Viktor von Greifen, Captain of the Prenzlauer Guard

Finally, Victor von Greifen, the Devil of Nemnov is finished!

Quite some time ago I kitbashed myself a model to try out an upgraded color scheme for my The Prenzlauer Guard, my Blood Knights converted out of older Chaos Knights. He was fun to convert, but then it was time to actually try out this new 'renovation' idea of mine.

The main idea was to avoid flat and featureless red plates on the armor and to replace them with something clearly similar, but fancier and more detailed. I went with a marble pattern because I really like painting those and it seemed like a good idea to give some regal, noble note to the model. This first step was messy - wetblending, sprinkling, washing, more sprinkling, glazing, all at once. When that was done I could comfortably move to the other parts - adding more contrast to the metal elements, actually highlighting the flesh on the black horse, etc.

While I like the dark and grim style of Viktor, the old vampires still have some charm to them. Still, I leave the judgment on whether I improved on the old The Prenzlauer Guard to you readers. All things considered, I'd sooner convert new Chaos Knights into Blood Knights than try to repaint anything.

The elite unit of the Prenzlauer Guard was with the von Greifen brothers since their killing of their own sire Laurentin - but they were a blood-crazed and unruly bunch. To keep them in check, Constantin turned a promising soldier from Kislev into a vampire and made him a captain of the unit. He may be more level-headed and intelligent than his subordinates, but he still managed to bloodily beat some discipline into them and it would be a grave mistake to consider him forgiving or compassionate. Known as the Devil of Nemnov, he keeps the settlements under his care in line mostly through fear - dealing bloody retributions for the merest of slights. While Constantin prefers a more pragmatic and humane approach to his mortals, he’s willing to sacrifice those people and tolerate Viktor because he gets the job done and keeps the flank secure, freeing the brothers to focus on other parts of their lands. That and his hammer in an invaluable help in any battle.

Viktor von Greifen, Captain of the Prenzlauer Guard - WIP

The Prenzlauer Guard are one of the oldest miniatures that I have in my undead collection - which means that they grew to look a bit dated to me - and I think about repainting them to my current standards from time to time. This would mean not painting new things and not moving forward, so I never actually did it. An opportunity showed itself when I found a Chaos Lord horse cheaply on ebay - it has a similar style to the Chaos Knights that I used last time, so it was perfect. Besides, I love that model. I decided to kitbash on it a leader for that unit, allowing me to try doing another take on a chaos-based-vampire.

In the end, the kitbash ended looking very similar to the original Lord - he is made mostly out of Skullcrusher bits, with a head from the Terrogheist kit, a big hammer and a shield and a cloak (which will be on the next installment of Sculpting Tips). After starting with Instagram I also found tons of cool kitbashing inspiration - and that's why he has so many little details hanging around, I love that style. It's still quite reserved, though - I will try doing something much more cluttered in the future.

Vaclav the Red, the Dragonrider

Finally, after starting this project in November 2016, I managed to finish it!

It started with me buying an old model of High Elf Imrik - I loved that model ever since I saw it as a child! Then I wanted to incorporate it in my undead army - but I also wanted to avoid butchering the model turning it into a zombie. I decided to make it look scarier and more evil - a dragon befitting a vampire. To achieve that, I covered him almost completely with new, pointy scales out of greenstuff. It was a tedious task, but I managed to change the details while keeping the original form still there. Then I mounted on it a vampire that was leftover from the Terrorgheist set. The whole conversion process is documented in THIS post, while the base with the falling trees is documented HERE.

THIS photo and THIS artwork were the main inspirations, both for the sculpting phase and the painting one.

The painting proved no less tedious than the sculpting! I didn't consider the fact, that with those new scales, its surface area increased significantly. Other than that, it was really difficult to hold this spiny beast. I have been holding it by the wings the whole time and painted them only after I glued it to the base. One of them even broke off after all the turning and rotating. Then there was the fact that red is quite a difficult color to work with - I had to go several times with basecoat, shades, wetblended layers, glazes, hightlights - all that through every scale. Thankfully, after that was done, the rest was much easier and more enjoyable.

The base itself was quite a challenge too, but a welcome one - it was the first opportunity to use dirt mix on such a big base instead of the usual drybrushed sand. Besides, I bought a lot of basing materials specifically for this occasion after paying extra attention when I was biking through forests this summer. I even used my Johann (he would be probably more like Jan in my story) model to make it extra special.

One of the main reasons why Lady Ecaterina wasn’t replaced by another upstart pretender during all the years is Vaclav, known in Varsavia as Vaclav the Red. He’s unconditionally loyal to his mistress, ready to do anything for her - yet nobody, perhaps besides himself and Ecaterina, knows why is that so. If the fact that he’s one of the true Blood Dragons and has the skill to prove it isn’t enough to deter enemies, his giant red dragon - his loyal companion and mount - usually is. Together they impaled, incinerated and torn into pieces countless foes. Still, even they weren’t able to overcome the numbers and wit von Greifens brought with them - and Lady Ecaterina was forced to parley. But if not for him, she probably would be forced into unconditional surrender or killed outright. Their current cooperation with von Greifens is questionable at best, but Constantin is willing to improve it if only to get the dragon knight on his side.

And the second picture, because I couldn't fit all the views I wanted to show in a single one.

And a little bonus picture!

Such is the life in Varsavia - if the dead are not rising from their graves, if the witches are not kidnapping your children to make soup out of them, if the mythical beasts are not slaughtering your livestock, then it's the dragons that are dropping trees on your head!

Vaclav the Red, the Dragonrider - Finished Base

EDIT: The finished model can be seen HERE.

This is the project (whole WIP can be found HERE) that I shelved in September 2017 when I decided to focus on the Zombie Legion. When that massive project was finally done I could go back and actually make a proper base for this dragon. The problem was, the most important parts of it were two trees that the beast was supposed to be felling down - and I was completely sick of making those for the legion. So, the project waited more and more.

Only about a week and a half ago I moved my ass and actually sculpted the bark for those two trees and set them in the right place - one being broken and another being uprooted. When that was done, the rest of the work went really smoothly. I was supposed to paint my Blood Bowl Bretonnians first, but it was difficult to resist messing with the base. I just kept adding more and more stuff, changing, reposing things, checking the composition, etc. I wanted to create an impression of the dragon emerging from the forest and into the fray.

I did quite a lot of those trees for all the zombie fillers, but this was the first time when I added plastic branches to them. Real thin twigs I used for this purpose earlier are REALLY breakable - and for this project, I wanted to avoid it. They took much more time, but they should endure more too - I hope they'll look okay when painted. I will describe how I did those branches in an upcoming tutorial describing the process of making those trees.

Here you can see the base without the dragon on it.

And here it is with the dragon and Vaclav on it, everything ready to be primed and painted. I would like to say that this was my most elaborate basing project, but the one I made on Nagash was still way more complicated and took MUCH more time...

And now only the painting remains! Only if it was that easy... Currently, I am struggling with choosing the right color scheme. I know that he should keep my usual red-black-white scheme, with the red one being the most prominent. Below you can see some of my rough sketches. From those I am mostly torn between 2 and 5. 2 is a classic look, like a DnD dragon and looks the most natural, but 5 looks more sinister, more vampiric, so to say - and I still need to think what do I like more. Fiery belly on 4 is also an interesting idea, but adding fire to this busy composition would be disrupting in my opinion - not to mention that it suggests, that those belly plates are thin and/or open somehow.

Any ideas or opinions?

Vaclav the Red, the Dragonrider - WIP

And now it's time for the project that is being worked on for the longest time - a Vampire Lord on a Dragon. I liked the Dragon that Imrik is riding ever since I saw it as a child - and I still think it's the best dragon GW managed to produce (maybe it's nostalgia speaking, of course). So I asked myself - why shouldn't I incorporate it in my army? I wouldn't make it a dirty undead dragon, but a proud and fierce red dragon - a dragon fitting a bloody vampire. Simply repainting the original wouldn't be enough. I wanted to keep the main form of the dragon but change its detail and appearance. THIS photo and THIS artwork were the main inspirations - I wanted to cover it completely with new scales. It would be a very tedious task, but I am nothing if not patient and persistent.

This was the state of things in November 2016.

And here in December 2016. I added a saddle on top of him - the Vampire Lord that was left from the Terrorgheist set was perfect for this project.

After a long break I came back to this dragon in April 2017 - wings are finally attached, together with some new scales for them. You can see that I drilled some ridges on the wings to make them more interesting and easier to shade.

By the end of April, I managed to bring the pointy scales up to the dragon's nose. While greenstuff on this lizard was drying, I was building and converting zombies.

Now it was time to go back with the scales - this time, on the underbelly. This was in May 2017.

And finally, in September 2017, I managed to finish the dragon itself - adding the underbelly plates and covering the remaining limbs with scales. All that work made the dragon much more imposing, scarier and bulkier. Another great part of it all is that there are no mold lines!

There's still basing to be done. I want to have the dragon push on some trees - to reinforce the forest theme I have going in my army and to make its arms a little busier - they look a bit weird by themselves. One tree will be uprooted, another will be snapped.

And that's all for now - I will be back to this one after I finish my zombies.

Eshnuu

A necrarch vampire from GW painted in April 2017. First minis I did which were a single character in two options - which I think it's a cool thing. He's rather simple and I guess it works for a guy I think as an 'acolyte' of sorts. I wanted to add Babylonian script all over his black robe, but when I was trying it out in photoshop, rather than mystical, it looked like some cheesy pajamas. So I left him simple. Besides that, painting all those little details on him was really fun, I like those 6thEd. style minis when they each had vials, pouches and spare daggers all over them.

As a curiosity - his dagger was polished instead of painted. The possibility to do that is one sure advantage for metal miniatures.

At some point in his life, Lucan wanted to learn the secrets of magic beyond his innate vampiric ability. He ventured into far southeast in search of undead sages that study magic during eons of their life. Lack of patience and studious dedication prevented him from learning anything useful, but he met other learners. One of them was Eshnuu, a relatively young scholar in the whole assemblage - he knew a wide variety of magic arts but was more interested in testing his knowledge in the field, not to sit around, read dusty tomes and perform bizarre experiments. He remembered the stories about Varsavia he heard from Lucan and some years later joined him in this strange land to let the real world experience what he has learned. While he’s certainly not a master in what he does, he is helpful when flaming missiles or other traditionally non-vampiric magic arts are needed. Other than that, he helped immensely with the study of the language, customs and rituals of ancient Varsavians - all relying on preserved evidence, not stories told by unreliable wights.

Sirins & Alkonosts

Despite being quite distinct, my Slavic 'counts-as-Fell-Bats' are still supposed to be one unit - that's why I will show them together too. After some bad experiences earlier, I wanted them to fit together even when placed in direct contact with each other. It forced some larger variation in their poses, so that's a double plus!

There are also separate posts for Alkonosts and Sirins and the WIP post can be found HERE.

Sirins

Second set of my 'counts-as-Fell-Bats' miniatures - Sirins - my take on putting those mythical creatures on the tabletop. I didn't like any of the minis that could fit Fell Bats well so I converted my own - these are built around Wood Elf Warhawks from GW. The whole conversion process can be seen HERE. Those were even more interesting to paint than their light counterparts - bones in black hair, dark eyes, pale skin and how it connects to those dark-green feathers - I really like the style they represent, even if the shoddy sculpt made it a bit difficult to work with.

Those two together with their sisters Alkonosts can be seen HERE.

While very closely related and similar to Alkonosts, Sirins are never taken for a good omen. Their feathers are jet black and numerous bones are braided in their hair - they are believed to bring those deemed unworthy of a good death into Death God's embrace. Lurking in the dark forests, Sirins are vicious, bloodthirsty hunters and are often willing to support vampires or necromancers in their battles.

Alkonosts

First set of my 'counts-as-Fell-Bats' miniatures - Alkonosts. They are made after Slavic mythical creatures. I didn't like any of the minis that could fit Fell Bats well so I converted my own - these are built on bodies from Mirliton SG Giant Eagles. The whole conversion process can be seen HERE. It was quite interesting to paint them - the pale faces, very light hair, greenish feathers - very different from the usual undead standard.

Those ladies together with their much gloomier sisters Sirins can be seen HERE.

Alkonosts are the giant mythical bird-women from the Varsavian folklore, but seeing how tightly are they related to the Death God, they do respond to the right summons called by the practitioners of necromancy. While they may appear noble, closer inspection quickly shows something else. With their pallid skin and wicked blades posed as a mockery of a crown, they are the messengers of the Death God, fond of diving from high upon their unsuspecting victims. The folklore says that to see one and not instill its wrath brings luck.

Alkonosts & Sirins - WIP

You can find those painted HERE.

This is a project I started back in May 2014 when I wanted some Fell Bats in my army. I didn't like the ones offered by GW or other companies so I decided to make my own - and I looked into Slavic mythology for some ideas. There are numerous versions of birds with female heads in it and I choose two kinds of them to serve as my Fell Bats - THIS picture was especially inspiring for me.

I bought two kinds of birds for this - Giant Eagles from Mirliton SG and Wood Elf Warhawks from GW - two of each. Sawing their heads away was much more difficult than I thought - it was the first time I had to do such a conversion on a metal model. This is the first rough sketch of my idea for them.

Then I thought - I can make this even more Slavic! Instead of mounting them on gravestones, statues or other kinds of rubble I decided to make some Slavic sculptures for them, wooden ones, depicting mostly old, pagan deities. To spare on greenstuff I made the first rough shape out of plasticine and then covered it with two separate layers of greenstuff. Nowadays I just use cheap milliput for the 'core' part.

This is how they looked after I sculpted real bodies on those birds - still before adding eyes and other details.

And this is the final version, with details, hair, decorations, mounted on beforementioned sculptures. It was the first time for me to sculpt whole heads and that amount of detail - and while they look a bit wonky it was still a very good experience.

Monsters from the East + WIP

GW Vargheists painted in March 2014. I bought the set mostly to get Crypt Horror bits for my upcoming Zombie Ogres conversions and these were kind of a side-effect, but in the end, the turned out quite cool and worked well on the tabletop too! I needed to do them in my typical vampiric red + blueish gray, but I didn't want them looking like thinner copies of my Varghulf, so I decided to make their skin dark instead of light. I also added some striped 'texture' to their flesh and black patterns on their wings. It was all a bit tedious, but also made them more interesting.

Giant mutated vampires created brought to Varsavia by Lucan returning from the far east. Nobody knows for sure, but they seemed to be created in a similar way to the giant Fledermaus, but the process had to be much more refined and meticulously planned. Their mind is even more degraded, but they retained much of their vampiric speed and gained the ability to fly. While Lucan and Sorin like them for their honest love for bloody violence, Constantin finds them much too hard to control after let loose. Still, they are a very useful tool for making hard-to-reach enemies disappear into a bloody mist.

And here's also the picture of the unpainted champion of the unit, the Vargoyle, as the rules were naming them. I didn't like those little wings that were supposed to mark them, so I converted one of the Vargheists to be a little more imposing than his comrades.

Abelard von Greifen

GW Blood Dragon vampire converted into a Battle Standard Bearer painted in September 2016. You can see the unpainted WIP HERE. The first vampire miniature I painted that also had to have much green around him - which clashes a bit with the idea that vampires should be black/red/white and other undead green. Still, it was better than having that flag red, that would be overkill - and in the end, I'm rather happy with him.

Before being turned, Abelard was a loyal and honorable soldier from the eastern parts of the Empire. After becoming one of Constantin's gets, he kept those qualities, only now he was supporting the von Greifens’ cause. He wasn’t bright enough to be entrusted with governing or leading, but as the bearer of the House Standard, there’s no one better. The giant icon with the family’s coat of arms needs inhuman strength to carry it - and the cries screamed by the souls trapped in the cursed banner require great mental durability to withstand them. Abelard possessed both qualities and Constantin was never disappointed with him.

Abelard von Greifen - WIP

Some WIPs of the Vampire Battle Standard Bearer I have. The base for him was an old GW Blood Dragon miniature, with the sword replaced with a flagpole. The dragon skull on top is from the Terrorgheist set, the shield is plasticard and the flag is greenstuff built around a metal wire. On that numerous faces and hands were glued on to achieve the 'stream of spirits' kind of look.

The shield was missing from the miniature I bought, so I had to replace it. I used some round shield I had in my bitzbox, but then I wanted to have a bit more interesting. To get that I 'painted' a relief image of a von Greifen griffin skeleton - and it's done with many layers of Liquid Greenstuff. After that, I covered it with two layers of varnish to make a bit more durable.

Varsavian Bats

Some bat swarms painted in August 2013. Models are from Mirliton SG. I bought them because I wanted to use them in the game, not necessarily because the models were especially pretty... Originally they were completely flat, so I bent them a bit to make them less flat... but they are still kinda flat. Back in the day, those were my most elaborate bases ever! Fences are made of balsa wood and gravestones are plastic.

Bats were always drawn to those blessed with the vampiric blood and they, in turn, were fond of using bat images in their visual arts. Thanks to that blood bond, even lowly vampires are able to summon some amount of them. Bats of Varsavia weren't as big as those of Sylvania, but they are still eager to do their part by creating a chittering, biting and confusing cloud of creatures around the vampires' enemies.

Ecaterina Sokolov

The Coven Throne, a rather big vampiric chariot finished in March 2017 - plastic from Games Workshop. That was a hell of a project, took quite some time. Challenge for the mini was to really push the red-black-white scheme to the max. It works for the carriage itself, but it gets lost in all those green spirits. But still, in the end, it was all kinda worth it. You can see the WIP post HERE- with the subassemblies and some techniques described.
First are the photos of the whole model.

After returning to their ancient homeland in Varsavia, von Greifens found themselves at odds with another vampire that rose to power during their long absence. A small, bloody court was held here by Lady Ecaterina Sokolov - once a wife of a Kislevite Boyar, now a vampire countess on the lands of Varsavia. Yet despite her pride, her position and forces seemed weak, which provoked brother’s attack. They came out victorious - only barely, though. She kept her own domain in which she still rules unquestionably, together with a personal army - and von Greifens were obliged to defend that land. In exchange, Brothers were free to govern and expand Varsavia as they liked. Before both parties concluded their meeting, the Countess shared a secret with the newcomers - information an ancient Varsavian death cult, which much later led to unraveling the story of wights and their Death God, changing the local balance of power forever. Ecaterina herself, when enraged by something personally, brings down her wrath from upon an exquisite throne loft upon by ancient spirits and accompanied by her two most loyal handmaidens.

And some close-ups.

Ecaterina Sokolov - WIPs

EDIT: The finished model can be seen HERE.

In December 2016 I slowly started putting the Coven Throne together. The whole model is impressive enough, so the conversions I planned were rather small. 

First, I gave the Countess a new haircut (inspired by THIS picture) and her handmaidens got some fur trims on their clothes. The plan was to make them look a bit like old russian nobility.

The project kept growing while I was working on it. While looking for inspiration on russian noblewomen, I noticed that they used a lot of pearls. So I ordered 1mm ball chain and used it to add pearls to the whole carriage. ALso, the commoner scythe in the skeleton's hands was replaced with a much more noble halberd.

Then, the base. I wanted the Countess to be both connected to the forest theme the rest of the army has and also be somehow more civilized. So I planned a stone path coming from her palace into the forest - the idea with the bent fence came a bit later. I joined some bent and cut nails with drilled sprue pieces and then held it carefully over fire to make the plastic bend too. Maybe it's not as wide as a proper entrance to the forest, but it works much better than my first idea - having the ghosts phase through the fence. That doesn't really work without translucency.

Next, the spirit horde. It was a big challenge to make the normal ghostly parts different from the metal parts while still keeping them distinctly uniform. In the end I painted ghostly parts white, metal parts light silver - and then glazed it all with blue and green. The effect is subtle, but that's what I needed. There are some freehands on the robes, but that's also very light. The whole thing was quite a pain to reach everything with the brush.

Now, the carriage itself. As most of my vampires, Countess and her entourage are kept in the black-red-white colour triad - except any special effects that is. The whole carriage was thus a one big excercise in painting everything in those three colours. It was a bit demanding, but turned out okay in the end.

And as the last WIP picture, the Scrying Pool. I wanted to paint an image there, because the background in the book describes it like that and I never seen anyone doing it on this model. My first attempt (above) was rushed, sloppy and flat. Next one took much more time but also turned out much better.

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Ioana von Greifen

Monique Denoir model from Reaper Miniatures painted in September 2016, metal. I always liked arts of white-haired vampire women and that was the guideline for this model - all the rest had to accommodate that. I tested various schemes out and choose this one, black, red and white, even without adding gold details that some other vampires got. I'm pretty satisfied with the effect - especially the hair, scabbard and the back tabard... actually, her back is much better than her front...

When brothers were escaping from Castle Greifen after killing their sire Laurentin and heading for Varsavia, they found themselves needing money and a cover for giant Fledermaus traveling with them. An armored wagon belonging to a Tilean caravan was perfect for that - and the guards didn't put much of a fight - except one, that is. A single mercenary woman stood up to Sorin, completely surprising him. Her moves fast and attacks precise, she kept up with the vampire's speed and was using his own strength and size against him. Only after a lengthy fight, when she got fatigued, Sorin was able to defeat her, barely winning. But instead of killing her, he captured her and turned her into a vampire. Ioana was her name and she became the youngest von Greifen that night. She rather quickly accepted the new situation and the new family, becoming quite an asset. She followed Sorin on his missions, learning the craft and improving her martial prowess. After the turning, she became ever quicker and stronger - clad in heavy armor and with an elven sword, she bested many warriors eager to test themselves against her. There are stories that even the self-proclaimed master of the sword, Lucan von Greifen, tasted defeat after dueling Ioana, but the stories themselves are unclear and Lucan is known to cut such short - often literally!. A temperamental woman even before her turning, others quickly learned a wide plethora of curses from various languages from her, for her tongue was as sharp as her blade.

Prenzlauer Guard

GW Chaos Knights converted into Blood Knights. The unit was painted in August 2013. The WIP post can be found HERE.

The Prenzlauer Guard - a small, but very hardy unit of guardsmen employed in the von Greifen family since the time of Laurentin von Greifen. While they were sworn to protect him, they were bloodthirsty enough to quickly jump at the occasion of a rebellion against their deranged sire when teamed with Constantin, Sorin and Lucan. When times are calmer, they are working as lesser governors of keeps and camps in the von Greifen's lands. When riding to battle, they all sit on giant, black, undead chargers outfitted with heavy armor lacquered with bloody red paint. Carrying giant weapons and eager to jump into the fray, they are far from the subtlety preferred by Constantin. Still, being able to obliterate hardened units with a single charge ensures them a stable place in the vampire's army. This reliability - despite their once proven unloyalty - is thanks to how easy it is to manipulate them.

Prenzlauer Guard - WIP

Back then in August 2013 when I was building this unit, getting original GW Blood Knights was way too costly for me and I really didn't like using Dragon Princes for that - they seemed to be popular at the moment. I choose Chaos Knights, as they were bigger, meaner and spikier - everything I needed for a unit of vampire knights. I removed all the chaos iconography, mounted quite a lot of Grave Guard bits on them, added some greestuff details, bigger weapons and even sculpted faces for them. It wasn't by any means perfect, but good enough for the first try. 

Today I would do it differently, but it's always like that. At least I made some progress along the way. At least I have Blood Knights. And now the whole conversions. Sorry about the quality of the photos...

Champion

Standard Bearer

Musician

Knight 1

Knight 2

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.