Vampire counts tactics

[kyussinchains]

So I'm finally getting to the point of looking into the vampire counts list, I've read the fanatic article on them which is really useful, but I see very little about them on here, so what wisdom do the ancient vampire lords have to impart to a young hopeful?

I'm looking into getting an army and as kallistra have a range of nice models I'll be bulking the force out with their skeletons, zombies and ethereal hosts

What would people suggest for a solid 2k list? A bit of everything or max out on black knights? I was thinking along the lines of:

6x skeletons
6x zombies
4x grave guard
2x ethereal host
4x black knights
4x dire wolves
Vampire lord
3x hero
2x necromancer

Ethereal hosts sit in front of a brigade of skeletons/zombies and hide in woods to make them hard to shift, or in front of units of grave guard to soak up cannonballs, dire wolves mob enemy elite units early on, black knights accompanied by black coach get stuck in to big blocks of infantry later on, magic users make themselves annoying, blocks of skeletons and zombies hide in terrain to deny break point

At this stage I'm looking for a 2k army with options, any advice?

[honestmistake]

Not a bad list but here's a few opinions:
* I tend to use more zombies than skeletons. the extra hit is worth more than the save of 6. Try to attack with them in column to maximise your support.
* The Ethereal Host is nice but it's very fragile, I'd probably not take 2 of them.
* Fell Bats, because dropping flyers behind the enemy you are about to force back through sheer weight of numbers is big and clever, I'd always include a flying unit if they are on an army list
* Ghouls, never underestimate how useful Initiative moves can be.

Keeping close to this list I'd drop 1 unit of Grave Guard and 1 Ethereal Host. I'd use the points to upgrade 2 of the skeletons to Zombies, buy 2 units of Bats and spend the rest (10 points?) on a magic item.