100 Voices

My summer of Pulp City painting continues! 100 Voices proved somewhat of a surprise on the painting front, as I had no plans a week earlier to tackle him! (even though I have loved this mini from the moment James showed us the WiP pictures). I had been prepping a big batch of minis across a few ranges to get ready for later painting and opted to include him. Then I decided to do his base blue colour, and well, he ended up getting finished over a couple of quick sessions in one day which was very pleasing. It was a pleasingly straightforward painting job.

100 Voices is Eric Hanson, a former crooked but successful lawyer who had a sideline as a vicious serial killer, brought to justice by Dead Eye. Empowered by the dark whispers which constantly surround him, he ha been remade as 100 Voices.

In game terms 100 Voices is a Leader, essentially building Villain Teams of Supremes lacking Faction affiliation. Consequently he is something of an alternative to Mysterious Man. Unlike some Leaders, 100 Voices is not a heavy Damage dealer. Instead he brings disruption to his foes though Mind Control and some very effective de-buff Actions, and forcing models to rely on Spirit against him, often a weaker Trait.

Having painted 100 Voices, I really need and want to paint the Voicelings to go with him very soon.

I am really happy to have finished 100 Voices, and have recently finished the pets from the Citizens pack too (look for them soon), so I hope to get most of the Citizens family done this month too - watch this space. 100 Voices is my 143rd Pulp City mini, and if I do finish the Citizens soon that will leave just one mini short of the big 150....

100 Voices
Villain, Support, Level 3, Mystery
30 mm

Cro Mag

Cro Mag smash!

Cro Mag kind of jumped my 'planned painting queue' for Pulp City, and I am glad he did and that I how have him finished! Cro Mag is big, have no doubt, roughly 3 inches to the top of his head piece from the bottom of his base (that base is 50 mm across!). It is always satisfying to be able to put a big guy Powerhouse on the table, and I needed more Villain Powerhouse options painted, so Cro Mag was a perfect option. More importantly, painting Cro Mag leaves me just 1 mini short of the target I set for my own Pulp City painting at the start of the year. The pictures have washed out the highlights a little, but I am happy with the overall outcome (although his left heel needs a touch up).

Cro Mag is prehistoric man come to superhuman life in contemporary Pulp City, a rampaging creature often working for Mysterious Man. Even by Powerhouse standards, he is far from bright, and is pretty much all in all a destructive force of nature.

Powerhouses are beasts in combat, they just take a bit of getting used to since they do not supply AP to the Pool, and because you want to get the best out of their Power Up dice. Two Powerhouses going toe-to-toe with plenty of Objects to Manipulate (either Throw or Smash with) is just great fun, and really evokes the spirit of over-the-top battles we wanted to create with these massive Supremes. Cro Mag is no exception to any of that!

The mini comes in just two parts and is cast in resin, making it very simple to prepare and assemble, and easy to game with. For his colour scheme I generally followed the brown fur/blue skin of the studio version.

It is nice to get another 'big mini' done, and I still have a number of Powerhouses to paint (eight in all right now, although I have started on TINY!). Now he is painted, I am hoping Cro Mag makes it to the table before too long, and it also reminds me I need to paint up 100 Voices as another Leader option for him!

Cro Mag
Villain, Powerhouse, Level 3, Mystery
50 mm

Chernobog

Another Supreme finished (my 140th painted Pulp City mini!), and this one has taken much longer than planned. I started painting this alt-Perun as Chernobog during the Cold war Kickstarter campaign, but then he got sidelined unfortunately. With some renewed painting resolve in July I finally managed to tackle him properly and that gives my first Supreme in readiness for the arrival of the Red Republik. Even better, the alt-card for Chernobog (which we unlocked as a special Stretch Goal during the campaign) allows him to work as a Forgotten as well, giving this mighty godling somewhat divided allegiances.

Chernobog returned to the mortal realm when he heeded a summons from the Red Republik using an imprisoned Perun. Chernobog answered the call, freeing his ‘brother’ as he arrived, while he listened to another voice, whispering he should bide his time with the Red Republik until the time was right to claim his rightful place in the Forgotten.

Just as Perun can be to Hero, Nature and Supreme Alliance Teams, Chernobog can be a very powerful model for Villain, Forgotten and Red Republik Teams bringing hard-hitting close combat, decent ranged attack at standard AP and an area effect ability all in one package, all backed up by bonuses from Flight and his Fire and Darkness Elements. He is vulnerable on Agility, so is ripe pickings for long-range types like Gentleman.

Painting Chernobog gets me a step closer to this year's planned goal, which I still hope to exceed. A couple more painted minis and I will match what I wanted, so hopefully I will get there sooner than later!

Chernobog
Villain, Brawler, Level 2, Nature
30 mm

Anansi

Anansi is finished, finally! Phew!

I started painting Anansi late last year, possibly around October or even earlier, and the mini sat part-painted for ages with main colours blocked out, but unfinished as the colour scheme didn't quite work - even though I had largely opted for my go-to Villain colour combo of green and purple (hey, it served Marvel well in the 1960's!). I made a very minor change on that and was able to complete it in an hour or two today, which was very pleasing. Not my best painting I will admit, but there are parts I am pretty happy with.

Anansi is the 139th Pulp City mini I have painted for my own collection, and puts me to 9 for the year, so I am well on course for my target. She is the first non-Grimm Supreme I have painted since Mr. Kraken back in December, so hopefully that can be addressed in the coming months!

Transformed into a Supreme by a mysterious force, Anansi is a one time petty thief later turned circus performer. She later came to Mysterious Man's attention, who used his outlandish science to add to her array of gifts.

In game terms, Anansi is a Level 2 Infiltrator who can cause a lot of disruption on flanks with a Pulse that Shifts models. He Powers give her boosted defensive capabilities and she gets a steady stream of Power Up dice through the game. As a Level 2 model, she has inherent durability that Level 1 Infiltrators lack. The important thing is to keep her in Base to Base with terrain to benefit from High Ground as much as possibly (which helps offensively and defensively). Anansi is not going to win a toe to to battle against Level 2 Brawlers, Tanks or Powerhouses, but she is more than capable of picking other models off or weakening them, so is ideal against level 1 Supports, Infiltrators and Speeders.

Anansi
Villain, Infiltrator, Level 2, Nature
30 mm

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Ninjas (Jade Cult III)

My third Minion Card of Ninjas for Jade Cult, and my 7th and 8th Ninjas so far.

These were supposed to be finished back in August for the Minion Month Painting Challenge I had with Rob, but I fell at the final hurdle. While painting various Zombies for Zomtober on one of my other blogs (click for link), I finally regained the motivation to get these finished.

So these are done, which is a 'good thing' as far as I am concerned. I have now painted 116 minis for Pulp City, which I find pretty pleasing.

I still have plenty of Pulp City minis to paint, and hope to get stuck into them over the next few months: Green Serpent; Pulp Monster; 3 x Terror Cotta Warrior; Slug Muldoon; Papa Zombie; Comte Vendredi; and some other stuff...so watch this space!

Finally, yes, I did manage to catch the base of the lamp in the picture of the backs of the minis; oh well, I am too preoccupied to take any replacement pics...I have painting to do!

Ninja Sensei (Jade Cult II)

Click me! Make me bigger!

Well that did not go as planned. This was supposed to be my 'week 3' entry into Minion Month, and it slipped badly - it wasn't completed until last Friday. As for the 'week 4' entry, well that is underway, but I have blown the deadline.

I am pretty disappointed, as so far I have pretty much achieved the challenges I have done with others, but not this time. While I have so far painted 4 Minion models as a result, I was really hoping to have done more. Still, I intend to finish the other Ninjas I have started, and I did some more on them today, so all main colours are blocked out, and have worked on the green areas with shading and some highlighting.

This model is to be a Ninja Sensei for Jade Cult; all my Ninja Sensei will use the body featuring the tabard as well as the bald head, so that they will be more distinctive among the eventual hoped for ranks of Ninjas.

Also note that I have changed my lighting set up a little, adding two additional lamps, so that may see a little bit of experimentation with future photographs; I am simply hoping they will be brighter and crisper, but we shall see.

Anyway that is all for now. I have more Ninjas underway, and have started work on the Primate of Mystery, so that may get finished in the next couple of weeks, if motivation is there.

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.

Doc Cosmos

Not a Pulp City mini, but a super of my own design, sculpted to fit in with the Pulp City line, Doc Cosmos has taken a while to be painted from original concept, to sculpting, to casting and to me painting this version.

The mini was sculpted  by James Van Schaik.

My friend Hendybadger and me set ourselves a Challenge, to get our commissioned minis painted before the end of January (see here for the original Challenge post).

Doc Cosmos is a hero I conceived a few years ago, and was very loosely inspired by a Golden Age hero. He originally went by the name Doc Stellar, but I found that a character in Big Bang Comics had that code-name, so a change was required.

The planned colour scheme was red and blue, but I switched to red and black shortly before starting to finish him off in earnest, and I think the combo is effective.

The face probably needs a bit more work, and a bit more will be down, but I am happy overall nonetheless.

He will be getting some 'house rules' I reckon to be used in some Pulp City games at some point, but for now I am proud that he is painted.

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.

Ninjas! (Way Of the Fist & Blade)

Ninjas

A loooong while since I posted some newly painted minis, so I was glad to get these done, even if my painting skills were more than a little rusty in completing them.

Hadron has hit a back-burner yet again, but not because of these Ninjas, rather I hit yet another painting block. Therefore I wanted to 'get something done', and these were to hand, so without much further ado I cracked into them. Well I say 'without much further ado', but I did change two of the heads mid-way through.

Ninja Sensei

They were assembled a few weeks ago but inevitably got put to one side. The sculpts are by the brilliant James Van Schaik and are four piece models (head, two arms, body) with two body variations.

When I decided to get stuck into them I had plans for these to represent two rank and file Ninjas and their Sensei, but part-way through I changed my mind as to which model should represent the Sensei, so heads were swapped around a bit and one taken out (bare-head for the Sensei, swapped for a wraparound goggles head and a different goggles head was put onto one of the other Ninjas).

These guys are intended to be some 'good guy' Ninjas, therefore probably linked to the loose collection of Supremes known as the Way of the Fist & Blade. Since the pivotal figure in that collective is Crimson Oni, I wanted a colour scheme to match him. Highlighting the dark body-suit was challenging and probably shows off my current painting rustiness most of all. Still they are done and that is the main thing for me.

Way of the Fist & Blade Ninjas with Crimson Oni

I will be doing more Ninjas and Sensei in the future (for the Jade Cult), and they will have the more traditional masks and probably bare heads for Sensei. They will look a little more uniform in that respect I expect. And there should be many more them...

Shadow Mask

Chronin still keeps the Shadow Mask’s finely crafted blade. She is fully aware that in the Green Emperor’s court, there is always a Shadow Mask and one day, he or she will come to reclaim the sword along with Yuriko’s life. But she will be more than ready.

In the background of Pulp City there have been many Shadow Mask's, personal agents of the fearsome Green Emperor. The fledgling Hero called Chronin dispatched a previous Shadow Mask, and now another has arisen to take on the mantle. yet this one is possibly deadlier and certainly more feral than his predecessor.

 My painting has been slowed by a combination of working night shifts (never conducive to my painting it seems) and engaging in bits of writing and development work. So even though this is not the best paint-job I have done, I am still quietly pleased that it is finished. I have decided that I will try and include at least a flash of the same green colour across all the Jade Cult that I do, and I may go for a 'black and green' scheme for the whole Team to help tie them together. I have a Ninja Sensei coming up soon that will hopefully help firm up that idea.

In game play Shadow Mask is all about sneaking up on enemy models then bringing some brutal attacks to bear. I need to probably pick up another so I can do a Shadow Double (one of his Exclusive Actions which allows a second self to appear; the double is likely just going to be a dark grey mini with basic highlights).

Crimson Oni

Wow. I have painted a new mini; it has been a while has it not?

For me this has been a long gestation period. Even before having the mini in hand, I have been 'working' with Crimson Oni for what seems like a long time - 20-21 months ago working from the brief I was given, Crimson Oni took shape in rules terms; and took further shape, and changed again, and again and again. And that is all part of the process I guess.

Anyone remember the 'mysterious stranger in red' from Christmas Madness 2010? Part of Crimson Oni's play-testing!

It has been weird and enjoyable  taking a concept that was sketched out by someone else, but then putting what is inevitably my own stamp on things. While by the end it is not a single voice that creates the rules for these guys - Maciej, Devon and me will all argue things in different ways to make things as good as we can - I will take the rap for anything you are not happy with with Crimson Oni.

In game terms he is a beast in melee; he does not necessarily have the best close combat Traits and Skills, but he has some potent Actions meaning he can deliver a lot of punch, and yes, Five Point Exploding Heart Technique was always intended to be particularly deadly. He can mix it with the best of them so enemies should approach with caution.

I know some may think that the Little Asia guys have come out of nowhere- basically the Jade Cult and Crimson Oni and Foxxy Blade - but the seeds have been around throughout the history of the game's fluff; Chronin faced and killed an earlier incarnation of Shadow Mask in her fluff, and Green Emperor is mentioned there; there has been mention of the Green Army (the original name for what is now Jade Cult) going back that far; in the Guide p. 103 has a couple of paragraphs hinting at what was (and still is!) to come, as well as showing the Crimson Oni and Foxxy Blade concepts.

The coolest thing about Pulp City for me is that the potential is pretty much limitless, and that is in a game with lost of Sub-factions as well as playing from mixed Teams.

Back onto the mini, when I thought I had finished it the other day I realised after taking photographs I had forgotten to paint his lower teeth - that has since been rectified.

Hopefully I will be able to feature him in a new Battle Report soon.

Riposte

Click to embiggenify.

I am glad this one is done. It has been a pain in the behind for me to be sure. Firstly my planned colour scheme just did not look right, and secondly I dropped it (maybe a couple of times), which necessitated repairs to re-fixing the sword arm and the mini to the base.

I like the model, and my end result is okay, maybe, but this particular painting experience has been frustrating at times - mainly due to my own clumsiness. I really like this sculpt by James Van Schaik, but it has nonetheless been an awkward process.

Oh well, done now. The original colour scheme had been intended to be a deep purple (which I kept) contrasting with a paler lilac or similar. the colour choice was influenced by Marvel Comics' the Swordsman, a former Avenger (so a complement to the Hawkeye them for Arquero). I just could not get a satisfactory colour for the lighter tone, so ended up with the blue-grey type colour here which works better I feel.

In game terms Riposte is no combat monster. Instead she is very much a finesse Supreme with Actions that benefit from considered use and planning - maximising benefits can require a little forethought and calculation by the player using her.