Giant Hadron

Captain Hadron's transitions to giant-size required a lot of control and meant that he could not utilize other abilities when doing so, and even his transformations back to other sizes were time consuming when grown to his maximum height. 

Wow. Even with the deadline of last month's Challenge, I did not get this finished on time.

And having already dawdled for over two years, the first of my Giant Hadrons is finished (yes, I have another! That could be another terminally slow painting log in the making...).

It is done at last. Not my best painting by any stretch, but what surprised me is how difficult painting a big model is. I don't think I have completed painting on a model this size before now. I guess painters get habituated to working at a given scale and so stepping beyond that is going outside of your comfort zone, which may be part of why this has taken so long to complete; that and I am a notoriously slow painter of course!

Not my best work, but hopefully I have learned some lessons from tackling this big model; lessons that will inform other big models eventually.

In the new Supreme Edition rules Giant Hadron is a Powerhouse; what this means is that we hope he lives up to his stature, and unlike the previous edition he can stay giant-size for the whole game (he was limited to 1-2 Rounds previously).

We are still gathering feedback on the new rules, so let us know what you think of our biggest Powerhouse, who gets Size Matters against all other Supremes as things currently stand. With the importance of dice pooling to achieve SFX, that is a good advantage to have.

Hopefully this month's painting slump will not continue into next month, and I hope that I can start to overhaul the total painted minis I achieved in 2012, especially with so many new Pulp City minis on the horizon: Green Emperor and Terror Cotta Warrior; V.H. and Blacksmith; Red Bella and Primates of Power; Papa Zombie and Comte Vendredi; new Starter sets and much more besides.

Time to get those last few currently remaining minis done then: Doom Train; Night Fright and Leech; Green Serpent; Pulp Monster.

Welcome

A new 'welcome to the Pulp Citizen' post, with two newly signed up Followers: John Davis and Joystick Junkies. It is always a pleasure to see new names signed up, so much appreciated guys, and a big thank you. Joystick Junkies have a blog which can be found here.

On the Pulp City front; well we launched the Open Beta in January as planned. Already feedback has started to come in, helping us tighten up the game even more before publication hopefully later this year.

Although we are having a few server problems, the Forums have been an invaluable way for fans to pass on their thoughts, so as soon as they are back up please check them out.

On my own painting front, I really hope to get Giant Hadron completed today. Fingers crossed.

Bring On The Big Guys!

So Pulp City Supreme Edition Open Beta has been out for a couple of  weeks, and anyone checking out the rules will be aware that one of the 'big' changes (pun intended) is the application of Roles to the Supremes line-up, especially Powerhouses.

Powerhouses are the 'big guys' of the Supreme world. Within the new rules they have a pretty much unparalleled capacity to lay the smack down on whatever gets in their way.

Powerhouses are now generally to be mounted on 50mm bases; players retain the option to keep them on 40mm bases, but base size has added meaning in Pulp City now. However, those 50mm bases can provide a real advantage as in the new system the Opposed Roll has been replaced by the Action Roll.

The Action Roll provides a success of fail mechanism and extra degrees of success all in one. Powerhouses benefit in a couple of ways. Firstly they score extra successes (SFX) easier than all other Roles. Secondly, because Size Matters (this is a Combat Bonus) their bigger bases mean that if using their Actions against models on smaller bases means they get an extra die for that, and die pooling is a key feature of the Supreme Edition rules. Players should start to get into the swing of maximising their dice pooling, and Powerhouses are definitely at the forefront of that.

While we have been play-testing over the past year or so, I had mounted my own Powerhouses on 50mm bases under their regular bases as a useful prompt that they would get the Size Matters Combat Bonus (see the top picture).

However I recently decided i needed to make the upgrade permanent, so I have painted up a set of new bases with which I plan to remount the 3 50mm base Powerhouses (Six Feet Under; Father Oak; and Apebot); Giant Hadron is a special case who at 80mm base is the 'big guy of big guys'.

Now I am just hoping that the good old super glue bond is not too good; why is it whenever you want something to be loose with super glue it is stuck tighter than anything, while models you want to last fall apart with a mere sideways glance?

As for Powerhouses, I can safely say there will be more, maybe even this year. So stay tuned to the Pulp City website; the Pulp City Forum; and the Pulp City Facebook page for news, hopefully alter this year.

Welcome

A new 'welcome to the Pulp Citizen' post, this time to r1Pped who has just signed up - thanks for doing so. r1Pped has a youtube channel which can be found here for those who are interested. That just goes to show how far the gaming hobbies have come when there are gaming bloggers and vloggers about.

The internet has helped the tabletop gaming hobby immeasurably as far as I am concerned, opening up opportunities for manufacturers, customers and retailers alike. It has meant that I can try games that around 10-15 vyears ago I would have been dependent on my LGS to get in (yes I know the interwebz has been around longer than that, but that time-span has seen the transition from print to digital media as the primary way of exploring and showcasing the hobby). So while my LGS may have made some great choices in stocking some cool games, today I can be my own taste-maker. Of course the balance is in trying to still support the local LGS, while recognizing that it cannot stock every shiny new range that takes my eye; they (LGS's) still are such a vital part of the hobby when well-run.

On the Pulp City front? Well, all that work over the past 14 months is paying off as Open Beta is out.

So what is there to expect going forwards? Well Pulp Monsters hopes to schedule monthly releases from this month forwards (with the odd skip month for logical reasons). While I cannot say what exactly they will be, new Starter sets are confirmed (including a new Nuke and new Supreme Aurelius); new Guerilla has been seen; and do not be surprised if we see some more big guys this year (Powerhouse's).