fellow vampires i've been plying the vamp.counts for ayear.recently i tried the army of sylvania in a 2k game vs.dwarfs i had a minor victory,which could have been a major one if i hadn't lost 16 grave guards/1 black coach(which charged the rear of some sturdy ironbreakers with adwarf lord and won me 400pts)and 5 black knights and 2 wounds of my lord.my army contained of vampire lord 2nd weapon/lv.3wiz/crown of the damned/barded nightmare/aura of dark majesty/spell familiar/book of arkhan)

vamp.thrall greatweapon/flayed hauberk/wolf form
vamp.thrall barded nightmare/great weapon/h.arm/obsidian amulet

12 wolves scouts/doom wolf
16 grave guard full command/halberds/shields/banner of barrows
20 militia full com/shield/halberds
4 fell bats
1 black coach
10 black knights full com/barding/banner of barrows
.

i am waiting to hear your precious comments

a lot of your points seem to be tied up in characters cos your army looks pretty small for vampire counts. I usually field 3-4 regiments, but you seem to be going for cavalry. it isnt bad and I dont really have a grip on the sylvanian list just yet.

also I wouldnt choose manfred for the simple reason that he is a special character and you cant use the always, in that sense an ordinary lord is better IMO.

also that grave guard units looks kinda small and the wolves on the other hand kinda big. I would split that into two units of 6 instead, gives the enemy more targets. oh and can you have a second hand weapon when you are on a steed? just curious :)

but yes, that big cavalry unit of yours seem to be an "all eggs in one basket" kind of unit. it´s good but as you might have noticed already, the opponent fears it like the plague and for a good reason so that unit will attract a lot of attention.

well, I belive that is all from me :) not a bad list tho.

It's illegal for one thing. The Banner of the Barrows cannot be taken twice.

Also, a 2nd hand weapon can be used only when on foot. Since the most powerful unit in the game is obviously the single-wound horse, which can never, ever truly die, you will not be on foot the whole game. You can take the 2nd hand weapon, but it can never be actually used.

A number of things I see that I don't recommend, but in the end just do whatever works for you.

1. Obsidian Amulet on the mounted Thrall. Why? Not needed. You could give him loads better stuff.

2. Wolves. 2 units of 6 beats 1 unit of 12 anytime in this sort of list. You need the extra number of support units to make sure your knights go where you want them to. 1 unit of 12, especially scouting, is clunky. It's hard enough to fit 5 Scouting wolves on the table - 12 are never going to be able to Scout.

3. Grave Guard halberds. Just go with the shields and forget about everything else. Don't waste your points.

4. Grave Guard size. 16 is a terrible number for almost any infantry. Take either 10, 12 or 20, or more than 20 if you feel a little crazy, but never 16. Encourages small-arms shooting against the unit, since knocking off just 1 of the buggers will reduce the effectiveness of the unit by A LOT. If you have 20, suddenly there's much better things to shoot at. If you have 10, you could lose the rear rank and the unit would still perform well as a flanker. 16 just loses you everything, and makes you pay points for it.

Hope this helps.

I thought you could only take one arcane item: Spell familiar and BoA is two.

well thanks for the comments.i wiil agree with some things such as 2 units of 6 wolves/and bigger grave guard unit.iwon't agree with the comment of halberd-wielding wights cause toughness 4 dwarves are not killed easily.a couple of questions.why is it illegal to take banner of barrows in 2 units?should i include a unit of 20 sylvanian levy or drop it in order to have sthg to raise later.why i cannot use manffred always.please sent your lists for 2k sylvanian and blood dragon.
MY MISTAKE .I HAD NOT BOUGHT OBSIDIAN AMULET BUT THE CURSED BOOK cause -1 to hit would be use full against ws4 dwarves with great weapons. :(

You can't take the Banner of the Barrows twice for the same reason you can't take any magic item twice- they're exceedingly rare, and therefore only one of each type is allowed in an army. There are a few exceptions, like power stones and dispell scrolls, but unless it is stated in the item description, you can never take two of the same item. It's in the Big rulebook.

well that explains all isn't it .thanks anyway rogue gladiator.and what of the special characters or the lists? <_<

*shrug* Vampire counts aren't really my cup of proverbial tea, but I know the basics about them are you need fairly large blocks of them for the sake of outnumbering (and therefore gettingthe fear bonuses), and to generate the combat resolution you need to break the opponents armies. I know even less about the Sylvania, but, I don't think your regiment sizes are sufficent to stand up to a regular rank and file unit of an opposing army. But then, as Tyrion said, your list has a lot more cavalry than rank and file units. So here's what I would suggest. I'm an elf player, so I may not offer the absolute best information:

1) Break the wolves into two units. They're basically fast cavalry, aren't they? You should never field large block of fast cavalry, with exception to a very few circumstances. Two units of six will be much more of a threat than one unit of 12, as you will be able to cause more havoc to the opposing army through march blocks and threatening more positions, as well as the fact that a unit of 12 cavalry is really hard to get around the board sometimes (too big)

2) I don't know the point costs of vampires, but for some reason your list just looks small for a 2000 point army. If you haven't maxed out your points yet, I would bump the militia to somewhere around 25, as they will last longer, and yield better combat resolution and the likes. I would also try to get the grave guard up to at least 20.

3) I just feel iffy about a group of 10 cavalry, but again, I don't know vampire counts very well, so maybe that's a traditional block size for them. It's going to be a magnet for alot of fire and charges, but maybe that's good- keeps it off the rest of your army.

as for your question about Mannfred, it's my general rule to avoid fielding special characters- most people frown on them, and you can make better lords, in my opinion.

If there was sarcasm in that reply to rogue-gladiator, it's not appropriate. He's kindly addressed at least one of your issues. He, like everyone else here, is not obliged to answer all your questions. Everyone on this forum, you included, may help one another voluntarily. If questions aren't answered, ask nicely again. If it still isn't answered, and you haven't been rude or anything, consider the possibilities that

1. The people who know are offline.

2. Nobody knows the answer.

Good catch on the doubled Arcane Items, blood dragon. Absolutely right: Spell Familiar and Book of Arkhan may not be taken together on the same character.

I'll answer the other questions.

Special characters: Play them if no one else in your group minds. They are disallowed in most tournaments. Nothing in the rulebooks will tell you what to do with Special Characters: tournament rules are purely up to the organizers, who may ban the use of Empire Swordsmen if they feel like it. Play SCs in friendly games if your opponents don't mind: it's as simple as this.

Lists: if you search this forum a few months back, you'll find a few sample lists that've been commented on. Otherwise, you could continue doing what you're doing already: post a list, and let people comment. Don't expect people to cough up sample lists for you.

i'm sorry if i was misunderstood.there was not sarcasm in my reply to rogue gladiator.i appreciate the opinion of everybody in this site.as for my demands maybe i am a bit hasty because we are online with 12 hours difference.so.... sorry if i caused you any :rolleyes: problem.what about abhorash's profile?