Vash1313's Bretonnian Themed VC

[vash1313]

I have been working on a Bretonnian themed Vampire Counts Army for the past 8 months, and despite having finished a good deal of it, have decided to start a painting log anyway. I need to get the whole thing finished in time for a tournament in July and hopefully this will help motivate me. So far I have completed 2 Lords, 2 Necromancers, 3 units of Skeletons, 1 unit of Grave Guard, Black Knights, Dire Wolves, and a Varghulf. I still have to complete 3 Corpse Carts, 30 Ghouls, 40 Zombies, another Vampire, and a Wight King. I would love to get some comments and criticisms, better ideas, suggestions, cooking recipes, etc...

First Up: Characters
Mounted Lord

I am not a big fan of the GW Vampires. They all seem to have fangs that are too big and they seem to have traded all of their old armor for new armor that has bat wings and other stuff on it. For my lord I simply took the Bretonnian Lord with great weapon and swapped it out for a sword. I then painted him a suitably dark color with pale dead skin. On his own he may not look sufficiently undead to some, but when fielded with the army he fits right in. This army relies quite a bit on the appearance of all the units together to really communicate that undead feel.

 

[TMS]

Oooh, now that's a nice job you've done there. I really like the fleur de lyses (plural?) and his yellow eyes!

That's a great model, truly worthy of a leader.

 

[vash1313]

Next up: Characters

These are three characters that I painted up for the army. The gentleman with the sword is a vampire on foot that I made out of a men at arms figure and some empire swordsman bits.

The other two are Empire Wizards that were modified only slightly and then painted suitably evil and now parade around the battlefield as Necromancers. I am especially fond of the Necromancer with the vial of green skull gas. The arm across the face is classic horror film pose.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

Superb. The detail on your vamp lord is indeed fantastic, and I love your necro with the vial. How did you do the floaty skull thing?

 

[ironlord]

they all look really great
i cant wait too see some of the troop units

very nice pattern on the lord
im thinking of getting a similar model for a character of my own
you've really inspired me with that pattern

 

[vash1313]

Most recently I finished my Varghulf. I really like the new GW model for the Varghulf, but I wanted something that was a bit more Bretonnian in feel. I ended up taking the Green Knight and modifying him to be Raynald the Beast also known as the Red Knight. I envision him as a vampire who has succumbed to the beast within and is now a mad berserker on the battlefield. I might later try and convert another Varghulf from the Archaeon figure who will be named Sir Gregor after the Mountain that Rides for you GRRM fans.

To convert Raynald I swapped out the head and used one of the heads from the driver of the Corpse Cart. I fleshed out the back of the head and neck and then sculpted a chainmail coif. The sword was swapped out for the axe from the Grave Guard champion. The plume of fern leaves that was on the head of the horse was removed and I had to re-sculpt the ears as well as some of the armor on the head. The red color will really make him stand out from the rest of my army. I dirtied him up and rusted up his armor to give the impression that he has succumbed so completely to the beast that he no longer even takes care of his equipment.

All in all this was a really challenging and fun project to try and make a figure as distinctive as the Green Knight look evil.

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Superb. The detail on your vamp lord is indeed fantastic, and I love your necro with the vial. How did you do the floaty skull thing?

That is actually a bit on the Empire Wizards sprue. I did cut the smoke and turn it on the neck of the bottle so that the skull was facing front. Just choosing the right bits and painting them menacingly evil enough, and that empire wizard kit is really good for making necromancers.

 

[Lemuria]

Incredible work vash! You've inspired me, and i can't wait to see how the rest of your army looks.

 

[Sibbechai]

If it weren't for the fact I'm already building a Chaotic VC army, you would just have convinced me to get a Bretonnia-themed one!
Especially that first guy is great, excellent painting.

 

[The Dark Sheep]

Those are some really good models. The varghulf has to be the best one of them (what an incredibly great idea :|). If I'm gonna make a varghulf this will be stolen straight away.

 

[vash1313]

Thank you everyone for your comments.

Next up: Black Knights

These are the guys that started this whole idea for me. I can not stand the GW Black Knights, which left me with two choices: Empire or Bretonnia.

I really did not convert anything on these guys except to tear up the banner to make it look old. I wanted to challenge myself by making these guys look evil and undead but only through the paint. I also did not want to add skeletal parts and such, mainly because they would look too brawny in the Bretonnian areas and then have this skinny bone coming out. Instead I imagined these guys as incorporeal beings that inhabit their old suits of armor because they foolishly pledged their loyalty to the Vampire Lord and it is because of that oath that they still serve after death. Perhaps they even wish he would be killed on the field of battle so they would be released from servitude, but they are powerless to do anything because of the oath. I think these guys came out pretty good. On their own they may not scream undead, but with the rest of the army they work out perfectly.

I have posted these guys on here before but I am posting them again for the sake of completeness.

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Dire Wolves

These guys came out pretty good, but the pictures don't really do them justice. I decided to bloody them up and then use gloss sealer to make it shine, and the camera really doesn't pick it up very well. The Doom Wolf in the center was the victim of some experimentation with the dip method and as a result most of the detail was obscured. I went back over the model and re-sculpted 99% of the surface to give it back detail. This also made him appreciably larger than the other models... at least it only happened to one.

 

[JFSebastien]

Good job, following you mirror plog on warseer also. Really into the weathering and tones on the Black Knights, tho not mad about the green glow. I like the understated General and unique Varghulf very much, but the dire wolves.....maybe its the models, the heads are just too much. Not your fault, but good job on bad models imo. As for the blood on the DW, hmmmm, i think im just allergic to gloss...
Lets see some RnF units

 

[vash1313]

The Dire Wolves were not my favorite models either. I have been thinking of using zombie Yeomen from the Bretonnian range. They will look better but cost around $120 for an 80pt unit. Ouch!

Skeletons!

I painted these guys using the dip method... sorta. After brushing on the varnish I went back and painted on the rust and bits of clothing. It did not save me as much time as the dip method is supposed to, but it did save me some time and I really like the effect it achieved over all. There are about 8 skeletons with Men at Arms shields and helmets in every unit. I figured a vampire would not be too particular about who's dead he was raising so I wanted to have a good mix of different looks. The shields of the Men at Arms skeletons also carry a variety of different emblems. Many of these are matched to the heraldry of the Black Knights to represent the peasant levy's brought by the various knights when called on by their lord. The men at arms are not organized by the lord they are sworn to, but instead are mixed into the different units willy nilly. The lord is not going to be so concerned with making sure all of his undead minions have matching outfits and he sure as hell isn't going to care if you get to be with your old buddies when it's time to march. Living Bretonnian lords are pretty indifferent to their peasants - I figure undead Bretonnian lords will be even more indifferent to their dead peasants.

Group 1

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Group 2

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Group 3

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Grave Guard

These guys are a bit of a mixed bag for me. I like the way they turned out but they just don't look Bretonnian. They don't stick out like a sore thumb but I would prefer something a little more in line with the theme I am going for. I might try mixing some of the Knights of the Realm plastics with the Men at Arms and see if I can make some knights on foot. You have seen my army up to this point - how do you think the current Gave Guard I am using look with the rest of the army?

 

[darknesseternal]

Holy crap vash... your colour scheme choice really makes this army, I love it. Muted, dark, not your standard red/black combo, and very Undead looking. And I have to say, that you are one of the few people who have made the new Dire Wolves look bareable, and dare I say, actually pretty damn good! :thumb:

I can't wait to see the whole army.. what is next to come?

 

[Sibbechai]

You could also have a look at converting some Chaos Warhounds.
Same price, look suitably undead.. you only have to get rid of some mutations.

 

[Trevy the Great]

The pictures look good, from what I've seen. Frankkly, though, I really don't really want to have to click on every picture, wait for it to load and then compare it to others to see your awesome work. Consider putting your pictures up on a picture hosting page (like Photobucket) so that you can post them directly into your posts.

 

[vash1313]

The pictures look good, from what I've seen. Frankkly, though, I really don't really want to have to click on every picture, wait for it to load and then compare it to others to see your awesome work. Consider putting your pictures up on a picture hosting page (like Photobucket) so that you can post them directly into your posts.

I went through and loaded the pictures directly into the post - they show up for me - are they not showing up for anyone else?

 

[Trevy the Great]

Yep, they show up. Thanks a lot, Vash.

 

[ironlord]

they show up for me
that grave guard banner is superb
dont worry about how it looks, fluff wise let me explain how you can get away with it
i like the idea of a vampire coming into the area and taking control (by force or charm)
well these grave guard could be an origional guard from before he came to control the bretonian force and turned them into undead

or

the vampire dug up this old unit of guardians once he had taken control

or

you just ignore the fluff and use a well painted and deadly looking unit

skelies look good but i want too see these zombies from yeoman you talked about somewhere in this blog

 

[vash1313]

they show up for me
that grave guard banner is superb
dont worry about how it looks, fluff wise let me explain how you can get away with it
i like the idea of a vampire coming into the area and taking control (by force or charm)
well these grave guard could be an origional guard from before he came to control the bretonian force and turned them into undead

or

the vampire dug up this old unit of guardians once he had taken control

or

you just ignore the fluff and use a well painted and deadly looking unit

skelies look good but i want too see these zombies from yeoman you talked about somewhere in this blog

I appreciate the input. I have thought of some fluff reasons as to why the Grave Guard would be different. I guess my main question is: do the grave guard look out of place or are there enough non-bretonnian themed models in the army to balance it out when looking at the army as a whole?

I'll get pics of everything together up here soon.

 

[Trentonator]

How do you do your rust effects?

They look very nice but I just can't figure it out.

 

[ironlord]

nah i think they fit in well enough
the dirty colours bind them all together well enough
and if someone says they look out of place just tell them to sit down and shaddap! cause they are your minis

 

[vash1313]

Armor and weapons were done by painting a layer of Reaper Uniform Brown first. Second I stippled on a layer of vomit brown, followed by a lighter coat of macharius solar orange, and finally reaper marigold yellow. This crates the rust color. Next I carefully paint either chainmail or boltgun metal on the edges of all the weapons and armor. Just think of anyplace the rust is likely to get worn off by wear and tear. This is a bit time consuming but worth it. I wash all the armor in devlan mud. You want it to collect in the recesses to give definition but you only want it to tone down the rust color and the metal. After it dries, go back and touch up the metals, but only a little bit.

 

[Zephyr]

The "oldness" looks great and really blends the army into one cohesive whole. Your vamp looks amazing, your wolves disgusting (in a good way) and your black knight are one of the better I've seen out there. Maybe they look good because you haven't gone convert-crazy on them.

 

[illusionarypresence]

yo've really got to give me the recipe for your yellow, its superb and puts my bret undead to shame...

 

[JFSebastien]

IMHO the GG work just fine. It's all unified by a great paintjob (perfect balance between realistic weathering and neat painting, not that easy to do) and it would be a losing battle to try to make them look more Bretonnia, in that none of their armour is of the right style. But thats not real problem as they are modelled to look like ancient warriors, so they kinda span whatever style of army someone makes. I think the only way you could achieve actual Bretonnians would be to use a range of Full Plate+Tabard wearing infantry, of which im not sure there are any fitting GW models. Empire Greatswords with head swaps for Bret great helms would be alot of work, maybe doable with the upcoming Plastic versions. Just cover the sleeve details with armour and swap their heads and hands.

Either way, i don't think you need to, they just look too damn good to replace. Looking forward to a full army pic