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Strategy and Tactics - Vampires for League

Aenur - Jul 17, 2007 - 05:31 AM
Post subject: Vampires for League

Hey ladies and gents,

I recently used a vampire team at the Sandgroper Cup in Perth WA. I did this, basically expecting to get thumped by most as vamps have proven to be a difficult team to master. However I missed out on the grand final on touch down difference in the end, much to my suprise.

So basically the next league is starting up in September down here and I was thinking, well lets give the vamps another run, I spent enough time painting them to make it worth while.

So this is the initial list I am proposing:

4 Vampires
10 Thralls
2 Re-rolls
Apothecary
1 FF (we get a bonus 3 in the league for new teams giving me 4)

The main downfall I noticed at the tourny was that thralls get eaten quickly. Then there aren't a whole lot left and vampires start to go missing. I am thinking that the team (in a league situation) probably can't handle more than 4 vampires. 5 at a BIG push, 6 is just suicide.

What do people think to that rational? The main skills I am considering kitting the vamps out with is dodge and mainly mobility skills. I think the team will be best played as a running elf team (that is slower) as i saw during the tourny that vamps CAN hit things, but shouldn't. Their str 4 is more of a defence than an offence.

Any comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Aenur

Doubleskulls - Jul 17, 2007 - 07:04 AM
Post subject: RE: Vampires for League

I think generally the recommendation is to start with very few vampires (2~3) and lots of rerolls.

Wosret - Jul 17, 2007 - 09:39 AM
Post subject: RE: Vampires for League

Must agree with Doubleskulls here.
Currently running 2 vamp teams
one started with 4 vamps 7 thralls 3 rerolls and went down hill fast (now after 9 games at 3 vamps and 8thralls and 5 rerolls). The fourth Vamp got fired after suffering -1Ag/-1Av Vamps Killed 2 Thralls+1JourneyThrall and took out lots of other thralls with no serious dammage. On average was not able to field a 11 man team for the second half.
Results W3 D0 L5 TD -7 Cas -19
New team started with 3 Vamps, 9 thralls, 4 rerolls and 1 each of FF,AC,CL. And sofar does nothing first game against chaos got me only the MVP as spp
Results W0 D0 L1 TD -3 Cas -2

StoutYoungblood - Jul 17, 2007 - 07:22 PM
Post subject:

Our league allows everyone to start out with 5 FF for free and our Vamp coach went with:

3 Vamps
8 Thralls
5 Rerolls

He had a slow start because he never played them before and had to go up against 3 continuing teams. He still made it to thru the first round of the play-offs, losing to the eventual league champ.

Tim - Jul 18, 2007 - 07:27 AM
Post subject:

Looking at our leagues vamp team that started with 4 Vamps, 3RRs and 1FF and struggles both result and development wise, i'd go for something like:

1 Vampire, 12 Thralls, 5 RR, 6 FF. This will give you enough spare Thralls to keep your numbers on the pitch for most of the first games. You can accept the loss of 2-3 Thralls and concentrate on buying Vampires (after the Apo). Additionally Thralls will skill up easier as most of the MVPs will go to them. With 5 RRs and the advantage in numbers you have a good chance to even win a couple of the first games if you score a few lucky punches and not-too-bad-dice.

Aenur - Jul 18, 2007 - 08:42 AM
Post subject:

Well then, there a whole bunch of varying responses....

Cheers for the input. I am curious to see how the 1 vampire team goes actually. I can see the first few games being boring with a lack of skills to exploit, however as more vamps come onto the team with the allure of 12 blood bags....

The other benefit in that, that is apparent to me is that I can drop 5 FF and take an apothecary straight up. With the bonus 3 only having 1 initially isn't too big an issue. The only major concern I have with that is that if that one vampire does get taken out (and lets face it its abig target in that list) where do you go? You have no real fall back plan at all.

StoutYoungblood - Jul 18, 2007 - 09:04 AM
Post subject:

I wouldn't go with the one vampire team because he would be a very big target. If you took 3 along with 5 rerolls, it would be rare for you to suffer from Bloodlust. Also, with Vamps costing 110k, if you only started out with one, it would be (on average) three games before you could buy another one. That is a LONG time to only depend on one vamp.

Cramy - Jul 18, 2007 - 10:22 AM
Post subject:

I'm not sure that one Vampire is enough either. I'd go with 2 or 3 Vamps, with at least 4 RRs.

Buy Vamps as you get the money. But never field too many Vamps at any one time. Fielding 6 Vamps, even with lots of RRs, would be problematic. Develop some Vamps as offensive specialists and some as defensive specialists, and only field 3-4 at a time.

Marc-Andre

Aenur - Jul 18, 2007 - 05:28 PM
Post subject:

I think I will go with a variation on the 3 vamp list.

8 Thralls isn't enough IMHO. You need to start the league with at least 12 players to be safe.

So....

3 Vamps
9 Thralls
4 Rerolls
3 FF

Which is almost identical to what Worset suggested on his second team.

Jonny_P - Jul 20, 2007 - 02:46 PM
Post subject:

I like 3 Vampires. One back, on on each side for most setups.

xdogfightx3000 - Sep 09, 2007 - 05:58 PM
Post subject:

I play a vampire team in a league and i started with 2 vampires 10 thalls 5 fan factor 1 apothecary and 4 rerolls. I have to say the vampires are doing very well for me.

Wosret - Sep 10, 2007 - 12:06 PM
Post subject: Re: RE: Vampires for League

Wosret wrote:

New team started with 3 Vamps, 9 thralls, 4 rerolls and 1 each of FF,AC,CL. And sofar does nothing first game against chaos got me only the MVP as spp
Results W0 D0 L1 TD -3 Cas -2

Well so far their playing yust like vampire's, i.a. "sucky"
Curent results W0 D0 L3 TD -6(2-8 ) Cas -6(2-8 ).
Got one Pass thrall and one with Block no other skills because, well after bloodlust there's no reroll's left for the passes, pickup's, catches, Double skulls etc etc.

A change in tactic from the running game to the Cage seems to be increasing my chances to get posession of the ball for longer than 2 turns. It seems that the cage works even when it is build on AV7 models. The cage also minimizes the need to use reroll's on ball-handling. Think i'am going to use it more often.

Rune_Master - Sep 11, 2007 - 01:46 PM
Post subject:

3 vamps on a running team using a cage is good. 2 as part of the cage with either third carrying ball or running interference on the pitch. Remember, Hypnotic Gaze is a Vamp coaches best friend. Use it often.

As for rerolls; if you have 3 vamps and use them each turn, that would be 6 Bloodlust rolls every two turns. The odds are you willfail one of those rolls. To make up for that, you should have at least 4 rerolls. You may not be able to cover that figure to start your team, so start with 2 vamps and 3 rerolls.

Spazzfist - Sep 11, 2007 - 02:02 PM
Post subject:

Rune_Master wrote:

I found that using a thrall cage with the vamps running interference and using their hypnotic gaze to create gaps to run through worked really well for me. I can understand wanting to have the S4 A4 player carrying the ball, but I feel that their skills are better served elsewhere.

Rune_Master - Sep 12, 2007 - 12:05 PM
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I've found that a thrall cage is more effective once they pick up a skill or two (no small feat!). But it can still work if the vamp(s) are nearby to cause problems.

Helvetion - Sep 14, 2007 - 08:59 PM
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Hey Aenur, don't matter how many vampires you take, my skaven are still going to kick you but, next week.