And the Army rises literally from the dead...
Have been so busy with a home renovation have had little time to paint or play or even work on the Army... but some updates.
The Headsmen of Hunger Wood
As Vlad spread his gift through the decaying Sylvannian ruling elite he came across a young heiress of the Brause family. Elfi Brause was one of the few Sylvannian nobles to have spent her time in academic pursuits and she had a natural green thumb. As the only daughter and heiress of a sizeable estate that bordered Hunger Wood it was not long before the young woman was presented to Vlad and within a season at Castle Drakenhoff had become one of the new "ruling class". Her passion for Botany and the study of plants continued however after her move to undeath and she began to experiment on plants, in particular the black blood red roses of Hunger Wood that thrived within her family Estate. As time went on she learnt that nourishing the plants with fresh blood and bone caused them to bloom spectacularly over the early Autumn months outside of season.
To ensure a ready supply of Blood and Bone for her growing Conservatory, Elfi charmed a group of Outlaws that had been camping at the edge of Wood and moved them into her estate sometime before the start of the Vampire Wars. Led by the notorious outlaw Udo Wilda, they became infamous as the Headsmen of Hunger Wood. Udo was infamous for appearing brandishing a Halberd on the road, completely hooded in a dark coat before he would chase down his prey, steering them toward the Wood and the rest of his men. When the unfortunate was caught, they would be strung up in a tree upside down with a barrel placed underneath and then decapitated so the blood would be caught for his mistress, before they moved on to the next Victims. The heads of the unfortunate were always left in the middle of the Road to Essen to scare and terrify travellers.
Udo would eventually meet his demise early in the Vampire Wars. Elfi and the Headsmen were used as scouts for the Undead Army spending weeks away from the main Grand Army of Sylvannia attacking and terrifying villages and destroying morale of the populations that Vlad was preparing to strike against. Udo along with the Headsmen had pitched camp with a view of a road in Northern Stirland when a unit of Knights Panther came past. Thinking he would capture their noble blood for his mistress and score his men a rich taking, he ambushed the Knights. However arrows proved of little strength against the plate armour of the knights and as Udo stood in the road, halberd held high he was impaled by a lance. Elfi would find the bodies of her men later that evening after sunset. Elfi's hatred of the Knights Panther became legendary seeking them out at every opportunity to seek revenge for the death of her Headsmen. At the Battle of Vierstein she ripped seven knights apart before being bought low by a silvered axe, wielded by a Champion of the Knights Panther. The Knights after the war took an oath that Elfi and her kin would never rise again or be allowed to rule in Sylvannia and swore a hundred year vigil over the remains of the Brause Hermitage inside Hunger Wood.
To this day the Knights Panther still hold occasional vigil over the ruins of the Brause Hermitage and young squires are often sent as punishment to cut back and pull out the thriving Black Blood Roses that continue to bloom over the Estates fallen stone buildings. As the years have passed however and more pressing matters have driven the Knights to further afield, the Brause Hermitage has been left to its decay and every Autumn the Black Blood Roses of Sylvannia continue to thrive and spread throughout the Wood, as if they were being nourished again.
I use this unit as my second unit of Archers... along with sometimes a female Vampire who stands in for a Wizard Level 1 or 2.
