Blog posts have been a bit spotty recently. Stress at work has reduced the urge to write, but the painting continues apace. Now I just need to find time to actually play the games I’m painting.
I haven’t really been painting with a purpose. No specific project or goal, just reducing the pile and painting whatever strikes me at the moment. Mostly I’ve been working through figures I bought at Hcon last year. Each of these came from random tables, cheap-o bins, or the flea market. I lucked out and paid nothing near full price for any of these.
This Tarzan piece is great. The hand with the spear is separate and doesn’t give a lot of surface to glue and connect it, but that is the only complaint. The figure looks impressive and will easily fit in with any jungle exploring, lost world, or even animal hunt themed games. For my use, I’ve been tempted to do a “Lost World” game where Tarzan could lead a cast of explorers or fight against industrialists encroaching on his jungle.
Tin Tin is an odd figure. It looks right; if you know Tin Tin, then there is no doubt what this figure is meant to be. But the eyes. The eyes are odd. Tough to paint. They didn’t turn out right on multiple tries. Skip it.
I’ve never read Tin Tin stories but there are a lot of people who get very excited by Tin Tin. For my games, he’s perfect as a young intrepid investigator.
One can never have too many mad scientists. Here we have a possible Herbert West. I’ll have to get him a Flesh Golem construct to work on, but there are many opportunities to have him and a cast of henchmen robbing graves or raiding chemical supplies.
I wasn’t sure what to paint this mini as, so I stuck with the white lab coat look. Again, more mad scientists is a good thing. I’m biased.
This figure will fit well in a hero or villain cast. It’s not clear who he is or what he’s doing. Not a dynamic figure ready for combat. I can see using him as the VIP who needs protecting, the prisoner who needs rescue, or the side-kick who helps the hero, but not with the fighting stuff.
Archie Goodwin, perhaps? Perhaps not. I’ve always assumed Archie was a smarter dresser than this guy. Also, this mook looks angrier than Archie would ever be. So, he’s not Archie Goodwin, then.
He’s a generic private eye. I don’t know the origin of the piece, but it’s well done. Again, one of those figure with enough detail to be interesting but not overly active. He’s not fighting or running or anything like that, so this mini will be usable for a lot of scenes.
Dear Leader! It’s easy to say that this guy is a villain, but that’s not fun. How do you best use Dear Leader on the game table? You grant him all the odd propaganda abilities he’s credited with. He’s a superman. He shot 38 under par with 11 hole-in-one shots the first and only time he played golf. He never pooped. He had magical healing properties. He was a prolific author and composer, writing some of the best operas ever. That’s a character for a great table-top story.
The bridgekeeper from Holy Grail is an odd character for the tabletop, but he may not be part of a cast. Instead, what if this mini represented an objective token? What if the players had to get to the bridgekeeper and answer his questions? There are possibilities there.
I’m not sure if this is meant to be Dirk Dastardly or not, but I don’t think I’ve seen this “Group Captain Villain” from Artizan Designs painted as anyone other than Dastardly. There is nothing about this figure that forces it to be a villain, though. For your pulp tales this guy can easily be the hero. He’s clearly decked out for flying or high-speed driving. This may be a good reason to port the vehicle rules from 7TV Apocalypse over to 7TV Pulp.
I was listening to “Who Is Aldrich Kemp?” while painting these, so this is Aldrich Kemp now. At least in my mind. First, take a moment and listen to that radio drama. Did you like it? Of course you did. Now, realize that it is one small part of a larger series of radio dramas by the same writer. Go listen to all of those. If you are into anything slightly Lovecrafty or Mythos related, these are great.
Back to the figure, Kemp here is clearly a spy. Which is an odd thing to type. Can someone be “clearly” a spy? Seems like a contradiction or a situation to avoid if one is, indeed, a spy.
Not the most active figure in the lot, but that may make it more interesting to play on the table. Reduce the movement rate and give him some other advantage, that’s what to do. Or use him as an objective. May be interesting to see the cast “capture” the VIP only to find that he slows them down.
Or, maybe the wheelchair is a ruse. Maybe he’s just fine…
Last pulpy thing for a little while is the altar from Crooked Dice that I got as part of the Lurkers KS. I already had one, so I didn’t rush in getting this one finished. One can never have too many creepy books on altars. It didn’t occur to me that I painted the second one in almost the reverse colors of the first, swapping the red and green parts around. Ah well, it still looks good.
That’s the last of my random pulp themed minis. I’m sure I have more in the bins, but they will wait. Next up will be some figures for use in 7TV Fantasy or Frost Grave. Ideas are forming.
2022 Count:
105 figures painted
18 figures printed
69 figures purchased
4 terrain painted
the immortal frequentist 
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