The Book of the Dead

The Vampire Counts are now on advance order, including a whole host of fantastic new models and a brilliant new Army Book. I have a feeling the armies of the Warhammer world will soon find themselves battling furiously against vast regiments of Skeleton Warriors, hordes of shambling Zombies and, amongst them all, the dark majestic might of the Vampires themselves. To find out a bit more about this nocturnal menace to the world, we decided to take a quick look at the stunning new Vampire Counts Army Book. When no one was looking, we threw a couple of bones out for the Crypt Ghouls, snuck past the Grave Guard guarding the tomb (they don't have any ears so we didn't have to sneak too much), and borrowed it from the dusty archives deep beneath the Studio, where only the brave dare to tread. Here's a quick look at the latest Army Book in the Warhammer range:

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  One of the first things you'll notice about the book is how dark it is (in tone, not in colour. Well, okay, in colour too). The Vampire Counts have always been a sinister race - they use evil magic to summon hordes of Undead Warriors, they mercilessly persecute the living and come up with diabolical schemes to cover the world in the living dead. Pretty dark I think you'll agree. But things have just become a lot darker. Undead revenants howl across the battlefield, evil spirits claw at the boundaries of the mortal world, and terrifying wraiths ride into battle passing through blades and bullets to claim your souls and drag them screaming into the Underworld. Fighting against the Vampire Counts has just reached a new level of scary (it's been cranked right up to 11).

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  Like the Ogre Kingdoms, Tomb Kings and Orcs & Goblins before them, the Vampire Counts now have a fully detailed timeline, including some of the greatest events to befall their race. This timeline is then backed up by 16 pages of background about the Vampire race - where they came from, who they are and the many wars that they have fought in. There's also a full-colour map of the land of Sylvania, including castles, villages, forests, rivers and battle sites. My favourite part though, has to be the story of the Von Carstein Vampires and their rise to power. Vlad has always been particularly cool (and my personal favourite Vampire), but the background of Mannfred has now been expanded quite significantly, too. Put it this way, if he's not hacking something up or magic-ing it to death, then he's almost certainly plotting a dastardly new scheme.

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  Every unit now has a full page dedicated to it in the unit bestiary, complete with some fantastic new artwork, a stunning page layout and some great little box-outs that give you even more knowledge about the Vampire Counts. There are now five new units in the army - the Mortis Engine, the Coven Throne, Hexwraiths, Crypt Horrors and Vargheists, along with two infamous Undead characters that have been resurrected - Heinrich Kemmler and Krell, the Lord of Undeath.

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  Then you've got the colour section - probably my favourite part of any Army Book. I guess I'm just a sucker for shiny models. Like the background to the army, the miniatures have also become a lot darker, and the 'Eavy Metal team have spent a great deal of time painting new miniatures in a variety of colour schemes to show the diversity of the Vampire Counts. The bluey-purple Crypt Horror on the right hand side is particularly interesting - I might have to give that a go myself.

Sadly we had to give the book back because the resident Necromancer needed to raise some more Zombies to protect his secret underground lair. I guess we'll just have to wait until the weekend to read the rest of it. However, the Necromancer did send us a video all about the Vampire Counts in the hope that we will learn to accept them as a valuable part of society. Apparently they're very good at recycling (well, bodies at any rate). Here's Phil Kelly, the man behind the new Army Book, to tell you more:

With Phil's words in mind (and my freshly garnered knowledge of the Vampire Counts Army Book), I thought it would be a good idea to come up with a couple of quick army lists to get all you budding Vampires started with your armies. Here's what I came up with:

At 1000 points, the Vampire Counts can field a fair number of units because their basic warriors are so cheap. With a Vampire and a Necromancer to lead the army, they are backed up by several large units of Skeleton Warriors and Grave Guard, with a hard-hitting unit of Black Knight s to flank enemy units. Some well-chosen Vampiric powers and magic items should ensure that your spellcasters keep your units alive (well, upright) for the whole game. Make sure you've got a box of Zombies on standby though for when you start casting Raise Dead.

At 2000 points the Vampire Counts become utterly terrifying. With an increase in points they gain access to some truly devastating units like the Coven Throne and the Terrorgheist. This army is a good all round force, with plenty of magic, some powerful close combat prowess and some fast moving units to chew up enemy gun lines (you really wouldn't want to have a Terrorgheist land on you). The great thing is that most of the kits make two different units, so if you don't want to put all your points into a Coven Throne then you can build a Mortis Engine instead, leaving you with points to spare to upgrade your Black Knights to Hexwraiths. Given enough upgrades and magic items, this army will go over the 2000-point mark, leaving you with spare models for when you play larger games (or for raising extra units).

Then I had a bit of fun with the Strigoi. For those of you that haven't heard of them, the Strigoi are basically the results of what happens when a Vampire goes wrong. They are degenerate, filth-encrusted shadows of their former selves, feasting on the half-rotten bodies that inhabit the local graveyard. Their followers tend to be Ghouls and Varghulfs, the dregs of the Vampire race. However, don't let their appearance fool you, because underneath the blood, gore and bestial fur, lies a cunning animal intellect that's just waiting to make a mess of your opponent's army.This army really is a beast. With a Ghoul King leading them into battle from the back of a Terrorgheist, the Ghouls and Crypt Horrors will quickly tear into enemy units. Their high number of attacks combined with their poisoned claws gives them a real edge in combat. Meanwhile, the Terrorgheist (the other one), Varghulf, Vargheists, Bat Swarms and Fell Bats are causing utter havoc with the rest of your opponent's army. It's fun, characterful and very evil - perfect!