Age of Sigmar - Vampire Lord Karlina Von Carstein

Games Workshop sure went through a vampire phase huh? Between Karlina, Anasta Malkorian and the Crimson Court I sure have ended up with a lot of vampires for someone who isn’t collecting vampires. 

I wasted no time in getting the model assembled. I had intended to use the helmeted head but as I was putting the model together I felt that the bare head looked better with its Disney villain hair-style. In any case, the model was assembled but left separate from the base. For said base, I mixed up some greenstuff and rolled into an approximately 2mm thick sheet. This was then pressed into the base, covering around two thirds of it. I then used a hobby knife to trim around the edge and tidy up the edge that runs across the base. I then used the back of my hobby knife to score in some lines in the greenstuff to look like the gaps in paving slabs. I then left the greenstuff for about an hour to cure and harden slightly, I could then use a ball of tin foil to add texture to the greenstuff. To finish the base off I glued the skull with a stake through it to the area of the base without greenstuff. With that done I primed the model and the base with Colour Forge Standard Grey.

I started with armour, basecoating it with a few thin coats of Scale75 Dwarven Gold. I then painted the armour with an even coat of Blood Angels Red contrast paint. Thanks to the gold undercoat the red maintains a rich vibrant colour. To add some contrast to the armour, and to make it look old, I highlighted the edges with Scale75 Thrash Metal. To finish off the armour I painted the joints in the elbows with Corvus Black. 

The next biggest area is without doubt the cloak, which I basecoated with a few thin coats of Two Thin Coats Sorcerer’s Cloak. With a solid basecoat established I could then paint a layer of Two Thin Coats Amethyst Rayne into the recesses, using Sorcerer’s Cloak to wet blend it with the rest of the cloak. I attempted to do the same with Two Thin Coats Runic Purple for the highlights but it was just too chalky to blend effectively. In the end, what I did was to use Runic Purple to paint tiny scratches along the edges and raised areas of the cloak. The effect of this was to give the cloak an old and frayed appearance. 

As the cloak and armour constituted about seventy percent of the model all I had left to do was a few extra features. Chief amongst those was the face, which I basecoated with a few thin coats of Ionrach Skin, a greenish gaunt colour that’s perfect for vampire skin. As Karlina is still technically alive I then washed the skin with Reikland Fleshshade to give it a modicum of warmth. The skin was then layered with Ionrach Skin on the nose, cheeks and forehead to give it some definition. I then picked out the teeth with Army Painter Skeleton Bone and the eyes with Ulthuan Grey, adding a ring of Army Painter Red Tone around each eye to give them a more sunken appearance. For the hair I started with a basecoat of Corvus Black before giving it a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone. I then highlighted the strands of hair with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone, keeping the highlights towards the ends of the hair before highlighting the very tips with Dawnstone. The last thing I needed to do for the face was to paint the earring with Scale75 Dwarven Gold and its gemstone with Evil Sunz Scarlet. 

I toyed with the idea of painting the chalice gold, having it be a symbol of opulence for Karlina. Instead though I painted with Scale75 Black Metal, giving the impression that it’s something ancient and sinister, something from before Karlina had the power and wealth to afford gold trinkets. To bring out the detail and darken it further I gave it a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone before highlighting the rim with Black Metal.  

For the sword, I painted the blade and rose with Scale 75 Thrash Metal and the hilt with Scale75 Dwarven Gold. The winding thorns along the blade I painted with Scale75 Peridot Alchemy, a metallic green colour that I have previously used for my Blightkings. As I currently lack a metallic red I then painted the rose with Blood Angels Red contrast paint. And you can see from the pictures what a difference the silver undercoat has, it’s much more muted, almost to the point of looking pink. I then washed the blade, rose and thorns with Army Painter Dark Tone, and the hilt and handle with Reikland Fleshshade. All of the components of the sword were then highlighted with Trash Metal. 

Moving onto the base, I added Stirland Mud to the third that didn’t have greenstuff paving slabs to blend the slabs and the skull into the base. I also thinned some Stirland Mud with a touch of water so it wasn’t quite so thick and dabbed in patches on and between the slabs. I then picked out the skull with Army Painter Skeleton Bone and the stake with Army Painter Oak Brown. The whole base was then given a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone. The mud and skull were then drybrushed with Tyrant Skull and the paving slabs with Dawnstone. I then thinned down some PVA glue and painted in select patches before dipping the base in a tub of Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Forest Floor. Last but not least I painted the rim of the base black. 

Pretty happy with how this turned out, the highlights on the cloak look great. In hindsight I probably should have had the whole base be paving slabs and either not included the skull or found a way to blend it in. Oh well, lessons learnt for when I inevitably do another vampire.