Feartigo

Feartigo is my second Pulp City mini of the year, making for a better start than 2016 (although I had a very good February).

I got inspired to do him when I saw someone else had painted theirs up, helping motivate me. As I had a few days off work (a lot spent assembling terrain), I felt confident I would get him finished without him falling into 'painting queue limbo', and thankfully that proved accurate. With all the browns he was going to have I thought the purple/magenta trousers would make a nice counterpoint while sticking with my colour vocabulary for Villains.

In terms of game-play, Feartigo straddles two Factions, as a Necroplane agent who has infiltrated the Coven ranks through subterfuge, secretly serving Dr. Tenebrous, but whose loyalties may be uncertain for either side. Painting him adds my first new Coven in fifteen months, and my first new Necroplane in three and half years! At least one of those Teams needs to make it to the table this year I think.

Feartigo is a Blaster with added durability, whose Actions all work against Spirit (ideal against A.R.C. or Heavy Metal). His added durablity is due to the fact that he has two defensive Trumps, adds +1 die to Defend when Attacked out of Base to Base, and because he also Damages Attackers who Damage him with Mind or Spirit Actions. Basically, as an overall package he can be a nasty surprise for an unwary opponent, especially as his main Attack will typically generate 4 dice against Living Targets.

Feartigo
Villain, Blaster, Level 2, Mystery
30 mm

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

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!

The Coven (Sub-faction - updated)

Click on the picture to make bigger-er.

Since I do not expect any more Coven releases for a while (but they will come, I am sure!), I thought I could afford to take time to do a Sub-faction update.

The Coven are the antithesis of the Heroes of Heavy Metal, yet can be compared with their own corporate headquarters across Golden Plaza from Heavy Metal's base. They utilise scientific and arcane resources in the pursuit of their aims.

I have enough here to field a Level 7 The Coven Team.

The Coven so far (left to right):

• Twilight: shadow thief, shadow shooter.
• Rook: bruiser and bodyguard. Offers decent area denial capability.
• Francis Gator: bloodthirsty swamp-dweller offspring of an occult dabbler and a swamp devil. Tenacious low-Level brawler.
• Loup Garou II: true 'combat monster' in every sense. Fast and brutally powerful.
• Moon Coyote/Moonchild: support Supreme requiring Loup Garou II to be present to be fielded in a The Coven Team.

Moonchild/Moon Coyote

This teenage Native American is a werecoyote, choosing between here human support form and coyote speeder form. She belongs to Blood Watch but thanks to the half of the Moon Amulet, under certain conditions, she may be fielded in The Coven.

The human-coyote hybrid form (Moonchild) was sculpted by James van Schaik, and the animal form (Moon Coyote) by Jarek Smolka. A quick paint-job this on as I painted both minis together and there is little variation of colours on offer on either.

I like to think the paint-jobs are pretty understated, but fitting I feel, and I have pretty much used the official versions as a broad template, even including a magenta half moon motif to help break-up the look of ther tunic as with the studio version.










Just as Moonchild/Moon Coyote allows Loup Garou II to be fielded as a Blood Watch Hero, so the reverse is true: Loup Garou II allows Moonchild/Moon Coyote to be used as a The Coven Villain. Lots of Team-buildings combinations available there then.









In game-play Moonchild/Moon Coyote is a Shapeshifter, with each form having some specialisation, but overall offering a Supreme specialised in Support and mobility.











Further out it hopefully won't be too long before Blood watch can field their own Level 12 Team with at least a couple more Supremes lined up.

Loup Garou II

Loup Garou II is the second of his name to work for the Coven. Though Hoodoo has slain the orginal Loup Garou this new incarnation is entirely different. His fragment of the Moon Talisman transforms him into half man half beast. A creature of uncontrolled savagery he seeks out his enemies and rips them limb from limb.

Sculpted by Erick Redling - his first foray into Pulp City I believe, this Loup Garou is the second known bearer of the name.

A big brute of a dread-locked werewolf, I was very eager to get painting on this one. Alas a bit of paitence would have helped since I noticed that as I was painting there were parts I did not prep adequately enough.

Loup Garou II is a real combat monster in every sense of the description. Normally a Villain, if Teamed with Moonchild/Moon Coyote, he then becomes Blood Watch and a Hero! Very useful!

Forgive the funny angle on the pictures - I was trying out a new mini tripod and so will need to elevate the minis if using it again in the future.

The Coven (Sub-faction)

Click on image for bigger version

This time around we have the Coven. The Coven are the antithesis of the Heroes of Heavy Metal, with a corporate headquarters across Golden Plaza from Heavy Metal's base.

The Coven offer a mix of Origins, primarily Mystery, but with some Science thrown in as well. At present there are not many Coven Supremes, but more Coven are on the horizon for next year.

The Coven so far (left to right):

• Twilight; shadow thief.
• Rook; bruiser and bodyguard. Offers decent area denial capability.
• Francis Gator; bloodthirsty swamp-dweller offspring of an occult dabbler and a swamp devil.

Twilight

Less is known about the origins of Twilight than any other Pulp City Supreme, and not much more is known about the group she represents. Twilight is a mistress of avoiding detection and cheating death.

One of the first minis released for Pulp City, I only finished Twilight last month. Overall, I am fairly pleased with the results - not a perfect paint-job, but then I am not a 'perfect painter'; instead I aim for what I think of as a 'pleasing tabletop style'. When I say pleasing, that is all relative and it is on a very-much personal level as to what I feel is pleasing. I don't have the talent, skill or time to try and paint to a better level, so I accept my painting for what it is - mostly - imperfections and all, and ultimately intended to be used in games since at heart I am a gamer first.

Twilight was ultimately fairly nice to paint as a model; more so than I initially anticipated. Nonetheless I had put off painting Twilight for quite some time as I hadn't wanted to go with the colour scheme I used. However since I could think of no other, it was the one I used, despite the similarity to the 'official' scheme. I like the colour combo - it is reminiscent of that used for a favourite character of mine from Malibu Comics' Ultraverse (Solitaire) - I just wanted to do something more original. Oh well, maybe if they ever re-do the mini I'll get the chance.

In game terms, Twilight is best used for harassment, stealth and hit and run attacks. I look forwards to using her in a future game.

Francis Gator

Gator is the nefarious half-man, half-reptile in the ranks of the Coven. He sticks out from the rest of the strike team, but he is so useful nobody will ever question his presence on the payroll.














It seems as though I am posting more Villains than Heroes. Well the balance of painting is not quite so - I pretty much paint a Hero and a Villain at the same time to keep the numbers even. That said, I need to repaint a Hero and for some reason many Hero pictures haven't turned out quite as well as the Villain ones. Oh well, time and perseverence will tell. I hope.

On to the mini. As ususal I had a plan in mind before starting painting. Of course things didn't work out quite right. The waist-coat originally was a 'flatter' brown which just visually looked as though it merged with the skin colour I had chosen. Not good. Hence the more orangey brown. I wanted the cap and jeans to be blue and red, and the rest to have more earthy tones (the lizard excepted), so even though it creates quite a dull effect, it was what I wanted. Still, I may do another one day to see if I can do a better job second time around.

To get things started...Rook

This was an early photograph I took (I only started doing so a few months ago), so hopefully it shows a little of where I was before we get to where I am now. Rook is a big, bad bruiser of a Villain. The game pits Heroes versus Villains in the streets of Pulp City, and Rook is certainly one of my favourite models from the game. The model was sculpted by James van Schaik, who is rapidly becoming one of my favourite sculptors. Rook serves darker and more powerful forces than he (as he works for the Coven), and on the tabletop he does it pretty well.

Rook can spend all of his APs to go crazy with the Tremor Halberd or go defensive and protect any Supreme he is guarding. It takes some time to learn how to use him, but after that - Jason King (Rook) is the boss.