Undead - Spearhead 3

Lars Vallhund, Raoul de Tosny and Tormund Stahl

Some new recruits for the Horde of Dreux today. Three minis I have had awaiting the attention of the brush for a long, long time. It’s a little surreal finally getting to them after all these years, but very satisfying indeed, my lovelies.

This delight in metal form is a 1986 sculpt by my man, Aly Morrison. I love the undead from this era with a deep and inappropriate intensity. You often hear from old Grognards like myself; 'They just got more character they do, my lad, ah, them were they days.' Well, in this case, they do. Look at this guy, with his punky mohawk, mysterious robes and head collection (lifted from the Dead Men of Dunharrow Lord of the Rings range, I hasten to add.) He's the business. 

His paintjob followed my usual recipes, but this time I added a couple of glazes over the bone. A 1:1 mix of Skeleton Horde contrast paint and medium. Then a mix with less medium for recesses. Works a treat to add a little richness to the bone.

The banner was a new direction. White Dwarf 512 had an article on painting the new Soulblight Gravelord minis, and part of that was the banners. The faded look to these banners struck me as just super cool, and contrasted nicely with the rust, robes, bone and armour of the undead. I changed it a little, but it's pretty much the same recipe. I really like how it turned out.

Next we have Lars Vallhund, who hails from the same range as Raoul. Like the standard bearers, there are three variant musicians. This one is by far the most metal. I got great amusement from painting his goaty accoutrements. He looks a bit wild for a skeleton warrior, and is certainly a memorable sculpt. I hadn't seen a version of him painted that I can recall. I thought his drums would be nice as aged bronze, so that's what I went with.

This rather non-descript skeleton warrior is one of the many little beauties they produced in the 80s. I don't know the sculptor I'm afraid. He's a nice hunched fella, and has a lot of visual interest from the back. See for yourself:

Cool huh? The skulls on the base are from old square base resin base toppers. I've taken to clipping them up lately for adding little points of interest to bases.

So, that's the latest. Lots more undead on the way. I still have quite a few Morley grave guard to paint up, as well as the wight king. Then we get onto some cavalry. I'm having trouble selecting my horsemen, there are many wondrous candidates. More soon, and happy Deadcember!

Undead - Spearhead 2

Another undead minion rises from the painting table! This time it's Riccar de Purcell, skeleton champion. He's going to be leading one of my skeleton units for the Spearhead force, Riccar's Spears.

Riccar is one of my favourite skeleton miniatures of all time. One of Aly Morrison's sculpts for Citadel, if I'm not mistaken. Look at those janky swords. That collar! He most likely calls his enemies 'YOU FOOLS!' a lot. It's well past time he returned to the gaming table after some paint love. 

He'd been languishing in a tub for some time now. I had to break him out of his old square base and clean him up a little before getting some Wraithbone primer on him. His paint scheme wasn't anything magical, but Contrast paint washed and glazes do jazz up these old boys something lovely, in conjunction with drybrushing and layering.

I'm really, really enjoying this batch of undead. I've had some of them for decades, so it's very satisfying to finally get some paint on them. More fodder for the skeleton units to come!

Undead - Spearhead 1

Today we get into some Oldhammer, and as it’s getting onto the spooky season, what better than two old honest-to-goodness skeleton warriors. You can’t get more wholesome than that.

This pair of rusty rattlers were sculpted by Roy Eastland back in 1990, and appeared in White Dwarf 133. He only did a few of these undead, and they were easily the best skeleton Citadel had produced for many years, though I recall them being hard enough to get. They are still very highly regarded by Oldhammer folk, and rightly so.

I’m lucky enough to have the full set of these lads, so I think 35 years later is about time to get them painted. I’m currently building a Spearhead force for Age of Sigmar, and it requires a few skelly troops. It’s really just a nice concise list to hang a painting project from.

There’s a lot of fun to be had painting old minis with more modern paints and methods. I used a lot of contrast on these two for glazes and recess washes.Typhus Corrosion technical paint from GW is a wondrous help for weathering and general grime. 

I’m pretty content with my rust technique too, which is mostly red and orange washes over dark silver that has had a brown wash. Then a couple of layers of drybrushing and maybe some edge highlights.

I have quite a few more undead on the paint table, and I’m loving the everyday joy of raising the diminutive dead to do my bidding. 

It’s the simple things, eh? 

Undead - Jarl the Gatekeeper

Leaving the gleaming spires of the neon future, it's now time for something more... autumnal. Heading back to my first love, the undead, I give you Jarl the Gatekeeper, Seneschal of the Order of Dust, formerly the Knights Hellion.

Jarl was a wight champion in my old Warhammer Fantasy Battle army, and fought over several editions. Having recently painted a new version of his master, Stephane Dreux, I decided to add a new take on Jarl to lead the wights of the Order of Dust in my little Soulblight Gravelord Spearhead force.

Sculpted by Alessio Cisbani as part of his undead Mordheim range, I was very taken with this mini as soon as I saw the green. It's a lovely sculpt. Painting-wise, I updated my black iron armour recipe a little, adding more reds and brown, and another layer or so of highlights. On the advice of a friend I used Cadian Fleshtone to highlight Barak-Nar Burgundy on his surcoat, and I'm glad I did, it sits nicely into my colour scheme for the army.

I'm feeling the undead mojo right now, so I think a few more members of the Spearhead might be in the offing. As nights draw in and Halloween approaches, it's only right, don't you think? Here's Jarl with the nascent but revitalised Order of Dust. More Gary Morley wights on the way I reckon.

Undead - Vampire Knight

Today we have a miniature I've been slowly ticking over in between other projects. It's taken months of five minutes here and ten minutes there to complete him. But finally, Stephane Dreux, vampire knight, is finished.

This fellow is a mounted vampire knight by Reaper Miniatures. I picked up the model many years ago. I originally started him to use as my champion in games of Full Tilt (and I still may) but life got in the way and he never got finished. Rather than have him linger in the half-done box, I resolved to just pick away at him when I had a minute. 

He's a metal model, and required a fair bit of clean-up and some lance repair. Colour-wise I used Juan Hidalgo Miniatures' 'Eavy Contrast - Blood Dragon Vampire Lord tutorial (mostly) for the knight's armour. The horses armour I got from the Citadel Colour App for Blood Dragon horse armour. I wanted a darker, more sombre red for the horse armour.

The black horse was a bit tough, as I wanted it to have some reflection to simulate the sheen from a horse's body. The lance I painted as a kind of semi-fossilised bone. The shield is black, but has a few gradiated coats of red glazes. All the tackle, straps and belts etc. are worn brown leather. 

Purple cloth, some aged brass and a vibrant orange jewel for contrast finishes him off. 

Stephane Dreux is another long-serving character in my armies. A former knight of Bretonnia cut down and turned into a Blood Dragon vampire, he amps up the self-pitying anti-hero schtick to eleven. You can read more about Stephane in my old page on the Horde of Dreux. Here's a snippet:

When Stephane grasped the grail it burned him terribly, but he would not release it. His body smoked and blackened as the new-born vampire clung onto the holy object. He wanted to die rather than exist as a perversion of the man he had been only scant hours before. As he burst into flame the lady moved to save him. Aregisel was built over a spring sacred to the Bretonnian deity, and she had sensed the host of men battle valiantly against their enemies. Stephane had defended her shrine until he had been transfixed by his enemies blades, and she resolved that his fate was not to die in agony and failure.

Oh yeah, feel that angst. I bet he broods a lot on cliff edges.

Anyhow, there you go, that's another Mumble in the bag for now!

Bonefields - Characters

Following on from my earlier post on Macrocosm's upcoming Bonefields release, I've been beavering away on some more of the new range. First up is this fantastic goblin vampire. I don't recall ever seeing a goblin vampire before (gobpire? Vamplin?) but Alessio Cisbani has done a fantastic job on this evil wee spud. I'd love to see him do other types of goblin vampires.

I moved away from the traditional goblinoid green for his flesh to up the vampireosity, just adding some green glazes to his eyes and other facial recesses. I painted him in fancy lacquered red armour, but, as he IS a goblin after all, it's dirty and knackered looking. Two rusty swords complete to look for this diminutive blood-drinking nutter.

I've also completed two more goblin undead, a spearman and one of the goblin heavy infantry. As with the other goblin skeletons they paint up nice and easy. I have some of the more exotic goblin undead on the table at the moment, but that's for another post.

Next up we have the wizened little dwarf Necromancer. He's all feet and head this lad, and has a scuttling sneaky pose that's distinctly un-dwarfy.

Flanking our creepy wee necromancer we have two of the new undead dwarf slayers/berserkers. They still have their golden arm clasps, but those luxurious beards are gone forever. Truly a fate worse than death for a dwarf. They must be mad as hell.

I have another batch of Bonefields minis on the painting table at the moment. Once they are done it'll be time for some warband photos. There are some truly hilarious models in the pipeline, I can't wait to get to some of the more unusual undead, they'll be a lot of fun to get on the gaming table.

Freshening the Dead

Recently, with the return of Nagash and the general undead vibe going around, my thoughts have turned to adding some new bits and pieces to my undead army. It's been a few years since I worked on it, and I have a hankering to add some new units. I have a lot of old lead sleeping uneasily in their cardboard graves, awaiting the call.

With that in mind, I've been looking at the basing scheme on my existing undead units. I'm not entirely sure I still like it, but I can't make up my mind. The black does frame the miniatures nicely, but maybe it's time to update it to something a tad more realistic and earthy. I'm considering breaking one of my own cardinal rules here, and going back over old work, but it wouldn't take too long, a couple of weeks. It's more a pain in the arse. I'd rather do that though than paint new units to match a basing scheme I don't think still cuts the mustard. I've been looking over them for a couple of days, and I think I can't see them anymore. Is the flock getting a little tired looking? Would more of a dark earth work better with some tufts etc?

Or are they totally fine as is, and I'm a madman for even thinking about it?

Here is where you come in, dear reader. To re-paint the bases, or not? You tell me. I've scattered some samples from the army so you can see the existing scheme. I leave it you, as I'm 50/50 right now...

Nagash Returned

Since my last post, the internet has imploded with pictures of the big fellow and his attendant releases. Normally I wouldn't post about something that's going to be released in a few days, but I'm a bit of a fan of Nagash and the undead in general, and there seems to be big changes in the warhammer world and indeed how the game is played. Whether this is as part of a campaign in the book, or in general, I don't know.

First off, when I saw the initial sasquatch of Nagash, I was unimpressed. I should know better by now, but hey, I was excited. Things were said.

However, this the appearance of the new images I have to say I am happy to change my mind. He's magnificent. The floating ghosts bearing him up are excellent. He's going to be a nightmare to transport though. Battlefoam are probably already working on the 'tomb of Nagash' transport case. His rules are pretty good, but boy is he expensive at 1,000 points. Here's the White Dwarf rules.

I was surprised to see Nagash gets his own army book. The cover seems to show Nagash shouting. 'HEY. I GOT MY OWN ARMY BOOK! DID YOU GET YOUR OWN ARMY BOOK? NO? THAT'S RIGHT, BECAUSE YOU SUCK! HA HA HA! ALSO! CHECK OUT MY NEW HAT!' Proper order in my opinion. Still, the 'undead legion' army lists seems to be a combination of Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts, with a spate of new releases coming in alongside Nagash. One of the two books in the set is pure background. This is kind of a must-have for me, it looks so tasty. Mmm, Nagash flavoured... 

I hear Kislev is gone. That's kind of big, and I'm not sure I'm digging it. There's a lot of Kislev armies out there crying little lead tears. I have the ice queen here somewhere. That must be where the sobbing is coming from. From BoLS:

 He looks smug there on the cover, don't he?

Warhammer, The End Times is noted to contain new rules that change the way a game of Warhammer can be played. It is not a new edition.

• Warhammer: Nagash - 2 hardback books in a slip case. €65
• Book 1: 296 page fluff book detailing the return of Nagash and events that affect every Warhammer race.
• Book 2: 96 page book containing rules for Nagash, new miniatures, the Lore of Undeath, Undead Legion, fighting underground and more apparently.
• Nagash - no mention of him being a dual kit, rules are included in the box. €85(!!)
• Magic Cards
• Nagash Novel

What the background in the WD tell us: 

• I hope you didn't like Kislev, because there is no longer a Kislev. 
• Archaon's advance has been stalled by Vlad under the order of Nagash (the Empire was in major trouble). 
• Nagash goes fighting to unite the Tomb Kings and VC (one of the scenario pictured in WD translate into "the Fall of Settra").

Regarding miniatures/rules:

• Nagash is magnificent, and very very tall thanks to his flying posture (he is supported by a bunch of souls). 
• But he's not that massive overall, I have no idea how he managed to reach the 85€ pricetag. 
• Not a dual kit. 
• No other models that week, but the ones serving under him are hinted at the end of WD for the week after (so I suppose Vlad and that Arkhan dude, note that I know the WFB lore very poorly).
•  As people expected, the new magic lore appear to work like Demonology for 40k (except with undead). 
• Rules are changing with that extension, 50% lords for example. 

That's some big stuff. Kislev gone? It's highlighted and in bold, so it must be true. Settra possibly dead? As far as rules go 50% on lords? Yipes. There are a lot of other new undead releases, which spells bad times for my finances. I think Christmas is sorted. The new kits seem to fall under a few dual or even triple kits.

• Spirit Hosts
• Morghast with VC/TK alternate
• Monster kit that produces Neferata/Mannfred/Arkhan.

So it looks like four new kits all in all, and these new kits look bloody nice. An undead monster stuffed to the gills with skulls is about the most GW thing I've ever seen. Not entirely sure on the Morghasts yet, they're a bit action figurey, but I'll reserve final judgement until I see them up close. The spirit host are great. Finally, a decent spirit host set. Mannfred is hilarious. His pose implies he's shouting something along the lines of 'Suck it, b****tttches!' to all and sundry.

Mannfred. He's doing well for himself, isn't he?

Neferata

Spirit Host (Finally!)

Morghast Harbingers

Arkhan

There is a new lore too, the lore of undeath. New cards are going on sale alongside Nagash and the book. Seems he can pick pretty much whatever the hell spells he likes. There's a novel, and possibly a commemorative mug. There may be a parade. Actually, that would be quite the parade. Judge Death would probably be the commentator. 'Here issss the man himseelllff, loooking dazsssling in hisss amazssssinggg neeww hat. Whaaat a classss act. Now ovverr to Juudge Mortisss who is coming to usss from the foot of the black pyramid ffflooattt..."

Sorry. Nagash is my Justin Beiber. 

Anyway, here's the release schedule, better get some of that bone coloured paint before it's all sold out.

Looking Beyond the Fimir - Poll Results

Well now, that was interesting.

Some serious food for thought with the poll results so far. I was a little surprised at the amount of enthusiasm shown for the Cult, but then, it is pretty loved as a niche army. The other thing was the total lack of love shown for the renegades. I guess you don't see many renegade/raider forces, it's all chaos space marines. To my mind the old metal marines look like they've spent 10,000 years slowly mutating and going insane, thought the very latest chaos marines models are definitely moving in the right direction. Space marines with spiky helmets though, no thanks.

The other thing that came to the fore was how much I was rooting for the fimir. Obviously my heart still lies with the swamp dwellers, and in any case it was never going to be a case of abandoning them once I got to two thousand points. They came in a strong second, so my decision, she is thus:

I'm going to keep on with the fimir until I get to a respectable two thousand four hundred points. At that stage I'm going to introduce a second project and work on them both, I just have too many things I want to add to the fimir army even beyond two thousand four hundred. But, it looks like I'll be looking for a lot of new conversion pieces in the tyranid range for project number two. There will be a third project beginning in January 2014, that one will have a lot of heat rays and howitzers involved...

Here, then, is the first bit of background for the Cult of the Dawn.

"It is M40.999 by Imperial reckoning, and world of Thelema in the Segmentum Obscurus is at war. After fifty years of conflict there is no respite to the fighting, and there is no end in sight. Both sides fight with righteous fury over the devastated remains of once mighty Imperial cities.

The Order of the Dawn had grown strong and powerful before the war, secretly expanding their power base over more than a century. They had moved into human society like the choking fronds of a creeping vine, patient and inexorable. The sons and daughters of the order had grown strong, reaching the highest position of authority by the middle the M40. It is around this time though, that the order began to diverge from the usual sequence of events when a powerful genestealer cult reached this level of infiltration.

The great patriarch of the order, known as father Calogero, is a truly ancient genestealer. Ferried across the void in stasis by the hive fleet, Calogero was secreted into the space hulk the Age of Dreams along with many of his brothers. The hulk had been vomited forth from the warp before the fleet as it made the journey across the empty space between the galaxies. There it hung for a time before again being drawn back into warpspace. How long it remained there, none can say, as time has no meaning in the realm of the Gods.

In the beginning of M38 the Age of Dreams again appeared in real-space near the world of Draconith. It drifted for decades before eventually being marked by an explorator vessel for future investigation. The world of Thelema was tasked with mapping the hulk and recovering any items or artefacts of worth due to the presence of the mechanicus forge temples on the planet. The Theleman team sent returned with the soon-to-be new head of their Order, the genestealer Calogero, who was christened by the leader of the explorator expedition. So the new cult was born.

The combination of the knowledge and mysterious nature of the ordo mechanicus and the single-minded ambition of the cult made for a powerful combination. By M40.508 the order was in control of many of the most influential institutions. But the cult had suffered it's own schisms in recent years. Many of the brethren felt something was wrong with the way plans were proceeding. This, in itself was troubling, as dissent in a genestealer coven is virtually unheard of. 

Calogero was most pleased with his growing power, but he did not feel the pull of the hive mind as it drew close to devour Thelema. The whispers in his head were not those of the great beast. They came from another place entirely. 

Far beyond Thelema, in the depths of space, lie the dead husks of the hive fleet that bore Calogero across the stars. Caught in a violent and sudden warpstorm soon after the Age of Dreams vanished back into the ether, the entire fleet was either pulled into the warp or destroyed. Not a single tyranid creature survived. As if this weren't enough to sever the link between Calogero and the hive mind, the creature that emerged from the warp was no longer a creature of instinct, but independent, cunning, and hungry for power.

Power that it's new patrons were more than happy to supply. For a price."

There you have it. Chaos worshipping hybrid ordo mechanicus, anyone? Time to begin the great bits hunt.

Looking Beyond the Fimir - What Next?

My first two thousand points of fimir are now within sight, which gives me enough to field a playable army. It's taken almost three years from the start of the project to get to this stage. I've not been working on them constantly throughout that period, but pretty consistently all the same. I am not a quick painter. I can only gaze in baleful admiration at those people like Ben Johnson and the Rodge from Pointhammer who can turn out beautiful armies in a few months.

But, despite that, soon (the end of September) I will be left with a momentous decision. With the fimir at playable level, I can now look to new horizons. I do still want to add more units to the fimir army, but I have two other projects (at least) that I am eager to get into. And you, dear reader, will decide which way I jump. Let me lay it out.

Option 1: Expand the Fimir
I have a lot of ideas for more units for the fimir. A unit of fenbeasts (trolls), a couple of units of fianna fimm (the ogre sized fimir) Crom Cruach, (hellcannon) Balor (daemon prince) warped ones (forsaken), a unit of hagworms (dragon ogres), the list goes on...

Option 2: Vampire Counts
My vampire counts army had been neglected a while now. It needs some new units to get into the spirit of 8th edition. A giant block of skeletons, a terrorgheist, some crypt horrors and more. I'll be using mostly old school models for this, mostly Citadel from the 1980s. The army follows the tale of Stephane Dreux as he searches for his sire in order to enact his vengeance and find redemption.

Option 3: Chaos dwarves
I love the chaos dwarves. I have a pretty huge force awaiting the brush, all of which are the more spiky chaos stunty style from the 1980s. I plan on having the army based as if it's moving through a long since ruined city, think Osgiliath for colour scheme, pale marbles, sandstones etc. So lots of fillers of vine-covered statues, cracked mosaics and such. The army itself is a long-range missionary force, bringing the word of Hashut to the lesser races whether they like it or not. As such the dwarves gear will be battle stained and chipped.

Option 4: Genestealer Cult
I've not played 40k since 3rd edition, but I do keep an eye on it. I've always wanted to do a genestealer cult army, probably based on Imperial Guard. The basing will probably be a ruined Imperial world where the tyranid invasion summoned by the cult never came as the hive fleet was destroyed, so now the ascendant cult is on its own and locked in battle with the remaining Imperial forces, so ruined urban style.

Option 5: Chaos Renegades
My first 40k army was renegades. I have a pretty decent collection of Rogue Trader era renegades and I love the models. A raider force of various legions all under the ruthless Lord Vortag plies the space lanes attacking Imperial shipping from the daemon-piloted cruiser the Ark of Woe. As primarily a space faring army, units will be kitted out to engage in boarding actions, and the basing will be space hulk style, or even the exterior of the ship's hull itself. Part of me wants to marry the Cult and renegades idea together into one army. With the Imperial forces on their home planet defeated, and no answer from the long since annihilated hive fleet, the patriarch negotiates passage for a Cult expedition to the next Imperial world aboard the Ark of Woe...

So there you have it. It's up to you, kids!

What project next?

Expand the Fimir

Vampire Counts

Chaos Dwarves

Genestealer Cult

Chaos Renegades

Renegade/Cult force

www.poll-maker.com

Warhammer - Victorian Style

Last weekend I found myself at a stag. Nothing untoward there, you might say, as well as what the hell has this to do with gaming? Now, if I were to tell you it was a stag demanding full Victorian costume where everything from Texas hold em' to warhammer was being played, it might seem a little more unusual and slightly more on topic. Suffice to say, it was an outstanding event with numerous occasions where I was laughing so hard I thought I might pass out.

I have to tell you, playing warhammer wearing a top hat and a monocle is the only way to fully appreciate the game. I took my vampire counts for a test drive with a new 8th edition list, and was not disappointed. Hex wraiths are fragile, but boy are they useful. It was a small points game, so I didn't get to try out much, but I must say the ability to field single spirit hosts is also full of undead-flavoured win. Hmm. Undead flavoured. The magic is different enough to take a little getting used to, but still good. Overall, based on this small game I do like the changes in the vampire counts. I am eager to try a unit of eight crypt horrors next time, as well as the mortis engine. Ahh...new book toys.

Later, finding myself playing poker with men whose moustaches defied gravity as well as fashion was again a very satisfying if slightly unsettling experience. I felt I needed a derringer in case of any misunderstandings.

In any case, one thoroughly recommends warhammer, Victorian style, my most august and sombre readers.

Top hole.

The Vampire General - 8th edition Vampire Counts Book

I'm currently reading the new vampire counts book, and so far I like what I see. There is a lot of variety in potential army builds, which was my main gripe with the previous edition. We've lost some things, and gained others, but overall it seems pretty balanced. It's too early to start seeing the new hotness in vampire counts lists, well have to wait for a few tournaments to pass by for that, but I'm kind of hoping  nothing definitive emerges. There is so much choice in the new book I can see multiple competitive builds emerging. The knights list, zombie/engine list, Strigoi list and the somewhat cheeky ethereal list are all pretty nascent but all seem playable, though the ethereal list would get a nasty shock against daemons or magic heavy armies. It's still early days, so I'll post a more in-depth list and review once I've digested the new book better.

For myself, I'm still pretty overwhelmed to have decided on a definitive list. I play less than I'd like, so I haven't been able to test much of my ideas as yet. At the moment I am thinking of multiple zombie block of 50, though I am going to run a skeleton block of 50 even though most folks seem to have consigned skeletons back to the grave already. Dammit, I like skeletons! An engine seems a good choice, as well as a unit of 5 hexwraith and 10 black knights. I'm still a big fan of the vargulf, and dire wolves might sneak back into the list. I am quite taken with the terrorgheist, but the thing I'm most looking forward to is trying a block of 8-12 crypt horrors. They seem extremely durable, and with proper support they could be a nightmare. I'm not a huge fan of the models, but I have quite a few monstrous undead creatures from zombie trolls to skeleton ogres, and they'll do nicely.

As to characters, too early to say. A master Necro seems the way to go, with a combat vampire, but I need to massage the points more. I'm considering a ghoul king too...

It will be a while before I return to the vampires as I'm still in the throes of the fimir project, but soon enough the dead will walk again...

Vampire Counts - Rules Morsels

Thanks to Fields of Blood for the following new rules from the vampires book via the January White Dwarf.

Lore of the Vampires
Signature Spell is definitely Invocation of Nehek - on the most fundamental level it can restore "D6 + caster's Wizard level" of Wounds to friendly Undead unit within 6". Boosted version has 12" range, as well as 18" ones.

Other spells includes Raise Dead, Vanhel's Danse Macabre, Curse of Years, Gaze of Nagash, and Wind of Death.

Lore attribute: When the spell from the Lore of the Vampires is succefully casted, the wizard or any undead models within 12" restores 1 wound.


Rules tidbits:

All Vampire has rule called "Hunger" - You get to roll a D6 when the vampire kills one or more models in combat, on a 6 you recover one wound. (Vlad with Blood Drinker pass the roll on 4+.)

Also Vampire, including vampiric creatures "such as" Varghulf and Vargheist, can march. So Vargheist will be able to move 20" per turn almost all the time. (Not sure if Varghulf can also fly.)

Vampiric Powers: (not all of them, just those mentioned in WD)
Flying Horror - give the vampire ability to fly (unsure)
Dread Knight - ability to boost WS (don't know how - but a Vampire Llord with Dread Knight has WS of 9)
Quickblood - gains ASF.
Master of the Black Arts - get to re-roll one D6 for the Winds of Magic.
Dark Acolyte - add D3 to the total number of models raised by Nehek.
Red Fury - should be about the same. (unsure)


New units:

Coven Throne
- Basically a chariot mount for your Lord.
- Is a Large target with S5 T5 5W and 5+ save.
- has Spectral Steed rules (can move 8"), Undead, Vampiric, ASF (only for Handmaiden who has 2 S5 Attacks).
- has Random Attacks (2D6) at S3 from the spirit horde.
- Has Ward Save of 4+.
- Battle of Wills (before the first enemy rolls to hit against the character or the Throne, both player roll a D6 and add their LD value. Has effects based on the difference of the score).
* no effect (0 or less).
* suffer -1WS/BS.
* the enemy must re-roll successful To Hits.
* each model in the enemy unit strike each other (only 1 attack per model).
- Has Bound Spell (lvl3) allowing the Throne (and all of its crew) to re-roll either To Hit or To Wound rolls.

Mortis Engine
- Is a Rare Choice.
- Same stats as for the Throne (S5 T5 W5 Sv5+).
- has 2D6 attacks at S3 from the spirit horde.
- Undead, Terror, Spectral Steed, and Regeneration.
- can make Ghostly Howl attack.
- can take upgrade, allowing any wizards casting spell from the Lore of the Vampires to get +2 to their casting attempt. (ANY) miscast wizards rolls twice on the table and have the opponent choose the result).
- The Reliquary (at the start of your turn, roll 2D6 and add the current turn number - until the start of its next turn, all friendly Undead units within this number of range gains +1 bonus to their regeneration, 6+ if they don't have any, to a maximum of 4+. Also, all enemy units within this range suffers D6 hits at the strength equal to the turn number.

It also has some penalties if removed from play - by damaging every units within a random range at the strength equal to the current turn number.

Master Necromancer
- New Lord choice (ie. better Necromancer).

- Banshees and Cairn Wraith are now Hero.

Hexwraiths (special)
- Fast Cavalry with Ethereal (yes!) that can inflict automatic S5 hits on unit that it moved through.

Vargheist (special)
- Flying Monstrous Infantry that has Fly, Frenzy, and 3A.

Crypt Horrors (special)
- Monstrous Infantry unit with M6 S4 T5 I2 W3 A3, has Poisoned Attacks, Regeneration 5+, and Undead.