Welcome

The latest welcome goes towards Jonathon, who has started following today it seems. A hearty 'welcome aboard' to Jonathon; I am glad to see more following.

I hope I can repay interest in the blog by Jonathon or anyone else following or simply stopping by, with posts and discussion about various related interests.

If anyone has any thoughts of doing things a little differently, then don't hesitate to let me know.

January Painting Summary

Well, I launched into my Pulp City Painting Challenge last month, and this was the first full month of the challenge, a month in which I hoped to paint at least 5 miniatures.

I managed just 3. And one of those wasn't from scratch, but a finishing job of something started months ago. Not as successful as hoped then.

This month I painted:
- Xenobi
- Howler
- Ace of Wraiths

I was happy to get Xenobi done; pleased with how Howler turned out; not so pleased with Ace of Wraiths (yet to be photographed, I hope to take some pictures of Ace and another miniature yet to be photographed for the blog - Solar - when my next day off comes around).

I am still determined to press on with the challenge to help me get my minis finished. Hopefully February will be more successful.

Welcome

Welcome to netministrator, who appears to be another comic book fan, and while the Pulp Citizen's blog isn't primarily about comics, there will be more and more comics posting as I carry on.

So again welcome, and glad to have you aboard.

Salute 2010

The Pulp Citizen will be attending Salute 2010 with his main gaming buddy (Rob), the first time we have attended this UK show.

Both of us have been miniatures hobbyists for many years, primarily around Games Workshop, but for various reasons both of us are moving away from a GW-centric hobby. Going to Salute seems to me a natural reflection of that. Last year we attended the Games Expo 2009 in Birmingham (UK) for the first time, which we enjoyed a lot, especially talking to some miniatures manufacturers such as Mark Copplestone (if he follows through with his expressed plans to some do supers miniatures the Pulp Citizen would be very pleased - more Minion models please!).

If we get to have a day like that, meeting more manufacturers and checking out their wares we will be very happy, I am sure. More importantly I am hoping that Pulp Monsters will have a presence at Salute 2010, showing off Pulp City. If they do I will try and help out, while stalking around other minis makers' stands to see what they have on show. I'll try and post if and when Pulp Monsters confirm their attendance. I am looking forwards to this show a lot.

Welcome

The latest welcome goes towards Chris who has started following the blog - I hope I can reward your decision Chris with posts of interest. :)

A quick note to anyone following - any feedback through comments is really welcome: whether it is commentary, critique, advice or questions, or just general chat about the post in question. I won't moderate (read - censor) except for rudeness or swearing, my only rules I guess. But as I say, I have read all the comments so far and will continue to do so, and there will hopefully be stuff that I can take away from the comments, or that others can, so it is helpful for me.

Anyway, glad to have everyone aboard. The more the merrier - invite your friends if you like! ;)

Urban Battle Boards

Any miniatures-based tabletop game needs somewhere for those battles to be fought. This blog post is intended to describe how I built my own urban battle boards, particularly for use in Pulp City games, but the principles can be applied to any urban setting, or easily adapted I feel to historic or sci-fi gaming.

Above: gaming/battle boards, miniatures, scenery, tokens and elbow are all Pulp Citizen's own.

Now the most important disclaimer - I can't claim credit for this idea. Rather, that belongs to Larkin Vain, another Pulp City fan and Herald and a Moderator on the Pulp City message boards. His thread (here) and that of Hjelmen, another board member (thread here), are what inspired me.

The basic materials are:
- plywood sheets (12" x 12"; 6mm thickness); picture 2
- cork sheets (12" x 12"; 5mm thickness); also picture 2
- PVA glue and glue stick
- thin card (160-200 gsm)
- Rustoleum Textured - spray paint (Aged Iron)
- paints (I used Vallejo Neutral Gray and Light Gray with some browns added for washes for the lighter parts; German Grey for the darker areas)
- Ready Grass vinyl mat

Step 1
Decide how many tiles to make, and roughly what configurations of public squares (raised to pavement/sidewalk height), straights, t-junctions, crossroads and corners you want. I drew the placement of lines for pavement/sidewalk edges (cork cut to size) - see picture 3. In doing so, I made certain the width of all inner road sections was the same, a uniform 6" since the ply boards varied in size but up to 1/4" to 1/2". Cork was glued to ply with PVA.

For public squares at pavement/sidewalk height, cork was simply glued straight onto ply (picture 4). Careful use of the cork across the various boards means you will need less sheets of that than the ply. I would advise making more boards than needed for usual gaming just for variety.


Step 2
To give some basic surface detailing beyond that of the textured paint, I used the thin card to create a vaguely paved effect. I wasn't worried about scaling here, just that it 'feel' right, since at the end of the day the minis are the focus, not the battle boards. There was a gap of approximately 1-3mm between pieces of card.

It is possible to create a more scale-appropriate effect if desired, time permitting of course! The card was glued to corked areas with glue stick, but PVA should work also. I left an exposed edge where the 'kerb' is of about 5mm. The public squares just used 4 larger pieces of card, with a slightly larger gap. Both the public squares and the pavement/sidewalk areas have card running up to the outer edges.

Step 3
The boards were all spray undercoated outside (needing good weather, of course) with Rustoleum. I haven't used this stuff before, but bear in mind:
- it needs a lot longer to dry than acrylic model undercoats
- it took 1 can to undercoat approximately 6-8 boards

The finish is tough and rough, just what is needed. I wasn't too worried about complete coverage, especially on the cork, as with the cork it has a rough texture also.

Step 4
The raised areas (pavement/sidewalk and public squares were painted first with Neutral Grey, then some occasional washes of Neutral Grey with various browns, then some light dry brushing with Light Grey).

The public squares probably got more attention in the form of washes since there is less surface and colour variation, but you don't need to go overboard since terrain is going to be placed on top anyway.

Step 5
The roads were then finished with German Grey. At this time I haven't added road markings, but I may do so later.

Step 6
I also created some park areas using a plastic-backed static grass sheeting (I used Ready Grass vinyl mat - see right). To make these I just constructed a board with ply and cork, and then added the sheeting, gluing it in place with PVA after roughing up the back (plastic side) with sandpaper.

Sgt. Bale Extreme (2)

I had planned to assemble this conversion piecemeal, to do something when I didn't feel up to painting. Of course no plan survives contact with the enemy, or so they say*. In other words I built this in just an hour or so. So no time-filler on the painting challenge at this time, then.

At this stage some more green-stuffing is needed to fill a couple of gaps and build a finger on the M4 trigger. Overall I am happy with the basic construction. I could have tried to reposition the gun arm, but that would have been both tricky and would possibly have switched focus to the gun more than the flaming hand or skull.

I'll try and log the progress on this model as I finish various major stages. Next up is waiting for the weather to warm up enough to spray undercoat the model.


*They actually said:

No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.

And they was he, Field-Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke, also known as Moltke the Elder. Note that Graf is a title, not a name. A seemingly pragmatic strategist and theoretician, von Moltke postulated that only the beginning of a military operation was plannable. Wise man, methinks.