20 LEAGUES UNDER MY BELT - REPEAER BONES DEEP ONES

 

Not exactly a league's worth of minis but they could be if you built them on the tougher side of how Deep Ones are portrayed in literature and RPGs. These are the Deep One minis from one of the Early Reaper Bones runs. they are still done in the original soft white stuff and will really mess up your paints if you don't wash them properly - a mistake I made. 

I based coated these in black over which I did a drybrush of white. Over this I worked with Speed Paints and let them do their thing. To this I added a Strong Tone wash. This wash ended up making their bellies a bit too dark so I went in with a white and stiples it in, leaving a good amount of the wash still visible to give them that mottled, dirty but pale look. The eyes were finished with white paint to give them eerie, mily eyes inspired by Golem from the Rankin and Bass Hobbit animations.

For the basing I used a custom ground text paste, made from a combination of Mod Podge, brown paint, tea leaves and grout mix. Over this I applied some static grass - loose and not with an applicator, and a few tufts with a sprinking of tea leaves. This was seled with PVA and isopropyl alcohol. This left a pretyt natural looking, mucky, marshy ground effect. 

I really like these figures and even though there are only three poses of them in the range they are suitable generic enough in their poses to allow for them to be bought in multiples. Add to this the inconsistent way in which Deep Ones and their hybrids are supposed to appear and you could easily mix in models from other manufacturers without much issue. 

I also have a Deep One Priest from the same range, all painted up in a matching style but with Dep One gold.

20 Leagues Under My Belt - Living Statue

While technically not an entire league, I wanted to post this latex adversary paint-up. This is a plastic stone or claw golem miniatures from the Reaper Bones line. I have cut it from its original base to help with an issue in how the plastic legs were positioned and re-based it. This is a simple paint job with a brown base coat, yellow sand wet-brushing, then a washing with brown tone from Army Painter, over which I did a drybrushing of a lighter sand color to highlight. 

Figures such as these are indispensable for Pulp Alley. They can pop up everywhere from tombs to desert ruins or even in the ranks of villainous leagues. They are also great for museum scenarios, art galleries, rampaging through the city after being mistakenly awakened. There just aren't enough uses for an animated statue. This particular miniatures is extra useful as it is quite generic in it style and could easily be placed in any number of cultures.

20 Leagues Under My Belt - Two Curious Fellows

It's been a bit since I dipped my brush and got some color on my way too big collection of pulp miniatures.

This latest duo is made from a modified Copplestone Miniature and a chimp from a company that escapes me at the moment. These two should look quite familiar to anyone who grew up reading the antics of a certain inquisitive simian and his mustard-hued caretaker. 

The newer Pulp Alley league rules allow players to make leagues as a small as two characters. This is great for players on a budget or looking to get into the game with minimal painting or miniatures purchases. It also allows players to field those famous dues, dynamic and otherwise, that are such a solid part of the genre. I think for this league I'll write the ape up as the leader.

20 Leagues Under My Belt - The Investigators

Hailing from the across the world, Dr. Helena Sigurdson and her team of dedicated investigators delve into the mysteries of the past, present and tomorrow. 

Seen here with her Egyptian contact, Omar Jaffar, antiquarian, mystic dabbler and knowledgeable in those thing buried in the sands of antiquity, Dr Sigurgson is a tough, capable woman who few would expect to be a lady of learning. Buried under those dusty leather and well-oiled gun belt are both beauty and brains.

The European branch of Dr. Sigurdson's network is made up of (from left to right) writer and arcanist P.D. Hitchcraft (United Kingdom), antiques dealer and appraiser Udder Brotten (Germany/Austria), and historian Pierre LeBeau (France). These three provide a vast degree of support staff and useful skills and knowledge when hunting down treasures and items of historical value.

But don't forget the yanks! Former cub reporter turned paranormal journalist, Margaret "Maggy" Malone is charged with photographically documenting all the teams finds and travels. Not one to let his kid sister out into the dangerous world by herself, her brother Sean "Buster" Malone brings some useful heft to the team's adventures. The forces of darkness may have come looking to feast on the blood of the innocents, but I'm afraid only knuckle sandwiches are on the menu.

This league is one that began as a bunch of figures intended to be used as NPCs in various scenarios - contacts, objectives, red herrings, etc.. While I still plan to make use of them in those capacities, they also make the basis for a really great way to playtest some new rules being explored for Pulp Alley which allow the creation of a league made up of more capable lesser characters.

20 Leagues Under My Belt - The Curse of Apshai

Back in the day I loved the various Apshai adventure games. Even though they never came back in any new form, the memory of Egyptian themed dungeon crawls has never left me.

The various Mummy movies with all their bugs, mummy minions and such were a good example of this and I so, I decided to do this new conversion off another Reaper Bones miniature.

This miniatures represents a tomb guardian who has been cursed by the insect god, Apshai...

My apologies for the blurry back shot. Holding a camera while holding the miniature in the light was a bit tricky. No matter how i shot this figure while it was sitting down, I couldn't capture it well. I also noticed a horrible mold line too late. But when the figure is on the table, it's hardly noticeable, so I didn't bother going back and correcting it.

Here is a list of what was done to the original figure...

1) Reshaped in green stuff the jaw to make it stretched and crooked, adding to the torment of the scarabs pouring forth. The tongue you see is the original jaw line.

2) In addition to the scarabs on the body, several are sculpted erupting from the flesh of this mummy.

3) The abdomen was re-sculpted to show undulating bulges, hinting that this creature is a husk full of scarab beetles. 

4) There are a few lumps added to the surface indicating scarabs moving under the skin.

Enjoy!

-Eli

20 Leagues Under My Belt - The Indomitable Thag

In the jungle, something stirred - first just a rumble, then a thunder. Suddenly, the trees seemed to burst from within sending foliage and splintered wood flying in a shower of organic shrapnel. Beasts cried out, whooping and howling their dismay as they fled in every direction and into the air. What burst from the trees left us stunned. 

Our terror seized us, holding us in an icy grip, even as we clutched our rifles much to the detriment of our porters. The towering, scaly colossus, allowed them no quarter, tossing them about with wide sweeps of the tree trunk it now wielded as a weapon. Their rag doll bodies sailed in great arcs as the heavy feet of the mammoth denizen of this deep, hidden land lay eyes on us and set us as its next victims...

Thag is a monstrosity that haunts the deep, fern-carpeted jungles of the primordial Hollow Earth. He preys on all who would follow upon his terror, wearing their bones and gorging on their flesh. He will represent another potential Terror in my Pulp Alley games set in the lost world of my Hollow Earth.

He began life as a Reaper Bones miniature, a Swamp Troll I believe. I had no need for such a miniature and as I was still in the sculpting mood after finishing the Devourer in the Dark, I was inspired by the plates on his back and a conversation with Alex Bates of Forge of Ice to convert him into a sort of humanoid stegosaurus. The name Thag was suggested by Alex, who informed me that the spiked tail of a stegosaurus was called a "thagomizer", a term I had not heard before. Thag it was.

The named fit my idea for the creature who I decided would hail back to the old Marvel Monsters. This collection of giant fiends were always depicted in bright colors with almost unapologetic, goofy monstrosity. Thag would be colored around an orange pallet. I added a touch of accent by giving him a blue tongue and mouth that was inspired  by a Skink lizard.

20 Leagues Under My Belt - Devourer In the Dark

"But Eli, this is just one creature!"

Yes, I realize that this is not a league in the classic sense, but in Pulp Alley there are special rules for what are called Terrors. Terrors are a single model that is powerful enough to take on one or more other leagues. A single terror will often fill the same space on a roster as an entire league. The rules for Terrors also state that the Terror itself is the only permanent member of the league it represents. They may summon creatures and allies, cultists and such if they have the resources to do so, but they are flying solo for the most part.

The Devourer in the Dark is my first Terror. A creature feared by many and not entirely of this world, it hunts sightless, capturing its prey with it tentacles and gulping them down in it wide, toothy maw. It can also squirt a noxious venom, incapacitating its prey. Knobby, scaly hide protects it from harm and its grasping claws allow it to climb the most sheer of surfaces. Most disgusting of all are the undulating, taught blisters that protrude from its back. Some say this is where it traps the souls of its victims, keeping their torment within itself for eternity.

20 Leagues Under My Belt - Zakaar and The Moonstone Guardians

Hailing from mist-shrouded jungle in some hidden land beneath the Earth, comes the orphaned Atlantean boy Zakaar, his adopted mother Nabba "The Ghost Killer", the Trog Brothers - Roku and Doba, and M'wapi - the undying vengeful warrior prince of the Gtungi Worms.

This league was created from spare figures floating around my collection when I first picked up Pulp Alley. I really like the chemistry of this band of outcasts. They really feel like something out of an old pulp comic series. Zakaar is a miniature from Alternative Armies. Nabba is a Primaeval Designs saber-toothed cat. The Trog Brothers are converted Black Tree Viking Berserkers. M'wapi is a converted Games Workshop metal skink.

Zakaar is the leader. The orphaned son of one of the last remaining populations of Atlanteans in the Hollow Earth, he was found by the spectral sabertooth, Nabba - known to those in the jungle as The Ghost Killer. Zakaar wields great power drawn from the energies of the Moonstone, a relic of ancient Atlantis and a piece of the great crystal that once powered the island city-state (which he has unceremoniously turned into a club). Nabba is no mere albino, her fur casting an eerie glow, like moonlight and her eyes radiating the same blue energies as Zakaar's and the Moonstone.

Roku and Doba are "evolved" trogs, meaning they are roughly the equivalent of Neanderthals. Their advanced intellects drew the mistrust of their more bestial kin who drove them into exile where they were rescued, by Zakaar, from the jaws of Tokor the Terrible, a vicious, scarred, tyrannosaurus colored black as night. Ever since, they have joined The Boy Atlantean in his endeavors to defend the folk of the Hollow Earth.

When Kro-ak the Swamp God enslaved the Gtungi Worms and bent them to his evil will, M'wapi and the other tribal leaders and heroes fought valiantly to try to defend their people. Alas, they were no match for the evil of the bloodthirsty frog demon and all fell before him. M'wapi's fallen body was secreted away by what remained of his clan and buried in a hidden tomb like the warrior prince he was, but his rest would not be long.

In his adventures, Zakaar happened upon the tomb of the fallen Gtungi prince, the energies of the Moonstone stirring something in the angry dead warrior. M'wapi woke in a frenzy, thinking his tomb desecrated and a battle between he and Zakaar ensued. If not for the silent whispering of the Moonstone and the clarity it granted to M'wapi, their tale might have ended there. Instead, M'wapi found common ground with the Moonstone Guardians and joined the band. Still, his unliving nature distances him from his more vitalized companions and all will admit that there is something "off" about the G'tungi warrior.

20 Leagues Under My Belt - Countess Velasco's Treasure Hunters

So, in a frenzy of painting fever, I pulled out a partially completed league and finished it up.

This league is my European treasure hunters, led by the cold and calculating Countess Velasco. She is joined by her lieutenant and supposed lover, Bronzini and his hired guns. Rounding out the league is the Countess's personal mystic and fortune teller Madame Zelda.

The Countess and her band stand poised at the mouth of the Gtungi lair, certain that the riches of this savage land are to be found inside. Hopefully, the Gtungi will be kept at bay by the relic displayed by Madame Zelda. Bronzini and his men are ready, nonetheless.


This league is one of my first and was made up of minis I had on hand when I first picked up Pulp Alley. It tends to follow the middle of the road for leagues in Pulp Alley, utilizing a lot of shooty, some tricks and a characters (Zelda) who doesn't do much except aid the rest of the league. 

This league is made up mostly of Copplestone Castings figures from several different codes with Countess Velasco cast into her role from Artizan Miniatures.

20 Leagues Under My Belt - The Gold Lama

The first accomplishment in what can only be described as a fail of a project, the Gold Lama and his faithful yeti (Hey! I'm a yeren...grumble...mutter..) driver, Talaga, are the first league to reach full painted status since I announced this project in *sigh* August. To add insult to injury, they are a small league of only two figures - leader and sidekick. On the other hand, I should be proud because I painted them in one day.

The Gold Lama races into the ruin of the old estate bent on making the scoundrels pay for their misdeeds. Meanwhile Talaga stands ready to back up his friend.

The Gold Lama is a Superfigs miniatures available through Old Glory. He was painted with an intentional nod to Marvel's Iron Fist, one of my favorite comic book character. The golden skin was a late thought that I feel really sells the pulpy nature of this character as a mystic, versed in the ancient secrets of the East.

Talaga is a Judge Dredd miniatures Ape Gang Gorilla from Mongoose. The Gold Lama has always had a yeti as a sidekick and when I saw this gorilla, it was love at first sight. What better a pulp sidekick/driver/major domo than an ape in suspenders, trousers and a bow tie. He's packing heat in his pocket and stands ready with a crowbar. 

The Gold Lama and Talaga take a moment to pose after chasing off the mobsters

20 Leagues Under My Belt - Introduction to the Family's New Painting Motivator

With the family becoming more and more interested in Pulp Alley, I thought this would be a great time to try to motivate myself, along with the rest of them, to get some painting done.

Pulp Alley affords me with a really simple, direct, and purposeful way to paint up a wide number of my 28mm miniatures. Because it breaks my collection into leagues, the basic unit of the rules, I can focus on completing a league, or two, at a time seeing results without having to paint legions of figures (just leagues). The other main motivator is to capitalize on my youngest daughter's sudden and enthusiastic interest in miniatures gaming.

While I'm not even sure we have a total of 20 leagues among the family, we do have quite a few and as contagious as they are, it's likely there will be more. In addition to leagues there are NPC sorts and encounters to paint, scenery and the like that I'm pretty sure will sneak into the mix along the way. 

So, stay tuned and hopefully we'll have some things to show you soon. School is starting so it may be a bit slow to get rolling, but I can think of worse ways to spend drizzly fall afternoons than sitting in the dining room painting with the fam.

-Eli