Vampire counts

The necromantic dark arts were brought into the fantasy realm through the dark lord Nagash,  Manipulating the evil magic of captured druchii sorcerers, he developed the methods to prolong and eventually sustain eternal life. From tomes of his vile work, the first vampires were eventually born, the original bloodlines. Most of the vampires eventually moved out of Nehekhara, and into the lands from the badlands/border princes to the Empire. Naturally once they found ample feedstock to enjoy most vampires stayed within those regions, each sticking to their own prefer domains whether that be the wilds alone such as for the Necrarch, or those who desire society and upper class refinement such as the Lahmians/Von Carsteins.

But what happened if a vampire wasn't content with the Empire or Brettonnia, what if the lands of men lead him to despise them, even in undeath? Not in the way of the Strigoi though, where they lose all vestiges of their humanity, but still retaining their sanity, only a dark core a hatred for humans ho don't even deserve the undeath which the vampire lord can bring them. South isn't possible in the old world, as that land is the realm of either the dead or lizardmen (skinks). The cold north of the old world might be the only option (assuming he doesn't fancy venturing past the legions of greenskins, ogres and chaos dwarfs before reaches lands once again filled with men). The Norse are tough, rugged, and very often barbarous. But they are dangerous, each man earns his place through combat, feat of strength and arms. They don't live for politics, or taxation. They take what they desire and keep it through being strong.

But living vessels are still just cattle, only in death can these men become servants, and only in serving do they have value. The ice and snow of the north are a natural defences against men of the south, but they can be treacherous to those that reside there. Whole villages and towns have disappeared in avalanches and snowstorms. In lands where the dead are more commonly burned, where else can you find a army to start a war with.

That's the theme for my Vampire Counts army. Frozen solid zombies, Long dead skeletons warriors from under the earth, a terrorgheist lost in the mountain ranges drawn to the necromantic powers of the vampire lord. Half dead wolves from the north, drawn to the carrion. Grave guard and Black knights drawn from those warriors who pre date the coming of Sigmar. The vampire horde will be lead by a lord, most likely on foot but perhaps accompanied by a contingent of Viking-turned-vampires (in the form of blood knights) and mounted. His primary role is one of support and unit generation, and I am somewhere between a Vlad von Carstien character (in terms of stats) or more of a Necrarch character (being more magic heavy). Modelling purposes I images more of a blood knight appearance with ice and frosted armour. Support will come in the form of a necromancer, possibly mounted on a corpse cart for bolstering core troops. Previous attempts with combining marauders spares with the new skeleton kits were less than successful, as the helmet from the marauders barely fits over the skeleton heads (once hollowed out) and the weapons have much thicker shafts then the swords used by the skeletons, hopefully a nice tie in with the WoC army will be possible in terms of appearance though.