LORDS OF NECROMANCY
ince all Vampire characters are wizards, magic will be a part of your battle plan no matter what kind of army you finally decide to play. How much the magic phase affects your strategies depends on how much you are willing to spend on your Vampires' magical capabilities. I'm not going to discuss magic tactics in too much detail, as we have another article that deals with that aspect of the Vampire Counts' game. However, here are a few pointers on magic as it relates to choosing your Vampires
If you spend next to nothing on magic then a typical army will include a Level 2 wizard (your Vampire Lord) and a couple of Level 1 wizards. This will give you a basic but not overly strong magic phase. With this sort of magical offence, I prefer to concentrate on summoning and movement spells so that my army gets to the opponent more or less in one piece. With my six power dice I can cast Invocation of Nehek or Raise Dead three times with two dice for each attempt, and be fairly sure to cast them (there's not a lot you can do about how good your opponent is at dispelling though!). This is not an overwhelming magic phase, but it will mean that I probably get one of my spells to succeed unless my opponent has a monstrously strong magical defense. I might even draw out a Dispel Scroll or two before my units get into combat. Then it is time to try to cast Vanhel's Dance Macabre, either to get a flanking charge or catch my opponent off-guard in some other fashion.
If you spend a little more on magic, then you can be a bit more proactive in the magic phase. You might want to buy a couple of extra magic levels for your characters, and perhaps invest in Forbidden Lore for your Vampire Lord -- having all the spells in a Magic Lore is very, very good, as you will never be left sitting wishing that you had a certain spell. You should resurrect models to keep your units at optimum strength, since it is Fear and outnumbering that will often win you the day. With this sort of magical attack, you can also start casting some of the damage-dealing spells to thin out your opponent's units before your army gets into combat. Adding the Book of Arkhan (with Vanhel's Danse Macabre as a bound spell) is also a very good investment -- it will either draw out a couple of dispel dice or a Dispel Scroll, or you will cast a very useful spell. Either way is good for you!
If you want to go all-out on magic you will have a very powerful magic phase. This includes giving all of your Vampires at least one more magic level each, and either Master of the Black Arts or Forbidden Lore to your Vampire Lord. Perhaps even both! Sprinkle the Rod of Flaming Death, the Book of Arkhan and the Black Periapt amongst your characters and you are ready to bring down an apocalypse of dark magic upon the battlefield! Having this much magical clout allows you to keep your army at full strength, whilst at the same time moving it around and decimating your opponent's army. The downside is that your characters will be relatively weak in combat, so you have to be careful how you play.
There is another problem to be aware of, however -- your Vampire Lord general will be the wizard with the highest magic level and the one with most power dice at his disposal, he will use most of your power dice, meaning he is running the risk of miscasts more than your other characters. For a normal army this is a problem, but for Vampires this can be catastrophic as your general is doubly important. If he should be killed early in the game by a miscast then it's often a setback from which it's all but impossible to recover (and believe me, I have tried…). There's little you can do to mitigate this problem, but you should at least be aware of it.
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Tooth and Claw
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