Painting again!

    28mm Chinese civilians, most from Pulp Figures by Bob Murch

It seems like such a long, long time since I was painting any miniatures. But today I put the first base coat on a group of 10 28mm Asian civilians. These will be bystanders and such for my Pulp games. Eight of the figures are from the Yangtze River line from Pulp Figures by Bob Murch. Two were figs I'd picked up at a flea market awhile back. As I was priming them I noticed an odd similarity between those two miniatures and one of the Pulp Figures poses. My heart sank when I realized they only looked different because they were a poorly executed pirating of the original Bob Murch casting. This made me sad to think that some of the vendors at flea markets might well be doing this as garage business to offer figures at such a low price. I've always looked at flea markets as places where we sell our items that we don't want any longer, or periods or scales we've moved on from. The idea that there may be dishonest people out there actively producing pirated figures to sell at flea markets seems is disheartening. It is hard enough for figure manufacturers to make money, I'm sure. The last thing they need is competition from someone taking their work and producing cheap knock-offs of it. Shame on such vendors, I say!

Anyway, these Asian civilians are needed for the grand finale of the Dakota Smith adventures I've been running using Pulp Alley rules. Once I have them finished, I should be ready to run the last game. I may do one final project beforehand -- some scratchbuilt sampans. This scenario takes place down on the docks as the European adventurers are taking ship for their homelands. The Indochinese locals (and French party) will make one last attempt to recover the religious and archeological treasures that the others are wanting to abscond with. Who knows? Maybe even Dakota Smith's archrival, Von Jaeger, will reappear. He's been MIA for the last handful of adventures. Nearly all of the 10 figures have been modified in one way or another. Instead of spears, they clutch pitchforks, barrels, clay vessels, or baskets. I'd picked up Pulp Figures one pack of Chinese civilians, but wanted more of a variety of poses. Thus, the conversions from armed Yangtze gangs into civilians. I actually did the conversions a month or so ago, and even primed them. However, they've sat untouched for a month or so until this last week. I've painted the flesh and now the first base coat of their shirts (or pants, for those shirtless figs).

Hopefully, this will inspire me to take up the brush again and begin painting. I had been so involved in getting terrain ready for the Song of Drums and Tomahawks game at Advance the Colors from the end of summer up through mid-September. After that, I put in the push to get the rules ready for publication, setting up our company's website, and so on. So, my Pulp stuff has sat neglected for several months, now.  Which means I may have something more to write about on my blog...!