Welcome

This latest 'welcome' post goes to Thanos who appears to have joined today (and thanks for the immediate input!); I am glad to have people checking in, and I am glad also to have thoughts from readers - so thanks on both counts Thanos.

On blog-focus stuff: I have been occasionally tickling the Hadron's with the hairy sticks, struggling with the reds which have been unusually streaky for me - hopefully they will turn out okay; I have also been doing some writing, the fruits of which I hope to point you to in the next few weeks.

Little Ben - Gargoyles/Grotesques Or Not?

Took these today to gauge opinion before going ahead with undercoating/painting.

All (quick) feedback on the question in the title is welcome.

The 'gargoyles' are dry-fitted for now, so I can either go with them or the flat inserts. Still aiming for a sandstone type of colour.









I'd like to get it readfy for undercoating tomorrow or Sunday, ideally.

Rob's Mini Report On Thusday's Gaming

Rob has posted a little bit about the games I had mentioned here on his blog - check out his post with pictures.

Gaming Today

Two games - two losses! Oh dear!

[Note that all pictures are from the second Encounter]

In the first game, Rob and I trialled the encounter for Salute 2011 (London Calling!); doing so has highlighted a couple of necessary tweaks to consider as a demo game. Rob looked to have taken the game in Round 1, before I ripped apart his Team in rounds 2 and 3, and he just nicked the win in the final Round. The demo Encounter is built around Agenda Point (AGP) victory conditions, so even though Rob lost a few minis quite quickly, he still managed to snag the narrowest of wins (which I could have turned to a draw if I paid a bit more attention). No pics form this one - all today's pictures were from the second game.

The second Encounter was a Take & Hold game, played using both victory conditions. I tried out my new team concept: ARC 'fire base' (Dr. Red, Guerilla, Howler and Gentleman). Rob took a more balanced Team (Solar, Iron Train, Skyline and Jade Hawk). And it was there that the game was probably won. My minis ended up too closely packed to really use the Weapons Crate as I planned, which just goes to show that extreme builds are very game/scenario-specific (this one might work well for an Intercepting player using the Escape Plot, for example). The game was over within 3 rounds or thereabouts - a comprehensive victory for Rob. On the plus side, I had lots of fun lobbing bombs (Throw Then Think Action) and exploding munitions (Detonate) with Dr. Red, so much so that I can't wait to use a more balanced ARC Team in the future.

'Little Ben' (WiP Pictures)

Not what I had planned originally (that would have involved using polystyrene to make a similar sized bespoke building, and a lot of time set aside for scoring/assembling/detailing), but with time and non-hobby commitments pressing (work, house moves, that kind of stuff) I needed a much more pragmatic approach to building a central scenery piece for the Salute 2011 demo games. Please forgive the ropey/quickly taken pictures.


[Click on pictures for bigger images]


Hence I delved into my box of Pegasus City Ruins and Gothic Ruins to scavenge the pieces I needed for this. Picture it in more of a sandstone colour, hopefully with a printed clock face over the circular part, and then you may get the idea of what I am aiming for. Some detailing left to do (roof; holes to be filled; gargoyles/grotesques?) before undercoating, so maybe finished in a week or two.

Salute 2011

I have been making small in-roads into some Pulp City preparations for Salute 2011 (16th April); Pulp Monsters will have trade stand and a demo table and hopefully Pulp Citizen will be helping out on the demo game front. Plans are afoot for new releases from Pulp Monsters for Pulp City, and ideally that will be complemented by an introductory game for anyone to come and join in with.

If I get the chance I will take and post some WiP pics of a terrain piece I am planning to use in the Salute demo games.

Ulthar (Sub-Faction)

Click on image for bigger version

The Ulthar landed last summer; alien invaders bent on conquest. The Ulthar are the most recent Villain Sub-faction in Pulp City, and soon should be bolstered to form a complete Level 12 Team.

The Ulthar are mainly Nature Origin so far, although that may change as the line-up grows.

The Ulthar so far (left to right):

• Xyllian, Master Sagittarius; scout and infiltrator par excellence


• Gemini Y; psychic, mind manipulator


• Gorgoroth, Taurus Captain; ground assault leader


• Gemini X; psychic, healer and defender


• Stormblades, Libra Sensei; warrior monk

Giant Hadron Update [2]

This is the second update of Work In Progress on the Hadrons; as you can see I am slapping on the colours on all 3 together in order to try and preserve some uniformity as I go. The highlighting and shading will likely see differences, especially in amount applied and levels of contrast, but the basic colours are blocked out for now.

Giant Hadron offers some really big surface areas, so my base coat brush has been used predominantly on him. Compared to some of the 'big' Pulp City models on 40mm bases, he is not over-detailed, meaning the greatest challenge will be in achieving satisfactory highlighting and shading on a much bigger mini than I am used to painting.

As for the colour scheme? Well 3 of my favourite characters over the years have been Giant Man/Ant-Man/Goliath/Hank Pym, Colossal Boy (Legion of Superheroes; in his Dave Cockrum and Giffen and Lightle era outfits) and Atlas (from Thunderbolts). What all 3 have in common is that they have red and blue (or blue and red) costumes. add to that that I have chosen red and blue for my Hero palette theme, and it was a no-brainer to look to continue that.

Welcome

Another 'welcome' this one going to Joao Mota, who has joined in the past day. Always a pleasing sight to see a new Follower for the Pulp Citizen, so thank you to Joao. I notice Joao has his own blog and after checking it out it looks like he has some cool resin pieces for sale - some of which could be very useful when I (hopefully) get around to diving in to AE-WW II.

On another note, I have started work to block out the main colours on the 3 Hadrons - maybe a WiP pic today for the project log.

Dr Red

Some beings are born to be leaders. The problem of Ape Revolution Committee is they have a few too many alphas in their ranks.

When Channel 4 mentions the bravado actions of A.R.C., Guerilla is usually the one mentioned. But only a few outsiders are aware that most of the progress made by the primates in the last years was sparked by the twisted mind of the alpha orangutan, the self proclaimed Dr. Red. Although his first attempt to take over the group while still in the space ended up with Guerilla beating him to a bloody pulp, Red mastered the art of patience.

Took a long time this one, it really did. Base colours were splashed about with hairy stick abandon when I was gripped with some great momentum, and as is always the way with momentum, it petered out...

Work on Dr. Red started many months ago, when I saw a short-lived resurgence of focus, and then he essentially got pushed further down the painting queue, generally in favour if some minis that were simple, or perceived to be simpler, to paint. I finally knuckled down slowly over the past week or so to occasionally dab some acrylics to the thing, and I have to say I am moderately pleased with how he turned out. Yes his power glove device could have benefited from a free-hand red star or some such, but lacking the confidence to pull of a weathered look to such an option as I would choose, I instead shied away from doing so. There are some parts that have or will be touched up a bit further before varnishing.

Dr. Red offers some useful Team-building options: Tactician 1 (adding AP) and a couple of Actions specifically intended to aid or buff other ARC members, and his Team Power can also offer help. He offers some ranged attack options with Throw Then Think, and Weapons Crate - if taking this Resource, seriously consider also taking Guerilla, Howler and/or Gentleman (with an ARC majority) to maximise benefits. Lastly, he can even stand up to moderate close combat attacks fairly well, so he is a good all-rounder.

Xyllian, Master Sagittarius

Master Caste - Sagittarius: Master scouts and infiltrators who land first on any planet and prepare the invasion.

The only Pulp City mini I painted in February, Xyllian, Master Sagittarius (by Israel Gonzalez Mojarro) is the last of the first wave of Ulthar that I had to paint. I started out with a clear mind of what I wanted to try to do, alas in execution my skills were not on par with my goals.

While I am reasonably satisfied with the outcome, it isn't how I envisaged the model looking. My original plan had been to to a near-black armour effect with green highlighting on the sharp armour edges, after seeing a similar approach on some of the recent GW Dark Eldar. As I was painting it though, I couldn't achieve an effect that looked consistent across the armour areas as well as being sufficiently satisfying to look at. Therefore I just went for the mid to dark green armour. The purple cape is intended to help tie the mini in to the rest of the Ulthar, and that actually came out as the most satisfactory part of the paint job. There will be a group Ulthar shot soon.

Xyllian, Master Sagittarius brings some decent ranged Actions, and his Exclusive Resource (shared with Virgo) boosts these further. Basically he is part sniper/fire base model, and part Team support through his Gate skill Analyze Action (which does benefit from the Sagittarius Crossbow - meaning multiple targets could be affected, or a model slowed down while using Analyze). Add in decent defensive Traits (although lacking any defensive Trumps), and Xyllian is a decent proposition who can even hold up in close combat to a limited extent.

Giant Hadron Update

Okay, after on and off de-flashing and cleaning up the Giant Hadron 'mini', and assembly of a base to hopefully fit in with the aesthetic of my Pulp City collection, Giant Hadron has now been glued to said base. See right for a size comparison picture using Lady Cyburn.

I plan to update this 'thread' as an ongoing blog Project Log.



The model was pretty cleanly cast with no bubbles, but it did need cleaning up, and I variously used my scalpel, an emery board, and a couple of needle files. Mostly I just had to gently carve away excess resin.

There are one or two areas that need to Green Stuff filling, but that will hopefully be quite straightforwards.





I have already (some months ago) started work on Captain Hadron and Mini Hadron, so when I get around to painting Giant Hadron I will pick up the work on those two and try and paint all three at the same time.

Painting Challenge 2011/January & February Summary

Okay the Painting Challenge didn't quite succeed for last year, but it helped me get most of the range painted. I haven't painted much this year due to 'other commitments', and so only 3 models painted so far (1 in each of January, February and March so far). That said, I am still determined to finish all available models in the range.

January
- Lady Cyburn

February
- Xyllian, Master Sagittarius


Since then I have also managed to paint Dr. Red, so just three Pulp City models in a little over 2 months.