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The Wooden Hand of Captain Danjou

April 24, 2015

On April 30, 1863, 3rd Company, 1st Battalion of the Legion Etrangere fought hordes of Mexican Regulars at the Battle of Camerone. They Lost. But in losing they created the legend of Camerone, of single-minded dedication to the cause, even in the face of insurmountable odds. Camerone Day is celebrated by the Legion every April 30.

In celebration of the 152nd anniversary, Pulp Action Library is bringing out The Wooden Hand of Captain Danjou, a game about grit, determination, and terrible accents. The players take on the personae of the French characters, and have all the odds stacked in their favor except one - there are too many Mexicans.

The idea is not to survive, but to die in the best way possible! Only $4.99 at WarGameVault.

More Game Reports

April 24, 2015

Tony Yates regales us with the Terror of the Jungle King! and H.G. Wells at the End of Time.

Science Vs. Pluck, or, Too Much for the Mahdi

January 11, 2015

We've added Science Vs. Pluck, Howard's game of British Stiff-Upper-Lipishness in the face of insurmountable odds - no, not necessarily the hordes of Ansar and swarms of Haddendowah, but the machinations of your fellow Junior Officers.

This is a copy of the Third Edition, previously published by The (Virtual) Armchair General.

Only $4.99 at WarGameVault.

Some game Reports added

Dec. 25, 2014

We've done some housekeeping of the site, and added a number of game reports from Howard and others.

First up is a playtest of the Flint and Feather rules we're working on for Bob Murch of Pulp Figures.

Next is an Astounding tales game run by Jozi Patrick at Southern Front in November 2014. Night of the Ripper!

And another Astounding Tales game produced as a serial by Bill Protz: 15,000 Miles From The Past

And a Battle Troll game, with real Trolls, by our friend Javier in Gran Canaria.

Astounding Tales and Astounding Adventures!

Sept. 18, 2014

We are following up the bargain deal on Astounding Tales! with all three volumes of Astounding Adventures!. These are sets of Pulp Adventure scenarios written by a number of talented and imaginative designers (and also, me). Yes, you can use them for almost any set of rules - in fact, we help you out with that!

Issue # 1 features 'The White Slavers of the Red Empire!' and five other adventures.

Issue # 2 features 'Claws of the Cat Goddess' and three others.

Issue # 3, the Colossal Ape special, with Jeff Wasileski's whole Skull Island adventure, and his big battle rules for adding tanks, artillery and other big-boom stuff to AT!

Keeping the price low, we are offering each pdf for $4.99 each, or a bundle for $13.99. That's the price of an evening at a fancy nightclub in 1937.

Pulp Action Library on WarGameVault

Outlaws of Sherwood

April 22, 2014

Everyone knows Robin Hood. Outlaws of Sherwood lets you play the tales of the legendary outlaw and his dastardly foes, from one-on-one fights to whole campaigns with multiple forces. You can raise your own outlaw band, or become a proud knight with his retinue of men-at-arms. As Robin you can win archery contests, disguise yourself in unlikely ways, and get knocked off a log by people you just met. As the wicked sheriff, you can oppress the peasants, chase Merry Men through the Greenwood, and do that evil laugh you always wanted to do.

The core rules are simple, designed for new wargamers of all ages to pick up and play. A card deck decides who moves next. You can play other special cards to – say – dress up as a washerwoman and have nobody say you aren't. Combat is based on PAL's card version of Rock-Paper-Scissors, where you can jump back or leap aside from a blow, or taunt your opponent with insults.

Additional rules allow for personalising your own 'faction' for good or evil, and developing your characters and their followings through a series of games. We include a whole set of scenarios, from simple 'starter' encounters to full-blown multi-player battles. You can play out a full ongoing campaign where your heroes and their followers gain success and reputation – or don't. And, if you want to take the outlaw motif beyond Sherwood, the campaign system can be moved to the Scots or Welsh borders, the marshes of East Anglia, or Ireland.

There's a history of the real Robin Hood, sources for figures, and a listing of books, movies and television shows.

If you want to rob from the rich and give to the poor, or simply keep it all yourself, Outlaws of Sherwood is the game for you! The PDF version of the game includes the Special Action Cards and the PAL Medieval action Deck, giving you all the components you need to play the game (minus figures, terrain, dice, a table and a opponents). And the PDF version (including the cards) is included free with purchase of the Hardcopy!

Available from Wargame Vault - $20 PDF, $26 Softcover. PDF free with purchase of the softcover.

The PDF version of the game includes the Special Event Cards and the PAL Duck and Bash Deck, giving you all the components you need to play the game (minus figures, terrain, dice, a table and a opponents). And the PDF version (including the cards) is included free with purchase of the Hardcopy! But we advocate buying the printed cards from Wargame Vault, as it will probably cost less than color- printing them yourself

Buy the bundle from from Wargame Vault $17 Printed.

Or individually:
Duck and Bash deck; $10 Printed.
Outlaws Special Event Deck; $8 Printed.

A Holiday Battle Troll scenario

December 22

Travel to the far north to raid the Hall of the Rauđr-Kunongr, but beware his alfar allies!

Full Scenario here

Bonny & Clyde Scenario now available

December 19

Before April 13, 1933, Bonnie & Clyde were only really known in the Dallas area. Afterwards, the discovery of Bonnie's photos and poetry catapulted them to national fame.

Full Scenario here

Free Game!

October 1

While we wait for a place to open up on the production schedule, Howard decided to put up one of his "real" wargames for free. Ironsides is a set of large-battle rules for the English Civil War.

Now, in return for such a generous gift we do hope that you'll download them, play them, and - most important - send feedback to Howard (there's an email address inside the rules...) We've also added a "Free Stuff" button up on the menu, where we'll put stuff from time to time.

Druid's Gold! (part the first)

September 16

A playtest of the Chainmail Bikini rules, in which Gunther's raid on the Druid's Mid-Summer ceremony didn't go quite as planned...

Howard talks about Chainmail Bikini

August 28

Howard lets us in on his thoughts on 'Sword and Sorcery' fiction and our Chainmail Bikini set of rules.

Shootout at Little Bohemia Scenario now available

June 23

It's Melvin Purvis and the agents of the nascent FBI against John Dillinger and his gang!

The gunbattle that almost ended the FBI!

As seen in the movie Public Enemies!

Full Scenario here

Battle Troll now available!

May. 20

Battle Troll, our game of Icelandic Sagas, is now available as a PDF or Hardcopy. We also offer our Battle Troll Action Deck: 52 cards - 4 sets of player turn cards; two End of Turn cards; and two complete Combat decks, with Attack and Defense strategies and card-sized Combat Results table. Buy the PDFs as a Bundle for only $20! (We're sorry that we are not able to offer a printed Bundle at this time).

“The man thrust at Gisli with a spear, but Gisli struck off the spear-head from the shaft with his axe, and the blow was so stout that the axe passed on to the rock beneath, and one horn of the edge broke off. Then he throws away the axe and clutches his sword and fights with it, and shields himself with his shield. They attack him bravely, but he kept them off like a man...”

- The Saga of Gisli Sursson

The world of the sagas is a world of proud and irascible men with touchy tempers and big axes, and how their bad manners as tourists are matched by an astonishing inability to get along with the neighbors. It’s like the Wild West, without the schoolmarm and the preacher, held on a cold windy coastline.

It's about blood-feuds, and raids, and quarrels, and blood-feuds, and stealing other people's stuff and taking one another to the rowdiest courts in the world, and blood-feuds, and being exiled to the far-flung reaches of the world and behaving just as badly there. It's about visiting other lands, meeting interesting people, and hacking them about with ironmongery and looting churches because that's where the gold and silver are kept. It's about you, me, Onund the dog-faced and his foster father Sven going over to see the farmer across the river to tell him exactly what we think of him.

Personal combat in the Norse sagas is notable for its combination of grim humor, gymnastic violence and a graphic interest in the details of wounds, especially those with fatal consequences. “Battle-Troll” is all about that, a fast, bloodthirsty game simple enough to play after several horns of mead. Stolen mead, from a looted monastery.

Change in Pricing Structure

May. 9

After much deliberation, Pulp Action Library has decided to bundle the PDF version with our printed books for free. That's right - buy the printed book or deck of cards (or anything else we may end up offering), get the PDF for free!

If you bought a printed version of Mad Dogs With Guns, contact Roderick@PulpActionLibrary.com with your Wargame Vault ID number, copy of your sales notice, or any other way we can confirm that you did, indeed, buy a copy, and we'll send you a copy of the PDF.

 

 

Eat Hitler and Caveman! 1-page QRSs

Apr. 26

Nils Hedglin graciously gave us permission to post his 1-page QRSs for Caveman and Eat Hitler.

They include some minor changes he made for the games he describes below.

 

A Convention report with Caveman and Eat Hitler

Apr. 11

Nils ran both Caveman and Eat Hitler at Conquest Sacramento, and gives his after-action reports on his Blog

Origins Award Nomination!

Apr. 5

Mad Dogs With Guns has made it to the final five for Best Historical Wargame Rules! The vote for the Best ruleset will happen at the Origins Game Fair in Columbus, OH, June 12-16. So if you happen to at Origins, drop by and vote for Mad Dogs With Guns. And you can still buy your own copy at Wargame Vault and be able to say "I bought it before it was famous".

Supplemental Material

Mar. 19

No, not "vitamen supplements" like you'd find in the back of certain "gentleman's magazines", but supplemental material for our games. Click on the "Supplemental Material" button in our header bar, or here to access the supplememtnal material page.

From time to time we may put up "beta" material for an upcoming book, or new stuff for an existing game.

And we'd love to have your new material as well - if you've come up with scenarios for one of our games, or a new list of characters for Eat Hitler (Eat Stalin, anyone?) or anything else, just drop us a note (our contact info is available through the "Contact Us" button).