Wednesday 26 October 2011

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.

22 comments:

  1. Your not called Vampifan for nothing, nice work on those fanged beauties...well fanged goodness:D

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  2. Yes, there is a perfectly good reason why I'm called Vampifan and not Zombifan!

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  3. Those are some great looking figures. I've never had as much interest in Vampires but these ones look pretty cool.
    I like the mix of looks, but the ugly one really stands out as cool.

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  4. Yeah great job on these Vampifan, dont know about these sexy vamps....but the Nosferatu one is really kinda creepy, very cool, I wouldn't mind doing a vampire hunt scenario some day.

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  5. Very nice Paintjobs Vampifan. Would be nice to see some more of your collection at some point.

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  6. You're spot on with your review of Dante, what an excellent figure and what a great paintjob, the Nosferaut vampire looks excellent too, but I'm nit taken wwith the two females, despite the great paintjobs.
    I can't get the picture of the vampire in the b&w silent film "Nosferatu" out of my mind when I think of v ampires, rather than the "traditional" Transylvania Count!

    Any news on the 2HW rules for Vampires ?

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  7. Those are very nice. I like Graf Orlok best, he looks very evil and dangerous.

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  8. @Adam. Thanks for your comments. Vampires have always been my first love when it comes to the undead. Actually, they're my first love when it comes to anything!

    @The Extraordinarii. What do you mean you don't know about these sexy vamps? I'd rather be bitten someone like Cynthia than an ugly geezer like Orlok!

    I'd love to do a vampire hunting scenario, which is why I can't wait for THW's After the Horsemen supplement to be released.

    @Brummie. I will certainly oblige you, my friend!

    @Joe. The silent film "Nosferatu" deserves its place as a classic of the genre and Orlok is about as far removed from the pretty boy vampires of the "Twilight" series of films as you can get. For many folks of a certain age, mention the word vampire and they automatically think of Christopher Lee's Count Dracula. Methinks you're showing your age if you can still visualise Orlok from the 1920's movie!

    ATH is due out soon, which is what Ed has been saying all year! Soon is such a vague term, isn't it?

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  9. @Luckyjoe. We have another nomination for Orlok being the best of the bunch. I can't deny that he is one creepy looking dude!

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  10. Well done mate! Having played the Masquerade myself...I have to ask.....

    Which bloodline are you? I have tried different...bloods... Tzimiche was my first but that was in dark ages. Then Gangrel....Then Ventrue.

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  11. @Johnny. I've answered this question before but I don't mind answering again. I played a Toreador vampire, which given my artistic background should surely come as no surprise.

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  12. Keep them comming! I wish there were more modern vampires.

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  13. @Brutpaul. Absolutely! I'd love to see a range of vampires armed with contemporary firearms. I know about West Wind's vampire bikers, having reviewed them earlier. I'd like to see a lot more in that style.

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  14. I was thinking more along the lines of, I wouldn't know wether to kill her or have sex with her !!!

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  15. @The Extraordinarii. Laughing my ass off!

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  16. I never played but I would have been a Malkavian for obvious reasons, ha! Nice figs, beautifully painted, Bryan-no surprise there ;).

    I love the first three they are a bit different than what is out there but I know there is at least 1-2 Nosferatu figs out there now and while its cool, I would rather have seen them throw in something more along the goth figs, maybe another goth male or something like a gangrel but I dont see Foundry doing that. They are good in that you can use them in a Victorian up to modern setting. We need more modern vamps and Bryan show us more of your vampires, I would love to see them.

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  17. Hi, Roger. Somehow I'm not surprised that you'd play a Malkavian! That was the clan of choice for my friends Big Sil and Suzi the Goth Girl. Also, my brother said that if he ever played V:TM he'd also be a Malkavian.

    There are actually a lot of Nosferatu type vampires out there but I suspect that a lot of them are now out of production. I certainly have quite a few Nosferatu vampires in my collection. We definitely do need more modern day vampires and when I can find a window of opportunity I'll do a big review of my vampire figures collection.

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  18. Doh! So you did mate. Malkavian players are really great to have in a group, provided they play them good. Some think they just have to behave silly...

    Toreador...Could have told myself that!

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  19. Lets just say I wouldnt have to play in character to be a malkavian, lol!

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  20. @Johnny. Yes, I was a Toreador and even ran the Toreador Newsletter for a while. Malkavians can be interesting characters if played right. I wouldn't allow silliness in my campaign.

    @Roger. Lol, indeed! Still, as someone once said, there's a fine line between madness and genius!

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  21. Mrs Black tops my list here. Great job sir.

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