Foundry Vampires

With the amount of coverage I give to zombies, you'd be forgiven for thinking that they are my favourite type of undead. But they're not. Vampires are. Vampires are so much cooler than zombies and having played Vampire:The Masquerade role-playing game (both the White Wolf and GURPS versions) I have quite an affinity with them. Plus, of course, Vampirella (all praise her name!) is a vampire. What this long-winded intro means is that I have some new vampire figures to review. These four 28mm scale figures come from Wargames Foundry's Undead set UND034 Vampires.

 

Dante the Cruel is the name of the vampire at the far left of the the two photos above. That's the name given to him by the chaps at Foundry and I have no reason to change it. He is dressed as a high class Victorian gentleman, which doesn't preclude being able to use him in a contemporary setting. Having attended a few vampire Halloween weekends at Whitby I can attest that quite a few Goth Guys (and Girls) like to dress up in Victorian clothing. Dante carries a skull-topped cane. His cloak is a separate casting and I painted it and the rest of the figure before gluing it in place, because otherwise, it would have been very fiddly trying to paint the spiral patterns on the inside of the cloak. He is very well sculpted and the sculptor has captured his haughty arrogance and potential cruelty very well.

Next to him is Cynthia Black and I just can't get over how closely she resembles Angelina Jolie. There is the mere hint of pointed fangs in her mouth. She is dressed very seductively in a basque and long dress split down the middle to reveal her panties and thigh-length boots. She also wears very long gloves. If she looks tall, then that is because she is. Although Foundry advertise these figures as being 28mm scale they are closer to 35mm scale. Cynthia is 35mm tall from sole of feet to top of head. Dante is not far behind at 34mm tall.

Next in line is Ophelia von Hagen, another sexy female vampire. She is dressed in a figure-hugging long crimson dress that flares outwards at her feet. She is armed with a long knife with a curved blade. I painted her eyes bright red to indicate she is not human and also that she is about to attack. She is much shorter than Cynthia and Dante, being 31mm tall but still taller than 28mm. I see this figure as being on the verge of uncontrolled blood lust. Very dangerous for whoever she's facing!

The final figure of the group is called Nosferatu. Oh dear, I'm sorry, Foundry, but Nosferatu is not a vampire name but a type of vampire. Players of Vampire: The Masquerade will know that the Nosferatu were one of the seven clans who made up the Camarilla. I have named my figure, Graf Orlok, after the vampire played by Max Shreck in F.W. Murnau's silent film, Nosferatu. Orlok is the least human looking vampire out of the group. In V:TM the Nosferatu were noted for their ugliness. This figure has a hunchback, long bat-like ears and a very ugly face. In other words, a perfect Nosferatu vampire.

I was very pleased to see Foundry release this set and I had no hesitation to buy them. All four are very well sculpted although I have no doubt that some of you will be put off by the size of them. To me, their size is not a problem as they should be larger than life. I do not see any of this group as being fledgling vampires. They look like they've been around for a century or two (or longer) so I'd imagine they'd be formidable opponents in any game. I'd also have no qualms in using them in a contemporary setting. Too many companies make vampires that are designed to fit in a fantasy setting and not nearly enough make contemporary based vampires. These are designed in such a way that you can use them with a fantasy army or in the modern day. Top marks, Foundry!

This set of four figures retails for £10.00 from the Wargames foundry website. Incidentally, I have loads of painted vampires that I'd like to review, even though many of them are long out of production. I amassed quite a large collection of vampires during the 1990's when V:TM was at its peak. Rest assured, I will get round to reviewing them sometime.