Hey guys. My friend has a huge problem. He likes the style of Vampire Counts, but the looks of Tomb Kings. He will only ever have enough money to support one army, so he's gt to make it count. I suggested using Tomb King models, painting them as such, but saying they are Vampire Counts, but that seems pretty lame, so he's counting on your ideas to help.

Thanks,
SL and his friend

TK usually have less models, so, if money is problem-go with TK.
Also, i would suggest to buy old VC 20 skellies in a box to save money.

I think that its not lame using skelies for both armies, most other models can not be used in both armies.

However, having played with and against both armies i have to say that VC are better army for begginer, much more "forgiving" than VC and have much more converting/using alternate models than TK.

Basically he should buy whatever is more visually appealing to him. ;)

Totally go with orcs.

Let him/her sleep on it. Investing in your first warhammer army is not an easy task, I went from going with tomb kings, then wood elves, then lizardmen, then orcs, then wood elves again, then tomb kings again, then chaos dwarves, but since they had no models I went with beastmen, which I had never even considered before. :)

I would say go with the army he wants to play. Here Im referring to VC as that seems to be the playstyle he prefers.
Theres multiple units where he could use the raw models or slight conversions to cross over. Heck you can pull from alot of armies.
Empire militia on ogre bases painted gray/white = spirit hosts.

Get the cool models. If they don't fit the rules, use other rules. In other words, get the TK models, and use whichever rules you like, using counts as.

Tell him he should buy the models he likes. If he buys models he doesn't really like he will lose interest pretty quick, they will never get painted and he will move onto some other army and have wasted his money anyway... I've seen/done it all before.

In terms of overall play, Tomb Kings have a pretty steep learning curve, but once you get to the top, they are close to unstoppable. VCs are probably easier to start with, but you really don't learn the basics of Warhammer with either army, not sure if hes a noob or not :) Everyone should play Empire as a noob, You learn all the tricks that way!

But anyway, TK and VCs have basically the same models and ideas for many units really... So he could probably do the bulk of both armies with the same models.

Tomb Kings = White Kings
Liche Priests = Necros/Vamps at a pinch

Skelies = skelies = skelies (I'm not sure if its a big issue if you have archers parading as combat skelies in a VC army)

Grave Guard = Tomb Guard
Carrion = Fel Bats

Skeleton Cav = Black Knights
A Tomb Scorpion could pass as a Varghulf
A Chariot could pass as a Corpse Cart/Black Coach I guess, but probably not the best proxie ever


So you're stuck with Ghouls, Direwolves, Zombies, Wraiths and a Vamp Lord as models without decent proxies, and none of those units are really necessary...except of course the Lord but thats one model...

I agree - he should get the models that he likes the most. If he has friends that support him in the hobby, I'm sure that the would be happy to accept whatever he can field for a long time.

BTW - most, if not all, of the character models for TK should be able to be created from basic TK skeleton sets even?

I would add a word of warning though - it may not matter to your friend, but just in case, it might be worth noting the TKs may be updated later next year. Most TK models are pretty solid sculpts, but in light of the new VC skeletons, the core of the TK army will likely be revamped. Still, may as well get the boxes of 20 skellies while they last instead of the 10-per box offer that VC players have to suffer through.

Plaguebeast

Fluff wise many of the vampire bloodlines are escaped nobility from Nehekara - theme the army around that..... retainers from the past and newly made/found supporters to help protect them in the "new world"

Flip a coin.

Because merely fielding tk models as is as if they were VC is a no go in my books. They are obviouslly egyptian undead, and large portions of the TK model line will be strictly unuseable as there are no equivalents in the vc army.

by tomb kings models for the core stuff like grave guard,skellies and by vamp stuff for heroes and vargulf and other stuff he cant change

but personally i prefer tk playstyle

I think the main thing he likes about VCs is the ability to create units out of thin air through magic, so he might just wait til the new TK book comes out to see if more necromancy comes out of it.

Another thing to take into account: Many people have a bias against VC... your friend will probably have an easier time finding opponents, getting better comp scores, and avoiding calls of "cheese!" with TKs.