Saturday 21 January 2017

More Pulp Characters

Introduction

We've started playing the Perilous Island campaign for the Pulp Alley rules.  Scenario 1 can be seen here and that was easy enough to set up because I already had all the figures and terrain I needed.  However, Scenario 2 in this campaign is set at an airport, with a large crowd on the verge of rioting.  I think I need some new scenery for this; also I'll need as many "crowd" figures as I can find.

I did consider making some 28mm standees for the crowd, either of individuals or of mobs.  However, my early searches failed to find any pictures that I felt were suitable for this purpose.  Plan B is to search through my spares boxes and paint up all the figures I can find which could plausibly be found at an airport in Africa, some time in the 1930s or so.


The Dapper


First up are a couple of very smartly-dressed gentlemen:

  • On the left is a figure from Copplestone's GN9 - Sleuths pack, in which he is named as "Nick Charles".  I believe that this is a model of the main character from "The Thin Man", but I'm not familiar enough with either the book or the film to know anything about the character portrayed.  He's obviously very smartly-dressed, though!
  • The miniature on the right is "Captain Citroen" from Artizan Miniatures' "Thrilling Tales" range.  He's obviously based on Captain Renault; the corrupt Vichy French police chief played so superbly by Claude Rains in the movie Casablanca.
    In my photo, it looks a little as if the model only has one arm.  That's not the case; his left arm is definitely present, though held close to his side.

The Gumshoes



Next, I present the remaining 2 figures from the Copplestone GN9 - Sleuths pack:

  • The first model is of "The Continental Op"; a fictional private detective created by pulp author Dashiell Hammett.  I don't know anything about the character other than what is readily available on Wikipedia, but the model will work well enough for my immediate needs.
  • On the right is "Sam Spade", another Dashiell Hammett private investigator and hero of the story "The Maltese Falcon".  In the movie of that tale, Spade was played by Humphrey Bogart - who was the same actor to play "Rick" in Casablanca.  Since Bogart wore an almost identical greatcoat in the last scene of Casablanca (at the airport), I think this model is unarguably suitable for my upcoming game!


The Airmen


My last 2 figures for today are both from Artizan Designs, again from the Thrilling Tales subsection:

  • The model on the left is "Captain Withnail", presumably a reference to the film Withnail and I.  Since that isn't in any sense a pulp or adventure movie, I'm somewhat puzzled by the association - unless someone else knows better?  Anyway, the figure wears a greatcoat and carries a revolver and a bottle; I've painted him up to suggest a hung-over and somewhat disreputable RAF ground crewman.
  • Finally, we have "Midshipman York", who I think must be modelled after Michael York's character from the movie Zeppelin.  As it is, I got this model second hand and the right arm (with pistol) was missing.  I've replaced that with a spare plastic arm from the Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors set; he now looks as if he could be swinging a propellor to start a primitive aircraft engine or something like that.

Conclusion


Why are these characters at the airport?  Are they trying desperately to get on the last flight out of the country?  Perhaps they're trying to arrest a fugitive, or they're spies who are shadowing someone?  Maybe they just work at the airport?  Who can tell?

6 figures isn't really a crowd.  Even if I add all the other miniatures I have which are vaguely plausible for this setting, I'm not sure that it'll really look like a mob.  But I've got to try...

19 comments:

  1. Some very nice Pulp figures. I suspect I will be painting some pulp before too long! Good to have these as inspiration.

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    1. Thanks, Clint. Out of curiosity, would these Pulp figures that you might be painting be for yourself or for someone else?

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  2. Fantastic paintjob on this minis C6

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  3. Great figures. Perhaps it's a coincidence that I'v just finished reading a set of Raymond Chandler stories. Featuring another of Bogart's screen characters, Philip Marlowe.

    Marlowe would make a great pulp character except his habit of usually working alone - except occasional assistance from an honest cop, or a sympathetic dame.

    These are great looking figures, maintaining your high standard.
    They're all a great reminder of a fantastic era of film.
    I must look out for more reruns of these on television.


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    1. I suppose that Marlowe could always have some support (even if it's somewhat tacit) from bystanders and the like? They wouldn't even have to be the same civilians/cops/dogs/informants/... every game.

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  4. Wonderful pulpy painting, Colgar6. I especially like the airmen. but they're all very nice, and have an air of mystery and adventure about them.

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    1. Well, mystery and adventure is what it's all about, isn't it :-) .

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  5. Excellent...erm...crowd. Nice minis C6, it's a puzzler on how to represent more without having to fork out cash.

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    1. I do have other figures that can be press-ganged into a crowd; these are just the latest models to roll off the production line. Mind you, I don't have enough figures for my liking even then - and if I did, a real crowd would by very unwieldy in a game.

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  6. I think you've well getting these six together from "spres" and as the expression goes "two's company, three's a crowd" you obviously have two crowds of people - obviously enough for a mob!
    Great paintjob too on these though I think the Copplestone sculpts have the edge on the Artisan ones in this instance.

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    1. Thanks, Joe. I dunno about that last comment, though. I feel that both Artizan and Copplestone have some truly excellent figures and some others that are merely very good instead :-) !

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    2. Oh, sorry about the way that my comment came across, there are many Artisan figures that are truly excellent and a lot of Copplestone that leave me thinking "meh" too (though they're all better than what I could do). I just preferred your 'take' on the Copplestomes sculps in this mix.

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  7. A nice selection of figures there. I have been wondering about getting that 'Captain Withnail' figure to use as the newly regenerated 'War Doctor'. As long as i use the correct colour palette, I think it could work.

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    1. It might work, CC - though I suspect that you wouldn't want the Doctor to be carrying a bottle and a gun :-) .

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  8. Great looking characters. Perhaps some more Gangster ranges will provide you with some ladys and gents, Perhaps some rich traveller or some luggage carrying natives perhaps?

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    1. Thanks, Simon. I've already looked at some gangster ranges; they tend to be very specific to 1920s USA, I think. Still, there are some possibilities there.

      I do have a number of "native bearer" models, but these aren't really suitable. I doubt that many porters/baggage handlers in a 1930s airport would have been wearing only loincloths :-) !

      Today I ordered some Copplestone "Female Archaeologists"; these will work very nicely for my airport scenario, I think.

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  9. Can't say that I'm familiar with this theme but the minis look great.

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    1. Pulp? It covers just about anything with adventure, thrills and high drama. Indiana Jones, Tintin, Tarzan, Flash Gordon, The Mummy, Captain Nemo - the list goes on and on...

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