Thursday 25 September 2014

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

Sunday 14 September 2014

September Update

Hey everyone!

Sadly the past few months have been pretty barren hobby-wise. Nonetheless I have managed to get a few bits done and have even managed to snap a few photos.

There are photos of a few of the newer projects and some older models that have been on the cards for a couple of years!

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First up we have a photos of all the work in progress items (minus one Taurox I couldn't face building after constructing so many tanks and a load more infantry). 3 mortars I started painting about 2 years ago, 3 lascannons, 4 squads of guardsmen, 5 Life guards (the other 5 were completed about 2 years ago or more), 10 Highland Scions, 5 Bullgryns, Nork, a missionary, a command section, 2 Taurox, a wyvern and a baneblade. Oh and a commissar.

Should take me all of a weekend to paint don't you think?...

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Here we have a closer photos of an officer with a power fist that I converted ages ago. Also Nork with the small conversion on the loudspeaker and the commissar with the hat swap.

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The mortars have been work in progress for a long long time. The bases and main uniform colour are all finished. One day I will get round to painting the rest!

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The newest super heavy to attached to the IV mechanised infantry. Very much looking forward to working on this one.

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The Highland Scions. They all have the newest VL kilts and heads. The only infantry in my army who don't have the trademark epaulettes. The only greenstuffing I needed to do was the plumes on the side of the helmets and then collars on their uniforms as the heads didn't fit so well with the armoured torsos.

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The bullgryns. Another unit I am looking forward to painting.

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I finished the first 5 Life guards years ago so its nice to finally convert and undercoat the second 5! Its been pretty shameful how long it has taken, but at least we are finally almost there, almost a unit of 10!

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Here are the converted Wyvern crew. Straight head swap on both and then then addition of VL epaulettes.

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Finally the Baneblade tank commander, complete with pipe and sabre.

Right that is your lot for the moment. I'm currently painting the tanks getting them all to the stage where the main hull colour is complete. Also need to buy a few more paints, pretty much out of XV88 and Ushabti bone which is pretty fatal for me!

I've also trialed the army painter spray paint on these tanks and I think it works pretty well. Not so different to the XV88 (just a little bit more gray perhaps, lacking a redder tint), I reckon it will save me a lot of hours.

I've got a few more posts in the pipeline so hopefully it wont be months before the next one!

I've been sorting lots of old stuff out recently and I unearthed some classic armies of mine. There are going to be a Warhammer fantasy posts coming up featuring a Dark Elves, Vampire Counts and Khemri army I painted over 10 years ago!

Heres a sneak peak

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Watch this space.