View from the Crow’s Nest – October

October is upon us and whilst it is the “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” according to Keats, for the majority of my wargaming peers, the 1st of this month signifies the beginning of the annual painting challenge known as…Zomtober! For full details of all those taking part in depicting the shambling dead in their myriad forms, pay a visit to PulpCitizen’s excellent blog – Eclectic Gentleman Tabletop Wargamer – specifically this post.

However, as the handful of zombies I own are already painted, I won’t be taking part this year. But I will be celebrating the season with suitable content for October…

My initial idea for this month was to paint up some superheroes and villains, but with a suitably seasonal twist. However, in typical Carrion Crow style, I changed my mind.

So, for the month of October we will doing something slightly different…

Way back in 2007 I was craving some tabletop Scooby-Doo gaming, but as this was before Hasslefree Miniatures released their excellent and accurate versions of the Scooby gang, I had to get a little creative. Having scoured the web, I found some suitable proxies, based them and painted them. I now had my version of the Scooby gang, table-ready, but they then languished in my figure case for the next 8 years…

So, the plan for October is to resurrect these figures, paint up some suitable “monsters” for them to encounter, create some “clue” tokens and using a ruleset that I have been tinkering with for a number of years, actually post my first AAR on my blog!

So, without further ado, let me introduce you to my mystery-solving teens…

Blake Fredericks, lead investigative journalist and ‘face’ of Enigma magazine. A lazy, arrogant, yet charming bastard, Blake usually takes the lead in investigating mysteries, although he has no real deductive abilities, but is a master of disguise.

This figure is DW110 Steven Taylor from Black Tree Designs Doctor Who range, specifically the 1st Doctor collection, available for £2.75.

Anne “Ginger” Rogers, personal assistant to Mr. Fredericks. Anne is an attractive yet naive young woman, whose good nature is regularly exploited by Blake – usually as bait to attract whatever “monster” the team are currently investigating.

This is also a Black Tree Designs Doctor who figure, specifically DW155 Vicki, also from the 1st Doctor collection and also available at £2.75.

Joan Heath-Robinson, programmer and technician for Enigma magazine. Joan’s looks belie her fierce intellect and deductive reasoning abilities. She is also responsible for the construction of the elaborate traps that are usually responsible for the unmasking of the “monsters” the magazine investigates.

This is another Black Tree Designs Doctor Who figure, DW602 Peri from the 6th Doctor collection, also £2.75. Incidentally, I had a major crush on Nicola Bryant when I was younger.

Herman Dinkley, security. Herman is a slightly psychotic and grotesquely strong man, with a thick Austrian accent. He regularly carries a Uzi 9mm submachine gun, which he has “cunningly” disguised as a super-soaker. This deception lasts until the lead starts flying, which happens more often that you’d think…

This is 0035 Bodyguard from Moonraker Miniatures (and eM-4 Miniatures), available for £1.50.

This final member of the team is Ace, the Cluehound. This ex-police dog is savage and almost uncontrollable, but has proved an asset to the team, with his ability to sniff out fake “monsters” and complete disregard for his own personal safety, due to being a foaming mouth short of being rabid…

This figure is from Ral Partha Europe, from the 01-028 War Dogs & Master pack, available for £7.95. This is a nice pack, as you get one ‘master’, which is an armoured warrior type, two Dobermanns and two of the above figure, which is I believe is a German shepherd. Worth getting if you need some war dogs for Frostgrave.

And obviously, if you have a team of investigative journalists, you need to transport them around the country…

So, I tried to match the colours of the original Scooby Doo characters, so you know which of my gang correspond with the originals. Obviously, Scooby snacks were loaded with steroids, which explains how Shaggy and Scoob have become more…bulky.

I’ve decided that I will be repainting the rims of the bases what I call “Halloween” green for the gang, and all “Monsters” for this particular project purple. I’ll also be using some spare 25mm square bases the same green, with question marks in purple for the clue counters.

Tune in next week for the first batch of “Monsters”. Thanks for visiting – comments and feedback appreciated, either here or on The Miniatures Page.