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Miss Vampirella August 2015 - Leslie Culton

This month's Vampirella model, Leslie Culton, has achieved something I did not think was possible. She has taken Vampirella's skimpy costume and made it even skimpier! I have been critical of the costumes worn by some of the models I've shown in the past and Leslie's home-made costume is not strictly accurate but I just can't bring myself to criticise it. I think it is quite outstanding and I salute Leslie's courage for wearing it in public. I have a lot of photos of Leslie. Indeed I have more of her than any other Vampirella model. So to pick out just one from so many to show here was not an easy task.

American born Leslie is a bit of an unusual model. Initially, purely a sci-fi fan (Doctor Who in particular), at the age of 12 she attended her first convention and a legend was born. Apart from her fascination for the whole sci-fi/comic book scene, Leslie discovered costumes! Over the next few years Live Action Role-Playing dominated her life, and then in the late 1990's she left Georgia and started a professional career. Over the years Leslie has probably been the longest lasting Vampirella model, almost as famous at the conventions as the official artists and models.

For three days last week I was without my computer as it had to be taken away to have its hard drive re-formatted. Yes, it was a major systems crash, but all is well again. I'm still using Windows 8.1 and thanks to saving everything on my external hard drive, I didn't lose anything. Always, always, always back up anything that is remotely important to you! So, if you were wondering why my blog post didn't appear last Wednesday that's the reason why.

My biggest gaming news of the month is that I recently bought the Dungeons and Dragons Castle Ravenloft Board Game. I stopped playing Dungeons and Dragons in the late 1980's and I honestly never expected to play it again. But a number of factors made this purchase such a necessity. First up, my good friend Stephen Gilbert, has been trying to persuade me to buy this game all year. He rates it (and its expansions) very highly. It was Steve who persuaded me to buy Arkham Horror, Super Dungeon Explore and A Touch of Evil, so I very much value his opinion. The second factor is that I have come to love solo board games like the ones mentioned, plus of course, Zombicide. Castle Ravenloft is designed to be played by one to five players, so that's a big plus point. But probably the main reason for buying it is the setting. Castle Ravenloft is ruled by a very powerful vampire called Count Strahd Von Zarovich and is populated by all manner of undead monsters and villains. Given my love of all things undead it was a no-brainer that I'd want to own this game at some point. Just last week Steve tried to persuade me once more to buy Castle Ravenloft. Earlier in the year his timing was bad as I had so many other irons in the fire but this time round his  timing was perfect and I placed my order with the good folks from Amazon UK. Expect a full review of the game and the figures fairly soon.

In other gaming news I played my first game of the Arkham Horror board game and despite losing badly I very much enjoyed the experience. Arkham Horror shares a lot in common with A Touch Of Evil, which stood me in good stead for playing this Cthulhu Mythos based game. It took over five hours to play and quite a while to set up. Also, the game takes up a lot of table space. Game play is similar to A Touch Of Evil but far more detailed. I played with two investigator characters and they were doing well, managing to close five of the six dimensional gates required to win the game. But before they got anywhere near the sixth gate the Great Old One awoke and devoured them both with contemptuous ease. Of course, much of my playing time was spent referring to the rulebook, so hopefully, now that I know how the game plays future games should be shorter. It is definitely a game I can recommend if you are a fan of H.P. Lovecraft's Call of the Cthulhu or if you just fancy a fully engaging board game that you can immerse yourself in for hours at a time.

Finally, there was one other purchase that I made recently that filled me with great joy and delight - a life-size cardboard cut-out of Vampirella. She stands 6 feet (182cm) tall, which makes her taller than me. I took a couple of photos of her outside on the patio of my back garden. First, by herself and then with me standing alongside her. She now has pride of place in my man cave.

Long live Vampirella!

I leave you with a bonus picture of Leslie Culton showing off her ample charms and how incredibly daring her costume is! This photo was taken at a comics convention, which just goes to show how much bottle she has to appear in public dressed like that. Leslie, I salute you. Part of me wishes I was there with her but another part (my devil half) asks, would I be able to keep my hands off her?

Vampirella and Vampifan aka Beauty and the Beast.

Leslie Culton just about bares all. Oh, my God! Sheer perfection!