Monsters Unleashed!

October is once again upon us, which means that the cry of “Braiinnnsss!!!” will be echoing around the internet, as blogs become ‘all things zombie’ for the month they dub Zomtober…

Once again, I will not be taking part. Whilst I do love October because it is the ‘Season of the Witch’ (and also the month of my birth), which means that the shops are decked out in black and orange and filled with Halloween goodies, I have to admit that I haven’t really ever been into to zombie gaming. So no ‘cold meats’ at the Buffet this month…

However, as with last year where we went all ‘Scooby-Doo’, I shall be  celebrating in my own unique style.

The Midnight Sons, the Legion of Monsters, the Howling Commandoes, the B.P.R.D., the Trenchcoat Brigade – nearly every comic book universe has a group of supernaturally powered individuals who have banded together to protect the world from arcane and mystical threats. Whilst some of these are practitioners of magic, for the most part, those who hunt the night are considered monsters themselves, such as Man-Thing, Werewolf-by-Night, the Living Mummy, Morbius the Living Vampire and Ghost Rider.

Inspired in part by the Amalgam comic Dr. Strangefate, in which the good doctor employed supernatural agents to do his bidding and the Tangent Comics title Nightwing, I decided that my own comic book universe required a team of ‘Accursed’ heroes, essentially monsters who have banded together to fight the real monsters of this world. Thus was born…The Night Brigade.

The Night Brigade has seven members, but only three of the seven have previously been finished, so during Noctober, I shall be completing the remaining four, and probably their main adversary, the techno-witch known as Spectra. As the majority of them are almost done, there may be time near the end of the month to paint up the figures I’ve found to represent Dr. Fettle and DC Slobotham from the classic 1966 movie Carry on Screaming!

So, without further ado, let’s introduce the first three members of the Night Brigade…

First up we have the founder and leader of the Night Brigade, known as Doc Kraken. This particular hero has been fighting against the rising tide of darkness, since his unfortunate encounter with cultists lurking in Egyptian catacombs in 1925, which resulted in his deformity and his virtual immortality.

This particular figure was from the Chaos in Cairo range and came as part of a double-pack with a character called Husk. This figure was called Shaitan, and within the background of the game I believe he(?) may have been some kind of mutated cultist. However, the figure just screamed weird pulp hero to me – who doesn’t want a tentacle-faced hero armed with a machine gun?

Realising that he would need allies to continue the fight against creatures that would prey on humankind and those that sought to break through the barriers between our reality and their own, Doc Kraken chanced across a clay jar securely fastened with the Seal of Solomon. After some research, he broke the seal and gained the services of the entity which came to be known as Djinn.

This is a Reaper Clay Golem from their Dark Heavens Legends range, which is also available from their Bones line. I’ve had the miniature for quite a while, as when I first started superhero gaming, their wasn’t a great deal of choice, so you had to make do with figures from other ranges. This was my ‘Hulk’ proxy at one point, although he was a radioactive purple previously and known as The Behemoth. However, needing some muscle for the Night Brigade and inspired by the sand golems from the 2011 Conan the Barbarian movie, he was repainted as though made from sand.

It is alleged that the vigilante known as the Wraith was once a crusading lawyer, who angered a gangland lord and was gunned down in cold blood. Now, when the moon is dark, his spirit rises up and continues his crusade for justice from beyond the grave – or so it is said.

This figure, converted from a Heroclix Black Panther from the Infinity Challenge set, has appeared on this blog before, but as he’s now part of the gang, I felt justified in showing him again. A relatively simple conversion, which was just a case of removing his ‘ears’, then a suitable repaint.

And here are the first three members of the Night Brigade together, in a suitably ‘Charlie’s Angels’ kind of pose.

That’s all for this week. Next week more super-powered supernatural protectors, as I hope to introduce you to the final four members of the Night Brigade – Catspaw, Jack O’Lantern, Nocturne and Undine.