"Do people not game "action film" style modern pulp?" Topic

I've been looking with renewed curiosity at miniature ranges of what might be termed "contemporary action movie" subjects – Stylish mercenaries, gangsters, street thugs, hitmen, cops, terrorists, banana republic military/paramilitary types, corporate security types, "babes with guns", martial artists and the like. There certainly doesn't seem to be a dearth of ranges in 28mm, what with Hasslefree's Modern Adventurers and Martial Artists, Foundry's Street Violence and Urban Incident, The Assault Group's SWAT/terrorist/mafia range, North Star's A Fistful of Kung Fu, Copplestone Castings' Future Wars and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, em4's Future Skirmish, East Riding's Golgo Island and Gang Wars, and the new, growing, not-quite-commercial Apocalypse Island range (please do point out any major ranges that I've missed – I seem to only have listed British manufacturers here, not by design).

link (I know some figures in this range are more like zombie survivors, but not all of them by a long shot)
link
link
link
link
link
link (obviously some figures here are sci-fi, but not all)
link (this of course is more of a retro spy range, but plenty of figures in it are suitable for action movie-style pulp as well)
link (another range that's partly sci-fi but not entirely)
link (plenty of useful figures here in amongst the absolute freaks)
link
apocisland.blogspot.co.uk

On top of those we have numerous ranges for Vietnam, the War on Terror, third-world militias, insurgents, pirates, etc. that could be scavenged for suitable figures. So, the figures are available and in abundance for those who want them.

Now on the other hand, I can't say I've seen this subject matter being actually gamed much at all. Not in comparison to some other similar themes like interwar pulp/gangsters, sci-fi urban mayhem and realistic post-apoc. Do people not game this stuff despite the ready availability of figures, or am I just not seeing it? I guess most/all of these figures also work well in zombie and post-apoc gaming, but that's a very different concept/theme. I'm also not talking about "realistic" ultramodern warfare / spec ops in the style of Ambush Alley, Skirmish Sangin or Spectre: Operations. What I'm talking about is more like cops-and-robbers, criminal underworld wars, "pulpy" modern-day adventures in lawless parts of the world, martial arts heroics and that sort of stuff, entirely in the Hollywood/Hong Kong action movie style for which most of these ranges were clearly intended.

Are there any blogs or not-terribly-old forum posts (on TMP or elsewhere) that show games of this subject matter in action?

If it is indeed not being done much, what's holding it back?

Perhaps the fact that with most modern action movies, the storyline and plot is sacrificed for "more special effects and bigger explosions???"….

I'm still getting figures together for just such games, using 7TV.

Perhaps the fact that with most modern action movies, the storyline and plot is sacrificed for "more special effects and bigger explosions???"….

True, but a lot of interwar pulp stories aren't that good either when you stare them down properly. And there's certainly a lot of sci-fi movies that likewise sacrifice storyline and plot for special effects and explosions (or, worse, manage to be both poorly scripted AND have cringeworthy production values). That hasn't stopped interwar pulp and action-oriented sci-fi from being popular themes in miniature gaming. And while I'm no aficionado of action movies set in the present day, I know there are some good ones. Even the bad ones have their charm in the way they have codified and ritualized some fun tropes, much like what's happened with the tropes of interwar pulp and action-oriented sci-fi.

I did that with the James Bond Role Playing game and "Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes" back in the eighties (both are really good games!). To get that kind of thing now I go with a first person shooter PC game.

We did this with Savage Worlds-the terrain changed and there were figures everywhere.

I have a project in this genre, using a bunch of the figure lines you've mention (7TV is another big UK one, and has a forum about their rules).

My project will probably be some sort of big pop culture mash-up, with Dirty Harry, the Scooby Gang, A-Team, various Bonds, Jack Burton, several Elvises, and lots of henchmen. May throw in apes with guns. I will also twist the project to include the old Feng Shui RPG setting, using the Fistful of Kung Fu rules.

I'm also doing a 15mm project around the Monster Hunters International novel series, which is some of the best "action movie" style prose I've run into. Sort of like X-Files meets John Woo. Fear and Faith rules.

>>True, but a lot of interwar pulp stories aren't that good either when you stare them down properly.<<

Elucidate.

Elucidate.

Stilted plot structures, formulaic plot elements, incredulous/stereotypical human behaviour and incredulous situations. All of which make interwar pulp more fun, especially from a gamer's point of view, much like with modern action-adventure movies (and TV shows, games, comic books and even novels of that same genre). When I said "good" I didn't equate it with "fun", but rather "impressive to the discerning highbrow critic".

Well, Rebel Minis make a huge range of figs aimed at just this market….

>>When I said "good" I didn't equate it with "fun", but rather "impressive to the discerning highbrow critic".<<

Right. No doubt that "literature" is rare in pulp magazines. They do offer a wide variety of scenarios though. Especially in adventure oriented pups.

It's all here.

link

"It's all about the Story."

Agree with The Shadow. You want a great story and great characters then read one of the stories from the great writers. You want a great game scenario read pulpy trash! Same goes for RPG scenarios.

I believe an upcoming Osprey Wargames release will be rules to cover this sort of stuff. link

Infinity is capable of running modern Action-movie action. Just don't use any of the blatantly scifi units and weapons. As one of the newcomers to the game said:

[Infinity] is a turn based Action Movie(TM) and as such, you're not expected to think that real-life tactical things are happening. When you spend an order, the camera follows the current Action Hero of the story until he's done wiping out a room full of baddies, or gets capped dramatically in the face by a sniper up the street. At the same time, it's trying to make fast rules that produce intuitive results that can easily be interpreted from a handful of dice.

Dynaman8789:

Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes?! I thought I might have been the only person who played that game. I always preferred the Tunnels and Trolls system over other fantasy role playing games. Ditto for MSPE.

Buck Surdu

I believe an upcoming Osprey Wargames release will be rules to cover this sort of stuff. link

Well that settles it. I've been wanting to have a go on the Osprey Wargames bandwagon anyway. I'll be ordering some suitable figures forthwith, before my superego reasserts itself and tells me I absolutely do not need another project. I especially appreciate the mention of Burn Notice in the promotional blurb. That show was near-perfect as far as embodying the spirit of the genre I'm talking about. It had elements of both high-level special operations and criminal underworld mayhem, and even managed to include the occasional instance of adventuring in exotic third-world locales. Best of all, it did all this while decidedly being a fun, explosion-packed action-adventure show that revived the spirit of similar shows from the 80s and early 90s, in stark contrast to the sort of blood-soaked, jagged-edged thrillers like Homeland, Spooks and Prison Break that have been the dominant species in recent years (such shows are good in their own way, but nothing I particularly want to game in miniature).

Now… do I want to start off with some mercenary types in combat fatigues and body armour, or hitman/security types in suits, or some sort of criminal syndicate types? I wonder if the game can be merged at all with A Fistful of Kung Fu? (Wishful thinking, probably.) And what kind of terrain/scenery should I start making? I fear that an underground complex may feel a bit too much like something out of a Bond movie, but it would be an easier project than an urban cityscape. Some sort of dockside/airport area or a third-world shanty town may be a happy medium. I suppose that if worse comes to worst, a few basic huts in the wilderness could suffice perfectly well as the stage of many a showdown.

I think the biggest problem is that there isn't a lot of modern city terrain in 28mm available. Not everyone wants to have to scratch build. Sally 4th is just starting to come out with some interior sets that would work, but they aren't cheap to cover even a 3 x 3 board. There's a new warehouse kickstarter that looks cool, but none of the buildings have interiors. If you can easily do a 3 x 3 or 3 x 4 board that looked great, with interiors, for less than $300 USD, I think it would help the feasibility of such games. The closest affordable thing that I have found is the terrain for Infinity, which, once again, doesn't have any interiors, and is more scifi.

A Fist full of Kung Fu is dedicated to these games. All Things Zombie and our home brew set are also very suitable.

I also loved playing MSPE back in the day. I think I may even still have the rules around here, somewhere. Dang--now look what you've done.

Rob

I used to a long time ago. I tried to get a new game going a few years back, but it didn't work out.

Feng shui rpg is my preference for action hero gaming. I adapted the core rules to other genres as well.

I'm with Axabrax on terrain but old style o scale buildings are easily pressed into service. Most towns have
plenty of older structures that can serve from the roaring 20's to the Zombie apocalypse.

I try to fit 'holders' on the buildings to enable period signage. Ie no Verizon ads for the 1970's. With the proper mix of die cast cars, you can do anything in the 20th/21st century. These range from flivers and muscle cars to SUVs.

As to figures, you cant do better than Hasslefree or the Wargames factory survivors. These can take from the 1950's to the present day.

I'm glad you brought up the subject. My Hasslefree 'not dirty Harry' looks great next to a '68 Camarro as does my 'not Elvis' with a slightly overscale pink Caddy.

By all means, tell us about your scenario ideas!

Regarding modern ( or pulp era ) terrain, with interiors--I made some reasonably good buildings by gluing printouts from The Virtual Armchair General's Mean Streets lines ( link ) , but am interested in trying out his Mean Sets--interiors designed with missing walls. Has anyone tried these out?

Just stumbled across this post,
I've always been tempted to start a modern pulp project based on book and some films (from authors such as matthew rielly, Andy mcdermott, Greg Beck)
I thought about adding some of my own rules to pulp alley to represent gizmos, special weapons and alike.
Anyhow, I'll be following your project with much intrest and I'm loving the Greens.

Charles