Le Murtiple

Le Murtiple was never a part of the apes in space project. A.R.C. came across him deep in the South American jungle while overthrowing one of the local dictators. And boy, Le Murtiple was not happy about it. For years he hid his special powers and intelligence, pretending to be a trophy pet creature caught in the world of the celebrity-like lifestyles of corrupted politicians and bloodshed. And he thrived, using his ability to multiply to wreak havoc and turn hotheaded machos against each other.
In the end, who would have blamed the innocent lemure?

A unique Supreme this one: three minis simultaneously representing one character. Take one or two out and Le Murtiple still has a chance of creating further copies of himself.

Le Murtiple is a saboteur par excellence; master of knives, bombs and chemical weapons in pursuit of his goals. Able to create Mirror Images of himself, if all 3 Mirror Images are in play, then enemy models caught in the area they define are better targets for Le Murtiple.

It took me a while to settle down to paint Le Murtiple, mainly because I didn't have any specific ideas for the models. Consequently I used the 'official' versions as a vague guide in terms of colour scheme. Still they are done, and I am reasonably happy with them.

Virgo

Alien goddess of vengeance who makes it to Earth just before the next Ulthar invasion. With each fallen Ulthar and new Supreme ally gained she is closer to her goal - overthrowing the evil patriarchal empire that enslaved all of the Ulthar females.

Virgo is a special kind of Ulthar - she is a rebel and so cannot used alongside any other Ulthar. Despite that as a Hero/Villain she can be fielded in Teams from either Faction. Furthermore, when Dark Solar appears she will offer a valuable option to a Hero or villain player wanting to exploit Dark Solar's special Team Power.

With very good range and Energy Trump Trait, Virgo can fulfill a role as a kind of 'sniper', yet has Actions and Skills that aid her in Close Combat; so no 'glass hammer' here then. She won't stand up long against a dedicated brawler, but she will do a good job if used in her specialised role.

With this mini I wanted a palette that was removed from what I use for my other Ulthar. The only commonalities are the flesh colour and the basing - the base is from the same range. I thought I'd go for colours that could represent a more sneaky type of character, and in hindsight probably should have chosen a different colour for the cape, but overall I am fairly pleased with the outcome.

C.O.R.E.

C.O.R.E.: Conscious Omnipotent Replicated Entity. Its pursuit of a new lawful and compassionate order attracted a lot of following and when more and more of Supremes pledged their allegiance to C.O.R.E.'s crusade against all-things-evil, the birth of Heavy Metal team was imminent.

C.O.R.E. is the leader of Heavy Metal, and one of the few Level 3 Supremes available so far. He is versatile and powerful (with an attack that can be extended as far as 18" at the cost of a lot of AP), and he shouldn't lose many Starting Rolls. That versatility extends further to the upgrade he offers Heavy Metal Team members using Ranged Combat Actions: Lady Cyburn and Nuclear Jones especially benefit here, allowing some decent sniping between the Actions available to the 3 Supremes.

Given that Dr Mercury offers buffs for the whole Team, I think he is almost mandatory in a Heavy Metal Team using C.O.R.E. (Encounter Level 12 and above). In fact my ideal Heavy Metal Team at EL 12+ right now would probably see Captain Hadron or Iron Train relegated to last choice, with Iron Train edging things (therefore comprising C.O.R.E., Dr Mercury, Nuclear Jones, Iron Train, Chronin, Lady Cyburn & Androida; no need for a Merc like Gentleman to fill out ranks here).

I put off painting C.O.R.E. for quite some time as I am still trying to improve my NMM techniques. I still have a long way to go, but I think he looks reasonably effective. Eagle-eyed readers may spot that he does incorporate the red-blue colour motif I have used on many of my heroes, even if only in a small way.

The small Tokens around him are his Access Points; these resources are used like remote Exclusive Minions that are static, but have various defensive and offensive upgrade options. They also allow C.O.R.E. to use his Download* action to travel instantly across the board to be in Base to Base with an Access Point.

Welcome

I wake up bleary eyed this morning (long shifts feel like a killer at times), to see a new Follower added to the list. Therefore this latest 'welcome' goes out to ban-doo, who I guess is a fan of the minis hobby, and so therefore I am very glad to have them aboard.

With ban-doo joining (the 50th Follower!; well that would/could have been The Angry Lurker, but someone out there stopped Following a few months ago... :) ), I decided to check the blog stats to see if there were any obvious trends from visits. And of course there aren't, at least that I can discern. What I did discover is that some posts are far more popular than others.

Most popular was my first paper craft post. Now with over 500 unique visits it makes me wonder whether I should see if I can do some more in that area. The first part of my interview with Maciej was second most popular post on the blog (part 1 here; and part 2 here).

In third place over the year was my overview of the Shadowman Comic. In fourth place came the highest individual model post - Chimp Chi - and not by a short margin since no other mini made the top 10! The Christmas Madness Battle Report scored highly in overall placing despite being relatively new (although of course aimed at this time of year) - which is good, because Rob and me have some plans for next year!

So in all of that, do any readers have thoughts to offer as to what they would like to see in the year ahead?

Welcome

There seems to have been a happy (for me!) spate of these 'welcome' posts in December, and this latest one is in thanks to The Angry Lurker who has signed up to follow the blog; very much appreciated to see any fellow gamers, painters or generally interested parties doing so. So thanks again both to the Angry Lurker and anyone signing up previously.

The Angry Lurker also has a blog by that name (here), and since he describes the main focus as being on wargaming, I will be certain to check in regularly.

Snow & Varnish

Whilst having snow on the ground at Christmas has been lovely, it has prevented any spray varnishing of my minis as they get finished, since it has been too cold to trust that the varnish won't fog the minis or leave white streaks or a coarse finish.

Thus I have been varnishing by hand (Vallejo matt varnish), which itself has been something new to me; getting used to the consistency I want, making sure the varnish doesn't pool, and accepting the finish is probably a little more satin than I would have liked. But you live and you learn as they say, and since I didn't want to leave the minis unprotected, I had little choice really. Still painting away on those minis, and this morning I placed an order for a truly special Pulp City mini, so something to look forwards to there then. More on that when it arrives...

Merry Christmas From The Pulp Citizen

Just a quick post to wish Merry Christmas to any readers. Hope it is a good festive period for you all, and wishing you all a great year ahead. :)

See you soon.

Stan Lee's 'New Comics' (BOOM! Studios)

Stan Lee inevitably looms large over modern comics, since he along with a host of talented artists including luminaries such as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko among many others, re-invigorated superhero comics in the early 1960's with a new way of telling superhero stories with a tonally different style to what went before.

I can't help but look upon Stan Lee with a mix of awe and wonder, all mixed in with a healthy dose of skepticism due to controversies that are attached to him (the disputed credit for seminal works associated with him; the failures of some of his businesses; his subsequent legal wranglings following those business failures). The man seems to be an incredible salesman, so much so that it is hard to be truly objective about his talents: good or ill.

So it was that I come to a new set of comics from BOOM! Studios; 3 superhero comics based on Stan Lee's own concepts, but handed over to other creators. Well, given that I like small nascent comic book universes, I had to check them out. And I am glad I did.

I don't really care for Lee's hyperbolic writing style that I feel was his 60's trademark; I much preferred work by those who followed him such as Roy Thomas, Len Wein and Marv Wolfman to name a few. So I was glad he was not directly writing these books, but if he had a hand in their creation, then good for him, since conceptually they are are not too bad, and in execution so far I have found them to be enjoyable.

So my doubts of Lee allayed, what do we have? Soldier Zero (top image) kicked off quite neatly, taking a paralysed veteran and offering a new life with a suit of alien armour. The acquired-symbiotic armour premise has shades of many other comic book characters (Hero Zero; X-O Manowar; Darkhawk; Venom; etc), but it still felt like a good hook for the book and the first two issues have been an enjoyable read. The book offers a straightforward set-up pitching our hero as a defender against a looming alien threat.

The Traveler (middle) is all about mystery: who the titular hero is; what he is up to; and who is he working against. Consequently there is more than a little head-scratching from the introduction to the series, but again an entertaining comic book for me. The primary theme is time travel, a theme that main writer Mark Waid is very familiar with through many of his stories and concepts.

Rounding out this line of Stan Lee inspired comic books is Starborn (bottom). In this title we have our hero, who aspires to be writer and has dreamed up a whole-cloth conceptual sci-fi/space opera setting for his stories. Except that they may not be stories, and he may not be who he thinks he is. Of course he isn't, he is a superhero - he just hasn't realised it yet.

None of the character concepts feels entirely original, and even outside of comics there are plenty of tropes from sci-fi used (symbiotic armour; the layered reality of films like the Matrix for the Starborn premise and so on). Yet I enjoyed them, and there is pay-off for readers following all 3 titles. So for anyone looking for some new comics to try, without masses of convoluted past history, then I'd recommend these.

The Collection So Far

Consider this the fruits of my Pulp City Painting Challenge (as well as the few minis I painted before embarking on said Challenge...).

All of my Pulp City minis on one shelf in my figure cabinet:

Click on the image for a larger version

Astute readers may note a few minis I have yet to photograph individually; I will get around to those soon - I promise.

And these are my remaining WiPs:

Welcome

Another 'welcome', this one going out to Papa JJ, who signed up in the past day.As ever thanks for doing so! I note Papa JJ maintains his own blog (the excellently named diceRolla - here), and I note that among his other painting is a GW Space Marine army. Now I am no stranger to GW, or indeed Space Marines. I have 3 Space Marine armies (two in the midst of rebuilds; well they were, but those projects went on hiatus), and watching someone else's blog could be just the thing to get me to finish some of my own backlog (i.e. the re-builds, plus part-painted Space Marine army #4 and my Space Marine all-Bikes project). So thanks to Papa JJ for joining, and he can be sure I'll be watching his blogging with studious interest.

On the painting front, after finishing C.O.R.E., I struggled a little more than expected with Dr. Red, so despite hoping to finish him yesterday, alas it was not to be.

Onwards and upwards. I hope.

Music And The Painting Muse

I have mentioned in past posts through the year that I have hit definite painting slumps or blocks; basically times where I cannot seem to get motivated/focused/whatever enough to paint. That has certainly held up progress on my Painting Challenge, but is something that isn't unique to me alone (as I am sure many fellow hobbyists will agree).

In painting my Pulp City minis I found a 'go-to' mini to get finished quickly and get me back on track when i have hits a slump or block (good old Hulking Grimm - note to self - must buy more Grimm!).

Yesterday I managed to crank out C.O.R.E. (to be photographed soon; well soon-ish) and attendant Access point Tokens. I finished the mini to a standard I am satisfied with much faster than I thought I could, and I think one of the things was putting myself in a suitable frame of mind. Which is where the music and the muse part comes in.

I have a number of music play lists, and one of these I call Pulp City 1. Basically this was inspired by the haunting music for the Mars sequence in the Watchmen movie. That piece was by Philip Glass and led me to pick up the soundtrack that it originally featured on (Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance OST). I cobbled together my favoured tracks in my preferred order (one of which even featured as background music at my part of my wedding ceremony earlier this year), and added in some preferred tracks from The Dark Knight OST. They don't meld totally naturally, but they give me an evocative soundtrack that gets me in a superhero frame of mind, and ultimately helped out while I home in on my painting goal; basically music was my muse this time around, I reckon.

Next up: Dr. Red and Guerilla, with Pulp City play list 1 in the background.

Mini Update

Just put (what I hope are) the finishing touches on 3 more minis; that takes me to 2 painted Supremes, but 4 painted minis (work that one out until I post pics!) in the Painting Challenge for December. I was aiming for 12 to conclude the Challenge in this calender year. As it stands I have 8 to go; i may get close, but it may prove the goal is just out of reach. Let me see how I get on in the next couple of days.

Pulp Citizen: Year One

For non-comic book fans, 'Year One' was an idea within comics to re-present origin stories for established heroes, tweaking and refining as needed. For my own part I am simply using the reference to highlight that this blog is one year old, and maybe mention a couple of factors that compelled me to start it.

Going back to 2009, I lost a younger brother a few short weeks before the blog started. My brother was much younger than me, but had a passing interest in the minis hobby; just not in the same way or to the same extent as myself. His death was unexpected, and I won't go into the events around his death, just to say it still affects me deeply. It made me consider the things I enjoy a little more, following that adage about life being too short (and in my brother's case tragically short as he was scant into adulthood). And of course that means my hobbies amongst other things.

I wouldn't have thought to blog however, if it wasn't for my main gaming buddy Rob; a best friend for over 25 years, and someone with a deep and shared passion for minis and minis gaming. It was his blog that inspired me to do this one, and my brother's passing that motivated to do something to enjoy myself more.

I am not certain that this blog would have have happened if it wasn't for these factors - it is hard to say. A year on however, I plan to continue and to add to it, and maybe launch a companion (I have a blog name picked out already). So for anyone here, sorry if this is a bit down-beat, I just thought I'd explain a little; hope you didn't mind.

Welcome

A second 'welcome' post today, this time going out to Smillie; it is always a pleasure as well as an honour to have anyone sign up as a Follower, so thank you to Smillie for joining the ranks. And in return i will be sure to check out Smillie's own blog (Painting Diary - here).

I note Smillie has leanings towards VBCW, but also mention pulp gaming on his(?) blog in a recent terrain post; well I am thinking of venturing out into a 'sister' blog to this one which will cover all manner of minis, including my own pulp project planned for next year.

In the mean-time I nearly have another 3 minis done, even if they only represent a single Level 1 Supreme.

Christmas Madness Battle Report

It snowed last year too: I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea - Dylan Thomas

My main gaming buddy (Rob) has been engaging in his 'Christmas Madness' since last year, posting all sorts of festive period Christmas-themed bloggery. That has led to this game really, no doubt - we were talking and a Christmas themed game of Pulp City seemed the only appropriate course of action! Rob's version of events can be seen here - basically our latest 'crossover' to use comic book parlance!

The streets of Pulp City can be wild at times, and this Christmas is no exception.

Following the nefarious intervention of the Mysterious Man, Santa Claus has become divided: Good Santa retains the spirit of Christmas, bringing joy to to the world and children everywhere, venturing forth from his North Pole base once again, laden with his sack brimming with elf-made toys. Bad Santa however just wants to spoil Christmas, to bring misery and fear to all from his lair in the South Pole, his sack full of all the rotten things that ruin lives.

Both Santas have learned that the fabled Snowman's Hat has landed in Pulp City; whomever can claim the prize will determine if the year ahead will be a time of Christmas cheer or festive fear.

Good Santa gathers Heroes (my Team) from across Pulp City: Kitty Cheshire, Iron Train, a mysterious street fighter in red from Little Asia, and Vigilantes:



Bad Santa gathers allies (Rob's Team) from the Villains of Pulp City: Sanguine & Draku, Guerilla, Francis Gator, Evil Toys and Evil Snowmen:


The Villains move quickly; Sanguine dashes forth with vampiric celerity to try to seize the Snowman's Hat. The Heroes are surprised by his sheer inhuman speed. Can they respond in time?






Heroes advance; A Vigilante faces Sanguine while Evil Toys and Evil Snowmen purchased from the Mysterious Man also enter the festive fray.







As more Supremes gather to battle for the spirit of Christmas, Kitty Cheshire blinks through a stationary vehicle - its startled driver shocked to see her fade through his car. She eventually uses her Walk The Otherside ability to bring Sanguine within range of her allies, although she is soon taken down for her valiant, if crazy, efforts:



Good Santa advances under the aegis of Iron Train, the Heavy Metal Hero acting as a barricade:



Sanguine is outnumbered by Iron Train, a Vigilante and the mysterious street fighter in red from Little Asia; against these odds he can but fall:


Following Sanguine's defeat, Bad Santa tries to step up to achieve his fiendish goal, aided by Evil Toys and Evil Snowmen. They too soon succumb to the Heroes might - their good hearts filled with festive cheer! Iron Train, the Vigilantes (Santas Helpers) and the mysterious street fighter in red from Little Asia battle unrelentlingly to save the spirit of Christmas:



Even Guerilla's minigun proves no match for the steadfast resilience of Iron Train - the good will out:



And in the end, the cheer you take is the cheer you make; Good Santa rescues the Snowman's Hat and good cheer is spread through all of Pulp City's boroughs and throughout the world:



Good is triumphant, but will Bad Santa return, to try and spoil Christmas in another year...?



Merry Christmas!

Welcome

A double dose of 'welcome' this time around, as AlexNeto and Josh Reynolds have signed up to Follow the blog. Thanks for doing so guys.

I guess that AlexNeto is an eclectic minis fan (I know that feeling), and so it is pleasing to see him sign up here; hopefully I can make it worthwhile for anyone who does so. Thanks Alex.

Josh Reynolds contributes to a number of great blogs, and he writes the It's Clobbering Time blog (which I check out regularly, and pops up in my 'Blogs I Follow' list when he has a new post). I really enjoy the blog, it offering an eclectic oeuvre of aspects of the comic book industry, its output and fandom. Great stuff. Josh is also a writer of fiction and I heartily recommend that interested parties check out his stuff.

Thanks for signing up guys - much appreciated.

Mini Update

The Pulp Citizen-cave has been very cold today as my boiler is being replaced (alas not by a butler named Alfred; instead a very helpful plumber), which has meant I have avoided painting minis since with the general chilliness my hands may not be too steady.

Instead I have been re-painting my Ziterdes Victorian Townhouse. If the tiny room heater I am using to replace the boiler does its trick, I may get some painting done today. My goal with my Pulp City Painting Challenge is looking far off at this moment.

Scenery

I have had a couple of parcels arrive with scenery this week. In that vein I thought I'd post a couple of pics for size comparison etc.

First up, trees; these will do for areas like Settlers Park and woods around the ruins of Ashville Asylum. They will do for any number of other games as well of course. I picked these up as they are not flocked so won't 'shed', and so should store and game okay. They are from Tablescape (click for link) and can be bought singly or in packs of 5. The trees are mostly painted - the underside of the foliage is unpainted, and 5 minutes with a brush and some green paint rectified that satisfactorily. The trunks screw-in and are made from plastic or resin, and the 'foliage' is made from a hard expanded foam.

Next we have a Ziterdes (click for link) Apartment. I have included two pictures ('after' and 'before') to show how it looks on arrival, and how a little painting can make it look a little nicer (hopefully!).

The painting was done with Vallejo paints; Neutral Grey (stonework), Buff (trim, roof), Field Blue (fire escape ladder, roof-hatch), Mahogany Brown (bricks) and Dark Sea Blue (windows). No shading used, since the minis should be the focal point, and the painting isn't too precise as they are mainly gaming pieces.

The Ziterdes apartment is made from a hard foam material, so is pretty durable, but apparently can be cut etc. I think they were designed for Heroclix games originally (which would account for the squares on the roof areas of the Apartment, Bank and Abandoned Factory).

Mini Update

Still suffering a cold; tried some painting yesterday and managed a bit before I found I couldn't concentrate on tiny details so switched to re-painting more Ziterdes stuff. The Bank and Factory I ordered arrived yesterday, so they will be added to the re-paint queue. My Pulp City-scape is growing and hopefully in the next few weeks as re-painting is completed I will get some pics to show off. All very basic but it should look okay on the tabletop.

Welcome

Another 'welcome' post, this one to Bill B, who has also recently joined up. The blog has acquired a few new Followers lately, so hopefully I am doling something 'right'. As ever, I really appreciate anyone taking time to read of join; so thanks again to Bill B and everyone else who has signed up.

On the hobby front I have been 'under the weather' (dry cough; aches and pains; headache; sneezing; disturbed sleep; seasonal stuff alas) which has spoiled my concentration for hobby stuff. Over the past couple of days I managed to re-paint a Ziterdes apartment (flat colours, no shading or highlights) since that didn't need much focus, and I may show a side-by-side if anyone is interested.

On the minis front I have splashed a little colour on Le Murtiple, but as I mentioned my concentration has been poor, so painting 'le petit métal hommes' has been limited.

Blood Watch (Sub-faction)

Click on image for bigger version

Guardians of the rift-breach against invasion by the Necroplane, the Blood Watch are dark defenders, creatures of the night, and men and women empowered by arcane forces.

Nicely balanced so far with enough minis to make an Encounter Level 6 Team, the Blood watch offer a nice collection of archetypes.

The Blood Watch (left to right):

• Red Riding Hoodoo; New Orleans voodoo practitioner, and mistress of ancient rituals.
• Zombie Wolf; Hoodoo's guardian; is this Loup Garou - a former enemy - turned to serve Red Riding Hoodoo?
• Six Feet Under; enslaved in Hellrock, the Necroplane's terrible prison, Six Feet Under is a man from another world determined to spare this Earth the same fate as his home world.
• Sgt. Bale; ex-special ops turned arcane-empowered supernatural hunter.
• Blood Rose; the last of her kind, the Blood Watch's healer and source of mobility - she can teleport them across the field of battle.
  

Welcome

Another 'welcome' goes out, this one to Alexandre, who joined up within the past couple of days. As in every case of a new Follower to the blog, I appreciate that Alexandre has taken time to join up and I hope that I can offer something worth reading or looking at. Thanks again Alexandre, and the same goes out to all Followers of the Pulp Citizen.

I have been in a slightly reflective mood in the past few days, possibly because the first anniversary of the Pulp Citizen is approaching (in 2 weeks), and I have also thinking about what spurred me to start blogging in the first place. I will probably post about that in the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime every time someone visits the blog or signs up as a Follower helps spur me on, so thanks to everyone who has stopped by in the past 50 weeks.

Welcome

This latest 'welcome aboard' post is a shout-out to Kitch, who signed up today, and I note follows a number of minis and war games blogs. I always appreciate anyone taking time to sign-up as a Follower so thank you for doing so.

As I have mentioned before, please feel free to comment if you are a Follower or a casual visitor, to ask questions or offer advice: any input is more than welcomed here.

And if any of you want top mentioned what brought you here, I'd be happy to hear that too.

The Coven (Sub-faction)

Click on image for bigger version

This time around we have the Coven. The Coven are the antithesis of the Heroes of Heavy Metal, with a corporate headquarters across Golden Plaza from Heavy Metal's base.

The Coven offer a mix of Origins, primarily Mystery, but with some Science thrown in as well. At present there are not many Coven Supremes, but more Coven are on the horizon for next year.

The Coven so far (left to right):

• Twilight; shadow thief.
• Rook; bruiser and bodyguard. Offers decent area denial capability.
• Francis Gator; bloodthirsty swamp-dweller offspring of an occult dabbler and a swamp devil.

Necroplane (Sub-faction)

Click on image for bigger version

Following on from the Forgotten, the Necroplane.

Invaders from another realm, the Necroplane harvest life energy to drive their machinations forwards.

A growing collection of Supremes and Minions, they are (left to right):

• Necro GI's (and right); unliving foot soldiers able to infect unwitting opponents who in turn become more Necro GI's - a self-sustaining army.
• Mourn; screeching Supreme possibly empowered by a malign spirit which Mourn hosts.
• Dr. Tenebrous; lord and master of the Necroplane; twisted scholar with designs on extracting the abundant life energy of Earth.
• Supreme Zed; unstoppable agent of the Necroplane, Supreme Zed was a hero on another world before becoming an unliving engine of destruction.
• Sanguine & Draku; vampiric agent of the Necroplane on Earth, Sanguine is the head of Royal Investments, but his loyalties don't always lie with the Necroplane. Draku is his vampiric canine companion - beware of the dog.

Forgotten (Sub-faction)

Click on image for bigger version

Over the next week or two (or however long really!), I plan to start photographing the whole painted collection in groups, starting with the various Sub-factions as they are complete so far (meaning I will aim to update these entries every so often).

Fallen gods. Bloodthirsty beasts. The Forgotten are long-lost gods returned to Earth to enact their diabolical aims.

Only two so far, both Level 2 Supremes (left to right):

• Boreas; wind demon. Exceptional when it comes to shutting down enemy Action capablity as well as controlling battlefield areas.
• Hellsmith; powerful warrior-smith. Excels in close combat and at short range.

Welcome

Another 'welcome', this time to Sky Hernstrom. Sky has a supers/Superfigs-focused blog (Steel City Supers - here) that he has just embarked on, and he has shown a few lovely minis over there already. I look forwards to seeing more by Sky as his 'costumes', painting and colour choices are all very nice. Thanks for joining Sky.

On a similar note, don't overlook some other supers blogs such as Four Colour Super Minis (by my friend Rob); Four-Colour Figures (by Supersystem/Superfigs' Scott Pyle); Pulp City Planet (by fellow Pulp City Herald Doctor Warlock).

Skyline

For some Heroes their new lives are shaped by the pain of tragedy, while others are called to the fight against evil by their own personal crusades. A very rare few can say their new lives as heroes began simply because they were there.

Skyline was one of the joint Supreme Genesis 2 winners, and very much takes a 'rooftop vigilante' theme to match Jade Hawk, his unofficial companion mini (and box mate).

I loved this James Van Schaik-sculpted mini from the moment I saw it, but I was wary about how to tackle it because of one major thing; the model is supplied with a massive grotesque on which it sits ordinarily. However, that did not fit with my attempt to make most of my bases 'street side' in nature. Therefore I had to work out how to mount Skyline onto a base while allowing for the sweep of his cape. What I settled on was cobbling-together a base from Fenris with some broken brick wall (also Fenris) which gave just enough lift.

The colour scheme was intended to sit easily with that of Jade Hawk without being identical (they are not official partners after all); it is very dark being predominantly dark grey and dark sea green. I am pleased at that as it seems fitting for a night-prowling vigilante.

Eventually I plan to do another mounted on the accompanying grotesque with Jade Hawk similarly mounted, but basically as a display piece only.

November Painting Summary

I gave it my best shot, and it may not be enough, but November was still my best Challenge month bar none. I painted 7 Pulp City minis that I had not painted before, and 3 others that I don't count against the Challenge.

I almost finished Skyline yesterday, but time and light got away from me, so hopefully today for him.

For November:
- Necro GI's (x2)
- Herald
- Gorgoroth, Taurus Captain
- Iron Train
- Grimm Digger
- Grimm Elder

That leaves 12 minis for December; unlikely, but we shall see how I get on.

Ziterdes Factory & Bank

I have ordered some more new buildings from Ziterdes to help grow my own urban cityscape. I have a few of the Ziterdes Apartment buildings, as well as the Victorian Townhouse (both seen in my Battle Reports) already, and as I soon as I learned of the new products I wanted to add them to the collection. The products are in this part of the Ziterdes web store.

Ziterdes Factory

Ziterdes Bank (3 floors)

As soon as I get hold of them I need to think of some re-paints; but that said I'll try a little summary review of the products on arrival.



Images copyright © Ziterdes.

From Beneath The Streets!

Just a picture of all of my Grimm so far, and something I may repeat as my collection of the little blighters grows.

What will be interesting is that when more Grimm are available, as Minions they may be mixed and matched to provide different ability combos; pretty nifty I reckon.

Grimmancer

Grimm seem to be evolving much faster than other species. Creatures are able to adapt themselves to specialized functions within their society.

As with the Hulking Grimm and Grimm Digger, the Grimmancer was sculpted by Christian Danckworth. I think he did a great job on all three and I hope that future Grimm are sculpted by him. Looking at the concept art for as-yet-unreleased Grimm in the Guide, there could be some fun minis forthcoming in the future.

Grimm Digger

There is a hive mind structure to Grimm activities and behavior; some claim that it is actually a human that pulls the strings.

Sculpted by Christian Danckworth, this is another of the first set of Grimm. These characterful little under-dwellers make frequent forays to the surface world under the bidding of their master.

The (currently available) Grimm can be fielded in a couple of ways: they can be used as Minions to be taken by any Faction; or they can be used as a Resource that provides some kind of boost, however this requires the presence of a Grimm Master or Superior Grimm Master in the same Team (Guide; Errata p. 137).

The Grimm Digger adds Immunity to Difficult Terrain and Ram to the abilities of a card of Grimm Minions.

Gorgoroth, Taurus Captain

Slave caste - Taurus: Enslaved natives of Ergo planet, blind creatures that resemble Earth's mythological minotaurs. They form spearhead units of ground invasions.

Gorgoroth, Taurus Captain, by Israel Gonzalez Mojarro (who also sculpted some of the other Ulthar) if the fourth of this growing Extra-Terrestrial Team that I have finished.

Initially I had tried to tie in the mini with the other Ulthar by attempting a very dark purple (near to black) hue on the fabric, but that looked rubbish, so I settled for a straight 'black' look. I have been using a red and purple colour theme, as well as the matching skin tone, on my Ulthar minis, and wanted that reflected in Gorgoroth, even though he is of a different species. It didn't work out so I may have another crack at it further down the line. In the mean-time he looks okay with the other Ulthar, so no rush to do another yet.

I mention 'okay' because that is my general feeling about the results. I like the mini, I think it is nicely sculpted and fitting in what it represents. I like my choice of basing, I just wish I had done a better job with the execution of the paint-job. It isn't terrible, but it is not very exciting either. Couple that with the dissatisfying way the metallic bits turned out, and I simply wish it was 'better'.

In game terms this guy is pretty tough; not so much due to his Traits, but based on a combination of Invincible 2 (reduce all Damage by 2) and 16 Damage. Thanks to needing to scent his prey (Gorgoroth is sightless), he is a little trickier to use than most bruising/brick types, but has some excellent Damaging Actions.