Doina the Forsaken

'Ghost' from the Reaper Miniatures 'Bones' range, painted in July 2013. The first model I painted for my undead army and that's mostly because I wanted to try out Vallejo Glaze Medium on it. That medium mixed with Goblin Green and Enchanted Blue was everything that was needed for her. All the other spectres, spirits and ghosts in my army were painted using roughly the same method. On the tabletop she serves as a Tomb Banshee.

Doina the Forsaken, Constantin's first successful summoning of something else than a zombie - a spirit of a long forgotten woman who roams the nights searching for victims to play pranks on. Despite being quite senile (even for an ageless ghost!), she's still quite capable of frightening people to death with her scream. Von Greifens use this ability happily - if she's able to understand their commands, that is.

The Fledermaus

Varghulf from Games Workshop painted in July 2013. After collecting Bretonnians and then having a long pause, that was the first monster I painted in a long time. Actually, it was also the first Vampire I painted for the army and it kinda set the whole color scheme for the rest of them. Back then I didn't have a very precise concept for the whole army, just going with whatever seemed the best at the moment. I didn't want a green Varghulf and I wanted in light colors - and so the pale blue + red scheme was born. Only later I came up with an explanation that vampiric creatures will be red, to make them stand out among the rest of the green undead.

A long time ago, this creature was a rival of Laurentin von Greifen. He got captured, tortured and subsequently turned into this monstrosity, often affectionately called "Fledermaus". Oppressed and kicked around by Laurentin, he found a strange friend in Constantin, who treated him with a certain affection, like an interesting pet. Thus, it wasn't very surprising that he helped the younger von Greifen during his rebellion against his creator. He has been loyally following Constantin ever since, ready to wreak havoc in the enemy lines or scaring rivals in exchange for a steady supply of meat and blood.

Lucan von Greifen

Last of the brothers, painted in February 2014. I found him by chance on an eBay-like site, the model is a Vampire Samurai from West Wind Miniatures. He's pretty simple and today I probably wouldn't buy him today, but I got used to him during all that time.

Traveller, warrior, general. During his long life, Lucan wandered through much of the world, gathering experience and bettering his fighting skills. He considers Constantin's and Sorin's excursion into Varsavia as yet another journey and he's ready to help them as long as it won't bore him. Lucan is serving most often as a general of von Greifen forces, but he's also the most capable in direct combat of the three, using two blades from and armor from Nippon to his advantage. Still, he's not very ingenious and strict adherence to 'honor' makes him prone to mistakes.

Sorin von Greifen

The second one of the main trio, painted in February 2014. The model is called 'Dark Vlad, the Human Hunter' from Enigma Miniatures. He has more realistic proportions than GW models and is a little higher, but it isn't much of an issue.

Large, imposing man, very stoic and of few words. Cruel and cunning, Sorin is most often he's employed as a spy and assassin. On the battlefield he likes to break the enemies' morale with gruesome acts of violence, presenting himself as an animalistic monster covered in blood, slaughtering everything on his path. Wearing the von Greifen symbol - a skeletal griffon - on his robe, he's a proud and loyal member of the clan. He likes the idea of creating their own land in Varsavia and he's willing to help create it by any means possible.

Constantin von Greifen

So I decided to start my own miniature painting blog. I have been collecting miniatures and painting them (mostly to play Warhammer Fantasy Battle) since 2002. I had some breaks along the way and only for the last 4 years I have been working much harder on the hobby, collecting Vampire Counts. Carpe Noctem has been hosting my Log for that time, but the time has come to start something much more free and personal.

First post will be of course a Vlad von Cartein miniature from Games Workshop, painted in February 2014. While not the first Vampire Counts miniature painted by me, it was the first one I bought and he's always been the 'main leader' in my army.

For my vampires I try to keep the red-black-white colour triad, with their skin always beeing light, pale blue. All the other undead are mostly green(ish).

During those 4 years I managed to weave a narrative around those little guys and gals, mostly thinking while painting - that's why I came up with my own name for them all. It started from the Warhammer: End Times books where every single unit got some little description. I have been adding those since then and I will keep on adding those stories to every entry, hidden under a spoiler button to make life easier for people who don't like such things. It's all happening in the Old World of Warhammer Fantasy Battles universe.

This is the story of three vampire brothers - Constantin, Sorin and Lucan, all hailing from the house von Greifen. Like many others, they were spawned by their cowardly sire Laurentin when he was trying to create allies for himself. That old vampire was running west after something terrible happened to him in one of the provinces of Kislev. His bloodthirsty children were fed stories about that land - about bountiful human villages, weak boyars ruling over them and great arcane secrets being hidden there. One thing that was left as a mystery was the reason to run from that land - and despite gathering respectable strength, Laurentin refused to consider going back there, growing more paranoid with every year. Sensing a certain opportunity, three brothers instigated a war with a powerful Bretonnian clan and rebelled against their sire. In the ensuing chaos, they managed to destroy both him and their brethren. Constantin, Sorin and Lucan went back east, to the mysterious land of Varsavia, to see what parts of Laurentin's stories were true and to carve their own realm there.

The head of the trio. Charismatic, clever and decisive enough to cobble the rest of his brethren into a rebellion against their sire. While he isn't a master of the Dark Arts, he's better at using them than his brothers and still quite capable in close combat. His most powerfull weapon are his mind and diplomatic skills. Pragmatic and driven, he intends to use any available resource and ally to further his own position and carve his own kingdom of the undead in Varsavia.