8th Ed. VC magic

[loq-gar]

hi guys, I need some help countering vc magic..

my usual opponent runs a 3-4 vampire list with a lvl 4 and the rest lvl 2 in there. the games we play are not really points based and my army is smaller. but i have a slann and his casting hurt like crap. saurus hitting on 6s, rerolling the hits after that. wounds too. must take a leadership test or they have to do that. all this kind of stuff. he usually runs just 1 block of ghouls and 1 block of zombies with those 3-4 in there. somehow can never take enough of em out.

any advice?

which lore should i take? i usually take life but he always negates my throne of thorns like any sensible player would

 

[Arli]

Take Light or death! Take light and burn him out with the extra damage that it causes his units. You can also take death and snipe his characters out of the unit.

Another option would be to use the Engine of the Gods (EOTG). It causes str 5 hits to undead units with burning alignment.

 

[loq-gar]

hahah thanks! i will try light or death!

I dont have a steg though...

I've found skinks usless against them too . cham skinks are worse.

the only thing i have found useful against them is saurus..

 

[Stonecutter]

If your vamp opponent is fielding just zombies & ghouls without any of the big nasty vamp units (black knights, vargheists, mortis engine, etc), then a combination of sallie templates and skink shooting should definitely help reduce the numbers significantly before combat. I would agree that lore of light is excellent against vamps since it has many useful spells with low casting values, allowing a rumination armed slaan to make 4-6 casting attempts even on turns with only 7 power dice. On average, about 2 light spells get through per turn and while none of them are massive game changers like death or life, they are extremely helpful for a combat oriented list.

Just a couple key points to note about vamps:

1) Re-rolling to hit - The beguile vamp power only works against a single model in base contact with the vamp. This being the case, it is possible to align characters so that they are not in base contact and thus only a single saurus will be affected. Also, supporting attacks are not affected since the models are not in base contact with the vamp. A LD 10 slaan can also help out as it means the test is being done on LD 7.

2) Invocation of Nehek (IoN) - As per the rules for resurrecting fallen warriors (p. 26 vamp codex), raised models cannot displace enemy units. This rule has two significant implications. First, if an enemy unit is within 1" of the rear rank of a vamp block when IoN is cast, only sufficient models can be recovered to fill out the last rank and even this may not be possible if it violates the requirement to stay 1" away from enemy units. This is true regardless of whether or not the vamp unit is in combat. Secondly, if the vamp unit is engaged from the rear and another flank or the front, the rear enemy unit cannot be "pushed back" when IoN is cast although the 1" rule is lifted since the units are in combat. Again, this will severely limit the unit's ability to recover models and once it loses an entire rank, it will not be able to regain the rank until the enemy unit to the rear is eliminated and sufficient space is available.

Good luck and good hunting!