Vampires are the lords of the dead and all the Vampires in the Old World are descendants of one of the great Masters. The story of the Vampires in the Old World is told elsewhere in this tome, but it is sufficient to say that Men dread these mighty creatures for a good reason. Vampires are immortals with great powers and require only blood to sustain themselves. They are physically far stronger than any living man and can endure wounds that would.slay mere mortals in an instant. They have a natural ability to command necromantic magic and to bind Undead things to their will. The greatest among them are also able to command the skies, so that when their armies march to battle, the skies darken with heavy storm clouds. This casts dismay in the hearts of the mortals facing the Undead and protects the Vampires and their minions from the touch of the sunlight, which is the bane of their kind.

Necrarch Vampire Thrall with the Nehekhara Noble Blood power can be the General of the army.

One Vampire Thrall (except Strigoi) in the army may carry the Battle Standard for +25 pts.

Thrall carrying the Battle Standard cannot choose any extra weapons, nor can he use a shield.

If a Thrall is carrying the Battle Standard, he can have any magic banner (no points limit), but if he carries a magic banner he cannot carry any other magic items nor can he have any Bloodline powers.

Weapons: Hand weapon.

Options:

• May ride a Nightmare (+8 pts), which can have barding (+4 pts).
• May choose a mix of magic items from the Common or Vampire Counts magic items list and vampiric powers from his own Bloodline's list, with a maximum total value of 50 pts.
• Von Carsteins and Blood Dragons may choose either a Great Weapon (+4 pts), an additional hand weapon (+4 pts), or a lance (+4 pts).
• Von Carsteins and Blood Dragons may wear light armour (+2 pts), or heavy armour (+4 pts), and may also carry a shield (+2 pts).

Bloodlines: All the Vampires in your army must come from the same family (von Carstein, Necrarch, Blood Dragon, Lahmia or Strigoi) and can choose the powers of their own family's list (see Bloodline Powers).