Unfortunately, I rarely play fantasy games anymore, so I don't get to use them very much. Instead, I play Call of Cthulhu, for which figures of any type are not common. I've gone to various convention flea markets and found one or two painted ones for my collection, but they have been quite rare.

When I went to Gencon this year, there was a dice company CrystalCaste.com that was selling boxed sets of pre-painted minatures -- and to my delight, two of the sets are Call of Cthulhu figures!

Dunwich Detectives Character Set 1 contains 5 characters:

• A priest with sideburns and a book
• A blonde woman with binoculars
• A hunter in khaki with rifle
• A woman in a bonnet with a book
• A old-time miner in boots with lantern and pistol

Dunwich Detectives Character Set 2 contains 5 more characters:

• A Irishman or Scotsman with pipe and double-barrelled shotgun
• A Flapper with camera
• Another Irishman or Scotman in hunting shorts with a rife
• A distinguished gentleman in stylish casual suitcoat, carrying an artifact
• A dapper fellow in a business suit with a briefcase

For my style rating I give a 5: Excellent -- the figures are very appropriate to the era and to the game. They are appropriately clothed for the early 20's (though a little dated for the late 20's early 30's, some could be used for Victorian era), are carrying items appropriate to the Call of Cthulhu genre (books, cameras, shotguns), are a decent mix of male and female figures, and all seem "normal" folk -- no superheroes or debutantes here. I would not give a 5 if I had any reservations, and I just could think of any. They understood who they were selling to!

For my substance rating I give also must give a 5: Excellent. For $20 I was expecting the figures to be a little slap-dash. Instead, I found each figure to be full of both fine sculpture details as well as painting details. For instance, the dresses on the women had hems both sculpted and painted, and paint washes were used on some of the larger clothing items to give them depth. Each appears to be coated with a non-gossy protective coat, though only time will tell how long that will last. All-in-all they look as good as the best of the painted figures my artist friends have given me or that I've purchased at conventions.

A side note: Each box comes with five 20-sided dice of different colors with the #1 being a skull -- I believe that the publisher was trying to capitalize on the release of Call of Cthulhu d20. The dice seem to be of fine quality, but I didn't need with BRP-based Call of Cthulhu. I suggested that if they release more that they should consider a couple of d10s with a skull on the 0, as 00 in Call of Cthulhu is truely bad news.

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