Valdemar Von Todtstein

Son of Kain. Extremely violent and sadistic creature even by Vampire standards. Known to rip and eat the faces of his victims leaving them in horrifying state. Clad in Blood Dragon armor and draped in red cape, he is a real nightmare for people across the Empire. Eaten faces are his signature. Loyal to his father above all, he often spreads terror by his side, leaving Kain astound at times by the cruelty of his son. The slaughter of townsfolk and local man-at-arms in the village of Brashovice is where he left his biggest mark. 

In life he was an infamous, expert duelist, very hot headed. No man wanted to offend him or cross his path - it didn't take much for Valdemar to throw down the gauntlet. Every noble who did, payed with his head. In un-life his choice of weapons remained the same, a pair of dueling swords.

This is one of the Games Workshop "midhammer" Blood Dragon minis. Released in 6th edition, this line of Vampire minis is my all time favorite! Plan is to collect and paint them all, both on foot and mounted. Although traditionally Blood Dragon armor is in red color, I kind of like my armor to be in metallic colors. I gave him the red cape instead.

Berthold Brandt

After about 15 years I'm slowly returning to my Warhammer Empire army. This was my second army which I started to collect back in the year 2000, after three years of collecting Wood Elves. Vampire Counts, Empire and the Tomb Kings are my three favorite Warhammer armies, and I hope, with time, I'll manage to collect them all! :) 

I decided to start this journey with one of the characters, Berthold Brandt, a warrior priest armed with a hammer and a shield.

I like both the pose of the mini and the character. I decided to use more or less the official color scheme (which rarely happens) from the 7th edition Army Book. I think the choice of colors is great. I did however paint one of his eyes like it is blind with scaring around it from the battle wound. I think it makes the priest look more brutal, like a veteran who had his share of action. I also did some dirt stains on his clothes.

And here are some shots with neutral background:

Expanding the zombie horde

Every once in a while I want to (and need to) do a few zombies so that my zombie horde constantly grows. The Black Guard is still my biggest infantry unit, which does not make sense since they are an elite unit compared to zombies. I need to get to the three digit number to consider my zombie unit a decently sized horde.

Recently I bought some Forgotten World Living Dead Peasants which I intended to combine with my recently discontinued Games Workshop zombies. The size of the torso and legs fits perfectly with GW models, but heads and arms are significantly smaller. Especially the arms which are overexaggerated on GW models. They just didn't look right together.

Then I came up with an idea to combine the parts from the two kits. This way I will add variety to the unit without loosing cohesiveness. I used torsos from the Forgotten World zombies with the heads and arms from the Games Workshop zombies. I must say I was actually quite pleased how they fitted together, I didn't even end up with those bulging shoulders which is the thing I hate the most about GW zombies. I like that you get some female bodies in the FW kit which go awesomely well with those "Norma Bates" heads from the GW kit. 😁

I also like those typical, dragging, zombie legs which are featured on the FW models. So here is the result of combining the two kits:

Mortreich's Black Knights

Mortreich's Black Knights represent the spearhead of the Mortreich Legion which is comprised of Black Guard and Black Knights. When the legion marches to war Black Knights are always in the first ranks leading the skeletal warriors into battle. They are often joined by the Nightfang Specter Lord who leads the undead cavalry into unstoppable and terrifying charge. They are wielding the banner representing Mortreich's coat of arms and are considered to be his most elite troops.

Originally I intended to make the unit 24 man strong, but I decided to leave them at 16 for now. This is more then a decent number and I can easily get back to them in the future, when I feel like it, and add one more rank. Now I want to move on to other units.

Mortreich's Black Knights WIP pt.3

For my Black Knights standard bearer I wanted to use the classic skeleton horseman (I believe from 1993.) which I had sitting in my collection for quite some time. After some thinking I gathered the bits I needed for the project. For the hand holding the banner pole I used the one from the 90's Black Knights Command group blister. Flag is from the Death Upgrade Kit from Games Workshop.

On the horseman I had to cut off the arm, and on the banner pole the blade and the scull. I also had to remove all the rivets from the pole. Once I removed all unwanted parts I assembled the model. I left the banner unglued so I can paint the model easier. 

The new arm fitted perfectly onto the body. I didn't even have to use the modelling putty. Once I had it assembled it was time to bring him to un-life with some colors. :)

After I finished painting I realized that the banner is causing the model not to fit into the unit. I resolved this by heating the lower part of the banner (since it is made in resin) with a hairdryer and banding it backwards. This way not only was I able to fit the bearer into the unit, but also the flag looks more natural, like it is waving against the wind. With the Standard Bearer done, the first rank of my massive unit of black knights is completed! 

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

I think that the whole unit of 24 knights will be really a sight to see! 🧛

Mortreich's Black Knights WIP pt.2

I finally got around to paint some of my undead minis, after finishing with the Midgard house project (although I still have to paint it). The project took me a couple of months to finish and during that time I haven't painted any miniatures. So working on my Mortreich's Black Knights again was a real joy. I completed another three, including the champion and musician. Now I have 7 out of 24 done.

Mortreich's Black Knights WIP

This is where I'm at with my unit of Black Knights. Currently I have finished four of them out of twenty-four planed. They are basically Mortreich's Black Guard only mounted. I am painting them in the same color scheme and I gave them the same shields. I think they will look fantastic next to each other once I finish the whole unit. Big blocks of infantry and cavalry led by mighty Mortreich will be a terrifying sight to see on the battlefield for any opponent!

But first I want to finish the Midgard townhouse. Can't wait to get back to my Undead! 💀

Vampire Counts Update

Summer is in full swing and things slow down for me when it comes to the hobby. However I do manage to do some work. Recently I added one of the classic Blood Dragon Vampire miniatures to my collection. I love the Blood Dragons from the 90s so much! With time, I want to collect the whole range. He still needs a name and a background story. :)I also started to work on a big Cavalry unit based on the 90s OOP Black Knights miniatures. The unit will compose of 24-27 knights and will represent Mortreich's Black Knights. I started by doing the skeletal steeds for the first rank.

I bent and twisted some of their heads to make the unit more interesting and add variety.

Now I am going to paint the riders for the same rank and then move on to the second and third rank.

Expanding the Todtstein Zombie Horde

Lately I've been adding more zombies to the Todstein Zombie Horde. I'm trying out different companies, converting models and adding some oldhammer Games Workshop Zombie models from the early 90's. When I ordered Mournful Knights from the Gamezone Miniatures I received one female zombie model cast in resin as a sample. I think the model is awesome - really gruesome and will add to variety of my zombie troops.

This cool zombie which looks like an undead Empire captain I received from Heresy Lab Miniatures. The model by itself looks great. However it does not fit well with the rest of my unit. The head is way smaller then on the rest of my zombies. Also the model is a bit taller.

I really wanted to add a model from Dunkeldorf Miniatures range to my Undead horde and the best way to do so was to convert one. I converted their Old Tully mini. I swapped his face and arms with those from the old GW zombie kit. I also twisted his legs a bit to get that zombie walk. I call him Willem Deadfoe because the resemblance is great IMO. :D

I did another custom zombie by converting the Reikland Captain from Mordheim warband. I cut of his legs and replaced them with those from the old GW plastic kit. I also swapped his face.

Another simple conversion I did is based on the Mordheim Town Cryer miniature. The only thing I did here was replacing his had with the zombie one.

Finally I added some of the oldhammer zombies from the early 90's. They are a bit smaller but still fit very well with the rest of the unit. I love the Evil Dead vibes on them. :D

Next, I will be adding some zombies from the Forgotten Realms range. Really looking forward to it.