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

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

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...

Primate of Mystery (Primate of Power)

Click to enlarge

My second Primate of Power, this time the Primate of Mystery, a primal avatar of the great power of the Ape Spirit, and guides for the ARC.

The Primates of Power will play differently than other Leaders, since for the most part other Leaders are Level 3 models more than capable of holding their own in a battle. The Primates of Power are much more about focusing the individual and Team capabilities of an ARC force.

I would have liked to have worked more red into this one to evoke the Mystery aspect (since that is the associated colour for mystery in the game), but I found the difficult to do, so it is what it is. Also, a big thing this year is working through my backlog of minis, to ensure i have gaming pieces I am happy to play with (prerequisite is painted!). This also marks my 114th mini for Pulp City, so things continue to progress! Albeit more slowly than in previous years on the Pulp City front...although this is my 43rd mini for the year across the various ranges I am tackling, which  means I am now ahead of target by around a month. I was hoping to paint at least 48 or 50 minis this year, which right now looks well within reach.

I have a few more Pulp City minis in the painting queue: Terror Cotta Warriors (stalled); Foxxy Blade; 2 more Jade Cult Ninjas. Other stuff yet to be assembled.

I expect one of the Primates of Power is likely to make an appearance in this year's Hallowe'en Madness, so keep an eye peeled at the end of October to see what kind of ARC Team turns out for that.

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!

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.

Ra'Leigh, Aquarius Warlord

The Ulthar are a warlike race of aliens travelling to Earth through Quantum Holes. The aquari are the royal caste, controlling the wrariors, navigation and ship itself of each Patriaship.

This mini has taken a long, long time to finish off - it really has. Firstly there was a problem with the neck frill component, then when it had been prepped I base-coated the main armour and lost focus and motivation. And that situation carried on for quite some time...

What I resolved to do was start other minis (a couple of Grimm in fact), and paint the second version of Stalker to 'get something done' - which from past expereince helps me paint something that has ground to a halt. And it did work, albeit slowly, but finally Ra'Leigh, Aquarius Warlord has been finished, barring varnish.

The upshot is that my Ulthar Sub-faction is finished for the time being, which means I am again closing in on painting everything in the range (until the next waves of releases!).

As a level 3 Supreme, Ra'Leigh, Aquarius Warlord is a potent model on the battlefield - durable and pretty hard-hitting. I still find the Ulthar tricky to use as a whole, meaning I do not get the best out of them, but I am pleased with the force as a painted 'unit' of sorts.

Dark Solar/Solar

He took the mantle of Solar to wash the guilt off of his soul. Promising he’d never take another human life, Solar patrols the streets of Pulp City day and night, a loner constantly brooding over what might have been and will never be

The original 'spandex Supreme' has had a makeover (see Solar here), and what a makeover! The original divided opinion in some quarters I know, due to the cape (I have read comments elsewhere from posters who struggled with it, even though I thought it was a great solution to creating the appearance of Levitation), but I really liked the first iteration. This new one is probably even stronger in overall execution and the fact that it is single-piece makes assembly very simple. It is easy to see the evolution in the creation at the hands of a different sculptor.

I actually finished this a lot sooner than anticipated, starting it only as an afterthought along with Sovereign (and later Perun - all with a similar root palette), so it was pleasing for me to see it finished. I elected to continue my previous Solar colour scheme this time around. I decided against trying a free-hand version of the chest emblem as my confidence to do so is not sufficient - may next time when I try a different colour scheme.

In gaming terms Level 2 Solar (Hero) has had a bit of a makeover; nothing drastic, just some tweaks to better reflect how the game works now with more than 50 Supremes available, and the fact that he should have been able to fly all along!

Level 3 Dark Solar is a very powerful proposition; a Hero/Villain, he unites Nature Supremes as a very formidable force. His all-Nature Team Power generates an additional Power-Up die per Round; not to be taken lightly. Just as the Level 2 Solar is a fairly formidable option even as a Level 2, so too is Dark Solar relative to his Level 3 peers, armed with some powerful Damaging Actions (Tactica here). Along with Dead Eye he may be my current favourite Level 3 available.

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.

Dr. Tenebrous

The dark tentacles of Tenebrous' agenda reach beyond Necroplane and its schemes. If the Supremes were ever aware of whom his contacts are among the Supremes and politicians on Earth, they would be afraid to ever fall asleep.

One of my two WAMP entries, Dr. Tenebrous has been in my 'to-do' pile for quite some time. Of course, when one paints at the speed of a comatose snail, that sense of 'some time' is kind of relative.

The mini was sculpted by Paul Muller and has a great spandex villain look in my mind; he has a design that would not look out of place as a threat to the Avengers or the JLA. The base is from the Maxmini range for Pulp City - it is actually the Ace of Wraiths base, but since it so closely echoed the swirling cape effect on Dr. Tenebrous it seemed a perfect choice to me.

Dr. Tenebrous is the big bad leader of the Necroplane Sub-faction. The Supremes of the Necroplane are determined to steal away life force from the Earthly plane for their own nefarious ends, and that is just the kind of thing Tenbrous specialises in. Like any Level 3 Supreme he is formidable enough, but what he does is add some buffs for Necroplane minis, as well as allowing the Necroplane to incorporate Forgotten allies as though they were Necroplane themselves - when more Forgotten appear this will give a very wide array of options for players wanting to focus on these deathly invaders, let alone future possibilities for Necroplane Supremes.

I don't quite know why it took so long for me to start this mini, but I painted it fairly quickly by my standards, and I am reasonably pleased with the results - although the gems are not great, that is an area that I need to practice on. The colour scheme uses a very similar palette to the one I used for my other entry - natural as they were painted at roughly the same time. It is a colour scheme I am pretty happy with and that I think works quite well.

Dead Eye

Dead Eye is the driving force behind most of the unregistered crime fighting in Pulp City.

Heavy Metal may be the media darlings of the Supreme Hero set; Blood Watch may protect the citizenry against things that lurk in the dark places; but there are many unaffiliated Heroes, and Dead Eye is pre-eminent amongst them.

This is my second attempt to photograph Dead Eye; the first pictures came out unfocused unfortuantely.

Another Pulp City mini sculpted by James van Schaik, Dead Eye is a tough Level 3 Supreme who comes in a pack with the Vigilantes. Originally I intended to paint him in the colours of my old American Football team, the Chester Romans, and give him my old number (22 - I played corner back), but that would have been an 'ineligible number' for a quarterback, so I settled for number 1 for two reasons: 1) painting one freehand number twice is easier than painting 2! 2) his number reflects that he is the daddy. The colours were changed to simply try and tie him in with the Vigilantes, so in all it made sense to follow a US-flag themed colour scheme.

Playing him recently showed that in-game as a character he offers some finesse as well as a heck of a lot of durability and stopping power: in other words he was great fun to use.

Mysterious Man

Being bad is good. Being good is bad.

Another James van Schaik sculpt, the simplicity of the Mysterious Man model belies that he is a very potent character in the game. One of only a handful of Level 3 Supremes, Mysterious Man is the first of these I have completed (I am working on Dead Eye and his Vigilante Minions right now). Just as Level 2's are noticeably more potent than Level 1's, so Level 3's are more potent than Level 2's; in addition all Level 3's offer some team-based bonuses depending on what other models comprise the team.

I am trying to tie my Villains more and more together visually. To that end I have settled on trying to work some purple in to their colour schemes where possible. I knew straight off that Terrordon X (the flying dino-thing on his shoulder) would be purple - inspired by a character from a certain marvelous comic book stable. With that in mind I didn't think a green coat would work (the 'official' Pulp City version is in green), so that had to be brown. I liked the idea of using greens and browns and so the rest of the palette stemmed from there. All because of the first decision. One of the few times the planning and execution went fairly closely together in my painting.