Toby (@Badusernametag) here! Risen again with another terrifying undead model review. I was dead excited to get my hungry claws on this new mounted hero for the Soulblight Gravelords. Thanks very much to Warhammer Official for providing this review model for me to sink my fangs into…
The mounted Vampire lordis HERE and finally plugs a gap in the SBGL army that has niggled at me for an edition. Not only does it make your mounted vampire knigets look great it buffs them pretty hard. Finally a mounted hero to lead our Blood Knights! Huzzah! How does this mighty undead hero shape up? Let’s see…
Build
An understated and elegant vampire hero, this model has great dynamism of movement, but is quite subtle in terms of armament and pose. It feels like a model made to emphasise action, the rearing of the horse, thrashing of hooves and motion of the reins. The military aspect is secondary. I like it and it was a joy to build and paint.Â
This model comes with two sprues and a chonky round base (80mm!?). It’s a good amount of character for your buck. The big round base continues the new trend of sticking mounted heroes on big rounds instead of ovals. This seems a little excessive here. It’s plenty of base for what the model needs. But it does give avid modelers space for adding extra interesting detail and so on. So broadly I’m into it, but ovals are kinda cool for cavalry and they’re easier to transport. Conflicted. I went for broken flagstones on mine (plasticard), which match the rest of my army. Started this in Cursed City models and have continued it. The skeletons rising from the grave on the base are cool, so I added to that with a cheeky zombie and a spare Barrow Guard torso.
The kit goes together very nicely, with no major pitfalls I can see. I would note that the spooky horse head has to go together around the neck/tongue however. If you stuck that together independently you’d be stuffed! Also a painter more delicate than I might want to consider either leaving the cape off and/or leaving the whole vampire lord subassembly (figs 5+6) off for painting separately. These options for sub assemblies are quite clear and appreciated I am sure.
In terms of variation you get 3x Vampire heads, 2x weapons (Sword + Axe) AND a variant spooky horse head (armoured and unarmoured), which feels decent and gives enough build options. I think perhaps some would have preferred a more striking weapon option. Perhaps a big lance or dramatic broadsword. As I said above, I think this omission is intentional for this model and I’m behind it. The Axe is mean and the sword is elegant. I’m slightly baffled by the ‘wildly flowing’ hair vampire heads they do for the SBGL. They seem a strange stylistic choice. Are these vampires caught in slow motion? Not a fan. Interesting that the bald head (the best one) is looking backwards. Which gives you an interesting option for the focus of the model. I used the axe as it seems mean and unusual for a vampire and the unarmoured horse head. So I had more dirty zombie flesh to paint! For the vampire I actually opted for a head swap here. My one little kitbash on this model. I used a daemonette head, which I’ve used on various other vampire kits (first was the Askurgan Trueblades for Warcry). I want my vampires to look otherworldly, alien and ‘other’ in their aspect, I feel that the strange mouth, large eyes and high hairlines of the daemonette achieve this admirably.
Paint
There is a LOT going on here. The Vampire has fancy armour, clothes, hair and extra little features, the horse has a very complex face, skin, barding (matches the vampire’s armour), cloth, and so forth. This is an advanced model that will take some time and patience to get right. If you enjoyed the Blood Knights this is a level up. I suspect we will see this model in many golden daemon entries, dioramas etc. And rightly so!
Most painters would have a scheme this would fit into for their army. I’d be looking for contrast options to break it up. Whether that is tone (light next to dark) or colour. Contrasting armour next to cloth next to skin will break up the model and really make it sing.Â
I have painted this model in the scheme for my army, which is painted all in oils. I went into some details in my barrow guard article here. There’s likely an article to follow on oils, but I’ll say a little here.
My existing scheme features orange armour and (very dirty) beige cloth. I imagine they once strode to battle in regal red armour, with tabards and pennants of shining white, but that the long aeons in the grave have sapped the colour and vigour from their vestments. Leaving only a desaturated orange and dirty beige behind. That and it’s a classic Blanchitsu colour scheme!?
I’ve elaborated more on this here, as this is an important hero and I want them to sing (not literally) and stand out on the table. So I’ve taken a little more time on all aspects. A bit more gentle blending in places, heavy shadows and higher highlights. I’m reasonably obsessed with spooky green and this carries through here. Everything from the vampire’s hair, zombie horse flesh to white armour has a tint of green in it. Everything except from the desaturated orange, which acts as a contrasting spot colour to break up the shades of green. Even did a little NMM practice on the axe, which was fun (green tint, natch). After it had all dried I went back in and splattered some raw umber weathering around the bottoms of hooves, clothes etc. Which adds to a battleworn feel. Muddy.
Conclusion
This is a great hero model, dynamic and exciting. Easy to assemble, with a good variety of parts and options for sub-assemblies. It’s also just a GREAT addition to your army, with super buffs for your knights and being a keystone in an army of renown. Strong recommend and now I’m even excited to build and paint some MORE Blood Knights!?
