The Darkfire Club – Gentleman Students of the Dark Arcane Arts

Behind the elegant doors of their London bases, the Gentlemen’s Clubs plot and manoeuvre to secure their power. Using the Dark Arcane powers of necromancy and summoning the Eccentric Gentlemen of the Darkfire Club bolster their membership with Zombies, freshly raised from their graves and the evil that resides not in this realm but in the dark infernal pits of hell! It is in the hands of these Gentlemen that the fate of the common people rests.

Welcome weary travel, sit a while as I talk you through my latest edition to my collection of Empire of the Dead Factions. As you will have read from my other blog posts I have fallen in love with the new game from West Wind Productions – Empire of the Dead. This is a 28mm scale skirmish game set in a weird Victorian setting where the nasties of horror come out to play amongst the backdrop of the countryside or the hustle and bustle of towns and cities! The game can be played as a series of one off games or can be ran as a campaign using the beautifully written campaign system which has a Mordheim feel to it!

So I have done my Lycaons, a Neutral Faction. I have done my Vampires, an evil faction. I am about to preview my Darkfire Club, an evil faction and in the coming weeks my Sons of the Empire, good faction!

I decided to use solely West Wind figures for my Vampires, Lycaons and Sons of the Empire and so looked around the Internet for some other 28mm Victorian Sci-Fi (VSF) figures that would fit the part as well as other manufacturers of Victorian models that would flesh out the membership. I also knew that I wanted to base these models on Cobbled Street Bases and so looked for an economical base set as I would have around 30 models to do!

So the bases were the Cobbled Street Set from Black Cat Bases. A UK company with a great speedy delivery. Theses are not technically bases but toppers that fit inside the lipped bases supplied for the Empire of the Dead Game. They come in packs of 10 30mm bases and can be bought with a mixture of other sizes. The pack includes 4 different designs of 30mm toppers and are really nice when painted up!!!

So the miniatures themselves are a mixture of West Wind Productions – Gothic Horror Range, Wargames Foundry Miniatures – Victorians, Ironclad Miniatures – VSF Characters & Ratnik – VSF Miniatures. With the exception of the Ratnik models these were all supplied with pre-cast bases so some extra work was needed to trim them from these bases ready to be mounted on my lovely Black Cat Bases!

President & Secretary by Ratnik Miniatures

These models are really nice but a little bit chunkier than the standard Empire of the Dead miniatures produced by West Wind. They caught my eye as they are equipped with some of the more obscure equipment available to the Gentleman’s Club and really helps to define the setting of Empire of the Dead.

The President – armed with a Sword, Pistol, Shield and Breastplate

Secretary – Armed with a Man Portable Gatling Gun and knuckle dusters

Vice President and Membership by Ironclad Miniatures

The Vice President model was a must because of the VSF pistol he is carrying and the others were just dark enough for my Darkfire Club!!

Vice President – Armed with Heat Ray and Sword-Cane

Membership Models – Armed with Pistols and Sword-Canes

Membership Models and Dog by Wargames Foundry

Foundry do a hunting party pack in their Victorian range and this is the pack I chose as I wanted rifles/shotguns as an added bonus you get a little dog, which I have painted up like my own dog. The Sewn-off was made by cutting the barrel short on the model!!! The P&P was a ridiculous £8 though!!!!

Membership - Armed with Repeating Rifle

Membership - Armed with Sewn-off Shotgun

Scrappy the Dog - Armed with Claws and Teeth

Membership, Alfred and Mr Chops the Demon Butcher By West Wind Productions

The Membership model is from the Gothic Horror Range and is part of the London Detectives Pack, Alfred the Butler is a Limited Edition figure produced by West Wind for Empire of the Dead collectors buying the “1 of everything set” and Mr Chops is one of the Special Mercenary Characters for Empire of the Dead, Rules for which are available FREE as a download on their Forum!

Membership - Armed with a Pistol and Knuckle Dusters