One of the advantages of concentrating on Dracula’s America for a while is that I have finally started looking properly at some of the figures sitting in the bits box. Not everything needs to be bought specifically for a posse. Sometimes the useful additions are already there, waiting for a little paint and an excuse to join the collection.

This time I have added three figures that do not have a permanent place in any particular posse, but which might prove useful as the collection and the games develop.

The first is a female Arcanist. With the amount of supernatural activity occurring across my Dracula’s America collection, having another generic Arcanist available seemed sensible. She can be used whenever a scenario, posse or hired gun combination calls for someone with rather more knowledge of the Arcane than is probably healthy. More importantly, she is sufficiently generic that I do not have to decide exactly who she is until I actually need her.

The second figure is a male Arcanist, added for much the same reason. I increasingly like having a pool of additional characters that can be drawn upon for one off games, scenarios or future posse ideas. An Arcanist is particularly useful because the model can represent anything from a respectable student of forbidden knowledge to someone who has been studying books that really should have been left chained shut in a locked room.

Finally, there is a woman armed with a shotgun. She has been painted primarily with the Crimson Coven of Salem in mind. The Coven is already complete, but Dracula’s America has a habit of producing situations in which I suddenly discover that I need a particular model that I do not actually have. If the Crimson Coven ever needs another hired gun, an additional armed follower, or simply a woman carrying something considerably more persuasive than a pistol, she is ready.

Rachel Mercer has never claimed to be a witch or an Arcanist. She grew up on an isolated farmstead where practical problems required practical solutions, usually involving her father’s shotgun. That changed when something came out of the woods one winter night, killing her father and two brothers. Rachel survived by emptying both barrels into the creature at almost point blank range. It did not kill it, but it convinced her that monsters were real and that buckshot could at least make them reconsider their immediate plans.

Rachel later encountered the Crimson Coven of Salem while following reports of similar attacks. She remains suspicious of magic and has never formally joined the Coven, but occasionally accompanies the Sisters when another gun is required. She still carries her father’s scorched shotgun and has repeatedly refused to replace it. Rachel accepts that magic has its place. She simply prefers buckshot.

I have deliberately resisted giving the first two names or elaborate backstories. For the moment they are utility figures, ready to become whatever the game requires. Once one of them actually earns a regular place in a posse, that will be the time to discover who they are and, inevitably, why their past contains considerably more trouble than any sensible person would want.

Three more figures out of the bits box and onto the table.

Best of all, I did not have to buy anything.

Given my recent Dracula’s America project creep, I am counting that as a victory.