Time is an abyss...

[de Selby]

...profound as a thousand nights...


This will be a dedicated log for my Vampire Counts army. I still have a general project log here but there's more WFB on this board and some people had expressed an interest. I've been talking about building VC since the book was released but only just got around to it. My collection includes a mix of models from different eras and manufacturers.

I have built most of this:

stock but I've also picked up a few oddities and tried to blend them with the new stuff. Thanks to people in this thread for helping me out.

I have lashed two rotting flesh horses to a corpse cart using some linen twine 'rope'. I think this is a nice effect.

The horses are from some ancient skeleton cavalry models seen here.

I have two carts so to differentiate them further I rotated the pile of corpses and moved the driver to the front on the 'stock' cart. The drivers are not glued down so I can swap them.


Also, I am not as keen as some on the new plastic zombie dragon so I decided to treat myself to another classic, a Tom Meier zombie dragon via ebay. He's not got the wingspan of the new dragons but he has got front legs (and bags of character).


For the record, the Tom Meier zombie dragon is about 15 cm in length. As you can see in this pic I have built him up on the base a bit because he is quite long and skinny. I also need a rider.



More to come as I start painting.

[Cragum]

Looking forward to seeing these models get some paint on them! Looks like a great start to an army i always love to see emerge from underneath!

Are they zombies i see at the bottom of the last picture?

[de Selby]

Yes they are the spare zombies from the first corpse cart. I have 40 GW zombies but they don't really fit with the rest of the range, so I might buy a Mantic zombie horde and use the GW ones elsewhere. The corpse cart ones will fit in ok.

The modern VC infantry is so fine it's like working in a different scale.

[de Selby]

Here's a test skellybob. Snow base.

[sasheep]

Niice skeleton mate. The rotting horses and dragone are brilliant. Might have to try and find myself one of them dragons just 'cause. And definately go with mantic zombies, they have a real shambling horde look to them and are cheap as chips

[de Selby]

Thanks sasheep! I have done another test (grave guard). I am trying to find ways of paiting them that I can repeat easily to do whole units, as otherwise it's a chore. This one hasn't come out very nice so I'll do the rest of the unit differently.

[de Selby]

Another test fig.

[de Selby]

And some of his buddies. Still need to add the bicarb snow.



Also some of them seem to be drooling. Or should it be painted as blood?

[pscm]

Hey de Selby, I have to say, that first skeleton warrior and the grave guard look brilliant!! your painting style and the colour choices are awesome and go so so so so so well with the snowy bases!!!! The ghouls are cool too! I really like the visual feel of the army so far =D keep it up!!!

[Tzarinchilla]

Excellent work here. Can you possibly post a step by step on the bases please?

[The Yak]

Im going to love seeing this army develop. That first corpse cart with those classic horses is the best i've seen. So simple but just perfect for what it represents.

Cool paint scheme and bases.

Subscribed and good luck

[mdiscala]

Awesome idea. Cool arctic ghoul.

[de Selby]

pscm: thanks!

Tzarinchilla: sure, it's very simple.
1. First build your model and base it with something quick like sand
2. Spray white. Then wash the whole thing with thinned charadon granite
3. Paint the model, then apply snow mix over the top of the base. My snow mix is bicarbonate of soda (NOT baking powder, which contains extra bakey ingredients), pva glue and water, to the consistency of icing sugar. Spread it with an old brush and clean off any mistakes with a different old brush.
4. As an alternative you can add other stuff to the base and pile the snow on top of that. I forgot to base this horse before spraying, so I will just paint the base charadon granite before giving it a deep cover of snow. The only bit showing through will be the dead static grass (Gale force 9 grass), which I glued down using mud mix (snow mix plus brown paint).


Yak: thanks! I am working on the corpse cart, another model that I like better now I have my hands on it. This thing just radiates evil.

mdiscala: cheers!

I have painted another test grave guard. This is more like what I was aiming for.


I like him better than the other one

[de Selby]

Now painted the front rank of this unit. On a whim I painted a owl* on the banner.



*a owl?
a OWL. large.

[BeatTheBeat]

Looking very good! The snow turned out great, and the owl adds a lot of character and depth to the otherwise often bland VAMPIRES! MOONS! BLOOOOOOOD!-theme of VC, without being too far removed or uncharacteristic. Nice one!

Cheers,
BTB

[de Selby]

Thanks BTB. Now I am wondering what to put on the other banners.

I have painted another 4 GG, giving me two ranks of 5. However they were rushed and I need to go over them again, so for now here is a group shot of what I have so far (all based).

[de Selby]

At the weekend I had a serious go at the centrepiece model for this army. Just need 1500 points of troops to go with him!

[Cragum]

Now that is one superb center piece! Really impressed with how it worked out scale wise with the rider and dragon.

The army is coming along amazingly! Really looking forward to seeing an entire army painted up!

[GhoulStars]

Great work so far... there's just something off about that dragon, he looks a bit too weedy to be a true zombie dragon, like the rider would snap it's neck if he sat down too hard

other than that, great work on the painting so far ^^

[de Selby]

There's a fundamental problem, that the dragon is a 20 year old metal sculpt (very large for its day) and the rider is from one of the new jumbo plastic kits (and the size of a space marine with huge feet*). Before I built the model, or even bought the parts, I did this picture mock-up of how I thought it would look:



I decided it only really looks disproportionate if you have the new plastics in mind. To scale, the dragon is still much bigger than, say, this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gall...fe-philippines
and an awful lot bigger than a warhorse!

Fundamentally I chose it for the fact it looks like an actual dragon (albeit a not-full-sized one) that the vamp has killed personally and turned into a mount. I also love the evil look in his eye(s).

Thanks for feedback guys.

*you know what they say, large... fangs...