Robo-Chimp

Robo-Chimp is my 22nd painted Pulp City mini of the year, and continued my Minion focus. I had a bit of a struggle, possibly because I think I started it around the time when a painting slump hit, but I finally finished it this weekend in a determination to clear something out of the dread painting queue.

The painting is not my best, but it will suffice since I am far from a perfectionist when it comes to slapping minis with the hairy sticks. Finishing Robo-Chimp gives me 14 Levels of painted Minions this year, which has been pretty cool on a personal level to be honest, so no doubt will see some more varied choices whenever I get around to any future Battle Reports. I have a few more part-painted Pulp City minis so I hope to keep some momentum into the start of 2017, even as new releases continue.

An A.R.C.-specific Minion, in game terms, Robo-Chimp typically offers a decent 3-dice pool for its Monkey Rockets Attacks which have Blast 2 as part of their FX. The Action does not deal any EFX (Extra Effects), but can be an effective way of peppering a few models with Damage 1 - try and pick out the lowest Agility Trait in a group of models if possible. In addition, Robo-Chimp also usually rolls 3 dice when defending, which combined with its 3 HP means it can potentially surprise your opponent by sticking around in the face of low to moderate Attacks.

Robo-Chimp
Hero/Villain, Blaster, Level 2 Minions
30 mm

Hovercats (MInions)

Hover! Hover! Hover! Hovercats! Ho!

My focus this year on painting up as many unfinished Minions as possible continues, and the Hovercats are the latest minis I have completed for my Pulp City collection. A brilliant translation of Melvin's fantastic idea for these flying ferocious felines, they are, naturally, armed with Catling Cannons as they deliver a heck of a punch.

With Flying, their Blaster bonus, and if both Hovercats from a card shoot at the same model, they can each throw out 4 dice. With only 2 HP each and low to mid-range defensive Traits, they are fragile (although Flight adds the High Ground Combat Bonus), but if used smartly against the right kind of target (ideally with Agility no greater than 4), they can deliver a decent threat.

Finishing these little guys puts me up to around 15-17 Levels of Hero/Villain Minions, so a lot of choice on top of other things like Vigilantes, Grimminions, Necro G.I.'s etc.. I hope to add Robo-Chimp, Mutant Mobsters and/or Ankle Biters before the end of the year. Painting-wise I have to finish at least 4 more Pulp City minis to hit my minimum target of 12 for the year, which I feel I am on course for, maybe more if I can keep my sporadic momentum.

Hovercats
Hero/Villain, Blaster, Level 2 Minions
30 mm

Captain Hadron & Mini Hadron

Click to enlarge-ify

Captain Hadron is one of the admired heroes of the world’s greatest Supreme Team, Heavy Metal. Yet that reputation sheds little light onto his past and the uncertain future he faces

Woo-hoo! About flipping time these were done!

Anyone who has read or Followed this blog for any considerable length of time will likely be aware that the various Hadron incarnations  (Captain Hadron; Mini Hadron; Giant Hadron) have been in my painting queue, unfinished, for a long, long time. In fact, it was two years ago this month that I received my Giant Hadron.

Well 2 of the 3 for the set are done as part of one of this month's Challenges: New Broom January.

Evidently I needed the carrot (or is it a stick?) of a Challenge to get these done, and it has worked.

The finished work is probably a bit rough by recent standards, but that is probably because I have struggled so much to get these done. I am not overly worried that they may be a bit rough as I am more than happy they are done. they have been hanging over me for far too long, and sometimes things need to simply be finished off. That includes accepting Captain Hadron leans at a funny angle (due to being re-attached to his base; I am not doing it again).

While I still have 21 days to get Giant Hadron finished, I have one other Challenge this month. Add to that that I have painted one Anima Tactics (click for link here) mini this month, and if I succeed in all the Challenge minis I should have a fairly successful month by my meager standards.

Sculptors on these are: James Van Schaik (Captain Hadron), and Jarek Smolka (Mini Hadron).

In game terms the Hadrons can swap between different sizes. In the current edition Giant Hadron is limited to 1 or 2 rounds depending on other choices (like taking Dr. Mercury), but expect more choices around the use of Hadron in the upcoming Supreme Edition.

Sovereign

Sovereign is more of an idea passed down the generations than a real man of flesh and blood.

My first new mini post in almost 2 and half months; moving house had a considerable effect on my output. On the plus side, painting/finishing off this latest batch was 'easier' than painting has felt for a while, probably due to the break I have had.

I picked Sovereign up at Salute 2011; Maciej was determined to get him ready for then and didn't fail. I even used the 'studio' version to run Pulp City demo games with on the day, and so trust me when I say he is one tough hombre.

I knew straight away I wanted a red-white-and-blue primary theme, even if I did not trust myself to accurately render a coloured version of the union flag mounted as part of his body armour - hence that painted as I continue to persevere with hopefully improving my NMM technique. Still a long way to go, however.

Sovereign is one of the first 'Direct Only' minis from pulp City, intended to be available from the Pulp City/Pulp Monsters web store and at some conventions and shows. I love the design even if it isn't to everyone's tastes; to me it strongly echoes typical 2000 AD style characters and so is a nice reflection of the difference between British and American comics characters.

Xyllian, Master Sagittarius

Master Caste - Sagittarius: Master scouts and infiltrators who land first on any planet and prepare the invasion.

The only Pulp City mini I painted in February, Xyllian, Master Sagittarius (by Israel Gonzalez Mojarro) is the last of the first wave of Ulthar that I had to paint. I started out with a clear mind of what I wanted to try to do, alas in execution my skills were not on par with my goals.

While I am reasonably satisfied with the outcome, it isn't how I envisaged the model looking. My original plan had been to to a near-black armour effect with green highlighting on the sharp armour edges, after seeing a similar approach on some of the recent GW Dark Eldar. As I was painting it though, I couldn't achieve an effect that looked consistent across the armour areas as well as being sufficiently satisfying to look at. Therefore I just went for the mid to dark green armour. The purple cape is intended to help tie the mini in to the rest of the Ulthar, and that actually came out as the most satisfactory part of the paint job. There will be a group Ulthar shot soon.

Xyllian, Master Sagittarius brings some decent ranged Actions, and his Exclusive Resource (shared with Virgo) boosts these further. Basically he is part sniper/fire base model, and part Team support through his Gate skill Analyze Action (which does benefit from the Sagittarius Crossbow - meaning multiple targets could be affected, or a model slowed down while using Analyze). Add in decent defensive Traits (although lacking any defensive Trumps), and Xyllian is a decent proposition who can even hold up in close combat to a limited extent.

Lady Cyburn

If Cyburn has a PHD in trouble seeking, that would surely make her more in line with the rest of the big brains on the team. She doesn't. She is a natural warmonger, and that dates back to the times she was just a 100% flesh teenager. Her abilities to cause trouble had been significantly raised with all those shiny new things.
Her service in Heavy Metal is more to her liking than serving her time in jail, but once the 5 year contract is done, who knows where Cyburn will sign up?

Lady Cyburn was added to the ranks of Heavy Metal along with Captain Hadron, and was a mini I liked straight from the off (due to its recognisable influence from WildCATS' Ladytron), but after putting a couple of colours on the mini it joined the back of my WiP queue.

It wasn't until I painted C.O.R.E. in fairly short order that I thought to make a slight change to how I was doing the metallic surfaces and so the rest of the mini followed fairly quickly thereafter. please forgive the photographs - not my best as they came out pretty dark. I like to think the mini looks better up close than it does in these photographs, and I was pretty happy with the way the flesh tones turned out, which may not be too apparent from these images.

In game terms Lady Cyburn is very much a 'blaster', and so adds flexibility to Heavy metal since many of the Team are brawler or brawler-support types.

Virgo

Alien goddess of vengeance who makes it to Earth just before the next Ulthar invasion. With each fallen Ulthar and new Supreme ally gained she is closer to her goal - overthrowing the evil patriarchal empire that enslaved all of the Ulthar females.

Virgo is a special kind of Ulthar - she is a rebel and so cannot used alongside any other Ulthar. Despite that as a Hero/Villain she can be fielded in Teams from either Faction. Furthermore, when Dark Solar appears she will offer a valuable option to a Hero or villain player wanting to exploit Dark Solar's special Team Power.

With very good range and Energy Trump Trait, Virgo can fulfill a role as a kind of 'sniper', yet has Actions and Skills that aid her in Close Combat; so no 'glass hammer' here then. She won't stand up long against a dedicated brawler, but she will do a good job if used in her specialised role.

With this mini I wanted a palette that was removed from what I use for my other Ulthar. The only commonalities are the flesh colour and the basing - the base is from the same range. I thought I'd go for colours that could represent a more sneaky type of character, and in hindsight probably should have chosen a different colour for the cape, but overall I am fairly pleased with the outcome.

Ace of Wraiths

Armed with the cursed Deck of Souls and the ancient gun Hellstromm, the brooding gunslinger enters Pulp City!

Another Jarek Smolka sculpt, I really like this model. Unfortunately I have painted it on and off for months, which suggests to me that I really didn't have a strong and clear enough painting concept at the outset. A lot of decisions in the painting have been made as I have gone along, which has probably left me less than satisfied with the end result.

I love the background of a doomed gambler and gunslinger empowered by Hellish forces and artefacts to exact retribution on evil men. It is a classic that shares themes with many such doomed loners, I just don't feel that I managed to evoke that feel in the painting of the mini. I am vaguely satisfied with my first OSL (Object Source Lighting) attempt at the back of the mini. It is probably only faintly visible, but it is a technique I'll keep working on.

I have seen some great examples of Ace of Wraiths in recent months. It may be worth checking out the Pulp City Forums Hobby Section to have a look.

Solar

The mighty German millionaire, the spandex-clad Hero, the bearer of Ahau-Kin's tiara, the caped hunter of the Forgotten!

Solar is probably (so far) the most spandex-y of the Pulp City Supremes in the style of traditional comic book superheroes and supervillains. And I love the model all the more for that. Big cape used in a novel way in the construction and execution? What is there not to like in that. I think Jarek Smolka did an excellent job in creating the effct of a hovering hero when completing this one. Yes there is a lot that is familiar in the basic premise, but this model is no straight copy of any specific hero, rather a distillation of a lot of classic superhero tropes.

Solar is a very interesting example in the context of the development of the game and it's background. He is pretty rounded Level 2 Hero able to fight in base to base as well as being mobile and having some useful Exclusive Actions. However what I feel is most interesting is that a poll was conducted last year amongst Pulp City Forum board members. The poll was to determine which of three Supremes (Solar, Guerilla and Ace of Wraiths) would evolve into a new iteration. Solar 'won' the vote. So at some point we will see Dark Solar...

I can't wait.

Howler

You would probably call Howler the "early adopter" since when his mates just started appreciating the convenience of wearing clothing, using guns and explosives, Howler is truly enjoying life as it comes.

Crime is a disease. Meet the cure. The tag line for the 1986 Sylvester Stallone movie, Cobra, seems very fitting to apply to a mini sculpted with that movie character in mind. Howler was a mini that I wasn't too enamoured with when I first saw it, although I don't know why. When it came to painting it however, that all changed. I really enjoyed painting the model, and finished it quite quickly, basing the colour scheme on the classic 'Cobra' image.

In game play Howler offers good mobile fire support, which can be exploited by Hero or Villain teams. He can also offer battlefield control through two of his exclusive actions - Howls and Stare Down. At heart though, Howler remains a quintessential 80's action hero, which means he works best alone in some ways.

In my view this is a great fun sculpt by Paul Muller, that confounded my initial reservations, so much so that it is one of the most enjoyable models to paint that I can recall in years.

Mourn

Mourn is the Screaming Death, an agent of the Necroplane forces.


Sculpted by Jarek Smolka. Going in to painting Mourn I had a clear plan - and of course that went quickly the way of many failed endeavours. I wanted to emulate the colours of the Spectre from comic books (green gloves, boots, trunks and cape, white bodysuit/skin), but due to the cape melding with the bodysuit on the Mourn model, there was no clear line along which to use such a two colour scheme. Instead I focused on trying to get an overall colour I could be satisfied with.


I enjoy the mini immensely, and plan to paint another sometime in the future. It is without doubt one of my favourites, and not only within the Pulp City range. I wasn't wholly satisfied with the results, but I think it is reasonably effective. the next one will probably have a purple-hued colour scheme, but time will tell, as plans often change, don't they?

On the plus-side, I think my photography of my minis is improving a little.

Boreas

Boreas is new to Pulp City and his bloodlust and hatred of people high as never.
Fortunately for humanity, he is still weak and can’t support his material body for a long time.

I finished painting this model yesterday. Sculpted by Jarek Smolka, it was one I was looking forwards to a lot from when I first saw a preview of a painted example on the Pulp City site. What grabbed my attention most was the spectral-looking creature drifting out of the poor unfortunate host's body. In evitably that became the focus of my attention, both in painting but probably more importantly in trying to think what kind of colour palette to work with.
I settled on a very green-focused theme, from the pale greens of the creature to the suit worn by the host. I chose this theme as I associate green with ghostly stuff, and since the creature is the real focus I wanted it to have a ghostly hue. As a consequence contrast was needed, hence the red tie and red eyes of the creature, and the use of thin washes of purple on the host's skin.
In all I am a lot more satisfied with the creature than the host, but one learns as one goes I guess.
In game terms Boreas is pretty potent, a member of the villainous Forgotten, as he manipulates one of the four classical elements (air in this case), which allows him to open up some extra options in terms of actions.