Christmas Madness 2013: Once Upon A Time In Lapland

Apologies for not posting new content in the past few weeks, I have unfortunately not finished a few part-painted Pulp City minis (Red Bella; Primate of Science; Foxxy Blade).

UPDATE: Credit it where it is due - the scenery is from Rob's collection (great stuff mate!), as are the Zombies and Evil Snowmen. Rob also made all the brilliant markers.

Nonetheless, onto this year's Christmas game. As always a huge thanks to Rob for the pictures. This is the fourth Christmas Madness - please read on!

Welcome

Another welcome aboard post, this time to walter. Thanks to walter, the blog now has 135 Followers, which of course means extending the thanks to everyone who stops by. Cheers guys.

On the blog front time for a couple of quick updates. For those who like the Battle Reports, we played out this year's Christmas Madness game a couple of says ago, so that will be up in time for the festive period. On the painting front I have been doing a bit of work on Red Bella, so if she gets finished in the next few weeks I will be pleased.

On the Pulp City Supreme Edition news front, as announced on the FB page and Forum we have decided to delay the Kickstarter until January 30th 2014. The reasons are logistical and also recognizing that the lead-up to Christmas is less than ideal for those wanting to back the project.

That is pretty much it for. Thanks again to walter for signing up, and to everyone I hope to get some more posts up soon time permitting (I have started a new course which has cut into hobby time, so things on my 3 minis blogs  are more in line with what makes sense time-wise).

Welcome

A warm 'welcome to the Pulp Citizen' goes out to Solo wargaming-on a budget, proprietor of the Solo Wargaming in the UK blog (click for link). Check out his amazing scratch build urban building here.

With so much going on with what we have been doing for almost two years in re-developing Pulp City to (hopefully!) make it a better and more accessible game, my painting has slipped from where i was at a couple of years ago. I hope to remedy that (yes, I keep saying that it seems!), with a few more minis slipped into the queue.

Despite that laxity on my part, people still keep reading and signing up, so thank you all, very, very much.

Ninjas!!!

Simon recently suggested I post the Ninjas I have painted so far, so here they are.

There are five so far painted for Jade Cult (the green and black colour scheme), and three for Way of the Fist and Blade (the red and dark brown scheme).

I am using the models with tunics as Ninja Sensei, and the others as rank and file. I have at least another three Jade Cult Ninjas that I would like to paint (two Ninjas and another Ninja Sensei), so that will be a side project for when the mood and muse strikes me.

Essentially the Jade Cult and Way of the Fist and Blade are mutual enemies, and I think it could be cool to do a battle report featuring them eventually, but that might be a while off, since regular readers should know what the next battle report that is due...

Hallowe'en Madness 2013

Hallowe'en Madness III is here!

Pictures by Rob. Terrain and minis by me (except Markers and Ape Thugs and Hired Guns by Rob). Gaming by the both of us!

Pulp City SE: Roles

The studio version of Tanuki

One of the new things we have added to Pulp City SE are Roles.

Roles are intended to work as a shorthand for players to indicate what kind of function a model has in-game, while also reflecting this through mechanics.

The eight Roles are:
Leader: Your boss model; capable of boosting the capability of the team, and of holding their own in a fight.
Powerhouse: The big guys; the hardest-hitting model in a team; they don't work well without the support of their Team to fuel their AP (Action Point) needs.
Brawlers: The base-to-base specialists; roll more dice against Targets in BtB.
Blasters: The range specialists; roll more dice against Targets at distance/outside of BtB.
Tanks: The tough guys; extra dice to Defend, and can take hits for Team-mates.
Support: Buffing and AP deliverers.
Speeders: The fastest models in the game; they can move more often than other models.
Infiltrators: They deploy almost anywhere on the board; these sneaky guys are useful for targeting weaker models in the back-line, and are fairly self-sufficient when it comes to AP.

So basically now it should be quicker to figure out the mix of models you want. Assuming most games are between 8 to 12 Levels, then that would probably be around 5-9 models, so most Teams might struggle to cover every Role, and therefore it is about finding a mix that suits your game-play. Not enough Support, and you may lack for AP. If you go all-Brawlers, Blasters, Tanks, and Powerhouse, then you may lack the AP you want to be effective.

Pulp City SE: Actions & Powers

Yeti - © Pulp Monsters 2013

I plan to do a few brief articles ahead of the Kickstarter, outlining some key changes we have planned for Pulp City Supreme Edition.

Anyone who has looked through the Open Beta version will be aware of the changes, although the Open Beta phase has allowed us to refine some mechanics further.

One of the key things is we have tried to simplify the 'wall of text' that faced players when using the characters. To that end we have created 'Action Bars' that serve as a kind of gaming algebra or keyword recipe, but much easier to read than any kind of mathematics!

Basically the Action Bar says how an Action works, and what happens if it succeeds, breaking things down into key words. Some examples:
Damage 1 reduces the HP of the Target by 1
Knockback 4 moves the Target 4 inches directly away from the Attacker
Stun causes the Target to have the Stunned Condition

So Actions and outcomes of Actions are simplified. We have also largely attempted to do the same with Powers. A few were always going to be wordy, but we have tried to make each Power useful and mostly unique, while retaining a sense of flavour that suits the intended game-play of the character.

The upshot is that we have condensed gaming data down from two card sides to one (the other side now serving as your Recruitment or Team-building data). There is also no need to refer to a long list of Skills; the relevant features are folded into Attribute values, Movement Type, Actions and Powers.

More tomorrow!

Housekeeping!

Just a quick note to say that I had noticed for a while the blog seemed to load slower than my other blogs. Therefore I decided to rationalize a few defunct labels and remove a couple of gadgets.

As a result the blog seems to be loading at the speed I expect, so I am now happy. It may mean some 'dead' internal links have resulted, so if you notice any, feel free to comment and I will fix them accordingly.

Ninjas (Jade Cult III)

My third Minion Card of Ninjas for Jade Cult, and my 7th and 8th Ninjas so far.

These were supposed to be finished back in August for the Minion Month Painting Challenge I had with Rob, but I fell at the final hurdle. While painting various Zombies for Zomtober on one of my other blogs (click for link), I finally regained the motivation to get these finished.

So these are done, which is a 'good thing' as far as I am concerned. I have now painted 116 minis for Pulp City, which I find pretty pleasing.

I still have plenty of Pulp City minis to paint, and hope to get stuck into them over the next few months: Green Serpent; Pulp Monster; 3 x Terror Cotta Warrior; Slug Muldoon; Papa Zombie; Comte Vendredi; and some other stuff...so watch this space!

Finally, yes, I did manage to catch the base of the lamp in the picture of the backs of the minis; oh well, I am too preoccupied to take any replacement pics...I have painting to do!

Welcome

Okay, I said in my last post that the 'next post' would be some Ninjas, but I will add a new caveat that 'welcomes' always trump any such plans!

So hot on the heels of the last welcome post comes this one, going to Jon Shields. As always it is greatly appreciated. So thank you guys.

Just as a quick side note; I used to be able to check out other people's blogs by licking on their Follower icon, but I think this may not always be the case. So to anyone Following, please feel free to let me know if you have a blog so I can do the same in return.

In the mean-time, once again thanks to Jon.

Welcome

A new 'welcome to the Pulp Citizen' post, this one going to Raspoutine - thanks very much for signing up. I really do appreciate each person who signs up or stops by - it helps motivate me to blog, so thanks to Raspoutine and everyone taking time to read the blog.

I know things have been a little quiet around here at times, but that has partly been due to development of the new Supreme Edition, so I should start blogging stuff about that and increase my activity - so that is going to be the plan going forward!

The next post will be some more newly painted Ninjas - I am growing a small horde of them now...

Pulp City Supreme Edition Kickstarter is Coming...

(Not the official Pulp City KS logo!)

After almost two years of work (twenty two months by my reckoning), we are now very close to launching the Pulp City SE Kickstarter!

Those who are familiar with the Pulp City Facebook page or the Citizens of Pulp City Facebook group may already be aware of the news, but I thought ahead of the launch I would post some news for those that do not yet know that it is coming.

Pulp Monsters is only a very small company founded by Maciej, ably assisted by Melvin, Devon and myself; it is a labour of love to the hobby and is not some all-conquering gaming monolith of a business. Moving and evolving the game is a big undertaking, which is why we have decided that a Kickstarter is the best fit to do that. What we have in mind is to draw upon everything learned in the past six years to make the best game that we feel we can. If the Kickstarter succeeds we will do just that!

If we exceed our target we can fill some gaps in the minis line quite quickly to cut down on the wait that fans of some Factions have for the 'big guy' Powerhouse models, as well as finally unleashing the Grimm as a Faction in their own right.

Our initial target goal will I believe be modest enough to achieve success, while we are confident that if it is met, we can produce a brand-spanking new hardback book, as well as updating the game cards for every existing Supreme and Minion to meet the evolved rules.

Over the next few days I plan to give further details, a lot of which have been on the Facebook page but recognizing that not everyone uses that social network.

Primate of Mystery (Primate of Power)

Click to enlarge

My second Primate of Power, this time the Primate of Mystery, a primal avatar of the great power of the Ape Spirit, and guides for the ARC.

The Primates of Power will play differently than other Leaders, since for the most part other Leaders are Level 3 models more than capable of holding their own in a battle. The Primates of Power are much more about focusing the individual and Team capabilities of an ARC force.

I would have liked to have worked more red into this one to evoke the Mystery aspect (since that is the associated colour for mystery in the game), but I found the difficult to do, so it is what it is. Also, a big thing this year is working through my backlog of minis, to ensure i have gaming pieces I am happy to play with (prerequisite is painted!). This also marks my 114th mini for Pulp City, so things continue to progress! Albeit more slowly than in previous years on the Pulp City front...although this is my 43rd mini for the year across the various ranges I am tackling, which  means I am now ahead of target by around a month. I was hoping to paint at least 48 or 50 minis this year, which right now looks well within reach.

I have a few more Pulp City minis in the painting queue: Terror Cotta Warriors (stalled); Foxxy Blade; 2 more Jade Cult Ninjas. Other stuff yet to be assembled.

I expect one of the Primates of Power is likely to make an appearance in this year's Hallowe'en Madness, so keep an eye peeled at the end of October to see what kind of ARC Team turns out for that.

Ninja Sensei (Jade Cult II)

Click me! Make me bigger!

Well that did not go as planned. This was supposed to be my 'week 3' entry into Minion Month, and it slipped badly - it wasn't completed until last Friday. As for the 'week 4' entry, well that is underway, but I have blown the deadline.

I am pretty disappointed, as so far I have pretty much achieved the challenges I have done with others, but not this time. While I have so far painted 4 Minion models as a result, I was really hoping to have done more. Still, I intend to finish the other Ninjas I have started, and I did some more on them today, so all main colours are blocked out, and have worked on the green areas with shading and some highlighting.

This model is to be a Ninja Sensei for Jade Cult; all my Ninja Sensei will use the body featuring the tabard as well as the bald head, so that they will be more distinctive among the eventual hoped for ranks of Ninjas.

Also note that I have changed my lighting set up a little, adding two additional lamps, so that may see a little bit of experimentation with future photographs; I am simply hoping they will be brighter and crisper, but we shall see.

Anyway that is all for now. I have more Ninjas underway, and have started work on the Primate of Mystery, so that may get finished in the next couple of weeks, if motivation is there.

Welcome

A new 'welcome to the blog post', which is always a nice thing for me.

This time I give a heartyPulp Citizen to Paul Smith; thanks very much for taking the time to check out the blog and hopefully there will be stuff of interest here to pay that decision back!
welcome to the

On the Pulp City front, obviously I am working on Ninjas for Minion Month, and I have a few others bits and pieces underway too, so hopefully there will be more minis over the next couple of months.

Ninjas (Jade Cult I)

My latest set of Ninjas, and the first ones completed for the Minion Month Painting Challenge.

The previous Ninjas I painted were done last year, in a colour scheme intended to accompany the Way of the Fist and Blade, while this year I plan to start amassing painted Ninjas for the Jade Cult. Things have gone a little slower than I hoped (and this is the second deadline that has slipped a day), but I reckon I will have painted 4-5 Ninjas/Ninja Sensei at minimum this month, with one more already underway, and others awaiting assembly.

Ninjas are a Level 2 Minion card, and my plan for the Jade Cult Ninjas is to do sets of Ninjas and Ninja Sensei, with each set having a characteristic weapon. So this set and their upcoming Ninja Sensei are armed with kama, originally a crop reaping tool. Other options with the minis include sais, swords, and nunchuku. If I can, I will avoid the swords as the Way of the Fist and Blade Ninjas have those, but we will see.

After photographing these I notice a bit of the base of one was still unfinished, so that has been rectified- I just cannot be bothered taking the pictures again!

Well that is week two of the challenge down, and 3 minis completed, with 4 Pulp City minis completed this month already. Not my smoothest painting admittedly, but done nonetheless. So keep checking by the blog to see how I get on. Rob's initial progress can be found here.

Shadow Double

Click-click

This was not the first mini I was expecting to finish for the Minion Month Painting Challenge, but it is done, and it is a mini I have wanted to be finished for rather quite some time! In fact, it is over a year since I finished Shadow Mask!

So now it is done, although it is a day late.

Those Ninjas are still in the queue mind you.

So how does Shadow Double qualify for Minion Month? Well, in the SE rules, the Shadow Double card is a Minion separate to the Shadow Mask card. You could represent Shadow Double however you want to, but to me it made sense to use the Shadow Mask mini with what I hoped would be a suitable colour scheme.

Shadow Double starts in play, and if he is KO'ed, he can be Summoned back into play again by Shadow Mask. So the only way to keep him down is to keep the Green Emperor's own attack dog (a.k.a. Shadow Mask) down for the count.

On the painting, I kind of knew what I wanted, but I did struggle a little at times with this one, so it is far from my best work. On the other hand, I think it does what it needs for the tabletop, so it will do.

This is the 110th mini I have painted from the Pulp City range (of course some are duplicates, as this is to Shadow Mask posted a while back). I am not sure I will ever paint as many minis from a single range ever again, except possibly Anima Tactics (as blogged here - and even then I still expect to be painting more Pulp City as I add to the current number, so Anima Tactics might never exceed the Pulp City line-up I have, even with a larger numerical range of minis).

My first Jade Cult-themed Ninjas are underway, so I hope to hit the next deadline properly. Stay tuned to see how I do!

Shadow Mask and his Summoned Shadow Double

BTW, Rob is away, so his first Minion Month minis will be posted when he returns.