# Undead High Elves: Progress thread/blog/whatever it should be called!



## Athan von Carstein (Sep 1, 2010)

Okay, the first of a painting and modelling thread to track the growth of my Vampire Counts army as it grows! Forgive me, I'm really quite new at this, LOL. Okay, let's start out with one of my Characters; Athan von Carstein (I might change the name to separate them a bit from the Von Carstein lineage). Still working on the fluff for him and the rest of the army, and no conversion work here, but it gives an idea of the general aesthetic of my army as a whole 



























Please let me know what you guys think! I'm always looking for feedback, both good and bad, but please, if you have something negative to say, dont just say "it sucks", I appreciate feedback that helps me figure out how and where I can improve! More recruits are being steadilly churned out all the time!


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## Gothic (May 12, 2008)

im liking what i see at the moment as im a fellow VC player im interested in what you can make for this army +rep


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## Athan von Carstein (Sep 1, 2010)

Gothic said:


> im liking what i see at the moment as im a fellow VC player im interested in what you can make for this army +rep


Well thankyou! I've actually got a couple of other characters in various stages of completion (though my room is such a mess right now I don't dare try and get them out for photographing, LOL), a unit of Phoenix Guard as Grave Guard - or rather half a unit since I only have 10 right now, but intend eventually to have 20 - a unit of 30 Spearmen which I still need to paint, a half-built Corpse Cart and a unit of Blood Knights ably played by Dragon Princes! More photos of them will follow when I sort out some fairly heavy personal stuff from earlier this week


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## asianavatar (Aug 20, 2007)

Looks good so far. I am doing the exact some idea somewhat. Although not completely based off high elves my army does use a lot of them. I am going to keep checking into this to see how the updates are coming.


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## Otep (Mar 18, 2008)

i was toying with a similar idea not too long ago 

but i was going to go for mixed units... except orcs... mostly because their fungi and i doubt you can bring a dead mushroom man back from the dead as a undead minion 

i'm asuming your going to use red for all the cloth? one thing, your paint looks a little patchy. i had a similiar problem on my " 'ed baron", the red paint seems thin as hell so you may want to put on another layer or two to resolve that problem. 

over all i dig the whole idea and i may watch this thread


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## Athan von Carstein (Sep 1, 2010)

Otep said:


> i'm asuming your going to use red for all the cloth? one thing, your paint looks a little patchy. i had a similiar problem on my " 'ed baron", the red paint seems thin as hell so you may want to put on another layer or two to resolve that problem.
> over all i dig the whole idea and i may watch this thread


Well I would be very honoured if you thought my efforts would be worth watching! :3 thankyou very much. Yeah, I'm not a fantastic painter, and red is quite the annoying colour to paint smoothly. And yes, I do intend to use red for all the cloth in my army, with perhaps a few exceptions to make for a visually engaging setup

Okay! Here I go with the next round of updates. Just a single guy from my units at a time so I can zoom in properly and show the details. I'll do some whole-unit shots later:

Grave Guardsman: made by taking Phoenix Guard, shortening the halberd hafts and chopping off the spike on the top to make great big great-axes, then hollowing out the faces of their helmets so they will hopefully, when I'm finished, be left with just a rather creepy blackness within their helmets, giving them the whole "animated suit of armour" vibe.

















Skeletal spearmen

















Corpse Cart (in need of some repair and minor finishing, but essentially ready for you guys to see. Made using a High Elf chariot, Mage and two White Lions combined with a bunch of random zombie bitz (especially the bell that will represent an Unholy Lodestone, just as on the "original" Corpse Cart. Will add a little jeweler's chain or something between the body of the chariot and the two zombified White Lions before painting.

































I'll primarilly avoid posting models while they're at the undercoat stage, because that totally RUINS the detail


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

Athan von Carstein said:


> Please let me know what you guys think! I'm always looking for feedback, both good and bad, but please, if you have something negative to say, dont just say "it sucks", I appreciate feedback that helps me figure out how and where I can improve! More recruits are being steadilly churned out all the time!


I'm loving the idea, lots of potential plus you rarely see an Undead force based off a non-human army- can't wait to see some painted pics.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

Looks decent. 

Few things as said - the painting of the red is a little patchy, the lance doesn't meet the colour of the cloth and the gold is little flat - a few more washes of brown, or using tin bitz over the base with a lighter gold on the edges would weather it and give it some depth -it's almost like a flat mirror at the moment, but otherwise very nice.


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## Athan von Carstein (Sep 1, 2010)

Vaz said:


> Looks decent.
> 
> Few things as said - the painting of the red is a little patchy, the lance doesn't meet the colour of the cloth and the gold is little flat - a few more washes of brown, or using tin bitz over the base with a lighter gold on the edges would weather it and give it some depth -it's almost like a flat mirror at the moment, but otherwise very nice.


Well thanks for the advice on that! I don't notice nearly so much of that at my end, perhaps I just don't have a good eye for these things or perhaps my camera is washing out the colour a bit and making it look bad. I dunno, but in case it is my eyes just not spotting it, I'll definitely keep that in mind


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## Jormi_Boced (Jan 10, 2009)

This could turn out pretty cool!


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## Gothic (May 12, 2008)

Great work so far the only criticism is the skeleton warrior kneeling down with the metal head, the head is slightly small and doesn't seem to suit the body.


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## Inquisitor Varrius (Jul 3, 2008)

^ I second that. It was the only thing that stood out as improvable.

And kudos for doing a variant-VC list. This one looks like it'll be quite impressive!


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## Athan von Carstein (Sep 1, 2010)

Gothic said:


> Great work so far the only criticism is the skeleton warrior kneeling down with the metal head, the head is slightly small and doesn't seem to suit the body.


You think so? ... damn! I've already done thirty other guys using the same technique to make a full regiment... I admit _that_ guy's head looks a little small because he's just got a top jaw, and I am not terribly good at sculpting necks that don't exist I'm afraid. also don't forget, a skull on its own is quite noticeably smaller than the head that's usually wrapped around it.


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## Athan von Carstein (Sep 1, 2010)

Quick update to let y'all know I'm still alive and stop this place dying once and for all. I've got most everything primer-coated, and have started painting my spearmen. Not gonna post any pictures just yet, since undercoated pictures really show almost no detail. I also got my BSB built, though I foolishly undercoated him before I took the photograph... D'OH! Heheh... standard HE BSB, with a skull for a head, and with the phoenix decoration at the top of his banner replaced with a head from the Skeleton boxed set, the one with the great big bat wings, and the sort of chainmail veil over the mouth?

Did wonder if anyone has any good ideas for painting ethereal effects on weapon blades for my Grave Guard though...


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## Blackhiker (Dec 28, 2007)

I have found that painting basic metal first and then following with some type of ink gives a really nice look to special weapons. Personally I would use a blue ink for ethereal.


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## Athan von Carstein (Sep 1, 2010)

That's an interesting point, actually... I tried doing a green glaze on another model while I was still thinking about my army's colour scheme... It did not turn out well. Perhaps I put too much on, but the sword-blade came out looking like a darn great lump of warpstone, instead of the metal blade glowing with eldritch power, as I had intended. I was new to washing at the time so perhaps I put it on too thickly.

As for the idea of making them blue... that isn't actually a bad idea for some other models I've done, but I don't think it would work for my Grave Guard; their weapons are very much physical and tangible, they just have spells woven into the metal. I was thinking maybe a green wash, since all magical effects in Warhammer seem to be described as a sort of sickly green. I also might consider a purple wash, just to be a bit different.


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## Otep (Mar 18, 2008)

depending on how well you can use the wash, you may be able to put it on the edge of the blade itself, giving it that mystic appearance. i mean, if your going to enchant a weapon, it would make sense that it would be more predominate on the actual cutting edge of the said weapon.

if nothing else, you could use several very light coats of the wash untill you get the desired effect and then go back to paint the blade silver minus that now snazzy looking edge

just some more food for thought


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## Athan von Carstein (Sep 1, 2010)

Hey guys, really sorry it's been so long, but I've been super-busy with RL right now. Largely finished my Corpse Cart and Black Coach, both based around a High Elf chariot, and a Chimera model, converted up using a Chariot lion as a base. Pictures below!

Black Coach: notice all the armour and stuff, for the Vampire to have when he reincarnates... I know he wouldn't be allowed a bow in the game, but that's just a bit of fun detailing. I intend to put a little construction in the bed of the chariot that will look like someone has reverently hung his armour on a rack, so he can reincarnate into it as his power grows (will snap a photo of that when it's ready)




























Chimera: Okay, so it's not a Vampire Counts thing as such, but it does have some relevance since I might well use the Lore of Beasts in my VC army at least sometimes. Built using a High Elf lion with the head of a Cold One and Minotaur attached, and plastic Pegasus wings


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