Christmas Madness 2014: The Snowman Cometh

It is time once more for...Christmas Madness!

As ever, thanks to Rob for the majority of the pictures, and especially The Snowman (can you guess where inspiration came from?). As with every year, Rob adds something else for these games, and it makes them so much fun.

Click on the pics to enlarge them

And if anyone is wondering, yes, we have already started to plan for next year!

Comte Vendredi

Comte Vendredi
Villain, Support, Level 2, Mystery 
40 mm

It has been far too long since my last painted Pulp City mini. I can only apologise!

Comte Vendredi is a minor spirit who has grasped power within the Coven, with particular mastery over the ranks of the Dead Guard. The mini depicts the tiny entity atop the shoulder of a Dead Guard host/platform.

In game terms, Comte Vendredi is a formidable and very durable Level 2 Support, especially when compared to comparable Level 2 Support models in other Factions.

I knew in general terms how I wanted to tackle Comte Vendredi as soon as I saw the mini, however when I started painting it my choice of green felt wrong, and that stalled motivation, until I over-painted the green with a different shade at a much later date, and I knew then how I wanted to proceed.

Comte Vendredi is the 120th Pulp City mini that I have painted. I have just today done a little projection of how many more minis I will need to paint to paint everything currently available now and due with the Kickstarter, plus a couple more duplicates, and it looks like I have a whopping 70 or so minis to go - let alone what future plans we have for further out! I really must start finishing more Pulp City minis much more quickly!

Interceptor #1 (Comic Book Kickstarter)

Not something Pulp City related, but a Kickstarter for a comic book, and something I am happy to support, having backed the previous project by the same crew (Unstoppable Comics). I may be old-fashioned, but my preferences for comics is mostly for action-adventure stories with nice art and satisfying story. Unstoppable Origins #4 met that for me, and I am sure Interceptor #1 will too. Just a project I wanted to draw attention too, and they are more than halfway funded.

Welcome

Another 'welcome to the blog' post, this time to Second Class Elitist; thanks very much for signing up. Without visitors and most importantly Followers, I would not still be doing this blog or the other two hobby blogs I run, so thank you again to Second Class Elitist and everyone else, as ever.

On the Pulp City front is has felt like a long year of not very much painting for me. I keep promising to get more painted, and other stuff other other games eat into that time. I really am hoping to try and rectify that a little in the next two months, but I have said things like that before, so time will tell.

Hallowe'en Madness 2014

Pictures by Rob and me. Ape Statue by Rob. Minis by me (except Ninja Apes by Rob). Gaming by the both of us!

Chain Actions & Chain Activations

While we retained the alternating Activations of the original game, what we chose to do was create the opportunity for key moments where momentum can suddenly shift - if your preparations are right, that is!

Normally during your Turn you can Activate a Supreme and in addition Command a Minion card.

A Supreme can normally use between 1 and 3 Actions. Only 1 Action may be an Exclusive Action (those Actions on the card), although a second Exclusive Action may be used if it is Combinable. Move Actions may be used in addition and/or in place of the basic Exclusive Action. Of course, all rules are made to be broken!

Chain Action Example (Figure 1): Some models have their own rules that allow the Actions limit per Activation to be exceeded. Chronin's Time Control Power allows her to Combine any number of Action in a single Activation, allowing her to theoretically use 5 Actions (2 Moves, and up to 3 Exclusive Actions). This can be extended further if she is lucky with her Flurry Action!

And of course, the rule about Activating a single Supreme in a Turn can be broken too!

Chain Activation Example (Figure 2): It is the start of the Round and the Heroes have won the Starting Roll against the Ulthar. Trail (1) starts the Hero Turn using Mind Strike against Stormblades. As Trail had not yet Activated this Turn, thanks to his A Second Ahead Power, a Friendly model may Activate. Dead Eye (2) Moves in and uses his Power Smash. If Stormblades is still standing, then with Dead Eye's Tactics Power Jade Hawk could Activate (3), Moving in to Attack with her Death Claw. And of course Stinger may use his Power to swap places with Stormblades....

Looking To The Future

Inside cover

Before I resume posts about the new rules in the next couple of weeks, I wanted to flag up one of the cool things I think we have done with the new book. There is more fluff than last time. Much, much more.

This time around we have told the story from the perspective of the various key Factions, so that will give more insight into the who, what, and why of your favourite Supreme Teams. More than just that, we also take a look into the future in more ways than one. We drop some hints that may take a bit of digging to find, and that connect some of the dots of what we plan for the future of the Pulp City storyline and new Factions, while also revealing a good number of Supremes not seen before and that we plan to introduce in the future. So to anyone picking the book up - from the KS or when the book is available through retail after fulfilment is complete -we hope you will find some pleasant surprises!

Welcome

Okey dokey, another 'welcome' goes out, this time to supers and 7TV fan Blaxkleric of the Fantorical blog (click for link). Thanks for signing up, and I will be Following Blaxxcleric's own updates from now on!

There will be a Pulp City SE post tomorrow, nothing major, but just so you guys know. :)

Welcome

Welcome to Follower #140, Mark Rivera. It took a bit of digging but I *think* Mark is the 140th Follower signed up (it can be hared to tell with the Followers gadget!!).

Thanks as always for signing up. :)

There should be more content soon, in a couple of weeks, as I have a big (read important and lengthy) course essay to get out of the way first. That said, I will have a new quick post in the next couple of days. When proper posting resumes, I hope to get 'under the hood' (apologies to Mr. Moore) of the new rules a little more with the Pulp City SE game ahead as we are getting much closer to fulfilment.

I also have this year's Hallowe'en Madness game with Rob on the near horizon. Rob has been working a a terrain piece for this as we depart the mean streets of Pulp City for lush jungle. I have to re-base a mini today ahead of that game, so hopefully that will go well!

What's My Role?

Figure 1: Recruitment side of the card

One of the new features for Pulp City SE that emerged during the design process was the classification of Supremes (and Minions) into 'Roles' - a way of identifying for players what kind of rules or function to expect with specific models. Initially this was more about the type of Actions and Powers a model had, but pretty quickly we realised we could take things a step further.

So it was that we created a specific Power for each of our 8 Roles. For example, a Tank such as Iron Train has the same Tank Power as Rook. Because of their respective Tank Powers, both are good at protecting their allies. Rook has a further edge, because he has additional abilities specifically geared to protecting Team-mates.

Figure 1 & 2: Howler is a Blaster, so you pick him knowing he will offer decent ranged Attack options. His Blaster Power shows he gets extra dice in the right situation.

Figure 2: Howler's Blaster Power

Those Role Powers changed a little over time as we developed Pulp City SE, but that is what led us to the stage that when you select a Supreme for your Team, its Role will tell you what it is good at, and its Role Power will emphasize that contribution.

Your front-line fighters will be Brawlers, Blasters and Powerhouses.

Infiltrators, Speeders and Supports have more specialist functions, either for objective grabbing or AP fuelling. 

Leaders are there to buff your Team and most of them can handle front-line battles.

Tanks are useful because they straddle a couple of functions: they are highly durable; most pack a decent primary Attack; and they can protect your more fragile models.

As I continue to add to the blog, I will be sure to add the appropriate Role tags to update the various Supremes and Minions I have posted over the years.

Team Building Reloaded (SE Version)

With the upcoming Pulp City Supreme Edition Kickstarter delivery, I thought I would take an opportunity to talk about what amounts to some significant changes to Team construction.

In the previous edition, a Team had to have an equal or as equal as possible Level 1 and Level 2 Supremes. It could have a Level 3 model if playing a Level 12 game or above. All models had to be Hero or Villain (Hero/Villains could be fielded on either side).

We have changed that for Supreme Edition!

We set out to stream-line and improve the game, but also improve the game experience. One of the things we had to change was to make Team recruitment more permissive. Now you can field you own combination of Levels, with the restriction of no more than one Powerhouse (a 'big guy' model) and no more than one Leader. Teams can be built according to Alignment (Hero or Villain as before), or they can be built around Factions. And some of those Factions have quite an eclectic line-up to say the least. Better yet, some Supremes qualify for more than one Faction...

Consider the following models:

• Chimp Chi (Hero/Villain; ARC; The Way)
• Chronin (Hero; Heavy Metal; The Way)
• Crimson Oni (Hero; The Way/Freelancer)
• Stormblades, Libra Sensei (Villain; The Way; Ulthar)
• Tanuki (Hero/Villain; Jade Cult; The Way)
• Twilight (Villain; Coven; The Way)

As well as their usual respective Factions, they are all members of The Way, which means that models that previously could not be fielded in the same Team now can take the table together.

So those models could be fielded as a Level 8 The Way team. or a level 5 Hero Team, or a Level 5 Villain Team.

Combat Actions & Dice Pooling

One of the main and earliest settled on adjustments for Pulp City SE was to replace the Opposed Roll which mostly produced either results based on difference - Damage; or binary results - success or fail achievements.

What we wanted and what we have created is a mechanic that allows Actions to have multiple results, and that the spread of results is not limited to Damage alone.

Consequently most Actions have a menu of extra Effects (EFX) that can be chosen from and added when you have an especially successful roll. Success is measured by winning the basic roll (your best die plus Trait vs. opponent best die plus Trait or target Number), and additional success is through each result of 5 or 6 (Trump Traits) or 6 (no-Trump), or for Powerhouses each 4, 5, or 6. Enemies cancel those successes with their own dice achieving the same values (except for Powerhouses Defending don't achieve cancels on a 4+).

One of the keys to success is to maximise the number of dice you roll. This is done through Combat Bonuses, spending Power Up dice, Effects (bonuses to Attack or Defend) and any situational benefits such as from Powers.

Example: Six Feet Under Activates. He Moves in to engage Night Fright & Leech in Base to Base (BtB), and uses his Ashes to Ashes Action before Attacking with his Power Smash Action.

Normally you can you one Exclusive Action (the Actions on cards) per Activation, but because Ashes to Ashes is Combinable you can use it as well as Power Smash.
Six Feet Under succeeds with his Ashes to Ashes Action, but does not get any EFX.

For the Power Smash Each player rolls a basic 1d6 plus dice for appropriate modifiers:
Six Feet Under: Strength Trait + 1d6 +

• Momentum (from Moving) 1d6

• Size Matters (Six Feet Under has a bigger base) 1d6

• Strong/NonLiving (from his Undertaker Power) 1d6

• Attack 1 (from Ashes to Ashes) 1d6

• Power Up dice (Six Feet Under gets 3 new Power Up dice per round in addition to any unused dice) 3d6

For a whopping 8 dice; if he wins, any dice results of 4+ yield EFX.
Night Fright & Leech: Defense Trait  + 1d6+

• High Ground (because they are Flying) 1d6

For a less spectacular 2 dice. This will probably hurt. A lot.

So it is a good idea to learn how to maximise your modifiers to get the best advantage you can.

Character Cards - Pulp City SE

Figure 1

With Pulp City SE, we decided to revamp the game cards used for the different Supremes and Minions.

We set out with the design principle that as much information as needed as possible to play the model was on the card. That in turn affected how we re-engineered characters, folding Skills (we had around 60-70 or so in the old game) into the Powers, Actions, Traits and Movement Values/Types of each character, while still retaining the flavour of the character in question.

That also meant making a change in how the card was used to Recruit your Team as well as play the game. Previously, both sides of the card had the game information, meaning you had to flip the card during a game. Now one side is the Recruitment Side (top image) while the reverse side is the Action side used for gaming.

So the Recruitment Side lets you know the key information to build your broader strategy: the model's Role (what it is best at); its Level; its Origin; its Alignment; its Faction if any; how much it contributes to the AP Pool; how many Minion Levels (Minion+) it contributes; and also its base size which we included as a couple of minis have changed official base size.

Figure 2

Figure 1: Nuclear Jones is Level 2 and can be used in a Hero or Heavy Metal Team. He is a Support Supreme which means he contributes a lot of AP (Action Points) to the Pool. He adds 1 Minion Level to the Team (Minion+).

The Action Side is of course a run down of how the character can be used in an Encounter.

Changing all of this meant we had more information to cram into less space. Thankfully Melvin helped us achieve this minor miracle and we are very proud with the game cards we have.



Images copyright © Pulp Monsters 2014. 

Seabolt - Mini Painting Exchange

Hendybadger's Seabolt

Ah, yet another delay in regular blogging for the Pulp Citizen - sorry guys! But that said, I can defend myself by saying we have been working hard on delivery of the Pulp City KS, and I hope backers (and even non-backers!) have been watching for the weekly updates with all the new minis.

So apology done, onto the reason for this post!In the past couple of years I have participated in 3 'mini exchanges' based around Pulp City, and admittedly it took a while to get mine done, and also for those sending to me to do theirs. Here is Seabolt painted by my friend and Pulp City fan Hendybadger. So a big thank you goes out to Hendybadger for doing this! I now have two Seabolts for gaming purposes, which is more than good - you can never have too much of anything you like! Now if only we could get HB to paint more of his own minis... :)

You can never have too many Seabolts!

Regarding the blog, this week I hope to get a few posts written about Pulp City ahead of the KS delivery, and a few new aspects of the game when compared to the original version. They won't all appear this week, but should come out over the next few weeks.

Aurelius (New Villain Starter)

Aurelius
Villain, Tank, Level 2, Mystery
30 mm 

Okay, okay, my last 'welcome' post stated that I planned to paint one of those minis I have not yet finished, but after a painting slump in May I had to go with motivation, and since I felt motivated to paint this, it is what got done!

Aurelius has mastered the art of alchemy and turned that mastery to himself, his body transformed into gold.

When we formulated the Roles for the Supreme Edition, Tanks went through a few changes until we were happy. We wanted as many different Roles as possible in the new Starter sets which meant we wanted a Tank. Unlike a lot of Level 2 Tanks however, Aurelius is a bit different. He is only on a 30mm base, but compensates with better AP generation.

We also wanted straightforward Powers and Actions for the new Starter minis, but that does not stop them having subtleties which will be clear when people get gaming with them.

I love this sculpt by James Van Schaik, and it is unmistakably Pulp City in style. I can definitely see Aurelius being used to bodyguard Mysterious Man in future games. Of course thanks to the new Leader Cards, any team will be able to use pretty much any Supreme, which of course includes Aurelius.

Pulp City Minis Painted: 119

Welcome

A new 'welcome to the blog' post, this time to the coolly named Ronin Plumber, as Follower #139. Even though new content is added at a slower rate than when I started over four years and 625 posts ago, I will continue to add to the blog, so it is great (for me) to see new people signing up ever so often. So thanks again to Ronin Plumber (and everyone who signs up or stops by).

While I have only painted a couple of Pulp City minis this year, I do have ambitions to get several more done before September (when the KS is anticipated to be delivered). Ideally I would like to have painted most or all of the following Supremes before then:

• Green Serpent
• Doom Train
• Blacksmith
• V.H.
• Comte Vendredi
• Red Bella
• Papa Zombie
• At least one Terror Cotta Warrior

That would bring me to the point where all the retail-released minis except the Monster are done, which would be nice, and would take me to around 125 painted Pulp City minis. Watch this space!

Wildman (New Hero Starter)

Wildman
Hero, Brawler, Level 2, Nature
40 mm 

My first Pulp City minis painted since January, and only my second of the year. That needs to change. I have now painted 118 Pulp City minis in my personal collection (some of them more than once; I have painted a further 3 for 'mini exchanges'), and by the end of the year I want that to be at least 130. I have a few part-painted so that is not beyond the realms of reasonable possibility.

Wildman is one of the new Hero Starter Set minis. The new Starter Sets have been designed to have as few parts as possible. The Hero Supremes are all one-piece, making it quick and easy to prepare them for gaming and painting. The Villain set requires only minimal assembly on two minis, and the third is one-piece like the Heroes.

Wildman himself epitomizes a lot of key design features of Pulp City: Supreme Edition. He is on a 40 mm base which has an important impact as Size Matters in SE. He is able to pool dice very well based on his base size, his Brawler Power, his movement type (Bounding), and a built-in bonus to his core Combat Action (Rending Slash), meaning when he unleashes 5 dice or more for Rending Slash he gets to use another Action called Shrug Off for no cost. He is a tough hombre.

On painting him, I wanted to keep it simple; I thought about painting a tartan pattern kilt, but knew that I don't have the skill, so settled for plain black. It meant I finished Wildman quite quickly and right now, with so many minis to paint from so many games, completing stuff is key. Anyway, another cool looking James Van Schaik sculpt which I am sure many can't wait to use in their own Teams.

Pulp City SE Kickstarter Final Hours

As I type this there are approximately 32 hours to go for the Pulp City SE Kickstarter project, and we have been awed by the tremendous response of our backers.


Based on the support the project has had so far, Maciej has commissioned a number of sculpts before we conclude, which would not have happened without the positive response we have seen. As well as Cro Mag and Soul Golem, sculpts have been created for other minis unlocked as stretch goals, and work continues on yet more as we look toward delivery in a few months.

Rosie 'Baby' Rude (top) is another Powerhouse, an independent Hero who has possibly the best Knockback Actions in the game; excellent for control of objectives.


Below Rosie is Amok, a martial artist whose body houses a spirit of rage-fueled violence; he attempts to use meditative techniques to quell the anger within, but more often that rage spills out. Amok can feature for The Way, but also can give in to his darker side.

Then we have Grimm Lee Chan; a Grimm who has become fascinated by chop-socky movies and their stars. His sense of honour has drawn him towards The Way. All backers at Supreme level and above receive Grimm Lee Chan for free.

Next up is the Toxic Grimmvenger. An unfortunate Grimm whose body has been further mutated following a toxic spill. That accident left him with dangerous powers which Grimmsham (the human leader of the Grimm) uses to sow terror among hapless Citizens.

Finally there are Grimminions; the tiniest examples of the Grimm species, these little critters are everywhere that other Grimm go, and can be a terrible nuisance when found in large numbers.

Pulp City SE Kickstarter - Final 7 Days

As I type this we a 7 days and a few hours from the end of the Pulp City Supreme Edition Kickstarter project. It has been an amazing journey for the Pulp Monsters crew, and has provoked developments for the KS delivery period as well as future developments for the game.

We are currently just over $82,000 with just under 400 backers. We have one or two more surprises to come before the project ends, so keep an eye out for further updates and news.

Pulp City SE Kickstarter -13 Days Remain!

We have 13 days remaining (after which normal blogging service will resume!), and I thought I would take a moment to link to Kicktraq.

Kicktraq is an independent site which looks at KS projects, and shows data such as number of backers, amount pledges, number of comments per day and so forth. It aggregates much of that data to compile 'Hot Lists', and Pulp City Supreme Edition (click for Kicktraq link) has featured at several times on the Tabletop Games Hot List.

If any other bloggers are interested in supporting the Pulp City SE Kickstarter, even if you are not backing it, please think about showing off the Kicktraq mini chart (see below for an example) and linking to the Pulp City Kicktraq page (click for link), as doing so may help promote us on Kicktraq, and push on to further success!

New Guerilla - Free Add-on For Pulp City SE Kickstarter

For the Valentine's weekend (we have spread the love across a few days!), the brand-new not yet released sculpt of Guerilla is available as a free add-on at Supreme pledge level and above.

Pulp City SE (click for link)