Archive for the ‘Romance Vampire Novels’ Category

Vampires are mythological creatures, the existence of which science has not yet been able to prove.  But there is a large amount of untested evidence directed towards the fact that vampire tendencies are a possibility among humans. And with the recent increase in awareness through books and movies, vampires like Count Dracula, Nosferatu, Count Yorga, Spike, Edward Cullens and others have amassed an impressive fan following. There are certain features that put vampires into a class of their own, one which is quite different from any human being with cannibalistic tendencies. To understand these better here are a few of them explained in detail:

While these pointers work well to help you identify a vampire, they do not comprise a full proof technique. With evolution there have been significant changes in the characteristics of the newer generation of vampires. It is therefore important to play it by ear and be very careful when identifying an individual as belonging to the undead. The repercussions of being wrong are almost as dangerous as those of being right.

Created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan in 1973, the first Blade comic book appearance as a supporting character in The Tomb of Dracula #10 by Marvel Comics. Over the years, Blade appeared in back-up stories and made guest appearances, but it wasn’t until the mid 90s when the first Blade comic book came out.  From there, Blade gained popularity and eventually branched out into other forms of media.

In 1998, the first Blade comic book adaptation to the big screen was released.  Starring Wesley Snipes as the Daywalker, and Kris Kristofferson as Whistler, the film centered around Blade wanting to avenge the death of his mother by vampires.  Meanwhile, the pure blood vampires have gone to war with those that have been turned from humans.  As the film progresses Blade learns that his mother has been turned, and that it was the head vampire, Frost, that bit her while she was pregnant, which is why Blade has the symptoms of vampires, but none of the weaknesses.  The film was loosely based on the Blade comic book stories, though chiefly the latter ones, and is sometimes thought of as the film that started the comic movie revolution as it predated the first Spider-Man film.

Blade II, the sequel to the first film, also loosely based on the Blade comic book, came out in 2002 following the success of other comic related films like Spider-Man and X-Men.  In this film there is a new breed of vampires called Reapers that feeds on both humans and vampires thanks to an irresistible and enhanced bloodlust.  Those that survive the attacks of the Reapers become Reapers themselves.  To stop the Reapers, Blade is forced to team up with the regular vampires, the Bloodpack of the Shadow Council as neither alone could defeat them.  Eventually, of course, the Bloodpack betray him and he has to defeat them all on his own.  Luckily he finally learns that ultraviolet light kills the Reapers.  This particular Blade comic book film is the most popular of the three and did the best at the box office of the three as well.

The third Blade comic book film was Blade: Trinity, and was released in 2004.  The vampires concoct a plan to have Blade blamed for killing humans, and they are successful at doing so.  Now on the run from the FBI, Blade must unite with the Nightstalkers, a group of human vampire hunters led by Whistler’s daughter, and they go on the hunt for the original vampire Drake, aka Dracula.

The future of the Blade comic book films is uncertain now after a lawsuit filed by Snipes, and now that Snipes is serving a prison term for federal income tax crimes.

In other media, two video games based on the first two Blade comic book films were released for the Playstation and XBox platforms.  And a short-lived television series based on the Blade comic book movies was shown on Spike in 2006.

10. Angel from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, and later his own spinoff series Angel.

9. Felipe De Castro from the Sookie Stackhouse / True Blood book and TV series.

8. Lara from the Dresden Files book and TV series.

7. Dracula from the 1897 novel and countless movie and tv renditions.

6. Spike from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series.

5. Lilith from ancient vampire lore.

4. Nosferatu, first appearing in the 1922 movie of the same name, an adaptation of Dracula.

3. Bill from the Sookie Stackhouse / True Blood book and TV series.

2. Alice from the Twilight series of books and movies.

…and the most popular vampire online is no surprise…

1. Edward from the Twilight series of books and movies.

I compiled this list be searching for the word Vampire + the series name + the vampire name on a number of search engines.  This ensured that I was indeed getting results for a particular vampire from a particular series.  The vampire’s popularity was judged by the total number of pages found for them.  So, for example to rank Edward from Twilight I searched for “Vampire Twilight Edward”, which had millions and millions of pages.

Partly to prevent The Twilight Series from completely overwhelming this list I only allowed any one series a maximum of two spots on this list.  The most popular vampires from Twilight were (in order) Edward, Alice, Jane, Victoria, Jasper, Laurent, Marcus, Carlisle, Rosalie, Esme, James, Aro, and Demetri.  True Blood also had too many vamps on the list.  The complete True Blood list (in order) is Bill, Felipe de Castro, Eric, Jessica, and Godric.

The vampires who did not make the cut were Selene from Underworld, Darren Shan, Vlad the Impaler from the 14th century, Thomas from the Dresden Files, Lestat from Anne Rice, Jean-Claude from Anita Blake, Lewis from Anne Rice, Count von Count from Sesame Street, Elizabeth Bathory from the 15th century, and Count Chocula.

I was surprised that Vlad and Lestat didn’t rank in the top 10, as both of them seem to be pretty prevelant in any serious discussion of vampire lore and media.  No idea how Nosferatu made it to number 4, but perhaps that proves the staying power of a cool name.

Stephenie Meyer – The Twilight Saga

Twilight is a series of vampire-based fantasy/romance/horror novels by American author Stephenie Meyer. It follows the adventures of Isabella Swan, a teenager who moves to Forks, Washington and finds her life turned upside-down when she falls in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen.

The series is currently one of the most popular books written for young adults, with 50 million copies sold worldwide and over 7.7 million copies sold in the U.S. alone. The series has been translated into over 20 different languages around the world.

Film Adaptation: A screenplay for Twilight was written by Melissa Rosenberg and has been adapted into a film by Summit Entertainment. The film is being directed by Catherine Hardwicke, with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in the leading roles of Isabella Swan and Edward Cullen, respectively.

Book 1 – Twilight (2005)
Twilight is a young adult vampire novel written by author Stephenie Meyer, originally published in hardcover in 2005. It is the first book of the Twilight series, and introduces seventeen-year-old Isabella “Bella” Swan who moves from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington, and finds her life in danger when she falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen.

Book 2 – New Moon (2006)
Legions of readers entranced by Twilight are hungry for more and they won’t be disappointed. In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural twist. The “star-crossed” lovers theme continues as Bella and Edward find themselves facing new obstacles, including a devastating separation, the mysterious appearance of dangerous wolves roaming the forest in Forks, a terrifying threat of revenge from a female vampire and a deliciously sinister encounter with Italy’s reigning royal family of vampires, the Volturi. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality.

Book 3 – Eclipse (2007)
Readers captivated by Twilight and New Moon will eagerly devour Eclipse, the much anticipated third book in Stephenie Meyer’s riveting vampire love saga. As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob — knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

Book 4 – Breaking Dawn (2008)
Breaking Dawn is the fourth and last novel in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. Divided into three ‘books’, the story is told from the perspective of Bella Swan, except for Book Two which is from the perspective of Jacob Black, Bella’s werewolf friend. Breaking Dawn was released on August 2, 2008 with a special midnight release in many bookstores.

Book 5 – The Host
Stephenie Meyer, creator of the phenomenal teen-vamp Twilight series, takes paranormal romance into alien territory in her first adult novel. Those wary of sci-fi or teen angst will be pleasantly surprised by this mature and imaginative thriller, propelled by equal parts action and emotion. A species of altruistic parasites has peacefully assumed control of the minds and bodies of most humans, but feisty Melanie Stryder won’t surrender her mind to the alien soul called Wanderer. Overwhelmed by Melanie’s memories of fellow resistor Jared, Wanderer yields to her body’s longing and sets off into the desert to find him. Likely the first love triangle involving just two bodies, it’s unabashedly romantic, and the characters (human and alien) genuinely endearing.

Also Included the Partial Draft of Stephenie Meyer’s “Midnight Sun”, which is Twilight from Edward Cullen’s point of view, revealing details of his own life and existance that were to us unkonown, since all the other books are told from Bella’s perspective.

This review is based on the paperback edition of Anne Rice’s novel, ‘Christ the Lord Out of Egypt’.

I must admit that as a past reader of Anne Rice vampire novels, I was prepared for a different experience than what I encountered by reading this book. My son gave me my first Anne Rice novel at Christmas a few years ago, and he followed up with more of her paperbacks on subsequent birthdays, Mothers’ Days, and Christmases.

Many of Anne Rice’s previous novels are dark, yet strongly compelling, reading. You might find your mind wandering as you wade through paragraph after paragraph of descriptive details that, while setting the scene, sometimes distract you from the storyline. However, her stories always seize your interest. You might skim over the flowery descriptions, but you are always entranced by the characters in their search for something bigger than themselves.

In this book Anne talks about something bigger than all of us – and succeeds in eliciting strong emotions accompanied by occasional tears. This is a simply written account, narrated from the point of view of a young Jesus.

Unlike earlier novels, she restricts the descriptive language to a level which accurately depicts the time, customs, and surroundings – without distracting from the story’s progression. The book has been carefully researched. Historical facts are intertwined with dialogue and narrative in a way that makes them come alive to the reader.

Young Jesus surprisingly commits a huge sin in the third paragraph of the first page. This startled me! My perspective of Jesus has always been one of God personified in the flesh – and God would never sin! That first page raised my hackles and I almost put the novel down in disgust.

However, it was a Christmas present from my son, and I felt compelled to read it for his sake. I certainly didn’t think that Anne Rice was going to tell a story about the Jesus Christ I knew from reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Without a doubt, I am overjoyed that I read the book right to the end. It cleared up a mystery that has plagued me for years: Why did Jesus have to die to save me? This answer had been given to me many times in sermons and in the Bible itself. However, I never completely understood it until I read this book.

Whatever you do – don’t skip to the end of the novel to discover the answer. Without absorbing the narrative, chapter by chapter, you will not comprehend the last two pages.

Anne has wavered from Roman Catholicism to atheism, and back to Roman Catholicism. She relates in the paperback edition why she made a promise to dedicate her life to God.

The introductory pages of the novel include a map showing the northern part of Egypt and the areas of the Holy Land that are mentioned in the story. The back of the book includes an ‘Author’s Note’ and ‘Note to the Paperback Edition’. Here, Anne describes a bit of her background, her research techniques, and her conversion back to Christianity.

No matter what your religious beliefs, you will find this novel an interesting read. I intend to buy several to give away to friends and relatives.Christ the Lord Out of Egypt – by Anne RicePaperback Edition ISBN: 0-7704-3013-9Hardcover Edition ISBN: 0-6769-7768-5*Anne Rice has kindly provided the following thoughts on this review:

‘I do personally believe that Jesus was sinless, and in my novel the intention is to present Him as absolutely sinless. In the opening scenes He does not kill anyone. He ‘feels the power go out of Him’. Rather like the similar passage of the Gospel of Mark when the hemorrhaging woman is healed by touching His robe.

‘Take care and have a good year,

‘Anne Rice’

©Copyright Kathy Steinemann: This article is free to publish only if this copyright notice, the byline, and the author’s note below (with active links) are included.

Man has a desire to get frightened. This is evident from the ghost stories told and retold over centuries. This desire to get frightened had given birth to thousands of horror stories over ages. Almost all the languages around the globe have a particular section of literature called horror literature which has gained prominence in the past few decades. Most often, horror stories are called fiction as they carry imaginary stories revolving around supernatural powers, evil forces and black magic.

The fiction intended to scare, unsettle or horrify the audience gained popularity as literature since the 1960s. This type of fiction often overlaps science fiction or fantasy and is also called speculative or supernatural fiction. In most of the big cities there are horror book store that sell books based on horror fiction.

Even though not as a polished literary form, the horror stories prevailed years back as tales of demons and vampires in folklores. But as a literature it gained popularity in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe and Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein were the famous horror fiction books of the nineteenth century. The first American horror novel was The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irvin. Edgar Allen Poe, H.P. Lovecraft and M.R. James were some of the finest ghost stories writers of English language.

The contemporary horror books have moved way for extreme violence or shock to entertain the readers. The horror books by Ramsey Campbell and Thomas Ligotti have widely been accepted by the readers. The expansion of horror literature to a wider audience took place in the 1920’s with the rise of the American pulp magazine. The book Weird Tales depicted many stories by Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, E. Hoffmann Price, Seabury Quinn, C.M. Eddy, Jr. and Robert Bloch, thereby making horror literature much popular.

Many critics consider “The Metamorphosis,” “In the Penal Colony” by Franz Kafka and “A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner as some of the best horror books in literature. Bram Stoker, Peter Straub, R.L. Stine and Ray Bradbury fall into the category of some of the finest horror writers of the English language.

Vampire artwork consists of several pictures, fantasy prints, poems and stories about this being. The assembly of presently kind of art includes dark art, fantasy art, and paranormal art that is typically related in distinct thrilling experiences of their kind of art. This sort of art can also be linked in on Gothic art.

In the gallery of dark art, television stills, and the vampire in comic books, movies and all types of bats are included. There are also various fearing masks, horror outfits, and many larger amount of thrilling accessories. Children of the dark are also included here.

In the category of paranormal art, there are poems, and short stories based on mysteries. These can be read online. The poems include the work of poets this as Ron Daily, Demon Vampyr Child. The short stories include the go of writers such as Samuel Blackwell and Erin. A broad version of these can be read, ordered and purchased online. Vampire artwork basically parts dark art and would be vastly enjoyed by lovers of thrills, mystery and horror movies.

Important fictitious material involved in Vampire artwork include; images of demons, angels, weird science, insanity and monsters. The ancient museum containing supernatural historical mysterious characters, the cluster of images based on magic, melefic and fantastical surroundings can also be considered as examples of currently sort of art. Ancient posters of UFO’s and aliens are furthermore not left out of the present category of art. Numerous collections of this sort of art can be viewed from various Internet sites worldwide.

Vampire Selfish Strategies are Energy Blockages Created by Thought forms called Inner Children which split off from the central personality due to painful experienced in childhood or any traumatic period of life.

We All use the Vampiric Strategies unconsciously to steal energies from others and which lead us into painful situations which can depress us and which can lead to destructive patterns in our shifting personalities.

Childish Inner Child Thought forms, can be traced and found by healing and using the Strategies and Strategy Combinations in order to find the Inner Child Using them.

Gurdjieff and all the Sufi Masters brought recognition of this splitness within everyone to the attention of the Western psychologists.

Eventually creating Transactional Analysis and “The Games People play” a book written by Psychologist of Transactional Analysis Eric Berne.

Although split personalities are known about, only the very problematic difficult split personalities are mentioned in books and movies. They get very little screen time.

Gurdjieff pointed out through generations of knowledge of ancient Masters of Wisdom that split personalities were the norm, but the milder symptoms in everyone passed unnoticed.

As Gurdjieff said, “The person that says I will get up early in the morning is not the same personality who throws the alarm clock out of the window!!.”

The Strategies are also mentioned in the Celestine Prophesy by James Redfield.

These Strategies are where separate intelligences are split off from the central stem of your Soul and are Archetypes created and used by the Hurt Inner Children. They flow in and out of your consciousness. Without someone pointing out the discrepancies in your behavior, you probably will not notice them..

The Strategies of the Vampire are Strategies we all unconsciously use to get attention and energy from others.

Strategies use the emotions! As the False Negative Emotions of Anger, Manicism, Seeking Sympathy and Attention, Depression and Fear are Eliminated by meditation, Emotional Integration with the Intelligence results in Willpower and the Power of Doing.

Some of the Archetypal Strategies we all use to get attention are..

• The Poor Me
• The Aloof
• The Interrogator
• The Violator
• The Selfish Competitive Star

With Advanced Ancient and Effective Meditations it is possible to heal all childish Thoughtforms, by healing and using the Strategies and Strategy Combinations we can trace back to find the Inner Child Using them.

With Advanced Ancient and Effective Meditations it is possible to Heal these Selfish Strategies which we All use unconsciously to steal energies from others and which lead us into painful situations which can depress us and which can lead to destructive patterns in our lives.

These Strategies are used by the Inner Child separate intelligences are split off from the central stem of your Soul which flow in and out of your consciousness. Without someone pointing out the discrepancies in your behavior, you probably will not notice them..

As the False Negative Emotions of Anger, Manicism, Seeking Sympathy and Attention, Depression and Fear are Eliminated, Emotional Integration with the Intelligence results in Willpower and the Power of Doing.

This higher functionality is the result of healing these Strategies!

Ask Yourself.

WHO IS IN CHARGE??!!!!

The first part of this healing is intellectually to recognize these sub-personalities, the Inner Child and Inner Children working within ourselves and more easily in others.

Meditation Will Dramatically Reduce Their Negative Power.

However, to remove these sub-personalities completely, the more Advanced techniques of a Synthesis of Ancient Meditational Techniques are absolutely necessary:-

It needs an Ancient Advanced Synthesis of Effective Techniques for Gaining More Energy – Meditation, Shaktipat, Energy Circulation, The Kundalini Kriyas, The Five Elemental Paths Of The Chi Of Chinese Alchemical Taoism, The Grounding Of Negative Energies, V.I.T.R.I.O.L, The Art Card Of The Thoth Tarot, Access To Kundalini Energy, Strong Psychic Protection, Learn The Merkaba, Pyramid Protection, Power Tower Protection, Create The Antahkarana, Soul Fusion, Monadic Infusion, Logos Infusion. The Painless Removal Of Stress, Trauma And Negative Emotion

There is no doubt that Freidrich Willhelm Murnau’s Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie des Grauens (Symphony of Horror) is a piece of landmark cinema, both for its Expressionist filmmaking and its unique treatment of the vampire as plague. Yet few people saw this monumental film prior to 1960. Though slated for destruction by Bram Stoker’s widow, the film managed to survive, popping up in the most peculiar places.Nosferatu debuted at the Marble Hall of the Berlin Zoological Gardens in 1922. The movie was the first and last product of a small art collective called Prana Films — the brainchild of artist Albin Grau (later Nosferatu’s production designer). A month later Florence Stoker caught wind, and she started the legal machines rolling. Her only income at this point was her deceased husband’s book Dracula, and she would not let some German production company steal her meal ticket. During the 1920s, intellectual rights were a bit dodgy, so Florence paid one British pound to join the British Incorporated Society of Authors to help defend her property. Never mind that the society would also pick up the tab for the potentially huge legal bills.

Florence seemed unaware that a second vampire film, this one called Drakula, was produced by a Hungarian company in 1921. Although the title harkens back to Bram Stoker’s novel, the resemblance ends there. This film, now lost save for some stills, was more concerned with eye gouging than straight out vampirism. Nosferatu on the other hand took much of its plot from Stoker’s Dracula, changing only the names.

The film continued to be exhibited in Germany and Budapest up through 1925, though Prana was beleaguered by creditors and harassed by Florence Stoker. They tried to settle with the society, offering a cut of the film’s take in order for them to use the Dracula title in England and America. Florence would not relent.

She not only wanted Prana to halt exhibition of the film, she wanted it torched — all prints and negatives of the film destroyed. And she got her way. In 1925 Florence won her case and the destruction order went through. Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie des Grauens vanished into thin air just as Count Orlock, the vampire in the film, does when exposed to the rays of the morning sun.Nosferatu did not stay dead. Like any good horror movie, the villain revived himself and carried on the fight. A print of the film resurfaced in 1929, playing to audiences in New York and Detroit. However preeminent Dracula scholar, David J. Skal, writes that the film “was not taken seriously” and that most audiences considered it “a boring picture”. The print was then purchased by Universal to see what had already been done in terms of a vampire movie. The film was studied by all the key creative personnel leading to the Universal production of Dracula in 1931.

The undead film continued to rise from the grave throughout the years. An abridged version was aired on television in the 1960s as part of Silents Please, and subsequently released by Entertainment films under the title Terror of Dracula, and then again by Blackhawk Films under the name Dracula. Blackhawk also released the original version to the collector’s market under the title Nosferatu the Vampire. An unabridged copy of the movie survived Florence Stoker’s death warrant and was restored and screened at Berlin’s Film Festival in 1984.

Despite its influence on the making of the 1931 Dracula, Nosferatu has few film decedents. It’s theme of vampire as a scourging plague has only been seriously taken up by two films: the 1979 remake by Werner Herzog, Nosferatu: The Vampyre, and the 1979 television miniseries of Salem’s Lot, directed by Tobe Hooper. Perhaps if the original Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie des Grauens had been allowed regular release, this would not be the case. It remains to be seen if Nosferatu will vanish again with the daylight or if this rare film will rise again in a new form.

For more information on the making of the original Dracula, check out David Skal’s book Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen. If you want to see how vampire films have changed from Dracula to Underworld, pick up a copy of my book The Changing Vampire of Film and Television. Also you may visit www.timkanebooks.com for more vampire articles and fiction.

This article will take novice Warhammer gamers through the basics of collecting, building and painting a Vampire Counts army. Raising an army of the dead couldn’t be easier

Starting a new army in Warhammer can seem a bit daunting even for experienced players and for new comers it can be completely baffling. But have no fear, this guide is packed full of helpful tips to guide you on the first steps toward building a Vampire Counts army that will be ready to take on all comers. We’ll cover how to assemble your models and then give them a simple but visually pleasing paint job using a small number of different paints.

This guide assumes that you have the following modeling equipment; plastic cutters, a craft knife, plastic glue & paints.

When building any Warhammer army, the best place to begin is the Army book for the particular army. You will find that you constantly refer back to this book, as they not only provide you with the rules and army lists for your Vampire Counts army, but the hobby section contains loads of tips on painting, assembling, and selecting your army. In fact if you have the book I suggest you have a look at the hobby pages of the army book right now, go on…

Right, finished perusing the army book? OK we’ll continue…

To get your army of the ground we’ll start by getting your first unit assembled and painted, for this tutorial we’ll focus on one of the core units of a Vampire Counts army, skeletons.Games Workshop skeleton models come in the form of a plastic kit and with all plastic models the first thing you have to do is cut them from the frames that they come supplied on. To do this use your plastic cutters and when cutting try not to cut too close to the model parts themselves as this may damage the model, leave a small (less than 1mm) stub attached to the model and use your craft knife to trim this off. Remember; when using a craft knife you should always cut away from yourself.

Once you have your skeleton parts free of their frames you just need to clean up any mold lines or remaining frame stubs (as mentioned above). Cutting off frame stubs is just a matter of slicing them off (once again cutting away from you), you can also use your craft knife to scrape off mold lines by holding the blade across a mold line and dragging the blade along it.

Your models are now ready for assembly, this is where the plastic glue comes in, a simple infantry trooper like a skeleton is pretty easy to assemble and I’ll not go into how to do this in any length, I suggest looking in the army book for inspiration on poses.

Once your models have been built they are ready for painting, the technique below will . Step 1: First you should undercoat you skeleton model white, this creates a good surface on which to apply the rest of paint job. Step 2: Once this is done apply watered-down brown paint to all the exposed bone or wood areas. Be careful to get the brown paint mix in all the cracks as this layer forms the foundation for all the following steps. Step 3: “Wet” drybrush all the bone areas light brown with an old brush. Drybrushing is a technique where you load your brush with a small amount of paint (so that it is almost dry) and brush it across the raised surfaces of a model, leaving the recesses unpainted. A “wet” drybrush requires more paint to be used and will consequentially colour more of the model . Step 4: With a normal brush, paint the axe handle dark brown. Paint the area that need to look metallic black. Step 5: We will now add another drybrush layer, this layer needs to be much “dryer” than the last, but is still not a true drybrush. Apply a 1:1 mix of light brown and cream with this technique in mind. Now, drybrush the axe handle with light brown. Be sure to leave some of the darker brown showing near the hand and the axe head. Step 6: Paint the metallic areas silver; you can also paint the trim on the metallic areas gold. Step 7: The first true drybrush now needs to be applied to the bone areas, this dry brush should be a mix of 3:1 cream to light brown. You should brush in a downward motion only at first, to catch the ribs, knee caps, and joints. Next, paint sideways over the major leg and arm bones to get better coverage in these areas. Drybrush the axe handle lightly with a mix of 9:1 light brown and white. Step 8: Apply a black wash over the silver areas and brown wash over the gold trim. A wash is a technique where watered down paint is used to paint (usually darken) recesses, paint should be watered down with at least 3 parts water to 1 part paint.Step 9: Now, do a final cream drybrush, making sure to brush downwards only. Drybrush a 1:1 mix of light brown and white onto the axe handle. Drybrush silver onto the metal areas (make sure the washes have dried first). Re-apply gold paint to the gold areas, leaving the wash near the rivets.Step 10: Carefully apply a 1:1 wash of brown paint and water around the knee caps, over the toe and knuckle joints, under the shoulder blades, between legs bones, and into the eye sockets. Apply a bit more silver to the top of the axe and the crown of the helmet. Mix a some silver with gold and edge the top of the gold trim. To pick up the gold in the helmet, you can edge the shield with a similar gold effect.

And that’s it…. That was pretty easy wasn’t it? All you need to do now is paint the rest of the models you got in your first box and you’ve completed your first Vampire Counts unit.

Where do you go from here? Well now that your first unit is almost ready for the tabletop, what do you do next? Well for a start there are a whole host of other unit types that can form part of a Vampire Counts army you should study the army book careful when selecting these and when you do these will be these will also need assembly and painting. Finally, of course, you’ll need an opponent to obliterate with your newly built Vampire Counts army…