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I'm a bit of a born-again wargamer! I played many of the Games Workshop games when I was in my teens and early twenties, but left the hobby behind when I went to University. Over the last few years I have gradually got back into it and am literally having a ball! I'll play pretty much anything now, ranging from ancient historical to the far future! I think that I get more out of the painting side of things than actually playing, but that might just be because I get more opportunity. Hence the title...this blog is all about the colour of war!!

Tuesday 31 December 2013

Farewell 2013 and thanks for all the Pulp!

So, it's that time already to do the annual review of the year and a look ahead at the New Year! And what a great year of gaming I've had, mostly being dominated by the awesomeness that is Pulp Alley. But before I begin properly, here's the list of games from my 2012 Hogmanay post that I intended to play:
  • Dystopian Legions - This never took off and I actually sold all my stuff! Oops! :)
  • Malifaux - I managed to play this a couple of times, but it lost steam at the club while the second edition was upcoming. Now it's appeared there's a resurgence. Despite only playing a couple of games, this still remains one of the better systems I have.
  • Infinity - Managed to paint some figures and play some games. I shall play again!
  • Force on Force - Again, played a few games and still really enjoy it.
  • Maurice - I managed to paint a few bases, but that is it. Not sure if I'll ever get to play this!
  • Super Heroes - I picked up some Pulp City figures, but I never got anywhere with this project. 
  • Zombies - Another non-starter. Mainly due to the number of figures needed and the terrain.
So, as we can see, I managed to fulfill less than 50% of my planned games! However, there was definitely a theme that developed over 2013 - Pulp! It started about May, when I started painting the Brotherhood of the LOST after a rather inspiring game of 7TV, but really blossomed in August with the explosion of Pulp Alley onto the scene. From that point on it's been almost all Pulp Alley, which says volumes about how much I like that game. Nothing has dominated my tabletop like it since my early days of playing Warhammer and I was mulling over exactly why?

I think the answer to the question is the fact that Pulp Alley is an open system. The first aspect of that is that you can very easily adapt or craft rules around it to support what you want to have in your game. Take the lasso and parachute rules that have appeared on this blog. There's nothing for them in the books, so with a bit of thought it was very easy to come up with something that works. The second aspect is the character creation. Unlike Malifaux or Infinity, where the stats are given to you and anyone can field the same character, Pulp Alley pretty much makes you create your own league. There are some sample ones in the book, but not many. The real magic in Pulp Alley is taking any figures you have or desire and crafting a concept around them. The end result is a completely unique force that you can be sure that noone else has. Pretty powerful stuff! The fact that they progress over games is another great thing that the others can't provide. So, all in all, Pulp Alley is a winner and will see lots more table time in 2014. 

So without further ado, let's look at the plan for 2014. I'm going to do 2 lists, though. The first is the big players; the games I think I want to concentrate on, paint more figures and play more that just a couple of times. The second is the other games that I intend to try and fit in around the more popular ones.

The Best

  • Pulp Alley - 'Nuff said! This will be played! :)
  • Malifaux - With 2E out, I think I will be able to slot this in a bit more.
  • Warhammer 40K - I have picked up some stuff for this on eBay. Just need to decide on a paint scheme!
  • Zombies - Yes, the perennial project rears it's festering, rotten head! I think that ATZ will bear the same fruits as Pulp Alley, so I intend to knuckle down and do this!

The rest

  • In Her Majesty's Name - This was played once I think, but we both really enjoyed it and I have another company nearly complete. I definitely think it will be played again, but in what volume remains to be seen.
  • Chain of Command - Not played it yet, but the rules look excellent. This is really a contender for The Best list, but I don't know if I'll manage it. Hope so!
  • Force on Force - No doubt we'll advance the Murdistan campaign a  bit this year.
  • Eden - Played once and really enjoyed it. Will definitely play it again.
  • Infinity - I have the stuff, so it will be pretty easy to break it out for more games.
  • Flames of War/Fireball Forward - Got plenty of this and I actually played in a FoW Infantry Aces campaign this year, so I hope to get it played a bit.
No doubt there's other things that will appear or reappear over the year, but that's how I see things panning out just now. But if 2013 is anything to go by, then who knows what 2014 holds! :)

And as a final farewell to 2013, here's some pictures from a second play of the dino wrangling game that I hosted for my annual festive period game with mt friend James:





10 comments:

  1. I haven't played 40K in close to ten years . . . but something that I noticed was that most armies are painted in very dark colors . . . and I prefer a lighter brighter palette.

    Over the years I've noticed that I always know where my opponents troops are on the table . . . but I still often forget to move mine, so I've taken to painting my troops in bright colors so that I SEE THEM.

    I don't know if you've noticed this in your play or not . . . but if so, select a bright paint scheme.

    On another note, I'm getting ready to play my first Pulp Alley game (hopefully this coming weekend). To see some of my troops, visit my new pulp blog at:

    http://onpulpstreet.blogspot.ca/


    -- Jeff

    PS, I hope that you have a great new year.

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  2. Happy New Year, Jeff! I've seen your blog and I'm looking forward to reading your first AAR. You have a nice collection of leagues already! :)

    Funnily enough, I was planning in black for the marines because I'm lazy! :)

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  3. Many years ago I worked for a game store that ran an on-going "Game Day" at the local Youth Center and 40K was popular at the time.

    We had one rule about miniatures . . . "if it isn't painted, it's dead" . . . note that we also had painting tutorials. Anyway one young fellow had a bunch of plastic Space Marines but couldn't figure out how to paint them.

    What we did with him was first to spray paint the figures bright yellow (and let them dry until the following week). Then we had him paint one half of each figure a solid medium blue. Finally all weapons were painted a dark gunmetal and the bases a light brown (we used a big sand table for the games).

    Up close they individually they weren't that great . . . but on the table top at "gaming distance" they were the best-looking troops on the table.

    Which goes to show that you don't have to be a "fancy detailed painter" to quickly put good-looking wargaming figures on the table.

    Give yourself some options other than black, okay?


    -- Jeff

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  4. Pulp Alley really sucked me in, too! Love your Dino take on it. Good luck in 2014...!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, man! Hope you have a pulptastic 2014, too!

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  5. Let's see if your wish-list for 2014 is better fulfilled than last year's equivalent! I'll be watching with interest :-) ...

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  6. sorry i'm late to this thread/blog. pulp alley really hooked me last year and it's the only game i'm focused on for 2014.

    for zombies, there's a 'bag o' zombies' that's cheap and scales well for 28mm, assuming you don't mind a horde of 50 in a single pose.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Pete! Thanks for taking a look at the blog! I think you made a very good decision to go with Pulp Alley. It's such a great game! And thanks for the tip about the zombies! I got Zombicide which provides a good number, but you can always use more for a proper horde! :)

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  7. Hi Ian, Scott here - remember we worked at Sword Ciboodle together? I've been checking in on the blog every now and then. You certainly have lots of fun with your games. The latest one (dinosaurs in a western town) sounded really good.

    I notice you said in your 2014 predictions you picked up some new 40K stuff. What did you get?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Scott! It's really cool to hear from you! And I'm chuffed you've been checking out the blog! :) As to the 40k, I have been buying the ubiquitous Space Marines, mostly from eBay. I have about 1500pts that I've spent about £100 on. Not bad going! :) Keep an eye out for a post very soon with pics of my chosen colour scheme!

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