Pulp Wheels!

One of the major parts of a good pulp story is a good old fashioned car chase! Here are a little selection of 'Pulp' style cars, roadsters and trucks...

First up, a simple 'Roadster' by Blue Moon.

A couple of old school motor cars.

A battered old truck, just out of Hicksville, USA.

Tin Tin, Captain Haddock and Snowy in a 'Saloon Car' by 1st Corps.

Thomson and Thompson in a '4-wheel Speedster', also by 1st Corps.

An old Innsmouth Police wagon. Long since abandoned...(Great Escape Games)

Another '4-wheel Speedster' by 1st Corps.

A selection of slightly more traditional 1920's and 1930's, gangster style cars with drivers and passengers.

Pure Pulp but no idea who produces this one...

A couple of 3-wheel Speedsters by 1st Corps.

Something slightly different but still within the Pulp genre was the classic Mark VII tank in Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade. Special effects artist George Gibbs visited a museum to negotiate renting a small French World War I tank for the film but ultimately decided on building one. The Mark VII Tank was a replica vehicle built on an old excavator chassis. It was based on the real-world Tank Mark VIII which possessed no main top turret. The replica measured 36 feet!

This is the HLBS/Copplestone version of the one from the film. It's a beast of a model, as shown by Lottie, who proudly stands next to it in the picture below.

Last up is a classic Sd.Kfz. 221/2 or 'Leichter Panzerspähwagen'. This is probably at the later end of the pulp period I am looking at but they did apparently go into production in 1935 so it still fits.

Models are produced by a variety of companies including 1st Corps, HLBS/Copplestone, Blue Moon, Great Escape Games and Sloppy Jalopy.

Tintin!

A very small pet project I first thought of back in 2012 and finally got around to...Tintin!

Apparently there looks to be another film on the way but it is a good few years off yet.

So, here we have Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus speeding to their next adventure in an open top saloon...

...hotly followed by incompetent detectives Thomson and Thompson!

Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock.

Tintin and his trusty companions Snowy, the Captain and Prof. Calculus.

A mixture of manufacturers! The alternate 'Nosey Youth' version is from the 1st Corps 20th Century Follies range that has some great pulpy style stuff in it including a variety of vehicles and some very cool motorcycles.

No idea of rules but I am thinking the obvious would be Pulp Alley?

Maybe I will get to play a "Tintin Meets Call of Cthulhu" game after all?

2013 Round-Up and Plans for 2014...

Well, 2013 was not a good year for me in general but I did get a fair amount done in regards to "The Hobby" and managed this by concentrating on only a few projects!

1) Doctor Who - over 100 miniatures now done for this, though admittedly I started in October 2012. Also got a great game in using the DWMG rules "Day of the Autons". Rob (GM) kindly painted up 30 odd Sea Devils and a few Silurians for me too!

2) 7TV - another 60 minis approx completed for this but only one game played, "GoldenSpy".

3) Stargate SG1 - about 45 minis and a Stargate done for this. Still not quite finished the MALP's / FRED's and need some scenery!

4) Strange Aeons / Cthulhu - a handful of figures done for this too including a horde of Deep Ones.

5) Viking / Dark Ages - an ongoing project over at Gjallarhorn. Topped up the Viking folk by another 30 or so.

6) Built up my scenery / terrain etc too over the last year but feel like there is a long way to go...

So, what's for next year?

1) Terrain / scenery / buildings etc - though I have a few bits and bobs I really need to concentrate on this over the next year. Anything generic is great but I think I need a lot more buildings, probably some Sarissa ones topped up with a couple of 4Ground and maybe a couple of Plasticville.

2) More Doctor Who - no surprises there as I still have a stack more of the Black Tree figures (picked up in sales) and a fair bit of 'not' Doctor Who stuff from Heresy and Crooked Dice etc. Also intend to actually play a few more games too now I have the figures!

3) More 7TV - again, lots of figures still to be done and want to play much more than I managed in 2013.

4) Stargate SG1 - bought some more Jaffa from eBay and must get the 'not' SG1 from Hasslefree!

5) Vikings - yep, more. Perhaps a few more games of Saga and Strandhogg. Might try out Pig Wars.

6) Strange Aeons - want to start concentrating on this more. I have loads of old Cthulhu minis and quite a few from the Artizan Thrilling Tales range. Andrew has been really working towards this (and all things Cthulhu) and I have only made a start. Really want to play!

7) Darkest Africa - progress slowed on this (By the Orders of the Great White Queen) but hopefully we will finally get to play something. I have a handful of bearers and villagers to do and we need more warriors.

New projects?

1) WWII - one of our other shared projects (A Project Too Far), so not exactly new but I want to start in a new area. It looks to be shaping up with Andrew painting up his Yanks and Rob adding to the ranks with some British Royal Marine Commandos (maybe?) and I would like to finish off a few Germans and French Resistance. As far as the new part of this I really want to get started on my British 'Home Guard'. I have a few of the Foundry 'Dad's Army' range and would like to pick up some Musketeer figures to add to this. Hopefully one of our first games of the new year will be using the Chain of Command rules by Too Fat Lardies.

2) Pulp - not bought them but looking at the Pulp Alley rules and fancy giving them a try. If I actually work towards some Strange Aeons stuff this will be useful here too, so not a huge commitment figure wise.

3) Greek Myth / 7th Voyage - bought the Crooked Dice 7th Voyage rules and have also picked up lots of the Foundry Greek Myth range (plus some monsters) so already committed to this!

4) Zombies - always a tempter as I am a massive Zombie fan. Obviously I have the 7ombieTV rules too being the Crooked Dice devout that I am. Andrew has the figures, I will aim to supply the buildings etc...

5) A Fistful of Kung Fu - very tempted by this but it would be a complete start from scratch. Definitely up for some 'Gun-Fu' action though.

6) Fantasy - well, I still have hundreds of unpainted fantasy minis (mainly Citadel) from my early Warhammer days. The Runequest stuff is calling to me as well... I fancy a getting a small Scorpion Man or Baboon raiding party together. Andrew made a lot of progress with this and bought an entire dungeon (not literally) so I feel obliged to assist.

7) Gladiators - I picked up some Gladiator minis recently and with the new rules coming from Studio Tomahawk this is on the cards too.

The main aim will be to try to actually PLAY more games!

I am sure I will find other distractions during the year (In Her Majesties Name, Dead Mans Hand, Judge Dredd, Tomorrows War??) but for now I think I have given myself plenty to be getting on with.

Best wishes to you all.

M

Strange Aeons - Dr. Amelie "Lena" von Heidingsfelder.

Dr. Lena von Heidingsfelder.

Dr. Amelie "Lena" von Heidingsfelder / "Fräulein Doktor"

Amelie, or Lena as she prefers to be known, was the youngest of four children born to Prussian Army officer and bailiff Carl Anton Heidingsfelder and his wife Lady Elspeth von Claustorch, from a minor Westphalian noble family. Studying zoology at the University of Freiburg, after a brief pursuit of an academic career, Lena's more adventurous spirit came to the fore and she travelled to Africa and South America. Initially setting with the intention of being a photographer of exotic animals, she eventually found herself becoming a seasoned adventurer. Leading safaris for the wealthy, treasure hunts for the foolhardy and expeditions into the unknown, her in depth knowledge of far away lands, dark secrets and strange cultures soon earned her the nickname 'Fräulein Doktor'. Lena is (of course) an accomplished big game hunter, journalist, war correspondent, stockbroker, saboteur, spy, and adventurer.

Strange Aeons - Winifred 'Winnie' Hodge.

'Winnie' Hodge.

Winifred "Winnie" Hodge

Despite her apparent bookish appearance, "Winnie" Hodge is a tough as they come. Educated at Newnham College, Cambridge, studying palaeography and anthropology with an interest in cryptography. The young Winnie worked as an assistant to the eternally mysterious Henry 'Harry' Winstanley, eventually joining him on some of his global exploits. Proving herself to be just as adept with a Webley revolver as with her head in a book of ancient texts, she soon found herself approached by a friend of Harry (on his recommendation), none other than the second son of Lord Burford, the Hon. Basil Ignatious Howard. It seemed he had need of her particular skill set and asked her to join him as an agent at the "Threshold"...

Call of Cthulhu - Deep Ones.

Deep Ones.

"I think their predominant color was a greyish-green, though they had white bellies. They were mostly shiny and slippery, but the ridges of their backs were scaly. Their forms vaguely suggested the anthropoid, while their heads were the heads of fish, with prodigious bulging eyes that never closed. At the sides of their necks were palpitating gills, and their long paws were webbed. They hopped irregularly, sometimes on two legs and sometimes on four. I was somehow glad that they had no more than four limbs. Their croaking, baying voices, clearly used for articulate speech, held all the dark shades of expression which their staring faces lacked ... They were the blasphemous fish-frogs of the nameless design - living and horrible."

(H.P.Lovecraft - "The Shadow Over Innsmouth")

Hybrid children watch the sea...

Maybe it was the calling of the sea, the foul murmurs of the Esoteric Order of Dagon, or maybe the fish and chips I had at the weekend - whatever, I decided to make a start on my Deep One horde. Currently a work in progress, I have dug out all my 'Deep One' miniatures and started work on about half. Out of the initial twenty, three of these are almost done but I have most of the detailing work to complete on the others. I also have two hybrid types undercoated and then another fourteen, a mix of hybrids and pure, to begin.

A fishy collective.

The figures are a mix of old Grenadier, RAFM, em4, CP Models, Black Cat Bases, plus some Black Tree Design Fishmen and Troglodytes to bolster the ranks. At the back is a huge mutated Deep One, aka a Frog Daemon also from Black Tree. Due to their monstrous nature and the practice of mating with humans, I felt there was a some flexibility in the actual physical shapes they could potentially have. The idea is that these are a mixed bunch of pure Deep Ones right through the various stages of hybrid plus the few inevitable grotesque mutations.

...pray for Father, roaming free.

As far as painting goes, I have tried to go for the 'classic' look, as described by Lovecraft, greyish green with white bellies. I could not decide on the colour of the eyes so settled for a glowing yellowy look.

Blasphemous fish-frogs indeed!

Strange Aeons - Agents Assemble!

The Threshold Agents (under the Department of Mythos Studies) assemble, ready for action.

1. Daphne Lamont
2. Hermione Peverall
3. Dr. Amelie "Lena" von Heidingsfelder
4. Winifred "Winnie" Hodge

1. Captain Vincent Wycott
2. Dermot Boyle
3. Hon. Basil Ignatious Howard G.C.
4. Jonathan Winstanley


All figures are from Copplestone.