I have heard hexwraiths in units of 10 are good. I am not so sure. So which is better over 6 games vs random opponents in a tournament??

10 black knights with full command, barding, lances etc and eternal flame banner 300 points

10 hexwratihs with champion 310 points

Please list any pros n cons below.

Black Knights[u]

Pro

* Barded Skeletal Steed, Heavy Armour, Shield = 2+ Armour save
This is wicked, apart from kitted characters, this unit has the best armour save in the Vampire Counts army.

* Toughness 4 makes them even more resiliant, clearly they are the better bunker for cavalry characters.

* Lance/Killing Blow
Great striking power on the charge with a lance, and the threat of st4 killing blow makes them scary in subsequent combat rounds

* Swiftstride makes for an awesome threat range

* With full kit (lance/barding) a Black Knight comes in 4 points cheaper then a Hexwraith

* Ability to raise back multiple models at one time, as opposed to hexwraiths who carry the ethereal special rule, limiting the amount they come back by

* Better leadership for crumble (heaven forbid )

* Can take full command and magic banners!

* Do not suffer movement penalties for barding

Con

*Black Knights lose the ethereal steeds ability if a character joins them (excluding Wight King as he can buy a skeletal steed to maintain ethereal).



Hexwraiths[u]

Pro

* Vanguard provides great tactical options early in the game and a more forgiving deployment phase

* Spectral Hunters grants them St5 magical flaming attacks with NO armour save just for passing through an enemy with no threat of loss to your own unit (if they had magic weapons or high static resoloution)..... wicked

* They cause terror

Con

* They are each 4 points more then a Black Knight

* They have a 6+ armour save for protection beyond etheral so will die in droves against magic missile/weapons.

* Lower leadership means they go *poof* alot easier

Anyways that's all I can think to compare them by off the top of my head, not that I have run Vamps in a while, and as freaking cool as Hexwraiths are, I think the black knight unit wins my pick.

Better yet, take both!

Also its harder to get all the hex wraiths into a enemy unit. The fact you only get 1 hit isnt so great. At least its a auto hit...

A unit of 10 Hex Wraiths will find it hard to move through anything... They have to finish their move at least an inch away from an enemy, and they can only march inside generals range.

10 Black Knights will go better.

Surely the two units have completely different roles?
I would say put the general in with the black knights and have the hexwraiths nearby. Then the Black knights can charge in and the Hexwraiths can ghostly sweep through. Very scary.

This, in practice its almost impossible to actually go through any unit, especially with two ranks. Also in the off chance that you can make it through a unit, how much are you paying for those S5 hits? Great at opposing cav units in theory, but you might as well charge those units as cav arent known for their magical attacks or static combat res (chaos & grail knights aside). I think hex wraiths' ability to fly through things is quite gimicky in actual practice, their main ability is fast moving ethreal, although I think spirit hosts are still better in this role. Black Knights are your traditional cavalry and they perform the job admirably, and with S4 & KB they're quite effective in a grind. Not that Im a VC player or anything, this is just how I see them from the other side of the table. Hexwraiths are a lot harder to kill though, a doom diver or organ gun (go-to options for anti-cav) wont scratch them one iota. Two completely different roles though.

Arfa da Grate

For what it is worth, if you have extra skeletal steeds, you can assemble both out of one box. Use the steeds in the box for the hexwraiths, and the extras (possibly even from previous editions or other manufacturers) for the black knights.

But Hexwraiths are a ROYAL pain in the backside to assemble...