Wednesday 3 October 2018

Warhammer: Vampire Counts 9th Ed 1.0 out now!

Finishing up at a whopping 270 pages, Vampire Counts managed to even beat the Empire in terms of length (which is also part of why this book has taken quite a while to finish). This book contains material from all army books 4th-8th ed, as well as Night's Dark Masters, Liber Necris, Circle of Blood, various White Dwarfs and Citadel Journals. As such, you now have much extended background on all the Vampire Bloodlines and their history, as well more information about Sylvania, the Red Duke, and Heinrich Kemmler.

Do note that the majority of the background used in this book is based on the older Vampire Counts sources rather than the newer books from Black Library, and as such there are some discrepancies between them.

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The main change for the 9th Ed Vampire Counts book compared to the official 8th Ed is the inclusion of living troops! Your Vampires and Necromancers will no longer crumble to dust as they have done in the past, and Vampires all have Regeneration as fits their background. They can no longer be healed by means of magic, instead relying of drinking blood to sustain themselves. All the changes can be found below:

  • New Lord choice: Liche Lord
  • New Mount: Barrow Chariot (for Wight King).
  • New Core Unit: Sylvanian Peasant Infantry (WS2 infantry that are not undead). 
  • New Rare Unit: Lahmian Handmaidens
  • New Special Character: Neferata
  • New Special Character: Zacharias the Everliving
  • New Special Character: Melkhior
  • New Special Character: Sethep
  • New Special Character: Walach Harkon
  • New Special Character: The Red Duke
  • New Special Character: Gashnag
  • New Special Character: Luthor Harkon
  • New Special Character: Dieter Helsnicht
  • New Special Character: Helman Ghorst
  • Vampiric gives the model Fear, Immunity (Psychology) and Regeneration (6+ to 4+).
  • Units like Necromancers, Vampires, Bats and Ghouls are no longer Undead.
  • The Hunger renamed The Red Thirs, works on a 5+.
  • Several Vampiric Powers can now be taken by multiple Blood Lines.
  • Lore of the Vampires renamed Lore of Necromancy (as it is not really used solely be Vampires, and was created by Necromancers, not Vampires).
  • Invocation of Nehek only affects Undead units.
  • Curse of Undeath regains 1 Wound for one unit within 6", rather than healing the caster. This means you can no longer heal your character through magic (as they are not really Undead to begin with).
  • Undead can march if within 6" of a wizard with the Lore of Necromancy.
  • Necrarch Vampires can use the Lore of Metal and Lore of the Heavens.
  • Strigoi Vampires can use the Lore of Beasts and Shadow.
  • Replaced Tomb Blade (which is already carried by Heinrich Kemmler) with the Frostblade. 
  • Vigour Mortis is now a bound spell that gives skeletons and zombies +1 Attack rather than Always Strikes first (which was pretty poor considering the low Init value of zombies who would likely get to strike anyway in great numbers).
  • Bat Swarms automatically Disrupt enemy units that it flanks.
  • Skeleton Archers are removed, Skeleton Warriors can instead take bows and crossbows.
  • Zombies are WS2, have the Fight in Extra Ranks (1) special rule.
  • Crypt Ghouls are 6 pts.
  • Dire Wolves have Slavering Charge again, do not count towards minimum core units.
  • Corpse Cart have a 6+ armour save.
  • Blood Knights have full plate armour and WS6 (one less than a Blood Dragon Vampire, and one higher than a Pallid Handmaiden), Ld8, 42 pts.
  • Cairn Wraiths and Tomb Banshees have been split into separate units.
  • Cairn Wraith may be taken as Heroes, can be mounted on a Skeletal Steed, and take magic items.
  • Von Carstein and Lahmian Vampires are not wizards by default (Hero's only).
  • Necrarch, Strigoi and Lahmian Vampires have -1 Ld. 
  • Strigoi have Armour Piercing instead of Poisoned attacks.
  • Master Necromancers can be upgraded to Master of the Dead.
  • Lahmian Vampires may take Poisoned Attacks. 
  • Wight King have T5, may take heavy armour, 80 pts.
  • Fell Bats and Bat Swarms moved to core, do not count towards minimum core units.
  • Zombie Dragons may be taken as rare choices. 
  • Isabella von Carstein is no longer a wizard.
  • Konrad von Carstein has the Ring of the Night magic item.
  • Krell have W3, have the Crown on the Damned magic item.
  • All Vampires can carry the Battle Standard. 
  • Cheaper musicians for Undead units (as they have no use of the rally part). 
  • Fell Bats and Spirit Hosts are 3+ in unit size.
  • Varghulfs and Vargheists have Red Thirst.
  • Vargheists 50 pts. 
  • Varghulf 185 pts.
  • Crypt Horrors 37 pts.
  • Necrofex Colossus 240 pts, have the Vortex of Death special rule, can take Dark Souls upgrade.
  • Black Coach is 170 pts (on account of being T5 like normal heavy chariots).
  • Mannfred von Carstein have A4, Ebony Staff and Cloak of Darkness. He is no longer available as a Hero choice.
  • Removed background on the War in the Border Princes - this part is never resolved until the End Times, and as such feels unfinished. 

Many thanks to Rune for helping me go through and fix quite a few things in the book before release!

120 comments:

  1. Great job Mathias !!

    Just one question : what miniatures do you intend to use for lahmian handmaidens ??

    Thank you !!

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    1. Completely up to you, if you search for "28mm female vampire" you should be able to find quite a lot of suitable models. Reaper Miniatures makes some that would fit great for Lahmia.

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    2. The three off the coven throne are always a good start.

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  2. Your work rate is incredible, you are so close to completing the complete set of the most comprehensive authentic lore of the Warhammer world. Keep at it and good luck!!!

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    1. Don't worry, I have no plans on stopping now ;)

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  3. A minor mistake, in the description page of necromancers, the normal necromancer has BS 0 instead 3, thank you for these amazing books.

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  4. Is there any chance to see some AoS Nighthaunt units or units from Army of Cairns in future updates of armybook?

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    1. Or maybe ghoul heroes and Crypt Flayers from AoS Flesh-Eater Courts?
      I think they could be a good addition to army list.

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    2. Also thank you so much for this book, it's amazing as always.

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    3. Maybe as an expansion, most of the models are really just variants of Cairn wraiths or spirits hosts. Same for the ghouls, I did not see much point in adding another flying monstrous infantry unit.

      Glad you like the book!

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    4. Uhhh... what? Most of the new Nighthaunt models aren't like Spirit Hosts or Cairn Wraiths at all (outside of being ghosts). The new troops are all actual infantry (and not a swarm like Spirit Hosts), and the new heroes are genuine commanders, not just an elite mook-turned-hero like the Cairn Wraith.

      On another note, seeing how the new TWW2 Zombie Pirate DLC just got announced, are you making them a full army some time down the road too?

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    5. That's what I meant; they are all etheral units, and most of the characters are just cloaked ghost skeletons with scythes or greatswords. I did consider the Chainrasps, but then you would just have another etheral unit in the special and/or rare section. I did include the Cairn Wraith as a hero with the option to take a skeleton steed, that way you can use all Nighthaunt models in WFB.

      The Vampire Coast will get a smaller expansion in the future, but not a whole army book.

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    6. Aren't the Chainrasps supposed to be put in core (GW made them battleline units after all)? They will probably not overlap too much with the existing core units. Calling Chainrasps just another version of Spirit Hosts is like calling Goblins just another version of Snotlings (I mean, the Spirit Hosts and the new Nighthaunts aren't even of the same troop type). Similarly, the Spirit Torment and particularly the Guardian of Souls can't really be used as count-as Cairn Wraiths either, and that's before taking into account all the rules.

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    7. I think that the nearest unit having existed for WHFB is the gloom unit from lichemeister's army of cairns list (WHFB 6th edition). Their profile was M4 WS2 BS0 S2 T2 W1 I2 A1 Ld5 cost 6 pts, rare unit with unit size 10-20. Special rules: undead, ethereal, tormented (each turn must make a leadership test as if Kemmler was slain) and spirit levy (unit add its rank bonus to its leadership).

      Just to say that even with a bad profile, ethereal unit shouldn't be core...

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    8. It may be worth adding at least a Knight of Shrouds. The presence of a Cairn Wraith in the forms of both the hero and the unit creates confusion.

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  5. I need to know if it is an errata, are undead units not inmune to psychology?

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    1. They are unstable, which means they are also unbreakable, which means they are also immune to psychology ;)

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  6. I Just found the answer in the rulebook XD, thx for a great job

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  7. We have looked at your army book, great job as always ! We have a few remarks anyway :
    1) lahmian vampire seems to be a bit overpriced compared to the other bloodlines. Maybe their cost should be reduced from 5 to 10 points.
    2) coven throne wasn't a very played unit. With the -1 Ld of lahmian vampire lords it is now worse as the duel of will wi be less effective. Maybe a change of cost would be necessary.
    3) what is the armor save of the black coach 3+ or 5+ ?
    4) varghulf seems to be a bad unit, mainly due to his poor Ld (only 4). As this unit isn't unbreakable anymore this is bad. Vargheist have a 7 Ld. Maybe give the varghulf the same value ?
    5) cairn wraith seems to be a little to costy compared to others fate units.

    We have found some mistake in the skaven book regarding brood horror and mounted ogre rat. Prices are higher for moulder lords than classic warlord for a brood horror (195 vs 150) and lesser for rat ogre (65 vs 75).

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    1. I have forgotten one point : we don't like the rule for direwolves, fell bats and bat swarms to don't count in core point. We understand that the point is to prevent vampire counts armies of being made of only fell bats or direwolves. However we think that this rule will prevent the use of these units as their cost will use special or rare points. We propose to use the same kind of rule as for skavens clanrats. Zombies, skeletons and ghouls will be mainstay units, allowing you to pick up one other core unit for each mainstay unit.

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    2. Good points, I will have a look at all them. Cairn Wraiths have always been 50 pts though, not sure they need a price drop really.

      About the dire wolves etc; I can make it so that they do not count towards the minimum number of units instead - that way they still give points to Core, but you need to field skeletons and zombies etc as well.

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    3. Another thing you can do is to keep the mainstay rule with adding maximum unit size for fell bats (3 to 10 for example) and others "core plus" units.

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    4. Regarding the Coven Throne: Remember that Fear imposes a -1 LD penalty now, which may also affect things. :-)

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    5. Yeah you're right. I think that the main flaw of the coven throne is his resistance against shots. That is why I didn't notice that it was the same in hand to hand combat.

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  8. Does the new rules of ressurrection prevent the lich form recovering wounds with its lore of necromancy?

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    1. The Liche is Undead, and as such they can still heal themselves through magic :)

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    2. That´s really great :D.

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  9. Thank you for your work !
    Where are the Mortarchs of Blood and Night (not sure about Arkhan being part of Vampire Counts) ? The Morghasts ? Any reason to skip them ?

    Do you have any plan to add bookmarks in your PDFs ?

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    1. The Mortarchs are only connected to the End Times, which have not happened in this timeline, hence they were not included. Morghasts will be included in a smaller Nagash expansion.

      Good point about the bookmarks though, I will add that for all futute updates!

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    2. Are you planning on putting things from the Nighthaunt codex into the Nagash exansion?

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    3. Maybe, they would probably fit better there than cluttering up the VC book with 10 different Etheral units :)

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  10. So, given that Total War: Warhammer just announced the Vampire Coast dlc, I’m going to assume the folks at Creative Assembly was waiting for you to release this army book before announcing the DLC. :P

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    1. Haha, very possible! A little annoying since I might have to move Luthor Harkon there in an expansion :)

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    2. It looked very tempting to have a proper Vampire Coast list after seeing what they had done. Could be hard to find tons of zombes with guns though. Definatley an intersting idea for an undead army that works very different though. :-)

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  11. Check out fireforge´s kickstarter (16 days left) if you need to bolster your ranks of undead, and now with sylvanian peasants in the list, their "peasant rabble" will be perfect:)- Lemurus

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  12. That came out a bit quicker than expected Mathias: :-) Layout certainly looks very nice.

    Just noticed that some of the hero Vampires have 100 pts magic items & powers. I'll do some more read throughs. :-)

    Btw, Luthor Harkhon is missing pistols. :-P Any self-respecting Pirate should have at least one pistol. :-)

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  13. Btw, Mathias, I'd still call it Lore of Vampires because:

    1. The necromancy they use is in many ways not the true naecromancy pioneered by nagash, or at least not the fullest extent. Much has been recreated at the best of their abilities based on scraps of lore from his tomes etc...

    2. Lore of Vampires is referenced several places throughout the book.

    3. The cards say Lore of Vampires and I imagine many will feel more comfortable using the existing cards.

    :-)

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  14. -Was it ever shown that Vampires regenerate as fast as Trolls? Even faster it they're in constant combat. I think you should remove Regeneration but allow the Curse of Undeath lore attribute to also restore lost wounds to vampires, as they are undead, just a more self-aware, stable kind of undead. Proper rituals are needed to bring them back.
    -Why aren't Strigoi Vampires producing poison like ghouls? I think that the fact they had poisoned attacks emphasized their connections to ghouls.
    -I still think Peasant Levy are redundant when Skeletons and Zombies serve as better tarpits, though my original suggestion back in Ravening hordes of human skilled fighters is redundant with Lahmian handmaidens.
    -Fell Bats aren't much larger than a Harpy so they should have 1 wound and attack instead of 2. Harpies have two attacks each, but that's because they have two arms and legs, each with claws on the toes.
    -The Asp Bow used by Lahmian Handmaidens should instead by a Magic item only available to Lahmian Vampires. By relation, Lahmian Handmaidens and Lahmian Vampires should be able to take Longbows. Perhaps a choice between Crossbows and Longbows for Von Carstein Vampires.
    -There's a grammar error in the description of the Mourngul's Killing Cold rule. It should say "In addition, the Mourngul have Immunity(Ice attacks)".
    -The Cairn Wraith that drives Black Coaches is Strength 4 instead of 3, they are described as being pulled by Skeletal Steeds when they reach three dice siphoned.
    -Mannfred and Konrad are both brothers, one physically weak (by Vampire standards) but magically powerful while the other physically strong and magically incapable, sort of like an evil version of Teclis and Tyrion. As such, I think that Mannfred should have the statlines of Necrarch Vampires and Konrad have the statlines of Blood Dragon Vampires. I don't think you should have removed the option to field Mannfred while he was a Hero choice. Also, Konrad was ruler of the Von Carstein bloodline for a relatively short period of time so he should have a Lord version as well.
    -Mannfreds cloak grants Magic Resistance (3+) instead of Magic Resistance (3)
    -Gashnag has both Poisoned Attacks and Armor Piercing.
    -Heinrich Kemmler is a Chaos Sorcerer so he should have the statline of one (WS 5, I5, A3), remove the additional attacks granted by his sword.
    -The Curse of Undeath lore attribute should be able to heal Vampiric units as well as well.
    -Walach Harkon should be able to replace his Barded Nightmare with a hellsteed.
    -Liche Lords should have the same mount options as Master Necromancers.
    -Perhaps Master Necromancers and Liche Lords should be able to replace the Corpsemaster on a Mortis Engine just like they can replace the Corpsemaster on a Corpse Cart.

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    1. I can go throught these points for Matias, since we have discussed a lot of this already:

      -Vampires in the lore can certainly shake of wounds from non-magical, non-flaming, non-silver (not a factor in the game) sources far in excess of what a mortal body their size can take. A T4, 2W Vampire is pretty laughable when you consider the lore. Vampires need Blood to heal in al the warhammer lore, they don't heal via spells at all. Blod is always the key. That GW alloed this and also allowed them to crumble in the last few editions is in direct conflict with all the lore. Another rason why this was done was to make all the Vampire Bloodlines more viable, as only those with access to armour would be used otherwise.

      -Strigoi Vampires only prouced poison in the very last edition. They never used to and its not really justified that they do so from any of the lore. They do have rather massive claws though. I was thinking of maybe proposing Multiple Wounds (2 or D3) instead of armour piercing to MAthias (but only when unarmed).

      -I happen to agree with you that Peasant Levy does not provide anything of real value as they stand right now, which is why I have proposed to Mathias that we explre the idea of having them act as a potential buff to summoning zombies (when dead), or have some sort of role as a blood supply for vampires. He has posted this as is to get some more feedback and ideas from players. :-) The Peasant LEvy & Lahmian handmaides comparison is a bit odd though, as they perform two very different roles in the army as Lahmian handmaidens are skirmishers etc.

      -Fell Bts are also dead and you can easily argue that makes them able to ignore wounds that would kill a harpy... and they are a fair bit larger tbh.

      -Regarding the Asp Bow, each list only has 10 magic items and a missile weapon does not seem ike the most natural fit in a VC army list with that limitation. The bow is also rather weak for use on a Vampire Lord/Hero and would most likely only have been taking up otherwise valuable space there. Lahmian Vampires should not be able to take Longbows no. Longbows were not used in ancient Lahmia and vampires rarely specialize in missile weapons.

      -Why should Von Carsteins have the statlines of Vampres from other Bloodlines? Mannfred's stats represents a Vampire that outlived Konrad by some 800 years and had time to grow much stronger (hence he is a Lord while Konrad a Hero).

      -Magic Resisistance is written as 6+, 5+, 4+ etc now, that is why he has 3+. :-)

      -I assume this is an oversight on Gashnag, but I have argued for bufing Gashnag up a fair bit (multiple wouds (D3) on his claws and lvl 3 caster to be specific. I don't see him as very viable as you can easily make a better Strigoi Lord using the normal rules, one that is even a lvl 2 wizard. Gashnag is arguably the oldest living Strigoi and deserve to be buffed to a useful level imo.

      -Heinrich Kemmler is not a chaos sorcerer in the traditional sense no.

      -The curse of undeath attribute should not be able to heal Vampires no. Arguably the Necrarchs, but I challenge you to find lore where vampires fix themselves like this instead of having to rely on blood. Bloodsuckers are what vampires are. They are not undead in the traditional corpse sense. In the lore it takes immense effort to raise a vampire back from being "dead", but the attribute had one raising Blood Knights like they were a zombie. No lore supports this at all.

      -Walach has access to Zombie Dragon. Why Hellsteed?

      -Considering the Mortis Engine kills living things if Irecall correctly, a necromancer would not be very comfortable on top. A Liche Lord is an interesting thought though. We'll see what MAthias thinks. :-)

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    2. -While the fluff does say that Vampires can take more abuse than equivalent humans, being able to regenerate quickly is not something most vampires have unless it's through drinking blood. Perhaps have The Red Thirst recover wounds on a 4+ and give them an extra wound instead? Allows for regenerating a wound every two turns. Regeneration plus The Red Thirst means wounds will be recovered extremely quickly and makes it impossible for a wounded Vampire to stay wounded.
      -Night's Dark Masters has Strigoi claws gain a re-roll to deal damage (but a penalty to trying to strike opponents) and armoured skin, so perhaps have their melee attacks re-roll To Wound rolls and give them Natural Armor (5+). Make them unable to take Magic Weapons or Armor.
      -What I suggested in Ravening Hordes is that the Vampire Counts would have a Special unit of living human warriors. Undead are unskilled fighters, have no intelligence or initiative and crumble apart when unsupervised, which is why I think skilled living warriors hoping to impress their masters enough to gain the blood kiss would fill a niche that Peasant Levy were redundant in. Perhaps they are Fast Cavalry equipped with spears and bows like Yeomen.
      -Fell Bats are not undead and they look around the size of a man to me, just like Harpies.
      -So it's a cheap Magic item for a character. There's no reason why every Army Book has to have 10 unique magic items and I think such a limit is unnecessary. Matthias should throw in whatever fits.
      -The counts as rule. Players can easily represent Vampires from a bloodline that don't fit the mold of their bloodline using other bloodlines. Doing so for unique characters emphasizes the differences between specific characters. Also, if Konrad only had a Hero version, then why is it that a stronger Vampire didn't take over the bloodline?
      -Even though Heinrich Kemmler is in the Vampire Counts list, he still serves Chaos and that means he should have melee ability equivalent to a Chaos Sorcerer Lord as the Chaos Gods put him back together.
      -Fair enough, I concede that the Curse of Undeath shouldn't affect Vampires.
      -If you want to make Walach fly but aren't playing a game with a large enough points pool.

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    3. Roland:

      Mathias chose to go with Regeneration to make them tougher which fits as far as flaming attacks go and itis a standard rule. As long s vampires are well-fed, they do heal quickly. It is only when having gone long without feeding that this is an issue. Overall it fits the bill more than adequately I think and it also prevents you from stacking something else up alongsdie ward + regen saves.

      -Re-roll damage with claws could be a thing. Personally I just want them to have claws that are usefull, so that the strigoi are not played with magic weapons, as their models don't support this. A 5+ AS is borderline useless and it doesn't really make all that much ense either tbh. They don't have scales. You don't see armour on Vargheists or Varghulfs either...

      -I agree with you that the peasant levy don't offer anything of any real tactical value in the list, but I can't say I feel some sort of fast cav option is all that appealing either. Doesn't seem like a very natural fit. At least with the peasant levy, you can understand where they come from etc. There is a justification for them being in the list from a lore perspective. It would be harder to justify human acting as fast cav etc...

      -As far as I can recall, Fell Bats have always had the Undad special rule. Not really sure why you feel so strongly that this needs to change. If they are not Undead,then you suddenly have an excellent unit that you can use to bait enemy units etc, which would change the dynamic of the army somewhat. I'm not saying I'd be completely against his idea, but it is up to Mathias in any case :-)

      -It is a good idea to keep the number of unique magic items equal across all armies for balance reasons. Armies are already hard enough to balance without this number being different.

      -Can't imagine Mathis making Konrad into a Blood Dragon in all but name and Mannfred a Necrarch, but I can't say for sure.
      At the Time when Vlad was killed, he left a power vacum with lots of less powerful vampiries behind, as any vampire does.There were simply no "Lord" left, as Vlad was the only one that would really qualify at the time. The rest were all "Heroes", as both Konrad & Mannfred's previous additional Hero version can attest to.

      -Heinrich Kemmler is not a fighter and he is not a chaos sorcerer. Does he have a single chaos spell available? No. Has he been raised in the far north and been warped by chaos to become bigger and stronger than men of the south? No. Does his lore support the notion that he would qualift for this? Not to my knowledge. As far as I can recall, and this is supported where she shows up in the Gotrek & felix series too, he is not a figher of note.

      -Regarding Walach, I can't see that that is a good enough justification tbh. I think it would take something significant to lure him away from his traditional cavalry role for one thing. Being a BSB on a "small" flying creature is also arguably a bit of an awkward notion. No big deal, though, but it is up to Mathias as always. :-)

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  15. Thank you for all your hard work. Your dedication shows. And a special thanks for putting this out in October, the spookiest month of the year!

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  16. Incredible work. Guauuu!!! This project is increasing in quality!!! From Spain we send a big hug for all of you who makes possible to keep dreaming in a perfect and balance Warhammer fantasy world!

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  17. Thanks a lot for your great work!
    - Why Lahmian Handmaidens have skirmish in page 191 and not in page 263?
    - Do you have any plan to give Blood Knights the option to go by foot? Like some elite bodyguard Drakenhof Guard come to my mind.
    - I love the Sylvanian living addon. I think the should have some kind of living "hero" to lead them. When Vlad was alive he didn't kill all bureaucracy of Sylvania, they were useful to him and the Blood Kiss was a "gift". The simil that come to my mind is the Marauder Chieftain in a Chaos Warriors list.
    - Are you planning any Sylvanian Wars lists? Vlad had a kind of Imperial Army as his disposal.

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    1. Vlad's "Imperial Army" at the siege of Altdorf was only abot 400 men/peasants if memory serves right (in the Von Carstein Trilogy). He never had the tech support or economy to have a proper imperial army going. :-)

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  18. Putting a few other ideas I would have liked out here.
    Renaming the wraith character to spectre and making it different, no great weapon by default
    Strigani human skirmishes along Romany lines
    Strigani fortune teller heavens caster to give the strigoi some magical support
    Swains, the consorts of the handmaidens, enthralled young dashing aristocrats, immune to psychology skirmish pistol armed almost heroes
    Monstrous infantry flesh golems zombie ogre type things for the necrach
    Gloom’s, tormented ghosts that constantly fight for release ranked ethereal unit
    Vampiric units able to match
    Invocation of nehek not giving more than 1 W to characters
    New signature spell Mortal Fear. Range 18, cast on a 6 unit suffers -1 Ld unless immune to psychology in which case they lose that rule instead. Really useful for lahmians as many of their powers don’t work against ItP units.
    Dregs, super weak characters that provide a bonus to their master magic user when with 6”. Think the hunchbacked servant or the lurch type Butler.
    I’d probably put some constraints around which units you can take based on the bloodlines of the characters.
    Steadfast for Undead reducing their crumble damage

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    1. Ahh ok just realised that most characters are no longer undead, so the invocation won’t affect them, makes healing a liche too easy though, that should be 1W max.

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    2. -You are thinking of Spectres relying more on Chill Grasp? Got any models in mind? :-)

      -You now have the option to Skrimish with the Ghouls, which sort of fill that role, unless you want another missile unit in. I have argued against bow/crossbow units in the army myself as I see this as the army's supposed major drawback, so I would not want more of those kinds of units in the VC army. Mathias might disagree though.
      On a side note, I've argued for removing the "Sylvanian" part of the Levy, so that the mortal contigent would fit better across all the bloodlines.

      -Strigany fortune tellers don't really strike me as proper magical support. Sure they exist in the lore etc, but to argue they are on the level of imperial battle wizards is a bit dubious to say the least. If locked at lvl 1 somehow one could make something out of them though, but does the army really need Lore of Heavens when the Necrarchs already have it?

      -Swains have some potential tbh. A Stubborn type bodyguard unit does have some potential, but it would need to be balanced and feel like a natural fit that provided the army with something else than just more missile fire power in terms of tactical use I think.

      -I've argued for using Sethep to have the option of making your Ghouls & Crypt Horrors be Undead again, as it fits his lore and would actually make hm a potentially useful character as well. He (and Gashnag) needs more to make them anything but page-fillers that will never infuence games IMO. Did you perhapshave some model in mind for these larger corpses etc? The Ogre Butcher models wouldn't be terrible for a conversion project for some such unit though, but the unit wold need to fill a differet role than the Crypt Ghouls etc. An army list full of units that esentially does the same is a bit pointless.

      -A ranked Ethereal unit could potentially be game-breaking I think, and/or be so expensive that the game would very much revolve around that unit for the win.

      -Vampiric units can march They are not Undead for all intents and purpioses, including Lore of Vampire spells.

      -Invocation of Nehek only affects Undead characters and if I recall correctly, max one wound can be regained in a single casting.

      -Having a new Signature spell for the VC list would be very strange I think, as summoning is at their core and I don't think this is a list that justify 2 Signature spells.

      -The Dregs idea could be cool if done right I think. Models exist from Mordheim as well... Makng some sort of lo-lvl hero that was more of a support character could be cool. Not sure of the magic part though, but maybe he cold serve as a useful idiot for challenges at the very least...

      -It s better to apply the carrot than the stick when it comes to unit selection I think, which is why Walach & Neferata both got some changes as far as uit selections go :-) If too severe unit limitations are in place, then you risk most armies of a particular bloodline being too similar in nature etc. Can get predicatble very fast..

      -I agree with the Steadfast for undead. One of my hopes was to convince mathias to buff the usefullness of core undead troops overall at the expense of the upper level of borderline insane characters to balance things out a bit, to make undead Core more viable & make the army less reliant on Red Fury type vampires that generally don't make the game very fun for everyone. He has nerfed Red Fury so far, but I hope more will be changed as far as the core goes without making the 25% core being missile troops the best option. He did find a nice change to the Corpse Cart that makes it a bit of a core buff though, but that is something you have to pay points for as any other buff would be, instead of going to the core of the issue. But then again, some game testing and feedback will tell if anything has changed or not :-)

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    3. Well the new ethereal character with the sword would be awesome for a spectre.

      The strigani skirmishers aren’t suggested because of a tactical need, but because it would be cool.
      The fortune teller type person is because I would never mix my bloodlines, and if you go Strigoi then you could be a bit low on magic, could take a becromancer but this makes it that bit richer.

      Swains would be few in number hand picked, so either they’d operate as characters or small skirmish units, not something that comes in ranks.

      Flesh golems, there are loads of undead ogre figures out there, manticores for a start.

      The glooms unit from the lichmaster’s WD list was a ranked ethereal unit. You took a crumble test each turn with them though. Something rare and 0-1 isn’t going to be game breaking.

      The reason I suggested that spell be a signature is that it gets it in without affecting any other spell. The are Sooooo many things imminent to psychology, renders some match ups very hard for the undead - especially if you go down a lahmian route. They need a means to remove that ItP.

      Yes the mordheim dregs would be perfect but generally fairly easy to convert and there are more than a few 28mm butlers out there. Can’t possibly imagine them being any use in combat, but having the extra spell book to hand, or tending to some magical artefact I can see being very characterful. It is also fun to basically give a character a bonus that can be removed by the opponent by targeting the dreg, rather than have to kill the main character

      Play testing as always will be the answer

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    4. -I agree that the model is cool, but I don't think the list needs more Ethereal units tbh. It has gained the Wraith Hero & the Mourngul already.

      -I think instead of adding another character entirely, this would better be solved by having some upgrade option for the Necromancer (hero) that you could select if your general was a Strigoi Vampire.

      -While I agree that ther is justification for the Swains in the lore, especially for the Lahmians, I don't really think they would provide much tactically that the handmaidens don't already do, apart from modern missile weapons (which I personally don't want to se become a common thing in this list tbh). Perhaps Swains & dregs could be pretty much the same hero option, but with various gear and abilities etc. That way they could act as a bodyguard for a character in a unit as well.

      -I'm not against the idea of a Flesh Golem as such, but I see that Mathias has put the Vampire Coast up as its own seperate army list now, which makes me think that option would perhaps fit better there. That said, I have proposed that Setep loose his staff and instead gain the ability to make Crypt Horrors Undead again, which would allow for Crypt Horrors to be resurrected etc.

      -I haven't seen the unit stats etc, but you are still talking one more additional Etheral unit in any case.

      -Not sure I agree that Lahmians need a way to remove ItP tbh. It i both their strength and their weakness and if people pay for ItP, then they have paid a premium just in case you have decided upon Lahmians (or not).

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    5. I agree against more ethereal characters

      I prefer the strigani lore of heavens

      maybe add the swains as a shieldbearer like thorgrim and his shieldbearers, unattackable but buffing the vampires attacks

      no, they have crypt ghouls, maybe with nagash

      no

      Immune to psychology removal requires psychology, infinite loop, maybe decrease the effects to for one turn or something if you do make it a sig spell

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  19. Have we considered how some of these rules combine.
    For example supernatural horror, aura of dark majesty and transfix. That transfix test is now being taken at a -4 ld....

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    1. Good point, I will remove the -1 from Transfix.

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  20. The strigoi are a little short on powers when compared to the others, what about: master of the flesh, enables invocation of nehek to be applied to units of ghouls and crypt horrors.

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  21. Any plains for Vampire Coast as an armybook in the future, adding the Total War units and maybe other troops? It would be amazing

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    1. Yes, that will be made as an expansion :)

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    2. I saw it, thank you, the army roster presented today looks very original.

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    3. Seeing how their roster only shares a few units with the 'main' Vampire Counts (Fell Bats, Terrorgheist, Mourngul, Necrofex Colossus), wouldn't it be better to give the Zombie Pirates their own independent book?

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  22. It seems to me that making Ghouls vulnerable to Leadership mechanics with 5 Ld and no real way to boost them makes them almost totally nonviable as a unit, even with their point drop. Will their be some kind of revision patch to make them competitive with even, let's say, zombies?

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    1. As mentioned below, they will be Ld 9/10 close to the general, so they are not too likely to run off all the time.

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  23. Ghouls can use a general’s leadership still though, but panic tests do pose a serious threat to them.

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    1. They are cowards on their own in all the lore, at least not if outnumbering their enemies or cowed by a powerful leader etc...

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    2. give them a numbers boost to leadership

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  24. And another thought... have we considered how this matches up against the Tomb Kings, who historically have been much weaker. The switch to living troops for ghouls and the bats, and marching when near magic users makes the Vampire Counts forces a lot lot faster than the tomb Kings.
    Fell bats redirecting charges etc. I fear the tomb kings have to put a lot of effort to achieve what the vampire counts get out of the box. The death of the general for example, as the majority of characters in vampire are magic users, they have more options to pass it over to - and they don’t need to take a Ld test either.
    Suggestions to level the field. On the death of the vampire general all living units must take a panic test each turn until someone takes over. On the death of the tomb king Hierophant then another nekeharan magic user can take over if passing the Ld test before any tests are needed to be made.
    Skeleton horsemen and horse archers M9.
    Animated construct regain D2 W from the lore attribute and all animated constructs are T5 minimum.
    Tomb heralds gain my will be done
    Tomb king musicians get a discount

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    Replies
    1. As a TK player I had similar worries (VC trumping TK at being Undead) when I saw this release. However, I personally feel that Musicians should remain at 10 points, as this is the "tax" you pay for Undead Musicians, because although you don't get to use all the Musician's benefits, you are also buffed by all the Undead rules, so I feel it balances.

      Vampire Counts being generally faster than Tomb Kings now, due to many units being able to march, does hurt a little (I always saw TK as the faster of the two Undead, with their mass chariots and cavalry in Core, whereas VC we more durable as they could raise dead, increase unit sizes, etc), maybe giving TK the VC's rule allowing Undead units to march when in range of a specific character type instead of requiring said character to be attached to the unit would help in this regard. I know Tk can use Desert Winds to "march" units, but against other magic heavy armies, this can easily be dispelled, leaving them vulnerable to counter attack, whereas VC no longer have this drawback.

      The ability for VC Wizards to automatically take over after the death of the general versus the TK having to take a Ld test is somewhat balanced in my opinion by the extremely low Leadership values of almost all Undead units in the VC army. That one test they must all make when their general dies is going to weaken them significantly, where as TK (in my experience with them at least) don't suffer as badly because their Ld is better. I do like the idea that the VC living units should take a panic test though. Maybe something to look into.

      Over all though, I think Mathias has done a fantastic job with this book. Going through it I feel it is incredibly well balanced. As stated above, my only proposed changes would be keeping unit Musicians/Standard Bearers at 10 points and balancing the March ability between the Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts books.

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    2. I don't really buy into the argument that ANY undead unig needs to be taxed tbh. Being Undead is not what it once was.
      -WS 2 is comparatively worse than in 8th ed due to the new To Hit table...
      -Fear don't give you any benefit unless you actually WIN the combat, which low WS makes harder.
      -With the Horde rule you don't benefit as much from being cheap as you did in 8th ed.

      If you manage to find comparative priced core units to skeletons and zombies in terms of points that they will have a 50/50 chance of winning against in hth, I'll be very surprised tbh.
      In my view, the Core needs to be buffed to a useful level, so that we actually see undead hurde armies again, not just the obligatory 25%...

      As to the speed issue, the VC army has been pretty fast on the gaming table overall due to people's overall limited use of the Core I think. I have not played against the TK for ages, but my impression is that they should be the slower ones overall, as they have the missile power to force the enemy to come to them instead. Granted, this shifts somewhat with Mathias adding bows & crossbows to the VC list.

      An LD test for the living in the VC army might be applicable if someone is not "qualified" to take over when the general dies. I think this would be a fair comprimise and make sense. :-)

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    3. While I do agree fear and lower WS have made certain Undead units worse. Model that are immune to panic are quite important now. Now that BSBs do not affect panic, it’s common for me to have at least one unit flee in the beginning even when using generals LD.

      My point being is Undead can be pretty difficult to fight as they only really start losing guys in CC. Add to this the free immunity to poison and honestly it cannot be seen as anything but a buff. This is excluding the spells which.
      I understand the chaff units aren’t great but they were never intended to be great as they are chaff units. They do their job perfect and with the right spells and support models they can be excellent in a game.

      I do agree that Undead thematically should be a slower, at least when it comes to hordes of slow lumbering hordes of Skeletons and zombies. Having them being able to mass march around doesn’t seem right.

      This is my experience from playing a lot of games against Undead with Bretonnia and Warriors Of chaos (who still run from panic :P)

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    4. I bet the majority of Panic tests you now failcomes from massive missile fire, which has become far more of a threath, especially for more elite type units that will have to take more panic tests etc.
      I have urged Mathias to let the BSB affect Panic tests as well, so that you have a counter to that aspect of the passive missile fire type gameplay.

      The undead will undoubtedly get into CC yes (unless shot to pieces as any other unit), but they will crumble mightily fast against most enemies, with little to no chance of winning on their own. In my experience, in close combat, Core units of most other armies have far more staying power than Skeletons/Zombies, due to being steadfast.
      You typically fight two rounds of combat before you even have a chance to get some models back with spells (which is far from guaranteed and you pay for this option in other ways) and once you get below 20 models you typically loose even more as you loose static CR to help keep your unit on their feet. So you easily end up on a situation where you have to have unit sin the 40-50 models range to really justify putting the points into said unit to begin with. This kind of goes against the idea that Mathias had where he wanted the game to work better with smaller, non-horde type units again.
      Immunity to Poison s a buff, but not very much of one as far as the core goes etc, but more so for the large construct type monsters like the Necrofex colossus etc. :-)
      REmember that every other army in the game got the potential of Steadfast for free in 8th ed. That is a major comparative debuff to the undead type armies. The combination of new to hit table, fear etc is a second debuff on top of that.

      This is why I have urged for a Steadfast type mechanic for the Undead units at the very least, as it would help give the core back a bit of its staying power. :-)

      I have no problem with undead marching. The game would suck so badly if there was no way to march. The movement phase should be instrumental in determining who wins a game, and if that is taken away you would ruin the game pretty much. The lore also support them marching while commanded to do so. :-)

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    5. @The Rune, the problem I have with this argument is that Undead have always been a Horde style army when it comes to their Core selections. To make them better in Core (and I am only referring to Core units, as I feel that both VC and TK have very good Special and Rare options) would require an entire rework of the army, as better Core units (mainly skeletons and zombies) would require them to be more expensive. I understand that Mathius wanted to go back to smaller model count in units, larger quantity of unit, games, but I would hate for my Tomb Kings to be made like every other army, and play like every other army. I really like that Mathius' rules encourages this smaller unit game play, but at 5 or less points for a skeleton or similar, you can get 40 or more models in each unit of 200 points, which just feels right. Yes you will outnumber your opponent, but that has always been part of the thematics to Undead. It also means that because they are cheap, chaff units, you will still have to have multiple core units on the table, so the idea of using multiple units rather that one super tanked up unit still applies to Undead, we just have more models in our relatively cheap units, and that is our advantage over the living, and why we can afford to suffer a few crumbles in combat. That said, I understand the risk of crumbling too fast, and so am very interested to see what you propose as a "steadfast" option for Undead and how it will work? You mentioned "With the Horde rule you don't benefit as much from being cheap as you did in 8th ed", but I believe Mathius removed the rules for Hordes entirely. Maybe giving Undead something like; if the unit consists of at least X amount of models, they suffer less casualties from unstable or something along those lines? Is this what you had in mind?

      Then, in regards to Undead marching, they have always been slower than living armies. Its been in their rule books, its been in their novels and fluff. Undead units, without magic, are slow and should shamble across the battlefield. Having cheap Core units allows us to outmaneuver our opponents via blocking their movement with our multiple cheap (and therefore not very good) blocks of skeletons/zombies, while our better units from Special/Rare get into charge positions (an example of this is, with my Tomb Kings, I will send a large block of skeletons up the board to engage a valuable unit of my opponent's. They have two choices, try get around the skeletons, exposing a Flank as they pivot, or charge them and get stuck in combat for a turn or two. If they do this, my chariots (who would not survive in a head-to-head fight with most units) use those extra turns that my opponent is stuck in my horde of skeletons to get a Flank charge, buffed by Dessert Winds if possible to speed up the process before my opponent can counter charge the chariots. THAT is how Undead should use their Movement Phase and their "chaff" Core units, they shouldn't just be passively faster than a cavalry army like Bretonnia, Hob Goblins, Empire Knights, etc (which, right now, Vampire Counts Skeletons are, because they can march 8", then Danse Macabre 8", while Black Knights can move an amazing 24" in one turn with a march of 16, Danse Macabre 8" and ignoring terrain and barding restrictions). If you want an army that can march all over the board, play a living army.

      Furthermore, currently, even Settra the Great, who we can all agree should be superior over any generic vampire (and even most named ones), only has an 8" bubble for allowing marches, while said generic vampire gives 12". There is nothing to support a regular, unnamed vampire being able to control an Undead army better than Settra himself.

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    6. I also feel that, considering Tomb Kings are based off of the Ancient Egyptians, one of the most mobile armies of their era, a consideration should be made for this when comparing Vampire Counts to Tomb Kings. They are both Undead, but they play distinctly differently. I always thought Vampire Counts had the cheaper core options (namely zombies) the ability to raise dead above starting levels, to create new units with magic, to have more armour options for their Undead, and more Monstrous Infantry option as key aspects of their gameplay. So much more of a horde style army in Core selections, with hard hitting Monstrous Infantry or armoured cavalry to support this from Special and Rare. In contrast, Tomb Kings were less armoured, but had speed (cavalry and chariots in Core) and could bring very good archers to the battlefield (both of these keeping with their Egyptian theme), while supported by more Monster options and very good magic (not saying VC magic isn't good, but I think TK magic synergizes with the army so well, I am very happy with the changes Mathius made).

      Now Mathius may feel differently to this idea of how the Undead armies play, so it would be interesting to hear his thoughts, after all, for all intents and purposes he is the creator of this "new" game. I just feel currently there is a huge discrepancy between the two Undead armies with VC just being outright better at doing most things, and no reason, other than being a newer release, as to why this is.

      Sorry for such a late reply BTW, have been busy with work so have only had time to go through your points now. Let me know what you think though (both The Rune and Mathius).

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    7. I do agree that TK needs a bit of a buff to be on par. This could partly be done by allowing all units within 12" of the TK General (or Hierophant) to march, like VC.

      TK do have a more powerful Movement spell though, otherwise VC could be brought down in a speed a little by only allowing units to march if joined by a Necromancy Wizard.

      In regards to TK and getting a new Heirophant by passing a Ld test, the new VC "general" does not allow marching within 12" and do not give Regen, so the TK are actually better off in that regard atm.

      All unstable units who outnumber their enemies (Steadfast) will instead suffer one less casualty than they normally would, same as being within 12" of the BSB.

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    8. That point that the character taking over from the general doesn’t affect March moves, while logically should be made more explicit, I had overlooked that

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    9. Ben Towse:

      Ok, this was a fair bit to sink ones teeth into at once, but I'll try to respond as best I can. :-)

      -There is a major difference in how the VC army operate in the lore and on the actual gaming table. The lore is and has always been a horde type army as you say, but my experience and probably that of most others as well is that only the minimum 25% of most armies actually has come from the core, while the really competitive aspect of the army list in terms of points has predominantly consisted of Vampire Lords, Grave Guard hordes, Ethereals & Terrorgheists.
      This was in 8th ed as well as far as I can remember, when you'd think the Horde special rule would to a larger extent encourage more hordes to be used.
      Now consider that this was how it was in 8th ed, then factor in the multiple nerfs to the Undead "horde" type units since then. You can't expect to see people sink their points into what is essentially just cool and fitting from a lore perspective if it is not competitive on the gaming table. 8th ed showed this on the competitive scene (at least from what I read on the Vampirecounts.net forums and elsewhere) and also experienced myself.

      As to the idea of Skeletons outnumbering their fores, this is somewhat questionable in terms of points. Yes, they are not very expensive, but neither are lost of other core troops from most non-elven/non-dwarf armies, and in melee where it counts the most, these units kick the ass of skeltons pretty hard on a model to model basis de to low undead WS & the new to hit table (mainly). A Unit of Skeletons are unlikely to ever win against a similarly sized unit of empire state troops, but even if they do, I'd argue that the state troops has more staying power in most situations, and it would not take them long at all to start gaining from Steadfast if they didn't already do so at the start.

      As to my proposal for steadfast it is petty simple. If an Undead unit would be subject to Steadfast under normal, non-undead condition, they reduce casualties from the Unstable special rule by an amount equal to their current rank bonus (max 3). This is what I'd like to see on the TK as well btw, not just the VC army.
      I think this would give undead "hordes" a much needed buff in terms of staying power and it would not benefit the expensive units that are already good equally.

      -When it comes to the marching, I'd argue for a faster TKarmy far more than slowing down a VC army tbh. With oerall shorter charge ranges in the game, I think the last thing the game needs is even more "dwarf" type armies that slow the game down. Relying on the VC/TK movement spells to actually be able to move across the table effectivly would be a disaster I think, due to many factors:

      1. It would even more encoureage people to play defensivly, relyig on missiles etc.
      2. It would not scale well with larger amries as you'd still be limited to that single spell to move your whole army across the board.
      3. Relying on magic for something as essential is too fickle in the game.
      4. It would force you to always go for high level wizards to actually get your army to move.
      5. It would encourage horde type elite units, as you cold only get that spell of once per turn, so it had better be worth it...

      Regarding the fluff, yes, undead amies are overll nt that quick as such,but they are also relentless and never tire. Most battles are supposed to resemble battles that last around six hours, where you can easily argue everyone else would be dead tired a few hours in, where the undead would truly start to shine. This is not taken into account in the rules either. So undead not being reduced to slower than dwarfs is not a big stretch and afair trade-off from a lore perspective I think. It also makes for a better game.

      I agree with your Settra view btw, but I don't think the game benefits much from the TK army being that slow in general. :-)

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    10. Ben Towse:

      -Being the fastest army in "their era" does not neccessarily mean that much in the current context. Their era has long since passed so I'm not sure that is all that relevant, but I still understand your view.

      I don't think the VC rmy does everthing better than the TK army, but I somewhat sympathize with your view as well, but I actually think that this is due to me thinkin gthat the TK army has always been a bit low on the "tier list" of armies in general, mostly due to their overall slow movement.
      I haven't played with or against Mathiases version though, so keep that in mind.
      I'm a big fan of the egyptian theme of the list and I really do like that it differs from the playstyle of the VC list with access to massive missile fire and artillery, which you could use to force the enemy to react to you instead. This is partially why I've been very sceptical of adding missile units to the VC list as well, as it gives the VC list this option as well, which I'm not in favour of as I think this has been the traditional weakness of the VC list (the one that perhaps defines how it plys mostly anyway).
      I've argued this quite a bit with Mathias, especially in context with the overal improved buff to missle fire & shorter charge ranges and my standpoint is that if the VC list is to get missile power added, then it would best be implemented as something more unique that you would find in the Special section of the list, where it would have to compete with the other special options and leave the core of the army be the more traditionally "horde" army, instead of allowing you to spend those 25% on more useful missile troops instead.

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  25. Why almost any Vampire has option to take a Shield?

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    1. Only the Blood Dragons models really have a shield. Don't really fit the other boodlines very well.

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  26. In Sigmar's Blood Campaign where Helman Ghorst appears his Corpse Cart Brothers were Strength 4.

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    1. About the strength issue of Ghorst I see in page 187 is 2 and in page 262 and 266 is 3. I don't know which one is an errata but it would make sense to me about the Ghorst Cart being better.

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  27. Little bug: Vlad still have "the hunger" special rule instead the red thirst in the bestiary

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  28. Where is Abhorash? :'(

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    Replies
    1. I don't think Abhorash has ever appeared in playable form, and really all that is known about him is that he's possibly the single most deadly warrior in the world. Also, given that nobody has seen him in centuries, he probably isn't taking part in battles.

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    2. Abhorash has not been concerned with leading any armies since he cured himself, so he doesn't make much sense from that standpoint. Also, you have 3 Blood Dragon Lords that do like to lead armies already...

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    3. plus, hes so deadly, it would be like going up against sigmar, he would slaughter you in two seconds,
      although it would be interesting to make one and send an army against just it to see who would come out on top

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    4. Not really what one makes army books for though... :-P It has to be kept in mind that it is first and foremost a game intended to be fun for both sides :-)

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  29. Nice work on the Vampire Counts, the book has some cool stuff in it. I would point out that the spells Vanhel's Danse Macabre and Hellish Vigor only work on friendly Undead units, so now they no longer affect ghouls or the necromancers or the vampires like they used too. Also, if a non-undead character is in a unit that Van Hel's is cast upon, how does that affect the unit? Can the character move along with the unit? Does this keep the unit from moving? This is probably worth addressing with the spell itself.

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    Replies
    1. That these units are not affected by Lore of Necromancy spells is by design. You can offcourse use other lores to affect them instead. :-) Lore of Beasts for example in the case of the Strigoi.

      The idea is obviously that the vampire or necromancer in the unit can move with the unit offcourse, but you are right in that thas needs to be stated somewhere. Probably easier to put something in the army specialrules section than on all the individual spells though. :-)

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    2. Well none undead cannot join undead, The rules for unstable mention that none unstable characters cannot join unstable units. So maybe some special rule is required for that, but currently they cant join the undead unit so the spells wouldn't affect them.

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    3. This is in the Army special rules of the new VC book.

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    4. Ah, I must have skipped over that. Thanks

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    5. We all miss things. No problem :-)

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  30. If this is to be encouraged we could change the lore of beasts lore attribute to cover Strigoi vampires ghouls and crypt horrors?

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    Replies
    1. One of the things I did for my LoN project was to have tha Yaghur (the first ghouls) have a Feral special rule that didn't allow them to benefit from the BSB. Perhaps something like this could be implemented that also let the Lore of Beasts attribute apply to them. Not a bad idea Phil.

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    2. The main issue is that the General MUST use Necromancy lore. If that's the case the Strigoi should be able to be an exception.

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    3. Well, you could have a Strigoi Lord with Necromancy & then a hero with lore of Beasts.

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    4. That means that at low points you can't do it, I think they should have that exception.

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    5. You'd have to be at 1000 pts or less then I think. Not really the most oprimal of point cost for any army to relly spread it's wings. :-)

      That said, I agree that the Strigoi have gotten the short end of the stick in many ways, comparatively speaking. I think Mathias is aware of this as well.
      I have suggested a buff to their Massive Monstrosity power so that it provides +1 W and makes the model Monstrous Infantry so that he can join a unit of Crypt Horrors or Vargheists (if he takes the Fly option). This would make the Strigoi play differently thn the rest I think, or at least the option would be there.
      I've suggested Gashnag be made a lvl 3 wizard and have Multiple Wound (D3) special rule to make him a viable option with his own uses.
      I suggested a Ghoul Court unit with more elite ghouls that could be a fitting special Unit for them.
      Strigoi vampires could be given a claw type buff, which does not go with magic weapon use, to encourage players to run them without weapons. I have yet to see a Strigoi model with weapons so... Armour Piercing 1) might not cut it tbh. That was initially my suggestion to Mathias btw, but I think perhaps it might be too poor a buff on its own and really just encourage a magical weapon stacked on top...

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    6. The Lore of Beasts on the General option could perhaps be included in one of the Strigoi Bloodline powers or be its own unique power, instead of being a default type thing.

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    7. I agree with Rune about making the Strigoi Monstrous Infantry if they take the Massive Monstrosity power.

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  31. Black Coach in page 201 is pulled by Nightmares and in page 263 by skeletal steeds.

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    1. Just another discrepancy is the Strigoi Vampire Lord in the description section (Pg 169) has WS7, and in the army list section (Pg 253) he has WS6.

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  32. That is one hell of a good Vampire book. Love how you bought back the vampire blood lines. You also bough back the FROSTBLADE WTF OMG!!! When I bring new warhammer players into my club, at some stage I mention to them the sword that instant kills. The Frostblade.

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  33. Hi Mathius, I can't seem to find a cost for the Blood Keep Banner. I might have missed it somewhere, but it isn't in the unit description or the army list choice for Blood Knights.

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    1. My bad, I will add it in through an update soon!

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  34. I've played a little game with the Von Carstein militia and I think they minimum size should be 10. If you want to use an archer or crossbow unit is very difficult to position it.

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    1. no, make a ranged varient and a melee variant!

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    2. Yes please change the unit sizes so my von Carstein army from that edition is legal again, had 15 free company, 10 archers 10 crossbowmen, (i’ll Accept the 5 hunters and the allied DOW cannon might have to be houseruled)

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  35. Checking the Storm of Chaos Sylvania Army list I can add:

    - One unit of Grave Guard could upgrade to Drakenhof Guard and has access to Plate Armor.
    - Sylvanian Levy could be equipped with Shield, Light Armour and/or halberd(Empire Miniatures can be used). It's unit size start with 10.
    - The have a Von Carstein magic banner "The Banner of Drakenhoff"(I think that's the name, my book is in Spanish): The Unit has Magic Resistance(2) and can double the number of Wolves summoned by the Invocation of Nehek(in this case combined with the Summon Creatures of the Night trait).

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  36. a question: a living unit in the army could march without a nearby vampire or necromancer?
    Or they are subject to Undead special rule regarding march?

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  37. They can march. Vampire units can also march. :-)

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  38. Was wondering will you include the lore of undeath from the Magash book into the magic book that you are doing? Or why you didn't add it to the Vamps book?

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    1. The Lore of Undeath in the End Times book seemed to be tailor made for GW to just sell more units more than anything else... They didn't make much sense either. It is bad enough that you can always summon zombies and skeletons out of thin air so to speak, but then every other sort of undead unit as well? Iwas not GW's best work in my opinion and Nagash isn't really more a VC character than he is a TK one as such either.

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