Vampire Counts

Vampire Counts are one of the forces playable in the tabletop wargame Warhammer Fantasy. They are heavily influenced by stories of vampires from popular culture.

There are five distinct families of vampires, called "Bloodlines," each with different characteristics that affect the way the armies of each operate:

• Von Carstein: based primarily on Dracula and other popular portrayals of vampires.
• Blood Dragon: martial vampires, primarily recruited (defeated and forced to become a vampire) from knightly orders in the various nations of the Warhammer world.
• Lahmian: an all-female line, whose powers deal primarily with seduction.
• Strigoi: a feral outcast clan, whose powers relate to survival and their incredible hatred of the rest of the world.
• Necrarch: wizardly vampires who generally eschew combat in favor of their strong magical abilities.

The armies of the Vampire Counts feature some similar units to the Tomb Kings, another undead army, but the two operate very differently. Vampire Counts armies are primarily hordes of low-quality infantry, made up of classic undead creatures like skeletons, zombies, ghosts and ghouls, alongside elite units of Black Knights, Grave Guard, and various other creatures typically depicted as being in league with vampires, such as wolves or bats. These hordes are led by powerful Vampires, Necromancers, Wights (a form of undead warrior), or other undead.

The undead are a terrifying race. Their armies are comprised entirely of animated corpses such as skeletons, zombies and dead wolves and bats. Led by the powerful Vampires, they are a fell foe to face.

Eons ago, in the land of Khemeri, the great Necromancer Nagash discovered the secrets of everlasting life, and how to reconstruct the dead. He created the Vampires, but was forced to flee Khemeri after the King discovered them. The Vampires were scattered, and formed separate bloodlines. These Vampires are now scattered all over the Old World, and lead the armies of the undying to war to try and turn the entire civilised world into their mindless, dead slaves.

The resurrected dead are bound to the service of Vampires by foul Necromantic magic. The bulk of their armies consists of skeletons and zombies, with small units of Ghouls – living cannibals, driven insane by the flesh of humans. Bats are naturally drawn towards the power of Vampires, and so the sky is turned black, the sun is blotted out by clouds of bats when the Vampires march to war. Elite units of Grave Guard, heavily armoured skeleton champions, often mounted on skeletal horses, march to war alongside the immortal vampires, and the dread Black Coaches thunder into battle, able to move even if the skeleton horses pulling it have been shot down. Necromancers are living wizards who have turned to darkness, and provide magical support. Vampires are almost indomitable in combat, able to cut down even a feared Champion of Khorne. Wraiths lead units of skeletons – wizards who failed to become immortal, only their soul is left, wrapped in a cloak of darkness. The Undead army is one to be feared, for how can you kill a foe who is already dead?