Vlad Squared

There has been a bit of a change of plans regarding lists for Wintercon and I now am planning on running Vlad2 and Vlad3 (if its three list I will add Vlad1 for lols). There are two reasons for this. The first is that I was pretty hesitant about Sorscha1’s ability to crack heavy armour so I switched in Sorscha2 but I just don’t think she looks fun. Vlad3 does look fun; very fun. This also means a few less things to paint or something. On that note I did finish my Doom Reavers (UA excepted) so I am feeling pretty happy about that. No painting prizes will ever come out of this unit but they look pretty good at the table top level.

Here are the two lists.

  

The Lists

Vlad2

- Behemoth

- Wardog

Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts)

- Officer and Standard

Doom Reavers

- Greylord Escort

Great Bears of Gallowswood

Koldun Lord

- Marauder

Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts)

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist

Vlad3

- Beast 09

- Spriggan

- Wardog

Winter Guard Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts)

- Officer and Standard

- 2 Winter Guard Rocketeers

Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts)

- Greylord Escort

Fenris
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich

Lady Aiyana and Master Holt

Harlan Versh, Illuminated One
Saxon Orrick

As mentioned the Vlad2 list is slanted towards attrition (via Transference) rather than Assassination. I really like the options in this list. It can crack some serious armour if needed. The Marauder module is nice. It is hard to completely justify it because the Marauder is seriously rubbish once an arm is crippled but I don’t think people will focus on that. Slams are still just as good in the post-Colossals world. Yes, you cannot slam a Stormwall (there might be a ruling that you literally cannot damage them with the Slam as well) but Assail + Slamming one of my Pikemen/Doom Reaver/Gorman or whatever in the back leads to a D6+3” slam which has niche caster kill value if I put two into Behemoth’s sub-cortex. Another cool thing is Assail onto Marauder + Hand of Fate onto Behemoth + 2 onto his sub-cortex turns out to equal exactly 7. The Koldun Lord will be feeding the Marauder to boost the to hit roll. I really like having the option to just go for an unexpected assassination. If I make any changes it will be to drop Gorman for Kell.

  

The Vlad3 list is a bit weird. I have no idea how good it will be but I do know that Winter Guard + Signs and Portents (or in this case Hand of Fate) is a definite thing. I remember shooting to death Thorn (or maybe a normal Lancer) that was engaged by my own jack with WGI+S&P. It was pretty brutal because I landed about 8 of 9 shots needing an 11 to hit! They are only DEF14 which is solid but not back breaking but in combination with tough they can be reasonably resilient. Part of the attraction of something other than Irusk1, Sorscha2, Butcher1 or Old Witch is that you absolutely cannot start to rely on DEF17.

Immunity to free strikes and SPD7 is not something to mess with because it ensures they can bring their guns to bear. Vlad3 has this feel of you take 2 reach jacks (or one reach jack and Drago) and Fenris and anything else you feel like. Lots of casters have some pretty obvious pairings but there doesn’t seem to be anything major for Vlad3. There are a few mercenaries but these are pretty much all support. I have no concerns about the lists capacity to clear infantry off the table. Heavies are also no issue. A single colossal is no issue. Two colossals or a single buffed one could be a bit of an issue.

I am hoping to line up a game in the next two weeks to give one of these (or a 35 point variant depending on time) a whirl.