Warhammer Armies – Vampire Counts

I’m using Warhammer Fantasy Battle 8th Edition as a guide for collecting and painting various forces. Going for a modest 1,000 points still turns out to be quite a few models as I want to start with the rank and file of each army, leaving the fancier and more costly elements for later expansions.

The overall largest faction of painted models in my collection are the Vampire Counts. So rather than forming them into one army I decided to split them into themed sub-factions with the intention of sharing little to no models between them.

The first faction I am considering finished is a force led by a Vampire Count. Himself armed with two sharp blades to revel in carnage, the mundane task of raising and maintaining his undead horde falls to a Necromancer in his service.

The Vampire Lord reclaims his domain

The skeleton regiments are built from three generations of plastic sets with some extra bits taken from Chaos Marauders. The zombies are a mixture of Citadel metal and plastic figures.

All resistance was swiftly cut off

There is no stopping the march of the dead

Defeated foes soon swell the ranks of the undead

The Vampire Lord is the metal sculpt of Konrad von Carstein, while the Necromancer is the newer plastic kit.

The Vampire Lord savours his success

The Necromancer does his master’s bidding

The hunting beasts that have followed the call of their vampiric master are the early plastic wolves with some metal add-ons, a swarm of bats and a flock of giant Fell Bats.

Dire Wolves haunt the shattered town

Bats flock from the city’s catacombs

Fell Bats emerge from between the graves

The other two factions I am working on are Ghoul Kings (ghouls, zombies and monsters) and Necromancers (massed ranks of zombies and skeletons). Once they are all assembled, the Old World will tremble before the armies of the dead!

A Half Dozen Dead

I’m throwing all skeletons with polearms together into a unit of Grim Reapers for my Oldhammer Undead. The majority will probably wield scythes in the end but I am starting with this motley assortment of blades on a stick.

Three of the figures are from Marauder Miniatures, one Citadel, and one is by Bob Olley I believe. The weedy looking fellow on the left in the first photo is possibly Essex Miniatures. The figure was part of a batch purchase and I wanted to do it justice by fielding it all those decades after its creation. I imagine it portrays an unfortunate young farmhand drafted into a long forgotten war. Another broken sculpt from that purchase had already found its place as part of a terrain piece.

The dead are coming to reap the living

Heavy blades will smash through any defences mustered

Death Covers the Land

When the Winds of Hobby Motivation are waning, the Lore of Death can usually still squeeze the odd beat out of my shrivelled necromantic heart.

As one can never have enough skeletons, I painted up a couple of old metal Marauder and Citadel warriors of bone and two others which were part of a bundle purchase and possibly produced by Grenadier or another long defunct manufacturer.

The Citadel figures are mostly slotta models with one that pre-dates this era. I went with my usual simple colour scheme of mostly black and iron while painting the more ornately armoured fighters with oxidised bronze plate.

Another town falls to the walking dead

A former noble, touched by Chaos, fights on in death

The non-Warhammer miniatures of a sword fighter and a crossbowman are based on round bases as I will use them in skirmish games like Frostgrave rather than my Oldhammer Undead army.

A soldier’s weapons drill never dies

Keep ‘Em Coming!

I finished painting the remaining Night Goblins from the Knightmare Miniatures range so my warband is expanded and as complete as it currently can be. Thinking ahead for Saga, I can field three units of warriors, three trolls (I assume there will be some monster/monstrous creature slot), a shaman/wizard and the warlord.

While looking for any release info or beta rules that might be floating around (no luck there), I did come across a fan made project called A Fantastic Saga. Haven’t tried it, but clearly a lot of work has gone into the expanded rules and fantasy races that are available, so definitely worth checking out. Using the Kobaloi list, I could field my Night Goblins as a 6 points force.

Emboldened by their backup, the goblins charge ahead

Whether with flail or axe, goblins just like to bash things

If you can’t afford an axe, a wooden stick with nails does the trick

There’s a New Boss in Goblin Town

Knightmare Miniatures recently ran a Kickstarter to expand their mostly Kev Adams sculpted Greenskin Wars range. I used that opportunity to pick up the new Doom Goblins and a few more wolf riders and feral goblins.

Alongside the four goblin warriors that I am still working on, the Doom Goblins received a new leader in the shape of this big bruiser carrying a massive morning star. Might makes right in goblin society, so there wasn’t much discussion regarding his role amongst the expanding tribe.

You wanted to see my resume?

I think Kev Adams is doing some of his best work at the moment with this range so I really need to catch up with my painting. Also still looking forward to Saga Fantasy, although a generic goblin list would probably not do justice to their variety. Thinking about play testing the Doom Goblins as Saxons.

There’s going to be some changes around here

Now let’s crack on!