The Dead march on...

Last night I rolled out the VC at 2400pts for a first run out. With a month or so until Fall of the old World 2 and 5-6wks until Storm Over Stirling and no experience of running Vamps, I thought it was time to get some practice in.

Lined up for battle:

Lady Genevieve, her Cursed Sister, & Drippy the Terrorgheist

The Shambling Masses next to a graveyard

The Vanguard didn't last long...

My opponent ran a blocky Skaven army with a penchant for weapons teams (which almost did me in by the end of Turn 1!), the usual tricks to prevent flying were a royal pain in my a**e, and Skaven magical shooting tore big chunks out of my army - the Hexwraiths, Cairn Wraiths, Dire Wolves and a Spirit Host were all hammered in turns 1 and 2, luckily my opponents fear of Hexwraiths let the Terrorgheist survive most of the game.

It was a bloody encounter, I took a pasting in the first couple of turns, but once the Vamp got into combat and the 'gheist got in behind his lines, I made my come-back.

In the end it was a draw (I shaded it by around 200pts, not enough for a minor victory).

Highlights: 

• Skaven Slaves passing every terror test and even wounding the 'gheist.
• 3 Rat ogres bouncing off my skeletons and getting run down
• Wrecking a massive Stormvermin unit inc. Grey Seer & BSB with only 3 Crypt Horrors and the Vamp Lord
• Wind of Death - that spell is brutal
• Terrorgheist screaming a Warp Lightning Cannon to death

Lowlights: 

• Misreading the rules on Invocation and failing to raise anything like enough casualties back
• Seeing my L1 vamp turned into a toad by the hex scroll
• Not rolling up Vanhels
• Having to remove the Hexwraiths before they even moved

Lessons learned:

• Read the spells properly
• Don't split deployment
• Try and take fewer, larger units - need to go first in the face of weapons teams.

Next up, High Elves, the same HE that I tabled last week with Hirad's Warrior of Chaos.... I suspect not so easy with Vamps, especially as he's bringing his SOS list...

Dead Rising...

The Mission: Assemble and paint 2400pt fun list for my first ever Tournament
The "Dead"-line: End of March 2016
The Army: Vampire Counts (maybe run as Undead Legions)
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Roughly the list will be picked from (Blue = Painted, Orange = Assembled, Red = unbuilt):

Neferata Mortarch (model, fielded as Vamp Lord on Abyssal)
3-4 Necromancers (b)
2-3 loose Vamps (1 Strigoi, 1 Mounted, 1 foot (sub for Nefereta on foot), 1 Strigoi)
Mounted Wight BSB (conversion required)
Krell/Wight King
Coven Throne/Mortis Engine (if I get it built)

30 Skeletons - Swords
35 Skeletons - Spears
50ish Zombies (25 ready, 25 undercoated)
16 Dire wolves (5 ready, 11 undercoated) 
30 Ghouls 
30 Ghouls

Corpse cart
3 Spirit hosts
Hexwraiths
Crypt Horrors (the gorgeous Forgeworld Skinwolves)
Vargheists
Black Knights
Fell Bats

Cairn Wraiths & Banshee (+ 2 assembled)
Corpse cart 

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Some initial progress shots below:
 

Lady Genevieve du Sang, Necro, Wraiths and Spirit Hosts

Ghouls

Dogs and in-progress Cart

New year, new army... kind of...

Ok, the events of last year threw us all - who'd have thought GW would actually can the Old World in its entirety and follow through on it's End Times premise?! But so much for that, luckily for me, the guys I play with decided to continue the Old World timeline into the Age of Rebuilding. In this timeline Hirad & the now-daemonic Drak'Nyah rule the Wastes alongside Dave (maybe now Matt's) Nurgle lord....

What did this mean? Well clearly the old model ranges aren't going to last. Despite GW releasing Warscrolls and telling us that every model would have a home in the new realms of Age of Sigmar, we've already seen the death of the Tomb Kings, and much of the old Warriors of Chaos range. So what was my response? Somewhat foolishly perhaps, I panic-bought and stockpiled plastic sprues like they were canned food in a zombie apocalypse... At the last count, I can now build and eventually field: Warrior of Chaos (as if I needed more), Empire/Bretonnia/Kislev survivors, Dark Elves, Skaven, Dwarfs, Night Goblins, and Vampire Counts. Add that to my brother's High Elves, Tomb Kings, and Bretonnians, and I think we've saved a fair chunk of the Old World for posterity. I couldn't stretch to Wood Elves (a shame), Savage Orcs (not so fussed really), but after some heavy investment, I've armies to last a lifetime.

In between all this, I moved north of the wall - a return home of sorts, but that put a spanner in the regular gaming until I came across Stirling Wargamers. The local club has become a tough proving ground for Hirad's forces - 3 defeats from 4 games, although the one victory was a glorious affair... Hobby-wise, I lost my Chaos-mojo and found it pretty hard to get any painting or building done but that doesn't mean no hobbying... dun-dun-duuuuunnnnn (Big Reveal)

That's right, 2016 begins the Vampire Counts proper - and I've agreed to go into 2 tournaments in the next month or 2, forcing me to get 2400pts (plus summoning units) completed in the next month (I've worked solidly on this since around Christmas)... Pics to follow