# [Vampire Counts] Ghoulkin Army



## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Hey folks. 

Since I managed to finish my 2k Skaven, I decided to start another army and the decision became Vampire counts. Now after painting millions of clanrats and slaves, I wasn't going to aim for another horde army in WHFB, so my eyes turned to the ghouls and their twisted kin for this army.

Vampire counts can be considered the "wet undead" so blood and gore is going to feature heavily on these models. I also plan to do a little more work on the bases of these models, and having read the armybook, it seems these ghoulkin armies tend to flock around mausoleums and crypts, so I'll be theming their bases to that. 

I just purchased this box yesterday, but I have been having such a blast with these new WHFB kits, that one ghoul is almost finished as the tester model:



















Hope you like it and feel free to comment with feedback. This army is going to be build and painted a lot more slowly then usual, also because I plan to make this on my entry for armies on parade for next year...

Enjoy!


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

I am not fond of blood spattered miniatures, so take my niggles in that light: the pooling blood on the rock combined with the clotted ropes make me think he has remained still for a reasonable period but the pose of the model suggests running forward. I think it would fit together better if the threads and pools were either angled sharply back to suggest a sudden pounce or replaced with spray and linear cast-off to match the speed.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Good point, It's sort of too late to remove those goo lines, so I'll have to add something extra to at least make it look like it could have been sitting for a few moments.

Maybe some half eaten body parts on the base? So it looks more like he's jumping back up again to go after his next prey, or he became startled during "lunch". I think I have just to parts to fit onto the base for that.


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

The running legs look enough like standing from a crouch, so adding lunch could slant it.


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## Scythes (Dec 30, 2011)

Might need to bring that back arm forward some though if you go that route.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Unfortunatly, that's a bit late for such major conversion work. I'm wondering about the conversions for these sets in the future btw. They are amazingly simple to assemble, but also quite rigid in their posing. I'm thinking that a lot of greenstuff will be needed if I ever wanted different poses... 

Anyway, some more WIP shots of the first trio. The blood needs some refinement and some thickening in other places, but the resin glue to make it is quite fickle from time to time, so It's not easy to get it right in one go.


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## Josh101 (Dec 16, 2011)

Wow, going to be keeping an eye out for this one:biggrin:


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

The levels of gore on the models made me think that the exposed muscle on the first one was a horrific wound, which made the unit look damaged rather than covered in lunch to me. Possibly it would work better if the muscle was either desaturated so it does not look recent, or made more blue in hue so it looks more ghoul than gore.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Well, they do have regeneration... 

I'm sorta going from the description in the book. Their ability to recover the most horrific wounds in an instant because the ghouls drank vampiric blood. 

But those growth spurts and regeneration does leave them horribly deformed... Reading the armybook, there is plenty of reasons to have the models covered in blood. It's a vampire thing after all! 

As a sidenote, I'm going for a rather "fresh" blood look to offset the cold blue-grey skintone as well. From a colourchoice point of view, I'm going for sharp contrasts in this army to make the models stand out a lot more. 

A displaypiece will be made for this army in the long run. Mainly because it's an army on parade attempt. I want the models to be as eye-catching as possible to make them very different from the surrounding scenery (wich will already include lots of grey-browns, as it'll most likely be a graveyard with a temple of Morr).


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Some more updates on the crypt horror unit.

Added some extra shading after the airbrush highlighting of the skin did away with some of it. I also picked up a few of the swollen boils on their backs and head with dead flesh, washed with a mix of sepia wash and asurmen blue to tie it into the grey-blue skin a bit.

Covered the model in a dullcoat and had to re-aply a bit of glos varnish over the gore to increase contrast with the now dry looking skin. I also finally finished my permenent setup for my photostudio, so updates are now easier to do. :grin:
































































Untill next time!


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

The photos are looking excellent! And the ghoul with the bone is looking really good. Unfortunately, the more I look at these guys the more i think David's critique is accurate. With action oriented poses static drips of gore make less sense. But the gore in and of itself looks awesome!


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## Scythes (Dec 30, 2011)

These are looking better and better, I wasn't sure at the beginning, they looked a bit flat, but with the shading redone they look good. Keep up the good work.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

> Unfortunately, the more I look at these guys the more i think David's critique is accurate. With action oriented poses static drips of gore make less sense


I've taken out the clippers and reduced the bloodstreaks on the crypt haunter. 

There is still some drops there, but they aren't connecting to the ground anymore. Seeing how I added bodyparts on the base, it makes a little more sense now... (hopefully). I'll try to get some pictures of the update soon, but there are still parts drying atm. 



> These are looking better and better, I wasn't sure at the beginning, they looked a bit flat, but with the shading redone they look good.


Thanks. The benefit of airbrushing highlights is pretty smooth blends BUT you do lose some shading sometimes because an airbrush is a "blunt instrument" compared to a traditional brush and will get paint in the resseces. 

The miniatures in general look a bit darker again. Mind you, the lighting is more diffuse in those shots, so that makes it less flat then the hard light hitting the models in the first shots. Photography is more about lighting then anything else anyway! :laugh:


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Update on the crypthaunter:

I cut down the blooddrips to the base to mesh in better with it's more dynamic pose:



















And the unit as it stands right now, getting nearer to completion every day 










Cu next time.


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

Those guys look excellent Elmir. The blood effect is very realistic. Is that a grave stone in the guy on the right's hand?


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Yes it is. It's not a fancy conversion either... It's sculpted on like that in the basic kit. 

In fact, I'm already starting to dread having to convert the remaining 15 of these guys (if I chose to run a horde of these) to make them all look different. 

The kit is brilliant, but the poses are very one-sided affairs with almost no extra arms in them. I guess that's the downside of these dual kits in warhammer though. Resposing them will require quite a lot of dremel and resculpting work I'm afraid....


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## Scythes (Dec 30, 2011)

The blood is still a little static wit his dynamic pose but nearly like it was before. I think just cutting a bit off makes it look a lot better. Also with the blood stretched all the way to the base it had a bit of a goopy look to it, this much more natural. Good work on those.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Small update: I decided to add a bit more highlights to the ghoulskin to make the models stand out a bit more compared to the bases and the scenery that will be on the board.

I've seen a few armies on parades today in our local shop and noticed that you really do have to do something to make them "come out of the terrain" whilst still blending in to the board somehow. Anyway, this should make more sense after I've done the first pieces of terrain for this. I purchased the garden of Morr yesterday and will start to paint a few of the pieces of that set before buying more infantry for the army. 

Meanwhile, here's a shot of how the ghouls now look after some highlights on the skin:










Untill next update.


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## Orochi (Jan 28, 2009)

Will be watching this one.

Very good so far.


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## Farseer Darvaleth (Nov 15, 2009)

I do like this, I myself am a VC player so the blood's all good for me. :laugh:

Also, shameless advertising plug, if you're after VC-specific painting and modelling advice, especially for all that conversion you're dreading, why not head over to Carpe Noctem? It's a VC-dedicated forum which also covers the rest of Fantasy and 40k, the link's in my sig; just something you might want to think about.


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## Josh101 (Dec 16, 2011)

I think they look brilliant now, please dont change em any more :laugh:


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

A few things will change, like the furr bits that cover their privates... They still need highlighting, but the skintone is mostly done. The highlights are pretty near pure white for the final stages anyway...

Got another update of stuff I'm working on for this army:

I already mentioned that this army is designed mainly for Armies on parade next year. So I'll need to design a board to go with it. Now I'm spoiled for time on this project, so I decided to make it scratch build.

It will feature quite a few pieces of the GW premade fantasy terrain, most noticably the garden of Morr kit. I just love the look of all the fantasy buildings, and I'm particularly fond of the big slabs of slate used in their architecture.

So I'll be connecting most of the buildings, mausoleums, fences, etc... using my own tiles made out of plasticard. It'll take a while, but like I said, loads of time for this project.

Here's a few shots of what I mean:










This will be the central entrance to the castle/graveyard that the ghoulkin has taken refuge in. I plan to connect all the pieces with the white bits. They are ground down pieces of plasticard (using my dremel and sanding paper) to recreate the slate pavement used in many of the WHFB terrain kits. 

A close-up:










And finally a WIP shot of the statue of the Garden of Morr:



















Cu next time!


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## Scythes (Dec 30, 2011)

I would try to dull down the statue some, not really making it rusty, but not so bright. If it's a grave yard taken by the undead I couldn't see such a bright statue in the middle. I'd also try to square off the tiles you make a bit more to they match a little better. The ones on both pieces of terrain you have look like they have sharper corners, it would help the flow a lot. 

Other than that it looks like a brilliant start, it made me think of a scene from Diablo at first. I can't wait to see the finished board.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Some small update on the scenery and a layout plan for the board that is in the make:










the base of it still needs doing, it'll be integrated on the board with some polyfilla, so it'll be messy! No point in doing too much detailing on the bottom now...










You'll notice I carefully dremeled out the tombstone in the bottom right corner of the statue. That tombstone is going to find itself on the corner of one of the unitbases, so it integrates fully into the gaming board.










And finally, using my ultraleet MSpaint skills, I make this little layout plan for the future of this project. The 2 mausoleums from the guarden of Morr will be integrated on a base wich will have the terrorgheist looming over it. 

The courtyard will have a unit of 30 cryptghouls in it, climbing over some tombstones. The tombstones used will be dremeled out of the bases of the garden of Morr scenery. So far, this is going quite well...

The idea is to place all the units inside 3mm thick foamboard that will cover the surface of the tripple layer board. Bases will be placed "in the scenery" to be less obvious. The wall sections will be covered in plasticard and will have similar stone structure sculpted on them (to mesh in with the garden of Morr kit).

Hope you like it.


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## Disciple_of_Ezekiel (May 23, 2010)

Spendid Elmir, that statue and gate look wonderful mate. You def have a nack for tieing everything together. Excited to see this finsihed already.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Update of some more WIPs:

I started this centrepiece for the army:










And a shot of the legs and one wing assembled, posing with his crypt horror buddies...










And here are some WIP shots of the ramp I was doing to connect the lower tier with the higher tier of the presentation table. It's almost finished now, but the paint is still drying, so pictures will be added very soon.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

And yet more WIP of the board itself. The ramp is finished in these shots and I started work on the coverplate that is made of 3mm thick foamboard. This allows me to fit in the bases so the surfaces sit nice and flush...










And how it looks on the actual displayboard:



















And a little preview of how the terrorgheist will look when mounted on the base.










The left wing will be completely upright in this pose and looks quite impressice (height wise). I'm quite happy with how it's turning out. Both feet are solidly on the buildings this way, and the right wing is clamping onto that little "tower" quite nicely this way!


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## khrone forever (Dec 13, 2010)

lovely work, may i ask how you sculpted the blood?


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

It's a mix of UHU type universal glue (the stringy stuff) with some red ink and some scorched brown or sepia ink in it. It's then applied with a toothpick and the bloodstrings are drawn with it.


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## khrone forever (Dec 13, 2010)

ok cool, ill have to try that at some point


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

That blue is superb and it sits perfectly with the bone.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Thanks man, I'm glad you like it. The idea is to offset the pale-blue / bone combo against some more deep reds and warmer browns. 

I made some more progress on the board today. The front 2/3 of the board is now done concept wise, and this is what I'm planning for lay-out:



















And a shot of the bases to mount the crypt ghouls on (once I get my hands on a VC batallion, our local GW was out of those). 










I also decided to give the horrors a new location on the board to flesh out the front a bit more, while keeping the back more "scenery heavy". Their original position will quite likely be reserved for Vargheist.










I then proceded to cut out the foamboard so the bases of the models will sit nice and flush with the surface of the display board. Similar to the lower tier.










Same deal for the wraith:










And then the base of the terrorgheist, wich will be used to "flesh out" the other flank of the display board.










Untill next time!


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## Dagmire (Oct 9, 2008)

This looks epic, i will be using some ideas for my own VC army.
Thanks for sharing.
D



oh 
+rep too


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

More work was done to the base of the terrorgheist. That one is nearly finished now. Maybe a bit more weathering powder and a coat of flat matt varnish to finish... But nothing major. Here's an update:





































And to finish, a few different angles to better illustrate how the terrorgheist will look when mounted on the base:














































Hope you like it and thanks for the encouraging words so far. It really helps to find the motivation for one of my more daunting projects so far.


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## Skari (Dec 20, 2011)

Inspiring.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

And for my 1000th post on these boards, another update on the terrorgheist. 

It now has both wings mounted and it's looking suitably big and threatening! 





































I'm a bit up in the air atm to add a bit (not too much though) of blooddrops to the claws. It would only be the front claws, and only a small amount of gore. The left front claw in particular just feels a little "empty" to me right now...


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## Josh101 (Dec 16, 2011)

Wow, i really like the base and the painting is great


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

That Terrorgeist (spelling?) is fantastic mate!!!! I love how it looks like he is crawling over the building. I will be following this closely!


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Worked on the first upright wall section today to seperate the lowest tier on the board from the upper tier. 

It does take a while, but I think the result is going to be consistent and thus far, I'm rather happy with the progress.

Here's a few shots of how I made it:





































I used the crosses from the "deathknell watch" tower on the wall section. I still have 2 of those for the right wall side. It's nice that all these WHFB kits are so nicely interchangable. 

The witchtower is being a pain in the ass to assemble though... I'll try to get some WIP shots of that soon.


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## KjellThorngaard (Oct 4, 2010)

This is an incredible plog Elmir. From an inspiration point alone this is worth a couple hundred rep points I don't have. You are one dedicated modeler to cut and shape all those stones, but the end result is going to be so very cool. Keep up the great work, this is too cool!


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## Disciple_of_Ezekiel (May 23, 2010)

Elmir....Absolutely FANTASTIC! This display table and your quality of painting are just wonderful! You have definitely given me some ideas and I thank you. I really can’t wait to see this finished and having seen your previous work I know it will be super.

Keep up the excellent work!

Regards,
DoE


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Thanks for the kind words folks 

I've been doing some more work on the board for this update. I took some steelsheet and had it cut to size at my school (I'm lucky that we have a welding and steel department there). This steelsheet will be used to make an underlining for the holes that will have the bases in them. It's easier to just explain with a picture, so here goes:




























I made a small indentation in the foamboard by removing the bottom cardboard layer and replacing that with 0.6mm thick steel. It would also give the models a nice solid base to stand in AND a good way to keep them magnetised on there so they won't topple over if somebody happens to nudge the board. 

I also continued some work on the wall section. Note that none of it is glued down yet, but it all sits nice and flush... So glue is "optional" 










The sides will be covered in acrylic modelling paste. It's new stuff for me, but it was recommended by my local arts and crafts store. And it's pretty cheap, so I'm giving it a go!



















I'm going to let that cure for 24 hours and then see it it's easy to sand down to get an edge that's smoother then a baby's bottom!


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Not really a big update, but I did do SOMETHING during the initial diablo III release week, wich was unexpected at best... 

Anyway, I assembled the witch fate Tor tower (and man, what a b*tch that thing is to assemble). It'll be standing behind the terrorgheist. 

I also assembled a deathknell watch tower to "balance it out" on the right hand side of the board. The mortis engine will be placed to it's left, along with 3 more crypt horrors in front of it. 





































A custom staircase will be made to lead up to the small third tier of the board. But that'll take a while before I start that up...

Apart from that, the concept is getting pretty close to finished. I always aproach my work organicly and "as I go along" rather then hyper planned from the get go. 

Hope you like it!


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Not that much work was done to the display base, but I did finish my terrorgheist. It's now gotten all it's gore on it, along with the glossy finished where needed... So I used the lightbox for these shots. 

Enjoy!


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

That guy is absolutely beautiful. Excellent work elmir!


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## tabbytomo (Aug 12, 2008)

Dave T Hobbit said:


> I am not fond of blood spattered miniatures, so take my niggles in that light: the pooling blood on the rock combined with the clotted ropes make me think he has remained still for a reasonable period but the pose of the model suggests running forward. I think it would fit together better if the threads and pools were either angled sharply back to suggest a sudden pounce or replaced with spray and linear cast-off to match the speed.


Whilst i agree with this, your models look effing awesome mate!! really well done!!


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## Disciple_of_Ezekiel (May 23, 2010)

WOW! This just keep getting better and better. Fantastic work Elmir. Full swing of the Rep hammer coming your way.

Regards,
DoE


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Hey folks. 

I made a bit of progres on the display board. The lowest tier has had one half of it covered in sand and flock. It's mainly done with my airbrush painting wise, with the flock being added afterwards. The texture matches the base of the terrorgheist and overall, I'm relatively happy with it. 

Some WIP shots:





































I also magnetised the base of the withfate tor tower to the middle tier. This way, I'll be able to remove it from the display board and use it in my regular games as I see fit... The challenge will be to get a smooth transition for it so it' blends into the board well. 

I made some sand ballast around the contours of the base of the tower and then put in 3 5mm neodymium magnets. The base of the tower was then given 3 attachment points with magnets and greenstuff. A picture is worth more then a thousand words in this case:










Three of these magnets were drilled into the foamboard and secured with PVA glue and plastic putty:










They clamp on to the three magnets set in greenstuff seen here.

That's it for now, see you next time!


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## TehJimbo (May 15, 2012)

Mate i absolutely love your work!


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## imm0rtal reaper (Jul 15, 2008)

*scoops undead army into the bin*

Great work so far pal. That display board is fantastic. I foresee this being on the GW website when it's done, and when it is, I expect some compensation :wink:


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## Fenrisian (Jun 12, 2011)

I agree with immortal, this display merit to be on GW website. Awesome work. Here the rep i can give !


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Haha, I hope to make it to the site as well... It'll mean I actually won armies on parade with it hopefully. It's the first time I undertake a project this big and time consuming, but I'm enjoying every minute of it so far!

When it is finally done, I'm thinking of adding a couple of table legs (wich are available at my DIY store) to the board and to give it a nice place in my living room too.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Finished the big boss. It's a very sobre and simple model... so it didn't take to long to finish at all... 





































Hope you like it!


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Good musculature and the leather loincloth compliments the blue very well.

I am not fond of the gore on the claw; the colour is excellent but the structure does not look right to me.


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## Dragblud da scrunka (Mar 26, 2009)

HOLY FRANKEN-BALLS! you have some serious awesome there! wish i have time, money and space to do this awesome +rep weird i havent seen this on GW yet?


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Dave T Hobbit said:


> I am not fond of the gore on the claw; the colour is excellent but the structure does not look right to me.


I agree, I'll be adding a bit more to get a nice dripping effect there (but it's a mutli-stage proces to build up, and I just took a picture now instead of waiting a couple more days  )



> HOLY FRANKEN-BALLS! you have some serious awesome there! wish i have time, money and space to do this awesome +rep weird i havent seen this on GW yet?


I haven't send any of these pictures to GW's "what's new today" yet nor did I upload them on the flickr page. If this thing makes it to GW, It'll be when it's finished (and my prognosis for finishing this thing is somewhere around januari next year). 

Glad you like it though


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Well done, Elmir! The contrast of your washing & highlighting is excellent, in some cases very abrupt, but I think perfectly appropriate to this model.


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## The_Werewolf_Arngeirr (Apr 3, 2012)

Elmir, can you take the Terrorgheist alone? if so, thats amazing! (and you have kindled a want in me to get one now > <)


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

A terrorgheist is a possible rare choice for VC armies, yes...


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

lovely work as always mate! Beautiful work on the musculature.


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## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Some final glazes to tone down the most abrupt highlights. And a bit more work done to the base of the ghoulking:


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## Red Corsairs (Jun 8, 2008)

Looking fantastic, as I've come to expect from your work. The skin tones, blood and base all look excellent.


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## davidg32 (Dec 19, 2008)

You have provided me with the inspiration to start my undead legions. Thank you for taking the time to post this great army!


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## Pride365 (Apr 17, 2012)

this is such a great plog!!!!


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