Devilry Afoot Monsters: Can You Say 'Kanontsistóntie'?

    Five 28mm Supernatural monsters for my games of Devilry Afoot set in frontier America

I know that it has been since last Halloween that I ran my first game of Devilry Afoot for the Sunday Night gaming crew. I haven't abandoned my idea for the campaign set in Frontier America. Nope, it is just a case of Dragon Rampant army painting taking over my schedule. First, I painted my Bonefish Band of orcs and goblins, and now I'm finishing up my second army, Wood Elves. However, I still plan to take up this series of games set in Franklinton, OH (early precursor of my city, Columbus). 

    Unpronounceable Iroquoian specter, Kanontsistóntie - a creepy but cool fig from Crucible Crush

As proof, here are five monsters for that campaign. I went through the bestiary in Devilry Afoot rules and researched which Native American mythological creature would make a good stand in. For example, the giant, disembodied head is the Kanontsistóntie. It is supposed to be a ravenously hungry spirit that drove the Iroquois from the Adirondack region of upstate New York. Since it is so terrifying -- and you have to admit that is one creepy looking creature -- I will be using it in place of a specter. I love the way the sculptor used the creatures long hair to support the model and lift it off of the ground. It is quite off-balance, though, which I remedied by placing it to one side of its round base so the head (where most the weight was) is more centered. 

The 28mm model is from Crucible Crush (think Pulp Miniatures) and is called, appropriately, The Flying Head. It is part of a group of Native American mythological monsters they sculpted for their beautiful Flint & Feather line of miniatures. It is not cheap -- none of their creatures are -- clocking in at $20 for one fig. I bought it awhile back, though, and knew it would be one of the first monsters I painted from that line. It is just so freaking cool! On their website, they give it a Wicked Witch of the East green skin look. I went with a pale and dead look to it, adding some tattoos and warpaint so folks got the Native American connection. I am looking forward to getting it into a game and see my friends react to it...ha, ha!

    A gray werewolf -- skinwalker in Native American mythology -- prowls the forests near Franklinton

The next biggest dude in the batch is a werewolf from North Star's Dracula's America line. I bought mine last Historicon from Lon at Brigade Games. You see so many "Wolfmen" done in brown, that I decided to copy one of the wolf fur patterns that I did earlier in gray/white/black. I began with a medium gray all over for the fur, dry brushing it a light gray. Next, I dry brushed the white areas fairly heavily to mimic the pattern I'd seen online in images of wolves. After that, it was black -- either dry brushed or painted directly on for the eyes, claws, snout, and mouth. I gave him yellow eyes and really like his fierce look. This werewolf and the Coyote Skinwalker I painted earlier from the same pack will be substituted in when scenarios call for either Werewolves, the Naked Bear, or perhaps Revenants. I like how the tribal myths of skinwalkers almost directly translate to werewolves in this case.

    The hulking Buffalo Man is a miniature from North Star's 'Dracula's America' line of figs

Speaking of skinwalkers, I saw the Buffalo Man at Brigade Games, as well, and picked him up. Although we don't think of bison when we think of the Eastern Woodlands Indians in the Ohio area, their herds actually spread fairly far into the Midwest before being driven further west by the arrival of settlers. So, he will definitely work as another skinwalker. Looking at images of bison, there really isn't a whole lot you can do with this figure. I began with a dark brown, dry brushing it a Camo Brown to try to bring out the fur. I also added in some even lighter brown in streaks here and there, particularly on its wispy beard. I painted the face and hands darker to give more contrast. Unfortunately, it is still a very dark figure. I think I made a mistake putting him on a normal figure base. He's pretty tall, so I can see him toppling over in games from time to time. D'oh!

    Settler collapses in fear after being pursued through the woods by these animated Living Scarecrows

The next pair of figures are called Living Scarecrows and are not from the Dracula's America's line. These are actually North Star figures from a line for a different game -- Silver Bayonet. If you're looking for 28mm horror figures, we're actually very fortunate to have both these games being somewhat popular. Between the two, you will have quite a few creepy monsters you can pick up. Some of my horror miniatures are also from Bad Squiddo games, but they tend to be very pricey. Dracula's American and Silver Bayonet lines are much more reasonably priced. I got mine last year at Historicon, too, when I made my big Devilry Afoot purchase. Why not play one of those two games, you may ask? Well, both are set up as "versus" games, with each player having their own band of hunters of the supernatural fighting against each other. Devilry Afoot is cooperative, which is what I wanted. All of my players will control one Character and one Follower in my games. Players will be fighting the supernatural creatures called forth by native shamans -- not each other!

    These man-sized Living Scarecrows were the smallest figs, but they took the most time to paint up

Anyway, I loved the look of these miniatures! And it made sense for frontier America, too. Settlers might put a scarecrow out in their fields to frighten birds away, but Native American shamans could animate them. These will likely take the place of Bogeymen in the Devilry Afoot's bestiary. Yes, sorry to tell you, children. There is indeed a bogeyman -- or at least two in my painted lead collection! These are the smallest of this batch of five monsters, but took the longest to paint. They wear torn and ragged clothes, so there were a lot more colors to do, along with leather belt, patches, buttons, and so on. I went back and forth on what color to paint their hands and feet. I decided to go with a light brown rather than a straw yellow. The way they were sculpted their limbs looked more like tree branches than straw stuffing. I really like how these came out, though, and will likely pick up more scarecrow figures at Historicon, if I can find them. 

    Final look at the horrors that will be haunting the new settlement of Franklinton in early Ohio

So, you see that my Franklinton campaign is not dead. If you haven't read my posts about it, check out my previous entries for it on this blog. There's only one game report but lots about my background, the player's characters, what I'm using as monsters, and so on. I look forward to starting up games of this again, soon. Especially since my Star Wars campaign using Space Weirdos came to a crashing end on a dark street. Whaaat?? Yes, for Sunday Night gaming I had brought along the box with all of the player's factions in it because I thought we might play the Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps board game. The box also had my 3-D printed aliens and my marines in it. One of my friends accidentally dropped the box helping me take my stuff out to the car. The figure box flipped over onto the asphalt, smashing open, and the figures went tumbling all over the street. About a dozen figures were missing in the dark (or rolled under our vehicles), and another dozen were shattered plastic or 3-D printed figures. Yeah. That happened. It certainly sours me on painting anymore 3-D printed figures, least of all redoing all of the player's forces. Easier to call the campaign dead and not think about the countless hours lost on a dark street or smashed to smithereens.

But what IS on my painting desk? I have the final eight Elven archers begun. I am piecing together 7 birds of prey to use as flying Lesser Warbeasts in my army list. And I have primed another medieval building and one of my Vietnam helicopters I picked up from Ted at Drums. So, lots of stuff to do (and keep my mind off of my Rogue One-style loss of Star Wars factions...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 110

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 26

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59