Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pulp => Topic started by: Parkaboy on September 17, 2020, 11:05:55 PM
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Has anyone written up some WWII squads for Pulp Alley?
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Not yet. I've had some early 20th Century soldiers including in some leagues before, but not yet any leagues that are entirely military. I'm thinking of setting up some quasi-military situations for Pulp Alley set in Spain in the years leading up to that country's nasty civil war. And I'm thinking about setting up some quasi-military situations in a fictional banana republic in the interwar years. Will be a while before I get to either project.
Sinewgrab (a fan of Pulp Alley who also hangs out in VSF, Weird WW2, and Post-Apocalyptic) has some WW2 Italians and a weird cult in a WW2 resistance setting that he has painted up. I don't know if he has generated Pulp Alley leagues for them yet. I have another friend who has WW2 Americans and Germans, and I'm hoping to see him pit those against some weird WW2 HP Lovecraft inspired horror using Pulp Alley at some point. But I don't know when he will get around to doing that.
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I would really like to do some Pulp WW2 games. I have rocket corps figs, Stalhelm, and some US robots with oversized tommyguns, plus all of my regular WW2 troops and vehicles. My biggest hangup is how to do rocket troops or other flying figures as a standard choice without paying for the rocket packs. Other than that there are lots of fun ideas to play around with.
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We did some WWII Pulp using the vehicle, team and gang rules and we had a lot of fun.
Rocket Troops could be played several different ways. Using the aircraft rules you could get them on the table without them overpowering everything. But purchasing jetpacks would definitely work too.
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I have several German squads as antagonists for my adventurers, regular soldiers as well as SS troops and Project D(inosaur) for a real pulp touch. Just finished my Afrika Korps squad, carrying a certain treasure....Oh yes, and the rocket corps too.
Germans really show up regularly in my games, but so far I didn´t do any other military Leagues.
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I'm using nazis as the bad guys in several pulp games...
Also I'm playing a weird ww2 campaign with mythos horrors around, but not using pulp alley rules
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Not WWII, but Spanish Civil War here. The mid 1930s is the perfect era for Pulp Alley. I think you could easily handle a squad with the rules, but you may need a way of keeping track of who has activated.
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I did some Home Guard and downed Luftwaffe airmen for PULP Alley. It worked well.
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Do any of you have the stats for these leagues? Was looking for some ideas to try.
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I do not, still painting up the figures. I do plan to have specific characters though, Hemingway, Orwell, Gelhorn etc. plus squads of reds and fascists and assorted thugs.
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Are you going to use the squad/followers rules? I'm thinking of trying for two ten man squads and play it out to see how it works for WWII. I just really don't want to get bogged down in a lot of rules that most WWII games have.
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Do any of you have the stats for these leagues? Was looking for some ideas to try.
I'll see if I can dig them out.
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Thanks!
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Make liberal use of gangs of 5 or 6 figures. Learn all the ways to use burst generating abilities to simulate automatic weapon fire and grenades. Try the Mastermind perk because it provides +6 slots at the cost of downgrading the leader from level 4 to level 3.
Consider giving a leader the Commander ability because it provides +4 slots. Look at leader abilities such as Rally and Tactician. Consider perks such as Garage, Long Range, Stable, Well Armed, or Eagle Eyed Troopers. All those abilities sound somewhat military and have useful effects in simulating a WW2 environment.
Translate some perks such as Stable, Fliers, and Riders into WW2 terms. Garage or Stable could get a league a jeep or truck or halftrack or set of motorcycles. Fliers could represent paratroopers landing from the air, or implausibly those rocket or jet troopers who inexplicably still have their legs below the rocket or jet exhaust. Riders could be on horses in WW2, or could be riding bicycles or motorcycles or jeeps.
You could have a league that is a tank or armored car crew. Look at ways to use Stealth for sneaky commando operations or infiltration. Ambush rules can be used to simulate that aspect of the war. There are some rules for specific weapons on pages 115 & 116 of the 2nd edition, but you might have to go to the supplement booklet to find the rules for gun crews. I don't see those in the 2nd edition rulebook.
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Thanks. Great suggestions!
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I seem to recall that with the use of gangs and other mini-multiplicative abilities, you could fairly easily field a force of 25-ish miniatures. Above that it gets tougher, or you start to warp the game too much.
That said, you can squeeze out a few more simply by having 12-point leagues instead of 10-point leagues, though IIRC Dave usually suggests the "more points" option very sparingly and usually to do things like add a vehicle to each side. I feel like 14-15 points per league is probably the most you could push the PA system without it seriously affecting the inherent game balance, and I almost certainly wouldn't try to run more than 12 points of actual characters/gangs (i.e. infantry).
Also, if you go above the 10-point limit I strongly suggest a larger gaming surface. PA is very adaptable to slightly larger areas like 3' x 4' or even 4' x 4' instead of the normal 3' x 3' without any major rules impact, and I would consider a small increase in size a must in conflicts involving numbers of figures well above the normal baseline. That goes double if you were looking for the feel of a military engagement (where there's some probing, scouting or skirmishing prior to a full engagement) rather than a brawl, and especially if each side is going to have one or more fighting vehicles.
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I seem to recall that with the use of gangs and other mini-multiplicative abilities, you could fairly easily field a force of 25-ish miniatures. Above that it gets tougher, or you start to warp the game too much.
That said, you can squeeze out a few more simply by having 12-point leagues instead of 10-point leagues, though IIRC Dave usually suggests the "more points" option very sparingly and usually to do things like add a vehicle to each side. I feel like 14-15 points per league is probably the most you could push the PA system without it seriously affecting the inherent game balance, and I almost certainly wouldn't try to run more than 12 points of actual characters/gangs (i.e. infantry).
Also, if you go above the 10-point limit I strongly suggest a larger gaming surface. PA is very adaptable to slightly larger areas like 3' x 4' or even 4' x 4' instead of the normal 3' x 3' without any major rules impact, and I would consider a small increase in size a must in conflicts involving numbers of figures well above the normal baseline. That goes double if you were looking for the feel of a military engagement (where there's some probing, scouting or skirmishing prior to a full engagement) rather than a brawl, and especially if each side is going to have one or more fighting vehicles.
All good suggestions.
I usually use Ally (level 2) characters for this sort of thing. Obviously, you'll get to have more figures if you make then Followers or Gangs, but here're some quick character profiles ---
Regular Soldier 1 (Ally) -- Marksman: Shoot: 3d6, Brawl 2d6, all others 1d6
Regular Soldier 2 (Ally) -- Marksman: Shoot 2d6, Brawl 2d6, Dodge 2d6, all others 1d6
Green Soldier 1 (Follower) -- Marksman: Shoot 2d6, all others 1d6
Green Soldier 2 (Follower) -- Fierce: Brawl 2d6, all others 1d6
Green Soldier 3 (Follower) -- Agile: Dodge 2d6, all others 1d6
Squad 1 (Gang: 5 models) -- Armed: Ignore multiple fights penalty when shooting.
Squad 2 (Gang: 5 models) -- Disciplined: Always counts as being in cover.
I hope this helps give you a few ideas. Have fun!
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o665/pulpalley/!_PA2_CHARACTERS_book_5.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://app.photobucket.com/u/pulpalley/p/33db1495-5f2e-40fa-b011-afe6832a3fa6)
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Thanks, David!
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Parkaboy,
I would probably start with a basic league, but give the leader the commander ability. Dave’s sample list is good, and a good templat to follow.
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Parkaboy,
I would probably start with a basic league, but give the leader the commander ability. Dave’s sample list is good, and a good templat to follow.
Yes, I like Dave;s suggestions a lot'