AE WWII and Pulp City Crossover Event – Gencon Indi 08

Darkson Design teamed up with Pulp City to host a joint event to demo their models and systems at Gencon Indi 2008.
1 hour demo is divided into 7 segments.

Ever wanted to participate in a 2 hour event, but they aren’t holding it in your area. Well this is what Gencon Indianapolis is great for. All those small systems that never make it you your local gaming store for demos.
I was interested in both Darkson designs’ alternative World War II system AE WWII and Pulp City’s super hero system. The designers are good friends and decided to host some cross-over events at Gencon, allowing me to see both sets of models and systems in place.
The following 2 hour demo/event has been condensed down to 1 hour in 7 parts.
Parts 1 through 4 are all set up explanation of the system and scenario, while 5-7 are the actual scenario being played.

Both systems are an alternating activation system, that allows both sides of the battle to remain engaged in the course of the game by keeping them actively involved in the play throughout the game, no taking a nap or going to get lunch while your opponent takes his or her turn.

AE WWII has every unit on each side activating for each turn, while Pulp City provides a pool reservoir of actions that can be used to activate the units on each side. Pulp City’s has a maximum number of activations per model, but if you run out of activations in your pool, your side is done that turn, even if your model has not reached its maximum number of activations yet.

Both systems do not allow you to cross over turns to perform multi-activation actions (such as loading which requires 2 activations). AE WWII does have the ability for one model to loan its activations to other models, allowing that other model to activate more times than normal.

As expected, Pulp Cities super heros and villains have multiple wounds, while AE WWII’s individuals have only from 1 to 2 wounds for each model.

AE WWII weapons run the anticipated range of weapons that were available during the time period of 1935 to 1942, but it add in a whole another range of sci-fi and psionic weapons due to the alternative history and expansion of the war from a very Pulp comic book view point. This makes for some very interesting combinations and made for a great pairing with Pulp City and its super heros.

Problems I foresee for Pulp city is making a unique place for itself in the Super-hero miniature market. They do have more depth than Hero clix, so don’t go into the game expecting just another game of that. These super heros/villians have agendas to help make their roles unique. But Pulp City might have to do more to make itself more unique than a Champion (Hero Systems) competitor or any of the other Superhero RPG systems that are out there.

AE WWII has created a unique environment for itself that sets itself apart from Flames of War or other WWII miniature games in the market. The designers at Darkson Designs provided a sneak peek at several new models and vehicles to show that the vision that is pushing AE WWII is seeking a fresh approach and is actively seeking to grow their line with quality sculpts and vehicular rules.

What was apparent from both AE WWII and Pulp City is that models and units will die, so the battlefield situation is very dynamic and require tactics and thought to achieve your objective. The straight forward “hulk smash” mentality will not help you achieve your gaming goals in either of these games.