Warhammer: Vampire Counts 1.72 out now!

Just a small update here, mostly fixing some bugs and minor balance changes. There are a few larger ones regarding some core units, so let's go through those in detail.

Glooms have been removed, instead Spirit Hosts have been made into Core Units. The book just had too many similar Ethereal units, and with Wraithwisps already being a Special Unit, the iconic Spirit Hosts just did not stand out enough by comparison. Likewise, it was not much of a point in having both Glooms and Spirit Hosts in the Core section either, so I decided to cut the former - Glooms can be proxied as Spirit Hosts anyway.

Another change is that of the Fell Bats, which are no longer undead. The lore for the Fell Bats has been really inconsistent in this regard, with them sometimes being described as being a living species of giant bat that must be lured with food, sometimes being clearly undead, and sometimes even "part alive and part undead", which really feels like the authors just gave up on trying to make it work. Instead, I've chosen to go the lore that describes them as alive, which both makes them on par with the Bat Swarms, explains their high-ish stats and gives them a different role to the Dire Wolves now that they can march and flee.

Lastly, I've had a closer look at the Dire Wolves and noticed both how inconsistent and frankly overpowered they were for their points. For starters, I've removed Slavering Charge, which is a rule that no other wolves in the game have. Secondly, I've lowered their WS/I to 2 like other undead - there's frankly no logical reason why undead wolves somehow retain the same WS/I while undead humans and horses don't. This puts them on par with Skeleton Horsemen for their cost - the old version gave Dire Wolves +1 M, WS, I and Mighty Blow, whereas the benefits of the Horsemen were +1A, 6+ save, half a fast cavalry rule and US2 while costing 2 points more. In short; with the old profile, Dire Wolves should have costed 8-9 pts, not 6.

The rest of the changes are mostly related to Vampiric Powers and Magic Items, with a few new additions for the latter.

Next up: Dogs of War

 

Patch Notes:

• The Red Thirst: On a 5+, the Vampire recovers a single Wound, up to their starting value (excluding additional Wounds from mounts).
• A Death Shriek is a special attack that can be used against a single unit in the Shooting phase, even if the model has marched, charged, or the target is engaged in close combat.
• Master of the Dead works on Skeleton Archers.
• Master of the Black Arts costs 15 pts.
• Beguile: At the beginning of the Close Combat round, all units in base contact with the model must take a Leadership test with a -3 modifier. If the test is failed, the Vampire can only be Hit on 6's this turn.
• New Magic Items: Stave Of Suffering, Mirror Of Echoing Failures, Brazier Of Nagashizzar, Talisman Of The Nadir
• Reaper of Sorrows: All attacks with this weapon automatically Wound with no saves allowed. Costs 15 pts.
• Armour of Bone: This armour may be taken by Necromancers despite them normally not being allowed to take armour.
• Cloak of the Waxing Moon: The wearer of this item can only be Hit on To Hit rolls of natural 6's. Costs 15 pts.
• Blasphemous Tome is an Arcane Item, not an upgrade for the Mortis Engine. The bearer of this item gains a +2 casting bonus when using the Lore of Necromancy. However, if they Miscast, they must roll on additional D6 on the Miscast table and discard the lowest result. Costs 30 pts.
• Blood River Chalice costs 15 pts.
• Liche Lords cause Terror, costs 290 pts. Mortis Engine costs 200 pts.
• Cairn Wraiths have Ignores Armour Saves. Chill Grasp causes D3 Wounds. Cost 60 pts.
• Removed Glooms.
• Dire Wolves have WS2, I2, do not have Slavering Charge.
• Fell Bats are not Undead.
• Spirit Hosts are Core Units.
• Black Coach does not have Chill Grasp.
• Evocation of Death: Immediately after the total number of power dice is determined in each player's turn, you may discard one dice from the magic pool from both players for each Black Coach on the battlefield.
• Scrying Pool is an Enchanted Item.
• Completely Enthralled: Every model in the enemy unit makes a single close combat attack, resolved against its own unit. Roll To Hit, To Wound and take saves as normal. The caster may choose which of the unit's weapons is used for these attacks. Parry or Dodge save does not apply, and neither do any special rules that only applies in the first round of close combat. Affected units may not otherwise shoot or attack this turn.
• If Lady Olynder is your Army General, Spirit Hosts are no longer Expendable.
• If Kurdoss Valentian is your Army General, you may take Wraithwisps as Core Units instead of Special Units.