Blood Knights
Many years ago, the people of the Empire would have named the knights of the Order of the Blood Dragon amongst the noblest of warriors defending their lands. Their great fortress, Blood Keep, guarded the passes to Bretonnia and was famed for the strength of its walls and the valour of its defenders. As the Tome of Lamentations records, one night a man of great stature and noble bearing appeared before the gates and demanded entrance. He named himself as Walach of the Harkon family, and when the knights opened the gates, they sealed their doom.
Walach challenged the knights to combat. He slew them with ease, for he was a Vampire who had learned his war craft from the great Abhorash. Though no knight could hope to defeat the Undead monster, Walach spared those who fought bravely and with honour. To these knights he passed on his vampirism, the others he slew without pause and fed on their blood. Blood Keep became a Vampire lair, from which the deadly knights preyed upon those they once protected. Many decades later, the witch hunter Gunther van Hel discovered the truth and attacked Blood Keep with an army sent from Wissenland and Reikland, and supported by four Knightly Orders. The siege lasted for three years, during which the bloodshed was like nothing the men of the Empire had seen. Van Hel and his soldiers destroyed many Vampires when they finally stormed the castle, and hunted the survivors through the wilds for years to come. Blood Keep fell into ruin and its evil masters passed into myth.
The Blood Dragons may have been defeated, but some escaped, scattering across the Empire, Bretonnia, Tilea and further afield. Accomplished with lance and sword, these warriors became dark mercenaries, solitary duellists and fearsome raiders.
The Blood Knights are a macabre parody of the virtuous templars that Walach turned. Though they retain the dragon as their symbol, their armour is encrusted with images of death and slaughter. Their blades are fell weapons inscribed with dark runes, chased with precious metals and fashioned in the likeness of evil beasts. The blazons and crests of Blood Keep take the shape of dragons and dragon wings. The knights do not ride flesh-and-blood horses, but charge upon evil Nightmares with fiery eyes and foetid breath, clad in thick barding painted with disturbing icons of necromantic power.
Now, centuries after the demise of their order, there are whispers that Blood Keep is once again inhabited. Those who live near the mountains say nocturnal hunters perturb the folk of the Dwarf Holds. Gossipmongers claim that immortal knights once more feast on human blood in the ancient halls, and skeletal sentries patrol the ramparts. Some even say that dread Walach has returned, and that he is gathering his forces to wage war upon the lands of men that tried to destroy him.
They are the most fearsome knights in all of the Old World. Their training and discipline in life is married with the unnatural speed and strength of Undeath. The Blood Knights are nigh indestructible, and their bloodthirst makes them ferocious and implacable. Such is their honour that they will refuse no challenge, and will fight at the forefront of an army. It is said that even the fabled Grail Knights of Bretonnia cannot match the Blood Knights on the field of battle.
Advance Order - Blood Knights
Part Code: 99110207168
Release Date: 13 March 2008
This boxed set contains five (5) Blood Knights including a Kastellan, Standard Bearer, and Musician. All models are supplied unpainted and require assembly.
Boxed Set - $75.00 USDAdvance Order - Blood Knight Kastellan
Part Code: 99060207175
Release Date: 13 March 2008
This blister pack contains one (1) Blood Knight Kastellan. All models are supplied unpainted and require assembly.
Blister - $17.00 USDAdvance Order - Blood Knight Standard Bearer
Part Code: 99060207176
Release Date: 13 March 2008
This blister pack contains one (1) Blood Knight Standard Bearer. All models are supplied unpainted and require assembly.
Blister - $17.00 USDAdvance Order - Blood Knight Musician
Part Code: 99060207177
Release Date: 13 March 2008
This blister pack contains one (1) Blood Knight Musician. All models are supplied unpainted and require assembly.
Blister - $17.00 USDAdvance Order - Blood Knight
Part Code: 99060207178
Release Date: 13 March 2008
This blister pack contains one (1) random Blood Knight. All models are supplied unpainted and require assembly.
Blister - $17.00 USD
Mannfred von Carstein
While Vlad von Carstein was the most physically powerful of the Vampire Counts, Mannfred was certainly the most cunning. Some say that Mannfred betrayed Vlad, and that he allowed his master's ring to be stolen. When Vlad was slain, Mannfred did not involve himself in the infighting that would see Konrad rise to prominence. Instead, Mannfred travelled, seeking to deepen his knowledge of Necromantic lore. He visited the ancient tombs of Nehekhara and wrested the secrets of the Liche Priests from them.
Mannfred von Carstein studied the ancient spells within the Book of the Dead and his power over Dark Magic grew. Eventually, Mannfred's journeys too him all the way to Nagashizzar and there he studied under the great masters who serve Nagash. None can say what foul bargains Mannfred made with these unholy sorcerors in return for their knowledge. Having learnt many of the darkest secrets of man and magic, Mannfred finally returned to Sylvania and took over the Undead legions in the wake of Konrad's death.
Mannfred was almost as masterful as Vlad at concealing his true nature. As he sought for allies beyond Sylvania's borders, frequently Mannfred would travel abroad in the guise of an Imperial lord with striking features and raven hair. He was always courteous and lordly to those he met on his travels, as befits a noble from such a powerful family. When Mannfred revealed himself at the height of his power, his appearance was far more horrifying. Infused with Necromantic energy, his face became contorted and almost corpse-like, and his skin writhed with magical energy.
In the end Mannfred was defeated and his army annihilated at the Battle of Hel Fenn. History records that Mannfred fell whilst trying to retreat from the battle, and so Hel Fen is celebrated for the demise of the last of the Vampire Counts of Sylvania.
Yet not everyone believes that Mannfred was destroyed at Hel Fenn. Persistent rumour has it that Mannfred von Carstein still exists to this day, threatening to return once more at the head of the Undead Sylvanian armies. Indeed, the minor poet Felix Jaeger claims to have encountered him while in the company of the Dwarf Gotrek Gurnisson as recently as 2503. Jaeger, however, is a known criminal and populist agitator and his accounts of his travels are highly fanciful. One doubts whether a mighty Vampire such as Mannfred von Carstein could really be put to flight by an outcast Dwarf wielding a pair of silver candlesticks, as Jaeger claims occurred.
Some tavern storytellers even claim that Mannfred rode from Drakenhof Castle to lead an Undead army against the forces of Chaos during the great invasion of Archaon. If Mannfred truly survived then perhaps it is now, as the Empire wars against the armies of Chaos, that he will again battle for the Imperial throne.
Advance Order - Mannfred von Carstein
Part Code: 99110207167
Release Date: 13 March 2008
This boxed set contains one (1) Mannfred von Carstein. All models are supplied unpainted and require assembly.
Boxed Set - $25.00 USD