Roter Teufel - a cog in Stockholm

Me and my wife celebrated our 20^th wedding anniversary last week and took a walk on Djurgården in Stockholm during a fantastic spring day. We came to Beckholmen (Pitch Island) and the old dry-docks there. The whole island is protected as a historical monument of historic interest and the three dry docks are still used, partly to preserve old ships. The biggest one, the nearly 200 meters long GV-dock,  gained world-wide fame in 1961 when the warship Vasa was raised after 333 years on the bottom of the waters close to Beckholmen and towed there. The first preservation work was done in the dock until she was moved to Djurgården on a floating pontoon and what was to become a temporary museum used during preservations. Wasa has now moved into a proper museum, well worth a visit if you go to Stockholm. It is actually one of the most interesting museums you can visit.

Back to our trip.

When we came to the two smaller docks I found this – a cog.

I found out that this cog, Roter Teufel (Red Devil), is a replica of a ship built approximately 1390 in Poland. The wreck of it was found in 1991 and this replica was built in 2001-2003 in Malmö.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. 

A propeller - that's cheating :-)

Finally, Welcome Google+ follower Sam "smokingwreckage" Hart. 

Cairo Civilians I from West Wind

Another pack of civilians bought from Old Glory Miniatures UK. Whether they are West Wind or Blue Moon I don’t know, but here they are, CIC-009 Cairo Civilians I. These got a bit more colours than the other pack I finished a week ago but essentially made in the same way.

They will see action as non-combatants in out coming Pulp Alley Perilous Island campaign at the club. They might even see action at tonight’s game.
Next up some Foreign Legion soldiers.

Welcome new Follower:

Einar Olafson – blog Einar Olafson Painting – fantastic minis

Cairo Civilians #2 from West Wind

I bought these figures from Old Glory Miniatures UK. I found them under the Blue Moon header, came to their Blue Moon Miniatures page and on that I clicked on ‘28mm Blue Moon Manufacturing’. Another page and here I clicked  the ‘Chaos in Cairo’ link and found a couple of packs that suited me. This one was called ‘CIC-10: Cairo Civilians II’.

When it arrived the package said West Wind was the producer and the pack was called ‘CIC-10 Civilians #2 w/Cart’. A bit confusing, but now I have them and they are painted.

They will be used in our Pulp Alley campaign and other Pulp Alley games also, as generic Arabic non-combatants. Eye-candy for the tables.

Mould lines on these were manageable and as the metal is on the soft side they were easily removed with a file.

Not much to say about the painting really. Based with Vallejo Foundation White, a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone ink and a heavy drybrush with Off-White on all the white cloth. The female is obviously painted with black and a dark grey drybrush.

A nice addition to my other Pulp Arabs. Set #1 is on the painting table now.

Welcome new Followers and Google+ Followers:

Tony – no blog I could find

Another World Miniatures - a company producing very nice 28mm SF steampunky miniatures.

Jesper Ohlsson

Ray’s got a great giveaway at his excellent blog Don’t Throw a 1. He's celebrating his 500th blog post. Well done! Hop over for a look.

Pulp Alley - Grab the Idol – CSSS on the Tibetan Plateau

There have been rumours about strange artefacts and relics of unknown origin from Tibet. So far we have seen gangs of heretics surfacing with tales of unknown horrors and also abundant wealth and glory.

It is about time that the servants for a higher cause enter the centre stage. It is time for CSSS, Corpo di Spedizione Santa Sede.

Monsignore Cadaverica had a short audience with Pope Pius XI and immediately afterwards summoned his trusted sidekicks Soura Innocenza and Padre Sicario. After a day of planning they left on a plane graciously supplied by Regia Aeronautica. On the plane were also a couple of loyal soldiers and a message from Il Duce. The message was short: “Bring me glory”. On the bottom of the page there was something scribbled. It had a rather ominous feel to it “…or else.”

After a tedious journey the landed in Lhasa and immediately contacted several loyal Catholics. From them they got information on where a Norwegian decadent film-team, American grave robbers and British imperialists were heading. A small village in the middle of nowhere. It seemed to be a centre for smuggling and God knows what else.

We meet our heroes just when they arrive at the village. They have a loyal local (who, somewhat misguided, wanted to dress as a Mafioso) as guide and general help (got him from the Network of Supporters perk). He had informed the CSSS that there were some important things that could be of interest of the Pope and Il Duce in this village.

Primary of the plot points for CSSS was the small jewelled idol hidden in the dirt close by where they entered

There was also a mysterious crate left in the centre building that promised great treasures (this was the major plot point)

A beggar was a known informant and could prove a valuable asset

A box of strange rockets would be interesting for the Italian Army

Another box, this one filled with powerful ammunition and also of interest to the Army

We are not the only ones setting our sights on these treasures. The other leagues are here to. Now we have to Smash and Grab.

British imperialists in our sights. They think the idol is theirs.

More Brits, skulking in the shadows. Heretics, all! Church of England... Blah!

Norwegian film team. They say they want to unveil strange cults and they talk about forgotten gods. They belong to a cult, that's for sure. Protestants.... Blah.

Grynet and her Norwegian dog. 

The ungodly grave-robbers. They will be first in the dungeons when the Inquisition comes.

More Yanks.

A firefight between our heroes and Brits leaves two wounded.

We are surrounded. 

The Norwegian league starts interviewing the beggar and learns his secret

The Yanks climb the roof and starts to search for the rockets left by arms smugglers.

Monsignore searches the sand and asks for Divine guidance. He easily finds the idol while a fiery fire-fight breaks out around him.

The Brits find their box of ammunition.

A member from the Norwegian league sneaks into the centre house and snatches the box but is interupted by Soura Innocenza and our local hand. The local steps through a rotten floor board and injures his left foot. He will be unable to move more than at a crawl for the rest of the game. Damnation.

Innicenza starts battling the unfortunate Norwegian and he flees through the window!

Meanwhile Monsignore leaves the idol to one of the soldiers.

A clearly outgunned member of the British league drops a smoke grenade to avoid the rain of lead heding her way.

The British league has set its sight on the Pope's idol. Things are looking grim.

Soura Innocenza runs after the Norwegians holding their plot points, but sees the troubles behind her and decides to run back and protect her colleagues.

Things are looking grim indeed, as Monsignore falls.

The Norwegian master laughs at his sucessful dodge attempt and takes a commemorative photo. The dice were with him this fight. 

Ha, I easily ducked that swipe! Three tens, try beating that you sledge-wielding female dog.

A wild fight breaks out. Casualties on all sides.

The final round. Monsignore is out for good. Enemies surround our heroes.

Disaster as the courageous soldier falls to a bullet. The idol is up for grabs.

Soura Innocenza saves the day and Padre snatches the idol in the nick of time.

Meanwhile the Norwegian team eliminates all opposition and secures their loot.

The game ended with all leagues getting one minor plot point and the Norwegians snatching the major plot point. Even though the CSSS didn’t win they did get what they were after, namely the idol, and with that they also got +1 Experience. The expedition was deemed a total success in the reports to the Holy See and Il Duce.

Stay tune for more adventures with CSSS.

Corpo di Spedizione della Santa Sede

Meet my league for Pulp Alley – CSSS or Corpo di Spedizione della Santa Sede (The Holy See Expeditionary Corps).

The adventures take place in the 1930’s and it is very much pulp – think Indiana Jones and you will get the idea. Different gangs, called leagues, are battling each other all over the world, trying to further their ideas – be it finding treasures, de-cloaking Cthulhu cults or further the ambitions of their state or order.

Enter the CSSS – a league sent by the Holy See to further the Only True Teachings and, of course, bring back artefacts to the collections in the Vatican. It is made up of clergy from the Church and men and women provided by the Italian Armed Forces.

As the Holy See has just received the Vatican State from Mussolini they feel that they can’t say no to the kind offer of state-sponsored help and neither can they refuse to further the goals of their benefactors - the Fascist Party and Benito himself.

I’m trying out the league at the moment, and we had a game at the club yesterday when they saw combat for the first time. More on that in a further post.

The League
CSSS relies heavily on its sidekicks (they have a Perk called Company of Heroes giving access to a second sidekick. A Perk affects the whole league and will cost you) and as servants of God they have a wide network of true believers all over the world that will help them (the Perk called Network of Supporters)

The characters:

Soura, Monsignore and Padre

The Leader

Monsignore Cadaverico

Monsignore is on a direct mission from God and he has no problem getting willing allies or followers on his adventures (he has the ability Commander giving him access to 4 points of Allies (costing 2 points) or Followers (costing 1)). He can access the wealth of Church and State (he got the ability Wealthy) and he is able to manipulate his surroundings (ability Savvy). His true strength is manipulation but as a leader he really is good at everything.

Monsignore comes from Shadows over Brimstone. I will change him into another miniature as soon as it gets delivered and painted. Could be some time…

The sidekicks

Don't you dare mess with me, punk!

Suora Innocenza

This is a sister you really don’t want to meet in dark alley. You really don’t want to meet her at all. She is a close-combat machine that will rush anyone (she’s got the abilities Brash (she can get into close combat with anyone without the usual limit of only being able to rush the one closest to you) and surprisingly fast – what you see is a package of muscles (Speedy  - she runs faster/longer than most)

Innocenza is a Reaper Bones miniature.

Padre with his most prized possesions - a cross and a tommy gun

Padre Sicario

A very active army priest that likes his cross as much as his guns. He is the sharp-shooter in the gang (Abilities Dead Eye (like Brash but for shooting) and Eagle Eyed (shoots longer))

Padre comes from Warlord and is modified with new head-gear and this and that.

Maligna, Tortura and a guy not used this time.

The Allies

These will differ a bit between adventures, but for the first game I used.

Soldato Tortura and Soldato Maligno

They are booth primarily shooters.

All soldiers from Perry Miniatures and their WWII Italian range. Notes on the paints used here - they are based on real uniforms.

A couple of other soldiers to be used later on. 

Note the map of Isola Pericolosa (Perilous Island - the name of the published adventure from Pulp Alley). As all treasure maps it has a great big X in the middle...

A final shot of the boats from last post, this time with occupants.

Boats from Games of War

I’m preparing for one of the scenarios in the Perilous Island campaign for Pulp Alley. It’s set in an Indonesian harbour so we will need ships and boats.

Jolly Boat

These are the first, a couple of small boats from Games of War. They are just £5 each which is a great price for the quality you get. I’m really happy with them.

Paints used:

Wood – Vallejo 843 Cork Brown

Red planks – Citadel Foundation Mechrite Red

Everything washed with Citadel Devlan Mud and heavily drybrushed with Cork Brown and then a lighter drybrush of 976 Buff

That was easy!

Sea Pup

I have also bought the Sea Dog #2 sailing ship and it’s bound to be painted shortly.
They are all 28mm or 1/56 scale. 
Update: the boats with occupants in my next post, to get an idea of their sizes.