Post: #1

This character is going to be the general for my upcoming Albion based VC army. Normally I will just use Vampire Lord Rules for him but since this section exsists I though I would make him a named character.

Áinfeann:

Born into the Uláid Tribe in the north of Albion, Áinfeann was the son of the tribes Blacksmith. He spent his youth following in the footsteps of his father; long days spent tarrying at the forge. He grew into a strong lad, tall and handsome with muscles like granite. His brown hair was cut short and his green eyes were like emeralds. The girls loved him and the boys respected him and most of all his father was proud of him.

In his sixteenth winter the Ráth was attacked by a rival tribe and the defences breached. Áinfeann grabbed a freshly made spear and raced out to defend his people. Although he had little training in arms he seemed to have a natural aptitude for fighting and backed up by his size and strength he was formidable. In the end his people one and their Ráth was saved. However, Áinfeann was still lusting for battle and he knew his life would never be the same again. As a reward for his heroism the Chieftain granted him his personal champion as a trainer and he spent the next four years training and fighting.

Áinfeann decided he had learned all he could here and travelled the land learning all he could and putting it into practice. Always he heard tale of the 'Hermit of Toghare'. This hermit lived high in the Sperrins and it was said he was the master of all forms of combat but that he would only teach the worthy. So Áinfeann set out to find the hermit. His journey was long and dangerous and he faced many trials, but he never gave up. After two years of travel and trials Áinfeann reached the summit of Toaghare. There stood the hermit.

Clad from head to toe in Crimson Armour was the hermit. The moonlight glinted off the dragon devices over his armour and it made him seem all the more sinister. It was chill and Áinfeann felt the urge to turn and run but he steeled himself and readied his spear. The hermit drew a massive Claymore in response and the two clashed amidist the wind and rain. The battle raged on for the whole night but as dawn approached Áinfeann collapsed; his body spent.

Áinfeann awoke to a ravenous hunger and burning pain coursing through his body. The hermit stood over him and made him drink from a goblet. The coppery liquid restored his strength and eased the pain. He downed it all. The hermit was called Malek and Áinfeann was now his student but at the cost of his life and soul. He spent two centuries with Malek; learning the ways of war and magic. They crushed monsters in swamps and forests and raised the dead to destroy the tribes. Yet Áinfeann felt he learned all he could from his master and so arose as he slept and drove a stake through his heart. Now the world would be his training ground and he would face armies, kings and heroes to prove himself the greatest of warriors.

Áinfeann the Black-hearted: 400 Points

M:6
WS:9
BS:5
S:5
T:5
W:3
I:7
A:5
LD:10



Magic: A level 2 Wizard. Only knows spells from the Lore of Vampires.

Equipment: Reaver, Armour of Dread and Grond's Skull.

Special Rules:

Reaver- The Claymore Áinfeann stole from his master after he slew him in his sleep. This ancient blade has drunk the blood of peasant and conqurer alike. It's edge glows crimson in anticipation of slaughter.

Great weapon. Close combat attacks made by the bearer ignore armour saves. In addition if the bearer is in a challenge the blade grants him Always Strike First until the challenge ends.

Armour of Dread- Áinfeann forged this armour himself. He forged it from Star Metal which he took from the Chaos Dwarf hold of Karak Zaghoul. The armour is so protective it is said that even the suns accursed rays cannot find him whilst he wears it.

Armour of Dread grants the wearer a 1+ armour save and a 5+ Ward Save.

Grond's Skull- Grond was a mighty Lord of Chaos who's name was spoken in the north with dread. His cruelty was matched only by his prowess in battle. When he marched to war nations trembled. However, the dark gods grew bored with him. During the seige of Wolfenburg Grond led the assault which took the walls but his glory was short lived. The section of the wall he had been standing on collapsed from the weaknesses inflicted on it by the Hell Cannons. Grond was crushed and his body left there. Áinfeann was led to it through his dreams and the skull speaks to him telling him of his enemies weaknesses.

Any enemy in base contact with Áinfeann lose 1 attack to a minimum of 1.

Red Fury: See Vampire Counts Army Book.

Dread Knight: See Vampire Counts Army Book. The change has already been made to the profile.

Blood of Uláid: The last of that ancient tribe, Áinfeann is of the line of great warriors and heroes.

Whenever an enemy is in a challenge with Áinfeann the enemy is at -1WS to a minimum of 1. However, if Áinfeann loses a wound in a challenge his pride and anger get the better of him and the enemy loses this penalty. Furthermore the enemy gains an additional point of over kill for each wound caused; to a maximum of five.

Black Hearted: Chivalry and honour are not party of Áinfeann's code. He fights to win and shows only cruelty to his enemies.

When taking a fear test caused by Áinfeann and any unit he has joined the enemy must roll three dice and discard the lowest.

Undead: See Vampire Counts Army Book.

Vampiric: See Vampire Counts Army Book.

The Hunger: See Vampire Counts Army Book.




Let me know what you think folks.

Post: #2

I generally like him, but feel he's a little cheap for his abilities.1+ armour, 5+ ward and 4 wounds is a brute! Vlad is ,what? 425 points? This guy is probably equal to that. But great back story.

Post: #3

You are right, 300 is too cheap so I increased it by 70. I don't think he is as survivable as Vlad but he is slightly better than Grimgor Ironhide, who is quite similar.

Thanks, I came up with it fairly quickly there. I will probably flesh it out more at some stage.

Post: #4

I can't see any real weakness to him... he's a good caster, will paste any opponent in combat, and will likely score massive overkill making the enemy run away due to his special rule, and then he will probably catch them down.

I'd say simply for his godly challenge prowess he should be level 1 magic, if not level 0. Either that or a big points increase, I'm afraid. He has a good weapon, good armour and ward, good stats, good abilities... it's not a problem if you point him right, but characters good at everything loose a little of their characterful-ness, I feel. If you wrote a nice flaw into his rules, I think that'd go really nicely. Something like him always accepting and issuing challenges, and if he is ever beaten in a challenge (ie: opponent causing more wounds than he does) then the opponent receives a +5 Overkill combat resolution bonus as they are inspired by their hero giving the vampire a beating. Something like that, I don't know. Just a negative trait for him.


Sorry to sound overly-critical. It's good, but I feel you have the potential to make him even better.

Post: #5

(01-09-2012 09:44 PM)Count Darvaleth Wrote:  I can't see any real weakness to him... he's a good caster, will paste any opponent in combat, and will likely score massive overkill making the enemy run away due to his special rule, and then he will probably catch them down.

I'd say simply for his godly challenge prowess he should be level 1 magic, if not level 0. Either that or a big points increase, I'm afraid. He has a good weapon, good armour and ward, good stats, good abilities... it's not a problem if you point him right, but characters good at everything loose a little of their characterful-ness, I feel. If you wrote a nice flaw into his rules, I think that'd go really nicely. Something like him always accepting and issuing challenges, and if he is ever beaten in a challenge (ie: opponent causing more wounds than he does) then the opponent receives a +5 Overkill combat resolution bonus as they are inspired by their hero giving the vampire a beating. Something like that, I don't know. Just a negative trait for him.


Sorry to sound overly-critical. It's good, but I feel you have the potential to make him even better.

Always accepting and issuing challenges is part of the new Dread Knight ability. Though you do have a point, I will reduce his caster level and up his points a bit more.

Edit: I have also made a change to Blood of Uláid.

Post: #6

(01-09-2012 09:03 PM)Jamesy52 Wrote:  You are right, 300 is too cheap so I increased it by 70. I don't think he is as survivable as Vlad but he is slightly better than Grimgor Ironhide, who is quite similar.

Thanks, I came up with it fairly quickly there. I will probably flesh it out more at some stage.

First off, nice backstory for the character, although it would have been nice to see more of his story arfter his transformation into a Vampire, as this helps give him more of a place in the setting, or at least bring forth how you view him fitting into the warhammer setting etc. I like the Albion ide, as it does give you more flexibility without comprimising pre-written warhammer lore. The name is good as well.

Now, for what I personally would point a finger at, and would consider modifying:

-First off, he is not just sligthly better than Grimgor, because of the Red Fury, +1 Wound, Higher WS, opponents will often only have a WS of 1, he's a wizard, etc.. Personally, my view is that if someone is so powerful that they make one of the top melee special characters in the game seem weak, they would have already had a big place in the warhammer setting already, not something very applicable to our home-made special characters in the first place.
As a general rule, my view on making special characters is that we are far better off at making Hero level special characters, as this will allow us to keep the interesting stories, yet fit them better into the pre-defined warhammer lore. There is also an abundance in super-powerful lords in this section, yet comparably few Hero lvl vampires. Finally, a Hero level vampire is much easier to balance, which oould ultimately allow you to use him more often vs. your friends, whom I guarantee you will quickly get tired off facing any kind of home-made special character of this magnitude. That is just the way it is.

-Why do nearly all home-made Vampire Lord special characters have 4-5 wounds? This seems to be a trend, which suggests to me that people are having a hard time accepting that their precious creation might "die" on the gaming table. There is often very little justification for having more wounds than 3 as well, in some cases none at all.

-One thing I have a little problem with from a fluff perspective, is that since he is so immensly powerful (stats beyond the standard Vampire Lord), he should be a direct ascendant of Abhorash himself (since he's got WS 9), not some Vampire we've not heard off. Vampires get significantly weaker for each generation, but nearly everyone that makes Vampire special characters ignore this fact.

Nice too see some 8.ed special characters come into being though.

Post: #7

(01-10-2012 10:57 AM)Uziel Wrote:  

(01-09-2012 09:03 PM)Jamesy52 Wrote:  You are right, 300 is too cheap so I increased it by 70. I don't think he is as survivable as Vlad but he is slightly better than Grimgor Ironhide, who is quite similar.

Thanks, I came up with it fairly quickly there. I will probably flesh it out more at some stage.

First off, nice backstory for the character, although it would have been nice to see more of his story arfter his transformation into a Vampire, as this helps give him more of a place in the setting, or at least bring forth how you view him fitting into the warhammer setting etc. I like the Albion ide, as it does give you more flexibility without comprimising pre-written warhammer lore. The name is good as well.

Now, for what I personally would point a finger at, and would consider modifying:

-First off, he is not just sligthly better than Grimgor, because of the Red Fury, +1 Wound, Higher WS, opponents will often only have a WS of 1, he's a wizard, etc.. Personally, my view is that if someone is so powerful that they make one of the top melee special characters in the game seem weak, they would have already had a big place in the warhammer setting already, not something very applicable to our home-made special characters in the first place.
As a general rule, my view on making special characters is that we are far better off at making Hero level special characters, as this will allow us to keep the interesting stories, yet fit them better into the pre-defined warhammer lore. There is also an abundance in super-powerful lords in this section, yet comparably few Hero lvl vampires. Finally, a Hero level vampire is much easier to balance, which oould ultimately allow you to use him more often vs. your friends, whom I guarantee you will quickly get tired off facing any kind of home-made special character of this magnitude. That is just the way it is.

-Why do nearly all home-made Vampire Lord special characters have 4-5 wounds? This seems to be a trend, which suggests to me that people are having a hard time accepting that their precious creation might "die" on the gaming table. There is often very little justification for having more wounds than 3 as well, in some cases none at all.

-One thing I have a little problem with from a fluff perspective, is that since he is so immensly powerful (stats beyond the standard Vampire Lord), he should be a direct ascendant of Abhorash himself (since he's got WS 9), not some Vampire we've not heard off. Vampires get significantly weaker for each generation, but nearly everyone that makes Vampire special characters ignore this fact.

Nice too see some 8.ed special characters come into being though.

Vampire Lords used to have four wounds and I feel it is something they should still have, as they are meant to be very hard to kill. As for Weapon Skill 9 that is part of the new Dread Knight ability. All Blood Dragons used to get +2 Weapon Skill anyway and this is coming back through this power. He is designed to be great in a challenge. Normally he is striking last with his great weapon. He is only a level 2 wizard, but yes Red Fury is an advantage. This is all reflected in the points cost.

As for the backround, I am going to start fleshing it out more and will post it up in the story section.

Post: #8

Not my intent to come off as overly critical. My thoughts was on hos he would "fit" in the setting etc, not his cost and so forth.
I do agree that vampires should be hard to kill, but remember that in 8 ed, they have toughness 5, the hunger rule and i suspect most important of all, the lore of vampires Lore attribute that will make it extremly hard to slay them in the first place. 3 wounds are already equal to that of montrous infantry, so the notion that this is inadequate is a bit odd, but then again, so is it that a regular human general can have 3wounds...

Post: #9

You do make good points. I should drop his wounds to 3. Tough vampire lords were always T5. However, they do have a few new rules this edition.