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.

Primate of Nature (Primate of Power)

Click to make me look bigger! "Raar!"

The earthly avatars of the great Ape Spirit, Primates of Power are primal beings who are inextricably linked with the fate of the Ape Revolutionary Committee.

The Primate of Nature is attuned to Supremes such as Guerilla, those particularly aligned to nature's fury.

In Pulp City SE terms, the Primate of Nature is an unusual deviation from the usual Leader type; normally they are a Level 3 character, yet for the A.R.C. we decided that the Leaders would be the Primates of Power, who in turn can boost the capabilities of key Supremes.

What you end up with in regards to the Primate of Nature is a tough little monkey who can buff one model, or a whole A.R.C. Team depending on which Action he uses, as well as packing some punch himself.

The Primates of Power are due for imminent release, along with Red Bella. I decided to get mine painted as I was worried about losing the momentum for painting I had built over the first few months of the year; I needed to 'get something finished' which is how I have resisted or overcome previous painting slumps, as regular readers may recognise.

So I set out to start the Primate of Nature with a quick paint-job, and after about and hour or so work (not non-stop, but around bits and pieces of other painting), the mini was done. For such a quick-to-finish piece, I am happy with the outcome. It is just as I want it and has some semblance of momentum restored for me. This is the 35th mini I have finished this year (after painting only 24 in all of 2012), so if I am to hit my target of 48-50-plus minis for 2013, I felt I could not risk a new painting slump, and this was the perfect mini at the perfect time. Especially with the upcoming Minion Month Painting Challenge....

The Primate of Nature is my 109th discrete Pulp City miniature including individual Supremes and Minions and duplicates. I would like to add at least four more this month, maybe as many as ten. How I get on with that is another matter...

Anyhoo, watch this space!