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.

PULP ALLEY - ONE SYSTEM TO RULE THEM ALL

It is no great secret thatone of my favorite miniatures skirmish game system is Pulp Alley. With its ease of play, character building, and customizeable content it is just so easy to pick up and play. There are so many options available within the game that allow you to play nearly any setting you like that it really does beg the question of whether or not I'll ever need to buy another skirmish miniatures game system again.

If you are not familiar with Pulp Alley, it is a game in which you create a custom team of miniatures, called a league. Your league engages in various scenarios of which their are now scores, either against other players and their leagues or in solo or even co-op play. Characters are built around die codes that are expressed as a number of certain dice from D6 to D12 which coorespond to a character's skills and what ther games would call ability scores. Unlike many games, Pulp Alley doesn't get bogged down in specific skills or equipment, choosing rather to abstract these concept through broadly expressed abilities  that a player selects during the league generation. 

                                      

Leagues also get perks which are league-wide abilitis and/or variations on league structure or league resources. Through this manipulaton of perks a league may be as few as two characters up to a small army of rank and fire squads. There are even ways to play leagues without top-level characters in the field, making it possible to model up miltiary units, tribal groups or the minions of some shadowy cabal. Leagues also have off-board assets such as contacts, laboratories, specialists, etc that provide them with bonuses when playing scenarios without placing a character in the roster. So, you might have a dynamic duo that benefitted from a high tech lair full of gadgets and a faithful butler who knows things and people. 

The game play is your typical dicing back and forth with some exceptions. Almost never is there a situation in combat where only one side is acting. Attacking somebody generally means they get to fight back, if they choose. The action of the game is further enhanced through the use of cards, held in a secret hand by each player. These cards are dual use, serving as effects to be played on a players own character or against their opponent or as a sort of meta currency when resolving certain challenges in the game. There are even themed decks to add in or substitute out the standard decks for such things as Horror. 

Scenarios are abundant and easy to create once you have played just a few. They are designed to focus in on a particular moment of action, often being framed as part of a greater narrative. Each scenario is expressed with certain guidelines for set up as well as any special rules for play. Most scenarios are settled in as many as six  turns at the end of which the game is over unless otherwise stated in the scenario. Campaigns are avaialble and the game is designed with campaign play in mind. 

While the action in the game is built around characters, it does also include detailed rules for vehicles, squads of generic troopers, super science, magic, and monsters should you need any of those for a scenario.

The game lets you use any miniatures you choose for whatever genre you want to play from  pulpy scifi to prehistoric adventure. No need to feel hemmed in by editions and miniatures ranges. Create and built and colelct in whatever ways you and your players feel is appropriate for the games you want to play and the stories you want to tell. 

So, why is this the game to beat all?

Well, it's not, exactly, but it's really close. 

Pulp Alley is never going to replace games of large bodies of organized troops or games with more detailed, tactical or strategic crunch. Pulp Alley cam be almost anything but it will always be the movie version of things - fast, loose, fun and satisfying on a storytelling and character basis. You're not going to get the depth of tactical choice that you would with a more military-oriented game. But it can do a lot and so I often find myself giving pause when considering a new, easy to play skirmish game. I have to ask myself, "Is this new investment worth it when I already have Pulp Alley?"

A recent example of this came when looking at two games, "The Baron's Wars" and "Pillage", both medieval one later and one early "Dark Ages". I really want to play in this time and even have a crap ton of Victrix Norman foot to work on that I could split across two or more warbands. Both games were tempting and both providing a very similar game even though the focus of their periods of history was separated by hundreds of years. 

But did I need both? Did I need either? Neither game seems to be a cupser crunchy attempt at historical simulation, focusing on histoical flavor and solid game play. This brought me back to Pulp Alley.

Pulp Alley can easily handle the warbands aspect of either game. There are rules for heroes and lesser heroes but more importantly you have the Gang rules which account of squads of "mooks". The various character abilities would allow for a fair amount of characterful individuals to distinguish individuals and, if one wished to venture into more legendary history, there are rules for minor supernatural abilities. So, I eased off getting either of the games, until I see if I can get a satisfying play out of Pulp Alley for these periods.  If it doesn't end up feeling right, the models will be painted up and those other games will still exist. 

I've already successfully played Star Wars games using Pulp Alley, with hoards of Stormtroopers being played using the Gang and Weapon Team rules. Imperial Officers are easily represented as Level 2 or 3 characters while the true badasses can be made reasonably well with Level 4 Heroes. The same thing goes with the good guys, though they are better built using another sort of League organization that focuses more on a few good heroes.

Pulp Alley is very much a simple, one-stop solution to almost any lighter skirmish fun you may want to engage in.

 

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.

Pulp Alley AAR - On the Trail of the Despicable Debutante

This week's Pulp Alley game was a learning game at a new local store called Round the Table, a nice little spot that touts itself as a gamer pub and offers cold beverages, locally farmed ice cream and even beer along with deals with the pizza place in the strip mall to deliver orders placed in the store.

As this was a learning game, I didn't bog down too much on lots of story and theme and the terrain was a pretty add-hock arrangements of ruins and jungle terrain. There were several areas of perilous terrain marked by terrain mounted on round bases. The scenario was a trail of clues. The leagues involved were my daughter's Mystery Ranch versus my Countess Velasco league. The two leagues are pretty evenly matched, both including multiple sidekicks and lesser members.

The story in this scenario picks up with the Mystery family having tracked the Countess and her minions to the jungles of South America. We played it as a Trail of Clues scenario with each league is trying to locate the truck, following a trail of supplies...

Opening moves saw both league moving toward their starting plot points with little in the way of direct action against one another. Once the second minor plots points were revealed, they moved into more direct conflict with one another with more than just Fortune Cards being played.

As Ma and Pa Mystery moved toward the collection of barrels after securing a crate of goods, the Countess' men moves into position among the ruins, ready to fire on them when they came into view.

Ma and Pa moved to provide cover for one another on either side of the lane between the ruins. If this was going to be a shooting match, they wanted to have something more than twigs and brush between them and a hail of bullets.

A strange sort of mystical showdown developed on the far side of the board as Eva and her pony totem moved toward the truck (major plot point now placed) and was met by Velasco's own gypsy mystic, Zelda.

Meanwhile, Ma had gotten herself tangled up with Bronzini and Theo as the two mercenaries laid down a hail of heavy caliber fire. She responded in kind with her pistol and shotgun. Holding her own, for the time being.

The countess had beat Eva to the truck and was working on getting it started as Ma finally lost the gun fight (below), going down in a hail of shattering branches and sputtering turf.

With Ma out of the way, Theo rushed forward to take hold of the goods she was carrying around. He took first one and then later would take the second minor plot point she carried.

In the end, the Countess won the day. She held all five of the plot points and sped away in the truck, laughing in that way that only a truly wicked and aloof villainess such as herself could.

Once more it was, "Arrivederci cowboys," that echoed through the trees.

We also managed to get another game started and half way through before the night was over and a second player learned how to play Pulp Alley. This time it was Dr. Mentallo and his miscreant mooks versus The Investigators, a new league i had put together just that day using a new experimental league organization.

That scenario ended after turn two but already saw some heated combat.

Pulp Alley AAR - Mystery of The Mine

Old Gabby has sent word to the Mystery Ranch, hoping that Pa would be able to help. According to the messenger, ol' Gabby had finally found the lost El Dorito mine he had been on about for years. But according to the message, he wasn't the only one who knew where it was. That gap-toothed coot had managed to shoot his mouth off in the local saloon and word had spread through the grapevine, a grapevine that wound its tendrils all the way to the villa of Countess Velasco. The Mystery family would have to skedaddle if they were going to help the old man.

They arrived in time to hear Gabby's grizzled voice echoing through the woods in the foothills. He was spewing an endless assault of colorful language at a group of assailants that retorted and responded in their own colorful Italian cursing. There was a woman's voice among them and it could be none other than the Countess Velasco, international treasure hunter, thief and black marketeer. 

THE SCENARIO

For this game we played a basic Lost Keys scenario. The major plot point was the truck with the minor plot points being Gabby, a crate of treasure already for transport, a stash of treasure hidden by Gabby and the truck's driver that had gotten a case of nerves and had run into the woods to hide. Any one of the minor plot points would be useful in either returning to the scene or proving to the authorities that it existed.

Pa Mystery, his wife and two girls set up in the tree line, ready to see what the Countess and her minions were up to.

The Countess had spread out. While she and Zelda kept close to the mine, Bronzini had spread himself and the two gunmen, Theo and Aldo through the trees, trying to hem in the spooked driver.

Aldo and Theo make a move to try to grab the driver. Figuring guns are more intimidating than the spooky woods and old legends, they close in on either side.

Unfortunately, the driver was not in the mood to cooperate and proved perilous enough to take down the two gunmen. A string of spectacularly romantic curses echoed through the woods as Bronzini watched his men taken out by a bat-wielding mook.

Determined to make up for his men, Bronzini rushes the crate and manages to figure it a way to leverage the big box and its contents.

Countess Velasco, seeing that Bronzini has the crate, move in to secure the truck, taking Zelda with her. But Wild Bess Mystery steps out of the underbrush, brandishing twin pistols. "Not so fast ya' pretty talkin' bandits!"

With a sneer, the Countess squeezed the trigger on her Mauser. the two ladies exchanged a hefty volley of fire but Bess proved to be ill-suited to taking on the likes of the wicked Countess.

With his daughter down and Ma Mystery and his other daughter racing to her aid, Pa decides to make a move to the back of the rocky outcropping, sure that Gabby has himself secreted someplace close to the mine. He trips and stumbles (Unexpected Peril), but still makes it across the clearing.

Ma came out of the trees shooting and takes Zelda out. The gypsy falls next to her countess who narrows her steely eyes.

"Gabby? That you?" Pa Mystery, searched the cracks of the rocks and found the frightened prospector.

"Thank my lucky britches! Yer sure a sight for sore eyes, Marshal!"

"Gabby, you know I don't wear a badge no more, but I'm glad you're doing alright. Now, let's get out of here."

Pa Mystery coaxed the old dude out of the rocks and started to lead him to safety.

Eva Mystery takes a chance, in all the chaos, to try to skirt around through the trees, hoping to get into position to make a move to intercept the driver who had by that time been apprehended by Theo.

Meanwhile, Bronzini had managed to get the crate to the truck and was muscling the hefty package into the back of the truck. 

"I don't know what it is, but it's heavy," growled the brawny blonde mercenary.

"Heavy is always good," chuckled the Countess as she covered the loading of the goods.

Bess had managed to get herself back up and made another push at Bronzini, supported by her Ma, but the heavy fire from his BAR cut through the woods and dropped the cowgirl again. It was no mystery who had the upper hand in that firefight.

Bronzini climbed into the truck and hotwired the engine to a rumbling, sputtering start. Unfortunately, Ma Mystery proved a dead-eye shot and took the Countess down. 

Behind the rocks, Pa Mystery was still trying to figure out how to get Gabby to safety when he heard the truck roar to life. Knowing the quickest route out of the woods was straight ahead of where the truck had been parked, he waited and took his shot as Bronzini rolled into view.

The driver was proving difficult to wrangle and as Theo was trying to catch him again, Eva swept out of the woods, snatching him to safety.

Ma Mystery joined her husband in a last ditch effort to stop Bronzini from escaping with both truck and treasure, but their shots ricocheted off the metal body and got caught up in the overhanging growth.

"Arrivederci cowboys!" 

Bronzini rumbled off into the darkening woods. He'd come back later to recover the Countess and the rest of them.

CONCLUSION

The game was a close one, 4-3. My 10-year old daughter played well and could have one it if she had been able to stop Bronzini who held all my victory points. 

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