The first thing that I would say about this new army book is that it is what I thought it would be. Just like the other 8th edition books, they nerf out the crazy combinations that you can do, gave some magic items and a lot of choices.
The units that are in the book have been more balanced and 8th edition friendly. Skeletons and zombies are now cheaper and and ghouls are more expensive. This still brings up the question of what to field, skeletons or ghouls. Ghouls are the more offensive choice while skeletons are more of an anvil. Ghouls have more attacks that are poisoned and a toughness of 4. Skeletons can have
a 5+ armor save and parry. Skeletons can also have a magic banner and a musician. One other note, skeletons are half the points of ghouls.
Zombies got better with now having a higher Strength and Toughness and now they can have characters. They make great bunkers for wizards that can't fight. Also, dire wolves are now again a true core unit.
The number of special units you can take now is great. This is where you can really customize a list to fight certain opponents and really give variety. The new Crypt Horrors are very tough and are hard to take down. The Varghiest on the other hand are very offensive. They have a lot of attacks with frenzy,
have a high strength and are the only monstrous infantry that can fly. Since they have the Vampire rule, they can also march. Also, because they are Vampiric, they are harder to heal and having no save makes them fragile.
Corpse Carts are great support for your fighting units. Their ability to give units are Always Strike First is better than it was before, since it goes off when a spell is cast.
Grave Guard lost a little bit with the loss of the Drakenhoff Banner and magical attacks but they are still a great unit for their points cost. If they are awesome when buffed with spells and corpse carts.
The Mortis Engine is good for lists that have lots of regenerating units and becomes more destructive as the game goes on. The main draw back to it for me is its points cost.
As for characters, they are string and expensive. With now having Master Necromancers being a Lord choice, It is possible having good hand-to-hand lord with a 4th level spellcaster. You can either do that with one Vampire Lord or a Vampire Lord with a Master Necromancer. There are also great new vampiric powers such as quick blood, dread knight and master of the dark arts. The Lore of Vampires is also a great lore for the army with 3 augments and Raise Dead to summon units that are not worth any victory points to enemies.
Overall, I really happy with the book and the lists that I have created. It gives a variety of lists and is balanced. A good book from Games Workshop.
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