Phalanx

Phalanx is my third Pulp City Supreme this month (yay!), and finishing him means I have hit my planned goal for the year (more yay!) with a few months to go. Painting Phalanx also takes me to 142 painted Pulp City minis, which leaves me just 8 more short of the next milestone achievement of 150 painted minis from the range. I will probably have to commit to a big picture of them all when I get to that stage (I did something similar when I went past 100 a few years back).

Phalanx is a member of the Forgotten, forged by Hellsmith to lead the Mecha Spartans. If his body is ever destroyed, he is reborn into a Mecha Spartan shell, transforming it into his traditional form.

In game terms Phalanx is a typical Forgotten, on a 40 mm base as most of them are. He is tough and hard-hitting despite being a Support Supreme, and with cheap (Level 1) Mecha Spartans around, you can keep him in the game a long time.

I cleaned up and prepared Phalanx at the same time as Cro Mag. The painting on this one was super quick by my standards, started and finished on the same day, with a simple palette and use of washes, a bit of dry-brushing and simple highlights. That said, I am pretty pleased with how he turned out despite the fast turnaround. Not sure what my next Pulp City painting will be, although I want to get TINY! and Grimmsham done as soon as I can, and maybe White Tiger and 100 Voices too. If I get 3 more minis painted fro the range before the end of the year, then I will have exceeded my 2014 and 2015 combined output.

Phalanx
Villain, Support, Level 2, Science
40 mm

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

Toxic Grimmvenger

My first Pulp City mini of the year - Toxic Grimmvenger - and my first finished Pulp City mini in almost seven months. Wow - far too long (how often do I end up typing variations on those words?). However, he is the 121st Pulp City mini I have painted, so at least the total has grown. Hopefully the next few weeks will see a few more additions to the painted minis selection!

After some months of inertia a package of new stuff finally arrived with ye Citizen, and yesterday I prepped 6 Supremes and 2 Minions. Among those Supremes were 4 of the new Grimm unleashed from the Kickstarter, and I saw them as a way to kick-start my Pulp City painting. The first finished was Toxic Grimmvenger, mainly because I intentionally focused more on him while doing base colours on the others, and also because he had a very simple paint scheme. I could have used more variety of colours on the various objects embedded into his body, but I wanted to complete the painting quickly and satisfactorily, and I am pretty pleased with how he turned out given that it was a quick turnaround for me.

In game terms Toxic Grimmvenger is an interesting proposition; he is one of currently three Brawlers for the Grimm, and each is functionally different. Of the three, Toxic Grimmvenger is probably the hardest hitting simply because he can easily generate 3 dice, or 4 dice with TINY! in play, without considering extra dice from situational Combat Bonuses. Couple that with a range of Attacks from a cheap and basic Damaging close combat Action to a ranged option to a Damage 2 close combat Action, and he offers real threat against other Supremes, even those of Level 2 or 3.

Toxic Grimmvenger
Hero/Villain, Brawler, Level 1, Science
30 mm

Primate Of Science

It has been a while since I last painted a Pulp City mini, over three months in fact - I need to rectify that!

I think the reason that this has sat waiting to be finished for a while is that it is so...yellow. (I thought I would point that out for anyone who hasn't noticed!). I ended up using Army Painter yellow spray for the undercoat and touched up with the matching colour, and once I properly started it was not too onerous.

The Primate of Science's main function is to buff certain Science ARC Supremes and an ARC Team in general. Therefore to maximize his value, he is ideal in a Team including Dr. Red, Silverager, Howler and even Virus (but where Virus goes, Apebot should always follow...).

It is always nice to get another mini in the range painted, and this makes 117 painted Pulp City minis for me! I have Red Bella underway and did a little more work on her last night. Time to get to work on some other Pulp City stuff methinks.

Of course the next month is going to be pretty busy I guess for the Pulp Monsters team...

Giant Hadron

Captain Hadron's transitions to giant-size required a lot of control and meant that he could not utilize other abilities when doing so, and even his transformations back to other sizes were time consuming when grown to his maximum height. 

Wow. Even with the deadline of last month's Challenge, I did not get this finished on time.

And having already dawdled for over two years, the first of my Giant Hadrons is finished (yes, I have another! That could be another terminally slow painting log in the making...).

It is done at last. Not my best painting by any stretch, but what surprised me is how difficult painting a big model is. I don't think I have completed painting on a model this size before now. I guess painters get habituated to working at a given scale and so stepping beyond that is going outside of your comfort zone, which may be part of why this has taken so long to complete; that and I am a notoriously slow painter of course!

Not my best work, but hopefully I have learned some lessons from tackling this big model; lessons that will inform other big models eventually.

In the new Supreme Edition rules Giant Hadron is a Powerhouse; what this means is that we hope he lives up to his stature, and unlike the previous edition he can stay giant-size for the whole game (he was limited to 1-2 Rounds previously).

We are still gathering feedback on the new rules, so let us know what you think of our biggest Powerhouse, who gets Size Matters against all other Supremes as things currently stand. With the importance of dice pooling to achieve SFX, that is a good advantage to have.

Hopefully this month's painting slump will not continue into next month, and I hope that I can start to overhaul the total painted minis I achieved in 2012, especially with so many new Pulp City minis on the horizon: Green Emperor and Terror Cotta Warrior; V.H. and Blacksmith; Red Bella and Primates of Power; Papa Zombie and Comte Vendredi; new Starter sets and much more besides.

Time to get those last few currently remaining minis done then: Doom Train; Night Fright and Leech; Green Serpent; Pulp Monster.

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.

Digger Grimm (2)

Click to embiggenate

There is a hive mind structure to Grimm activities and behavior; some claim that it is actually a human that pulls the strings.

My second Digger Grimm (I qualified for two sets by ordering a ton of stuff when the offer was up way back when...). This was supposed to be finished by last Wednesday, or Friday (28th or 30th), to meet my deadline for Super-November, but therein lies a tale.

My original plan for the 4th and final Super-November mini was Foxxy Blade,  but I dropped her on the floor, breaking off her pinned arm (which never had a strong enough pin in the first place). I glued said arm back, but had to green-stuff it and the job on THAT was bodged as it was rushed. In addition, as her main colour is yellow, that meant multiple layers on the join to get back up to speed, but by then it was clear she needs that arm re-pinning and I had no time. So this Digger Grimm became the back-up plan, but there was not enough time to finish it alas. It was finally finished today.

I will get back to Foxxy Blade soon, but will take time to get things right. In the mean-time I have just one Grimm left to paint at this time (another Elder), and I am creeping ever closer to painting my 100th Pulp City mini, and closer to my 90th unique Pulp City sculpt.

I really must cajole Maciej  into getting other Grimm into production as they are fun sculpts and nice to paint; I want hordes of these guys one day.

Arquero

So after a painting slump lasting maybe six or seven weeks (maybe a little more?), I have finally finished something. A pleasing turn of events for me.

Click to embiggen.

I loved this one from seeing the initial concept (as seen in the Pulp City Guide, p. 141), and when I got to see the green I was blown away.

It was awhile before it was then released and when I got hold of mine I was filled with enthusiasm, having a fairly clear plan for the paint schemes for Arquero and Riposte (the latter changing pretty quickly BTW), which was influenced by Marvel's Avengers (past and present) Hawkeye (Arquero, naturally) and Swordsman (Riposte, but subsequently changed).

However, my original enthusiasm waned with my most recent painting slump, which in turn was precipitated by painting so many Zombies in September I think, as well as other distractions. My painting tends to go in peaks and troughs.

So after posting about my slump, that seemed enough of a kick-start to return to Arquero yesterday who had a lot of work already done, and so finishing was fairly straight-forwards.

In game terms Arquero is useful in unaligned Teams and so is a good Supreme to consider for those Level 3's that build those kind of Teams, such as Dead Eye and Mysterious Man. Being part of a Super-Duo, Arquero is certainly more effective alongside Riposte. Finally, with his Melee Shot and Defensive Fire Actions his is an adept model when it comes to covering/protecting allied models, as well as having decent Ranged Combat Actions of course.

I am glad this is done - comments and criticism welcome.

I am still working at my photography, so I am fairly pleased with how sharp this one looks; still, more practice, practice and practice needed I think!

Stinger, Scorpio Fencer

Schooled in the mastery of Scorpio armour: a masterpiece of Ulthar craft providing the warrior with deadly blades and good protection.

I finished this one quite quickly which probably shows in some places, although some aspects of the paint-work I am pretty happy with (some of the use of sharp highlights for example). The mini sat with a base coat of dark green for a number of weeks (months?) before my recent move. As I gathered some motivation for painting again I set to work just as I was finishing Sovereign and Stinger ended up being done much more quickly than most of my minis.

I wanted the palette to remain quite tight across the Ulthar minis I have. Therefore the colourchoicess for Stinger, Scorpio Fencer would be limited, although the armour utilized a slightly different approach than that which I employed for Xyllian. I have tended to go for purple robes and cloth and green armour for the Ulthar (classic Marvel villain colours!), although Stinger lacks the same cloth options of many of the rest of the range.

In game terms Stinger is a melee specialist and interceptor – perfect for foiling close combat attacks on your more vulnerable Team-members.

Dr Red

Some beings are born to be leaders. The problem of Ape Revolution Committee is they have a few too many alphas in their ranks.

When Channel 4 mentions the bravado actions of A.R.C., Guerilla is usually the one mentioned. But only a few outsiders are aware that most of the progress made by the primates in the last years was sparked by the twisted mind of the alpha orangutan, the self proclaimed Dr. Red. Although his first attempt to take over the group while still in the space ended up with Guerilla beating him to a bloody pulp, Red mastered the art of patience.

Took a long time this one, it really did. Base colours were splashed about with hairy stick abandon when I was gripped with some great momentum, and as is always the way with momentum, it petered out...

Work on Dr. Red started many months ago, when I saw a short-lived resurgence of focus, and then he essentially got pushed further down the painting queue, generally in favour if some minis that were simple, or perceived to be simpler, to paint. I finally knuckled down slowly over the past week or so to occasionally dab some acrylics to the thing, and I have to say I am moderately pleased with how he turned out. Yes his power glove device could have benefited from a free-hand red star or some such, but lacking the confidence to pull of a weathered look to such an option as I would choose, I instead shied away from doing so. There are some parts that have or will be touched up a bit further before varnishing.

Dr. Red offers some useful Team-building options: Tactician 1 (adding AP) and a couple of Actions specifically intended to aid or buff other ARC members, and his Team Power can also offer help. He offers some ranged attack options with Throw Then Think, and Weapons Crate - if taking this Resource, seriously consider also taking Guerilla, Howler and/or Gentleman (with an ARC majority) to maximise benefits. Lastly, he can even stand up to moderate close combat attacks fairly well, so he is a good all-rounder.

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.

C.O.R.E.

C.O.R.E.: Conscious Omnipotent Replicated Entity. Its pursuit of a new lawful and compassionate order attracted a lot of following and when more and more of Supremes pledged their allegiance to C.O.R.E.'s crusade against all-things-evil, the birth of Heavy Metal team was imminent.

C.O.R.E. is the leader of Heavy Metal, and one of the few Level 3 Supremes available so far. He is versatile and powerful (with an attack that can be extended as far as 18" at the cost of a lot of AP), and he shouldn't lose many Starting Rolls. That versatility extends further to the upgrade he offers Heavy Metal Team members using Ranged Combat Actions: Lady Cyburn and Nuclear Jones especially benefit here, allowing some decent sniping between the Actions available to the 3 Supremes.

Given that Dr Mercury offers buffs for the whole Team, I think he is almost mandatory in a Heavy Metal Team using C.O.R.E. (Encounter Level 12 and above). In fact my ideal Heavy Metal Team at EL 12+ right now would probably see Captain Hadron or Iron Train relegated to last choice, with Iron Train edging things (therefore comprising C.O.R.E., Dr Mercury, Nuclear Jones, Iron Train, Chronin, Lady Cyburn & Androida; no need for a Merc like Gentleman to fill out ranks here).

I put off painting C.O.R.E. for quite some time as I am still trying to improve my NMM techniques. I still have a long way to go, but I think he looks reasonably effective. Eagle-eyed readers may spot that he does incorporate the red-blue colour motif I have used on many of my heroes, even if only in a small way.

The small Tokens around him are his Access Points; these resources are used like remote Exclusive Minions that are static, but have various defensive and offensive upgrade options. They also allow C.O.R.E. to use his Download* action to travel instantly across the board to be in Base to Base with an Access Point.

Skyline

For some Heroes their new lives are shaped by the pain of tragedy, while others are called to the fight against evil by their own personal crusades. A very rare few can say their new lives as heroes began simply because they were there.

Skyline was one of the joint Supreme Genesis 2 winners, and very much takes a 'rooftop vigilante' theme to match Jade Hawk, his unofficial companion mini (and box mate).

I loved this James Van Schaik-sculpted mini from the moment I saw it, but I was wary about how to tackle it because of one major thing; the model is supplied with a massive grotesque on which it sits ordinarily. However, that did not fit with my attempt to make most of my bases 'street side' in nature. Therefore I had to work out how to mount Skyline onto a base while allowing for the sweep of his cape. What I settled on was cobbling-together a base from Fenris with some broken brick wall (also Fenris) which gave just enough lift.

The colour scheme was intended to sit easily with that of Jade Hawk without being identical (they are not official partners after all); it is very dark being predominantly dark grey and dark sea green. I am pleased at that as it seems fitting for a night-prowling vigilante.

Eventually I plan to do another mounted on the accompanying grotesque with Jade Hawk similarly mounted, but basically as a display piece only.

Grimm Digger

There is a hive mind structure to Grimm activities and behavior; some claim that it is actually a human that pulls the strings.

Sculpted by Christian Danckworth, this is another of the first set of Grimm. These characterful little under-dwellers make frequent forays to the surface world under the bidding of their master.

The (currently available) Grimm can be fielded in a couple of ways: they can be used as Minions to be taken by any Faction; or they can be used as a Resource that provides some kind of boost, however this requires the presence of a Grimm Master or Superior Grimm Master in the same Team (Guide; Errata p. 137).

The Grimm Digger adds Immunity to Difficult Terrain and Ram to the abilities of a card of Grimm Minions.

Iron Train

Tony was a simple man, working on the railroad before he became a Supreme. Iron Train is the iconic defender of Pulp City, loved by crowds and his colleagues in the Heavy Metal team. Relying on his supernatural resilience granted by the armor, Tony can withstand almost anything Villains bring to the battlefield.

I promised some new pictures, and here is the first. Iron Train (sculpted by Edgar Skomorowski - Degra) was one of the earliest Pulp City minis, yet it has taken me until only the past week or so to actually finish it. It has been in the 'part-painted' queue for quite some time, and this was my second attempt (the first was dunked in the stripping bath).

I am glad that the mini is finished, and although the paint-job is not brilliant, I am quietly pleased with how it turned out. Certainly not a professional standard, but good enough for me. And of course it helps to build up my Heavy Metal forces further. I liked this mini from the outset, but when I started slapping it with one of my old 'standby' paints (GW Bolt Gun Metal) it just looked a horrible mess. That was the turning point for me to try NMM, and while I have a long way to go, hopefully I am improving here and there.

On the gaming table Iron Train is a bit of a beast. While he has a lower than average AP Allowance, this is more than made up by his Trump Traits and Skills. Basically the guy is tough as nails and only really vulnerable when his Mind or Spirit is called on.

Iron Train can dish out a lot of hurt and can take it too; he can do well standing toe to toe even against a couple of other Strength Trump foes as I recently found out to my satisfaction. In that regard Iron Train is fairly forgiving, but don't get overconfident - Gemini Y can shut him down for the Round quite easily for as little as 2 AP (3 AP if trying to make it count with a Power-Up).

One of his greatest assets is shielding his Team-mates - don't overlook his capabilities in that area; he can take the Damage - most of the time.

Herald

Herald: No record found...

A special case this one, no doubt, and a mini that serves as a little bit of a metaphor for how my engagement with the tabletop minis hobby has changed over the years. It should be noted that I have coveted the Herald for quite some time.

I first became acquainted with the 'little lead men' in the 1980's, through a small independent toy shop called Jacobs, which sold a small selection of both painted and unpainted Citadel miniatures. I didn't understand the significance of Citadel until much later, but I was immediately captivated by a well-painted Dwarf miniature which I bought. In the ensuing years I became involved in the 'Games Workshop hobby' (as GW are wont to describe it themselves), and my primary focus was gaming. After a few more years i left the hobby, to return maybe 6 or 7 years later (thanks Rob!).

I got back into gaming, but now took on painting far more diligently than I had before. I finished painting more minis in the second era of my hobby than in the first, by far. After a few years my main gaming buddy (Rob - again) and me both started to drift towards less GW-centric minis.

We painted tons of minis to use with supers games, and Rob has since diversified further to start painting a veritable cornucopia of genres, and please check out his blog (here) to see just how eclectic his tastes are.

The point I am meandering towards is that painting has caught up and possibly even overtaken my focus on gaming at times, and this mini underscores that.

Seeing the Herald mini motivated me to to do everything possible to get one, as part of my determination to paint everything Pulp City that I can. Hence I signed up to become a Herald on behalf of Pulp Monsters, and hopefully as a consequence I spread positive and encouraging words about the Pulp City game and minis.

I was chuffed to get this little model in the post a couple of weeks ago, and couldn't wait to paint it, so started work very quickly. I may rarely, if ever, game with it, since this was a miniature that simply appealed to the enthusiast and collector in me; but that is cool. I am pretty happy with the outcome (I will never win awards with my capabilities), and so as I said at the beginning this mini (sculpted by the very talented Wojtek Flis) really outlines how my involvement in the tabletop miniatures hobby has changed over time.

Silverager

Silverager is a skilled technician, self-taught rocket science genius and a very calm individual, always the voice of reason when Guerilla's ego flies.

BUT....

If you ever, ever step on his toes, he'll make sure those two extra arms are not wasting time as he will chase you down and present the ape fury in all its glory.

Finished this today, and I enjoyed painting it - quite a lot. Which is funny, because many of the models I have enjoyed painting most from the range belong to ARC, yet it isn't my favourite Sub-faction by any stretch; go figure that one out.

I actually started Silverager and Guerilla at the same time, blocking out areas of similar colour on the two, yet carried on with Silverager as I was caught by that ever elusive painting muse.

Silverager was sculpted by Jarek Smolka, who is probably one of the most prolific contributors to the sculpting Pulp City's Supremes, and no stranger to the ARC Team, having sculpted Apebot & Virus, and Chimp Chi amongst others.

In game terms Silverager is a close combat master who can get scarier (and less controlled) as he gets more enraged. He has a pretty devastating Action in Spinebreaker (Charge* with it, sacrifice a Strike to boost it, Power-Up and voila: a result of 12 to 19 is possible), and he also has an Action that repairs Mechanical models - very useful.

Chronin

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.

Sculpted by the talented James van Schaik, Chronin is a mini that has confounded me - and again, and again.

This is actually my third attempt at finishing the mini. I started one and didn't like it. I assembled another, started it, and again was not happy. I then stripped the first one and started yet again, and this is the result. there are elements I am content with, but it has simply been a mini that has proven frustrating to paint. Which is nothing to do with quality, rather my limitations as a painter. The Pulp Monsters version is stunning, which proves that the mini is good and decent for painting. And yes, i know that the scabbard is on the wrong way - I am not touching that now, I can tell you.

After photographing the mini, I will touch up a couple of places, but it is largely done, and that is what I am focusing on. Maybe one day I will paint a more satisfying version of this mini, but until then this is the Chronin I have.

Chronin herself is a level 1 who neatly side-steps one of the core game concepts; normally a model is Activated to perform one or two Actions. Chronin can begin her Activation by performing whichever suitable and available Actions that she has, and then continuing performing more actions as her AP Allowance and the AP Pool permits, without need to declare them all. Her Actions run a mix of offensive and defensive, as well as offering a counter to Trump Rolls and Lucky.

Gentleman (Sniper)

Gentleman is not utterly evil, he considers moral standards more or less a matter of individual taste. Just as you may like a Prada suit, so you may like being a hitman.

A long time coming getting a Gentleman Sniper finished - this was not the first version I started (there is another that I will get finished one day that will have a cream suit. In the interim this was painted simply to get a model done amidst my latest bout of painters block. I had hoped to use an alternative sniper rifle from RAFM, but it was too big to fit adequately; I may try and fit it to the other currently-abandoned version.

Unfortunately when I painted up the model, I came across some pitting on the face that I hadn't really seen during clean-up; by that point it was too late so a case of having to accept the situation or abandon this one as well - that was not going to happen.

I rate Gentleman very highly as a utility Supreme for pretty much any Team; his combination of Merc and Greed 1 makes him a great option to fill a gap in any selection. Even after the release of over 50 Supremes so far, he still offers promise in numerous circumstances. One consideration I may look at his using him with an atypical Resource - the Silencer gun usually used with Twilight. It would require a mainly coven Team, but would allow Gentleman increased stealth-and-shoot capability.