Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Vampire Coast

This is the tactics page for the Total War: Warhammer version of the Vampire Coast.

Why Play the Vampire Coast

Do I really need to explain? This trailer should do all the explaining for me!. OK, fine!

• You love vampires, but want something a bit different from the gothic style normally associated with them.
• Because you don't find it weird at all CA added a naval themed faction in a game with no naval battles.
• Cause you loved Pirates of the Caribbean but really wanted the bad guys to win.
• Seriously, watch the goddamn trailer, if that doesn't convince you, nothing will.

Pros

• Range, Range and yet more Range: You are one of the 3 gunpowder factions currently in game, and of the 3, you lean the most heavily into them. You have a gun for every type of occasion! Cheap guns, long range guns, multi shot guns, flying guns, guns on monsters, artillery, GUNS FOR EVERYONE!
• Monsters: And lots of cool ones that can fill a variety of roles. You can bring sturdier crabs to help with the frontline, stealthy flankers, cheap sacrificial monsters, ones that are great from range and up close, you have a monster for every occasion.
• Cheap Frontline: Zombies don't really ask for paychecks, even zombies who are actually sentient enough to talk! Because of this, you can usually bring a crap load of them and drown the enemy in bodies, then use their bodies to fill up your ranks again when the battle is over.
  • Bonus for the fact that Zombie Deckhands with polearms are slightly more killy than regular zombies and get Anti-Large, making them one of the better expendable meatshields.
• Aquatic: Pretty much everything has it, you're a pirate faction after all. This means you have an army that doesn't need to worry about swampy maps or ones with a lot of water because you ignore all the penalties and get some benefits in water too.
• Magic: You have Lore of Vampires, which is already one of the best lores in the entire game, and can carry you throughout most games just fine. Honestly you don't need to look at their other lores because of just how goddamn strong this one is.
• Harassment: You got extremely good harassing troops in fell bats and doggies, meaning going for skirmishers and artillery is something a skilled player can do really well.

Cons

• Weakness to Ranged: While you love to sit back and shoot the enemies to pieces, you REALLY hate it when the enemy is capable of shooting back. Downside of gunpowder is then they don't have much range, so if the enemy shoots first you are at a disadvantage. Combine this with the fact that your units either have low armour, low model count, or both and NOTHING in your army has a missile block chance, and missiles can be devastating. Ironically, archer spam is one of the better ways to fight this gunpowder army.
• Immobility: You don't have it as bad as the Dwarfs, but you're pretty slow. No cav or inexpensive monsters and a reliance of guns and artillery means you will not be moving much in your average game.
• Weak Frontline: There's a reason your frontline is so cheap, and it's that they are garbage in a fight. They get decimated by most tier one infantry, and are meant to hold, not to kill. Even Depth Guard aren't really that cost effective after all the nerfs that went their way, so expect your guns and monsters to carry.

Universal traits

• Undead: Almost any unit you have is undead. Who would have guessed. There are just two exceptions: The Sartosan Pirates and Sartosan Free Company that are exclusive to Aranessa Saltspite.
• Aquatic: Being the only truly maritime faction means that every unit is Aquatic; they fight better in watery areas, such as puddles and swamps.
• Loyalty: Your Lords aside from Legendary ones have the same Loyalty mechanic as Dark Elves and Skaven do, so be cautious when disbanding units and picking targets.
• Pirate Fleet: Your Legendary Lords work like the Horde Factions of the game do; meaning that you can accumulate Population Surplus on your LL armies and build certain buildings directly on your army, essentially making them a mobile city with 10 slots. This can be used in a variety of ways, but essentially allow your main army to act much more independently than other factions armies do because they aren't as reliant on the settlements and territory your faction holds.
• Infamy: Maxing out your Infamy is your main campaign goal, this is achieved by killing enemy armies, razing and sacking settlements and stomping the competition (other Pirate Factions and the rogue pirate armies that roam the seas). In addition to that, increasing Infamy and beating the miniboss armies that come your way, Infamy also gives you Verses of the Lost Sea Shanty, powerful buffs for your entire army. Some technologies also cost Infamy.

Unit Roster

Lords

• Luthor Harkon:
• Count Noctilus:
• Aranessa Saltspite:
• Cyclostra Direfin:
• Vampire Fleet Admiral:

Heroes

• Vampire Fleet Captain (Vampires, Deep, Death):
• Mournghul Haunter:
• Gunnery Wight:
• Damned Bretonnian Paladin (Cyclostra Direfin only):

Infantry

• Zombie Deckhand Mob (Regular, Polearms): Your fodder. They have next to no offensive capabilities, but make up for it by being undead and having a tremendous bodycount of 160 models on large settings. Sure they won't kill much, but that's not their job, they perform the job of a meatshield really well and are cheap.
• Zombie Gunnery Mob (Pistols, Bombs, Handguns, Handcannons): The mainstay of your armies until the lategame. These are the guys your Deckhands are supposed to keep the enemies away from. Their weapons are generally a bit below average as far as missile damage is concerned - until you realize that you have 160 of them in a single unit, and good range on top of that. They are excellent missile infantry for their cost and the bread and butter of your faction. They come in four varieties. The Pistol Variant has low range, but can handle itself well enough in melee. Bombers inflict fire damage at the cost of range (and being somewhat finnicky to use). Handguns are basically a big blob of Imperial Handgunners and work pretty much the same, large Range, Armour Piercing. Handcannons on the other hand work a bit more like shotguns. They have shorter range than Handguns, but blast anything that comes into their range and work the best up close, where their low accuracy doesn't hold them back as much.
• Deck Gunners: Serious Firepower for the lategame. They share a lot of similarities with Skaven Weapon teams. They offer tremendous firepower in exchange for a low unit count, but their high damage, AP and Shieldbreaking missiles make short work of nearly anything that get thrown in their general vicinity.
• Depth Guard (Axes, Polearms): Sadly, not as great as they used to be. These are your elite line backers, low model count, but insane melee capabilities and regenerating on top of that.
• Sartosan Pirates:
• Sartosan Free Company:
• Sireens:

Monsters, Flying Units & Cavalry

• Bloated Corpse:
• Deck Droppers (Pistols, Handguns, Bombs):
• Animated Husks:
• Mournghuls:
• Rotting Prometheans:
• Rotting Promethean Gunners:
• Rotting Leviathan:
• Necrofex Colossus:
• Fell Bats:
• Scurvy Dogs:
• Shrieking Terrorgheist:

Artillery

• Mortars:
• Carronades:
• Queen Bess: