Warhammer - Von Carstein Undead

Don't worry, your eyes don't deceive you, this really is another post only 11 days after the last! I remember the good old days when they'd be every couple of days. Ah well, what can you do!

Anyway, this post is going to be the first of several slightly different posts looking at other models in my warhammer collection. In particular models from a good 10 years+ ago.

This post will be about a converted Von Carstein Vampire Counts army I started putting together almost 12 years ago when I was about 16 (if I remember correctly I had glandular fever at the time and a lot of time on my hands). They were a project I embarked upon as I was starting to lose interest in the hobby, consequently the army was never properly finished or expanded and never saw the field of battle in anger.

The thing I enjoyed the most about the Von Carstein vampire blood line was that essentially there still Empire. The nobles had all turned to vampirism and their soldiers were forced to fight in life and then subsequently in death! As such I wanted the army with the uniforms and colours to have a real Empire feel to it.

The army was led by Manfred Von Carstein. The model pictured is such a fantastic model, capturing the nobility of the fallen lord in the more classical Gothic vampire style. I'm not a fan of the new vampire models, aesthetically they don't really do it for me. You become a vampire and all of a sudden everything you wear is super spikey and oversized? Sorry ain't buying it. I'm sure many will disagree, but this model hands down beats any of the newer ones.



Showing the army's age, at the time of construction you could have grave markers which you would use when summoning more minions. I used them as an opportunity to get creative with some left over bits.



You have the hanged zombie and another still crawling around the floor. I think they add a nice bit of character to the army though I don't know what you would use them for now.



The old black coach model is another classic. Still great looking and fits in perfectly with the aesthetic I was going for. Inside the back is a coffin with a powerful vampire inside. The coffin itself I'd painted in a dark marble with gold details.



For the infantry I had 20 zombies and 20 skeletons. The thinking as previously mentioned was that they were all alive Von Carstein infantry and so fight for their undead lords in death as they would have in life. Given this and that they haven't all been interred in the ground their uniforms etc are all still in reasonable shape.



The slightly newer members of the undead, the zombies. I viewed them as being more of a milita or peasant rabble pressed into service when the Empire and Dwarves etc came looking to end the Von Carstein line. Once again would have started off as human infantry before being pressed into service in death.



Another close up of the skeleton infantry. I've got to say I loved putting this army together at the time and I'm pretty sure I love it now. So much character and such a striking colour scheme. Not sure what I will do with it now though, it's currently sat in a box feeling sorry for itself. Perhaps the new Nagash book and the phenomenal model might persuade me to get back into fantasy, or perhaps ebay might come a calling. Who knows!

Now unless you have been pretty belligerent in looking at these photos you would have noticed some undead of a different variety lurking in the background... Watch out for the next post when their Khemrian cousins will be featured!

Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear your comments!