Death is coming, so if you looking for a smaller army with very interesting abilities, take a look at this first 1000 point option of the Soulblight Allegiance.
With GW giving Death some much need love soon (see Malign Portents), right now is a perfect time to start getting into Grand Alliance Death! Without having the Legions of Nagash book out, I can only guess as to what will happen. I predict some combining of unit types into larger allegiance pools along with new character models. In the meantime, we can build around an allegiance in the 2017 Generals Handbook. This article will focus on the Soulblight Allegiance. There is no Start Collecting box to start this army, so it will be a little more expensive than the other How to First 1,000 articles.
This is a pretty low model count army, so you will need to make sure you watch the scenario win conditions. Scenarios with hold objectives by model count will hard pressed to win. On the flip side, low model count means you can get these painted quicker!
- Vampire Lord of Zombie Dragon (440 points) Leader 1 of 4, Behemoth 1 of 2
- Vampire Lord on Nightmare (140 points) Leader 2 of 4
- Unit of 5 Bloodknights (260 points) Battleline 1 of 2
- Units of 3 Vargheists (160 points) Battleline 2 of 2
Total 1,000 points.
Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon: Move and fly damage table (14″ down to 6″), Save 4+, 10 Bravery, 14 Wounds. For a missile weapon he has Pestilential Breath which is: Range 9″, one attack, hitting on 4+, wounding on damage table (2+ up to 6+), with -1 Rend for D6 damage. Also, with the breath attack, roll a D6 before the attack and if the roll is equal or less then the number of models in the unit it automatically hits. For Melee Weapons, this model has either a Deathlance or Vampire Sword. Deathlance: Range 1″, three attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend for two Damage (three damage on a charge). Vampire Sword: Range 1″, four attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend for D3 damage. Then you have Zombie Dragons Maw attacks, and his claw attacks. Zombie Dragon Maw: Range 3″, two attacks, hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, with -2 Rend for D6 damage. Zombie Dragon Sword-like Claws: Range 2″, damage table attacks (6 down to 2), hitting on 4+, wounding on 3+, with -1 rend for two damage. He is also equipped with an Ancient Shield and Chalice of Blood. Ancient Shield increases his save to a 3+ and Chalice of Blood lets him heal D6 wounds once per battle. He heals 1 wound at the end of EACH combat phase in which he kills a model. He is a wizard with a unique spell called Blood Boil. The spell targets an enemy unit within 18 inches and has a casting value of six. If successful, the unit takes a mortal wound and, if no models are slain, on a 4+ it deals another mortal wound and continues until either a model is slain, or you roll under a 4+. Finally, his command ability lets you pick a Death unit within 15 inches to re-roll failed hit rolls.
Vampire Lord on Nightmare: Move 10″ (when on Nightmare), 4+ Save, 10 Bravery, 5 Wounds. Spirit Possessed Blades: Range 1″, four attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for D3 damage. Nightmare’s Hooves and Teeth: Range 1″, two attacks, hitting and wounding on a 4+, for one damage. He heals a wound at the end of EACH combat phase that he kills a model and his Chalice of Blood lets him heal D6 wounds once per battle in your hero phase. He is a wizard that can cast 1 spell a turn. His unique spell is Spirit Blight, which has a casting value of six and range 18″. If successful, 1 enemy unit subtracts one from each of its unit’s melee weapons (to a min of 1). Finally, his command ability is Blood Feast, which lets you pick a friendly Death unit within 15″ and models within that unit make one extra attack with their melee weapons.
Bloodknights: Move 10″, Save 4+ (3+ it the attack has no rend), 10 Bravery, and 3 Wounds. Templar Lance or Blade: Range 1″, three attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for 1 damage (D3 if they charge). Nightmare’s Hooves and Teeth: Range 1″, two attacks, hitting and wounding on a 4+, for one damage. This unit heals a wound at the end of EACH combat phase in which it slayed any models. They return a model back in you Hero Phase if your Standard Bearer is alive. Finally, the leader adds one to his hit rolls, and the Hornblower lets you charge 6 inches at least on your charge no matter what.
Vargheists: Move 12″ with Fly, Save 5+, 10 Bravery, 4 Wounds. Murderous Fangs and Talons: Range 1″, three attacks, hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for two damage. The leader of this unit makes four attacks instead of three. Any time a model slays an enemy, roll a D6. On a six, they can make one extra attack.
Loadout: Starting off, the Bloodline I am giving this force is Swift Death, which adds two to the move value of all models and they can also fly. The Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon is going to be the General and I am giving him the Deathlance as a melee weapon, Mist Form as a bonus command trait, and then the Sigil of the Sanguine Throne artifact. Mist form lets him retreat and charge in the same turn, so I can keep getting the bonus damage with the Deathlance. The Sigil lets me re-roll a failed charge roll once per charge phase for a friendly vampire unit within 12 inches (including himself).
Tactics: First, you want to take advantage of the Deathless Thralls Soulblight ability allows any model that suffers an unsaved wound or mortal wound on a 6+ to be ignored if within 6″ of a Soulblight Hero. You will keep your Vampire Lord on Nightmare within 6″ of the Bloodknights, if possible, and the Vargheists within 6″ of your Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon. Then, with the Swift Death bonus, you are going to move straight toward you enemy as quickly as possible. You want to be in hand to hand combat ASAP with these guys, as you lack the model count to capture many objectives as well as have very little ranged abilities. Once you get your Zombie Lord on Dragon in combat, use the Mist Form to retreat and charge to maximize the Deathlance bonus as well as get into combat with opponents of your choosing. With the healing your Vampires can do, they should be able to withstand some punishment. However, if you think your opponent is going to focus fire on one of the heroes, make sure you get Mystic Shield up on them.
There you have it: a pretty small but hard hitting Soulblight force you can build up relatively quickly. While not very cheap (Bloodknights are $100 for five from GW), the low model count makes painting and putting this on the battlefield really easy!
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