Fandom Factions: Bloodwaltz Masquerade

When one thinks of what a "Fandom Faction"  would entail, I would bet my last pound that almost every person reading this conjures up an imagery of sweeping armies armed with rifles or bows, chainswords or spear, and led by a champion of their cause. It stands as a testament to the hobby then that our first non-in house faction spotlight isn't wielding weapons of mass destruction but instead an american football.

In truth I have been following this particular project from creator Audrey, who happens to share several hobby groups with me, for a while now. I know Audrey to be a skilled painter in her own right, but the thing that particularly caught my eye with this team is the frankly insane amount of effort she has invested into it, not just with the background for her team but the portraits she has created for it as well.

Unfortunately I have been unable to really show off everything the Bloodwaltz Masquerade has to show given the sheer number of portraits there are for this team, so all I can do now is hand over the blood soaked reigns to Audrey and let her explain everything for herself.

How many points of tabletop ready miniatures does your army team currently stand at?

Well, it’s pretty hard to give a solid answer to that as Blood Bowl teams don’t follow the traditional point values, but overall the team costs 1,110,000 gold.

The team is a huge promoter of body positivity with its range of shapes and sizes

What inspired you to collect this faction?

The more I was looking at the Age of Sigmar vampires, the more I was loving them and their aesthetic. So when Games Workshop released a new version of the Blood Bowl vampire team, they were an auto-buy, even if I wasn’t playing, I just needed them in my collection.

Few encapsulate the vampire look more than thrower Anton Von Tetzlaff

Can you give us some insight into your colour scheme?

Black, red and white are quite traditional vampire colours, but I have my own custom "family" which happens to also use these colours. But in the case of that team, I decided to push things further and use a colour code to easily identify vampire players and their roles. The red cloak is for the throwers, blitzers have a black one and the white cloaks are owned by the runners.

Yegor Vahlen is easily identifiable as a blitzer on the tabletop by his black cloak

Does your faction have a backstory?

Oh of course it does.

The team is called the Bloodwaltz Masquerade. Originally playing in the Sylvanian leagues (and steamrolling whatever opposition there was), the Masquerade amassed a more than respectable amount of money during its existence. Still owned by its founder, and now able to recruit more powerful and rich players, they are trying their fangs in the regular Blood Bowl game for the first time. Comprised of 15 players, including some rich vampires, their goal is not only to win the Blood Bowl league, but also to recruit the best Sylvanian star player, Count Luthor Von Drakenborg himself.

Not surprised they steamrolled the Sylvanian league with bruisers like Rhoderic Van Heuser!

What are your favourite models in your faction?

For once, I will say the bare-headed vampires, namely the thrower and the blitzer. The thrower is just the epitome of the vampire, elegant, disdainful and dangerous looking, and the blitzer who looks like a little Nosferatu from Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s Nosferatu, dating back to 1922. I even went as far as painting him with very grey skin to match this fanged, long-eared and gaunt-faced look. I should also not forget the all-time funniest minis I’ve ever seen, the Vargling balls that I named Cronch for the blue one, and Monch for the pink one.

Kick them all you want, just don't feed them after midnight

Any interesting facts about your faction?

The team is owned by the Von Heuser family, with Artur being the owner’s brother and coach, and Rhoderic the vargheist being Artur and the owner’s nephew.

The throwers, Anton and Aleksandr Von Tetzlaff, are father and son, with the former having joined to try and curb the latter’s "enthusiasm" as he tends to jump in the public to celebrate whatever touchdown he scores until he starts mutating.

The runners are two ladies, the cousins Thalia and Galya Lichtenfels. Both slightly lazy and loving money, they decided football was a very valid career path for easy money and free food.

Yegor and Luka Vahlen, the oldest players in the team, and the blitzers, are twins. Like all blitzers they have a strong taste for blood and have turned that into a humorous contest. Indeed, they have an ongoing bet as to who is going to bite the most opponents, with the game lasting a whole season. Think the friendly rivalry between Gimli and Legolas at Helm’s Deep.

Their thralls are another story entirely. One of them is a former Imperial Nobility player who died on the pitch and got reanimated by the apothecary, two Bretonnians are in charge of the team’s domesticated bats, and another one has the reputation of being the stupidest thrall the team has ever known. Not like they would complain. Who would deny a Young man willing to meet the drafter at night in the woods outside of his village, eh?

And last but not least are Cronch and Monch the Varglings. Siblings from the same litter, the little tykes love Nothing more than being thrown on the pitch to feed to their heart’s content, or, in Monch’s case, until she literally rolls off the pitch.

Some thralls, like Conrad are tasked with looking after the team's domesticated bats, like Draki

So what's next for your faction?

Honestly, not a lot, as Blood Bowl teams are pretty much full armies from the start. I will probably pick up Count Luthor's model at some point and call it a day.

Thanks Audrey! If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to comment down below and let the owner of this army team know! And if you would like to be featured in future Fandom Faction articles please email us at dj.driver.theprojectside@gmail.com with up to 6 pictures of your army (including a full army - or team - shot if possible) and answers to the 7 headlined questions outlined above in this post. We will endeavor to feature as many submissions as possible, however if there are any issues we will let you know as soon as we can.