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

=====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.