Warhammer Fantasy Battle Reporter Forum

Hey guys.

I've been fighting vampires a lot lately and I'm finding it really hard to bring down some of their tougher models, especially fighty-vampires and vargulfs. I charged a vargulf with 5 Dragon Princes and they lost combat, and 3 swordmasters barely even scratched the vamp general (he had a 1+ armour save).

Is their any effective way of dealing with these kinds of models other than taking a duel-y hero?

Swordmasters should cut through most guys so I am surprised you had issues there, for the Varghulf your Bolt-Throwers will work wonders.

Depends largely on the VC army composition, but you will always need a character with the Amulet of Light to counter those etheral units.

I found best way to kill Varghulf is to draw it into combat with a lot of units and wound it by having it lose on CR, that or magic can't regenerate from Lore of Fire

Caradryan is a great solution to vamp Characters and Vargulfs in particular.

High WS, 3 S5 Flaming Attacks causing D3 wounds Each. Causes fear, 4+ Ward and causes D6 automatic woulds when he is eventually killed. Back him up with a unit of Phoenix Guard for the combat res.

Taine.

Forgot about the PGuard I always take a unit of 18-20, in games against VC they go really well just make sure you give them a War Banner for that CR bonus

In larger games, engage prince on star dragon, no chance for varghulf. Just dont forget to give some nice protection to the prince, like V of Defence and Armour of Caledor. Light magic can also help here, the basic spell Burning Gaze is S6 against undead and flaming, so no regen save for varghulf.

The problem with using magic against Vamps is you have you go really magic heavy in order to be able to get the spells that you need off. Now for high elves this isn't too much of a problem but with 3 or 4 spell casters on the vamp side your going to have your work cut out for you trying to beat them with magic.

Also if you spend enough points on magic users and items to make it work then you leave yourself short in another area. Facing unbreakable units you really need your own rank and file and hard hitting combats to ensure that you win as many rounds of combat as possible. Cant take chances with small elite units against fear causing blocks of infantry.

Taine

for a varghulf use combination charge spearmen and a charios work well get the front with the spearmen then smack the chariot into its side and watch the varg cry and fall over.

as for VC fighty chars you have 2 options.

1 get the charge off with you DPs and a noble in there with Vanbracers of defence and a lance/GW and hope to god you cause enough wound to cause wounds for him loosing combat.

2 CR them down. use pheonix guard in the front and 2 flank charges knights and chariot, the unit he was with will be gone and soon under the shear weight of static CR and wound he wont last long either.


alternatively you magic and shoot him into the ground

Vargulfs are great. If the vampire player is good, and the vargulf doesnt die in the first round of combat. It will end up being healed making them a real biatch.
All it takes is for some lucky regeneration rolls.

Best bet would be to take a sun dragon mage. And hope you get a magic missle of some kind. Will take them out quickly.

Thanks guys you've all been a huge help. I think I'll take Caradryan because I'm also having trouble with my wood elf friends treeman. I've tried taking a fire mage and using the Flaming Sword of Ruin spell, but I failed to cast (2 dice with 5+ to cast! wtf?).

I'm finding magic too unreliable to spend large amounts of points on, so I'm dropping it back to 1 level 2 mage with some scrolls and the banner of sorcery (which has proved to be a bargin for only 50pts for d3pwr dice).

I'll have to drop the unit of Swordmasters to fit Caradryan in, but with the points I save dropping the extra mage I'll put a bolt through back into my army. Ah, shooting phase! How I've missed thee!

@Tain: Caradryan only has S4. His halberd is magical, and to quote the rulebook: "Magic weapons always ignore any special rules that apply to an ordinary weapon of the same type unless otherwise specified in the description of that weapon." Still, I thing S4 is good enough, considering he does d3 wounds.

The new list will look like this:

Caradryan

Lvl 2 Mage (High Magic)
Dispel Scroll
Dispel Scroll
Silver wand (1+ spell)

20 Spearelves
F/C
Lion Standard (immune fear/terror)

15 White Lions
F/C
Banner of Sorcery

6 Dragon Princes
F/C
Banner of Ellyrian (ignores difficult terrain)
Enchanted Shield on champion

1 Bolt Thrower
-------------------------
Total: 1250
------------------------


Thanks again guys.

aBadger?

In the Official High Elf Errata FAQ these changed the rules for the Phoenix Blade...

ERRATA
Page 71, Magic Items, The Phoenix Blade.
Replace:
‘All attacks made with the Phoenix Blade are
flaming attacks.’
with:
‘Halberd. All attacks made with the Phoenix
Blade are flaming attacks.’

This means that Caradryan gets his +1 strength making him S5.

Taine

I was aware of that, but I'm under the impression that the special rules for the magic item had to specifically state "+1 strength". Is this the case or am I being too picky?

I hope I'm wrong cause that +1 strength would be really nice.

Thanks again Taine

if the weapon is a halberd, per the rule book it is 2 hands and +1 str. So if it says halberd + any magic bonuses, you get your +1 str for being a halberd, so flaming str 5 attacks woo hoo

AWESOME!

Hey

Looking at the list you've posted above, its a nice balance list but i wonder, why the enchanted shield? Especially against VC and other fear causing enemies. Surely the Gem of Courage for the dragon princes is a better option to make sure you can get in that important change or can take that break test on 3D6 if you don't mash the unit in the first round of combat and your left striking at S3.

Taine

Actually that's an awesome idea. So far the cowards have failed their fear test at twice while attempting to charge the vamp general. Could have secured victory in turn 2 if they did.

I think I'll also drop the DP musician and the wizards Silver Wand to give the white lions magical attacks for 15 points (Amulet of Light). That will prove useful against banshees, treemen and make dryads that much easier to chop up.