Saturday 26 January 2013

Hellraiser Malifaux Crew - What to Count-As?

So I've had a couple of e-mails and some nagging from certain people about what I'm actually going to be using my Hellraiser crew to 'Count-as' if or when I use it in actual games. When the idea first occurred to me I must admit that it was the conversion project that interested me and I hadn't really considered how the models would translate to use on the tabletop.

I suppose we should start by looking at the actual Hellraiser characters and see if anything leaps out at me. Lets start with the 'originals'...

Lead Cenobite/Pinhead


Though it's never explicitly stated in the background material the actor Doug Bradley who plays him has stated that Pinhead is supposedly stronger than other horror characters such as Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers. Regardless of his strength level, his preferred method of attack is too summon hooks and chains which mutilate and eventually tear apart his victims. Rather helpfully this means I can represent him with a master (He's got to be the master really...until I get around to building Leviathon...) with either melee abilities, ranged ones or some combination of the two. Additionally, Pinhead is highly resistant to damage and direct assault, being able to resist both gunshots and energy weapons. He also has magical powers he uses for creating objects out of thin air, teleporting, creating explosions at distances and deceiving opponents with illusions. He is capable of creating other cenobites from both living and dead victims which means I could use a summoner to represent him as well...I'm not narrowing this down much am I, lol.

So if I'm going melee I'll probably go with Lady Justice or possibly the Viktorias as the 2nd one can be Pinheads enforcer 'Chatterer' or the demon Angelique which he considered an equal. McMourning could represent the close in dismemberment of the enemy and the summoning aspect of that character could be the summoning of more Cenobites. Seamus, the mad Hatter is also a possibility as he has some command abilities, summoning, is somewhat hard to kill and has the entirely appropriate 'Slit Jugular' ability.

Chatterer I/II/III


Chatterer is generally seen as being Pinhead's 'Right hand man' and is quite often seen physically attacking and restraining victims for the other Cenobites. He presumably has the same chain summoning abilities as the other Cenobites so I'm not limited to purely melee characters to represent him in my crew.

Which model I use him to count-as will depend on which master I use Pinhead as. If I'm going with Lady J he'll probably be the Judge, if I go with the Viktorias he'll be either the 2nd Vicky or if Angelique gets that job he'll most likely be one of the named characters from their starter box (Taelor, Johan or Bishop though there are other options I suppose). In a McMourning crew he'd have to be Sebastion and with Seamus he'd be Sybelle...unless I can think of something better...

Butterball


Rather embarrassingly I forgot about this guy in my previous article. If I'm going to use the four 'main' cenobites as individual characters then it looks like I'll be going down the 'counts-as vicky's' path...however there's no reason why this guy can't be something generic like a Death Marshall, Rotting Belle, Punk Zombie, etc. In fact the more I think about it the less I think it matters overly as they bear no resemblance whatsoever to any Malifaux characters anyway really and this guy in particular doesn't do a fat lot in the films other than lick his lips occasionally and forget to duck...

Female Cenobite.


Though she could be a generic Cenobite counting as something cheap in my crew I'd quite like her to represent a female character or failing that be an individual named 'unique' model. Depending on crew choice this makes her Sybelle, Taelor or failing that a Ronin, Female Death Marshal or Punk Zombie?

As I've mentioned her several times in this article we should probably look at Angelique.

Angelique


This beautiful creature...ahem...is portrayed in the film in which she appears as being at the very least Pinhead's equal. She also is more aggressive than the aforementioned Pinhead who often uses persuasion and intimidation rather than outright violence in order to get his way. With this in mind having her and Pinhead as a Vicky each would work quite well. If I went with the Lady Justice idea it would probably make more sense for her to be Lady J and for Pinhead to be the Judge.

If the selected crew has anything that can be represented by a dog of some description then I can include the Chatterbeast as a Guild Hound, Canine Remains or similar.


Of course there's no reason why they have to represent a dog at all...they could easily be Night Terrors or any other fast moving, cheap(ish) minion.

Other Cenobites

The original four Cenobites (with the possible inclusion of Angelique) will form the basis of my crew and any 'extras' will be modelled as whichever other cenobites I like the look of rather than being prioritised based on their relative importance in the books, comics and films. The upshot of this is that your more likely to see a version of the Female Bound than Pistonhead or Camerahead, lol.

None of this is cast in stone though. If some-one comes up with a brilliant suggestion then I'll be more than happy to consider it as your thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.

4 comments:

  1. What ever movie was "angelique" from? maybe i dont remember these movies as well as i should.. :-( Why not come and join our blog roll at: http://scifiwargamers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/join-scifiwargamers-network.html
    We would love to have you there!Why not come and join our blog roll at: http://scifiwargamers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/join-scifiwargamers-network.html
    We would love to have you there!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well you made me laugh there with your shameless plug for your own blog. I've sent a join request ;-)

      After the first three films they kind of blend in to one another and I don't count the one where Pinhead isn't played by Doug Bradley because...well if it isn't Doug Bradley then it's not Pinhead as far as I'm concerned...

      Delete
  2. Why would someone post on here if they don't know who Angelique is?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It shows a significant lack of taste on their part ;-)

      Delete

Related Posts with Thumbnails