"Surrender and serve me in life, or die and slave for me in death."—Vladimir von Carstein, Count of Sylvania.
Good evening all!
Long, long, long time lurker, first time poster.
My group has recently seen a bit of a resurgence in interest in the old world, specifically 6th edition for a myriad of reasons. But one epoch we've all looked into is the time of the Three Emperors and more importantly the part of that which covers the first vampire war.
Over the coming months we are putting together our armies from various provinces and cities and intend to have a campaign weekend of a bunch of Empire (and assorted other factions) duking it out in the depths of the Drakwald. We have started covering the Empire Civil War and our current WHFB on our podcast, Dudes Talking About Toy Soldiers:
https://dtats.podbean.com/ (If anyone wants an ear bleed, go ahead!).
Anyway after much blathering, I have opted to go the Vampire Counts... Vampire Counts you say, on an Empire Forum, well well well my dear fellows (and fellowettes) I feel they are fitting as I'll be leaning heavily into the mortal troops of the Von Carsteins, using predominantly the 6th ed Back of Book army that allowed limited Imperial Troops. We'll also allowing DoW/RoR so there is some more options of squeezing in mortal troops there also!
I'm slowly rattling through the list, but I got suckered in, as I think we all do, into doing a Lord Choice that probably won't see the table for a good, long while. I find though, it helps set the scene by working out your big, centre piece HQ.
So while he isn't yet painted, I give you the man, the monster, the unloving bringer of peace and prosperity, Vlllaad Voooon Caaarssteeeeiiiin!!
So with good old Vlad I tried keeping some parts of the really original model (campy collar, slick backed hair, good looking sort of rooster) while also touching on the newer Vlad model (Shoulder spike/Shoulder Pad, Sword, Varghulf cape etc) and add in some bits and pieces of my own. He is also sitting on a 40mm base as I wanted him to stand out a bit, and figured it would be fun having a Dire Wolf and some bats on there also as that was very much Vlad's schtick.
Will probably get him undercoated in the next few days to make sure all of the joins and transitions of materials match up ok, but painting wise he'll probably back burner while I get some mooks done.
Speaking of mooks, I've started the first 10 of a skellington unit.
These guys as you've no doubt guessed are using the Cursed City Skeletons, I tried to pull back a bit on the Turkish vibes they had and 'empire' them up a bit, which I hope comes across. They'll be getting another pass probably to get a little bit of glow coming from their eyes.
Finally, some mortal troops, I just love the idea of the mortal troops fighting alongside the shambling horses of the dead and I feel skirmishers logically fit very well within that sort of order of battle. I imagine they'd just lurk around the edges of these hordes and fire willy-nilly into the ensuing melee.
So I give you some Sylvanian Huntsmen.
Nothing overly exciting to see there in all honesty, just some of the fantastic Empire Archer kits put to good use.
SO whats next, well I've got a pair of bat swarms, 5 dire wolves and a spirit host all undercoated, but am currently setting up a new resin printer to get to work on Reptilian Overlords fantasy mercs, as I need me some decent crossbowmen!
Thanks for tuning in!
