely out of the ordinary nothing special magic missile. Every Lore needs one and this one is fine: a level 2 can cast it easily and it does 2d6 hits, which is all you need.
# '''Vanhel's Danse Macabre.''' The game breaker. An extra 8" move, out of sequence, is dynamite. Raise a new Zombie unit behind a combat, charge them in with a Danse. Turn your Black Knights around after they've broken through the enemy line, propel them to where they need to be with a Danse. Leave your General hopelessly out of position and need to get them back to the action fast? You can Danse. We can Danse. At the upper end of casting value for a reason. Sometimes, only sometimes, you'll roll more than one, and unlike Tomb Kings you can chain cast this on the same unit. Zombies covering flyer-tier distances across the table are a sight to behold.
# '''Curse of Years.''' A high casting value means bring your Power Stones or hope you get this on a Vampire Lord, because a level 2 is going to struggle to get this one off on the maximum three dice. However, once it IS off, you'll be leaving it in play for at least a turn, because it's so damn good. The Curse of Years deals wounds that ignore armour saves to every single model in a target unit on a 6+. Then, at the start of your next magic phase, on a 5+. Then, at the start of your NEXT magic phase, on a 4+. Note that you can be cheeky and let it resolve on one target, then end it and cast it on another target and get two sets of rolls in one turn (and also have the wizard cast other spells in between, which you'll probably need to do). The best thing about this spell is that it eats enemy Power dice like nobody's business: nobody wants to let the Curse tick down and so most opponents will forgo casting at least one of their own spells to get this thing shifted.