The Army of Sylvania
"I actually have Vampires in my army for once! I'm not playing Necromancer Counts anymore! No more mini-games of 'Hide the Necro'! Hurray! I swear, this is the best thing since pre-chilled bottled blood." - Lefred von Carstein
"This is b******s. It'll never work. All VC armies should have at least 3 Necromancers in there. Preferably a Master Necromancer to lead too. Maybe switch one lower level Necro out for a Wraith. Vampires are purely optional. A magic-heavy VC army is competitive. Fluff? What's that, is it the stuff you put inside bunny rabbits?" - The Great Necromancer, Nagash
""UUURRRGGGHHHH..." - Captain Heinrich of the Drakenhof Home Guard, 1st Levy Division, 56th Contingent, 3rd Patrol
"AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!" - Khorne
"INFEDEL" - Luthor Huss
"Yet more perfidy from the forces of unending Darkness eternally ranged against us. But we are the children of Aenarion, the proudest of beings to walk this world. Against the tides of Undeath and the unstoppable Bound Spell (Power Level 4) Grave Markers we stand firm. We are the Asur, and for as long as there is light we shall shine." - Prince Tyrion, Defenders of Ulthuan, displaying an amazing knowledge of game mechanics.
"Yeah, yeah, right, whatever." - Teclis
"... Can we just get on with the Tactica already?" - Everyone else
***
*Overview*
The Army of Sylvania plays very, very differently from the normal list. That said, it performs even worse than the normal list at sub-2k point values, except for 500 and 750pt games. Imagine an inverted umbrella curve, that keeps increasing past the 2k mark. That would approximately represent the effectiveness of the Sylvanians.
At 500 and 750, unless you have certain house rules in place to hose down the Sylvanians, the army is absolutely relentless, even better than Tomb Kings. It's quite clear that many of the SoC lists were never meant to be played at sub-2000 (Sea Patrol, anyone?), and Sylvania is one of them. At 1000, it's a pretty balanced game.
At 1500, I'd rather play my Lahmians. Seriously. It's that bad.
2000 and above is what Sylvanians like.
*Magic*
Offensive - You trade in variety and the potential for overwhelming power (if you go magic heavy), for reliability and a tough magic-user that doesn't die as easily as a bloody Necromancer. At lower point values, your magic phase frankly sucks, but you have a General tougher than a bloody Necromancer.
There's no need for a tutorial on how to use a Lvl 3 caster, I'm sure. Hope for a good roll (very hard not to get with Necromancy, to be perfectly honest), and hope your 5 dice (in 2000) do well. Spells that grab people's attention: Vanhel's Danse, Curse of Years, Hellish Vigour. Sometimes, a Gaze can be very threatening, especially against low-Toughness armies. Very seldom Invocation is a cause for worry, but it happens. The one spell no one gives a Sigmar about: Hand of "I'm going to kill you on a 3+".
One good thing is, people usually let your markers go off, unless they're Dorfs or Korn. Dispelling the Markers turn after turn gets old after a while, plus the fact that they simply don't have the dice to do it all the time. More on that below.
Grave Markers
Your magic phase becomes very predictable, but basically relentless. The Grave Markers really come into their own in the late-game stages, when the opponent's spellcasters are mostly gone, along with them his dispelling power - that is, if you're not getting your ass handed to you! They can claim table quarters, replace depleted units, create shooters to mop up stray enemy units, heal wounded models... but within a certain range only.
The commonly accepted method of deploying grave markers is in an equilateral triangle, with the sides being 6" each, and pointing towards your opponent's half. There are two basic ways to go about using the markers.
Offensively, you try to get them as far into your opponent's half of the table as possible. Keeping in mind the restrictions, 2 are placed somewhat behind the halfway line. One marker you place as close to the enemy deployment zone as you want. The idea behind this is for it to actually scatter into his deployment zone, or thereabouts. On the first turn, you could be march-blocking him. Additionally, you could be shooting at him with Crossbow Militia. Also, you could be screening off some of his artillery for at least a few turns.
The defensive use of the markers is one I tend to favour. In your mind, mark off an area of the battlefield you want the opponent to be tarpitted in. Place the Markers in the triangle pattern, not going more than 3/4 of the way across the table. Pray it doesn't scatter too insanely. Place your Militia and Levy blocks In such a position that within 1 or 2 turns, you can be in a position to take advantage of all 3 Markers - or failing that, 2. The Markers will continually refuel your infantry blocks, allowing your hammer units (you've got those, right?) to turn around and do their job.
This is usually the center. Occasionally, you want to hold down an entire flank. In which case, the markers are placed on the flank - always in the triangle, it doesn't take much to see that this is the optimum pattern - and constantly generate some of the best tarpit units in the entire game.
If you get a Marker able to summon on to a hill, this is usually a very good thing. Not only can you raise Crossbows and have them able to see pretty much everything, any units you raise on the hill get that +1 CR for higher ground. You probably want to take advantage of that Marker, so you may find your infantry units marching up that hill to be in range. This results in the beneficial side-effect of them having that +1 CR. Of course, it's not a formula for surefire success - experienced players can immediately think of 1001 reasons why NOT to go onto the hill in question. But it's situational.
You will immediately notice that the final position of the Markers shapes your game to a very large extent. That is, if you're planning to make them a part of your game plan - which should be the case! Your opponent, therefore, may very well deploy reactively to the Markers. This can be a bad thing. But here's what you have going for you: there's very little he can actually do to exploit the predictable nature of your formation. Nothing he does can take away the fact that your tarpits are tarpits, and that your Militia and Levy, as long as they stay in range, are not going to be destroyed anytime soon. Work with this.
The thing that can put you at a severe disadvantage even before deployment is bad scattering. If your markers scatter badly, it can scupper your plans before you even place your first model on the table. When that happens, it's an Act of God (or The Gods, as the case might be), and there's nothing for it but to shrug and play on. Take advantage of what markers you have, and try to use the disadvantageously placed ones as best as you can.
You should NOT be complaining about Markers scattering off the table. If you place them less than 12" away from a table edge, you deserve what's coming to you. Nope, no excuses. Not even if you say "But you said to hold down a flank!"
Do not forget the other uses of From Death Awakened. Restore Wounds to important multi-wound units like Spirit Hosts and the Coaches. Heal wounded characters, sometimes to deny the opponent VP :) Your General is going to cost a lot. If he's wounded, keeping him above 1 wound can mean a difference in the margin of victory/defeat.
It has been mentioned that people will usually let the Markers slide. Well, at low point values... no. They will let it slide if it's not important, but you have no other spells to threaten them with. Not even a fish to wave in their general direction. (Please don't tell me you're going to take the Rod of Flaming Death on a Thrall.)
With a Lord around... things change. Suddenly there's other more dangerous stuff to look out for. Is he holding the Staff of Damnation (for some strange and weird un-Carstein reason)? Is he holding the Book of Arkhan (which is so much of a staple that people don't even bother justifying it)? Does he have Vanhel's? Curse? Suddenly there're lots better things to dispel than the piddly Markers.
New units will still get stopped, if the opponent sees that they may pose a significant threat, e.g. A unit of Crossbows to be raised in front of a lone spellcaster, or a unit of charge-diverters in front of Frenzied troops, or even in frnt of non-Frenzy troops, or march-blockers for a unit of Fast Cav he really wants to move fast that turn. Expect those to be stopped. It is a pleasant surprise if he fails to dispel 4 on 2 dice, but nothing more. If he devotes 2 dice to have an almost sure chance of dispelling one Marker, he usually deserves to do it. There's always the off-chance that you'll succeed, and gain an advantage. It's worth it.
I tend to disbelieve in the method of "stifling" a Grave Marker by arranging skirmishers all around it, such that there's no legal place to raise new units (1" away from enemy is the rule). More trouble than it's worth. If your opponent is actually bothering to do it, it's worth a chuckle.
Defence - Let's get this out of the way. Your magic defence is pathetic. You will NOT survive against someone who is experienced at using the game-winning spells from the game-winning lores. Or even a magic-heavy army who's using a decent lore.
Game-winning lores... those would be: Slaanesh, Necromancy, and the Big Waagh. Heavens can be irritating, but it is survivable. Barely.
The rest, you can weather. With 4 dispel dice... just dispel whatever you need to. Magic Resistance helps sometimes (see later). Get into combat quickly, and win there. Minimize the impact magic will have on you. Try, anyway.
Mage-hunting becomes a very important aspect of your magic-defence game. Do it the normal way: Wolves, Bats, Wolf-Form Thrall. Summon Wolves/Bats can be very useful in this aspect - my treatment of the Summonfest army comes later.
Here's a list of most of the Lores, and a run-down of what spells (I think) will threaten you.
Necromancy - My utmost sympathy if you're playing a VC opponent. Boredom aside, stop Vanhel's at all costs, obviously. Stop Invocation if you know you can crush the unit next turn, provided it isn't bumped up. Hellish Vigour can be deadly. Stop it if you can.
Dark - Dominion is the one spell you can never, ever allow to go off. A well-placed Dominion that succeeds can kill the rest of the game for you. This follows the general rule than Movement-related spells are the game-winners. The rest... discretion.
Death - Nothing here for VC to fear.
Shadow - Kill Unseen Lurker if it comes out. Also kill Steed of Shadows, which is usually why people take Shadow in the first place. If used to propel an S7 unit into a Black Coach... kill it. Otherwise, the rest is nothing.
Beasts - Hmm... nothing that is absolutely vital to stop... but Oxen Stands can be irritating, so if you don't want a certain unit rallied kill it. Eagle's Cry AFAIK does affect Undead (I don't understand why either), so if it's inconvenient for you, kill it. Treat it like a scaled-down Titillating Delusions. The -1Mv can be quite foul.
Heavens - Even with the revision it's a damnably irritating lore. You survive it only because of possible MR on your units (Drakenhof Banner and Earthbind), but otherwise, your ethereals are dead. Single models on their own are dead. That makes Banshees doubly dead. Second Sign is as irritating as ever. And don't even get me started on Casandora. Just... run forwards full tilt and stomp the buggers.
Life - Life is absolutely devastating. Marsh Mistress must be killed. A tactical Marsh Mistress is a huge inconvenience. Try to stop the most potentially damaging spells. You have no choice but to let the rest through.
Light - I used to look down on Light until I had it used against me recently. It's a support lore, yes, but very useful spells there. Blinding Light, kill, for obvious reasons. It's not as direct as Delusions or Eagle's Cry or Vanhel's, but half-movement at the wrong time can spell doom, as your support unit supposed to come to the rescue and turn the tide suddenly finds it can't get there. Guardian Light, you should really try to kill. Negates the most important advantage any Undead army has. On the flip side, it removes flee as a charge reaction, so you could use it to your advantage...
Metal - No comments on this one. Contributions welcome. I've not played against Alchemists.
Fire - Not really a frightening lore. Sure, you kill some of my wolves. You're not going to kill every single one of them. And if you kill my Militia and Levy, oh yeah, I'm really going to cry. Ignore magic missiles, unless targetted at vital stuff. Kill the potentially crazy things like Conflagration. If Flaming Sword is used specifically to turn the mage into a chariot-hunter (like with Chaos Sorcerers), kill it. Wall of Fire, I've never seen it work, but on paper it looks like it could be trouble.
High - High Magic is so good I don't even know where to start. High Elves and Slann armies tend to like ending off their magic phases with Drain Magic. You... you have just the one caster. No words can describe how horrendous this situation is. The Drakenhof Banner is an expensive counter to this, and Earthbind is slightly unreliable. Watch out for Flames - they can wipe you clean if you're not careful. Vaul's isn't as deadly as it could be, owing to the preponderance of Bloodline Powers in comparison to actual magical items. It's Drain Magic and Fortune is Fickle that totally whip your Vampire Lord upside down.
Nurgle - I've never played against this, but Glorious Afflictions looks exactly like what I usually call nasty. Movement-affecting spells should be killed. And just because I play Vampires, Glistening Scabs does nothing for my sense of security. Contributions and comments welcome.
Slaanesh - You're quite possibly screwed. The only consolation you have is that you're immune to Enrapturing Spasms. Otherwise, watch disconsolately as your units are Titillated off to Slaanesh-knows-where. Watch as your Militia become Frenzied by Luxurious Torment (how does that work???), and are nose-led to Slaanesh-knows-where. Watch as your Vampires start hacking away at their Militia/Levy or Wights while under Delectable Torture. Watch as that unit of Marauders suddenly becomes Unbreakable and refuse to flee. (On a side note, as a Slaanesh player, he's probably made most of his army Marked, meaning your greatest advantage is cancelled out, and meaning a marked - pun intended - paucity of targets for any Banshees you happen to have brought along.)
Tzeentch - Opinion seems divided on this. It's a severely violent lore, but doesn't seem to have the usual scary Movement-affecting spells. People online deride it, but my gaming group seems to think it's extremely powerful. I don't know what to stop for this lore, so comments welcome.
Incantations - Stop the Urgency, of course. Stop the Smiting if it's cast on a King with Destroyer, or Prince with Flail. Stop Summoning if you were going to destroy that unit this turn, and you don't want it getting healed/bumped up. Ignore Vengeance. I suppose the famed Casket of Souls comes under this category... well, ignore it, I say. Either get Aura of 18" on your Vampire and let the spell go off on Ld 10 (effectively Ld 8), or get Earthbind or the Drakenhof Banner to help against the Casket.
Little Waagh - Fists of Gork can trim a unit of Grave Guard down to size! Fortunately for me, I usually put the Drakenhof Banner with them... Ere We Go is pretty deadly in hand to hand, but if they're hacking at a huge tarpit you can leave it alone. The killer spell is Hand of Gork. Kill that one.
Big Waagh - I hate this lore. Every single spell is irritating. Even the Gork'll Fix It can be really irritating. Advice on how to handle this lore is appreciated.
*Characters*
As I said, Vampires are lots tougher than Necromancers. You don't have to hide your vampires. You have solid close combat, which you trade in your normal magic phase for, as described above.
Your Lord... should be a Lord. A Sylvanian List is perhaps the only reason why you should have a Vampire Lord in 2k instead of a Count. The extra dispel die is extremely vital, as well as the extra casting power. And he fights very, very well, as long as you don't roll like I do. And how many Thralls do you need anyway?
A Wight Lord can be a solid addition to your army - but then, that's true for every single VC army. Mounted, barding, Sword of Killing Blow, Enchanted Shield/Gem of Blood (my personal choice is the Shield). With Drakenhof Templar, with the Banner of the Barrows. *shivers with pleasure*
Wraith with Talon of Death, mounted on nightmare. Pretty standard setup, as good as ever. Try a BSB for added impact, but not necessary.
Thralls can be kitted up either as the standard Werewolf setup, or as close combat CR generators for your infantry. The former (for anyone not familiar with this setup) is Great Weapon, Wolf Form, Flayed Hauberk. The latter is usually just Great Weapon, heavy armour, and your choice of Bloodline Powers. Different purposes, it's good to have both archetypes available in one army. Provides options.
*Bloodline Powers*
You can go heavy on Summon Wolves, like I currently do. So far I like this variant. This warrants its own section, a Wolf-Heavy Drakenhof Banner army. More on this later. My treatment of Wolf Lord comes under here.
Earthbind is useful for your core Skeletons Blocks, if your Thrall has nothing else to take. As mentioned above, Earthbind forms part of your (pathetic) magic defence battery.
The usefulness of Spectral Attendants increases with larger point-value games, and/or larger numbers of spellcasters (these two usually go hand-in-hand). I tried it in 2k before. Didn't work out very well. -1 is not exactly awesome... you should thank whichever gods are watching over you if in the course of a game, it actually stops important spells for you. It's hardly ever going to.
Wolf Form is even more vital for a Thrall, as mentioned above. It is an extremely important mage-hunting tool. Just don't roll like I do. Statistically it works well... really!
I never think Summon Bats is good to take, Drakenhof Banner or no. It's far too expensive for what it does. It does work for some people.
*Core*
Militia and Levy are very good things about the Sylvanian list. What you have with the Militia is options. They are cheaper than the standard Skeletons for the same equipment setup, and better, the Markers raise Militia, not normal skeletons. You will usually want to use hand weapons, but you essentially get spears or halberds for free! Sometimes you DO want those halberds.
Levy are very, very good for what they do. They're hardly game-winning, but all the same, they're phenomenal. Although it's true, they now cost 8pts, which detracts from their tarpitting ability. But they're still 20% cheaper than skeletons armed similarly, that means, 20% more numbers. If 20 Militia can hold a block of 20 Dwarven warriors for 4 turns (which they did), 20 Levy can do the same, for cheaper!
But I don't take Levy. Reason number 1 is that I don't have Zombie models, and I don't like proxying. Reason number 2 is that I always insist on a full command group, which Zombies of all descriptions are not privy to. A unit champion, to me, is all the reason I need to field Militia as my core blocks instead of Levy.
Wolves are good as always.
Bats as Core can only be good (although take note they don't count towards minimum required).
2 Bat swarms? Well... depends on the rest of your army. Bear in mind the Sylvanians are more "tar-pitty" than some other VC variants. I find they're already "tar-pitty" enough. You don't need 2 more tarpits that're as fragile as Bat Swarms are. 0-2 is purely for fluff, IMHO, and doesn't really translate to a wonderful new army list variant based on having 2 flying swarms. Take them if the rest of your army is fast and hitty. Or if you like the models. Whatever.
Now... the bad part... and it's a really bad part... No Ghouls!
No Ghouls!
The Sylvanians have, most illogically and implausibly (I mean, just read the fluff bit for Ghouls in the army book), lost a vital part of almost any VC army. The only unit in the ENTIRE book that is allowed to flee as a charge reaction.
As you play more games, you will realize just how useful this ability can be. The Sylvanians have lost a skirmisher unit. They have lost a bait unit that rallies on Ld10 most of the time. They have lost a tough-as-nails, 2-poison-attacks-each fear-causing unit. It bites, really.
So now you're reduced to using Wolves as your bait units. They become sacrificial bait, whereas before, you at least had a chance to save your ghouls, and even if you didn't, they were dirt-cheap.
*Special*
Coaches
The first thing you might think of when you think of Special choices for the Sylvanian List is - "Dual Coaches!!!"
I would forgive you for that. It was indeed the first thing that caught my attention. I have played about 7 or 8 games with Dual Coaches. They have not failed me, surprisingly.
And I've been playing Empire with Cannons. Dwarves with Cannons, S7 Bolt-throwers, TK with Screaming Skull (guessing was spot-on), Lizardmen with the obligatory Kroxies and even the Nike Saurus, and Chaos with great-weapon-toting Exalted Champion on Daemonic Steed.
They do die, make no mistake about it. Auto-destroy is auto-destroy. It's difficult enough to protect one Coach and keep it away from chariot-killers. Imagine the difficulty with 2.
But if one dies - and it doesn't always die to S7! - the other does its job. And often, both survive, and both do their jobs. As with normal Black Coaches, choose their targets properly. Glut them on Wounds first, against low-T, low armour-save targets, if available. Never charge them alone if you can help it, unless against small units. Try to combine with infantry blocks, Spirit Hosts, or Templars.
Alternatively, use them defensively. Keep them back. This can also form part of your Coach-protection plan, provided he doesn't have functioning cannons or other artillery. Charge them in to support your infantry blocks after your opponent has stuck himself in there.
Terror plays a large part of your Coach-protection. An Undivided Exalted Champion has failed to charge my Coach before, on account of having failed Fear -twice! I was careless, and presented my Coach as a viable target. Terror allowed me to rectify my mistake and move my Coach out of harm's way. But don't rely on it.
Toughness 6 means your Coaches will be surviving lots, and lots of stuff. Keep them away from s7, and there's very little else that can actually get you. Almost everything's wounding you on 6's. As long as they're supported, they should be fine.
That said, you could do other things with the points. Cheaper Coaches is a simply great deal - to my mind, 175pts should be the original cost of the Large Target :rolleyes: Coach - but 350pts is, well, a lot. I take it because of fluff. You should be aware, if you intend to use the Dual Coaches gimmick (because frankly, that's what it is), that Black Coaches are considered very weak choices for tournament armies, and almost never appear in major tournaments. Be aware of the risks and dangers, and the measures you'll have to take.
***
Spirit Hosts are good as always. No reason not to take them. The standard 2-3 bases (I take 3) will be fine. No change from in a normal list. Do what you always do with them.
Drakenhof Guard - ah now. I run a unit of normal Grave Guard. The extra armour save in close combat is what does it for me. That and the fact that for the same points cost, I have a smaller unit if I take Drakenhof Guard. Numbers mean a lot, especially if you face shooting/magic heavy opponents. Here is where the Drakenhof Banner comes in handy, but that should really be taken only for the Summonfest variant.
That said, it's as fluffy as hell, and a pretty interesting conversion opportunity. If you can convert some nice Drakenhof Guard... go for it! The s6 attacks make it very worthwhile. Wights are still Wights. Most enemy units will still bounce off a unit of Wights with a Vampire in it as a force multiplier. Heck, the unit itself doesn't need a force multiplier.
Expect savvy opponents to totally avoid the Grave/Drakenhof Guard though, whichever option you choose to go with. Most people won't throw eggs against a rock, will they?
*Rare*
The thing about the Black Knights - or rather, the Drakenhof Templar - now is that they are now 0-1 Rare. To me it's not a big problem, I was never a big fan of the Knights in the first place, but to others, it is.
I'll come straight out, and say that I like the Templar. I wasn't a big fan of them, but I liked them. Just not enough to field more than 1 unit. Since they are pretty mcuh unchanged from the normal army book except for this one aspect, it's the only thing I'll deal with.
I do not field the Templar in 2k. They do make an appearance in 2.5k and above, and in 3k I accompany them with a standard Wight Lord. I don't use more than 5, though. I use them as a small flanking unit, or possibly to conduct combined charges with one of the Coaches. Knights + Coach is awesome no matter what list you play.
When all is said and done, if you regularly play with more than 1 unit of Knights, then having only 1 unit of Templar might be a turn-off for you. If not, it's no big deal.
Banshees are good as always.
***
Work in progress...
