This week's report features the first Warhammer Fantasy battle report that I have featured on the blog. My Vampire Counts army were awoken from their slumber of over 18 months to face their ancient enemy, the Empire, commanded by David.
I was looking forward to this game, as I had not played fantasy in a long time and was keen to get back into the universe. We were playing a standard 2000pts game of 8th edition at the Dundee Wargames Club.
Since the blog and my battle reports are primarily focussed on 40k, I'm not too sure how much of an overlap there is between 40k and fantasy players these days. Throughout the report, I will try and explain some of the aspects of fantasy for those unfamiliar with it. Apologies to anyone who is well aware of the rules of fantasy (probably much more so than I am), you can skip the explanations and get on with the action.
Since the blog and my battle reports are primarily focussed on 40k, I'm not too sure how much of an overlap there is between 40k and fantasy players these days. Throughout the report, I will try and explain some of the aspects of fantasy for those unfamiliar with it. Apologies to anyone who is well aware of the rules of fantasy (probably much more so than I am), you can skip the explanations and get on with the action.
My army consisted of:
Vampire Lord- Armour of Destiny, Ogre Blade, Quickblood, Red Fury, Shield, Level 3 wizard. (with Z)
Necromancer- Master of the Dead, Level 2 wizard, Dispel Scroll (with SW1)
Necromancer- Level 2 wizard, Book of Arkhan (with SW2)
25 Skeleton warriors- Spears, Shields, Full Command (SW1)
25 Skeleton warriors- Hand Weapons, Shields, Full Command (SW2)
40 Zombies- Standard Bearer (Z)
5 Dire Wolves (DW1)
5 Dire Wolves (DW2)
10 Black Knights- Heavy Armour, Shield, Barding, Lances, Full Command (BK)
3 Crypt Horrors (CH)
3 Spirit Host (SH)
Corpse Cart- Unholy Lodestone (CC)
Terrorgheist (T)
First up, my army is led by a Vampire Lord. This is a very tough combat character, as well as being a magic user, not very common in fantasy armies. He is armed with a shield and the Armour of Destiny, giving him a 4+ armour save and 4+ ward save. What is different in fantasy is that a ward save is an invulnerable save that can be taken in addition to an armour save, adding to his durability. He is also armed with an Ogre Blade, giving him +2S. He also has the vampiric upgrades of Quickblood and Red Fury, allowing him to always strike first in combat and get additional attacks for every wound he makes in combat. I also upgraded him to a level 3 wizard. He is a very tough character who provides valuable buffs to a Vampire Counts army.
I like a lot of magic in my army, it is pretty much essential in an Undead army as it provides serious bonuses to them. I took two level 2 Necromancers. One has the master of the dead upgrade, allowing you to raise skeleton units above their starting level and a dispel scroll, allowing you to counter your opponent's magic phase. The second Necromancer took the Book of Arkhan, a magic item that allows me to cast Vanhel's Danse Macabre (I will come to this below).
