Vanhel's danse macabre warhammer 8th edition lore of the vampires spell overview

Vanhel's danse macabre is another spell return in 8th edition from 7th whilst the general effect of the spell remain the same the specifics have altered. Vanhel's danse macabre still allows the unit augmented to make a move of up to 8" however this must be as a move made in the remaining move phase so units can no longer charge. The unit affected can also re roll all to hit rolls until the start of the casters next magic phase, they no longer also gain always strikes first (but re rolls does last into your opponents turn).

The vanhel's danse macabre also has an area effect with a higher casting value, this means every friendly unit within 12" will be affected. Whilst still useful the loss of the ability to charge will be keenly felt with this spell, no rapid maneuvers followed by a magical charge or charging in freshly raised units. Also units away from the general will get less out of this as they can no longer march meaning infantry units will only be able to move 4".

Like all of the 8th edition lore of vampire spells vanhel's danse macabre has the curse of undeath lore attribute and so can be used to heal the caster or another nearby friendly model. The arcane item the book of arkhan also contains this spell albeit as a bound spell.

Clever use of vanhel's danse macabre allows an already surprising fast moving army to get into postion even quicker particularly when using the area effect version of the spell. Allowing even infantry to move 16" in one turn is quite a feat and cuts down the chance your opponent has to shoot you up on the way in or to try to outmanoeuvre you.

The second use is to give a selected unit re rolls to hit or again with the area effect version all nearby units. Undead with the exception of vampires tend to have notoriously low weapon skill so re rolls to hit is always useful. There are also two units this synergises really well with crypt ghouls and crypt horrors as it gives you even more chance to get those rolls of 6 you need for poison. It also works well with the two cavalry units both black knights and bloodknights on the charge as they will also have high strength from lances.

Lastly vanhel's danse macabre synergises well with the vigour mortis effect from corpse carts granting nearby units always strikes first, it also works well with the hellish vigour augment spell. The combination of these two spells effectively gives you re rolls to both hit and hit and makes even a poor unit such as zombies or skeleton warriors much more dangerous.