Lords

Vlad von Carstein (YELLOW): Truthfully, Vlad is not that bad, especially if fielded
in the same unit as his undying love, Isabella. When together, both of them gain
Always Strike First and if one dies the other gets Hatred and Frenzy. But Vlads best
feature is his ability to not die! The Carstein Ring grants Vlad a 4+ ward save and if
he dies, he can return in a nearby unit on a D6 roll of 2+. With Blooddrinker allowing
Vlads The Hunger to restore a Wound on a 4+ instead of 6+, he becomes very
difficult to kill. Unfortunately, Vlad lacks synergy amongst his various powers and is
only a level 3 Wizard, so he isnt as competitive as he could be. But if Vlad were
built as a normal Vampire Lord, his sword and ring come in right under a 100 points,
which is about right. All things considered, with how survivable Vlad is, there are
some play styles that can take risks with him and make good use of his unique
features.
Mannfred von Carstein (GREEN): Mannfred is simply a beast when it comes to
magic. With Loremaster in both Death and Vampires, he provides everything you
need for spell support. Even better, with extra Wizards, you can easily get a second
copy of an essential spell. Two Soulblights or Raise Dead? Yes please! Although
Mannfred lacks defensive items, he has 5 Wounds, so keeping him alive in a Black
Knight or Skeleton bus is fairly easy. If you want more protection, you can back him
up with two mortis engines or an Obsidian Lodestone (on a character in the same
unit), though this is probably not necessary. The real trick with Mannfred is
effectively using his Sword of Unholy Power. Mannfred really shines when he is
killing rank and file and generating extra Power and Dispel dice. Mannfred is the
most powerful Wizard the Vampire Counts have and in the right hands he is (BLUE),
just be careful when you use him, because if he ends up in a combat where he cant
wound or gets wounded to easily, they will make short work of him.
Heinrich Kemmler (GREEN): With +1 to Dispel and Loremaster Vampires,
Heinrich is a great choice for a magic heavy army. Like Mannfred, you get extra
copies of Lore of Vampires spells if you bring extra Wizards. What makes Heinrich
distinct is his Cloak of Mist and Shadows, allowing him to either Fly or become
Ethereal until the start of his next turn. This allows for some powerful movement
tactics where Heinrich hops between units, ignores terrain and takes positions to
use his spells most effectively. Just dont get him caught in the middle of combat,
because even though he carries a sword that spawns Grave Gard and Skeletons
with ease, he lacks any kind of saves.
Vampire Lord (PURPLE): Vampire lords are feared by nearly every Warhammer
player, and rightfully so! Amazing stats, access to 100 points worth of magic items
AND vampiric powers, effective both on foot or mounted and they are Wizards too!
The vampire lord adds massive damage and casting potential to your army and the
options for building them are staggering. It would take an article in itself just to go
over all these options, but some of the key ideas are:
1) Use your Vampire Lords damage potential to his fullest. Red Fury,
Quickblood and a good Strength bonus weapon (like Ogre Blade) is the typical

combo. This is where the term blender lord comes from. Then there are
variations on those three pieces to gain flexibility, magical power or reinforce
your defenses but at the cost of damage output. Just changing the weapon
has tradeoffs. A great weapon frees up points, and gets past Banner of the
World Dragon but cancels out Always Strike First. A lance gives back points,
but loses its strength bonus on following rounds. Potion of Strength is good
for one turn only, but can be used with any weapon. All of these are viable
substitutions, but require being built around.
2) Give your Vampire Lord decent protection. Your Vampire Lord draws a
lot of threat. Sniper spells, sniper shooting, lord challenges, character
hunters, artillery, killing blow plus the occasional miscast. Defense against all
of these is a good ward save. Sure, you can mount and armor your lord to get
a 2+ armor save or put Seed of Rebirth and Dual Mortis Engines for a 4+
regeneration save, but nothing is as reliable as the 4+ from Talisman of
Preservation or Armour of Destiny. Of course, both a good armor and ward
save is even better.
3) Choose your magic capability. Vampire Lords can just tack on a level or
two and let a Master Necromancer handle the primary spellcasting or they
can be your level 4 Wizard and do double duty as both a combat and
spellcasting beast. When deciding how powerful of a spellcaster your Vampire
Lord is beyond his Wizard level (through selection of Arcane Items and
Vampiric Powers) be mindful you are trading off his damage potential for
spellcasting power. You take Master of the Black Arts and you lose Red Fury
and Quickblood or take a Black Periapt and lose everything but Talisman of
Preservation. There is always a tradeoff when determining your Vampire
Lords magic role.
4) Fine-tune him to your army. There are compromises to each of these
points, and it comes with fine-tuning your Vampire Lord to your army. His
selection of powers and items dont exist in a vacuum. Running a scream
heavy list? Aura of Dark Majesty is fairly valuable. Your local meta light on
character threats? Choose Dread Knight. Light on Immune to Psychology?
Choose Fear Incarnate. You want a mobile Vampire Lord that can wipe out
warmachines and surprise charge out of his unit? Take Flying Horror.
Honestly, the possibilities are extensive, just keep his primary role of damage
dealing and survivability in mind while customizing him.
Once built, you need to know how to use your Vampire Lord. Vampire Lords do best
in units that can be healed quickly, benefit from his march radius (since he is likely
your general) and have unit champions that can accept challenges on his behalf.
These units provide shelter for your Lord while benefiting from the Vampires
damage output. Skeletons are ideal for Vampire Lords on foot, with Crypt Ghouls
and Grave Guard also being decent choices. When mounted on a Hellsteed or
Barded Nightmare, Black Knights are the optimal choice since they heal with
Invocation easily. While it might be tempting to put your Vampire Lord in a unit of
Blood Knights or on an Abyssal Terror or Zombie Dragon, these are poor choices.
Your Vampire Lord becomes extremely vulnerable when mounted on a monster and
the Blood Knights dont really benefit from his presence enough (since they are
difficult to heal and can march on their own) for it to be worth putting him at risk.

Regardless, there are many tricks to keeping your Vampire Lord in an optimal
position where he avoids danger and is a nightmarish killing machine. Since our
units usually benefit from being charged (allowing you to heal in the next magic
phase), your vampire can usually use his movement or a well-timed Van Hels to get
into a superior position for his next spell or the upcoming combat. Being mindful of
enemy Wizards, their spells that threaten your Vampire Lord and his unit is
paramount to his survival. Know when you should engage to avoid a magic missile
or sniper attack, or when to stay back to avoid one of the dreaded nuke spells like
Dwellers, Purple Sun or Final Transmutation and send in a Wizard hunter instead.
Once in combat, his position is often best when he is killing rank and file. Let your
champion and other characters accept challenges, you dont need to waste your
Vampire Lords killing power. Heroic challenges are foolish and risky. Besides, the
sooner the enemy breaks, the sooner you run them down and kill the enemy
characters any ways. The same goes for running your Vampire Lord outside of a
unit. Be cautious, stay in flanks, avoid wizards and charge into fights the vampire
can easily win. Vampires are devious and cunning, and they dont live long by being
foolish. Your Vampire Lord is the single most valuable part of your army, so think like
a vampire and avoid putting them in unnecessary danger.
Strigoi Ghoul King (GREEN): Often overlooked, the Strigoi Ghoul King offers an
interesting alternative to the Vampire Lord. With Infinite Hatred, Poisonous Attacks
and Regeneration (5+), the Ghoul King can usually forgo Quickblood and the
standard magic items and instead focus on his offense capabilities. With Red Fury
and Potion of Strength to give him a boost, the Ghoul King deals out serious
damage. Add in a magic weapon (if you dont mind losing Poisonous Attacks) and
hes even more formidable. Fencers Blades gives him WS 10 for added protection,
Sword of Bloodshed gives him +3 Attacks to increase his onslaught even more and
out of all our lords, the Strigoi Ghoul King makes the best use of Skabscrath. A
Ghoul King with Skabscrath, Aura of Dark Majesty and Curse of the Revenant can
scream nearly as good as a Terrorgiest! Add in some Banshees and actual
Terrorgiests, and you have a very solid screamer army. You can go even further and
mount the Ghoul King on a Terrorgiest, giving you way too many screams to be
considered sane (or for opponents to want to play with you). Ghoul Kings also
synergize well with a Mortis Engine, minimizing the need for a ward save. Just put a
Dragonbane Gem on him in case he runs into flaming attacks. Because the Ghoul
King has Leadership 9, you can also sneak in a Level 4 Master Necromancer with
Lore of Death easily, giving Death magic support to his army and with Doom &
Darkness even more potent screams. Between the Ghoul King, Terrorgiests, Mortis
Engine and Lore of Death, there is a lot of interesting combinations. Adding in Crypt
Ghouls and Crypt Horrors as your primary foot troops, you have even stronger
themes and synergies.
Master Necromancer (BLUE): Master Necromancers are an effective way to add a
powerful Wizard to your army. They have access to two very strong lores (Death and
Vampires) and can carry 100 points of magic items, including an Arcane Item. Their
points are low enough, that in most armies you can also field a Vampire Lord. This
helps spread out the risk of losing both your General and level 4 Wizard. Your
choices for Arcane Items really depends on the degree of risk you want to expose

him too. Earthing Rod is an optimal choice to avoid being sucked into the void or
lose Wizard levels on a miscast. The Book of Ashur makes his overall casting and
dispelling more powerful. The Black Periapt offers a number of tricks for
manipulating your power and dispel pools during the magic phase. As for other
items, Talisman of Preservation is your best choice for protecting your Master
Necromancer, both from the enemy and your own miscasts. Whether he is magical
support to your Vampires or as a General on his own, a Master Necromancer is a
great addition in nearly any army. The only reason not to take him is if you choose
to run your Vampire Lord as your Level 4 Wizard. A word of caution, if you do field a
Master Necromancer without a Vampire Lord, you need to adapt your army and
strategies to play more defensive due to the lack of combat damage and lower
Leadership.