The Black Art (spellcasting)

The first thing to think about, before we dig into spells, is how many casters you have and how many dice they can use.

My first Hero slot is invariably occupied with a non-caster: a Wraith, or a Battle Standard Bearer of some variety. Coupled with my distaste for Necromancer generals, this means that in 2000 point games my spellcasting options are usually a Vampire Lord and one Necromancer, or a Vampire Count and two.

The Lord and one Necromancer give me seven dice to play with; that’s one spell from the Lord on four dice, one from the Necromancer on three. The Count and two Necromancers give me eight dice, which isn’t quite enough for everyone to work at full efficiency.

This is where I start to need an extra die and that’s why I like the Power Familiar: a reliable nine Power and six Dispel dice gets the most out of the wizards on the board. The Familiar also works very well for the Lord and Necromancer option as it lets the Lord cast two spells on four dice, slightly more likely to go off.

You can pull off the same thing with the Black Periapt for fewer points, but you need forward planning for that; you’ll be trading this phase’s dice for next, and hoping you have something to save from then too. It can work, and if points are tight it’s absolutely the way to go, but I would always advise starting with the Familiar so you know what you have to play with every turn.

NECROMANCY

1. Invocation of Nehek: All my Necromancy casters want this spell and I will drop anything but Vanhel’s Danse Macabre to get it. Level 1 or 2 wizards use the 3+ version on two dice to restore rank bonus to damaged units, and heal characters on the last turn to preserve Victory Points. Level 2 wizards cast the 7+ version on three dice for good odds of raising a new Zombie unit or restoring two ranks to a damaged unit. Level 3 and 4 wizards cast the 11+ version when you absolutely NEED a new Zombie unit, guaranteed, or when the Vampire in question has been lucky to survive an Incident and urgently needs their Wounds back.
   
2. Hand of Dust. Only relevant when a caster is in combat with something you really urgently need dead. Even if it isn’t dispelled, the caster still has to land a single attack and hope the target fails whatever Ward save it has (and anything worth casting this to kill will probably have a Ward save). Vampires will probably do more damage with their regular attacks and Necromancers can’t hit anything worth hitting. It’s rubbish. Drop it for Invocation if you get the chance.
   
3. Hellish Vigour. A good, cheap single-target buff which will help nurse a key unit through a crucial combat. Vampire Counts games are won by committing your units across the line and then helping one of them break through, and this is one spell that really helps. Especially useful on Black Knights and Grave Guard, who hit hard but only have single attacks and mediocre WS: they want all the help they can get in landing.
   
4. Gaze of Nagash. Bog standard completely out of the ordinary nothing special magic missile. Every Lore needs one and this one is fine: a level 2 can cast it easily and it does 2d6 hits, which is all you need to panic some skirmishers or shoo off a detachment or badly worry a lone character who isn’t armoured to the gills.
   
5. Vanhel’s Danse Macabre. The game breaker. An extra 8″ move, out of sequence, is dynamite. Raise a new Zombie unit behind a combat, charge them in with a Danse. Turn your Black Knights around and back into position in good order with a Danse. Leave your General hopelessly out of position and need to get them back to the action fast? You can Danse. We can Danse. At the upper end of casting value for a reason. Sometimes, only sometimes, you’ll roll more than one, and it can be chain-cast on the same unit if necessary. Flinging a Black Coach 24" across the table is the stuff dreams are made of.
   
6. Curse of Years. A level 2 wizard will struggle to get this one off, and I usually swap it out for Invocation unless doing so would leave me stuck with Hand of Dust. However, once it IS off, you’ll be leaving it in play for at least a turn. The best thing about this spell is that it eats enemy Power dice like nobody’s business: nobody wants to let the Curse tick down and so most opponents will forgo casting at least one of their own spells to make a Dispel attempt. Note that you can be cheeky and let the Curse resolve on one target, then end it and cast another spell, then recast the Curse wherever you want it to go.

THE LORE OF DEATH

I find that it’s essential to have two casters with Necromancy but (especially with the right Bound spells on my Necromancers, of which more later) a little variety can often yield more tactical options. A Vampire Count or Lord makes a good candidate for this as the Lore of Death spells have fairly short ranges and are often most effective near or within combat, and the Vampire in charge of the army doesn’t actually have to use Necromancy in sixth edition. Strange interaction. I take it to imply they see actually raising troops as beneath them, and palm the grunt work off on their Necromancers, who simply bind the undead to their masters upon creation.

1. Dark Hand of Death. Easy to cast, but also easy to flub with, as it only does a single die of hits. I will very seldom swap a spell for this as almost anything else I could do with the dice is more likely to pay off.
   
2. Death Dealer. Another cheap cast with niche appeal. Best on those occasions on which you’re expecting to lose models and need to claw back a combat, especially if you have units of Ghouls or Wights in combat with things that strike before them, or you’re fighting across an obstacle. You probably won’t need it but every once in a while it’ll pay off.
   
3. Steal Soul. The magic words “no armour save” attached to this one make it much better than its low damage output suggests. Absolutely brilliant for picking off unit champions who might otherwise interfere with your combat efforts by issuing challenges, and gaining extra wounds on a Vampire Count to boot. Also combines very well with the Asp Bow: land one of these and a shot from the bow and you can potentially knock off a Hero-tier wizard in one turn, no matter where they’re hiding.
   
4. Wind of Death is exactly like Gaze of Nagash in every way and serves exactly the same purpose.
   
5. Drain Life. In the same slot as Vanhel’s Danse and with a similar what-the-hell-just-happened potential. On a caster who likes to get stuck in, like a Blood Dragon or Strigoi Count, this spell can tip a whole game, inflicting just enough casualties on just enough units to turn an entire battleline’s worth of combats. It’s also brilliant on a Necrarch, who can extend its range to truly scary army-covering extent. Once again, no armour saves. Somewhat challenging for a level 2 to cast, though.
   
6. Doom and Darkness is a hard cast, best on a level 3 wizard, but if you can pull it off it can be game-making. If you’re up against enemies which are for whatever reason immune to the normal effects of fear but still take Break tests; a three point swing in your favour is usually enough to send those pesky Ogres running or beat the rage out of those Chaos Warriors. Also, your Rare units love this spell. With Doom and Darkness on their intended target Banshees move from a nuisance to a genuine threat, while the Black Coach has a very real chance of breaking a unit with terror or running it down after a Break test. And it would be remiss of me not to mention that Lahmians, who already radiate a Leadership malus, can now lean into one of their most subtle yet powerful effects here.