Merry Christmas From the Pulp Citizen

Merry Christmas everyone and I wish you all a great festive period.

No new Christmas Madness this year due to time constraints for Rob and me both, but be sure that we are already hatching a  plan for next year and already have a pun-tastic subtitle picked out!

So in the spirit of Christmas where classics are shown every year, it seems only apt to feature the Christmas Madness reports form previous years!

• Christmas Madness 2010 
• Christmas Madness 2011: The Return Of Bad Santa
• Christmas Madness 2012: The Revenge of Bad Santa
• Christmas Madness 2013: Once Upon A Time In Lapland
• Christmas Madness 2014: The Snowman Cometh

Mr. Kraken

Mr. Kraken is the 130th mini I have painted for my own Pulp City collection, and after losing a lot of painting momentum overall in the past month or so, it has been nice to get another mini finished, especially for Pulp City and more especially for the Forgotten.

The paint job was done pretty quickly simply because I needed to feel as though I had finished something. I struggled with some of the highlighting to be honest, but it is done.

As soon as we devised the concept of Mr. Kraken I knew it was a mini I would look forward to painting - who doesn't like the idea of a Lovecraftian corporate raider!

In game terms, Mr. Kraken is a Blaster whose Actions offer Damage, Mind Control and Suppress as FX. He also excels at targeting models with Trump MIND (who often will also have Trump SPIRIT, the Trait which defends against his Actions). Like all members of the forgotten, Mr. Kraken is a dangerous proposition - their downside as a team is that they are mostly Level 2 Supremes, meaning they will often be outnumbered, and they will often struggle to generate AP without good planning. His biggest weakness will be his low non-Trump AGILITY, making him a ripe target for sniper types who can stand off at good range (such as Gentleman, Ba-Boom and Trojan).

Mr. Kraken
Villain, Blaster, Level 2, Mystery
40 mm

Welcome

Another 'welcome to the blog' post, this time to Willem-Jan Bertram. Thanks very much for signing up!

Time for a quick hobby update: I still want to add a few more painted minis to my own collection before the end of the year. I recently prepared minis for the A.R.C., Grimm and Forgotten, so hopefully they will see some progress before too long. :)

Hallowe'en Madness V: The Dead Walk Again

Pictures by mainly by Rob and a few by  me. Terrain and minis by me (except Ninja Apes by Rob). Gaming by both of us!

Welcome

A hearty 'welcome to the blog' for Phil C, the latest Follwoer to sign up - thanks very much for doing so!

On the Pulp Citizen blog front expect the fifth annual Hallowe'en Madness battle report in the next couple of days, and over the next two months I hope to add three or four painted minis to my collection, so please be sure to check back in. Thanks again as always guys. :)

Pulp City: Cold War - Final Week: Free the Mascots!

As the Pulp City: Cold War Kickstarter (click for link) campaign has entered into its final week (6 days to go as I type this), we have opened up a new stretch goal for each of Teambreaker and Teamhammer: free Mascots for all backers of those pledges if the number of backers of the pledge reaches 150 in total!

See this Update for more information! (click for link)

Pulp City: Cold War Kicktraq

Pulp City Cold War's Kicktraq!

Pulp City: Cold War (Kickstarter)

Some of you may not know, but I am part of the Pulp Monsters team behind Pulp City, and yesterday we launched Pulp City: Cold War (click for link) - a new Kickstarter campaign to produce two brand-new Factions, and it has already exceeded our target!

I had hoped to post this yesterday, but we were kind of busy with a successful launch night!

Honestly, I think our game has among the most amazing fans of any skirmish game. :)

Papa Zombie

Papa Zombie has been in a state of being part-painted for at least a couple of months, probably longer, so finishing him is pleasing to say the least. Over on my Eclectic Gentleman Tabletop Gamer blog I am participating in Zomtober, so it felt only apt to try and complete work on Papa Zombie during that time.

I am not sure why I stopped working on Papa Zombie after starting him, except to say that is how it tends to go for me. Colours-wise I had a slight false start on his trousers, but after that knew how I wanted him to look. Finishing him takes me to 129 painetd Pulp City minis in my collection and fills out my painted Coven a little more - at present I still have Feartigo and L.O.A. to go.

In game terms Papa Zombie is not a front line fighter like some other Leaders (for example Dead Eye, V.H., Ra'Leigh, and Dark Solar and others). Instead he offers a number of abilities that don't deal significant direct Damage, but instead enhance the threat of his own Team through Mind Control, additional Minions, and even creating Minion 'bombs'. He also has one of the most devastating Leader Cards which can automatically Stun every Enemy model (barring those who are Immune/Stun of course); time it right and not only do Targets become easier to hit, but suddenly movement bonuses are negated - great against ARC and Necroplane in particular.

I am not sure what is next up for my Pulp City painting; I'd like to get something done for ARC (Red Bella, Ba-Boom or Robo-chimp), and definitely want to finish off the new starter set minis (I still have Anansi, new Nuke, Tekkna and new Ace of Wraiths to do). I set a modest target for the year of 12 Pulp City minis and still have 3 more to do to meet that which should be manageable - anything extra will be a welcome bonus.

Papa Zombie
Villain, Leader, Level 3, Mystery
30 mm

Welcome

A new 'welcome to the blog' post, this time to Obsidian3d, proprietor of the excellent Thinking Outside the Box blog, and frequent forum poster - thanks for signing up!

On the Pulp Citizen blogging front, I hope to finally finish Papa Zombie in the next day or two (maybe longer), inspired by my participation in Zomtober. In addition, Hallowe'en Madness is coming up of course, and for Pulp City the Pulp City: Cold War Kickstarter should launch on 15/10/15.

V.H.

V.H. is my second Blood Watch Supreme (after Youngblood) in less than a month, after a spell of not painting any Blood Watch minis for four years - it is funny how these things turn out!

I admit, I am far from the most disciplined of painters, and certainly not an especially productive one, so each time a mini is finished, I am pleased, even if my output is erratic and somewhat sporadic at times. What does help focus me is a deadline for a specific purpose. In this instance the annual Hallowe'en Madness game is coming up, and I want V.H. on the table for that game!

By my standards this was a very quick paint-job, being finished in a couple of hours over around 3-4 sessions in one day, and I am satisfied with the final result even if not my best work. Right now, getting stuff finished is most important for me, as I see painted minis as the means to the end of playing games, and the latter is my favourite part of the hobby. I think finishing the mini so quickly was feeling sufficiently motivated by the deadline necessitated by the upcoming game. It has also helped get me one more painted mini closer to my target of 12 Pulp City minis this year, and is the 128th Pulp City mini I have painted for my collection.

In game terms V.H. can be potentially very hard-hitting if she is used smartly, as she has an Action allowing easier EFX achievement and always rolls at least 3 dice for Action Rolls. Her biggest downside is that her primary Trait for Damage-dealing purposes is Agility 6, which is lower in value than most other Leader's primary Damage-dealing Trait, but should still be sufficient against most Targets. Unlike most Leaders, V.H. does not bring any Minions as a matter of course, so her Team are very much dependent on their own
resources without that extra support available from expendable Minions.

V.H.
Hero, Leader, Level 3, Mystery
30 mm

Youngblood

The latest addition to my Pulp City Supremes, Youngblood is the 127th mini I have painted from the range for my collection, and a pleasing addition for me, especially as it has been 4 years since I last added to the Blood Watch!

After finishing M.O.D., Amok and the selection of new Grimm before them, it has been nice to get a little renewed momentum for additions to a few different Factions.

Youngblood is a vampire child taken in to the Blood Watch fold. The Team has helped restrain the darker urges he experiences due to the power that lies within him, but even then they are not totally sure if he will stay on the side of good.

I really liked this concept as soon as I saw it, another great idea from Melvin. Part of the problem for us is ensuring that we can translate new concepts to sufficient sales to justify making minis from them all, which was part of the major reason why the first Kickstarter was so beneficial to a small company like Pulp Monsters as it gave us the opportunity to grow the range significantly.

In game terms, Youngblood is an interesting proposition. Like many other Level 1 Supremes he can be taken out by overwhelming Attacks, yet he has a couple of ways of Self/Healing, which opens up the possibility of increased durability, especially coupled with him having Stealth, Flight and a Self/Defend buff. He is an Infiltrator, and one that you can dump into an awkward position, knowing he can generate a few defensive dice and recover small amounts of Damage. Add in his ability to control Enemy Minions and he can offer some disruption to an opponent, while only using up one of your Team Levels.

Youngblood
Hero, Infiltrator, Level 1, Mystery
30 mm

Counting Down to Pulp City's 2nd Kickstarter (III)

The final countdown!

This week saw the reveal of Trojan and Turncoat, mysteriously similar Supremes on opposing sides of the Cold War.

With the Powerhouses A-Beast and Mechved the previous week, that rounds out the Vs. reveals we have been doing ahead of the Kickstarter. Expect a major KS announcement next week....

Counting Down to Pulp City's 2nd Kickstarter (II)

After the first count-down post, here is this week's update: Coldfire (For Supreme Alliance) and Red Robots (Red Republik).

Something to note about the Red Robots is that even though they are only Level 1, they come in two varieties, and you can field up to 3 of either configuration! The minis will be supplied with parts to make either version.

M.O.D.

M.O.D. is the little Heavy Metal droid who could, and also the 126th mini I have painted for my own Pulp City collection!

I was eager to paint M.O.D. as soon as my own spoils from the KS campaign arrived, but settled on tackling a few Grimm first. Then I put a couple of colours on M.O.D. and got side-tracked by painting other minis (including Amok as well as stuff for other games). Once I finally [properly did some work, he was painted in a couple of hours in stages over the course of a day, so it was  nice to get him finished this week. The trickiest part was picking out the wire from his Walkman. I decided against trying any kind of logo on the cap simply as I had no ideas of what I wanted there, so kept it plain.

I had expected to finish Papa Zombie after Amok, but that didn't transpire, although I have made a start on the Coven Leader, and hopefully can get him finished in the next few days.

M.O.D. came into production because of last year's Kickstarter, and underscores that one of the biggest benefits of that campaign for us was to be able to add so many much-needed models to the range.

In game terms, M.O.D. is arguably the quintessential Support Supreme, yet unlike many other Supports in that he has no offensive capability whatsoever (Blood Rose and Virus excepted), which to me is a 'good thing'. Level 1 Supports are more efficient AP generators than Level 2's, but tend to be less hard-hitting. Therefore in lower Level games it is about finding the best fit when faced with a couple of Support options; larger games allow for a couple of Support models to be accommodated and their differences.

What M.O.D. offers is that his lack of attacking Actions is arguably an asset: it allows the player to focus on using him at what he is best at: repairs (Heal), and Attack and Defend buffs. This is boosted by the fact he can Activate immediately after a Friendly Heavy Metal Supreme (in the same Turn), meaning he can raise all important Shields of run a repair without losing the opportunity to attack with the preceding Supreme.

M.O.D.
Hero, Support, Level 1, Science
30 mm

Counting Down to Pulp City's 2nd Kickstarter

The Pulp Monsters crew is gearing up for our second Pulp City Kickstarter, this time much smaller in scale as it is to launch two new Factions: the much anticipated Supreme Alliance and their Cold War nemeses, the Red Republik.

In advance of that we have been having a weekly 'Vs' feature showing the concept art as shown on the upcoming cards for a Supreme from each side, and I thought it was high time I put the first few on the blog here!

Whose side are you on?

Welcome

A fine and hearty 'welcome to the blog' to the latest signed up Follower: Mr. Teufel. Thanks very much for taking the time to sign up and it is a name familiar to me I am sure. :)

Thanks again to everyone.

On the hobby front, I have started work on what I hope will be the 126th Pulp City mini for my collection: Papa Zombie. I hope I can stay foc used and get it done in the next week or so. :)

The Way

Not every Supreme available for The Way, but all that I have painted so far! The Way is a Faction primarily focused on defending Pulp City and especially the Little Asia quarter from the grasp of the Jade Cult, but it is more than that. Its members come from a diverse array of Teams, and under other circumstances would be genuine enemies of one another, but within the ranks of The Way they have shared purpose.

The way is a good extra Team for players as many will have a couple of minis that are members, so definitely worth thinking about, and it definitely offers an eclectic mix of Supremes and a lot of choice.

Back Row:

• Twilight
• Stormblades

Middle:

• Crimson Oni
• Sgt. Bale
• Amok (the huge guy in the centre!)
• Chronin
• Jade Hawk

Front:

• Tanuki
• Chimp Chi

Amok

Amok is the 125th Pulp City mini I have painted for my collection, and it feels like something of a milestone to have done so - the 125th mini needed to be something big, and Amok certainly is big!

Painting Amok was mostly a nice switch of pace after painting some recent Grimm, contrasting in size especially. Amok is a member of The Way, and stands somewhere between 60-65 mm in height (he is mounted on a 50 mm base), so he is a big mini. Doing the flesh was nice and quick, but after that it felt slow to finish, even though I only started it last week; I forgot how hard work I find it to paint bigger models, even one with a simple scheme like Amok. In all, I have painted a fair number of models in the past couple of months over a few ranges, so it is nice to have a decent level of productivity.

One of the greatest benefits of last year's successful Kickstarter was being able to make Powerhouses for the main Factions that did not yet have them. Melvin de Voor did yet another brilliant job with the concept and James Van Schaik turned in a great sculpting job based on that IMHO. As soon as we all saw where Amok was heading we were very pleased!

Amok's massive form is due to his physical body being infested by a spirit of rage. The peaceful man that he was seeks to contain that mystical anger-fuelled power, but it remains ever-present.

In game terms Amok is one of the strongest Powerhouses there is. He also has Dice+ at the lowest end of Powerhouses. However that is mitigated by accumulating Power Up dice and spending them well - if he adds 3 Power Up dice to an attack, he can add 2 more for free! Basically he is designed to be used more aggressively than most other Powerhouses. This is really emphasised by his Power Takedown and Throw combo; Power Takedown can generate a Grab & Throw EFX to allow Amok to use the Target as a missile, adding another Damage 1 to the Target of the Power Takedown as well as whatever Damage is caused to the Target of the Throw!


Amok
Hero, Powerhouse, Level 3, Mystery
50 mm

Welcome

Welcome aboard to Follower #141: Ariel El vikingo dark. Thanks for taking the time to sign up to the blog - it is greatly appreciated. :)

After the recent flurry of Grimm  Supremes, I am hoping for a change of pace this weekend and hoping to finish something 'big' but for a whole other Faction. Whether I complete it in the next couple of days, only time will tell, but I hope so! I will also be working on a mini exchange mini that is long overdue, so I am actually hoping to finish two minis this weekend.

Spartagrimm

Painted Pulp City mini #124 is done! It has been nice getting a bit of Pulp City painting momentum back after such a barren spell. In that regard, the Grimm are perfect for a painter like me.

What I mean by that is that I am someone who naturally struggles to be productive in my painting, and struggles with the cat of painting; yet when it comes to the Grimm, I find it more pleasurable than with pretty much any other models. They are simple yet full of character, and make a nice little project because of that. In my opinion Melvin de Voor has done a brilliant job with the array of Grimm designs, and that is just those that have been produced so far!

In game terms, like most Grimm Spartagrimm is a Level 1 model, in this case a Brawler, and a pretty potent. one. One of the key things for mastering the Grimm is that they are plentiful because they are mostly Level 1, but can be taken out quickly with well timed Attacks loaded with dice. Despite that they can pack a surprising punch so can catch an unprepared foe unaware. As a Brawler, Spartagrimm has quite a lot of competition from other Brawlers as well as the Tanks that are abundant in the Faction.

After painting the four recent Grimm I may try and get some other Faction's minis done, although more Grimm are beckoning, and I have just started prepping TINY!....

Spartagrimm
Hero/Villain, Brawler, Level 1, Nature
30 mm

Grimmrock

Painted Pulp City mini in my collection number 123 all present and correct! Grimmrock was started at the same time as Toxic Grimmvenger and Supreme Grimm. I blocked out the skin-tone on Supreme Grimm, Grimmrock and Spartagrimm all at the same time, then focused on finishing Toxic Grimmvenger, before moving on to each of the others in turn. It has proven productive to do that, with 3 minis that were finished in 8 days (the dates of posting does not reflect when they were finished). After Spartagrimm (to be finished soon I hope) I plan to tackle TINY!, John Grimmsham and maybe the Grimmbiote soon, and maybe The Big Grimmowski, which would give me a painted Grimm force of 17 or 18 Levels, so basically plenty to choose from!

It feels nice to be getting caught up on my Pulp City painting at last.

In game terms Grimmrock is a Tank, like Hooligrimm. That is where the similarities end. While both pretty tough and hard-hitting for lowly level 1 Supremes, Grimmrock is more defensively orientated, while Hooligrimm is definitely more offensively orientated. What that underlines I think, is the sheer wealth of variety the Grimm have to offer as a Team.

Grimmrock
Hero/Villain, Brawler, Level 1, Nature
30 mm

Supreme Grimm

My second Pulp City mini this year! Another Grimm joins the gribbly ranks of the under-dwelling empire. Like every other Grimm, Supreme Grimm is influenced by what he saw in human popular culture, and in his case he adopted a mask and cape to accompany his Supreme powers.

This was a lovely little model to paint, as it was quick and simple which is a contrast to some other minis I have tackled this year. Being able to finish a couple of models within a few days of each other was a real pleasure. As a consequence I have more Grimm ready for painting on the horizon, so hopefully their ranks will start to fill out pretty soon.

Supreme Grimm is a Speeder, and potentially a surprising one for opponents as he has an Overrun that works off his AGL Trump. He can also provide Power Up dice for an ally in BtB each Round, so he is a mix of team support, objective grabber, and attacker; he is not brilliant at any of those functions, but is a good all-rounder. He is also well worth considering in a Dark Solar all-Nature team: offering extra Power Up dice to Dark Solar, Perun or Father Oak is a frightening proposition.

In game terms Grimm are an unusual proposition. They have two available Level 3 Supremes, and all the rest, like Supreme Grimm, are Level 1. That means they are more fragile individually than the usual mix of Level 1 and Level 2 Supremes, and given they can appear in strong numbers, they can be prone to falling in groups to Rays, Pulses and Overruns. Rob and I hope to do a battle report with them later in the year - we even have a title ready!

Supreme Grimm
Hero/Villain, Brawler, Level 1, Nature
30 mm