Editing Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Vampire Counts (section)

====Named Characters====
'''Note:''' Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, many named characters, and especially in Vampire Counts, have abilities and war gear combos unique to them so if you need to have them go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.
=====Lords=====

*'''[[Vlad von Carstein]]:''' 
The man that started it all, and one of the few special character who are completely justified in their points cost.
You want to field him, but most people never will. Why? Because he's 495 points. As strong as he is, that is your entire Lord budget in an otherwise balanced 2000 point army, and below 2500 you most likely you don't have that kind of room for just one model. He's fairly good but the price is what stops him from being great, but most players prefer a combo of a level 4 caster of some kind along with a damage option blender lord Strigoi Ghoul King or Master Vampire.  That being said, at the 2500 point level and above (ESPECIALLY above 3500) he's fucking amazing. If you're taking him, you want to bring Isabella as well although unlike her he can be good on his own.

*'''[[Mannfred von Carstein|Count Mannfred]]:''' 
There are two options for Mannfred, and you may not EVER take both. This is the first, and is a Lord level character.   He's a superb caster with one major flaw, for optimum usage he needs to kill stuff, which he isn’t too good at for Vampire Lord since he's kitted out so much for magic. This is the man you want fighting nothing but Goblins and Skaven Slaves if you can possible help it (if you're facing Ogres, you're in for a world of hurt). If you can manage to make kills then this guy will generally rule both magic phases, make sure to snipe enemy wizards early on with Spirit Leech. 
He's pricey as fuck though at 530 points (so you may not take him in games below 2125 points). He's worth it, but once again you're looking at your entire Lord allowance here.

Unlike the other named characters in this army, you can have Mannfred ride a mount. His options are Barded Nightmare, Hellsteed, and Abyssal Terror. Of those choices, only the Barded Nightmare is of any value for the most part and only to put him in a unit of Black Knights or Blood Knights. The other two will make him even more of an artillery and shooting target than he already is. 

With the New magic of the End Times rules, and the end times lords allowance, Mannfred suddenly became the best spellcaster in the game, bar NONE. 2 lores with loremaster means re-rolling all power dice, and Master of the Black arts allows him to re-roll one magic dice. Take him and Kemmler, plus mortis engine in 2000pts- Your opponent will not be able to do anything against 2 level 6 wizards when casting, who can re-roll all power dice, and gain an extra +D3 to Invocation. One corpse cart with lodestone later, and those Zombies/Skeletons/Anything later, and your army is suddenly looking much healthier.  

*'''Heinrich Kemmler:''' 
Oh, you were never going to be playing this game in decent company anyway.  He's ideal for filling a lord's' spot at 1500+ point games and If you're playing at that level, you may as well bring Krell to take advantage of their tag team abilities. 350 points? Worth it.

=====Heroes=====

*'''[[Mannfred von Carstein|Mannfred the Acolyte]]:''' 
Much more fieldable than his older self and a solid choice since he provides Loremaster in Lore of Vampires, which is what you take him for.  He's much more flimsy and you MUST have him fighting puny hordes to make effective use of him. 
Since Magic is so important to a Vampire Counts army's success, it's important to note that this version of Mannfred is almost a must if you're planning on taking a fighty Lord but can't afford enough supporting casters to reliably get the spells you'll need out of Lore of the Vampires by rolling. 200 points for all the spells in the lore (without excluding any other necromancers from getting those spells as well) is a steal! Still, if you CAN take multiple spellcasters he's probably not worth it. 
Like his Lord self he can be mounted up, on either a Barded Nightmare or Abyssal Terror. This time he should probably be left hiding in a unit unmounted unless you want to hide him in some Black Knights. 

*'''Krell, Lord of Undeath:''' 
He's back! Krell is a Wight King with a better statline who gets Heroic Killing Blow (in challenges) if in the same unit as Kemmler (which obviously means he'll always be in the same unit as Kemmler). He has regular Killing Blow otherwise, but the drawback is that he MUST issue a challenge whenever possible, Oh, and having a T5 W4 hero for his meager 205 point cost (not to mention his other rules) is very very good. By the way, his model is fucking ace. '''Alternate take:''' Krell is significantly more expensive then a normal Wight King and only marginally better offensively, defensively he is inferior. His special rules are fairly situational and only useful against medium to weak enemy heroes (a strength 7 lord/hero will completely ignore his armor). A mundane Wight King will almost always be a better option over Krell because they can be kitted out specifically for your needs. His model IS pretty amazing though. 
*'''[[Konrad von Carstein]]:''' 
Nothing short of psychologically damaging if your opponent happens to bring Monstrous Infantry (to him, not his models).  That being said combat is all he really does well (though he does it VERY well) while being the uncle of all glass cannons. His stats are on-par with an ordinary Hero level Vampire, and he only has Heavy Armor, so it's his special rules you want to take him for. He rings in at 160 points. 
His insanity is reflected by a special rule called "One Bat Short of a Belfry" which has you roll for his current mental state. At the start of the turn you roll a D6, with a result of 1-3 granting him Stupidity and a result of 4-6 giving him Frenzy. 
So be wary of using him... and be aware that Ogre Kingdoms players will die a little inside each time you field him.

*'''[[Isabella von Carstein]]:''' 
Now in 8th has the proper Vampire statline. As it stands, she's not a caster (being only a level 1 Wizard in Lore of Vampires) or a fighter (being that she only has the vanilla Vampire stats and her only equipment is Heavy Armor and a Hand Weapon). The most she can do is support other vampires using the invocation of Nehek and the Blood Chalice to make sure they don't die. 
Of course, there's always the fact that if she kicks it, Vlad goes nuts, with Frenzy and Hatred and whatnot. It's also possible that he'll die first (not as likely) and she will get Frenzy and Hatred, but as previously mentioned she's not really geared for fighting.  She isn't worth the 175 on her own, but put her with Vlad and they have great potential.