Thursday, March 1, 2018

Dracula's America - Shadow Empire Cultists


A weird one today. Three miniatures that went from being very low down the priority list to absolute must paint. Let me give you a little backstory.

Cheetor has been evangelising about Dracula's America: Shadow of the West for some time now. Set in 1875, Dracula is now president of the United States, and all manner of hell is breaking loose. Quite literally. It's essentially the weird wild West. So, what has this to do with the fellows above you might ask? Well, recently the first expansion, Hunting Grounds, was released, and in this is rules for the Shadow Dragon Tong, Chinese crime lords. This caused my ears to prick up.

I've been building a Chinese force for Dragon Rampant based on Big Trouble in Little China. The Arcanist from the Tong posse is literally the same model I'm using for LoPan. I had some Wing Kong gang members already. So these lads were, all of a sudden, bumped right to the front of the queue. I love that, when an unexpected game or whimsy causes long neglected minis to suddenly become rockstars that must be painted. For those of you who don't remember, the Wing Kong are these guys:


There was one more wrinkle though, our version of Dracula's America took place is the future. In space. So a little more thought was required. The cultists needed future tech. I considered LoPan coming across a trove of arcane weapons buried long ago by an advanced race. He might retro-engineer the technology to suit his purpose.

Or depending on the setting he could just be mates with an eldar trader with loose morals. In any case, here's the posse so far:


I have one more set of minis to add to the gang to complete it. You can see the little capsules on the cultist's belts? More eldar tech. It allows the wearer to control a wraith-machine with their mind. In ancient settings (like the Dragon Rampant army) this will be unfathomable arcane technology. In future settings like the Firefly-like one we are planning for Space Dracula's America, it'll be a remote control device that humans aren't really meant to use. Hence the unhealthy pallor of the Wing Kong cultists.



So what are they controlling? Well, to keep with the theme of the gang AND the theme of my Dragon Rampant army AND the Big Trouble in Little China thing I needed something pretty niche. But lo, the internet, it provides. High tech ancient Chinese robots? Here you go. What flavour sir?


I have three of these to do. This one is out of the box, bar some face-plate mangling. The others are getting some conversion work with dark eldar weaponry. Stay tuned for these shortly. I have a week to get them done in time for my first Dracula's America game.

18 comments:

  1. This is a veritable box of jewels of a posse - like a gorgeous Faberge creation. Or something more Oriental perhaps!

    Beautiful paint on a very multifunctional group of figures.

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    1. Thanks Axiom, very kind! I am extraordinarily happy with this group I must say.

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  2. These are inspired, I love all the background work behind too :)

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    1. Thanks Suber. For such a mash-up group I needed something to tie it all together. The eldar thing seems to work pretty well.

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  3. I love it...

    Beautiful paint jobs...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly! I enjoyed painting the cultists a lot more than I anticipated.

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  4. So, it's America's Old West, but with Dracula, but in space, but 1980s comedy homage? Jesus Dave, can you throw a few more twists in there please? Howabout it also making it a videogame adaptation from a dream but with Gummi Bears. All as imagined by Rembrandt? Thanks!

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    1. And care bears . . . . . . I want intergalactic care bears!!!!!

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    2. Don't forget that it's also mashed with the historical terracotta army.

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    3. Think Firefly with Jack Burton. Oh, and don't forget the eldar thing as well. It's got a fair old mix in there Curis, but I think I get away with it?

      They'll be a heavy missile reduced model unit (6) in Dragon Rampant Paul.

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  5. That project is the gift that keeps on giving, my favourite of yours and that's no mean feat.

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    1. Thanks Assless. I do have a special love for this project.

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  6. I'm doing the Big Trouble salute as I read this. Those guys look the biz.

    The games next week will be fun for sure. I do hope that you rattle out those techno-terracotta warriors in time.

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    1. Thanks Cheetor. The techno-cotta boys will indeed be ready to roll.

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  7. These looks awesome. Look forward to seeing the PC minis finished and added to the group

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    1. Thanks Simon. The last three members are under the brush at the moment and should be done in couple of days. It'll be nice to have a complete posse in time for the weekend.

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