Blood Knights- Worth their salt??

[shaner]

Hey Shannon, and other Vamp players.

I have a ton of just about every vamp unit. I am wondering if the Blood knights are worth 55 points each? How big of a unit do you run them in?? Is the Blood Drinker the key to this unit???

Thanks

[Jack Shrapnel]

If I run Blood knights it's either as a minimum unit (no characters, no upgrades, just four) that is a distraction / fire magnet to keep my troops safe - and hammer if they're unwisely ignored!

or I run them more frequently with a blooddrinker vamp... raising back ghouls or grave guard is nice and all... raising back super expensive hitty vampire calvary - awesomesauce.... add in the flag of the blood keep for the 4+ ward save vs. shooting... and you have a rock hard, scary blender of a unit that will utterly destroy just about anything it touches.... In one memorable moment in 7th ed they went against a Carnasaur lord who overran just a half inch short and ate him for breakfast... they're as tough a deathstar as the vamps can get... but man are they pricey! and if your opponent takes lore of metal... suddenly their survivability drops exponentially!!!


I've seen the big block ran often and it's brutal... however I'm more of a fan of 5 blood knights, musician and standard with flag of the blood keep... vamp with blooddrinker and infinite hatred (or make him a lord with that plus redfury for extra bloodsoaked awesomeness)

downsides: expensive $$ wise (really GW? that's reasonable to you?) and point wise... you're already paying a premium for your characters that you can't really skimp on too much (or you just lose) so you're already trying to get every point you can... often times this is a an all your eggs in one basket thing... not everyone likes that....

money saving tip - Warriors of chaos knights are less than 25% of the cost of a unit of five blood knights.... yep.... I'm serious.... put a snarling ghoul head on them... presto-chango, you've got meanacing blood knights that look great and save you all kinds of money....

[danydaigle24]

I play Vamps and Shannon just give you perfect answer I cant add anything.

[shaner]

Thanks boys...

One more question...Lord Manfred...worth taking??

[Jack Shrapnel]

If you want pretty much best vamp caster we've got... it's Big Manfred (little Manfred is kind of "meh")... I don't generally run much in the way of skeletons though, so his lord of the dead ability is kind of lost on me...

The ability to carry two arcane items simultaneously is pretty sweet... and how many named characters do you know where you're even allowed to pick some of the equipment?

Top notch caster... mount him on a nightmare and go to town.... he's probably the best vamp special character... however people do think him a bit cheesy though - you may not get the warmest response to putting Lord Manfred on the field....

... kind of like using Thorek for the dwarfs... but at least it's not as bad a reaction as you'd get for fielding Teclis!

[stonecutter]

All that Shannon has decreed thus far is true regarding the vamps, thus making him the local vamp champ and all others his thralls ;D However, fielding Manfred in 8th edition is far different from fielding him in 7th edition. Vamps in general are now a middle tier army and while their lore was one of the best in 7th edition, many of the main lores are now better (mind you, Manfred comes as a death loremaster!!). Consequently, I don't think fielding Manfred in 8th edition is really a big deal, especially since he will eat up close to 600 points once you add in the two arcane items. Lastly, he is one killing blow away from death and with the new step up rule, even a lowly rank & file bloodletter/executioner could end his day for him prematurely ;D