Character development - Konrad Von Carstein

[Belladamma Voltaire]

Greetings again one and all!

From Watchman 4, I am going to be running a regular series about developing special characters for armies. This is going to revolve around those infamous people you read about in 'fluff' but never see in-game rules for.

The first one in this crucible is going to be the Blood Count of Slyvania. I am, of course, speaking about Konrad Von Carstein.

What rules/items would you use to represent him ingame? What models would you use to convert him?

 

[The Inspector]

Konrad already has his own rules. GW created them for the purpose of the Essen Ford scenario.

If I could have your permission, I will post them here*

*they are not on the GW website, nor on any recent GW printed text, so it should be ok

 

[Belladamma Voltaire]

Sure, fire away!

 

[Lord Fear]

Yes, I caught a glance at them when someone at my club brought in some old Citadel Journals, although they're woefully out-dated, of course and I'd love to sink my teeth into them

 

[DarkHand6]

for the model - i'd be tempted by the nechrach model with the skull and the open mouth. With a suitably dark skin colour and a converted great sword i think the insanity would come across quite well

 

[The Inspector]

Okey Dokey

Konrad von Carstein was completely mad even compared to the other members of his Vampire family. When he walked amongst the living he had gained the reputation of being a blood-mad butcher, cold, merciless and insanely ruthless. For his pleasure he had once ordered that every cat within his realm be used as target practice for his crossbowmen. On at least two occasions he had peasant villagers put to the torch because their smell offended him. Having tried his own mother for giving birth to him without his consent, he had her bricked up alive in her own tower, threatening death to any who tried to save her.

Acquiring power and longevity through the Blood Kiss did little to strengthen his already shaky grasp on reality. His reign of terror lasted nearly a century and now his name is used by parents to frighten children across the whole of the Empire. Lacking any great degree of skill in the art of Necromancy himself, he enslaved any magicians that his forces captured and forced them to do his evil will. Soon he headed a huge army that ravaged the length and breadth of the Empire. He looked upon the humans within his realm as a cruel sportsman would regard a herd of deer, but nonetheless Konrad was very territorial, marking the borders of his realm with the staked heads of his enemies. The people he ruled over were his to do with as he choose and he would not tolerate any other Vampires encroaching on his land.

Your army may be led by Konrad von Carstein, Vampire Lord of Sylvania. Konrad can be taken as a Lord choice, but he will use up one of your Hero choices as well. Taking Konrad counts as taking a Lord and a Hero. He must be fielded exactly as presented here and no extra equipment or magic items can be bought for him.

In the Battle of Essen Ford scenario, Konrad can still be taken by the defender even if the defending force is smaller than 2,000 points, and in that case he uses up two Hero slots.

M - 6
WS - 9
BS - 6
S - 5
T - 5
W - 4
I - 8
A - 6
LD - 9

440 POINTS

Equipment: Konrad is armed with a great weapon and always carries the Ring of the Night .

Armour: None.

Magic: Konrad is a Level 1 Wizard and can use Necromantic spells or the Lore of Death.

SPECIAL RULES

Bloodlines: Konrad has the following powers from the Carstein family's list: Summon Bats, Walking Death and Summon Wolves. In addition he has the Red Fury power from the Blood Dragon's list.

Fits of rage: Konrad must take a Leadership test at the beginning of each of his turns. If he fails it, he will be affected by frenzy until the beginning of his next turn, when he will have to test again.

MAGIC ITEMS

Ring of the Night: This magic jewel has the power to draw a cloud of concealing darkness around the bearer.

5+ Ward save.

 

[Skaramak von Carstein]

Thanks for putting that up, The Inspector. Which edition was the scenario written for?

 

[Lord Fear]

Ah, very good, very good! I like the stats, they're just about powerful enough for him. However, I would propose the following changes:
1) Remove all spellcasting ability. He had none, but give him heavy armour to make up for it. Allow him to be mounted on a Barded Nightmare for +18 points.
2) Spectral Attendants. Konrad is constantly haunted by the ghosts of those he and his kin have slaughtered, driving him further into madness as they taunt him for his failures. Same as the Storm of Chaos list ability, -1 to enemies casting spells, with a further -1 for all Wizards within 12". In addition Konrad generates D3 Dispel Dice per enemy magic phase.
3) Bat Form. Konrad possesses the ability to turn into a great bat, although he has not and never will manage to master the ability. At the start of his turns the player may announce Konrad is using this ability and must take a Stupidity Test- if he passes, then he may fly that turn, but must still pass his Frenzy test. If he flies, then he instantly loses his Barded Nightmare (If he bought one).
4) Army General. Konrad will always be the army general and cannot be fielded with any other special character or other Vampire Lord. The army must therefore include at least one Wizard, and if all Wizards in the army are killed, then the army will begin to crumble as if the General has died. Of course, crumbling units within 12" of Konrad may use his leadership as usual. Any unit may reroll their crumbling test result while Konrad lives- the second roll always stands.

So all in all you have a crazy ass mutha who can sometimes fly if things get desperate, but risks going crazy and attacking the enemy at all times. On the plus side, if he goes crazy and gets himself killed, the army won't start crumbling. He causes a lot of trouble to spellcasters- friendly and enemy. Som rules might be too complex so feel free to edit...

Other ideas/ feedback

 

[Belladamma Voltaire]

My own thoughts on it were going to be investigating the possibility of using a system similar to that of Galrauch when determining whether he has gone stupid or become frenzied.

For those of you who don't know how this works, you take a Leadership test, if passed everything is fine, if failed on an 11 he simply can't move and if failed on a 12 the enemy can control Galrauch. While these specific effects would not be the same for Konrad, I would like to see it where 11 makes him stupid and 12 makes him frenzied.

I do agree about removing the magical casting abilities of the Blood Count and make his army play more like that of a Tomb Kings army in that respect. Giving him heavy armour also seems logical. Does anyone recall if his weapon had anything special about it though?

The Inspectors rules were for 6th edition and featured a battle between Konrad and another undead general at Essen Ford.

 

[Lord Fear]

Meant to reply soonerer...

I like the idea, although we should be careful that he doesn't just become like Luthor Harkon. I don't think he had any magic weapon and +2S seems like a good enough bonus to me. Perhaps give him an ASF ability as well...

 

[DarkHand6]

For those of you who don't know how this works, you take a Leadership test, if passed everything is fine, if failed on an 11 he simply can't move and if failed on a 12 the enemy can control Galrauch. While these specific effects would not be the same for Konrad, I would like to see it where 11 makes him stupid and 12 makes him frenzied.

I would suggest that thats too nice - i would say on an 11 he stands still and on a 12 he charges the nearest unit - friend or foe.

I do agree about removing the magical casting abilities of the Blood Count and make his army play more like that of a Tomb Kings army in that respect. Giving him heavy armour also seems logical. Does anyone recall if his weapon had anything special about it though?

The weapon was nothing special - just a greatsword. Heavy Armour seems good as well.

Bat Form. Konrad possesses the ability to turn into a great bat, although he has not and never will manage to master the ability. At the start of his turns the player may announce Konrad is using this ability and must take a Stupidity Test- if he passes, then he may fly that turn, but must still pass his Frenzy test. If he flies, then he instantly loses his Barded Nightmare (If he bought one).

This just seems wierd - if anything it should be wolf form. I like the way it works though. Prehaps simplify by saying 'every time he uses this power roll a D6 - on a 1 the power fails and he must move normally this turn'. Dont give him the ability to use a nightmare if he has this rule though - that just seems really stupid (no offence EvC), to have a guy on a horse who will suddennly leap off it and transform into a wolf just seems wrong.

Getting rid of any magical ability is a good idea as are the spectral attendents - his points will of course have to be modified appropriately.

Good idea though - a new special character would be nice

 

[The Inspector]

As EvC said, Konrad is beginning to sound a bit too Harkon-ish.

Lets just have him as a raving lunatic all of the time. Harkon had his moments of clarity and brilliance, while Konrad was a maniac 24/7.

It is also a trend throughout Vampire characters to not introduce any new bloodline powers. Even Vlad himself doesn't have any bonus powers. The only thing that does change is magic items (Mannfred's Staff, Zach's Scrolls, etc).

Unfortunately, Konrad does not have the luxury of any mentioned magic items.

Perhaps a 'blood frenzy' idea? The more kills he gets, the stronger he becomes? This doesn't allow for Konrad to appear calm/sane, only more maniacal as the battle rages on.
Something along the lines of the TK Bone Giant's unstoppable assault?

 

[Lord Fear]

This just seems wierd - if anything it should be wolf form.

Why though? The suggestion was actually based off of Konrad's actions in Dominion where he took the form of a bat to chase one of his "brothers" who had also taken flight, though he has difficulty.

I only mentioned the Nightmare thing because I've always thought that it's funny how there's no way for a model to be unhorsed in Warhammer! Even when a Giant in a recent game picked up my mounted Necromancer and threw him into a Black Coach and he survived, along with his steed :grin:

 

[DarkHand6]

Why though? The suggestion was actually based off of Konrad's actions in Dominion where he took the form of a bat to chase one of his "brothers" who had also taken flight, though he has difficulty.

I only mentioned the Nightmare thing because I've always thought that it's funny how there's no way for a model to be unhorsed in Warhammer! Even when a Giant in a recent game picked up my mounted Necromancer and threw him into a Black Coach and he survived, along with his steed :grin:

fair enough - i havent read much BL stuff
i can why the nightmare is funny but it still doesnt make sense really....

 

[Belladamma Voltaire]

I like the idea of an unstoppable assault being launched by Konrad as it does seem to represent him a bit better than other things which have been presented here. I do not want to see Konrad mounted as I believe someone as completely insane as Konrad the Butcher should simply stay on foot. That being said, instead of him simply being frenzied and gaining +1 attack, perhaps +D6 attacks would better represent him?

This could be even more defined if you give him a rule similar to that of Minotaurs where Konrad pursues 3D6 but can never voluntarily overrun as he is too mad stabbing the corpses of his enemy to 'insure' they are dead.

 

[The Inspector]

So, some basic ideas so far-

-Konrad is excellent in combat, especially on the charge. Either the extra +D6 attacks, or the unstoppable assault. Or both!
-However, to counterbalance this, Konrad cannot pursue broken enemies. Nice justification, Voltaire :grin:

-Further character balances include a decreased magical ability, and perhaps further character faults (harkon/galrauch/crazy bastard personality tests).

Another idea that I just had is to give the possibilty of Konrad using his Great Weapon, or to throw down his weapon and fight with tooth and nail. Perhaps this is where Konrad gains his +D6 from?

Somewhat similar to Crom's ability to choose the best weapon for the situation, though I think perhaps Konrad should not have as much consious decision behind weapon swaps - a leadership test perhaps, or maybe dependent on how many kills Konrad has made?