Forgotten Heroes Challenge - Mina Murray

Another Distraction

Here I am, working my way through the Hobhounds for Ashak Ri... Ooo squirrel!!

In other words I've found another distraction. 

I first heard about the Forgotten Heroes challenge on Dave Stone's blog. It's run by Jez of Carrion Crow's Buffet and it looks great fun.

Given the amount of stuff I'm in the middle of doing, I thought I'd keep this low key, one mini, and I already have plans.

But what to do?

I've long enjoyed Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neil's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novels*, and some of Westwind Productions' Empire of the Dead minis are obviously meant to represent the League members; Alan Quartermain, Nemo, Griffin and both Jekyll and Hyde. 

But there's one glaring omission; Mina Murray. I already have a potential base mini for her, (actually a 'harlot' from West Wind's Vampire Wars range), essentially just a Victorian lady. 

Throughout the series Mina wears different outfits, so I'm not trying to match any particular costume, but to make it properly Mina, she needs a long red scarf. (If you don't know why, I won't spoil the surprise).

This should be easy to add, putty or possibly tissue. She also needs something other than a bottle in her right hand.  In the stories, Mina doesn't use weapons often, but in an early appearance we see her with a knife, so I'm sure I can find something suitable.

Mina Murray

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, from the cover of book two (Artist Kevin O'Neil)

Mina goes undercover (Artist Kevin O'Neil)

The Westwind harlot

Rear view of the mini

This harlot mini is the best dressed of the pack, long dress, coat and a hat that reminds me of Eliza Dolittle. Mina certainly does dress in a similar manner, as shown in the second picture of her above.  

If I want a classier version,  Westwind also do a great mini in the form of Irene Adler, but I don't have that mini (or if I do, I can't find her).

This should be a fairly quick distraction,  just one mini with a little bit of light conversion. 

If I like the result,  I've got the rest of the League to paint. 

Deeper Motivations

But why this sudden shift to Steampunk? Well, T'Other One's foray into 7TV got me thinking about a cast for myself.  I toyed with various ideas, such as the kids from the old D&D cartoon, but nothing quite hit the mark. Then, while sorting through more from the Attic of Shame, I found a box of minis from the Westwind Kickstarter.  I got a lot of the stuff, but never got around to doing anything with it. This might be my excuse to finally paint some of them. 

I suppose they'd make a cast for 7TV,  but since they are all major characters,  I'm not experienced enough with the system to see how that would work. 

I also have the Empire of the Dead 'Nemo and the Crew of the Nautilus' pack, which would probably make a better 7TV cast. They are easier to stat up as a Star (Nemo), Co-star (Broad Arrow Jack) and various cast members.  

And a random thought.  'Heart of Ice' details Jani, Nemo's daughter, following her dad's account of a voyage to the Antarctic. T'Other One is currently building Antarctic terrain for Beneath the Mountains of Madness, so I'm sure we could do something based around that. 

* There's a lot of information in the Wikipedia article about the League (I couldn't find a web page directly connected to the creators - the books are available in the usual place you'd expect to find them).

I really enjoyed them, especially the multiple references to other works of fiction, something I first came across in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula (incidentally, he wrote Warhammer fiction under the name Jack Yeovil).

Be aware though, that the League stories are definitely 18 rated and NSFW.