Primate of Nature (Primate of Power)

Click to make me look bigger! "Raar!"

The earthly avatars of the great Ape Spirit, Primates of Power are primal beings who are inextricably linked with the fate of the Ape Revolutionary Committee.

The Primate of Nature is attuned to Supremes such as Guerilla, those particularly aligned to nature's fury.

In Pulp City SE terms, the Primate of Nature is an unusual deviation from the usual Leader type; normally they are a Level 3 character, yet for the A.R.C. we decided that the Leaders would be the Primates of Power, who in turn can boost the capabilities of key Supremes.

What you end up with in regards to the Primate of Nature is a tough little monkey who can buff one model, or a whole A.R.C. Team depending on which Action he uses, as well as packing some punch himself.

The Primates of Power are due for imminent release, along with Red Bella. I decided to get mine painted as I was worried about losing the momentum for painting I had built over the first few months of the year; I needed to 'get something finished' which is how I have resisted or overcome previous painting slumps, as regular readers may recognise.

So I set out to start the Primate of Nature with a quick paint-job, and after about and hour or so work (not non-stop, but around bits and pieces of other painting), the mini was done. For such a quick-to-finish piece, I am happy with the outcome. It is just as I want it and has some semblance of momentum restored for me. This is the 35th mini I have finished this year (after painting only 24 in all of 2012), so if I am to hit my target of 48-50-plus minis for 2013, I felt I could not risk a new painting slump, and this was the perfect mini at the perfect time. Especially with the upcoming Minion Month Painting Challenge....

The Primate of Nature is my 109th discrete Pulp City miniature including individual Supremes and Minions and duplicates. I would like to add at least four more this month, maybe as many as ten. How I get on with that is another matter...

Anyhoo, watch this space!

Welcome

A new 'welcome to the blog' post, this time as a shout out to JP. That folk are still signing up is heartening, even when I have not been painting too much lately. So thanks to JP for taking time to stop by.

On the blog front, expect some increased posting in the next few weeks. I have just come off a Painting Challenge over on the Eclectic Gentleman Tabletop Gamer (click for link), and August is set to be another. August is going to be Minion Month - this month Rob and I will try and paint up some of those supporting guys, the ones who are not the head-liners, but the humble grunts. For my own part of the Minion Month Painting Challenge I plan to paint 1-2 Ninjas each week for 4 weeks. Therefore a minimum of of 4 Ninjas, but maybe 6, or 8 or perhaps even more! (okay, I am getting carried away thee knowing my usual productivity!)

The deadlines will be August 10th; August 17th; August 24th and August 31st. That gives me quite a bit of lead time for the first minis which I hope will hold me in good stead for the Painting Challenge as a whole. Watch this space!

Magic Markers (5)

Been a while, but these were quick and easy to do.

I could see these as useful for Tokens in an Encounter featuring Necroplane Supremes and Minions.

They are simply Micro Art Studios bases painted up and voila.

Welcome

Crikey, hot on the heels of the last 'welcome' post is this one. So without any further ado, a 'welcome to the Pulp Citizen' goes out to Wandrell.

I am sure have said this more than a hundred times, but knowing that people are reading does help spur me on so every who checks by, everyone who signs up as a Follower, it is very much appreciated! So thanks everyone.

Now while I have your focus can I draw some attention to a few other blogs I check out a lot?

Four Colour Super Minis - the blog of my main gaming buddy; very eclectic in content, including supers gaming, and regularly has something new and interesting.

Tales of a Tabletop Skirmisher - another buddy's blog, this has a lot of news and review content, and covers a number of skirmish games including Pulp City.

Brummie's Wargaming Blog - I have got to know this blog's proprietor via the online community, and we keep promising to get some games in - soon, very soon hopefully! A nice mix of stuff, with recent emphasis on spy-fi and VSF.

TWTs occasional creative plog - another eclectic blog, and one that has regular Pulp City content, and again someone I have got to know primarily through the online community.

The Boneyard - Undead Jon's blog features occasional Pulp City minis, all very spiffily painted. I am alwasy glad to read his periodic updates.

Mashed Up Potato - Now Darth Tater is only a sporadic blogger, but he is a great bloke and so any time he posts I am happy to read.

Pulp City Planet - one of Dr. Warlock's myriad blogs, this one is primarily focused on Pulp City, with related supers content and other skirmish content.

Welcome

Another 'welcome aboard' post, this time to Ridmasta - thanks very much for joining.

As always it is a boost to me to see anyone checking in and indeed signing up, so thanks everyone.

On the Pulp City front, well what I can say is that the Open Beta of Pulp City SE helped us a lot; we are preparing for the next stage so more on that when we can say.

On my own quest to paint one of every mini for the range, well I have completed another couple this month, and have 3 Terror Cotta Warriors that have been started.

In August Rob and me plan to do a Painting Challenge - Minion Month. Basically goons or henchmen types. I plan on doing 6 Jade Cult Ninjas and Ninja Sensei.

So more stuff on the horizon, and hopefully some news in the not too distant future.

Night Fright & Leech

Click to enlarge-ify

Night Fright gently eased Leech into a turn towards the primary portal. They were both ready to feast on the horrors in the souls of any unfortunates whose paths crossed their own. Yet somewhere deep down, Night Fright could not escape the feeling he had experienced something very much like this once before.

As ever, this has taken a while to finish!

I finally got around to assembling the mini in January (see here for the WiP) when I worked out how I wanted to manage to lift the model up. I did not want to use a transparent strut, and I did not want it to be attached by an object, since more often than not neither is too satisfactory a solution for my liking. I have seen some flying/leaping models lately supported by capes and trailing cloth, and that gave me inspiration when I saw some smoke effects from Tabletop Art.

I had a plan.

And like any plan, and as any regular reader of this blog know, my painting plans rarely survive contact with the enemy; the enemy in this case being my ever-fleeting motivation.

Well motivation returned in the past few weeks and it is finally complete. I am pretty pleased with the outcome and think that this very cool sculpt by Paul Muller will both fit in with and stand out from my Necroplane and wider collection of Villains.

In a nutshell, Night Fright is some kind of unliving remnant, possibly from outside the Necroplane, and he rides atop Leech, the wildest of the Nightmare Engines.

In the upcoming Pulp City SE, Night Fright & Leech is a Level 2 Speeder. Speeders can use more Movement Actions than other Roles. they are much, much faster as a consequence, but generally less hard-hitting. Except when it comes to Night Fright & Leech. This Nonliving partnership has one of the most powerful Overrun Actions in the new rules; an Action Type that allows a model to crash through a number of Targets at once. Arguably the only better Overrun may be Seabolt's, but that should be clear when the new rules are formally unleashed.

For my Necroplane, currently I have Doom Train and the soon to be released Papa Zombie and Comte Vendredi to complete. There are a few other Pulp City minis I have yet to finish so hopefully soon I will have more done to show off. The horror-themed Necroplane could be a cool choice for this year's Hallowe'en Madness, so I must get chatting to Rob about that very soon.

Green Emperor

The Green Emperor twisted his broken sword in the chest of the Phoenix and the fire died in her eyes. Indeed, the times had truly changed. He turned around looking for the Tiger, but she was nowhere to be found. It mattered not, for they were writing a completely new history this time.

Click to embiggen my imperial majesty

Okay, this was a pleasant surprise to myself - started last Saturday and finished within a few days, which does not follow my usual pattern M.O.; that usually means starting a model, blocking stuff out and moving only to return weeks, months, or even occasionally years later...

So Green Emperor is done. I purposefully used a very limited palette: 5 base colours including 3 greens, each highlight in a different way; blue-green (sword), with some thin glazes; and dark grey for the hair.

While not my best work, I am happy with how it turned out, especially given the time I took for turnaround - it has helped stoke my enthusiasm more, so much so that I am determined to finish my 3 Terror Cotta Warriors and maybe my Shadow Double this month.

Green Emperor's game rules for the current edition have been released (here), but suffice to say he comes with the usual plethora of rules that one expects for a Level 3, and one of the cool things is he unlocks the feature to allow up to 3 Terror Cotta Warriors to be taken in a Jade Cult Team.

However, in the upcoming SE I think he comes into his own; Actions that required a lot of text have been translated into our new Action Bar approach. In addition, we have taken a more comprehensive view when revising everything to hopefully make everything have its own relative worth. Well for me Green Emperor will offer not only a Leader, but a very capable front-line combatant, with the opportunity to unleash truly overwhelming attacks in the right circumstances and with the right choices; those choices mean accepting he cannot do as much as could otherwise, but offers him a brutal way of influencing the battle directly.

Anyway, enough words, I hope to post something else quite soon so watch this space.