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.