Sylvania

"'This land is my home, my birthright. The wind and rain are my allies. The trees and stones are my foot soldiers. The very earth will rise up against you should you try to take it from me. And my people will feast on your bones.'"
 * - Mannfred von Carstein, Lord of Sylvania

Sylvania is a playable subfaction of the Vampire Counts introduced in Total War: Warhammer. It is led by Mannfred von Carstein or Helman Ghorst.

The Vampire Counts are a collection of immortal vampires and twisted human necromancers. Using dark magic, they raise the dead and summon creatures of the night to march upon the lands of the living, seeking to dominate the world. Their armies consist of hordes of Zombies and Skeletons, backed up by ethereal ghosts and huge bat-like monsters. Vampire Counts units never rout or break; but they also have no ranged units.

How they Play
A summary of Vampire Counts gameplay:


 * Units: Large, varied roster featuring hordes of expendable undead infantry backed up by ethereal units and bat-like monsters. All lords are spellcasters.
 * Regiments of Renown: These are unique, more-powerful versions of regular Vampire Counts units.
 * Binding and Crumbling: In battle, units never rout. Rather, they will crumble into dust if losing badly.
 * Raise Dead: In campaign, units can be instantly recruited anywhere by raising the dead. Large battle sites provide more and better units to raise.
 * Vampiric Corruption: In campaign, vampires spread their influence, harming other factions. However, they take attrition in areas with low vampiric corruption.
 * Dark Magic: Vampire Counts use dark magic instead of gold, though it functions the same.
 * Bloodlines and the Blood Kiss: Vampire Counts are able to collect a special currency when defeating and subjugating other factions. This currency is used to unlock powerful Bloodline Lords and faction wide buffs in the form of Forbidden Dark Arts. (Total War: Warhammer II only)

Background
In the forsaken lands of Sylvania, the Undead battalions of the Vampire Counts gather. Upon fen and moor, creatures of darkness that have haunted the nightmares of Men for millennia break free from ancient cairns and age worn mausoleums, thundering the ground beneath them and eclipsing the moon as they spread their tattered wings and take to the skies. In the eternal gloom of ancient tombs can be heard the scrape of bone on bone, wordless moans, and the clank of rusted armour. The unliving host advances, a tide of resurrected corpses, driven on by necromantic magic and the immortal will of the Vampire Counts.

The presence of the living dead is a corruption upon the face of the world and as they expand their holdings, the very land they occupy is transformed. Their advance is heralded by encroaching mists no wind can displace, trees twisting and buckling as though in agony, and a gathering darkness of supernatural perpetuity. In battle, they are a fearsome force to behold. Legions of moldering soldiers wear down their enemies without fear or hesitation whilst colossal, contorted aberrations and bat-winged beasts crush all who dare stand in their way.

All tremble before the unliving masters of Sylvania, for they are a blasphemy against nature and reason. Those that attempt to stem their relentless onslaught will soon learn that there are fates in this world that are worse than death. The Midnight Aristocracy are masters of Death Magic and Necromancy and those that fall before their might will soon rise again. Where once stood defiant enemy soldiers now stand twitching corpse-puppets devoid of any determination save to serve the morbid fiends that now command them.

Unit Roster

 * Main article: Vampire Counts unit roster

Sylvanian armies are made up of large numbers of slow-moving, expendable undead infantry (eg: Zombies), supported by a few powerful elite units (eg: Blood Knights) and large bat-like monsters (eg: Terrorgheists and Varghulf). As such, they tend to outnumber their enemies. Vampire Counts can recruit many flying units. This includes character mounts such as the Zombie Dragon. The army also has access to a significant amount of ethereal units (eg: Cairn Wraiths) which are highly resistant to non-magical damage. Almost all Vampire Counts units cause fear, and some cause terror as well. Unlike every other faction, Vampire Counts have no ranged units at all, including no artillery. Exceptions to this are the Sylvanian Handgunners and Sylvanian Crossbowmen, being able to be recruited if you progress in the Von Carstein bloodline. (Total War: Warhammer II only)

The army is heavily reliant on its powerful lords (for instance, units may crumble if the lord dies). All Vampire Counts lords are spellcasters, and many are powerful melee fighters as well. Additionally, the army is heavily reliant on spells to summon new units, heal friendly ones and damage the enemy.

Vampire Counts spellcasters have access to the Lore of Death, Lore of Shadows and their own unique Lore of Vampires.

The Followers of Nagash faction of Tomb Kings has access to some Vampire Counts units.

Regiments of Renown
Vampire Counts have several Regiments of Renown available. These are elite, unique versions of standard Vampire Counts units.

Binding and Crumbling
Vampire Counts units are undead – they are fearless and will never rout from the battle. However if their lord is killed or if a unit is losing very badly, then they will start to lose Binding, and eventually crumble into dust (take damage over time).

Vigour
For Vampire Counts units, vigour/fatigue levels have different labels. This represents the fact that undead units never get tired, but the magic sustaining them can deplete.

In the Campaign
Sylvania is a normal, non-horde faction that occupies settlements and controls provinces.

Legendary Lord choices
Sylvania players can choose from the following lords when starting a campaign. See the individual lord pages for information on their various bonuses in campaign.


 * Mannfred von Carstein
 * Helman GhorstDLC

Dark Magic

 * This should not be confused with the Lore of Dark Magic, which is a selection of spells for the Dark Elves in Total War: Warhammer II.

For the Vampire Counts factions, money is referred to as Dark Magic, and the treasury is referred to as Total Dark Magic. This is because Vampires and Necromancers have little need of money to pay troops, instead they use magic to raise undead armies.

Blood Kiss
Blood Kisses are a new type of currency in Total War: Warhammer II, introduced as part of the Aye-Aye! Patch. It is used for unlocking various Bloodline Lords. You gain a Blood Kiss each time you make another faction into your Vassal, defeat a faction ruler in battle (not just Legendary lords, but also people like Bohemond or Surtha Ek who are NPC faction rulers), or assassinate an enemy Hero. Additionally, Mannfred von Carstein now begins the game with some of the currency.

Bloodlines
Bloodlines is a new feature added in Total War: Warhammer II, introduced as part of the Aye-Aye! Patch. You utilize the new Blood Kiss currency to unlock new Bloodline Lords and powerful faction effects.

Raise Dead



 * Main article Raise Dead (mechanic).

Raise Dead allows Sylvanian armies to instantly raise units anywhere on the campaign map. This replaces the normal global recruitment pool that other factions use. This allows Sylvania to reinforce very quickly after a battle, especially when it is combined with normal recruiting/reinforcement.

Most of the time Raise Dead is limited to only a few basic units (eg: Zombies) per turn. However, if the player moves their army to the site of a major battle fought earlier in the campaign, the number of units they can Raise will be increased, and more elite units will be available (eg: Hexwraiths, Grave Guard, Vargheists).

The sites of major battles will be marked on the campaign map with a glowing blue circle and a battle site marker, which shows what turn the battle was fought, the number of casualties etc.

Vampiric Corruption

 * Main article: corruption.

Vampiric corruption is spread across the land by all Vampire Counts factions as well as the Vampire Coast factions. It represents the growing influence of vampire covens and dark magic on the land.

Vampiric Corruption harms most other factions (negatives to growth and public order, including the possibility of generating vampire counts rebellions), and benefits the Vampire Counts. However it is also a limitation: if a Vampire Counts army moves into an area with low vampiric corruption, they will take attrition damage. Additionally, if corruption is too low, Vampire Counts may suffer a rebellion of the native population.

Buildings

 * Main article: Vampire Counts buildings

Also shared by Von Carstein and the Barrow Legion.

Technology

 * Main article: Vampire Counts tech tree

Vampire Counts factions have a tech tree split into 4 branches, each revolving around a different book of dark magic.

Inventory

 * Vampire Counts items
 * Vampire Counts followers
 * Vampire Counts banners

Stances
Stances available to Vampire Counts armies:


 * March, Ambush, Raiding, Channelling

Post-battle options

 * See Post battle options.

Settlement Options
Vampire Counts factions have these settlement options when they have captured a settlement:
 * Occupy
 * Loot and Occupy
 * Sack
 * Raze

They can also colonize ruins.

In Total War: Warhammer II, Vampire Counts can Treasure Hunt.

Commandments
See the article on commandments for a list of Vampire Counts commandments.

Climate Preferences
Sylvanian climate preferences for settlements in Total War: Warhammer II:


 * Favorable: Temperate, Wasteland, Desert, Jungle
 * Unpleasant: Frozen, Savannah, Mountain, Island
 * Uninhabitable: Ocean, Chaotic Wasteland, Magical Forest

Regional Occupation
Under the regional occupation system of Total War: Warhammer, Vampire Counts factions can only occupy temperate lowlands, along with humans. They cannot occupy Mountain/Wasteland areas, The Chaos Wastes or Norsca (region).

Starting Position


Vampire Counts start in Eastern Sylvania in both The Old World and Mortal Empires.

Victory Conditions
Victory conditions for Sylvania in campaign:


 * Mortal Empires Short Campaign:
 * Maintain control of 12 provinces, either by direct ownership or through vassals and military allies
 * Destroy the following faction(s):
 * Reikland
 * Ensure that any presence belonging to the following factions exists only in the Chaos Wastes region:
 * Warriors of Chaos, Warherd of Chaos
 * Ensure that Archaon the Everchosen is in a wounded state


 * Mortal Empires Long Campaign:
 * Maintain control of 20 provinces, either by direct ownership or through vassals and military allies
 * Destroy the following faction(s):
 * Reikland, Karaz-a-Karak, Couronne
 * Ensure that any presence belonging to the following factions exists only in the Chaos Wastes region:
 * Warriors of Chaos, Warherd of Chaos
 * Ensure that Archaon the Everchosen is in a wounded state

Chaos Invasion
During a Chaos Invasion, the AI Vampire Counts factions remain neutral. That being said, dealing with Chaos is still part of their victory conditions.

Strategy

 * Counts heroes and buildings can generate Vampiric Corruption within campaign map provinces. Uncorrupted provinces will cause attrition to the travelling army, meaning sending heroes to pave the way for invasion is a wise choice. Corruption can also be generated in adjacent regions by certain buildings, and may trigger Vampiric rebellions.
 * Vampire Counts have no ranged units. Hit fast, hit hard, and close distance. Solid infantry, fast cavalry, and plenty of magical and terror units, combined with immunity to panic and excellent flying units means that the Counts excel in aggressive attacks and bold maneuvers. Use Fell Bats and Dire Wolves to tie up enemy ranged units and stop them firing. Fell Bats can even be used to screen, taking hits from enemy projectiles to protect the rest of the army.
 * Attrition? Vampire Counts don't care about death and you shouldn't either. Mastery of necromancy allows Necromancers to bring extra zombies into combat in battles, as well as instantly recruiting full units into the army on the campaign map.
 * Strong battle magic options, including raising of new units from the dead. Units cause fear, impacting enemy leadership. Crumbling: wavering is for the living. Vampire Counts units experience casualties over time and melee damage penalties when suffering from low leadership levels instead of routing.
 * Remember that some battle casualties are automatically raised from the dead post-battle, even in defeat. Don't be afraid to sacrifice some expendable units.


 * A weird but completely valid way to play Sylvania is to completely ignore any high tier units, and only focus on Skeletons. This is possible, due to the fact that the Lore of Vampires has great damage spells and excellent support spells. The technology that makes this way of play possible is "Defiler of Ancient Burrows" which reduces upkeep of Skeleton troops by 100%, making them essentially free. This allows you to recruit armies with a lord, necromancer and 18 skeletons and still come out on top, due to the power of the Lore of Vampires. If played this way, a single Sylvanian army can cost as much as 500 gold per turn, thereby making it the most cost-effective way to play them. This army misses a siege attacker, and a lord on a zombie dragon is recommended to speed up your siege attacks.

DLC
There is the following paid DLCs which has extra content for Sylvania:


 * The Grim and the Grave (adds Helman Ghorst and various other units).

Trivia

 * Sylvania had 3 legendary lords in the first game, but only 2 in the second since Heinrich Kemmler has been moved to his own faction, The Barrow Legion.
 * In the Potion of Speed Update for Total War: Warhammer II the faction received a name change. Previously, they had the generic name "Vampire Counts", sharing the name of their race.

Videos

 * The Vampire Counts Trailer


 * Unit Guide by Zerkovich


 * Vampire Campaign Strategy Guide


 * Vampire Unit Roster Guide


 * Vampire Lords & Heroes Guide


 * Vampire Pros & Cons