Pulp Alley Potential Leagues: Two New Ideas Old Figures

Part of the joy of Pulp Alley is the ability to recycle many of the older figures I have for other rule sets that have fallen into disuse.  At present my Darkest Africa range is getting a good work out, but one of my preferred haunts is Victoriana.

There have been some decent television shows of late that have spurred me on to think about a host of plots and adventures.  If you haven't seen any of them I'd suggest you give them a watch, but then my tastes aren't common.

Penny Dreadful
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2628232/

Jekyl & Hyde
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4224588/?ref_=nv_sr_1

The Frankestein Chronicles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4206804/?ref_=tt_rec_tti

Who's taken over the Asylum?  Recently I started reading a series of books by James McGee, his first book was titled Ratcatcher which I enjoyed, his second which I am part way through is titled Resurrectionist.  These novels are set at the time of the Napoleonic Wars so well before Victoriana.  However more than enough material there for those looking for plots.

Resurrectionist, James McGee
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1095531.Resurrectionist

An unnamed League as yet, but clearly a master surgeon, his stunted servant (Igor), and the inmates of the Asylum.  Oddly when I think of Igor my mind wanders to Terry Pratchet and his wonderful Igor characters he populated the world of Discworld with.  Mine will probably follow suit in that regards.

The Jekyl & Hyde combination!

 Still working on who will be what but the models all nicely complement each other.

 The leader and sidekick, with the Hyde model lurking in the background.  The sidekick model reminds very much of the character of Dr Bell played by Ian Richarson.  I've included the link, watch the series if you have not had a chance, excellent in my opinion.

Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1333192/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_15

 These lads I intend to call Thompson, Tomson and Tompson, as a homage to Tin Tin.

A failed experiment? I was going to have a British Bulldog, but I really do have problem with animals going for plots.

So these are on the drawing board at present.  Who knows they may even be adversaries of Lord Wishart for visiting chums!

Till next time, cheerio.

Crime Alley Terrain

Over the next while I shall be sharing some photos of the adventures undertaken using the Pulp Alley rules.  The terrain below is an example of the terrain that is in use at the Blind Pig, so I would encourage people to attend the club whenever they can to enjoy a game on the excellent terrain they have.

The board shown below will be for Crime Alley initially, battles between G-Men and Mobster, Man Scientists and Altruistic Heroes...  Lots of fun to come over the coming weeks if not months.

My work will be cut out as I have to source, and our create the extra details in the way of terrain, letter boxes, newstands, brick-a-brack etc.  Need a fountain, a statue a few other items and of course period cars, no easy or particularly cheap (well not for a pensioner anyway).

So stay tuned as I expand on this.  Most likely a AAR this weekend for Crime Alley, G-Men versus Mobsters.

How the times change

My family have been involved in retail for many years, a lot of it has since the 70's been hobby related.  Below are just a few photos of the past I thought I'd share, but like my memory, a bit vague on accurate details.

I believe this is one of the shop fronts of a Hobby & Toyland store in the 70's, not sure of it's location.

 When the Second World War progressed and the Japanese moved closer to Australia all women and children (and I believe non essential civilians) were sent to Brisbane or further south, commonly referred to as the Brisbane Line.  My mother and her family were no exception, my grandfather married into the family and he being of Chinese stock was not permitted to fight for Australia in the front lines, for fear at the time he would be mistaken for the enemy.  Instead he worked at Kangaroo Point ship yards maintaining the vessels that supplied Port Morsby and Papua New Guinea.

Sometime in the late 1940's, most likely 50's as the shelves are well stocked. 

I believe this is the shop my grandparents ran it  is now a chiropractors business.  Doesn't look like that now though.

No game system is perfect... from 1978

As part of ennui I've been able to do nothing but shuffle about the house and the best I can manage is cataloging my extensive collections (long overdue).  Problem is as you do this you find books you've not looked at in ages, games not opened etc.  I chanced to read this editorial introduction by Scott B. Bizar penned in 1978 for Destrier.

He states that "no game system is perfect and no game system should be played exactly as written."

Wow, what a statement to make, and how many people today would rip his head of, troll him and take him to task over his audacity that game systems aren't perfect.  I know that the evil empire would take exception to anyone thinking their games weren't perfect! 

However I think he has a good point, no system is ever perfect.  There will always be someone who will find the typo that exploits the intent, a rules lawyer that will interpret the intent of the written over the intended.  Games for me have always been about having fun, the rules are there to allow me to determine outcomes, if my group don't like the system, we move to another or if someone is skilled enough makes changes that hopefully don't unbalance play. 

Kings of War - Orcs

Following on from my Elves I've now looked at my Orcs.

 So the above is my collected and painted Orc army.

 Gore Rider and Gore Chariots.  Straight crossover from my WFB.  The only difficulty I had was with the chariots and the scythed wheels.  I had to snap them off so that they would fit together and form the Regiment (3).  Rather pleased with the chariots.

 The KoW Orcs seem to use the axe as the weapon of choice.  My orcs don't fall under that category so the above are just a unit of Ax or spear and shield Orcs.  My option is to give the above Horde (40) the magical ability Orcsbanes Amulet of Thorns.

The unit on the left become Morax (fighting with two hand weapons fits the descriptor) and a unit of Ax on the right.

 The Black Orcs work well as axes are their weapon of choice.  The left are Morax, the one one the right Greatax.

 A wonderful collection of characters, flaggers (banner bearers), Orclings (Snotlings) and War Drum which I made to be a lone drummer on the appropriate 50mm square base.

And for reasons I can't quite remember (and fact you can only have troops (10) of them) lots of archers.  I guess I can use them as speed bumps for flankers and the like.

So next on show and tell will be the Goblins.

Kings of War - Elves

One of the things that I really like about the Kings of War rules set is the versatility that the game (currently) allows when it comes to figures and basing.

I have not played WFB for a very long time, I think 2007 may have been the last throw of the dice for the game at that time.  Though I did start to play 3rd Edition WFB with a friend, but he's wandered off to Warmachine/Hordes and I've found Kings of War.

Below are my miniatures which I have re-based or used as is for the troop types in this game.

The above shot is the entire Elf army which is an amalgamation of my Wood Elves and High Elves.

 In the forefront are my Lothern Sea Guard which have now become the Therennian Sea Guard.  Beside them are Maiden Guard which I can play as Therennian Sea Guard or use as Kindred Tallspears.

My dryads were a problem child, as they were the only troop types that fit the concept of Hunters of the Wild..  They are on 25mm square bases (like Orcs), and I did sacrifice 20 of them to squeeze them onto troop (10) base.  They look good but it was a real problem to add flocking and paint the sections between the models.  Hence the Regiment (20) only have 12 on the base, but I can get in there and paint and flock between the section.  The foot print is fine, short a few figures but as you don't have to pull casualties from the group all is good.  As long as your opponent knows what they are is all that counts.

The Treekind became Forest Shamblers and the Treemen Tree Herders.  No issues with basing here at all.

 Chariots were fine, though I have the problem with other races where there are scythes jutting from the wheels.  Not sure how I will tackle that one, but in the case of the Elves it worked out.

The Wood Elf Glade Riders made he easy transition to Silverbreeze Cavalry.

 The Stormwind Cavalry have come from a number of sources.  I've used the Silver Helms, Dragon riders, and Wild Riders to make 4 Regiment (10) units.  I even had to use the hounds from Orion to get the figure count for one unit of Silver Helms. 

 For Palace Guard I used the Phoenix Guard and Swordmasters.  I can also use the Glade Guard as either Palace Guard or Kindred Tallspears.

 My assorted characters.  Drakon Rider Lord, Mage on horse, Standard bearer, General on horse, Argus Rodinar and Green Lady.

Dragon Kindred Lord and the Wood Elf Warhawks I am currently using to represent Drakon Riders.

Missing, but seen in the group shot are the Elvish archers.  Mixture of Wood and High Elves.

So there you have, my entire collection of WFB Elves have merged across into Kings of War with very little qualm.  There is about 5,500 points of Kings of War units, more than enough to allow some leeway in troop selection for 2000 point games. Now to get some more games under my belt.

Vampire Wars

Collected and painted these figures about a decade ago.  Different style to how I paint now, no black wash.

Enjoy.