Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince

Template:Khadbox This model is playable only in an Unlimited format.

Vladimir is history walking. He is a relic from a time long forgotten when men ruled with iron fists and displays of pure power. The Dark Prince refuses to let this legacy die, and will spill his blood to defend it.

Basic Info

Warcaster abilities:

• Focus Manipulation

• Battlegroup Controller

• Power Field

• Spellcaster

• Independent Model

• Leader

Feat: Forced March

Warjacks in Vladimir's battlegroup beginning their activations in his Template:CTRL range double their base SPD and can run, charge and make power attacks without spending focus. Forced March lasts for one turn.

Abilities

• Template:Parry

Weapons

Skirmisher
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				7				13
Template:Magical Damage Template:Blood Boon
Ruin
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				4				10
Template:Magical Damage

Spells

{{Category: Template:Blood of KingsTemplate:Boundless Charge

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[[:Category:{{{name}}}|{{{name}}}]]	Cost	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
	-	-	-	-	-	-
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Theme Forces

• Template:Armored Korps
• Template:Si
• Template:Jaws of the Wolf
• Template:Legion of Steel
• Template:Si
• Template:WG Kommand. In this theme the caster gains Sacrificial Pawn [Winter Guard trooper model].
• Template:Wolves of Winter

Thoughts on Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince

File:Vlad1Classic.jpg

Variant Sculpt

Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince in a Nutshell

Vlad is a powerhouse caster who doesn't quite fit any real niche in the Khador world; he's a monster support 'caster for the first few turns, situationally utilizing an awesome feat to get his jacks up the table at breakneck speed (SIXTEEN INCHES in one turn is practically breaking the sound barrier for a several-ton piece of machinery.) Or, using that same feat and Boundless Charge to ensure his 'jacks get the alpha on the enemy, while using Wind Wall to keep himself and a few key support models safe from most enemy shooting.

Once the fight is in full force, Signs & Portents turns even mediocre RAT/MAT troops into accurate hitters, and makes moderate damage rolls become reliable killers, which typically helps with the attrition game by ensuring your models don't miss what they're aiming/swinging at, and they reliably kill what they hit.

If things do start to go south, and the fight looks lost, Vlad can turn on a dime, going from a support 'caster to a melee monster, invoking his ancient lineage with Blood of Kings, boosting his stats to levels that make him nigh-unhittable, and utilizing his incredibly-buffed speed and *double-digit* MAT to start removing threats.

He's not going to wreck a heavy or a gargossal in a single swing, nor leap tall buildings in a single bound. But, man it's fun to try sometimes!

Feat thoughts

It can be used early to get your models up the table towards an objective, or be used later to spring a trap on a model who thinks you're too far away, by charging your warjacks an incredible distance. It's uses are endless, limited only by your imagination. A Khador Heavy Warjack capable of moving sixteen inches on the run, or charging eleven(or thirteen with boundless charge as well), ought to scare your opponents just a little bit.

Spell thoughts

As a general rule, if you're planning to support the army via Signs & Portents, Vlad will be the first or one of the very first models you activate. With his above-average CTRL RNG, he doesn't need to be extremely forward and expose himself to too much danger.

If your intention is to use Blood of Kings for the turn, your order of activation won't matter as much.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• A knocked-down Vlad is a dead Vlad - even under Blood of Kings.
• Lamentation locks down completely both of your most potent spells - and casters who have it can match your CTRL area. In such match-ups expect 1, maybe 2 turns when you can use BoK or S&P, before they shut it down.

Tricks & Tips

For reference, Signs and Portents roughly improves the average of rolls by 1.5 so that normal rolls would be about 8.5 and boosted rolls would be about 12, rather than 7 and 10.5 respectively.

List Building Advice

Strategy

His main method of winning is attrition, since the use of of his spells can seriously swing the bell curve on your opponent; even moderate damage dealers can hit and kill things well above their weight class, and his jacks almost always will have the alpha due to the enormous threat ranges his feat offers.

Vlad himself has a decent, if linear, assassination game. With Blood of Kings active, he's a melee powerhouse (MAT 10, for those keeping score at home) who can reliably hit even the nimblest of targets (boosted, he'll hit DEF 20 on average rolls) with (ideally) four P+S 16 and one P+S 13 swing. That'll kill just about any caster, and if a lock had enough fury to transfer it, their beasts are likely dead or mangled horribly.

Signs and Portents is Vlad's bread and butter; it allows him to take just about anything and make it better. It takes 'decent' and makes it good, turns 'good' into great, and 'great' becomes absolutely outstanding.

There is nothing in the faction that is bad for him, though, as with any caster, there are certain things which make him truly shine.

Theme thoughts

It's quite common to see Vlad in this theme, based around several minimum-sized units of the Winter Guard Rifle Corps with maximum rocketeer attachments. Utilizing Signs and Portents, those rockets are almost guaranteed to hit where they're aimed for great effect. Throw in a pair of Winter Guard Field Gun Crew for their knockdown-on-hit to make those rockets super accurate. On average dice, you're looking at between 4 and 6 damage points per shot on a heavy jack, and more on a light. Three rocketeers per unit means heavy warjacks get wrecked fast, and lighter / light warjacks die even faster. The riflemen themselves are used to clear infantry and other annoyances from zones or charge lanes.

Battlegroup

File:DragoNew.jpg

Drago is his pet warjack that he can take in any theme.

Vlad is a combined arms caster through and through, thus he enjoys bringing a rather large battlegroup. This is because his buffs support troops and jack a like; S&P makes jacks terrifying and Wind Wall makes sure they get there. His feat is battlegroup-only and shoves all of his jacks down the enemies throat. This, combined with strategically applied Boundless Charges makes sure Vlad can seize a devastating alpha. Consequently, he prefers quality melee focused jacks to squash his enemies with.

• The Juggernaut is THE Khadoran melee jack. Deploy at least one.
• Multiple Marauders are also a good idea. With Siege Weapon and S&P they will crush huge bases with their Pistons.
• The Spriggan can go along long way with him as well, helping his troops against stealthed models and stabbing foes with a 2" lance.
• Victor has it all: A good melee game, excellent guns, stealth mitigation, incendiary shots against multi-wound targets. its also a big slap of metal for Vlad to hide behind in a pinch.

Starting a 25 point list (Brawlmachine)

In 2020.10 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about its playstyle and expanded it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.

Theme - Winter Guard Kommand

Vladimir1: [+28 WJP]

• Marauder: [11 pts]
• Spriggan: [17 pts]

Ol' Grim: [6 pts]

Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich: [Free] Template:Grey

Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan: [3 pts]

Winter Guard Infantry (Min unit): [6 pts]

• 3x Weapon Attachments: [6 pts]

Kayazy Eliminators: [4 pts]

Other

Trivia

• Released way back in Warmachine: Prime (2003)
• His design, name and backstory are all based on the real-life historical person Vladimir Țepeș, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler, prince of Wallachia. Vlad the Impaler is commonly understood to be the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, which fits with the rumors about Vladimir Tzepesci's family, which is said to have sorcery in their blood and dabble into dark arts. Ironically Vlad, unlike his inspirations, seems to be a rather good guy.

Video Battle Reports

• 2018.12 Arcane Assist, vs Thagrosh2
• 2018.11 Tiny Men, vs Kaelyssa1
• Template:VBR