Pulpy! - Home Brew Play Test

I've decided to host a game down in Jacksonville at Skirmish Game Con the weekend of March 1st. I've been wanting to host a light pulp-style game for a few years now and of course there were many struggles to cope with. Struggles such as which rules, formulating an enjoyable scenario, creating interesting characters and motivations... that sort of thing.

So, since last Fall's con up in Raleigh, I've started checking boxes and I think I have a working solution. I have a good scenario for six players, characters and a game! The hard part was crafting a game mechanic suitable for a convention. One of my convention game pet peeves is the rules-heavy game that the players don't understand completely. Only the GM has a book and he has to constantly refer to it. It sucks and detracts from the experience. My design goal was simple - the game had to be able to be explainable, in its totality, within five minutes. Move, shoot, melee, other things. No books to rifle through, no rules situations to look up. I've hit my goal and dadgummit, it's a fine game. My wife gifted me with a few hours of her time on Saturday evening for a thorough play test and we put Pulpy! through its paces.

My other goals for the play test were to work out terrain, setup areas, play balance, travel distances, etc. I got my answers well enough to not be embarrassed come March.

I took many pictures of the layout so I can refer back to them later. A lovely beach with some jungles and a hillside secret laboratory.

Automata and Drones out to greet the infiltrators!

Some action in the sand and around a ruined building.

Heroes ascending the hillside.

A showdown in the hideout!

The play test was very successful. It revealed some weaknesses that were easily addressed. I tweaked force composition and will re-arrange the start positions of some of the forces so they're able to get into some action more quickly. So nice to get the Steampunk minis out for some Steampulp. I'm slotted for 9am Saturday morning, March 2nd. Very exciting.  https://skirmishgamecon.com

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas...

Twelve goblins spearing...

Eight mechs a' meching...

Painting progress is already pretty decent in the new year. I received plenty of minis for Christmas, many of which have already been committed to the "completed" side of the ledger.

Six lighter mechs for my Steel Viper clan forces. This is a mix of older metal sculpts and the contents of the Clan Striker Star box set from Catalyst Labs.  Left to right those are a Piranha, Vapor Eagle, Incubus, Eyrie, Nova and a Dasher. The Steel Viper collection was skewing heavy and these tip  the scales towards the center.

Two mechs from the Striker Star box were allocated to the Fire Mandrills, a Horned Owl and a Conjurer.

Also just completed are twelve goblin fighters from a box of Oathmark plastic 28mm goblins that were also under the Christmas tree. Many more where these came from.

Certainly a different tribe than the others I've painted recently but very close size-wise to Wargames Atlantic plastic goblins. 

I have a battle recap I need to post. I'll get to that in the next few days. Be well!

Last Game of 2023

 Ziggy and I threw dice on December 30th for our last gaming of 2023. I brought out the Blood and Plunder toys for a battle between the French and English in the woods of New England. More than anything, it was an excuse to use as many soldiers as I could field and we each had around 30. 

We played a "Capture the Objective" scenario - the rectangular crate in the midst of the barrels in the picture above is the objective in this case. I commanded the English militia and Iroquois while Zig used the French and their Abenaki allies.

We both worked the flanks since going right up the gut was going to be dangerous.

Blast em!

Well, the musket-fire was pretty ineffective and the Indians smashed into my militia on the right flank taking out four.

Over on the left, it was a similar story but in my favor, with the Iroquois proving to be quite efficient.

A wider shot from the left side of the table. Those Canadian militia on the hill are quite a target, but how to get to them? It didn't help at all that the weather degraded twice during the game and it was now Sweltering Heat! That meant units moving more than once per turn would receive a fatigue point. No "run and smash" for either of us now.

I did push some militia forward right up the gut to contest the objective. They actually hung in there really nicely for a while, dice gods smiling on them for much of the battle.

At the end of the evening though, my troops in the middle had fallen and although I'd gotten two unit around the left flank, they weren't able to capitalize on their situation. My casualties continued to mount and by the end of the fifth turn, the English were done.

Blood and Plunder always delivers an entertaining game and this was no exception. The game handled the higher unit count nicely and it really makes me consider adding to the collections. Maybe after I paint all the Halflings, Goblins and Mechs!