I know from reading the books that am army of strigoi is not how the ancients operate, preferring to stay in the shadows, but why didn't they have their comando-vamps start turning people when they saw how strong the master was becoming?
shareGreat question. They would be so much more of a force in this story if they'd done that. But it's not about them, unfortunately -- they're background characters (and barely that, so far) and probably eventually some "shocking" on-screen deaths.
They could also be biding their time to see how the chips fall, which would be consistent with their portrayal so far as being slow to act or completely unwilling to...but either way, they just look ineffectual and unintelligent at this point.