Father Shandor

For some reason, after the Van Helsing heavy and Dracula absent sequel Brides of Dracula, Hammer decided to bring back Lee but not Cushing for the second sequel - Dracula Prince of Darkness. They still needed a vampire hunter and so came forth the character of Father Shandor (annoyingly called Sandor in the credits), a wandering gun-toting father that knew exactly what evils exist and what is just paranoid superstition wonderfully brought to life by Andrew Keir.

Well, just as I brought forward the introduction of pagan beliefs on Summerisle for my Silver Bayonet unit, I’ve done a bit of a smaller shift and brought the good father into the available roster. Passable as a Veteran Hunter, Supernatural Investigator, Occultist or Champion of Faith, I’ll see what fits best.

The character went on to live beyond the single cinematic outing and appeared in a regular comic strip as Father Shandor: Demon Stalker, in the House of Hammer magazine and then reprinted and continued in Warrior. Here, banished from his Abbey by a less understanding Abbot, he roamed Eastern Europe armed with the Talisman of Megistus and the Sword of Archimelsus fighting demons and evil, even running into the Brotherhood of Gustav Weil (Peter Cushing in Twins of Evil) before ending up in Hell.

I hadn’t given it much thought until I stumbled across a Celtic Priest from Gripping Beast’s Saga range who bore a more than passing resemblance. I extended his cassock bits, replace both hands and added a suitably heavy sword. I didn’t go full great sword as that was too ungainly for the pose I wanted. My greenstuff isn’t the freshest, but I’m happy with the end result.

Ah, and just have to throw in the ever brilliant Barbara Shelley.