Interested in starting Vampire counts (or higheldar)

[jus]

Hi, I'm in Sydney right now, about to head over to Games workshop for a demonstration of how 8th edition works. I've been interested in getting into Fantasy for a while now, but never really decided on which faction to play. Please advise: right now, I'm interested in vampire counts and the new and improved High Eldar. But vampire counts in particular (because I've never played an evil race before). Can anyone comment on their play style and competitiveness. Undead skeletons and whatnot from the GW range look ok enough i guess, but if I go with them, I'd definately be replacing the vampire models with cooler models from other ranges.

[The Other Dave]

From a purely meta perspective, there's two things to consider:

High elves will be coming in the new starter box, and thus you'll be able to pick them up rather cheaply if you can find someone who wants skaven. (But then Mantic Games has hella cheap and rather nice-looking ranges for both not-high-elves and not-vampire-counts, so the starter box thing might not be an issue a'tall.)

On the other hand, here in Nagoya Stu's main army (or one of them) is high elves, so vampires might be better from that angle.

I don't have any rules-based advice, because a) I think buying an army because it's powerful rather than because you think it looks cool is a recipe for painting burnout and edition-change rage, and 2) I don't really know anything about the rules...

[me_in_japan]

i dont play WHFB either, but from what Ive heard (all 7th ed, mind you) VC are the rompin stompin tournament arse kickin' army of the game. People shout "cheeeeeeeeese" as soon as you unpack your vamps from your case, so far as i can tell. Them and daemons, I believe, are the armies to be afraid of.

Still, as ToD says, buying an army because of how it plays is a surefire way to get bored with it. Do ya wanna paint black or white, that's the question it should all boil down to. Cos seriously, in WHFB, whichever you choose, its gonna be a LOT of it. Think painty, thats my advice. Fluff could carry your decision, too.

[Admiral-Badruck]

@Jus how is the Land Down Under??
As for an FB army.. I would go with the one you like the best Prime has them both if you do not like them he may take them off your hands...I was thinking of going a H-Elves army but they look Metro..

I am happy with my Daemons and I may get back in to Lizard men... Voss plays is going to Play Dwarfs (just for fun) MTPike plays Beast Men Daemons and D-Elves.. Ash Plays W-Elves TOD Plays Gobos and Gobos some some one on the forum plays Brits... I have been thinking of doing an Ogre Kingdoms army just for fun.. Empire might be cool... Also no one Plays Tomb Kings and they seem very cool..

[Primarch]

Actually I have both VC and HE.

HE are a fragile army that can dish out the hurt if you're careful. In 8th they got some boosts (Always Strike First + Great Weapon + High Initiative = WIN) but they also lost the ability to prevent attacks coming back at them (Since models now get removed from the rear rank rather than the front).

VC are a good tournament army. NOT because they are dead killy, but rather the opposite. In 7th you won the game by reducing opponents units to below half strength, or wiping them out. A well played VC list finished the game with MORE models on the table at the end, rather than less. They won by denying victory points. In 8th the game is more objective based (I believe) so VC should be less of a power army.

As the owner of both armies I would make the following recommendations
HE - If you want a small, hard hitting elite army and enjoy painting light bright colours. HE will be a cheaper army to get started.
VC - If you want a great big horde army and enjoy painting masses and masses of infantry (and you will need a LOT). VC will cost a lot as you need hundreds of models.

[jus]

well Admiral I think you win quote of the day.

I was thinking of going a H-Elves army but they look gay...

Laugh Out Loud!. mm yeah they kinda do and Land down under...suddenly feels like it has a lot more space.

Thanks for the info gents, Its good to hear that vampire counts are actually decent, it does my confidence a little better after getting smashed around as an elf. That and I LIKE vampires, aren't they the coolest characters ever? and I think its about time I started an evil army. Skeletons and grave guard are also pretty cool. Not a big fan of zombies though (well the GW range anyway)
heres a link to some alternative models people use to substitute their VC armies with:

http://www.vampirecounts.net/showthread.php?tid=6650

On a side note though, I played my first game of 8th edition at Gamesworkshop today and it was FUN. It was only a demo game so there was no magic and what not. But combat was pretty brutal. I played as High elves and completely steamrolled the skaven. I almost felt sorry for them. The store dude said that high elves are going to dominate 8th edition forever and become fantasy battles "space marines" I think I'm inclined to agree. Still, vampire counts seem fun to me and I'd like to invest in some blood knights, even if just to paint them up nice

[Admiral-Badruck]

there do seem to be a lot of great alternative models for The VC

cant say the same about H-elves...

[Primarch]

There are lots of alternatives for Vampire Models, which is cool. For skeletons, Mantic will be a cheap option. Rackham or Reaper will be very heavy on the wallet. For plastic zombies, again Mantic might be a good choice as you probably need lots and lots and lots of zombies.

Did I mention that Vampire Counts armies need lots of zombies?

Oh yeah, and many people reckon that with the changes to the game brought on by 8th edition VC will be a good deal weaker, dropping from a top tier tournament army (ie victory point denial) to a mid tier force at best.

[Admiral-Badruck]

V counts need lotz uv Dead guys I like the Zombi box set for GW

Heresy miniatures is really good too...

[jus]

whoa ok, this is worrying, how bad is these nerfs exactly, I don't want to be one of those emo vampire generals (like those in twilight). 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 (whatever that means). Also do you really need so many zombies, I was thinking of getting empire core units and modelling them to look undead. But not so many. I like lots skeletons better. ...and more vampires lol