Warhammer Army Project/Vampire Counts

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Vampire Counts: Warhammer Army Project, 9th Edition Tactica

Created by Mathias Eliasson, this project was a homebrew attempt at giving many of the units, nations, and factions that never got Armybooks of their own (and those left behind and never got one in 8th Edition) such a thing.

It should also be noted that Eliasson is constantly updating his work, so don't expect this page to stay current forever. If anyone wishes to actually update this page and the items that need it, later on, go ahead.

Why Play Vampire Counts

The Dead March

Your opponent will be shedding bloody tears.

Vampire Counts are a fun army to play but boy are they hard to play. This army is not recommended for beginners. They lack obviously OP options that other armies have and thus aren't as subject to public shaming for playing them. They're focused on getting straight to the killing tactically, don't have to worry about demoralized troops, and their army replenishes itself fairly quickly leading to wars of attrition. They're fun to play, but they have several gimmicks that have to be accounted for to play at their best. First, note that there are no shooting options in this army, effectively eliminating an entire phase. Any ranged options in this army are purely magical. Second, while you have no need to worry about the psychology of your own units you will be paying a lot of attention to the enemy's psychology because that's crucial to victory. Never forget to take a fear test or your troops lose any advantage they have. Third, magic is your bread and butter, your meat and drink, your crossbow and hammer. You are going to be heavily reliant on magic to replenish your units and get the most advantageous fights. If you're not utterly dominating the magic phase, you're doing it wrong. There are other things to remember as well, but we'll get to them as they crop up. They, as an army, have been made more consistent on the table and less reliant on magic and generals. They are still one of the kings of tar pitting and Vampires are still one of the top combat heroes in the entire game.

As for looks and lore? Lots of ranked corpses slowly marching toward your opponent as his terrified troops struggle to fire more bullets and arrows at the hordes in a vain hope of stopping the endless tide. Shrieking spirits of the damned whirling about the battlefield consuming the warm flesh of living and adding their poor souls to their ranks. Nigh unstoppable undead beings with nightmares of feasting and world conquest, supernatural witches and tainted beings, and insane power mad mages commanding the powers of hell to do their bidding as they charge into the fray behind their minions. Absolute independence from the Ruinous Powers. If this appeals to you, you are looking at the right army. Even in small games you will be fielding dozens of zombies and skeletons as well as some more exotic dead and undead creatures; few armies can field such numbers of fodder and only one other can field fodder that is so reluctant to stay dead. Get your brush hand ready and get comfortable as you are going to need a lot of models to field these hordes.

Special rules

• Undead:

• Vampiric:

• The Red Thirst:

• The Generals of Undeath:

Army Units

Special Characters

• Vlad von Carstein: The man that started it all, and one of the few special **character who are completely justified in their points cost. You want to field him, but most people never will. Why? Because he's 495 points. As strong as he is, that is your entire Lord budget in an otherwise balanced 2000 point army, and below 2500 you most likely you don't have that kind of room for just one model. He's fairly good but the price is what stops him from being great, but most players prefer a combo of a level 4 caster of some kind along with a damage option blender lord Strigoi Ghoul King or Master Vampire. That being said, at the 2500 point level and above (ESPECIALLY above 3500) he's fucking amazing. If you're taking him, you want to bring Isabella as well although unlike her he can be good on his own.

• Count Mannfred: There are two options for Mannfred, and you may not EVER take both. This is the first, and is a Lord level character. He's a superb caster with one major flaw, for optimum usage he needs to kill stuff, which he isn’t too good at for Vampire Lord since he's kitted out so much for magic. This is the man you want fighting nothing but Goblins and Skaven Slaves if you can possible help it (if you're facing Ogres, you're in for a world of hurt). If you can manage to make kills then this guy will generally rule both magic phases, make sure to snipe enemy wizards early on with Spirit Leech. He's pricey as fuck though at 530 points (so you may not take him in games below 2125 points). He's worth it, but once again you're looking at your entire Lord allowance here.
  • Unlike the other named characters in this army, you can have Mannfred ride a mount. His options are Barded Nightmare, Hellsteed, and Abyssal Terror. Of those choices, only the Barded Nightmare is of any value for the most part and only to put him in a unit of Black Knights or Blood Knights. The other two will make him even more of an artillery and shooting target than he already is.

• Heinrich Kemmler: Oh, you were never going to be playing this game in decent company anyway. He's ideal for filling a lord's' spot at 1500+ point games and If you're playing at that level, you may as well bring Krell to take advantage of their tag team abilities. 350 points? Worth it.

• Mannfred the Acolyte: Much more fieldable than his older self and a solid choice since he provides Loremaster in Lore of Vampires, which is what you take him for. He's much more flimsy and you MUST have him fighting puny hordes to make effective use of him.
  • Since Magic is so important to a Vampire Counts army's success, it's important to note that this version of Mannfred is almost a must if you're planning on taking a fighty Lord but can't afford enough supporting casters to reliably get the spells you'll need out of Lore of the Vampires by rolling. Still, if you CAN take multiple spellcasters he's probably not worth it.
  • Like his Lord self he can be mounted up, on either a Barded Nightmare or Abyssal Terror. This time he should probably be left hiding in a unit unmounted unless you want to hide him in some Black Knights.

• Krell, Lord of Undeath: He's back! Krell is a Wight King with a better statline who gets Heroic Killing Blow (in challenges) if in the same unit as Kemmler (which obviously means he'll always be in the same unit as Kemmler). He has regular Killing Blow otherwise, but the drawback is that he MUST issue a challenge whenever possible, Oh, and having a T5 W4 hero for his meager 205 point cost (not to mention his other rules) is very very good. By the way, his model is fucking ace. **Alternate take: Krell is significantly more expensive then a normal Wight King and only marginally better offensively, defensively he is inferior. His special rules are fairly situational and only useful against medium to weak enemy heroes (a strength 7 lord/hero will completely ignore his armor). A mundane Wight King will almost always be a better option over Krell because they can be kitted out specifically for your needs. His model IS pretty amazing though.

• Konrad von Carstein: Nothing short of psychologically damaging if your opponent happens to bring Monstrous Infantry (to him, not his models). That being said combat is all he really does well (though he does it VERY well) while being the uncle of all glass cannons. His stats are on-par with am ordinary Hero level Vampire, and he only has Heavy Armor, so it's his special rules you want to take him for. He rings in at 160 points.
  • His insanity is reflected by a special rule called "One Bat Short of a Belfry" which has you roll for his current mental state. At the start of the turn you roll a D6, with a result of 1-3 granting him Stupidity and a result of 4-6 giving him Frenzy.
  • So be wary of using him... and be aware that Ogre Kingdoms players will die a little inside each time you field him.

• Isabella von Carstein: Now in 8th has the proper Vampire statline. As it stands, she's not a caster (being only a level 1 Wizard in Lore of Vampires) or a fighter (being that she only has the vanilla Vampire stats and her only equipment is Heavy Armor and a Hand Weapon). The most she can do is support other vampires using the invocation of Nehek and the Blood Chalice to make sure they don't die.
  • Of course, there's always the fact that if she kicks it, Vlad goes nuts, with Frenzy and Hatred and whatnot. It's also possible that he'll die first (not as likely) and she will get Frenzy and Hatred, but as previously mentioned she's not really geared for fighting. She isn't worth it on her own, but put her with Vlad and they have great potential.

Generic Characters

• Von Carstein Vampire Lord:

• Von Carstein Vampire:

• Necrarch Vampire Lord:

• Necrarch Vampire:

• Lahmian Vampire lady:

• Lahmian Vampire:

• Blood Dragon Vampire lord:

• Blood Dragon Vampire:

• Strigoi Vampire lord:

• Strigoi Vampire:

• Necromancer:

• Liche Lord:

• Wight King:

• Cairn Wraith:

Mounts

• Skeletal Steed:
• Nightmare:
• Hellsteed:
• Barrow Chariot:
• Abyssal Terror:
• Terrogheist:
• Zombie Dragon:

• Coven Throne:

Core Units

• Skeletorn Warriors: More durable than Zombies,a pinch better at killing and less likely to crumble, they cost five points a model, and should only be taken in large units to maximize the usefulness of Invocation of Nehek. Skellies are good but the Zombie tar pit works way better than any unit in the army for the role, since the Invocation of Nehek only heals back D6 Wounds+caster level (compared to the 2D6+caster level that Zombies get) and unless it's a master necromancer they cannot be pushed past their starting size.
  • That being said, Skeleton Warriors are by no means bad. They have an option for a full command unit, Champion that can take challenges your Vampire Lord doesn't want, a musicican for swift reforms and a standard bearer for a +1 combat res score for extra survivability, and they come with Shields, light armour and a hand weapon giving them a neat 6+ parry save in close combat. You can exchange their hand weapons for spears, sacrificing the 6+ parry save, but it lets you attack in 3 ranks. Since skeletons still suck, they aren't going to hit much, not with weapon skill 2. Generally Skeletons are a better carrier unit for your foot slogging killy Vampire Lord.

• Zombies: Zombies are pathetic. The lore goes to silly lengths to tell you how living opponents fear engaging zombies and being torn apart, and on the game they are a bloody joke. They couldn't kill a sickly blind crippled mentally disabled orphaned Skaven Slave in a fair fight. It has M4, WS1, S3, T3, 1I, and fucking 2 LD. It is literally so bad, that decreasing it's stats would only worsen it in the abstract.
  • So why in ever take them? Because they are only three points. In addition, the Vampire Counts magic phase is full of buffs, get yourself some rerolls and that Zombie unit can hold a bit longer. Thanks to the The Newly Dead rule, they recover an extra D6 Wounds worth of models per casting of Invocation (meaning 2D6 Zombies) and can increase their unit size beyond what you started the game with; this means you can, with luck, turn a 20-strong horde into a 60-strong horde in just 2 turns of magic. They can also make excellent Caster bunkers for your necromancers to hide in so they never get shot to death or challenged.

• Crypt Ghouls: The most expensive core option available at 10 points. 3 WS, compared to the 2 WS of Skellies and 1 WS of Zombies. Toughness of 4, exceeding both other options by one point. Highest (still terrible) Initiative of 3. Two Attacks per Ghoul, and the highest Leadership score of the core options at 5 (meaning Ghouls have a low chance to crumble in comparison to Zombies which can all vanish off the board with their 2 LD). Poison Attacks are default, but Ghouls cannot have a musician or standard bearer. Less likely to die like the skeletons, but much harder to get more of, and still a good bunker for a footslogging Vampire Lord.

• Sylvanian Peasant Levy:

• Dire Wolves: A very fast moving alternative to the other core choices. They ring in at 8 points per model, with a cavalry-speed Movement of 9 (compared to the M4 of the rest of the core). They have a LD of only 3, meaning they'll crumble as fast as Skeleton Warriors. They have one point higher WS and I so combat will have more kills, but otherwise share a stat line with Skeleton Warriors. They have the Slavering Charge (+1S on the charge) and Vanguard (after both armies deploy everything, but before the first turn, they may make one normal move). As a unit of the War Beast type, they also come with Swiftstride which allows them to roll a 3D6 and discard the lowest number than add the resulting sum to their M score while on the charge, while fleeing, or while pursuing.

• Fell Bats: Your go-to for Warmachine hunting. Cost 16 points each and must be fielded in Units of 2 or more. Count as War Beasts meaning they get Swiftstride (roll 3d6 when charging, discard lowest and add it to their Move and do the same when fleeing) as well as Fly. Stats are M1, WS3, S3, T3, W2, I3, A2, and LD 3 (likely to crumble), which is pretty meh, but with multiple models and Fly they'll probably reach what war machines they need to get to unless your opponent spends some time shooting them, which will buy you time to get into melee so either way it's a win/win.

• Bat swarms: 35 points each, but they have 5 Wounds and 5 Attacks. They are a Swarm, meaning they are Skirmishers, they are Unbreakable, and are Unstable (like the rest of your army). They have a M of only 1, WS3, S2, T2, I4, and LD 3 and coupled with being Unstable most likely will be the first thing to crumble after Zombies. Their special abilities are Hover (permanent 10" movement and swiftstride for charging) and Cloud of Horror which grants Always Strikes Last to any enemy in base contact with them, which is awesome considering most of your army has terrible Initiative.

Special Units

• Grave Guard:

• Black Knights:

• Hexwraiths:

• Crypt Horrors:

• Corpes Cart:

• Vargheists:

• Spirit Host:

Rare Units

• Blood Knights:

• Lahmian Handmaidens:

• Black Coach:

• Varghulf:

• Mortis Engine:

• Cairn Wraiths:

• Tomb Banshee:

• Mourngul:

• Terrorgheist:

• Zombie Dragon:

• Necrofex Colossus:

External Links

The Project's website