History of the Blood Knights and Vampire Knightly Orders - Warhammer Fantasy Lore

We discuss the History of the Blood Knights and Vampire Cavalry in Warhammer Fantasy Lore, starting with their origins in Ancient Lahmia with Abhorash, his disciples, the Vampire Counts, and the various Knightly Orders that rose in Sylvania and Bretonnia during the following centuries.
Whysofurious' Ordo Draconis - steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...

[@milkandcookiesTW]

Thanks to Liam Cullen and Chewiemuse for their beautiful screenshots and artwork, Kazad for his Drakenhof map, and WhysoFurious for the very cool Ordo Draconis mod - steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1360054229&searchtext=ordo+draconis

[@Eliphas_]

I wish we could see Abhorash. I would give my blood for such a cool and badass character.

[@zedek_]

I just want them to at least officially unlock Mousillon as a faction you can start with. Hell, I want that for *all* minor factions, frankly. I tried a mod that did that, but it was incredibly unstable.

[@shamparovandrej9428]

Gamer of Slaanesh well you can take a look at Ordo Draconis mod

[@jadebrunner8699]

Lol 😂

[@brentcox2961]

I've never played Total War Warhammer or the Tabletop. The only thing I've played is Vermintide II, but the lore of Warhammer is so interesting. I've been sucked down a deep hole of lore videos between you and Italian Spartacus.

[@steelydan3263]

Brent Cox play Warhammer 2 it's a great first total war game

[@henryautumn37]

Me too

[@Cross_111]

Brent Cox try total war warhammer 1+2 Its awesome

[@entspannter]

S U C C

[@mrjapateezhan7426]

KEPLAAAAAAA. Command the legions... live the lore. Play Total War.

[@mbougerol24]

Actually Abhorash is not the only vampire who got rid of the red thirst. Zacharias the eternal master of the necrarchs bloodline also discovered it the same way as Abhorash did: by acident. The only difference being that zacharias woke the dragon up just after killing it

[@ankitcyriac8664]

Abhorash and Zacharias are the only two vampires who drank dragonblood and cured them of the thirst

[@OGdutch973]

Yeah, this style is the bee’s knees! Definately one of the more interesting lore videos I’ve watched. So much better than starting at pictures!

[@will131986]

I’ve missed your lore videos, would love to hear about the strigoy and necarch bloodlines aswell.

[@kenobijursthebadass5233]

Love what you did with the background that's detail

[@vikingcathq]

'He was really pissed' - that's the most apt description of The Red Duke that I ever saw. :D

[@dariusrose9909]

Phoenix Guard. White Lions and Swordmasters next!!!

[@RuYourBoat]

This was one of my favorite of your videos! Thanks very much. Truly stellar work.

[@iggyboom2]

Always love your lore videos man. Always top notch stuff. Always down for more!

[@VenrisSFO]

Swiftly!

[@milkandcookiesTW]

Quickly!

[@ragnerschwarzmane3412]

With haste!

[@tundrawolf5127]

Indy, I cannot thank you enough for this video man. Seriously

[@milkandcookiesTW]

sure thing homie G!

[@eddyxc1697]

Loved these types of videos. Great job!

[@jacquesdutoit2263]

Keep these types of videos coming! Love them!

[@jwallelelu5072]

Warlloch could be like a Arkhan Faction being able to recruit Choas warriors and beasts

[@DeliciousCornbread]

I'll never not love lore videos. I say take this format and run with it!

[@mab09200]

Great Job. More of these would be great. I think if you and Oakley did one that would be fantastic. Keep it up and thank you

[@1Buttonmasher]

Thank you for making this video and bringing much-needed attention to the Blood Dragons. Hopefully, CA will see this and think about putting them into the game properly.

[@austinmonreal2331]

Fantastic lore video Indy. I absolutely love Blood Knights, they are probably my single favorite unit in the game (certainly for the Vampires) so it was great to see an indepth look at their history and background!

[@milkandcookiesTW]

glad you enjoyed it austin!

[@luiszazueta3343]

Awesome video !!! Came at the perfect time since I'm playing with Mousillon on total war

[@78Elad]

best of the best , you made me a fan , keep them coming

[@Valericon]

Much of this lore about the conflicted blood dragon knights actually reminds me of a new vampire game that will hit the streets in a few months in which you are a doctor that gets infected with vampirism and will then for the rest of the game struggle with his bloodthirst while he makes the choise of what he will become. Doctor or killer, monster or man!

[@spacewolfblackmane19]

Man I really hope we see these guys as dlc soon

[@bjack1547]

Love these vids. My one complaint is I'm trying to play out a Bretonnia campaign and you go and make this great video to distract me with vampire lore.

[@Nere94]

Love those lore videos, the more the merrier!

[@mylesdrake2949]

Still hoping for a character expansion for vermintide 2 where you can be a blood knight.

[@milkandcookiesTW]

that would be awesome

[@fumarc4501]

Seconded!

[@GrimgoreIronhide]

Great video. Poor what's his name, the Blood Dragon from the Brunner the Bounty Hunter series does manage to cure himself of the red thirst... Only to be obliterated by the dragon he drank from a moment latter as he's reveling in his newfound freedom. I would imagine that a decent precentage of the already tiny precent of successful blood knights fell prey to the same ironic fate. I would like to point out that the lore and crunch for the Grail Knights is just to far apart to be counted. They have toughness 3 strength 4 on the tabletop, the exact same as questing knights. They are listed as weaker than dwarf longbeards in the crunch. This simply does not compute. Grail Knights are consistently described as stronger tougher and faster than normal humans in the lore, as well as having other random asorted powers. That this never showed up in the crunch has to be taken as GW dropping the ball, there is no real other answer, and it's clear enough to see as Bretonnia did not get updated past 6th edition. And even that was a very lazy minimal update, you are basically looking at 5th Ed when you look at Grail Knights cannon stats. Louen Leoncore himself looses an arm wrestling match to a random low power blood knight if you follow the crunch. If you follow the lore, which I argue is the only reasonoble thing to do, Grail Knights should have strength 5 toughness 4. Or even better the Grail Vow should boost both initatve and strength, the same way Chaos knights get their respective chaos mark boosts. This is to say nothing of the simple balance absurdity of the Vampire Counts, one of the most spoiled for options factions on the tabletop having better cav than poor sweet neglected Bretonnia is just absurd. It's the same as the Empire having better cav than Bretonnia for a certain period of time, it's because they wanted to squat the faction. Well, Bretonnia survived, and if it's here to stay, it has to have something thats at least as good as the best of other factions. And that something is Grail Kinghts, can I get a hallelujah. Anyway that's enough of my whinging. Do you think we will ever get a Vampire faction mod? Having Lamian, necrarch and so forth options would be such a blessing to this game. I would love something like an ability to vampirese enemy Bretonnian and Empire Lord's you kill in the battlefield and bring them back as Blood Knight generals or hero's with maybe half of the level that general had. Oooo that would be fun.

[@shamparovandrej9428]

Edda233 well the author of Ordo Draconis mod said he would like to work on other vampire bloodlines

[@GrimgoreIronhide]

Niiiiice.

[@jinx.love.you.]

nah i played Vampire Counts during the time the rules changed and they at very end unified for simplicity the whole concept but there are bloodlines Lahmia Blooddragons and the other two retarded, as general rule the Blooddragons Knights, are immune to psychology but are very expensive i remember more than the Grail with just +1 in Strength the grail one do not crumble and as i remember they have a Ward Save of 5+ for stats are not much different but the strongest point is the Lance Formation you can actually make more attacks using less space... in Warhammer the Lance formation was exclusive of Bretonnia. bretonnia was fun to play but after a while lack of diversity made it pretty boring. if i good remember they also had Magic attacks which allow Grail knights to hit Ghosts and Banshee. i play since 6th edition and i had read many books but as far as i remember no Grail knights was resurrected was not possible... there was a story that a friend told me but i never actually read it... was about a Guy that resurrected these few grail knights and made some black guys... i guess was Kemmler or Nagash

[@GrimgoreIronhide]

Heya, thanks for the answer. My point was not that Grail Knights need to be stronger in the crunch but that game designers for games like Vermintide 2 or the Total War series should not look at the 6ed crunch for reference on how strong Grail Knights are, because the lore on how strong they are supposed to be, and the rules on how strong they are on tabletop are miles apart from one another. In the lore a Grail Knight is a supernatural warrior with superhuman attributes and variety of cool magic powers a la arthurian myth/ Orlando Furioso. If you look at the Tabletop rules a Grail Knight is a very brave Questing Knight who can punch ghosts. I am hoping they pick the former rather than the latter, because the latter is boring and does not fit the lore surrounding the unit. Magic knights based off arthurian myth who can punch even with a vampire are cool, I hope they are in future warhammer games, especially since they are already in the lore, even if they don't exist on the tabletop. Anyway, that's the core of my argument, obviously it's all subjective, but this is one of the more egregious cases of the lore and crunch not matching up, so I hope they go with the lore here. Now to your points on the tabletop rules: The Blood Knights are 2 points more expensive than the Grail Knights, and have a +1 strength and toughness over them. The point of the Lance formation would be very true, but Grail Knights are so expensive that you are unlikely to ever feild a large enough unit to make use of this. Set against the Blood Knights who have frenzy, doubling their attacks, unless you field a truly huge unit of 10+ Grail Knights which is going to sink most of your points, the Blood Knights will have more attacks regardless, and still hit harder with each attack. Then there is the Kastelan, basically a mini hero who can make 6 attacks a turn for +15 points. That's 3 times the attacks of a Grail Knight for less than a third of the cost of one, and again these are base S5 attacks. Sure, they can only have one, but with how small elite cav units tend to be, one model counts for a lot. Magical Attacks are a joke, etherial units are so rare it does not matter. This becomes blatantly insulting when you take the Chaos Knights Ensorceled weapons upgrade, which gives them the same magical attacks and +1 strength for +3 points (total price upgraded is 43 vs the base 48 points for Grail Knights btw) True the 5+ ward save is nice, but if you are playing Bretonnia right all their Knights will have this. That the Grail Knights have it whether you pray or not is more along the lines of a cherry on top than an actual feature. Immunity to psychology is very nice, and originally there might have been some argument that this would be their balancing factor, but its been years now and from the way Grail Knights all but disappeared from lists I think I can safely say that this notion simply hasn't stood the test of time. Its no use having a unit that wont run away if its not doing enough for its price regardless. I am very happy to talk to an old Bretonnia player, and understand you became bored with them, but maybe they would have become a little more interesting if they had an elite cav unit that wasn't overshadowed by every other competitor unit in the game. From there maybe we could have gotten more unit variety, which in turn would have made them even less boring. The notion of "this faction is boring so we shouldn't upgrade it" is baffling to me.

[@jinx.love.you.]

Edda233 yes I actually checked on the army book that I have of 8th edition and it is true blood knights have frenzy. Unfortunately is the wrong thing about them the base price is a bit higher and frenzy locked down the ability and the strategy to a single charge. It works very boring at the beginning of the turn you have or not declare charge. If it is not you check if the knights are in range of charge and if it is so... you must charge. Frenzy is good on foot soldiers but not on high mobility. If you do a frontal fight there is of course the chance the grail knights lose the fight and this is why you think they are weaker. I played them with 2 units of Pegasus knights of 4 and one unit of grail of 6. I was able to destroy with. The combination pretty much everyone. This combination was not possible with blood knights and he alternative are pretty good Black knights have killing blow and hexknigths are ghosts having anyway good mobility if in range with the lord. So makes them cool but not very good. In the game this spirit is lost and I feel blood knights

[@karkkosvolfe]

Please keep doing these kind of videos too

[@ascerteshallow9277]

Love the video, Indy! Would love to see more of these style of videos from you. I'm a Vampire fanboy anyway so it was really great to learn about the Blood Knights and how they came into existence and evolved over time. Your video has pretty much convinced me I need to do some reading about Warhammer Fantasy. Pertaining to Vampires still, what novels would you recommend?

[@milkandcookiesTW]

Thanks mate glad you enjoyed it. The Blood of Nagash trilogy gives a ton of backstory on the origin of the Vampires, and the Vampire Wars trilogy focuses on the von Carstein's and their war with the Empire. Those could be good places to start

[@ascerteshallow9277]

Awesome, thanks Indy!

[@gfbhvvgfff7465]

Awesome video, I watched it twice 👌

[@Fryguysun]

Be super cool if you managed to do a multiplayer battle featuring the Ordo Draconis mod. Or do something even a bit more whimsical, like a vampire civil war or elite cavalry faction FFA.

[@sageofcaledor8188]

Great video!

[@jwallelelu5072]

I would like to see these three as a DLC pack

[@jacobhewitt2798]

Great video my duderino!

[@milkandcookiesTW]

thanks my dude guy!

[@Grazzxx]

Love the blood dragons. Great Video Indy

[@milkandcookiesTW]

thanks mate glad you enjoyed!

[@justanassassin]

Ah, Abhorash. The greatest Lawful Evil character ever. So noble and so fallen......

[@henriquebitencourt4280]

The blood knights are lawful as a whole, the Carsteins are also( except Manfred) . The lahmians are evil but are nothing if compared with the skavens or chaos or the dark elves

[@RalphyTM]

Thanks for this. I don't think CA will add any other Vampire LL, so I've been thinking about modding some feign LL and heroes.

[@berpmerp7977]

God Abhorash would be such a cool lord to play as. An actual good guy Vampire, perhaps as a horde. He would have hatred for other vampire factions and probably bonuses against them. Probably also be a duellist although he should be able to slaughter units as well since he's such a badass. idk.

[@Roman-vj6pt]

You know it has to suck to train for thousands of years then get hit by a stray cannonball......

[@milkandcookiesTW]

Warfare in a nutshell. Train your whole life for brutal CQC then get killed by a thrown shingle :/

[@amandafranks5108]

Elven Vampires would be fit AF

[@milkandcookiesTW]

berry true

[@jadebrunner8699]

I love warhammer I love lord I love vampires I love blood knights This video is the kind that I subscribed to you for

[@edenlevy8443]

great video

[@Herr53Antichrist]

Thanks for great video! Really interesting to get this info the way you present - in more organized way. Way better, than my personal searches. It's kinda sad that maybe none of Bloodlines would appear. Though, I think it would be hardest to implement Blood Knights as unique faction with unique roster anyway, since they are more about fights and cultures of their regions, rather than about creating stuff like different types of Undead. But they could be part of other factions. Btw, didn't Necrarchs and Strigois replace their hunger for blood with hunger for dark magic and dead flesh respectively?

[@milkandcookiesTW]

You're welcome! They did indeed, but not really the same as a cure, just a different way of being cursed. I think we will have to settle for mods when it comes to the bloodlines yeah, except for when it comes to Neferata, who absolutely deserves to show up in game 3

[@hatartshop1098]

Necrarch still have the red thirst, but they use black magic as a substitute, deforming their body and spirit, but they still need to drink maybe once in a decade or century. And Strigoi has to feast on corpses because this is the only thing available, they hate the dead and ghouls blood, but they are Hunted by litterally everyone, humans and vampires alike, so they have no choices

[@hatartshop1098]

Indeed Abhorash is not the only vampire who cured himself from the red thirst, the apprentice of the first Necrarch, Melkior, drank from a dragon he found sleeping in a cave, after a month of regular puncture, he gained enough strenght to go back to his master (he failed to kill him) and just ripped his tower appart

[@Daimon-X]

In Brunner's the Bounty Hunter trilogy there was a vampire who cure his red thirst by drinking dragons blood.

[@alfarabi73]

No, Dragon Princes are not on the same tier as Blood Knights, Grail Knights, or Chaos Knights - either in lore or on the tabletop.

[@TheAshHeritor]

These are great videos. If you did one on Morghur and Ariel... that'd be the most awesome shit ever. I'm running a homebrew tabletop campaign involving some poor Asrai trying to take the Heart of the Shadowgave as far away from Athel Loren as possible, attempting to evade all of the Beastmen that are instinctually drawn to it. Passing through the Empire, with the intention of going north and returning the heart to the Chaos Wastes, they get caught, and the heart passes into the hands/claws of a terrible beastlord. The party is then going to have to have to hunt this beastlord down, as quick as possible, as he is slowly "claimed" by the heart, gradually transforming into the Shadowgave... If they get to him before he fully transforms... great. If not... well then they're in for some fun. Now it doesn't seem terribly fleshed out in the lore as to 'how' exactly the Shadowgave reincarnates, so I'm taking some creative liberty here... but does it seem feasible?

[@milkandcookiesTW]

The most important thing about those kind of things is having fun, and yeah it fits into the lore more than enough to have some fun with it ;P Sounds like a good time, glad you enjoyed the video

[@CptCh4os]

I feel like the Undead-negating abilities of the Grail Knights have been calculated in when the army book mentioned even they could not quite match the skill and power of the Blood Dragons.

[@indypride50]

The armybook states in the very next sentence that Grail knights are "anathema" to vampires and that those rumors aren't really true. And that's coming from the Vampire Counts armybook, where every factions plays up their own units as the best at everything. elite blood knights could go toe to toe with Grails and win, but on average Grail knights have an advantage because of their holy/blessed nature

[@jackjennings1707]

could you please do a summary/lets play with the choice and consequence mod?

[@bjornliljedahl2857]

Pls do more

[@Jayden00011]

9:20 "I believe I can flyyyyy!"

[@milkandcookiesTW]

lol

[@gregburrow3350]

😂😂

[@comradeswagyolo6778]

Big shot gangsta putting together a crew

[@tuxydonth1]

More of this style

[@benrussell1476]

nice vid

[@rizwanfariz2534]

I am sure there are many people who lived that long

[@jinx.love.you.]

hi!! 4:35 there were few vampires that actually cured one of these is Zaccaria a necrarch was killed by Nagash but he didn't need to drink Blood... Was the only one Able to Ride an Undead Dragon... No Aborash, not even Mannfred did it... just Zaccaria... is a bit Sad see Mannfred rides a Dragon in the game... there was tho the chance to make a zombie dragon on your custom lord in the Tabletop ... but no Legendary lord actually did it. Except of Zaccaria which had one of the book of Nagash.

[@PauloGarcia-sp5ws]

Comon, I think we all know that Abhorash is still killing nobs in the chaos realms in Age of Sigmar, and that hes just waiting for a way to get out into the world :P

[@iraqiwalker1436]

To give you an idea of the difference in power between blood knights, and blood dragons, a greater demon of khorne (blood thirster, the size of a small house with an axe the size of a hatchback) can mow down blood knights. While Blood dragons can shish kabab a bloodthirster without breaking a sweat. In more conventional terms, blood knights are like an Abrams tank. Blood Dragons are a cruise missile.

[@colonelsanders1349]

Iraqi Walker Mate, Blood Dragons are just the oldest order of Blood Knights. The Drakenhof Templars are considered to be nearly as good.

[@MrGillesbelg]

Yes please

[@caboongtheloremaster669]

Training for about 2000 years and get killed by a hellstorm rocket XD

[@Vampireknight99]

I play bretonnia and vampire counts they play very similarly

[@TheFozia52]

How many times was karl frans mortally wounded in end times lol by vampires and the glottkin brothers?

[@milkandcookiesTW]

Yeah he is stabbed in the chest and falls 100 feet at Heffengen in his duel with Walach, but the Silver Seal keeps him alive despite broken ribs, perforated lung, and a lot of pain. And he gets his arms cut off by the Glottkin at Altdorf and technically dies, but Sigmar takes over his body. So just the two times I believe

[@thegreatbookofgrudges6953]

"Our time had comes!"

[@gregorsamsa6522]

What map mods are being used for the video?

[@milkandcookiesTW]

GCCM

[@BigDaddy-gl7bl]

How do you get the black and gold bloodnights with swords?

[@milkandcookiesTW]

from the Ordo Draconis Blood Knight mod on Steam Workshop

[@cnn0413]

What mod are you showing???

[@ForrestFox]

I'm starting to think CA will never release Walach Harkon and the Blood Keep :(

[@tudormunteanu4094]

Hey, I have a question. It’s about blessings. Take Valten for example. He defeated every Chaos champion that attacked him. Only Archaon beat him(and you cannot say that he actually defeated him). Now take the Chaos champions. After Valten beat Crom and Wulfrik, why would anyone become a Chaos champion? I mean, Sigmar does not ask for your soul in return, and Valten beat any warrior that challenged him:) Take Warrior Priests, they are stronger than Chaos Warriors and maybe on or with Chosen and weak Chaos Champions. Arch Lectors? As strong as Chaos Champions,I think. So my question is, why wouldn’t, let’s say, an imperial traitor stick with Sigmar if he heard what happened with the Chaos champions that faced Valten? And again, Sigmar doesn’t ask for your soul in return, which is a good thing

[@hatartshop1098]

Because chaos is the thing hidden in the deepest part of your Soul, while the order gods are asking for strict behavior, chaos offer you what you want, it apeeals not to your reason but to your primal instinct, your basic nature. This is why they are so powerfull, because they are humans, the chaos god aren't properly gods, but more god-like demons that grew within the soul of every living being (Khorne:hatred, will of getting stronger and further, bt also courage, Tzeentch: hope and jealousy, Nurgle: Despair and Slaanesh, your deepest convictions etc etc). If you read, most of the chaos followers are driven by their instinct. Most of the imperial men who joined chaos during the end times were driven by whispers in their slumber or lust they cannot explain

[@gypsiey1437]

So much information and it didn’t even take u 45 minutes

[@giancarlocoia3228]

indypride could you please do a video on archaon and chaos please?

[@richardround2071]

Giancarlo Merola there is a really good one by loremaster of Sotek on Archaon. Goes throughout he’s life. It’s like an hour and a half long too

[@Ereshkigal616]

that opening shot is just perfect @milkandcookiesTW 11/10 SO SENDS FORTH TERROR FROM THE CALCIUM CRUSADE!!!! *buahahahahaha*

[@duydome]

not really related but, every minor faction should have 1 or 2 unique units like: Kislev's Bear Cavalry and the Winged Hussars,... the game would be more fun.

[@SadBoi_1066]

Yaaaaaas mooaar!!!

[@fumarc4501]

Are there any Chaos Vampire Lord Vikings? Norsca, get on that!

[@raptorjesues1445]

I fuckin LOVE bloodknights

[@milkandcookiesTW]

me too :D

[@angrydude675]

Anyone know any warhammer books about Karl Franz.

[@Orderdrake]

God i wish Abhorash was in total war. Even a decent mod.

[@milkandcookiesTW]

Check out Ordo Draconis on Steam workshop for TTW2!

[@davidkubik537]

my beloved Blutknechten,Walach Harkon is my nick , thx milk

[@levgar5457]

What happens when a vampire drinks from a demon?

[@milkandcookiesTW]

they dont have blood. They have like Warp ectoplasm stuff. Closest thing I can think of is when Vlad drinks from Otto Glott (not a Daemon, he's a Champion of Nurgle) and gets super sick. So from Khornate Daemons, maybe wouldnt do anything. From Nurgle Daemons, would be pretty silly to drink straight up disease

[@levgar5457]

That makes since. I was kinda hoping for some weird vampire demon thing. Like when Galrauch ate a demon and became the first chaos dragon.

[@milkandcookiesTW]

There are absolutely Tzeentch daemons who would mess a vampire up bad if they were stupid enough to feed on them. I just dont know if there are any specific stories of that happening

[@sephiroaone-of-nine101]

You can also look this stuff up yourself! But that's not how the world works anymore

[@stethespaniard2]

They were interesting. Shame gw just threw it all away

[@scoopjackson]

Why diss model so expensive and why it no in stock!!!

[@milkandcookiesTW]

lol yeah arent they like 100 bucks? pretty obscene

[@scoopjackson]

milkandcookiesTW Yup for 5 straight skaven running sales over there

[@shiverius333]

CA pls. Give us Abhorash.

[@sephiroaone-of-nine101]

Sunset destroy the bloodline just made them all von carstains**

[@Naedrelian]

Yessssss. Commit, minions! Commit!

[@milodelacher8584]

More

[@virtuian1]

exc narration

[@alecadanglao8386]

Lore hammer with milkandcookies??!!!??!?????? *MOIST*

[@milkandcookiesTW]

the dream is real boiz

[@shaan4308]

12:23 😍

[@jadebrunner8699]

I just despise the end times lore for wahlik harcon and the blood Knights

[@unholypaimon2280]

... say "Strigoi" one more time. it sounds like you've never heard that word.

[@Roman-vj6pt]

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a lore video from you besides the Slaanesh.. eww

[@matthijsvancampen7901]

First......... what now? Do i get a medal? Maybe a hug? LOOK MOM I MADE IT

[@lukepearson1760]

Only Nasagh is superior over them !