Paint Queuemas Day 5: Pulp Germans

"On the fifth day of Paint Queuemas...."

Today's entry is a group of 28mm Interwar German mercenaries/baddies for pulp gaming from Copplestone Castings CC's Back of Beyond range carries a lot of dynamic and unique figures from a period that doesn't get much attention. Best of all, they are clean castings so require little prep work to get started.

These were zenithal primed and painted using glaze techniques.The Freikorps uniforms are one coat of Dark Green ink wash and then 2-3 coats of GW Camoshade. Their stalhelms were painted with Vallejo Golden Olive, sponge chipped with Vallejo Light Rust, and edged with AK Gunmetal, then washed in diluted Camoshade. The skull emblems are handpainted.

The naval officer is one coat of Secret Weapon Soft Body Black and then ~3 coats of Blue ink wash. His pants are Vallejo German Grey and his boots and gloves are black ink wash. I just realized I forgot to paint the buttons of his peacoat! The femme fatale is one coat of dilute Purple ink wash (for extra shading) and then 3 coats of Dark red ink wash.

All the leather was done using two coats of GW Sepia wash. The weapons are all AK Gunmetal washed with Soft Body Black. All the flesh tones are some combination of Vallejo Flat Flesh, Basic Skin tone, Salmon Red, and/or Luftwaffe Uniform. I opted for very basic urban rubble bases painted with a variety of thinned craft paints.

I now have a crew for the resin MkIV tank I painted up years ago.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post

1/56 Renault "Adventuring" Van

Back into the swing of things after a long break from modeling, here's my converted Renault "Adventuring" Van. It started as a Matchbox "Models of Yesteryear" diecast toy that I stripped down, primed, painted, and added stowage to use in Pulp, Back of Beyond, and World War 2 gaming, as both a vehicle and objective. In the past, I've used a lot of Lledo diecast which, while passable, aren't as nice and lack realistic tires.

I disassembled and then primed this model in Krylon Red Oxide, then used hairspray to create the chipping effect. The chassis is straight Tamiya Black and the body itself is Tamiya Light Blue. When chipped, the light tone blue and reddish-orange create a nice contrast (you see it a lot in movie posters lately). The large ying-yang symbol was from a 1/32 WW1 biplane kit and the rest of the decals are from various 1/56 Rubicon vehicle kits. The stowage itself is a mix of 1/48 Tamiya fuel canisters & stowage, beads, and basswood. I then reassembled and heavily weathered the model with oils and pigments. As the tires are soft plastic, I just gave them a heavy wash of watered-down Secret Weapon Basic Dirt to simulate road dust.

Pulp Alley - Carmen, Jack, & Bugsy

One of the nice things about Pulp Alley is that it affords you the opportunity to use miniatures that are generally overlooked, unused, or generally out of place in larger, more organized miniatures games. All three of these minis I received as swag and have sat neglected in my bitz box for a long time. After some cleanup, slottatab removal and a nice white primer coat, they painted up relatively quickly.

Carmen is a world-traveling thief, known for always eluding local police and private eyes. Her criminal network reaches from poor slums to the seats of government power. Among her most trusted associates are....

Jack - Not much is known about the man who calls himself Jack besides his experiences in the last days of World War 1 and his disillusionment with government, especially the military. He carries multiple identification tags around his neck but it is unknown whether these were from fallen compatriots or his victims.

Bugsy - a young gangster from Chicago, Bugsy has an extensive criminal record despite his age. After a statewide manhunt, Bugsy was thrown into Joliet prison but managed to escape and find his way into the employ of Carmen. He has a passion for automatic weapons, fast cars, and jazz music.

Product Review: Pulp Alley version 2 Rulebook and Cards

While at Adepticon, I was finally able to play a large demo game of Pulp Alley after years of interest. Blown away by how much fun the system was, I went to order a copy and found out that the game designer, David Phipps, had a Kickstarter campaign for version 2. $50 and a few months later, I received my pledge - a PDF of the rulebook, an 8.5"x6" softcover rulebook, a small 6" ruler/rules reminder, two packs of Fortune cards, and a pack of Known Associates cards. 

You have to understand that this game is completely self-made by the creator, without any assistance from a larger game company, from (as far as I can tell) his own home. With that in mind, this game is as good (if not better) than many of the games put out by much larger game companies. The rulebook is well bound, in a nice handheld size with a glossy cover. The cards are all good quality, having the thickness of playing cards and a satin/semi-gloss finish. I would recommend putting these in some card protectors to extend their life and keep them looking brand new.

What is "Pulp"? Pulps were cheap, often lurid magazines popular in the early 20th century, usually before the widespread use of television, that entertained the masses with stories of brave explorers, cowboys, fighter pilots, and other heroes. Characters such as Tarzan, The Shadow, and Doc Savage were popular Pulp heroes and served as the template for other heroic characters that would be popularized in film long after the pulps had disappeared - Indiana Jones, The Rocketeer, Jack Burton. Pulp Alley focuses on these types of of heroic adventures however, the system is so open-ended that it could be used for a wide variety of miniature gaming from the Old West, early 20th century wars, and into Science Fiction.

Pulp Alley games are usually two or more players (though solo play is possible) who choose a warband or unit of between 3-6 characters (though larger size units, known as Mobs, are possible) who fight over control of themed objectives known as "Plot Points". Each character has a variety of stats and special abilities. Uniquely, Pulp Alley does not force your miniatures to be WYSIWYG (though it's still encouraged), as each character is defined by their statistics and abilities. Additionally, Pulp Alley uses a multiple dice system (from d6 to d12) to represent various levels of ability, difficulty, and damage with "successes" be consistently measured by rolling 4+ on any one dice.

In keeping with a cinematic feel, each turn, the initiative of play is dictated by "The Director" and this role can (and will!) switch between players every turn. The Director chooses which player may act and the chosen player activates one of their characters. Each activation the character can move and choose one action or attack. Once that character has completed its activation, The Director assigns play to the next player (or the same player), until all characters have activated.

And I hear the complaints now - "so I just have to sit around while other players act?". No, this is where the Fortune deck (and your hand of cards) comes into play. You may play Fortune cards to steal The Director's role, force other characters to activate, force characters to re-roll or re-do an action....if you can think of it, there is very likely a card that allows you to do it. This provides a feeling of suspense and dynamism as inactive players can change the fortunes of the active player and (in a group with more players) often will end up attempting to out-do each other with who can change the game quicker.

Character creation is very straightforward and user-friendly with a long list of special abilities, perks, and backgrounds. Want to have a debonaire secret agent with his secret agent buddies? You can do that. A world-traveling archeologist with a spunky female sidekick and his native guide? You can do that. Nefarious villain from the Far East with mystic henchmen? Lovecraftian cult leader with a gang of flunkies? Disguised aliens bent on world conquest? You can do all of it. Version 2 has also introduced an expanded weapons section, mounts and vehicles, as well as backgrounds and resources to give your warband a unique feel.

All in all, I've really enjoyed this game and have been surprised by just how easy it is to pick up and get hooked by. How this game doesn't have a much larger fan base is a mystery, as it would seem to attract the same crowd that have made other skirmish games like Frostgrave such massive hits. If you can, I would highly suggest picking up a copy and trying out a few games yourself.


Pros:

• Engaging, fast-paced game suitable for nearly any genre
• Well laid out, concise rulebook
• Lots of gameplay examples
• Despite overall book/card size, clear and legible font is easy to read
• Good quality cardstock
• Known associates cards are double-sided (edit!)

Cons:

• Interior paper of rulebook is somewhat flimsy

El Alamien Table Updated!

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been out of touch lately, the post-Adepticon modeling slump added to some health issues made getting things finished a little tough. Now that's over, I thought I'd share the updated El Alamein table I've been working for my birthday! Some of you may have seen the old table at the Adepticon Bolt Action tournaments - I even played on it the first round of Doubles - and decided to change a few things.

I took some extra cobblestone roads and repainted them, adding some short dead grass tufts along the edges in an attempt to mimic the crushed gravel roads that were quickly laid down along the Africa coast as the armies vied for position. I also took out the quonset huts and the larger crate stacks in favor of some modular crates from Tabletop Scenics and some grain sack stacks to represent the supply dump around the train station itself.

In an attempt to add visual appeal to the desert half of the table, I added a crashed Italian plane and some removeable barbed wire. I had an ancient 1/48 Smer Reggaine R2000 monoplane I threw together over a couple of sittings, doing some AA damage, and adding a simple base. The barbed wire obstacles are just 24ga steel wire woven together, clipped into 6" long sections, and spray painted. Since they are moveable, they can be formed into squares to represent minefields, positioned in depth, or removed if an AFV or engineer team destroys them. In an attempt to liven up the otherwise drab appearance of the dunes and plateau, I added some more dead grass and low groundcover.

Some of you may note that this table appears slightly cluttered and you wouldn't be wrong - the mat itself is actually 7x4, so I can add another foot of length for larger games without sacrificing much cover and concealment.