Karel the Black, the Commander

Third Sokolov vampire for the collection, after the red one, the white one, here comes the black one. I even managed to find two variants of the model, so I was able to get him both mounted and dismounted.

A horse was unavailable for him, so I had to find something else. Through a weird trick of fate and horrible post service in Germany, I actually have two Bretonnian Green Knights... one of them will be actually used in my Bretonnian collection, but the second one was rather redundant, until I found that this vampire fits very well. This gives him a lot of extra flair. Shields were also missing, so I found them some replacements, simple ones to accomodate some emblems. Just like with Havel, I needed to add some detail to their clothes and barding and let's say that black isn't a very easy color to get it right... Everything is either completely drown in blackness or turns everything to grey. I tried finding some equilibrium and it kinda works, but I think it would be much more pronounced and pretty if I wanted to have him blue or green.

He's also my proposal for the "Mirror, mirror" challenge amongst polish bloggers - with an idea/character mirrored into something different, yet similar. So, instead of a chivalrous Green Knight, I have a cruel Black Knight, on the same horse model.

Three male vampires serve lady Ecaterina Sokolov - the red warrior, the white bodyguard and the black commander. The last of them, Karel the Black, is most usually tasked with leading his mistress’ forces. Brooding, cruel and with strong personality, this one, while still loyal, is the most independent amongst his comrades. Good quality for a commander, but this also makes him an unpredictable servant, ready to object Ecaterina’s orders more than anyone. She tolerates this, because in the end he cares deeply for her interests, even if he thinks his means are better. During the battle with von Greifens he was on a diplomatic mission, so Ecaterina had to lead herself. Next time Karel will lead and make sure that his mistress comes up victorious.

It was difficult to make photos of both models (the lance takes so much space!), so here they are once together and then separated.

Leader mode:

Fencer mode:

Iakob the Savage - WIP

After Havel, here I am with even more vampires! Just a conversion WIP though.

Back when WFB was a thing, there was a possibility to build a vampire character that's a murdermachine and melee and yet possesses the ability to use magic from the Lore of the Beasts. Thanks to the vampires' unique rules, they could retain their powers while using the spell that transformed them into monsters. A mountain chimera in this context was stupidly overpowered. Of course, it cost a lot and was very easy to counter, so nobody used it seriously. Still, I loved this idea so much that I wanted to at least model a vampire to fit that description, a powerful barbarian just barely containing his inner beast. And after that, of course, the transformed versions...

This is my take on this. The model is based on a Khorne Exalted Deathbringer from GW. I redid quite a lot with him, I expected this conversion to be much easier, but the ideas just kept coming. Because I'm using the same head as the one on Gavros, I kept his ears small and sculpted some weird tendril hair on his previously bald head. I'm really unsure if I like it... if it's bad after getting some paint, I'll just rip it off.

It's a miracle I managed to fit him on a proper 20x20mm base!

Blood Bowl Big Guy - Kryp'er the Chaos Troll

I started painting the smaller marauders and humans first for my Chaos Pact team only because it made sense from a narrative standpoint. This whole time, the most fun miniature in the whole bunch was the troll, it was the one that convinced me to get this team. Now, it's finally painted!

The idea here was to do the same color scheme that Chaos Trolls from WFB used. I always liked that one, but never had the opportunity to use it. Blue skin also nicely contrasts with the orange armor, so that's a plus too.

Nothing else to say here, just a great model from Greebo. Now to paint the other two big guys, a minotaur and an ogre!

With the core players for the Kreegan Krashers found, it was time for the heavy hitters. As it is customary for Chaos Renegades teams, the headhunter Dugtig wanted to go big - as many brutes and monsters as the rules allowed! He started with the troll - after helping recruit players for countless goblin teams, he already knew a good candidate. Kryp’er was a troll with an especially vicious streak and a tentacle for an arm - Dugtig tried to pitch him as a Sea Troll several times, but the greenskin coaches weren’t convinced. Now he would gladly take him into the Krasher’s roster! Sadly, Kryp’er was way too stupid to use that appendage as aptly as Rotspawns do, but thanks to its reach, he could always reach to help his teammates in a scrap.

Havel the White, the Protector

It's been a very long time since I painted anything from my "mainline" undead WFB force... This guy has been lingering in the drawer half-painted for a while and I got just enough motivation to actually finish him.

Lady Sokolov from my collection has a red-black-white color scheme and she has one red-themed servant, Vaclav. When looking through eBay and looking for an excuse to buy more Blood Dragon miniatures, I decided to give her three servants, each with a dominant color. This guy is obviously the white one - and there's a black one on horseback that's in the queue to get painted soon as well.

The big cape on his back was the biggest topic here, I needed to make it special. Painting a big emblem seemed too simple and random scribbles wouldn't do, so I decided to make it a feathery pattern, inspired by the avian sigil of the family. This part probably made me stop painting him back then, but in the end, it wasn't that bad. To make the model a bit different, I switched his two-handed sword for a halberd, which also fits a bodyguard role I thought up for him.

Vaclav isn’t the only male vampire warrior serving lady Sokolov. While the red warrior soars through the sky obliterating her enemies in the field, the white one is her personal bodyguard. Havel the White, for that’s how he is known, is a silent and dutiful warrior residing usually in Castle Sokolov. Anyone intruding must be ready to face him and his halberd, one which split in two countless foes. Skilled as he is, he tends to be overly organized - while it makes him a perfect warden, it makes him also predictable. Ecaterina underestimated von Greifens and left him in the fortress during their battle - a decision which cost her dearly. Feeling guilty, Havel refuses to leave his mistress’ side now - ready to make those who wronged her regret it dearly.

Blood Bowl Chaos Pact - Specialist Marauders

I am slowly trying to get through all the stuff that I started before the big hiatus and one of those is the Chaos Pact team for Blood Bowl that I got as a present back in 2019. I already painted the renegade part of the team, as well as half of the humans, now it's time to do the second half. First five marauders were thought of as blitzers and fighters, those here are more specialized and actually capable of handling the ball.

Like before, I wanted to experiment with skintones here, so they are quite a diverse bunch. It was an interesting experience, I'll have to broaden my horizons a bit more in other projects too. Besides, I must admit, I'm quite glad with how their hair came out. I hate painting long hair usually, but this time it went well - perhaps it's because of the sculpt itself.

While his new marauder blitzers were already sparring with the renegades, the goblin headhunter Dugtig was slowly paging through other applications from other Kreegans, a violent fan-group. He wasn’t getting very far until he questioned Ragnar the Red. That outspoken Kreegan not only convinced the goblin that he was a good choice for a player, he was also able to give some good pointers on finding some specialists amongst the rowdy rabble. Together they gathered the marauders that would be tasked with handling the ball on the pitch - with Ragnar being chosen as the obvious captain of the team. Now, with such a strong core of the rowdy hooligans, Dugtig decided to name the team “The Kreegan Krashers”.

This time the boys are first. The middle one is Ragnar the Red, the captain of the team - and I think I made his red mane stand out quite nicely. The one on the left was slightly converted to sport some extra arms.

And the girls. The one on the left was converted a bit to hold a ball up, I designed her to serve as a thrower for the team. The other one, I'm surprised how post-apocalyptic she turned out! It wasn't (consciously) intended, but with that dark clothing and green mohawk, she would fit in Fallout right in!