Editing Zombie Pirates of the Vampire Coast

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The '''Zombie Pirates of the Vampire Coast''', most commonly abbreviated to simply the '''Zombie Pirates''', are, depending on who you ask, either one of the most [[awesome]] concepts as an [[undead]] [[pirate]]s faction, or the most redundant, seeing as how [[Warhammer Fantasy]] already has two prominent undead factions already. Hailing from the eastern coast of [[Lustria]], the Zombie Pirates are a [[Vampire Counts]] splinter faction that consist of a nation of vampire pirate captains who command crews of zombified pirates and sailors in their quest for plunder and gore.

In universe, the zombie pirates started with one absolute madlad named [[Luthor Harkon]], who received the Blood Kiss during the days when the [[vampire]]s first began to take over Nehekhara. He largely vanished from history after that, only to resurface in the year 876 Imperial Calendar, when Harkon's sarcophagus was part of the booty seized by a band of [[Norsca]]n pirates from an Imperial merchant ship. In a relatively subtle homage to Dracula, they woke the ancient vampire, who proceeded to devour the crew and reanimate them as his [[zombie]] slaves, by which time he had inadvertently been shipwrecked on the eastern coast of Lustria. This had always been a dangerously treacherous strip ofland anyway, but as Harkon's new home, it soon became known as the Vampire Coast, with the vampire turning pirate and building a veritable empire from the zombified remains of the drowned dead. Eventually, Harkon began spawning his own subordinate vampires to help him run the place, and the Zombie Pirates faction was truly born.

As a faction, it took several editions for the Zombie Pirates to be born. Harkon himself debuted in 4th edition, as a throw-away mention in "Warhammer Armies: Undead". His arrival on the Vampire Coast and subsequent transformation of it into his personal demesne was mentioned in passing in lore in the 5th edition [[Lizardmen]] army book, and repeated in 6th edition. This was when the Zombie Pirates finally appeared as their own faction, receiving an army writeup in the pages of [[White Dwarf]] (issue #306, UK numbering, to be precise), which then tied into a new campaign book for that edition: [[Conquest of the New World]].

After this, the Zombie Pirates returned to being a lore-only faction, until Total War: Warhammer II revived them as a faction with their own DLC.

==Magic==
The Vampire Pirates of Lustria are technically a bloodline in their own right, and have even developed a unique magical style all their own. The '''Lore of the Deep''' is a dark blend of [[necromancer|necromancy]] and water [[elementalism]], and only appears in the Total Warhammer II iteration of the faction.

==Units==
Most of the units of the Zombie Pirates appeared in the aforementioned White Dwarf issue, but their Total Warhammer II appearance added a few new ones. As well as the specific army list, which appeared in (UK) WD#306's Warhammer Chronicles article, [[Conquest of the New World]] offered "generic" Zombie Pirate mobs as a [[Dogs of War]] unit.

The leaders of the army are, of course, its [[Vampire]]s, with '''Fleet Admirals''' standing in for Vampire Lords and '''Fleet Captains''' standing in for Vampire Counts.

'''Syreens''', a seafaring variant of the [[Banshee]], are also sometimes found in the ranks of the Zombie Pirates, and on the tabletop function as the only non-vampire Hero option.

For troops, it's all about the [[Zombie]]s. '''Deckhand Mobs''' are the vast majority of the Zombie Pirate crew, and are slightly more formidable than standard zombies. '''Gunnery Mobs''', whilst having terrible aim, are able to unleash erratic barrages of firepower. '''Bloated Corpses''' are raised from the most decayed and gas-filled seabound corpses, leaving them as walking filth bombs. '''Animated Hulks''' are zombified [[ogre]]s, created from denizens of the [[Ogre Kingdoms]] who took to piracy and fell to the sea's grasp. '''Deck Gunners''' are a heavy-weapons version of the Gunnery Mob; two-"man" teams of zombies working together to deploy swivel guns on the battlefield.

The ranks of the zombies pirates are supplemented by a variety of zombified animals. Swarms of zombified '''Razortooth Rats''' add even more weight-of-bodies to the force, whilst '''Scurvy Dogs''', the remnants of ship's pets, fill a role similar to the Dire Wolves of the Vampire Counts. '''Deck Droppers''' are Fell Bats that have been trained to carry zombie pirates into battle, whilst '''Rotting Leviathans''' are any of a variety of undead sea monsters.

The final element of a zombie pirate army, and what makes them the most unique of the [[undead]] factions of Warhammer, are its cannons. Mostly, this takes the form of the '''Carronades''', salvaged small-bore, short-barreled ship's cannons, but in really important battles, a crew may be given permission to use '''Queen Bess'''; a heavily modified and oft-repaired Hellhammer Cannon.

The Total Warhammer II version of the army adds '''Gunnery Wights''' ([[wight]] kings wielding pistols), [[Mourngul]]s in regular and Haunter variants, '''Depth Guard''' (navy-themed Blood Knights), '''Mortars''', and the '''Necrofex Colossus''' (a hideous [[golem]] that uses scrap iron and timber to create a gigantic endoskeleton, which is then fleshed out with stitched together zombies).

The only special character associated with the Zombie Pirates by tabletop canon is, of course, [[Luthor Harkon]], but the Total Warhammer II version adds [[Aranessa Saltspite]] and [[Count Noctilus]] (originally from [[Dreadfleet]]) and [[Cylostra Direfin]] (a brand new character) to the mix.

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Coast]]