Pulp Play ready for SALUTE 2018

Once more we went to the local library and set up the Pulp Game Board for the city, now much more finished.

More details also were available for the leagues, including a set of cards to control a league my youngest controls.

the city board, with the canal and bridge

details of the contest on the 'rough side' of the canal

ready for action (with a 'hand' in the middle of the board)

now just the town, note the light standards

the vehicles really make the street scene more active - the new signage on the buildings also brings it more to life

Cowboy Curly Bill taking shots at some of the purple men of Radium Inc

City center at the Variety Store

Groceries were also available

buildings floors all separate and characters can be put on each floor

the interior of the buildings have no furnishings, yet the do have wall paper and floorings

Inspired to use cards to help control the game action, I have custom made one set for my youngest son's league:

fold the card at the color line and the sepia details are all ready to work with!

Pulp Games over the winter break

Once again we have set up a number of games over the winter school break.

This time Saturday Dec 30th was set aside for Pulp Alley for another play-test of the board and system.

Downtown board came out for the first time, still not quite finished, and we all had an opportunity to marvel on the great works that Rob as done.

The Crazy Cowboys made a return appearance and here Bart is walking confidently over the bridge on the canal ...

Two young players joined in again with my middle son, who ran his Lego Mandalorians again.

This time it was a "race against time" scenario, where the Mandalorians had stopped a police car and were frantically searching it for that vital plot point!

The terrain artist took part in the game this time running the infamous "Dark Fire"

an Eye Ball gangster takes aim

general mayhem in the center of the board

an overview near the end of the game, where the Mandalorians just managed to get the data on turn 6!

Dark Fire comes boiling out from their hideout ...

We then took some time to set up a few more photos of the first jungle/island board:

wild men face some adventurers

the great terrain has so many different uses

adventure leagues come in many different forms

Then after the street action was done we took some promotional photos of 'downtown'.

city street scene

building interiors are accessible

even the pavement has details

the combination to come soon will be excellent

Rob tells me that there are more details to come for his city-scape,  including lamp posts, fire hydrants and man-hole covers.  As well as building details and decals.

We are well on our way for putting on a good show at Salute in 2018.

Island of Perils - Pulp Game playtest for Salute 2018

Right after the last installment of Salute, March 2017, Rob and I discussed going into a project together to host some game(s) at the 2018 Salute.

Here is the first play test run for what is shaping up to be two or three games at Salute in 2018.

we have been using the Pulp Alley rules set

the terrain board of peril island 3'x3' as built by Rob

yes, Daleks were in the game!

A Blood and Plunder boat (unpainted as yet) was pressed into service

the Red cloaked minions were on a rampage

a slippery bridge was full of perils

yes that is a Lego Star Wars character racing to get to the Grumman Goose plane to escape

Gangsters, ray guns and more were all in action for a second play test

Rob is currently working on a city-scape section of terrain, I have cars and trucks and a couple of motorcycles even for 1920-36 era to put into it.  Currently there are 50+ more of the pulp minis in various stages of painting ready to complete another dozen or so in time for the next playtest on Dec 30th.

Starting to look good for having it all ready for Salute 2018.

Blood & Plunder by Firelock Games - Unboxing

So I have taken the plunge, adding a new dimension to my tabletop minis, PIRATES.

The two starter sets I chose were Spanish and English ... more are planned

 Actually this is a return to an old plan of mine, as I had a few 15mm Peter Pig minis from the 1990s, with a single ship model (that was close to the scale) and had Kelly Jones as a game opponent, indeed I think I still have the Captain and Bosun that I painted in the 1990s to game with Kelly.

This time round there's a company that is getting the genre right!  From the start they are doing land and sea. in 28mm with complete resin SHIPS that match the scale of the minis - no more fumbling around and desperately seeking something that will 'fit in' there are good sized SHIPS to use right away!

There be a Box of Pirates! here!

While my budget for this stage could not accept getting all of the minis and ships that I might have wanted to start with, I was able to pick up two sloops, four long boats and two crews of minis from the English and Spanish lines.  Along with the main rule-book, a set of gauges, and the cards that I have learned are useful in keeping track of things.

Ships and cards with some specialty leaders.

The Sloop unboxed here, to show the size of this wonderful model.

While this does add to the painting list, it means that I now have a good focus for this winter at the painting and gaming table, with a vision of getting in a few games in the new year and possibly adding a pirate match to our games plan out at this year's Salute.

The inside front cover of the rulebook is a map.

The rule-book starts out with history from the golden age of Piracy, enough to whet any would be boucaneer's appetite!

The only sour note in this shipment was the web exclusive commanders, who were packed in a plastic baggie, together.  Sadly the other bigger boxes and rule-book moving around in the box had bent the Spanish web exclusive commander at 90 degrees at the ankles!  I shall be doing careful works to restore him to an upright and fighting position.

Of plans for little metal men

Open time of 2017 has been eaten up by dealing with the estate of Jeff and supporting Lani, Jeff's widow.  While this has been emotionally taxing and time consuming, I feel good that Lani is still with us here and seeking solutions for her physical challenges.

I'm looking out ahead at the final quarter of 2017, maybe even spotting time slots where a game may be played!

On top of that I have the plan to attend Salute 2018 in Burnaby doing some Pulp Alley games.

Jeff and I had started on ECW forces, I did a Parliament army, now I am looking to complete my own set with a Royalist force.  Many of the miniatures are collected together now and I plan to clean and start on the painting over the coming winter.  For my library I have the final campaign book from Osprey: Naseby 1645 to act as further inspiration.

Rocketeers in painting progress standing on the cover of the new library addition

More Inspirations

While viewing the Tin soldier history I came across some great "in action" footage from the 2015 Waterloo re-enactment.

I already have a new idea for painting that has come from watching these amazing videos.

What do you use for inspiration to get into painting or games mode?

Tin Soldiers History - some inspiration

As I head into the fullness of autumn and winter the time for painting becomes more available as evenings tend to be spent more indoors and the outdoor needs are dealt with only on an as needed basis.

So often I find myself seeking some new inspirations for the painting projects, the following video of a Russian program (likely from 2012) with English dubbing makes accessible an amazing tale of both toy soldiers of Hans Christian Anderson and Russia, from pre- during and post- Soviet era.

Part 1 starts it all off, near the end a Zinnfiguren Napoleonic retreat set is shown, I have many figures from that set.

Part 2 goes into the detail of museum collections and a special family collection in Russia.

Part 3 shows the creation of these amazing works of art and answers the question of what Hans Christian Anderson's toy soldier likely looked like.

I'm busy casting now the minis I plan to work on over the coming winter, mainly ECW to complete a Royalist opposing force to my own Parliamentarian one.

While the Bavarian components of my Napoleonic forces are also likely to see some brushworks over the winter season as well.

I'm also likely to generate some new sci-fi miniatures for sales next year.

What are your plans to round out the year at the workbench or tabletop?

Assembling Artillery Limbers by Chasseur

Excellent Post here from Chasseur:

Painting & Assembling Artillery Limbers

Get Results like this!

from a starting point like this:

Brushworks in July

The past few months have been filled up with other responsibilities and time for getting the painting space into a workable condition was just not available until late June.  With the painting space re-organized and more (hopefully) time open for painting I looked over the shambles of a planning list and paint projects.

Thankfully I have the habit now of not leaving projects in 'half done' condition.  Either I push and get them finished or surrender and sell them off.

With my wife and I 'working' the Sunday markets at Discovery Pier, or Pier Street Farmers Market, I have used the space to exhibition my painting works and play a little chess.

The need to have a 'hot item' was weighing on me and so the Star Wars chess sets became the top of the list to complete.

whenever I do a set I also do some 'extra singles' for quick sale as a $300 chess set is out of most people's budget; while a $10 single mini is more likely inside that budget.

Near the beginning of the month detailed cleaning started, with a re-count of the metal bases I had and organizing the minis into their 'sets'.

After two weeks the metal was mostly ready, now I had to clear off the space to have the minis wait while the paint dried (books and other items were shoved where ever they could fit during the office re-org in June).

Then on Monday the process of painting started.

Tuesday night, the first layers were on.

With a few delays from sudden other higher priority needs coming up (two days worth!), I was going to have to start burning the candle at both ends to get the minis done for the Sunday market.

Thursday night progress (okay really Friday at 2 am, but who's counting?)

With a solid two days of work and time to let the clear coat set up I managed to flock the minis Saturday evening and have the felts put on the bases by 1 am Sunday.

All done, just need to get the boxes ready to hold them firm in the foam.

The foam cutting was done quickly and I decided to let the flocking and clear coat set up more so that the foam did not get stuck to anything that might be still a bit 'damp'.

In the morning all was packed into the waiting foam trays and off to the market we went!

Empire

Alliance

The Set

I also realized that I did not yet have good photos of the other chess sets done last year, so here are some eye candy shots.

Babylon 5

Greek Gods

Greek Gods

Phew!  It was a tiring week and I slept late on this Monday so as to catch up for the many nights lost last week.

Up next on the work bench are more English Civil War troops, as I have now received the Foundry Minis of the "Wars of Religion" to work with for my Cornish Royalist forces.

Then more time goes into the Pulp games plans that Rob and I have for this coming year's Salute in Burnaby.

Have a great Autumn campaign season everyone!