Many thanks for all the comments!
I realize I am asking for a bit of niche advice, so I appreciate everything that I get.
@brr-icy - joined the group. There seems to be a lot of information about VC already, will need to look through all of it for some juicy tips.
@Michael W and Heinrich
So it seems that a lot of magic and a lot of zombies is needed to make the army effective. That is a bit of a bother since I only have 1 necro painted and nothing but skeletons (60 of them though). As I remember in 6th wizards generate power and dispel dice, so for lower points, everything does seem to push you towards spamming Lvl2 necromancers. Which doesn't sound that fun to be honest, at least to me!
Bearing in mind your advice and looking realistically at what I have painted (and what I can paint until the tournament), I've developed this list:
1 Blood Dragon Vampire Thrall @ 143 Pts
Blood Dragon; Barding; Heavy Armour; Shield
Heart Piercing [25] - (re-rolls to hit in 1st round of combat)
Sword of Might [20] - (+1 st)
1 Nightmare @
1 Necromancer @ 145 Pts
General; Magic Level 2
Ring of the Night [30] - 5+ ward save
Spell Familiar [15] - +1 spell
1 Wight Lord @ 139 Pts
Battle Standard Bearer; Heavy Armour
Cursed Book [50] - all enemies ar at -1 to hit in 6" radius (that is an insane item btw)
24 Skeleton Warriors @ 265 Pts
Light Armour; Shield; Standard; Musician, champion
5 Dire Wolves @ 50 Pts
9 Black Knights @ 310 Pts
Barding; Lance; Heavy Armour; Shield; Standard; Musician, hell knight
Banner of the Barrows [45] - wights hit on a 3+ always
14 Skeleton Warriors @ 122 Pts, champion
Shield
1 Spirit Hosts @ 65 Pts
1 Banshee @ 90 Pts
Casting Pool: 4
Dispel Pool: 3
Models in Army: 57
Total Army Cost: 1329
Pretty straightforward idea. The necromancer hides in the small skeleton unit behind my lines, the bigger skeleton block with the bsb marches forward acting as my anvil. The knights with the thrall are my hammer. Dogs do dog stuff, the spirit host chaffs, the banshee plinks wounds off of stuff.
I realize that my casting potential is pretty meagre, but I really don't want to stick another necromancer in the smaller skeleton unit. I think I could swap out the thrall for a wight lord and maybe replace the bsb with a wraith. That would free up some points to give someone the rod of flaming death for an additional bound spell. I could also drop the ring of the night from the necromancer to give him the book of arkhan, but that leaves my general with no save whatsoever. That seems borderline suicidal!
Anyways I am not looking to create an op list, just something that I feel comfortable to play with. Will need to organise some test games soon.