Sunday, June 18, 2017

Are backpack Messerschmitts a good idea?

I painted up this squad of jet rangers to proxy as a Fallschermjager Falcon Squad in Konflikt '47.

When bad guys look pretty darn cool...

But what really motivated me to paint these dudes sooner rather than later was recently purchasing the rules for Pulp Alley, a simple and very story-driven ruleset for pulp skirmish games.  I'm very excited to try out the game system, because I suspect it's going to check all the boxes that I want from a skirmish game.  As a matter of fact, I already purchased the expansion rules, which cover other settings, like fantasy, sci-fi, Wild West, etc.

My original plan was to paint two opposing factions for an introductory game of Pulp Alley, one British and one German.  These guys were supposed to be the Brits, with the jets painted in olive with yellow cowlings, until I realized that the soldiers' lapel insignia and the shape of the helmet indicated that they were supposed to be Germans!

So a change of plans for my introductory game of Pulp Alley -- there will be two opposing German factions....

To give you a better idea of how interesting Pulp Alley is, the game is based on setting up 5 "plot points", with one of them being a primary plot point, which has an associated motivation.  There are tables to randomize selection of the plot points, and it's easy and fun to tie together the plot points into a narrative.

For example, here is the story I came up with, when this unit was going to be British:
The primary plot point for the scenario is "Bloodstained Plans".  Other plot points are "Shrink Amplifier", "Contragrav Cell", "Gas Box", and "Nervous Scientist".  The major plot point is at the behest of a "Newspaper Publisher", and "Someone's Freedom" is at stake.

So, The Daily Gazette has hired Charles Pinkerton Esq. to rescue missing reporter, Evelyn Goodbody, who was researching a laboratory in Bavaria.  Pinkerton has convinced Headquarters to bring on board the services of The Jet Rangers for this dangerous mission.  They must infiltrate the lab and steal the Bloodstained Plans to the amazing new technology of the Shrink Amplifier, a device used to create Ant-men as super-spies and also used to imprison nosy reporters.  The only way for the Allies to combat this new technology and rescue Evelyn Goodbody is to steal the plans and figure out how to reverse the process.

The Shrink Amplifier will be 'activated', and it will be a perilous terrain element.  Anyone who strays or is pushed into its containment field will risk having the Nervous Scientist turn them into a bug-sized (and impotent) hero.  Unless they incapacitate the Nervous Scientist first....

The Shrink Amplifier can be destroyed forever if a hero wrecks its one-of-a-kind energy source, the Contragrav Cell.  If anyone shoots the Gas Box, well,....that could make for a real explosive situation.....

I was going to introduce Pulp Alley to my gaming group today, at our semi-monthly meetup at the brewery, but Konflikt '47 won out for the game of choice.  A good problem to have!

Sunday, June 4, 2017

A bombshell of a post

Goblins don't win spelling bees.

I crafted a nasty surprise for my Kings of War opponents -- a Goblin Bomb.  The sneaky little bastards leave one of these behind, after they've been Routed (or were they?......).

Technically, the artifact is called the Crystal Pendant of Retribution.  But I don't know any army that would thematically use a sparkly necklace to blow up all of their adjacent enemies.  Lame.  So, I made a good old-fashioned, Wile E. Coyote-style bomb.

Built from a wooden ball from Michael's craft store, some Plasticard pipe, and some modeling paste.
The graphic was painted freehand.

I wanted to have an accessory like this for the last 3 times that I've played my goblin army.  So, I rushed to put this project together in time for my game of Kings of War that was scheduled for today.

A Sunday Kings of War game, held at the Rocket Republic brewery.
My Goblin army on the bottom against an Elf army on top.

Unfortunately, I never got the chance to deploy the bomb!

My Goblins and Orcs give their war cry, ready for battle!
Too bad they have a really crappy general, who's going to get them all killed...
Due to an egregious error, I sent my forces too far forward, too fast, and I set them up for not one, but two, double-charges against my units.

As usual, I feed my opponent easy kills.

I figured I would be on the losing end of a shooting war with Elves, so I advanced quickly to engage in melee.  I just didn't account for the enemy charge distances.  And I'm the one who insists on pre-measuring in my war-games!

My Goblin unit (lower right) should be where my Orcs are, screening against the two sylvan units.
The Goblins are the ones carrying the bomb, you idiots!
Man, that would have been glorious, if the Goblins had dropped the bomb at the feet of those two units.
My Trolls hang in there, but the tree-dudes pack a wallop.  The Trolls can't stand up to the combined forces, especially with the Fey Enchantress healing the Elves that my Goblin archers shot up on the way to the front line.

In the end, I got tabled.  Back to the drawing board!