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.

A Vampire Lord is so powerful that he counts as one additional Hero on top of the usual Lord choice (ie, a Vampire Lord counts as both a Lord and a Hero choice).

Weapons: Hand weapon.

Magic: A Vampire Lord is a Level 2 Wizard. He may use either Necromancy or the Lore of Death.

Options:

• May be upgraded to a Level 3 Wizard for +50 pts.
• May ride either a Nightmare (+12 pts), which can have barding (+6 pts); a Winged Nightmare (+175 pts); or a Zombie Dragon (+300 pts, counts as an additional Hero choice).
• 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 100 pts.
• Von Carsteins and Blood Dragons may choose either a Great Weapon (+6 pts), an additional hand weapon (+6 pts), or a lance (+6 pts).
• Blood Dragons may carry a shield (+3 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).