Interested in starting Vampire counts (or higheldar)

[Primarch]

So far the internet is wailing about, miscast power dice potentially killin your emo vampire, they've lost the undead rule, and now all udead are unbreakable and unstable

Well Vampires are taking up your hero and lord points, so you wont be getting many of them. 4 vampires with minimal upgrades will take up well over 500 points before you even start giving them the good stuff. Zombies are dirt cheap points wise and since you can raise more as the game goes on, its a good idea to have some. I guess you could use Empire models painted zombie-like. Skeletons are a good choice for your starting core units though. Again, you should have a few spare as you may be raising some more early in the game. Necromancers and Wight Kings have become better choices with their lower costs and the removal of limitations on heroes.
Your models are still Undead. Unbreakable means that you never take morale tests, and unstable means that if you are beaten in combat you lose more models, the same as before. GW just decided to make that rule universal to cover VC, Tomb Kings and Daemons. Bad Miscasts have always been able to kill a caster outright. However, if you're just going for unit summoning wackiness, then you dont need to worry as you can summon loads of units without ever risking a miscast.
The changes in 8th dont make a huge difference to the army. It still wins based on standing around and not dying.

[Mike the Pike]

Don't worry about miscasts and stuff, the magic rules changes hardly affect Vamps.

Two things that have changed and will require VC players to adjust is the removal of Fear+Outnumber=autobreak and the shift away from uber-killy units and charcaters dominating the game.

For seasoned VC players it will mean having to come up with a game plan rather than just plow into whatever unit, get chopped to pieces, raise a buncha undead reinforcements and wait for the enemy to run away

For a nOOb like yo'self, the changes are largely meaningless as you have nothing to compare them too, so go for what you like the look/fluff of.

One caveat is that, as others have mentioned, you will need a lotta skellies and/or zombies. However, they are both ripe for the spray paint and dip method so need not be too much hard works.

That's my 2 yen anyway.
Cheers
Mike

[Mike the Pike]

As for High Elves, they can be very killy in this edition but do not have the armour/toughness for the prolonged battles of attrition which seem to be common in this version. That, and they are very vulnerable to shooting.

[me_in_japan]

s for High Elves, they can be very killy in this edition but do not have the armour/toughness for the prolonged battles of attrition which seem to be common in this version. That, and they are very vulnerable to shooting.

sounds like eldar...

I think I know what Jus is gettin at with his VC angle. An elite, heavy hitting VC army would look cool. An army full of hordes of skellies and zombies feels more necromantic to me. for me, VCs are personified by the Blood Knights (is that what theyre called?) Elite nobles, who also happen to be blood drinkers. All this hordes malarky is a bit of a let down, tbh...

[Primarch]

From the looks of 8th edition
Hordes>Elites
Infantry>Cavalry

Blood Dragons used to be fielded in small units that would charge, clear off the front rank of the enemy and then either win by causing massed casualties or just because they were big and scary.
Now Blood Dragons will charge, clear off the back rank of the enemy and then take loads of attacks back, followed by losing the combat due to being a small, expensive unit.

[me_in_japan]

Now Blood Dragons will charge, clear off the back rank of the enemy and then take loads of attacks back, followed by losing the combat due to being a small, expensive unit.

boooooooooooo! We want small elite armies of vamps!


whaddya mean that doesnt sell models?

[Colonel Voss]

You can do small and elite if you want. Grave guard, ghouls, blood knights and what not. it's just a lot more of a challenge than it use to be. Plus even if you did, raising fresh recruits as you slaughter your way through an army is always in good taste.

[Primarch]

You can do small and elite if you want. Grave guard, ghouls, blood knights and what not. it's just a lot more of a challenge than it use to be. Plus even if you did, raising fresh recruits as you slaughter your way through an army is always in good taste.

But you can only raise one guy at a time with Blood Knights and Black Knights. Ghouls will die in droves due to their lack of armour. Grave Guard are hard as nails though.

[jus]

Well Vampires are taking up your hero and lord points, so you wont be getting many of them...

aww really? I was hoping for a whole coven of vampires to lead my undead. So is it 25% lords, 25% characters.. e.t.c or 25% for all characters (lords and heros )? If possible I would like to have about 4 -5 vampires plus bloodknights eventually, at a normal points game. Sure 1 or 2 would have to do for a small points game but realistically how many would be a good number?

[Colonel Voss]

25% lords and 25% heroes is the current limits.