I’m struggling to come up with creative ideas for the next Pulp .45 Adventure campaign for my gaming mates. The first campaign we played was a touch long at five individual scenarios, so I’m shooting for a simpler three scenario mini campaign this time. I’m also thinking of cleaving to the three act dramatic structure and possibly adding some kind of arch villain or group that can appear and re-appear in later campaigns.

Anyway, while scouring the web for scenario ideas I stumbled across this gem: The Big List of RPG Plots. Numbering the list entries appropriately (11 to 34) and tossing 2d6 (reds high) around is a great way to jog the old imagination and come up with some ideas for campaigns. There’s even a handy PDF version that you can download and print out.

The Big List author, S. John Ross, is a professional game designer with an impressive history. He’s also got a bunch of other nifty, RPG related stuff on his Cumberland Games and Diversions site.

I’m still slowly trying to clear some space on my paint station for new figures. First I’ve managed to paint one whole Obelisk Miniatures Baluchi Zombie! Not bad considering they’ve been sitting on the paint station since December.

The figure was an enjoyable paint and actually fairly quick once I knuckled down to it. I really must paint the rest of them up because they’ll look great as a finished group. I think I’ll vary the skin tones a little too and have a mixture of brown, leathery desiccated dead’uns and some with the more classic green foetid zombie look. Maybe they drowned in a well or ate some bad dates instead of expiring under the desert sun.

Continuing to paint outstanding figures I also finished the Ebob Camels in a frenzy of drybrushing. I’ve had these ready to paint since September last year too.

I never did get around to sculpting a saddle for either of them, but now they’re painted at least they can appear on the tabletop. I guess there’s also nothing stopping me from adding a removable saddle at a later date. I’ll just wrap one of them in shrink wrap and slap a blob of green stuff over the shoulders and build a saddle up on that once it’s set.

The West Wind Cairo Civilians I ordered from Old Glory arrived this weekend. I received three blisters: The Servants of Set, Cairo Civilians and Cairo Civilians with cart. For some reason these blisters no longer appear on the official West Wind site, but fortunately Old Glory still sell them. I was directed there by a fellow Pulp gamer on the excellent Back of Beyond Pulp forum.

The civilian figures represent a nice mix of pedestrians and beggars you’d expect to find in a cliché pulp 1930’s Cairo city street. I’ve hastily arranged them in a busy alley for the above photo. Most of the figures were well cast, with just a little flash here and there. Unfortunately the register was clearly off on two of the figures and they have serious mold lines which will require a lot of filing and some re-sculpting. Possibly the molds have been retired which is they no longer appear on the West Wind site.

The figures themselves are passable, with a nice mix of sitting and standing men and a single, appropriately attired lady. I prefer the figures from the second ‘Civilians with Cart’ blister as the sculpts are a little cleaner and their faces are a touch more realistic than those in the first blister. I can take or leave the cart though as I could easily scratch build and cast something very similar myself. The scale of all the figures is good too and they mix well with my painted CoppleStone Castings and Artizan Designs figures.

These figures will receive some quick paint jobs just to get them on the table. As most of them are wearing simple turbans and robes they shouldn’t be too hard to paint. They’ll be used as innocent bystanders in a Cairo suburb that the heroes and villains are battling through. In fact my players are so cavalier with firearms I can imagine an amusing ‘Escape from the Angry Mob’ Pulp .45 Adventure Scenario being played out after somebody accidentally plugs Rashid the beggar.

In summary, they’re adequate but not great figures, which is really what I was expecting given the subject manner. After all it’s pretty hard to sculpt a particularly evocative Middle Eastern pedestrian or beggar.

I have a garage full of unpainted figures and various spray cans of primer, colours, varnish etc. like most hobbyists I imagine. I tend to clean up, base and prime figures in small batches and leave them on my paint station until they’re done. That way I’ve always got something to pick up when I feel like painting, but I don’t have to expend a lot of effort to clean and base figures that aren’t going to see a brush for months or even years.

Late last year I finished up my last can of Citadel ‘Skull White’ primer and dutifully purchased a replacement from a local model store. However I didn’t get around to using it a couple of weeks ago, when I discovered to my disgust that a full can of white primer had somehow rusted itself shut around the point the nozzle attaches to the can. I’ve never had a can do this to me before so I’m at a loss to explain what caused it. It’s summer over here and the can was stored on a high shelf in a bone dry garage. Yet there was obvious rust around the can top and not a drop would spray - despite the fact the can was definitely full.

It was at this point I noticed the can I’d purchased late 2006 was the older style - namely a simple white can without the Games Workshop branding. Does anybody recall when GW changed their primer can branding? Presumably the can I’d purchased had been sitting on a store shelf long before that.

After cursing the fates, local model store owners, Games Workshop and swearing never to use their products again I eventually relented and picked up a fresh can of primer from Vagabond in Queen St. This time I made very sure it was a new blue, rebranded spray can.

Since then I’ve been in the grip of ‘Primer Madness’. Basing and priming all my outstanding Pulp figures from Copplestone, Artizan and Obelisk, including the Obelisk Baboons and Hyenas that just arrived last week. I’ve also primed the two Bolt Action Sdkfz 222 Scout Cars that arrived mid January and that 15mm Flames of War Jeep you can see to the left is the last transport vehicle I have to paint to complete my NZers.

Ominously there also appears to be something odd with my current can too: the nozzle tends to angle spray downwards, hitting the side of the can and your hand as well, which is why the can top above is slowly turning white. I just hope the damn thing lasts long enough to prime my Flames of War DAK Panzergrenadiers and Corvus Bellis Romans and Carthaginians.

Now I’ll have to spend the rest of 2007 painting this lot!

Recently I stumbled across an excellent, step by step photo tutorial of a 28mm pirate sculpt by the gentleman behind Musketeer Miniatures.

In nine parts he takes us from creation of the wire armature to a finished sculpt using ProCreate epoxy putty which has recently appeared on the market. Frankly this has to be one of the best sculpting tutorials I’ve found on the web to date which is why I’m reposting it here. It’s so good I’m considering using it as a copying exercise and attempting to create my own version of this pirate from green stuff just for practice (of course).

ProCreate putty sounds like an improvement over green stuff as well, which I find a little annoying to use simply because it’s so tacky. Musketeer Miniatures sell ProCreate too, and I’m tempted to pick some up, although I should use up the foot or so of green stuff tape I have left first.

I’ve bought several very useful sculpting tools from Phil of PitYak Studios in the past. Unfortunately one tool he didn’t have was a small ball burnisher which I was after for smoothing sculpted green stuff.

Recently he told me about a craft store he’d found locally in Wellington that sold some cheap and useful tools. In particular they had a 0.5/1mm ball burnisher tool that he picked up and was good enough to send me gratis. Thanks Phil, I definitely owe you one!

By the way PitYak Studios sell a fine range of detailed resin 28mm figure bases as well as a wide range of modeling tools and basing materials.

The first of my recent Pulp orders arrived earlier this week: African wildlife from Obelisk Miniatures. Each large blister pack contained six metal figures with round plastic slotta bases.

The first impression is good, they’re nicely sculpted figure with plenty of variety in the poses. There is a moderate amount of flash on several figures that will require some careful cleaning up. Many of the figures have small rods running between the bases and their raised limbs which will require clipping away. The Baboons also have some large metal venting tabs on the end of each of their tails which will be a little troublesome to clean off.

I’ve quickly poked a couple of raw figures into their slotta bases and shot them next to a couple of Copplestone Castings 28mm Pulp Heroes for scale comparison. They scale well against the human miniatures, for example compare them to this interesting set of photos from ShowStudio I stumbled across via a Google image search.

The figures themselves are well sculpted, particuarly when you consider how limiting animal sculpts can be. The Hyenas while all unique are all quite similar figures, really only differing in the positioning of the legs, although there is one in a nice head down growling pose. The Baboons show a lot more variety and are posed in a mixture of knuckle-walking and howling, with my favorite being the beast baring his fangs and angrily throwing his arms into the air.

I was quite surprised to find each animal is unique - clearly somebody likes sculpting Baboons and Hyenas! Having a mixture of figures like this means you can happily use all six to represent a pack without having to worry about painting duplicates differently to hide the repeated poses. It’s a small thing I guess, but very handy for the gamer.

In summary these are two great little packs of animals for any Pulp 28mm gamer using an African or Middle Eastern setting. I can imagine several .45 Adventure scenarios where a pack of wild Hyenas or angry Baboons could be the main challenge to the players.