For all of you who've been searching for a decent Vladd army, here is my current favourite, and some strategy to go with it:

Vladd's Impalers

Formation:

Order of Vladd - 96
***Corrupted Priest - 61
***Feral Bloodsucker - 33
***Feral Bloodsucker - 33

Loners:

*Nightfiend - 39
**Fell Reaper - 38

Total: 300

Terrain - 4 pieces of large blocking terrain.

Strategy - With the formation intact, this army can move 10 inches in a single turn. With no formation, they can still move 10 inches in two turns, and everyone but the Nightfiend can fly.

The basic goal with this army is to single out a prey, and use the formation to kill it (similar to lions hunting zebra). Once you have isolated a prey, surround it with figures from the formation using a multiple threat tactic. Force your opponent to choose his own doom. If he attacks Vladd, he will suffer a bloody defeat at the hands of the Bloodsuckers. If he goes for a Bloodsucker, Vladd will take him out.

The Nightfiend is there to pose an additional threat, and to limit the number of times your opponent decides to push. Sneak attack is deadly, and when you combine it with the speed of the Nightfiend, it becomes even more dangerous.

The Priest is used to heal any figure in the army. Even Vladd may be healed after losing his Magic Immunity.

The Fell Reaper is your point man. Use it to lead your troops into enemy territory, and to provide cover for the formation. Heal it if needed, and the opportunity arises.

The lack of toughness can make this army vulnerable to ram. Use the mobility and Vampirism to compensate. Vladd and the Nightfiend have MI, so use them to take out magic blasters. Although slower, the army can stand up to GA as well, having decent mobility and more figures. Swarm and Swarm-Charge can both create problems. Keep that healer safe, and select your prey carefully. Try to disable one formation at a time.

Hope you like it!

Nah! this army is terrible...you definitely do not want to run this in any .....League style games you may be playing in....<grin>

Nope...you don't!!!!

It's just too.....too....well, it's just not right!



(just kidding - Teloric and I know each other)

Actual it looks pretty darn good Teloric...I have a conflict of interest now...do I help you out with any small flaws I see, or keep quiet - since I'll have to play against it! <grin>

I had the same conflict on whether to post this army or not, knowing that you might see it. Oh well, I consider it a very good army for Vladd, and want to see some comments from other players...

you could just downgrade the priest into manageable levels... like the weak version. then you could add seething knight or two.

I think the weak priest will do just fine , the Standard at most.
The tough version is just too expensive.
Use the points to upgrade the Nightfiend to **.
Definitely the best version of that fig.

Use the two remaining points
to replace the Reaper with a ***War hatchetkrugg.
Vladd could surely benefit from a Rammer by his side.

Then in the spirit of EVEN BETTER battles between us ....

I'd also point out you are also vulnerable to sweep or guys with Bound/Charge (since they can do first damage).

But other than that (with the figures you have)..."it gonna be a tough battle!!"

Kel

Using a weak Priest is a possibility, and would net me 13 extra points. However, upgrading the Nightfiend isn't too useful, since I have enough actions to move the army as it is. I would just be paying for Quickness that I don't need, at least until the melee begins. Hmmm, I'll have to think about it...

As for adding a Ram, that's not a bad idea either. But at the cost of my Fell Reaper? The Fell is the fastest mover in the army. If I drop it, I have no defence against all the 14 range figures that are out there.

However, this does give me some ideas. If I do upgrade the Nightfiend, I would have 2 points remaining. Then, if I drop the Fell Reaper to a weak one, I will have 4 points remaining. I could use those 4 points to convert one Feral Bloodsucker into a ***Rancid Bloodsucker. That would be an interesting twist...

To handle Charge is fairly simple. I will either stay out of charging range, or be in base contact. Remember, I can move the entire army 10" in one turn. That should be good enough to keep chargers away, at least until I'm in base contact, when it won't matter anyway.

As far as I can tell, the only truly effective way to handle Bound is to either have another figure with Bound, or to have an SA that prevents ranged attacks. But, for this army, since Bound doesn't cause figures to be b2b, I will counter it with healing. And, if figures are b2b, you can't shoot me with Bound. Regardless, it comes down to tactics on the field...

Anyone else have any suggestions?

This week has been very interesting and learning-heavy. Now I can see the usefullness of Flight. Until recently, I thought only Charge/Bound were really useful as Movement Special Abilities.

It's a very good army, in my opinion as a humble noob.

Edit 1: and certainly Quickness is very useful too

Great army, but I agree with Borg on downgrading the Corrupted priest. He may look spiffy in red but he's just not as economic as his blue and yellow suited bretheren. Upgrading the Nightfiend for that quickness I think could really come in handy when the fangs hit the fan if you know what I mean. Otherwise #### fine army making.

Okay, I downgraded the CP to **, and upgraded the Nightfiend to **. Keeping Vladd and the Fell Reaper, this leaves me with 61 points, not enough for 2 ***Feral Bloodsuckers.

Since I want Weapon Mastery as one of the multiple threats, I decided that perhaps a ***Nightstalker could work. This also gives me a strong ranged option with this army, and stealth as a bonus (which is never a bad thing).

I now have 31 points remaining for either a **Feral Bloodsucker, or a ***Seething Knight. Personally, I think the Seething Knight would be the best choice. He can move in formation with the Nightstalker and Priest. Defend plus Battle Armor will give him a 19 defence vs. ranged attacks.

So here's the latest revision:

Loners:

Order of Vladd - 96
**Nightfiend - 50
**Fell Reaper - 38

Formation:

**Corrupted Priest - 55
***Seething Knight - 31
***Nightstalker - 30

Total: 300

What do you all think now?

Edit - For terrain, I'll probably go with 2 Low Walls and 2 High walls...

Teloric , about the **Nightfiend.

by upgrading the Nightfiend to **
not only his stats became A LOT better
but the Quickness maybe more useful than you think.

Quickness basically gives you a FOURTH action .
It means you can use all three of your actions ...... to attack , defend , whatever ....... and STILL have the Nightfiend available to move somewhere and put PRESSURE on your opponent.

You have an extra move-action that your opponent will have to account for at some point.
Once he has to start spending an action on dealing with the **Nightfiend , you have 3 actions remaining against 2 for him .

Yeah, I knew that was what you were getting at when you first made the suggestion. Thanks for the input.

Whaddya think of the latest revision?

switch ferals for rancid bloodsuckers because they are better with vladd.

I would change this formation :

**Corrupted Priest - 55
***Seething Knight - 31
***Nightstalker - 30

into this :

***Nightstalker - 30
***Nightstalker - 30
*Corrupted Priest - 48

***Imp - 8


The Seething knight is going to stand useless in a ranged formation.

I'll have to consider another Nightstalker. I kinda like that I can move the whole army in one turn, and that I have a strong defensive option with the Seething Knight.

Hmmm...