Pulp fiction comes in a variety of genres and just as the story lines are varied so are the heroes which populate them.
7TV Pulp has divided these genres into
Amazing Tales – for skirmishes on fantastic alien worlds featuring space adventurers, weird science, deranged inventors and gadgeteers. All aboard that homemade rocketship for a trip to the stars!
Crimebusters – for gritty stories of law and order agents, hardboiled detectives, down-at-heel gumshoes and masked vigilantes. Crush out that cigarette, down the last of the bourbon and venture out into those mean streets.
Gangland Stories – for those with a criminal inclination, a genre that offers criminal empires, kingpins, violent mobsters and shady dealings in abandoned warehouses. Just fill ’em full of lead, ya goons!
Mystery Theatre – for fiendish masterminds, crazed surgeons and totalitarian maniacs bent on world domination. Crush them! Crush them all!
Thrilling Adventures – for far-flung expeditions to lost cities or forgotten catacombs in search of mysterious artefacts and fabulous treasures. Grab your hat, your whip and that unlikely service revolver!
Weird Menace – for mad scientists and Unspeakable Things From Beyond. There’s more in that book bound in human skin, but it could drive you mad.
Today we needed to go to a specialist medical appointment which turned out so well he didn’t want to see SWMBO again! YIPPEE! Seeing we were near her old shopping stomping grounds we decided to go to Southland, a large shopping mall, for some retail therapy. Half a new wardrobe latter and we came across Games World, a franchise games shop, and came across a couple of games that we had been looking at but the price was more than we were prepared to pay.
With a 60% off sale we could only hope, but low and behold both were there.
The first is a standalone game on the George A. Romero movie of the same name.
Night of the Living Dead: A Zombicide Game
Like always for me the game is just a bonus as I was really just after the 66 figures.
The great thing is that they are clad very like those in the original 1968 movie
In Night of the Living Dead: A Zombicide Game, players take on the role of the movie’s main characters, holed up in an isolated house while the dead come to life all around them.
The original movie sees the few survivors hunkering for safety in the house as the ghouls (as they’re called in the film) pose a continuous threat from outside.
It’s a tense psychological thriller full of gritty moods and dark themes, but the game lets the survivors take the fight to the hordes of the undead.
There have been a number of films in the franchise including:
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Dawn of the Dead (1978);
Day of the Dead (1985);
Land of the Dead (2005);
Diary of the Dead (2007); and
Survival of the Dead (2009).
The second one we have been looking at as a “couples game” for a while is:
The Isle of Cats
The story goes that a fables island, home to a race of ancient cats, is under threat from the advancing armies of Vesh Darkhand. Your task is to race to the island in your boat, and get as many cats on board and away to safety before the island is destroyed. All the while outscoring your opponents of course.
Each player has a ship and the idea is to collect as many cats preferably in the same family so as to maximise points.
The game is for up to four players but can also be played solo.
The Isle of Cats solo mode has been designed to provide players with a similar experience to the multiplayer game. You won’t be competing to get the best score possible, but instead you will be faced against your sister who has her own ship!
The game has a 16+ rating although it really is a family game. The only reason is that some of the cards would be difficult for a younger child to understand without adult help but i am just guessing here.
The Isle of Cats is another one of those ‘easy to learn, hard to master’ abstract games.
The rules are fairly easy to get into, and the game gets its depth from the crunchy decisions you need to make; part strategy, part tactics.
In January my plan for this year was to try and achieve the following:
Finish my 28mm Modern asymmetric war games rules;
Read at least 10 new Books;
Do at least three projects that require more “green stuff” modelling;
Sell/give away at least 10 lots of stuff that I am not using and will be unlikely to use;
Play at least one game every two weeks (26 in total) and write a battle report on them;
Complete at least 20 projects on the list below, or substitute them for something else.
The rules have not been completed and at the moment Blake and I have not been able to spend much time on this together. We have done bits on our own but haven’t shared these yet, and as this is not likely to happen in the short term I will shelve this until the time is right.
On the positive, excluding reviews on about eight sets of rules, I have read and completed eleven book reviews. This means with half the year gone I have already more than achieved that goal.
I have only completed one “green stuff” modelling project being an Egyptian objective marker so will need to do more work on this.
I have given away some Flintloque figures, some gladiators, and a whole pile of plastic 20mm “stuff”, but lots more needs to go.
With just under a year completed I am on track with playing games having played and completed battle reports on twelve games excluding the three dinosaur games with the grandchildren, which were great fun.
I am well on track with the list of 61 projects listed. I have completed 19 with another 43 remaining. Out of those 5 were Kickstarters that were supposed to arrive by end of June but have not as yet. I intend to take these off the list and re-prioritize if and when they arrive. All in all, only being one short of the years target with more than half way to go has been a bit of an underestimation of my abilities on that front.
Priority
Description
Scale
Cavalry
Infantry
Building
Large
1 HIGH
6:Seige Kickstarter
28MM
–
–
–
–
1 HIGH
Apocalyptic Shanty Town
28MM
–
–
10
–
1 HIGH
Arab village
28MM
–
–
5
–
1 HIGH
Balance of the Free Folk figures
28mm
–
61
–
6
9 COMPLETED
Brunswick Napoleonics
28MM
36
112
–
8
1 HIGH
Canadian Mounties
28MM
2
27
–
1
1 HIGH
Colonial Camel Corps
20MM
45
–
–
–
9 COMPLETED
Curse of Dead man’s Hand Ungodly Creatures
28MM
–
–
–
–
1 HIGH
Denisovians
28MM
–
30
–
–
9 COMPLETED
Eldar Striking Scorping Phoenix Lord and 3 Exarchs
28MM
–
4
–
–
9 COMPLETED
Eldar Striking scorpions
28MM
–
30
–
–
1 HIGH
Eldar wraithguard (2)
28MM
–
4
–
–
1 HIGH
Footsore miniatures Robin Hood Kickstarter
28MM
–
–
–
–
1 HIGH
Footsore miniatures FIW Kickstarter
28MM
–
–
–
–
9 COMPLETED
Free Folk Craster Character
28mm
–
1
–
–
9 COMPLETED
Free Folk Giants
28mm
–
–
–
2
1 HIGH
Free Folk Mammoth
28mm
–
–
–
1
1 HIGH
Free Folk Raider Unit
28mm
–
13
–
–
1 HIGH
Free Folk Raider Unit
28mm
–
13
–
–
9 COMPLETED
Free Folk skin Changer (1)
28mm
–
1
–
1
1 HIGH
Free Folk skin Changer (2)
28mm
–
1
–
1
9 COMPLETED
Free Folk Wilding Princess Val
28mm
–
1
–
–
1 HIGH
French Indian War Cavalry
28MM
15
17
–
1
1 HIGH
French Indian War French canoes
28MM
–
–
–
–
1 HIGH
French Indian War Indian Canoes
28MM
–
–
–
–
1 HIGH
Gangs of Rome
28MM
–
–
–
–
1 HIGH
Ghost Busters Kickstarter
28MM
–
–
–
–
9 COMPLETED
Gotham City Station
28MM
–
–
–
1
1 HIGH
Harry Potter Figures
28MM
2
82
–
4
1 HIGH
Jungle Patrol
28MM
–
13
–
–
1 HIGH
Masters of the universe Kickstarter
28MM
–
–
–
–
9 COMPLETED
MCP Hulk
28MM
–
–
–
1
1 HIGH
Modern Afghan Forces
28MM
1
17
–
9
1 HIGH
Modern ISAF forces
28MM
–
24
–
–
1 HIGH
Modern Scooters
28MM
–
–
–
6
9 COMPLETED
Necromunda Cawdor Gang
28MM
–
19
–
–
1 HIGH
Necromunda Delaque
28MM
–
9
–
–
9 COMPLETED
Necromunda Goliaths
28MM
–
32
–
–
1 HIGH
Necromunda Hired Guns
28MM
–
13
–
–
9 COMPLETED
Necromunda Orlocks
28MM
–
12
–
–
1 HIGH
Necromunda Pit Slaves
28MM
–
5
–
–
1 HIGH
Necromunda Ratskins
28MM
–
30
–
–
1 HIGH
Necromunda Redemptionists
28MM
–
17
–
–
9 COMPLETED
Necromunda Scavvies
28MM
–
24
–
–
1 HIGH
Necromunda Wyrds
28MM
–
1
–
–
1 HIGH
Plains Indians
28MM
2
27
–
–
9 COMPLETED
Powhattan Indians
28MM
–
21
–
–
1 HIGH
Project Z ultimate bundle
28MM
–
–
–
–
1 HIGH
Ragnarok Kickstarter
28MM
–
–
–
–
9 COMPLETED
Roman City
28MM
–
–
–
–
1 HIGH
Japanese Temple Complex
28MM
–
–
6
–
9 COMPLETED
Test of Honour Oda Plastic Foot Samurai
28MM
–
9
–
–
9 COMPLETED
Trains mdf
28MM
–
–
–
6
1 HIGH
US Cavalry
28MM
37
46
–
3
1 HIGH
Viking Longboat
28MM
–
21
–
1
1 HIGH
War In Christmas Village Figures
28MM
1
5
–
–
1 HIGH
Warhammer Chaos Dwarfs
28MM
6
34
–
1
1 HIGH
Warpath Plague Army
28MM
–
–
–
12
9 COMPLETED
Wild West Civilians
28MM
–
73
–
–
1 HIGH
World War Two French
28MM
2
115
–
22
1 HIGH
Zombicide Wild West Kickstarter
28MM
–
–
–
–
That is only part of the picture because most of the work I have completed was not even on the list! A few things have occurred to cause this change of direction. Firstly we have started playing a lot of Lasalle 2 and my Napoleonic Figures needed a huge amount of work re-basing and touching them up after having very little use for decades.
There was also Maree’s interest in a Targaryen army which put a lot of things on hold and then there was the birthday horde which has started a revival of my Warpath, and Deadzone collection
The discovery of Zona Alpha, Five Parsecs From Home, Silver Bayonet, and 7TV Pulp have also caused a change of priority on what I have painted and built.
These include the following Napoleonic units that have been re-based, repaired, and touched up:
British Congreve Rockets;
Nassau Battalion of 24 figures:
British 1st and 2nd Life Guard of 12 figures;
Kings German Hussars of 8 figures;
2nd British Union Brigade of 48 figures;
7 British Regiments of 168 figures;
French Allied Brigade 1 of 96 figures;
French Allied Brigade 2 of 96 figures;
Portuguese Dragoons of 8 figures;
Dutch (Red) Lancers 0f 18 figures);
French Veteran Infantry Brigade 1 of 96 figures;
French Veteran Infantry Brigade 2 of 96 figures;
3 British Artillery Batteries including crew, limbers and caissons.
I need to point out that whilst the re-basing and repairs was no small task it was nowhere the same as actually painting the figures in the first place. So whilst it looks impressive, in the scheme of things it was not that time consuming. I still have a lot more of these to go.
The other things which were not on the list that were completed include:
The mouse house fun fantasy house village and toadstool forest;
British modern Afghan Squad;
Afghan National Army Squad and APC;
Marshmallow man for Ghostbusters;
Giant plastic squid;
40k Praetorian Guard Missile Launcher;
President for Life Hasim Koboto and Family;
3 Zombie survivors;
40k Lord Solar Macharius;
two 20mm Rolls Royce armoured cars;
28mm Resin tug;
several Gorka Morka post apocalyptic vehicles;
Damaged 1/43 scale diecast cars;
Gangs of Rome civilians (30);
WW2 Finnish Stug;
WW2 Finnish BA-10;
8 Halo Spartans;
Songs of Ice and Fire Targaryen army;
Rad Ghouls for Zona Alpha;
Lasalle 2 ruined buildings;
Crisis Team Alpha and Spaceship for 5 Parsec from Home;
German U-boat;
Batman figures;
40 Deadzone Plague zombies;
10 Deadzone Plague 3A mutants;
2 Deadzone Plague Dogs;
1 Deadzone Plague Mule vehicle and wreck;
Ainsty resin Dock;
Ainsty resin River Launch;
French in Egypt Unit for Silver Bayonet; and
Seebattallion figures.
The list makes me tired looking at.
What am working on at the moment? Well you can forget the table above because I have different priorities than at the start of the year.
I am gradually wading through a Napoleonic Turkish army and have half painted eight units of infantry. This is just a part of what is quite a large project with Janissaries, Militia’ artillery, and cavalry to come. The majority of these figures are from Eureka Miniatures Russo-Turkish War and their 16th century ranges as not much had changed during that period.
The Deadzone, Ruined city, and Arab buildings are all about half completed as is a container ship for Pulp games. I have put together some plastic Partizans for Bolt Action but these are not a priority for painting at the moment.
Two of my Kickstarters have arrived and I have started painting the Robin Hood one and have sorted out the French Indian Wars one for preparation and painting.
The painting desk has moved inside from the garage during winter and now has this in various stages of completion.
Deadzone Plague Zombies completed today and in a post soon!
WW1 Turkish Infantry and Vignettes for Pulp games just undercoated.
Nasty Nazis for Pulp games.
Pulp Heroes including Mr Jones with whip that will be the next priority.
Pulp Sailors part completed to take on the Seebattalion!
Loads of Aliens from CP Models including the two for 5 Parsecs that I need done ASAP.
Two unopened boxes of 3rd Gen Plague Mutants for Deadzone, as you can never have enough mutants!
Deadzone GCPS Major Loren Chard character.
Two boxes of Silver Bayonet armies (Spanish and Austrian) received for my birthday that I also want to have finished soon!
I have decided to give up on lists as this “Brain of a Gnat” Guru keeps changing his priorities.
I have four 20mm S model French H35 tanks to give away that I will never put together or use. I have tried to give them away to my normal gaming group but there were no takers.
So I have decided to run a competition for blog followers – “What did you just say”!
The best four captions for the above photo will win a prize. Just reply in the comments section. You can enter as many times as you like but only one per comment.
As normal the winners will be those that “tickle my fancy”, but you are welcome to bitch or complain.
Ten more Plague zombies to enter the Deadzone arena. I am finding the zombies hard to photo properly so I apologise for that. What are those zombies
Wait a minute is that a Nazi submarine I see in the corner? I don’t see any shockwaves!
I think there heading to an Oasis
Maybe they are just angry Nazi Zombies!
Or perhaps they are just OVER their LORD!
I see the dead but not the snow!
Geez they may be just Nazi Zombies that need an operation.
It’s dawn and the the sun should be coming up over these zombies!
I see some water. Is that a lake?
Is it just a blood creek?
I think they are just heading for their outpost!
Is that Frank N Stein I see in the front?
Let’s just massacre the buggers.
I think its about to get Dark.
From this post you can see I am plague zombied all out. I will struggle through the last ten and then give it a miss I think! No it wasn’t hard to find 12 Nazi zombie movies, most of which I hate to admit I have seen.
Firstly I chose the officers pack with five figures. At this stage I do not intend using the Ships Captain with cigarette (in white), as I have another dastardly purpose in mind for him, but the other four will certainly make an appearance.
I only needed a few figures for 7TV Pulp, so chose the Troops 1 pack. I have purchased directly from Bob Murch in Canada previously, but the cost of postage and time delays are now prohibitive. Fortunately there are many stockists of his figures and I chose Sally 4th that I deal with regularly. North Star would have greater stock levels if you need to purchase more than a few of any one blister pack.
The 7TV Pulp Unit I am using them for is shown in the photo of the unit cards below (Cards from Crooked Dice 7TV Pulp game):
From this you can see that I need a Seebattallion Commander, Sergeant and 2-6 troopers. I will also need an individual to command and stay with the launch.
1 Seebattallion Deckoffizier (Petty Officer) in charge of Launch
As I also wanted the figures to be used for WW1 East Africa skirmish games as well, so I chose to use a darker khaki coloured uniform than normally used by the Seebattallion.
There you have it. The completion of the mini project of Ainsty’s Stone Jetty with Steps, the Ainsty River Launch with Cabin, and the German Seebattallion crew for Pulp Fiction gaming.
I can see a trek through darkest Africa to steal a sacred diamond being thwarted by Tarzan, or Indiana, or the Ghost Who Walks or…………………!
This is the first of three posts on a small project that has been planned for a while. Each post is on quite different models but together form a coherent whole.
The stone Jetty with Steps SKU: 3515 is sold separately or the four pieces together for a reduced price.
This is a great resin casting with absolutely NO flashing to remove. After washing I was able to paint it straight from the box.
This set contains one of each parts of the jetty.
It is a bit pricey at twenty pounds but is quite sizeable and with the devaluation of the English currency is reasonable value for Australians at the moment.
Having put it together I now realise that I need three more straight pieces and another set of steps which will set me back another twenty four pounds.
As the wars of Napoleon ravage Europe, chaos and fear reign and the darkness that once clung to the shadows has been emboldened. Supernatural creatures – vampires, werewolves, ghouls, and worse take advantage of the havoc, striking out at isolated farms, villages, and even military units. Whether they are pursuing some master plan or simply revelling in their newfound freedom is unknown. Most people dismiss reports of these slaughters as the rantings of madmen or the lies of deserters, but a few know better…
The Silver Bayonet is a skirmish wargame of gothic horror set during the Napoleonic Wars. Each player forms an elite band of monster hunters drawn from the ranks of one of the great powers. Riflemen, swordsmen, and engineers fight side-by-side with mystics, occultists, and even those few supernatural creatures that can be controlled or reasoned with enough to make common cause. The game can be played solo, cooperatively, or competitively, with players progressing through a series of interlinked adventures with their soldiers gaining experience and suffering grievous wounds, and their units triumphing… or falling in the face of the shadows. It is a game of action and adventure, where musket and sabre meet tooth and claw. (Osprey blurb)
I have now had the rules for over three weeks and have had a chance to read it through several times. I am now familiar with the mechanics of the game and ready to start organising my first Silver Bayonet Unit. I want to get started with a solo campaign very soon and decided to use existing figures rather than paint up the Spanish and Austrian figures that I was given with the rules. I want to base my campaigns outside of Europe and have chosen a French Army of Egypt as my first one. The second one will be in the Caribbean during the Sugar Wars when I get my Blood and Plunder figures painted.
I have enough spare figures already painted. At this stage I wanted to put together a group of figures that would allow lots of flexibility in the years to come and have selected nineteen models which is eleven more than I will need at any one time.
“In a troubled part of the Caribbean, a stretch of water that will be considered cursed by many, lies the ruins of a once great civilization. Shrouded in mist for thousands of years….what treasures and dangers lurk on, or below, the island of Atlantis?“
You may note that a figure may appear in a number of listings below, showing the flexibility of those that I have chosen.
1 Officer
The officer is your most powerful character, so you need to think how you intend to use them in conjunction with with the others in the unit and equip them accordingly. You can choose up to three characteristic increases, two attributes and up to six items of equipment.
1 Junior Officer
Like the Officer these can be drawn from any Branch of the military so any officer figure could be used, allowing you to create whatever background story you wish. You can only have one Junior Officer. They have 2 pistols and a hand or fencing weapon, and can select one item from the officer list.
3 Grenadier/Guards
The largest and strongest soldiers are recruited into the Grenadier Units and are expected to lead the attack and withstand the strongest fire. They have increased Courage, Defence and health and are equipped with a musket and cartridge box.
2 Vivanderie
Only the French can use Vivanderie. While they are not soldiers or officially part of the army they take on the same risks as the soldiers and often perform nursing duties. Those who prove themselves in battle against the supernatural are often recruited into a special unit by the Harvestmen.
They are courageous, inspiring, masters of cover and are supernatural veterans which allows it to select two pieces of special equipment in addition to their normal hand weapon.
1 Sailor
Sailors are useful to have around especially if there is a boat in the scenario. They are also expert climbers and have steady feet which is great if clues are not located on ground level.
1 Supernatural Investigator
Supernatural investigators can be found in all armies. They come from all walks of life (which as a gamer allows you lots of scope). The most famous are Vatican Los Enviados (the Envoys on Paramount is worth watching) but are not limited to the church, and can be from secret societies, and lone vampire hunters. They come with a variety of weapons but mine comes with a heavy hand weapon and a pistol. They are also Supernatural veterans and monster experts. As mine is a priest miniature it could also be used as Champion of Faith but would have to pay the additional eight points as they are not part of the standard French list.
1 Occultist
These are the creepy people who study the supernatural (or play wargames), or compile books of spells. They are often called warlocks, witches, druids or just plain crazy. My kinda guy! They are also a supernatural veteran, and if they pass a courage test can use one of three spells. They are armed with a hand weapon.
5 Infantryman
These are the standard soldier of every army in Europe and are accustomed to the horror of the battlefield. Only the best are recruited by the Harvestmen. They are are equipped with a musket and cartridge box. Every unit should at least have several of these.
1 Swordsman
While technically not in the French list you can add from any nations list a troop type that you do not have access to. The recruitment comes at an additional 8 points cost. Swordsman are excellent in close combat and come equipped with a fencing weapon, a pistol and are Indefatigable meaning the suffer less fatigue than others. The figure can also be used as an extra Veteran Hunter.
1 Veteran Hunter
Veteran hunters are your Officers right hand man, even if a Junior Officer is present. They use the same equipment and attribute selection as used by officers.
1 Sapper
The name says it all. These are the combat engineers in Napoleonic armies and are expert in the use of gunpowder explosives. The have the standard musket and cartridge box, but are equipped with a heavy weapon as well. The use of the engineering skills is scenario specific.
1 Native Scout
Using “native” inhabitants as scouts, guides and militia. They are experts at using cover and can have a variety of weapons. Mine comes with a heavy weapon.
The unit I have selected with my one hundred points includes:
Officer;
Grenadier (15);
2 Infantrymen (20);
Vivanderie (10);
Sapper (12);
Occultist (20);
Supernatural Investigator (21).
From left to right the figures are Occultist, Vivanderie, Grenadier, Supernatural Investigator, Officer, Baggage Camel and driver (more on this in a later post on the campaign), Sapper, Infantryman 1, Infantryman 2.
I will include more details, including background and equipment on each Unit member, in a few days when I have put the campaign package together.
