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Hello,
Newbie here, i have built an army based on the 8th edition i believe, some friends and i are starting a campaign style game. We are going to have some skirmishes to get us used to the rules etc. We have been limited to 1000 points
so i have got the following
20 dreadspears
10 crossbow men
5 Dark riders
5 cold one knights
1 dread lord on a cold one
1 sorceress on a cold one

What would be the best tactics to use say to fight vamps and chaos???

My initial plan was to try and lure them in with dark riders then hammer them with coldness while the spears keep them busy.

It's a nice start for a fun army. It lacks a bit of punch, but the characters can make up for that. Although it's going to be a tight fit for both characters.
For the dreadlord, you could start by giving him heavy armour and a sea dragon cloak, then the dawnstone from the big rulebook. Depending the points left, you can give him either a great weapon, or a magical weapon as you prefer.
The sorceress could be a force to reckon with if she has a lore with direct damage, like fire or Dark Magic. I would just give her a dispel scroll to keep her cheap and on the side of the unit to minimize the number of models that can attack her. Dark magic is preferable but a little more complex.

Thanks for getting back. What sort of changes would you make? Bare in mind no named units, 1 hero, 1 general, and 1 special

Thanks again

I would tune it as follows:
- 210pts - Dreadlord, cold one, heavy armour, sea dragon cloak, dawnstone, great weapon
- 245pts - Supreme Sorceress, Level 3, Cold One, Dark Magic
- 205pts - 20 Dreadspears, Banner, Musician, Gleaming Pennant
- 120pts - 10 Darkshards
- 100pts - 5 Dark Riders, Repeater Crossbows
- 150pts - 5 Cold One Knights

You could consider putting the Sorceress on foot, to free some points for upgrades here and there, like a musician for the cold one knights. Alternatively, you could drop the gleaming pennant and the cold one on the sorceress to upgrade her to level 4 or give her a fun toy to play with

If you're open to any list then there are countless of options to go to. Which one will give you the most fun depends heavily on the situation:
- What models do you have available?
- What models do you like?
- Do you prefer a list focused on a theme or a play style?
- Is it made for competition, or local gaming groups?
- Do you want the same units at larger point sizes?
- How many models are you willing to paint? Infantry armies will have considerably more models
It's easy to swap to an entirely different army on paper, but in all fairness, what you have right now looks like a balanced start and it resembles a list I played with quite often. It works and it's fun. If you already have the models, then I'd go with this list and try it out.

If you want to keep all options open, then let's start with where you want to go and we can discuss units within that context.
Good luck!

vampires you wanna hit his main unit from all sides and combat res his vampire lord (or whatever) to death! don't try to fight it, he'll kill you. combat res! use word of pain to -D3 strength from the vamp in a challenge with your lord (1+ re-roll save), he should save all the incoming wounds hopefully, if you with the vamp's strength by 1 or 2. combat res should crumble him! few rounds of shooting beforehand to reduce that unit... then massive combo charge!! (easier said than done....)

Make sure you have a magic weapon if you are facing vampires. Those ethereal units will make you cry if you don't. I like the dreadlord set-up that goes like this:

1) Dreadlord (dark steed, full mundane armor (1+ AS), Giant sword, other trickster's shard, and dawnstone (for rerolling armor saves)). This is a very offensive build that has been a favorite of many on the forum. Then have your sorceress use life magic to help heal and protect him. The darksteed can be swapped for cold one fairly easy, at low level games.

Actually against Vampire blender-lords, I find the Black Amulet REALLY good. First turn you'll kill his champion. After that, he has to start making hard choices about who is going to die next.

If you can squeeze her in, any army with Hellebron in it will cause vampire counts and warriors of chaos a lot of grief. She can slice through enemies like a knife through warm butter: get her into combat with most vampire or chaos lords and they just die, they really do (there are a few exceptions, but really very few). Little survives against 8-10 magic weapons attacks at WS7 and S10 with ASF, murderous prowess, and poison. She also offers her unit a nice +4 dispel bonus, which makes her unit very hard to damage through magic missile fire. Just make sure that the Blood Queen only gets into combat with units that she and her unit can one-shot destroy, though, and avoid those big units of zombies who may kill her through survival and grinding.

I don't find Helebron that good actually. Where there is a blender-lord, there is also the Night Shroud to make you lose ASF. Once that happens, you're character is toast be it Helbron or a lord with the Black Amulet.