Category Archives: After Action Reports

MH-1: The Breeder Bombs Part One: The Danger Room

The Scenario: As stated in the adventure summary last time, most of the X-Men are in the Danger Room undergoing training. The X-Men’s objective is to rescue one of their comrades, who is imprisoned in a force field on the far side of the room. this is done by destroying or sabotaging the generators powering the force field. The Danger Room’s objective is, of course, to not let that happen. The imprisoned X-Man is not really there, it’s a holographic projection. The real “imprisoned” hero is alone, upstairs. I chose Cyclops as the imprisoned X-Man, but it could be any member of the team (which will certainly alter the difficulty of this scenario and the next one, depending on who is picked).

Force field courtesy of Dunkin’ Donuts

Setup: I decided to use a 2′ x 2′ surface with a few scattered terrain pieces. With this many miniatures on the board, the heroes will get “stuck in” pretty quick, making for a more fast-paced scenario. Of course, you’re free to make it a bigger board, but that just means you’ll need more terrain. The rescuing heroes deploy on one side of the room. On the far side of the room is the imprisoned hero under a force field. Two generators power the force field, positioned one on each side as shown. The Danger Room deploys one obvious defense in the middle of the board at the start of play (here represented by the huge robot in the center).

Special Rules: The Danger Room is the pinnacle of Shi’ar combat technology, and as such is extremely adaptable to whatever the X-Men attempt. To represent this (and to give the X-Men a good run for their money), the Danger Room operates under a special set of rules, listed below.

Initiative: The Danger Room rolls 5D for initiative at the start of the round.

Movement: The Danger Room is smaller than it looks, and compensates for it. All movement and ranged power effects are halved for this scenario. A Power Blast with 30″ range only has a 15″ range. A character with a move of 6″ only moves 3″, while charging they would move 4.5″. Flight of 20″ is reduced to 10″. When Nightcrawler teleports, he ends up halfway between where he started and where he wanted to arrive. This slows things down and allows the Danger Room to bring more of its defenses into play at a faster rate than it would otherwise be able to.

Defenses: The Danger Room activates as many times as the number of X-Men (+1 if it gains initiative). During each activation, it can spawn a new defense as a free action, or simply attack with an established defense as a combat action. Ranged weapons can attack on the turn they spawn with no penalty. Other defenses may attack on the turn they spawn, but may not charge on that turn (see below). The Danger Room may only spawn one defense each turn up to a maximum of 2″ away from an X-Man, and each active defense may only attack once per round. The number in parentheses indicates the maximum number of each defense that may be on the board at once.The following is a list of defenses and any special rules associated with them:

Blaster Cannons (2): 6D Power Blast. Range 15″. Needs 7 goals to destroy, or may be sabotaged.

Tentacle Traps (2): Entangle 5D, Range 5″

Big Combat Robot (1): (Brick/Brawler) Major: Super Strength, Scrapper, Minor: Armor, Construct, Resistance, Tough

Elite Robot Henchmen (6): Minor: Melee Weapon, Resistance, Veterans

Nullifier Cannon (1): Mimic 5D, but if successful steals a power for one full turn. Needs 7 goals to destroy, or may be sabotaged.

Sabotaging Defenses/Generators: Any X-Man that can get in base contact with a defense or generator that can be sabotaged may make a sabotage attempt (TN 4) as a combat action in lieu of an attack. Success disables the generator or defense.

Spotting the Generators: The X-Men can’t attack or attempt to sabotage the generators until they realize that they’re powering the force field. Once per turn as a free action an X-Man may make a Perception check (TN 2 as it’s not that hard to spot running generators). If successful the X-Men learn that destroying the generators is the key and all can attack them normally.

ROUND 1

The initiative roll goes to the Danger Room.

The first thing the Danger Room does is activate the Big Combat Robot (BCR) in the center of the table, who lumbers forward 3″. That’s about all he can do this round. Storm activates, taking to the air and flying 10″. She fails her Perception roll, however, and doesn’t spot the generators, so she attacks the force field surrounding Cyclops instead. This of course does nothing. In response, the Danger Room spawns a blaster cannon near the closest generator and fires at Storm, narrowly missing her.

Wolverine activates next, and is able to close the distance with the BCR. All he manages to do is chip the paint, however; doing only 1 box of damage to the robot. The Danger Room spawns another blaster cannon near the other generator. This one also fires at Storm (since she’s the only one really out there). This time she’s not so lucky and takes 1 box of damage.

Rogue activates, taking a moment to absorb Colossus’s Armor power. She fails her Perception check and doesn’t realize the generators should be top priority, and since Wolverine seems to have the BCR under control for now, she flies off towards that blaster cannon, hoping to remove it as a threat.

Unfortunately, she only gets about 10″ before her movement ends. The Danger Room spawns some Entangling tentacles, scoring a net 5 goals over Rogue. She’s grappled pretty good, and will need to roll 6 net goals to disengage herself from the tentacles on a future round!

Nightcrawler activates next, teleporting 30″ towards the force field, but of course, since ranges are halved, he only winds up 15″ away, leaving him in the unenviable position of being directly in front of one of the blaster cannons. The Danger Room spawns the Nullifier Cannon, which targets Rogue. It successfully nullifies her Super Strength, which is going to make it that much harder for her to escape those tentacles in a later round.

Kitty Pryde has nothing to do, but she moves towards the BCR, hoping to hose his electronics. A move of 3″ doesn’t get her too far, though. In response, the Danger Room spawns a group of 6 elite robotic henchmen, all directly around Colossus. They immediately attack, although without a charge bonus. Despite this, they manage to inflict 2 boxes of damage to Colossus! Colossus responds, but does no damage to the henchmen group.

ROUND 2

The initiative goes to the X-Men.

Colossus is annoyed. So he uses the special Brick maneuver called Shockwave. He attacks the ground, toppling the entire henchmen group. They’re not damaged, only knocked down…but they will have to spend valuable actions getting to their feet on their activation.

The Danger Room activates the Nullifier Cannon again, targeting Nightcrawler in the hopes of removing his Teleport power. It misses, which isn’t that surprising considering Nightcrawler is pretty tough to hit.

For his part, Nightcrawler fails his Perception check and still doesn’t know to attack the generators. Instead he teleports behind the Nullifier Cannon and attempts to sabotage it. He only gets 3 goals and fails. The Danger Room activates the blaster cannon closest to Storm and fires at her, but misses. Storm, sick of getting shot at, activates her Force Field and returns fire, frying the blaster cannon with a bolt of lightning. Unfortunately for her, she doesn’t do any damage to it, but at least she’s better protected against further fire. The BCR attacks Wolverine, but fails to hit him. Kitty Pryde easily determines the generators are the real targets (she’s a Savant after all), and after alerting the team, she charges into combat with the downed robot henchmen. She gains a total bonus of +3D to her attack (+1 for charging, +1 for a downed foe, +1 for attacking robots as per her special power). She scores a total of 7 net goals and wipes the entire henchmen group out! The Danger Room activates the other blaster cannon and fires at the entangled Rogue (not very sporting, right?), but Rogue shrugs off any damage thanks to the Armor she absorbed from Colossus. Rogue attempts to break out of the entanglement, but she fails; not surprising since she lost her Super Strength last round. Finally, Wolverine attacks the BCR, but doesn’t do any damage.

ROUND 3

The X-Men retain initiative. Without the robotic henchmen to worry about, Colossus charges the BCR, still locked in combat with Wolverine. He gains a bonus for charging plus another bonus for teaming up on the BCR with Wolverine, so he elects to use the Brick special maneuver called “Haymaker”. He rolls 8 total dice and scores a net 5 goals, which does 5 boxes of damage to the BCR! To add insult to injury, he makes use of the “Way Outta Here” ability, which triples the knockback of any attack! After ranges are halved, the BCR is knocked back 30″, which is clear across the board. He passes his knockdown check, however, and will be able to move normally on his activation.

The Danger Room activates the Nullifier Cannon, firing at Storm. Thanks to her Force Field, she isn’t hit. Kitty Pryde activates, but only moves forward a measly 3″. She has nothing else she can really do. The Danger Room activates the blaster cannon closest to Storm and fires at her again, hitting her for 3 boxes of damage! Ouch!

Storm decides to try and end the fight as quickly as possible, blasting the generator next to her with a bolt of lightning. It pays off and she scores a total of 7 goals, enough to reduce it to a steaming pile of slag. The Danger Room activates the other blaster cannon, firing at the still entangled Rogue for one damage. She’s wishing she wasn’t entangled anymore, so she tries once again to break free. Even with her Super Strength back, she fails to do so.

Everything happens pretty quickly from this point. The Danger Room attempts to entangle Wolverine, but he slashes through the tentacles quite easily. Wolverine moves as quickly as possible towards the other generator, but he only gets about 6″ closer. The BCR moves to defend the generator, placing itself between the generator and Wolverine. Nightcrawler teleports behind the generator and attempts to sabotage it, but fails.

ROUND 4

Blaster Cannons on loan from the Mordian Iron Guard

The Danger Room gets initiative, and activates the blaster cannon closest to Nightcrawler. It swivels and shoots at him, but misses. Nightcrawler tries to sabotage the generator, but again fails to gain the required number of goals. The Danger Room activates the BCR, which tries to squash Nightcrawler on the charge. But Nightcrawler proves too elusive for the robot and avoids damage.

Finally, Storm activates, flying closer to the generator and blasting it to oblivion with a lightning bolt. The scenario is ended. Victory to the X-Men!

AFTERWORD

Danger Room scenarios are a lot of fun, because you’re pretty much wide open in what you can bring to the table. I chose to decorate my board with random machinery as terrain, but there’s no reason the battle couldn’t have taken place in a jungle or on among ruins or on an alien planet. It’s the Danger Room, so it can simulate anything! This is also true of the defenses it spawns; you’re pretty much limited only by your imagination! So instead of having a Big Combat Robot, how about using some of those Tyranid beasties you haven’t played with in forever? Instead of robots, how about some skeletons? It gives you a great excuse to use some of your other miniatures that you haven’t used or that mostly collect dust. I was thrilled to finally use my Kroonbots for something, since I never got around to playing them in .45 Adventure…

If I was playing this game with friends instead of solo, I would recommend the use of a referee to control the Danger Room. Just my two cents.

So, what’s Cyclops been doing upstairs this whole time? Find out next scenario! (Hint: he wasn’t making lunch.)

He’s a jerk…but he’s OUR jerk! A Super Mission Force AAR

You gotta love Northstar. The stereotypical snooty Canadian-French skier, Jean-Paul Baubier epitomized superhero douchiness long before he became the poster boy for gay marriage in comics. A while back I repainted Alpha Flight for use in Supersystem 3. I never got around to using them until now, and it’s for my second Super Mission Force AAR! To battle!

Alpha Flight!

Watch oot! Sentinels, eh?

Dang robots! Get off m’lawn!! (Just ignore him. He has no part in the battle.)

The scenario is a simple one. Alpha Flight has been called to a remote area of Canadian wilderness, intent on investigating a distress call coming from an ice-fishing shack. It’s all a ruse to capture Canada’s mutant superhero, Northstar! (Aurora is a mutant, too…but no one seems to know that.) Sentinels appear on the horizon, and battle is joined! The Sentinels must capture Northstar and flee the board. Alpha Flight needs to stop that from happening.

Turn 1

The Sentinels make use of their Metamorph Ability at the start of the first turn. Until further notice, they will have the following profile: Enhanced Senses, Flight, and Entangle in addition to their other base powers (see below).

Alpha Flight gains initiative for the first turn. Puck moves first, cartwheeling towards the center of the board.

Sentinel #1 flies 20″ into the middle of the board. Sasquatch trades his move for a Leap and leaps into combat with Sentinel #1. He manages to inflict 2 damage to the robot on the charge!

The squad of Sentinel Troopers moves, flying 20″ to the middle of the table. (This is a 10-man Henchman squad, but I only have 6 models. So we’ll just have to imagine the other four. Any damage inflicted on the squad will come off the imaginary models first.)

Guardian flies close by the Trooper squad, blasting them for 2 damage! (The squad now has 8 members, but since I only have 6 models I didn’t remove any). Sentinel #2 activates and flies into the fray. He uses Entangle on Guardian and succeeds in trapping him in serpentine sinews of strength-sapping steel! (I’m here all week, folks.)

Shaman reaches into his medicine bag and teleports 10″ closer to Sentinel #1. He then blasts it for 2 more damage.

Sentinel #3 flies to the center of the board.

Laissez mon frere seul!!

Aurora moves closer and blasts Sentinel #1 for 5 damage, destroying it! (It failed its KO check). Teamwork in action!

Cochons! Rencontrez mes poings!!!

Finally, Northstar moves, flying directly at the group of Sentinel Troopers. He uses Hurricane Charge, which allows him to re-roll 2 dice on his attack. He scores 5 net goals, removing five models! That’s one pissed-off Canadian! Unfortunately, he is now stuck in melee combat with the Henchmen group. (Northstar tends not to think things through.)

Not a bad first turn for the heroes!

Turn 2

Sentinel #3 changes its Metamorph profile. It now has: Melee Weapon, 6″ extra move, Super Agility.

Graaaaaah!

Alpha Flight retains initiative. Sasquatch wastes no time and charges Sentinel #3, causing 2 damage.

The Sentinel Troopers pile in on Northstar. They can’t use their blasters, so they have to go old-school and try to punch him out. They manage to collectively inflict 1 damage on the haughty mutant. Northstar attacks back in a fit of pique and indignation, but does no damage. Merde!

Sentinel #2 quietly sneaks up (!) and uses Entangle on Northstar. He succeeds, and Northstar is rooted to the spot! Guardian uses the opportunity to free himself from his own entanglement and fires away at Sentinel #2, infilicting 3 damage!

This is not how Sasquatch thought it would go…

Meanwhile, Sentinel #3 attacks Sasquatch with its newly-formed melee weapon (let’s call it a drill. I like big robots with drills). It scores 7 goals, while Sasquatch scores none. Sasquatch is downed and fails his KO check, so he ain’t getting back up!

Sisterly devotion.

Puck continues to cartwheel along. Aurora, seeing her brother helpless and at the mercy of Sentinel Troopers and Sentinel #2, charges forward and takes out the rest of the Trooper squad! Shaman teleports again, closer to Sentinel #3. He blasts the Sentinel that just dropped his buddy Sasquatch, but does no damage.

Turn 3

At the start of the turn, Sentinel 3’s system diagnostics assess and repair 1 box of damage. Both remaining Sentinels alter their Metamorph powers to: Melee Weapon, 10″ range, +6″ Movement.

The Sentinels gain initiative. Sentinel #3 attacks Shaman from 6″ away, but misses. Northstar escapes his entanglement and flares like his namesake, attempting to stun Sentinel #2. Sentinel #2 is unimpressed (and not stunned).

Sentinel #2 attempts to grapple Northstar from 10″ away, but fails to grab the slippery skier. Guardian takes the opportunity to blast Sentinel #2 for 3 damage.

Here I come, eh?

From across the battlefield, Puck puts on a Speed Burst and charges Sentinel #2 from 20″ away! (I’m sorry, but the image of a cartwheeling, back-flipping Puck charging halfway across the battlefield made me laugh aloud.) Unfortunately, although he manages to get into combat, our diminutive friend does no damage to the Sentinel.

Aurora blasts Sentinel #2 for 1 damage, barely missing her teammate, Puck!

Turn 4

The Sentinels keep their Metamorph configuration. Neither of them are able to regenerate any damage.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if Puck took down a Sentinel? Well, that didn’t happen, but he managed to inflict 1 more damage on Sentinel #2.

Unhand me!

Sentinel #3 successfully grapples Northstar and turns towards the table edge. Next turn, he’s gonna morph over to Flight and fly away with his prize unless someone stops him! Aurora frantically power-blasts Sentinel #3, but does no damage!

Shaman summons the Spirit of…whatever!

Sentinel #2 attacks Puck, but the little guy cartwheels away unscathed. Meanwhile, Shaman teleports closer to Sentinel #3 and summons…a monster! (Monster by Rattrap designs.)

Say hello to my little friend!

The summoned monster charges Sentinel #3 and inflicts 1 damage!

You would think a thank you was in order, but…

Guardian rushes to Northstar’s aid, powerblasting Sentinel #3. He scores a ton of goals, resulting in a net 6 damage! Sentinel #3 is destroyed! (After failing its KO check.)

Victoire!

Northstar is released as a result, and in a fit of rage, charges the last remaining Sentinel, #2. He does 2 damage, enough to put down the Sentinel for good. Game over!

AFTERWORD

This game took me less than 30 minutes to play, not including the time it took to build the characters, take the pics and log the action.

Here are my builds. Again, I don’t follow the Super Mission Force rules regarding power allotments or team restrictions, because I’m adapting established super-teams to the game. Of course, you can play however you like.

Here are my builds:

ALPHA FLIGHT

Guardian (Blaster): Major: Power Blasts; Minor: Force Field, Teleport, Flight

Puck (Brawler): Major: Scrapper; Minor: Super-Agility, Resistance

Sasquatch (Brick): Major: Super-Strength; Minor: Leaping, Rage, Resistance

Shaman (Sorcerer): Major: Sorcery (Power Blasts, Summoning, Force Field, Density Decrease, Healing); Minor: Flight, Iron Will

Aurora (Speedster): Major: Speed; Minor: Power Blasts, Flight, Stun

Northstar (Speedster): Major: Speed; Minor: Flight, Stun, Rapport (Aurora)

SENTINELS

Sentinel Mk II (Metamorph): Major: Metamorph; Minor: Construct, Massive, Super Strength, Regeneration

10 Sentinel Troopers (Ranged Henchmen Group) Minor: Power Blasts, Flight

Wrecker needs Twinkies: A Super Mission Force AAR

This may as well be called the Marvel Team-Up or Marvel Two-in-One you never read. That’s because…well, you’ll see.

I like to have a scenario in mind when I post an After Action Report so that it reads as more than just a random slugfest. For this one, I was inspired by all those Hostess ads in the old Marvel comics of the early 80’s…ones where a Marvel hero had to thwart a jokey villain in his attempts to steal a shipment of fruit pies or cupcakes. So I figured he Wrecker has a hankering for some Twinkies and doesn’t want to buy a box when he can just steal a shipping crate full of them. He enlists the aid of the rest of the Wrecking Crew and grudgingly promises to share his Twinkies with them. Standing opposed to this nefarious crime are none other than the Amazing Spider-Man and the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing! (I could write comics.)

A fine day in Manhattan…

Hey! That’s the Wrecking Crew in the shipping yard!

Aw, crap. And I was having a good day.

Turn 1

Ouch.

The Wrecking Crew gains initiative, thanks in part to Thunderball’s Clever Boost, which gives them one extra die towards initiative. Piledriver wastes no time in grabbing a nearby lamppost and tossing it at the Thing. The resulting hit does 3 Body damage and knocks Thing back into the wall, knocking him down.

Ouch.

Thing gets up and grabs a nearby mailbox and beans Piledriver with it, returning the favor. the hit only caused one damage, but knocked Piledriver back 5″ into a nearby Mini. Meanwhile, Bulldozer moves towards Thing to keep him away from the shipping yard.

“Out of web fluid!”

Spider-Man trades his move for a Leap, leaping 32″ down onto the corner of the shipping crate. He tries to web up the Wrecker, but fails to get even a single goal. That old Parker luck strikes again!

“Let me help you down from there…”

Spider-Man is too high up for Thunderball to attack him unless he throws something, but Thunderball tries something different…he attacks the shipping crates! His gamble pays off as he scores a whopping 10 goals, enough to destroy the crates!

Wrecker screams at Thunderball, “There better not have been any Twinkies in there or they’re coming out of your cut!”

Oboy.

Spider-Man takes no damage from the fall (it’s less than 2″), but he is knocked down in front of a huge guy with a wrecking ball. Not really where you wanna be.

Finally, Wrecker attacks the shipping crate in front of him in search of Twinkies. No luck…this crate contains only pink Sno-balls. Yuck!

Turn 2

Charge!

The Wrecking Crew hold onto initiative. Bulldozer does what he does best and charges the Thing, but ol’ Rockface just squares up and meets him head-on. They exchange punches, but neither one lands anything damaging.

Thunderball takes his shot at Spider-Man, but Spidey manages to wiggle out of the way of the wrecking ball…for now. He follows up with a roundhouse to Thunderball’s chin that cracks him for 3 damage! (For some reason I forgot to apply knockback. Not that it made a difference overall, but still noteworthy.)

Piledriver moves towards Thing, but doesn’t reach him.

I need some space…yikes!

Finally, Wrecker gets annoyed and charges Spider-Man. After all the dice are rolled, Wrecker hits Spidey for a whopping 7 damage! Spider-Man fails his KO check and is…well, KO’ed!

Best not to think about what happens next…

Turn 3

The Wrecking Crew keeps initiative. Piledriver charges Thing, but Thing sees him coming and shrugs it off.

KA-POW!

“It’s Clobberin’ Time!” Thing hauls off and decks Piledriver with a Haymaker punch, knocking him back 25″!!! Piledriver fails his KO check and is out!

Bulldozer once again attacks Thing, but does no damage.

Off-camera, Thunderball takes an action to “ace” Spider-Man. This means exactly what you think it means.

Wrecker moves to another crate and rips it open. Lemon cupcakes! Arrrgh!

Turn 4

Thing finally gains initiative! He makes a quick recharge roll for Haymaker and succeeds, allowing him to use it again this turn. He tries it, but fails to damage Bulldozer.

Bulldozer hits Thing for 1 damage, knocking him back 5″ and knocking him down.

Thunderball moves towards Thing. Wrecker moves upstairs towards a new crate. There has to be a crate of Twinkies somewhere!

Turn 5

The villains gain initiative. Bulldozer, now 5″ away from Thing, charges him! Thing takes 3 damage and needs to pass a KO check. He succeeds!

His best Sunday punch!

Thing stands up and recharges his Haymaker successfully. He hauls off and creams Bulldozer with this roll.

Can you find the Bulldozer in this picture?

Bulldozer fails to resist even one and goes flying 45″! He fails his KO check and is out!

Thunderball continues getting closer. Wrecker finds only apple-filling Fruit Pies in his crate. “Curse you, Fruit Pie the Magician!”

Turn 6

Have a camper!

Thing can barely keep standing, so he figures it might be wise to keep some distance between him and Thunderball. He picks up a nearby camper and throws it at the villain, hitting him and inflicting 3 damage!

Thunderball pushes the camper off himself and stands up, moving towards the Thing with obvious ill intent.

Wrecker rips open another container…Funny Bones???!!! How did these get here? Hostess doesn’t even make these!!!

Turn 7

Crap.

Thunderball charges Thing and hits him for 1 damage. As he loses consciousness, Thing wonders if he might have been better off just letting the Wrecking Crew have the damn Twinkies.

AFTERWORD

First off, this was a blast. It took me around 45 minutes to play this, and that was with me looking up rules, taking photos and logging the action for this AAR. Once I learn the rules completely, I would imagine this game would have taken me 20 minutes or so.

That’s awesome. This system is so easy and quick that I imagine it would be quite simple to get an entire set of linked scenarios done in a couple of hours. An entire campaign in one afternoon? Sounds good for folks like me that can’t seem to get his friends all together more than twice a year.

Also, in case anyone’s interested, here are my builds for these heroes and villains.

The Wrecking Crew

All Bricks, so all have Super Strength as their Major power. (Yes I know technically you’re not supposed to have more than one of the same archetype (except Wild Cards) on the same team, but I defy anyone to tell me that any member of the Wrecking Crew is anything BUT a Brick.

Wrecker: Minor: Melee Weapon, Resistance

Thunderball: Minor: Melee Weapon, Clever (Boost)

Bulldozer + Piledriver: Minor: Resistance, Tough (Boost)

The Heroes

Thing (Brick): Major: Super-Strength; Minor: Armor, Resistance, Tough (Boost)

Spider-Man (Brawler): Major: Scrapper; Minor: Leaping, Entangle, Enhanced Senses, Super-Agility

Again, I know I broke the rules here by giving them more powers than allowed, but as as I said before, it’s tough to picture these heroes (especially Spidey) without all of these powers. Having more powers clearly didn’t help them in the above battle. It’s not a matter of game balance for me…it’s about having fun!

Day of the Octopus!!!!

Back in the day, I was a big fan of the old Marvel Super Heroes RPG from TSR (still am, in fact). I thought some of their adventures might make fun scenarios for Supersytem 3, and it turns out I was right! First up is the introductory adventure included with the basic set: MSH0: Day of the Octopus!

A brief synopsis: That tentacled creep Dr. Octopus is at it again! This time his scheme is to become “Supreme Ruler of New York City” (yes, really). To that end, he has created a 30-foot tall robot duplicate of himself that will destroy Manhattan unless the heroes can stop it! (Because, you know, that’s the best plan an insane, genius nuclear physicist could come up with.)

FYI ALL of the published adventures, as well as the rulebooks for TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes are available at Classic Marvel Forever in PDF format, and they’re FREEEEEEEE! Many of them are delightfully terrible, with questionable storylines, lame villains, and encounters that make you scratch your head and ask WTF??? But all of them seem easily adaptable to SS3, and 99% of the heroes and villains used in all of them are available as Heroclix models!

Without further ado, the dramatis personae:

The heroes (L-R): Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, Captain America, and the ever-lovin, blue-eyed Thing!

The main villains (L-R): Beetle, Scorpion, Dr. Octopus, Radioactive Man and the Fixer! (Fixer looked different back in the day, but this newer version is the only Clix model of the Fixer, so I’m stuck with it.) And of course, looming menacingly in the back: The Octodroid!!!!!

As is usual with most starting adventures, the heroes far outclass the villains. I assumed the bad guys would need some help, so I added Constrictor and these killer robots as reinforcements. The robots are repainted and rebased Horrorclix Carnage Bots.

If you’re wondering about the Octodroid, he’s this old Toy Biz Marvel figure, spray-painted silver. I picked him up on eBay for 8 bucks including shipping. Not bad, eh? Onto the game!

An otherwise quiet day in Manhattan. Ben Grimm, Peter Parker and Steve Rogers are all spending some personal time in the park. Thing is buying a hot dog and feeling sorry for himself. Peter is having a picnic with Aunt May. Steve is on a date with his girlfriend, Bernie Rosenthal. Captain Marvel is on duty at Avengers Mansion (remember, this adventure was from 1984!)

All the heroes notice two well-known goons, Turk and Grotto, entering a building across from the park. They are up to no good! All the heroes in the park start to make their excuses and head over to the building, just as a huge explosion blows out the front wall! Who emerges but Grotto, accompanied by Turk, in full Mandroid armor!

(If you’re asking WTF??? allow me to explain: A suit of Mandroid armor was on display in the lobby of the building. You might think there would be extra security, or that the suit of Mandroid armor would be somehow neutralized for display purposes, like a cannon at a park, but you’d be wrong. It’s just sitting there in a glass case in the lobby, along with the plans for a new power source made by Tony Stark. Or it was. Until Turk stole it.)

Alerted by the explosion and able to fly at lightspeed,Captain Marvel arrives on the scene instantly. The Thing wastes no time rushing across the street and ruining Grotto’s day before closing with Turk! And at that moment, the super-villains arrive!!!

What are they doing here? What could they want? The heroes have no time for speculation, because combat erupts!

Thing beats up on Turk, but fails to KO him. Meanwhile, Spider-Man webs Turk to the ground. Turk is entangled!

Captain Marvel and Beetle exchange energy blasts! Captain Marvel is wounded!

After firing off a blast of radiation at Thing, Radioactive Man gets slammed by Cap’s shield and gets KO’ed instantly! (Cap rolled a ton of goals to hit, and it carried over to damage. Radioactive Man rolled poorly, and that’s all, folks!)

Scorpion shoots at Spider-Man, but fails to hit. In the next round, he bounds atop the building closest to the web-slinger, but before he can close, Spidey webs him to the roof! Meanwhile, Thing takes out Turk once and for all.

On the other side of the park, Captain Marvel gets the worst of it in her fight with Beetle and is KO’ed! Cap takes out the Beetle with a shield toss, and Thing rips up a lamp post and cancels Christmas on the Fixer! With three villains KO’ed, the bad guys bug out and flee the table! But not before a sinister-looking steel tentacle snakes up from a nearby grate and steals the plans for a new power source…the villains’ goal all along! This was but a diversion! Mu-hu-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!

In the original TSR RPG adventure, the heroes had to search for clues to find Dock Ock’s hideout. But we jumped right into it! The heroes track Doc Ock to his lair in an abandoned warehouse, where he awaits them with Scorpion and Constrictor!

“It’s Clobberin’ Time!” Doctor Octopus barely has time to activate his security robots before the Thing is in his grill. He decks Doc in two rounds, which made for a very quick end to this scenario. Meanwhile, Captain America shield-bashes Constrictor into submission! All in all, not a good round for the villains. But as he lapses into rocky-fisted-induced unconsciousness, Doc Ock manages to activate his most villainous automaton:The Octodroid!

BEHOLD! THE OCTODROID MARCHES!!!

The Octodroid begins its path of destruction, shattering buildings to the left and right. The heroes move quickly to intercept! Spidey tries to web its legs together, but the Octodroid will not be bound! Captain Marvel fires a blast of energy, inflicting damage. In response, the Octodroid pauses its attack on New York to fire at the heroes with the plasma cannons contained in its tentacles, but fails to hit any of them.

Then after a few more exchanges, Captain America once again saves the day. He hurls his shield with uncanny precision, striking the Octodroid in its eyes! Something shorts out and the Octodroid comes to an abrupt halt, toppling over a few seconds later. New York is saved! (Once again, Captain America rolled a shit-ton of goals that failed to be resisted by the Ocotdroid. Even I was surprised by how quickly the robot fell!)

This was a lot of fun and I plan on adapting more of the published TSR adventures to SS3 soon. Up next: MSH-1: The Breeder Bombs, featuring the X-Men!

The Blighted Watchtower: A Battlesystem AAR Part 2

The two parties eye each other warily across the clearing, both groups knowing the other’s intentions are the same: to plunder the watchtower and secure whatever riches may lie within.

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But as each group rushes to be the first to the tower, they are besieged by more monsters! Harpies descend upon the adventurers, shrieking madly!

(I modified the harpies somewhat. In Battlesystem Skirmish, harpies have 7 hits each! Since each party was facing five harpies, I thought that was too many hits to have to deal with based on the characters’ Attack Dice. I reduced the harpies’ hits to 3 each. Turns out I probably shouldn’t have, but live and learn.)

The gnomes gain initiative for the round, and waste no time in attacking. Durwald shoots a harpy with his Crossbow of Accuracy for 1 hit, while Graflin strategically casts Gust of Wind, grounding the harpies and making them more vulnerable!

The harpies attack next, and all attempt to Charm their opponents with their seductive song. Among the dwarfs, Boris, Reglan and Grimnar fail their saving throw and are Charmed! Poth and Siegfried resist the magical song. The gnomes don’t fare much better, as Stengil, Durwald and Ashlock all fall victim to the song, while Graflin and Cavram, the human, both save and resist it.

Finally the dwarfs get to attack, but since three of them are charmed, it falls to Siegfried and Poth to defend their friends. Poth throws an axe at a circling harpy, inflicting 1 hit. Siegfried takes the opportunity to cast Dispel Magic and free his friends from the magical charm!

The harpies gain initiative next round, and tear into the gnomes! Their filthy claws rake Stengil for 2 hits, and both Ashlock and Cavram take another hit each. Meanwhile, the other group of harpies attack the dwarfs, wounding both Reglan and Siegfried for 1 hit each. The dwarfs respond. Both Siegfried and Poth manage to wound their opponents, but not enough to kill any.

The gnomes fight last in the round, but good things come to those who wait. Cavram slaughters a harpy out of hand, while Graflin casts Fear on the group. 2 of the harpies immediately rout, breaking the charm! At the end of the round the harpies check morale again, and fail spectacularly with a natural 20! The group of harpies is so panicked they are paralyzed for 2 rounds!!

The harpies win initiative for the next round, but only the group fighting the dwarfs is in any shape for combat. Both Poth and Siegfried take a wound each. The gnomes attack the vulnerable harpies on their side of the clearing, with predictable results: Cavram kills another harpy, while Ashlock wounds another. Graflin steps back and casts Melf’s Acid Arrow, killing yet another harpy.

Finally, the dwarfs fight back. Both Grimnar and Siegfried kill their opponents, Boris manages to wound one of the harpies facing him. The harpies check morale and roll a 1!!! These harpies, unlike the ones fighting the gnomes, now have a permanent +2 to morale for the rest of the battle. They’re not going anywhere!

Unfortunately for the harpies, the dwarfs gain initiative next round and waste no time maintaining their offense. They kill 2 more, leaving a lone harpy facing 5 angry, wounded dwarfs!

Meanwhile, the gnomes finish off the harpies facing them. Cavram kills one on the charge while the remaining gnomes clean up the rest. The lone harpy facing the dwarfs attacks Siegfried in a frenzy, wounding him for 2 hits!!! Siegfried sways on his feet, down to 2 hits from his original 6. Ouch! Being vastly outnumbered and facing certain death, the harpy checks morale and fails. She is shaken!

The dwarfs act first next round, and Grimnar wastes no time taking the remaining harpy’s head off her shoulders. Siegfried takes the opportunity to cast Cure Light Wounds on himself, healing one hit. On the other side of the battlefield, Graflin prepares himself for further combat (possibly with the dwarfs???) by casting Shield on himself, increasing his armor!

The two parties square off across the clearing. Each takes the opportunity to consolidate their grouping. Siegfried also casts his remaining Cure Light Wounds on himself, restoring him to 4 hits.

But wait! Suddenly a malevolent presence is felt. At the watchtower’s door, a spectral form takes shape! Could this be the source of evil that has blighted the watchtower these many years??? Will the warbands join forces to defeat it?

Maybe someday we’ll find out, but not today. That’s as far as I got before my bedtime.

The Blighted Watchtower: A Battlesystem AAR: Part 1

I’ve been going through miniatures gaming withdrawal lately, so I threw down some scenery and played a game all by my lonesome. I chose Battlesystem Skirmishes as my ruleset du jour. Even though I played this one solo, I managed to have a good time.

The Scenario

Amid ruins in an ancient forest stands an ancient watchtower, long rumored to be haunted. Anyone who has ventured there has never returned, but that has only fed the rumors of treasure and glory just waiting to be had by those daring enough to brave the danger. Two parties of stalwart adventurers set off towards the watchtower with equal intent: to make their fortunes, destroying anything that would stand in their way.

First up: a group of dwarves: (L-R) Poth, Siegfried, Grimnar, Boris, and Reglan. All are warriors with the exception of Siegfried, who is a cleric. Grimnar is the leader, an 8th level fighter. Boris and Siegfried are both 6th level, while Poth and Reglan are 5th.

Next up: a group of gnomes and their human mercenary hireling: (L-R) Stengil, Graflin, Cavram, Durwald, and Ashlock. All are warriors with the exception of Graflin, who is the leader and an 8th level wizard. He is supported by his brother gnomes; Stengil, Ashlock and Durwald, all 6th level fighters, and Cavram, an 8th level human fighter.

The dwarves approach the watchtower from the south, while the gnomes make their own stealthy approach from the west. Soon, they are not alone!

On the crest of a nearby hill, a manticore appears, bellowing a challenge! The gnomes prepare for combat!

Meanwhile, to the south, the dwarves steel themselves as some zombies come lurching out of the woods!

The battle is joined! No sooner do the gnomes move than the manticore lashes out with its tail spikes. It fires a volley at Cavram as the human moves towards the hill, inflicting 1 wound. Meanwhile, the zombies charge into the dwarves. Grimnar wades into the fray, easily destroying one zombie. Boris manages to wound a zombie, but takes a wound himself. Siegfried steps forward and calls upon his deity, turning 6 of them immediately. They flee from the cleric’s true faith, but not for long…

Meanwhile, Graflin, the gnome mage, casts Reduce upon the manticore! The beast fails its save and is reduced by one size level, losing one attack die and incurring a penalty on further attacks! Durwald shoots the manticore with his Crossbow of Accuracy, hitting easily and inflicting 1 wound!

At the end of the turn, a mysterious evil force rallies 3 of the fleeing zombies. They turn and shamble back towards the dwarves…

The next round, the manticore gets initiative. He wastes no time in firing his tail spikes, this time at Graflin! Even with the reduced Attack Dice, Graflin takes 2 wounds as the spikes rip through him! Cavram charges up the hill at the manticore, hitting it for 3 wounds! Graflin casts Magic Missile, inflicting another wound on the beast, while Durwald shoots it again for yet another wound! The manticore, down to 1 wound, checks morale, and rolls a 1!! The enraged beast will stay and fight to the death! (Manticores are dumb.)

Meanwhile, to the south, the dwarves square off against the zombies. Boris, Grimnar and Siegfried all put a zombie down, while Reglan wounds one. The zombies fail to wound any of the dwarves, since most of the dwarves killed them before they could fight. Since they’re undead and not being turned, zombies don’t have to check morale. They fight on.

The manticore manages to wound Cavram once before the human runs it through, putting it down once and for all. The gnomes reconvene at the top of the hill, where they get their first look at the rival warband to the south, still fighting off the zombies. They set off quickly, hoping to reach the watchtower before the dwarves!

Meanwhile, the dwarves destroy the remaining zombies with relative ease.

The dwarves regroup and move north, intent on plunder. They round a grove of trees only to spy the gnomes moving towards the tower! Will it be a race, or will the two parties fall upon each other??

Part 2 up soon!

First Battlesystem Skirmish

It’s weird how I’ve been into miniatures and roleplaying since fifth grade, but I never actually played a miniatures game until I was in college. Then, like many others I got roped into Warhammer and 40K. I completely missed out on Battlesystem. Wizards of the Coast just released a new free ruleset compatible with 5th Ed. AD&D, but I have no interest in using the new version of AD&D. The old rules are found easily enough on eBay, and they’re based on 2nd Edition AD&D (the version I played all through high school and college) so I picked up a copy.

We got more snow over the weekend (because we really needed more of it), and I had just finished my highlander warband, so I figured why not try the skirmish rules out? So here’s my first Battlesystem Skirmishes After Action Report!

I chose Highlanders vs. Orcs as the forces. The highlanders were made up of two clans: The Mac Layrs (Green/Blue) and the Rennies (Red/Blue). I split them into separate units based on clan. Bran Mac Layr was the commander (a level 6 hero), and he was supported by Rory Mac Layr, (a level 3 cleric). The remaining 2 Mac Layrs were generic level 1 human fighters. The Rennies were all level 1 human fighters.

The orcs were led by Varg (Level 2 orc leader). Varg commanded 4 Level 1 orcs. Also on the orcs side was Gogzarak, an ogre (Level 4 monster). As a monster, he can move and act independently. I used the generic stats provided in the Battlesystem rulebook for all the miniatures.

The orcs and the ogre are attacking the highlander settlement in the hopes of grabbing some sheep. The highlanders are trying to stop them. (Insert your own highlander/sheep joke here.) I deployed the Rennies in the pasture and the Mac Layrs in front of the houses. The orcs were deployed in the woods, and Gogzarak was deployed on his own, across from the Mac Layrs.

That’s Bran Mac Layr with the claymore, near the well. Rory Mac Layr (the cleric) is all the way on the right.

The Rennies are among the sheep.

Varg is leading his orcs out of the woods.

Gogzarak the ogre is on his own, taunting the Mac Layrs.

ROUND 1:

The monsters win initiative, which means the highlanders move first. Using this cool bendy-ruler, I measured out their full move (12″). No way are the Mac Layrs letting some scummy ogre get anywhere near their houses! Unfortunately, this puts them well within the ogre’s charge range.

Gogzarak charges Bran Mac Layr, bellowing as ogres do. He smacks Bran for 1 hit. Bran responds, but rolls a 1. He misses, and initiative immediately switches to the highlanders (weird rule).

In the pasture, the Rennies move to intercept the orcs as the come out of the woods. Neither side can reach melee this round.

ROUND 2

The Rennies charge into combat. Two of them concentrate on Varg, the leader, while the other closes with an orc. The strategy pays off as both Rennies score hits and Varg dies. In response, one of the orcs kills one of the Rennies.

Meanwhile, Rory Mac Layr moves to the hilltop to better support both units. He casts Bless on the Rennies, giving them +1 to THAC0 and +1 to Morale. But it’s the orcs that have to check morale this round since their leader was killed. They pass and stay to fight.

The other Mac Layrs all attack Gogzarak, and he attacks back, but no one hits anybody.

ROUND 3

Bran Mac Layr circles Gogzarak to get the +2 THAC0 bonus a rear attack gives. The other Mac Layrs flank the ogre. Bran hits Gogzarak for 2 hits! The other Mac Layrs miss. So does Gogzarak. Hoping to further support the Rennies, Rory Mac Layr casts Hold Person, rooting two orcs to the spot.

However, despite his support, the two unhindered orcs still manage to cut down the Rennies like cornstalks.

ROUND 4

The two orcs who are still able to move break off and move towards the cleric on the hill. The Mac Layrs and Gogzarak fight another ineffective round of combat with no casualites. Seeing two orcs approaching his position with ill intent, Rory casts his final spell: Cause Light Wounds. One of the orcs drops dead halfway up the hill. The remaining orc checks morale as he had to form a new unit as a result of combat (the other orcs couldn’t move with him because they were held). He fails and is shaken.

ROUND 5

Bran kills Gogzarak. The orc rallies. (Sorry, no picture.)

ROUND 6

The lone orc charges the cleric while the Mac Layrs circle the hill. Even though the cleric has +1 THAC0 due to being on a higher elevation, he misses. The orc wounds the cleric for 1 hit.

ROUND 7

Rounding the hill, the Mac Layrs spy the held orcs and charge. Showing no mercy, they put the filthy greenskins to the sword!

Bran charges the orc from behind, but misses. So does the orc and so does the cleric.

ROUND 8

Bran Mac Layr kills the last remaining orc, cleaving him in twain from behind. Victory to the highlanders! Alas, the proud Rennie clan has fallen. Cue the bagpipes!

ANALYSIS:

Battlesystem Skirmishes is pretty easy to learn, especially if you have ever played 2nd Edition AD&D. This whole game took about 25 minutes to play, including the time I took looking up rules and taking pictures. It seems the forces were unbalanced in favor of the highlanders, despite the monsters having more points on their side. I purposely didn’t use missile weapons, which may have altered the battle for both sides.

The cleric seemed to make the most difference in this game. Although his Bless spell didn’t do much, his other two spells really made a difference in how the game played out. If I played this skirmish again I would bulk up the monsters a bit by giving them missile weapons or maybe a shaman of their own.

Death Soldiers of the Jade Hood: Part 2

When we last left our intrepid adventurers Bridget Rourke and Mo Shrevnitz, they had managed to obtain evidence that the Jade Hood was behind the strange disappearances of ordinary citizens in New Commerce. Bridget was able to snap a photo of some of the Jade Hood’s goons loading some suspicious chemicals onto trucks in the Warehouse District. A shipping label from the Phillips Chemical Consortium was prominently displayed in the photo.

Bridgit went to alert the police and get the necessary warrants for a raid on the chemical plant, while Mo met up with New Commerce’s vigilante crimefighter, The Gargoyle, for a raid of their own. Meanwhile, the nefarious Jade Hood, aware that his schemes are threatened, sends a crew of goons to the chemical plant with orders to blow it sky-high…

Scenario 2: Raid on the Phillips Chemical Consortium

Actually, this is technically Scenario 3, as Scenario 2 is a scenario to be run in the event the heroes are captured. The scene is an industrial complex, with lots of machinery and crates to hide behind. This gave me a good chance to break out my Aftermath Modular Terrain. I’m glad I bought in on this Kickstarter, as it’s really some great stuff. I bought in for $100, and the stuff shown below isn’t even half of what I got. The machinery was made by a fellow TMPer, Russell95403, and it works well for this scenario.

Basically, the good guys, Mo and The Gargoyle, need to find two key pieces of evidence and get out of the warehouse before the bad guys blow it up. The bad guys need to plant two time bombs and detonate them. The heroes get extra Victory Points if they can disarm the bombs or prevent the bad guys from planting them at all.

This was the initial setup. Once again, my buddy Matt took the part of the heroes. Opposing them, played by me, were two Grade 2 Enforcers, Chopper Murphy and Frankie the Fish; and two Grade 1 Gat Men, Limey Joe and Pete the Dentist (you don’t want to know how he got that nickname).

The scenario relies heavily on encounter markers. There are 12 in all, 6 for the heroes and 6 for the villains. Heroes can’t activate villain encounters and vice-versa. The interesting part is the type of encounter (hero or villain) is only revealed when the encounter marker falls within line-of-sight of one of the models on the board. The model still has to come in contact with it to activate it. Among other things, the pieces of evidence and the bomb locations are encounters which must be resolved, which means that each side is trying to get to their encounter markers as quickly as possible, while dodging the bullets and fists of the opposing team!

On the first turn, both sides rushed in, trying to get to their encounter markers as quickly as possible. The villains activated one of theirs: a Tong Assassin! Not content to trust the safety of his schemes to his henchmen, the Jade Hood hired a Tong Assassin to ensure that the heroes don’t leave the warehouse alive. The assassin enters play through on of the side entrances.

Soon after, Chopper Murphy finds one of the ideal locations to plant a time bomb. He sets it for two turns and prepares to move out of the blast radius.

The Gargoyle knows he only has moments to act. He charges forward, guns blazing, and manages to wound Chopper Murphy. The crazed machine-gun maniac fires back, but the hasty expenditure of a Hero Point saves the Gargoyle from being riddled with bullets! Meanwhile, Mo runs at the other goons, but is intercepted by the Tong Assassin!

The Gargoyle rushes to the ticking bomb, and, heedless of his own safety, attempts to disarm it! He succeeds! Chopper Murphy, slack-jawed at the Gargoyle’s boldness, opens fire again; this time wounding the Gargoyle. But the crimefighter isn’t down yet!

With a flurry of hands the Tong Assassin leaps at Mo, delivering the 1000 needle strike! Mo barely feels it, and delivers two punishing body blows to the assassin. The Tong assassin drops like a wet bag of dirt and doesn’t move!

Pete the Dentist sneaks around a piece of machinery and plugs the Gargoyle in the back! The Gargoyle, still reeling from Chopper Murphy’s machine gun rain, goes down!

Mo takes this opportunity to charge Pete the Dentist, with predictable results. He levels Pete without breaking a sweat. I’m beginning to think no one has a chance against Mo, at lest not in hand-to-hand!

The other two thugs, Frankie the Fish and Limey Joe, activate another encounter marker and find the other prime location to plant a bomb. Frankie sets the timer for three turns.

Moe triggers an encounter, still hoping to find a piece of evidence. Instead, Bridget Rourke arrives with two Rookie cops! It’s not looking good for the bad guys!

It looks even worse on the next turn, when The Gargoyle makes his Will roll and revives. Taking aim from the ground, The Gargoyle puts a slug between Chopper Murphy’s eyes! Then he gets shakily to his feet, scanning the warehouse…

Limey Joe runs across the warehouse floor, taking a shot at Bridget Rourke on the way out. He misses. Frankie the Fish decides he’d better get out of the warehouse before it blows up, and runs off the board. But The Gargoyle spends another Hero point and sprints across the room towards the time bomb. He defuses it with seconds to spare!

Well, this turned out to be a pretty decisive victory for the good guys. The villains could only win if the bombs went off, and neither one did. The bad guys failed to kill or capture any of the heroes, even with the help of the Tong assassin. The heroes got extra Victory Points for defusing the bombs, but they could only win by finding the evidence, which they didn’t do. But since Frankie and Limey Joe fled the warehouse, the heroes had all the time in the world to search it. We decided the heroes found the evidence they needed after all.

And the Jade Hood? Well, let’s just say he wasn’t pleased. Frankie and Limey Joe won’t be returning for any further scenarios in the campaign…

Death Soldiers of the Jade Hood: Part 1

Since I bought .45 Adventure 2nd Edition, I’ve been itching to run some Pulp games with the new rules. In accordance with my new play style, I thought a miniatures campaign over the course of several weeks would be a good way to introduce all my friends to .45 Adventure while not necessarily needing to have them all present at once. It’s easy to jump into an episodic pulp game at any point, as each scenario doesn’t require much of a backstory.

With that in mind I decided to run Death Soldiers of the Jade Hood, the published campaign for .45 Adventure 1st Edition. It will take a bit of fiddling to get it to run smoothly in the new edition, but I don’t think it’s beyond my abilities. I will give a brief synopsis of each scenario (including special rules), the full After Action Report, and any major differences between 1st and 2nd Edition that I encounter along the way.

The basic plot of the campaign is as follows: The nefarious Jade Hood, criminal mastermind of the city of New Commerce, has hatched a diabolical scheme to turn ordinary, unsuspecting citizens into bloodthirsty maniacs. He hopes to use his mind-controlled army to take over the city once and for all. Standing in his way is Ace Reporter Bridget Rourke, her faithful friend and ex-prizefighter Mo Shrevnitz, and the enigmatic vigilante of New Commerce…the Gargoyle!

Scenario 1: The Waterfront Mystery

The board is set up as shown above. It’s a warehouse district at night, which limits visibility to 12″. Four streetlamps shed light in a 3″ radius. In the middle of the board is a white truck. The bad guys are loading the truck with crates (represented by the tokens) of chemicals that the Jade Hood needs to make his Death Soldier formula. Bridget Rourke has to get behind the truck and snap a photo of the crates being loaded, then get off the board with her evidence. The bad guys need to stop her or at least prevent her from snapping a picture and get away with the crates. My buddy Matt decided to play the heroes, leaving me with the bad guys. He started with Bridget Rourke (placing her on the left table edge, above). Mo started off the board until his encounter card was drawn. I started with 2 Grade 1 Brunos (Flanagan and Baldy), and 4 Grade 1/2 Mooks. I put two of the Mooks on guard duty and armed them with pistols. The other two Mooks were armed with a knife and club, respectively, and they were loading the truck.

A couple of turns into the game, the Mooks have successfully loaded the truck with a few crates. Bridget has managed to avoid being spotted thus far, but she can’t get anywhere near the truck without being seen. A deck of cards is used to simulate random events, such as Mo arriving, random guard movement, and an opportunity to snap a picture. I was a little unclear as to whether or not we should shuffle drawn cards back into the deck, but I decided to reshuffle as there were ten cards and only two chances to take a picture. (What if we drew the picture cards early? Does that mean there’s no chance for the heroes to win?)

A few turns later, Bridget is spotted. She sprints across the street, trying to avoid the bad guys. Flanagan, Baldy and one of the Mook guards are in hot pursuit. The Mook fires his pistol at her, but it jams. Flanagan gets close but can’t tackle her this turn. The other Mooks continue to load the truck.

Mo arrives!

Suddenly, Mo arrives just in the nick of time! He sees his friend Bridget is in trouble and rushes in, meaty fists swinging!

This…HURTS.

On his activation next turn, Mo charges into combat. Now, here’s how 2nd Edition really differs from 1st: combat runs much more smoothly. Most models roll one die and add their Shiv score, keeping the result. Mo, however, is an ex-prize fighter, and he knows how to land a few punches. He has One-Two Punch and two levels of Brawler, which means he rolls four dice and keeps two. Plus, he charged into combat, so he gets to roll an additional die, bring his total to five dice, keeping 2 results. Yeah, Mo is pretty tough.

Among other results, Mo rolls two 10’s. This makes it impossible for Flanagan not to get hit and increases the strength of Mo’s fists from 7 (which is already stronger than most folks) to 9 (which is as powerful as a demolition charge) for two hits to Flanagan’s torso. Since 9 is three times stronger than Flanagan’s defense rating of 3, Moe does three wounds to Flanagan’s torso. Twice.

Being Grade 1, Flanagan only has one wound. So, Flanagan pretty much craps out his bones and keels over.

Ka-POW!

The next turn, Bridget runs away, still trying to get to the back of the truck. At this point, I pretty much gave up with the random event draw, as most of the results weren’t making sense. (The guards had been roused already and were pursuing Bridget, so it wouldn’t make too much sense that they would suddenly get the urge for a smoke and randomly move off.) On his activation, Baldy charged Mo and tried to rough him up, but Mo wasn’t having any of it. Predictably, he floored Baldy with little effort.

WHAMMO!

A couple of turns later, the pistol-armed Mooks ganged up and fired on Mo, but failed to hit him. Mo closed the gap, and using his Sweep ability, knocked both of them into next week with one punch!

Meanwhile, Bridget moved closer to the truck’s rear end. Since we were no longer using the random deck, I ruled that if she could get into contact with the back of the truck, she could attempt to take a picture. The Mooks loading the truck finally decided to drop their crates and get involved. They moved towards Bridget with murderous intent, seeking to silence the nosy broad once and for all!

Bridget popped the flash on her camera, taking a picture of the incriminating chemicals and blinding the Mooks in the process. Despite having their Shiv score reduced to 1, the knife-wielding Mook managed to land a vicious hit on the Ace Reporter, and would have gutted her like a mackerel! But Bridget Rourke didn’t live so long covering crime in New Commerce without being Lucky. Matt spent two Hero points and Bridget managed to miraculously avoid the blow altogether. Now, however, she was locked in hand-to-hand combat with two armed Mooks, and while Mo was on his way, he wasn’t there yet…

Next round, Mo ran to help his friend Bridget. Bridget couldn’t leave combat without taking some free hits from her assailants, so she craftily raised her camera again and ignited the flash, once again blinding the Mooks…and Mo.

Don’t Look Now…

Later, Bridget’s blurry picture was developed. It showed the last few seconds of consciousness for the two Mooks, and incidentally fulfilled a bonus victory condition: she got a picture of combat taking place!

When their eyes cleared, Mo was locked in combat with the two Mooks. Another Sweep, and another two unconscious Mooks. Bridget and Mo were able to exit the board with proof of the Jade Hood’s chemical designs and the fight. A clear victory for the heroes! That’s a wrap, boys!

Rules Synopsis and Differences:

There were a couple of rules differences I noticed between 1st and 2nd Edition. In 1st, Night limits visibility to 6″, whereas in 2nd, it’s 12″. This vastly increased the Spot distance for the guards. In the published scenario, spotting was handled with another deck, giving a 50% chance to not spot, a 25% chance to attempt to spot with a penalty, and a 25% chance to attempt to spot with no penalty. It doesn’t detail the penalty or what happens when the enemy is spotted, so I just threw out this whole mechanic and ruled that once a model was spotted, every model on the board was aware of it.

Also, once a model is spotted, it can’t ever hide again unless it has a special ability allowing it to do so. Bridget didn’t have any such ability, so once she was seen she was effectively screwed until Mo arrived.

Speaking of Mo, he clearly outclassed everyone on the table in combat. In the last edition’s combat system, Mo was nowhere near as tough. The new system really makes a difference.

Lastly, there are no Grade 1/2 models in 2nd Edition. Basically, they made Grade 1 models much weaker and did away with Grade 1/2 models altogether. If I was playing 1st edition 45 Adventure, this would have been a bit more of a challenge for Mo and Bridget, as the bad guys would have been able to stand up to Mo a bit longer. I played the next scenario the same way (coming soon) and it was even more one-sided. From now on, when converting from 1st to 2nd edition when I see Grade 1/2 models, I’ll make them Grade 1; and when I see Grade 1 models, I will make them Grade 2. That way it won’t be as much of a cakewalk for the heroes.

Stay tuned for the next thrilling episode, coming soon!

Batman vs. Two-Face: A SuperSystem 3 Scenario and AAR

Well, ZeDecember didn’t really work out as planned, mainly because I got distracted halfway through it and failed utterly to rekindle my painting spark. Some of that was due to the holidays, some due to real life, and some due to the fact that I’ve been in a painting slump lately.

One thing I have been doing is re-reading lots of my old comics and playing copious amounts of Batman: Arkham City on PS3. Yeah, I know I’m late to the party, since this game came out in 2012, but I’ve never been one to rush out and buy a new game when I have dozens of games I haven’t even opened yet just laying around. Suffice it to say, however, that aside from playing PS3, I haven’t done all that much for the past couple of months.

In an effort to get my ass in gear, I came up with a scenario for SuperSystem 3 involving a “Year One” Batman and Captain Gordon vs. Two-Face. Even Year One Batman is pretty damn formidable (my build came in at 120 points) despite his inexperience, and Two-Face just isn’t all that powerful a villain (my build came in at 71 points), so I had to tweak the rules a bit to make it more of a challenge for Batman. Here is what I came up with:

The Scenario: Two-Face decided to rob the Gotham Savings and Trust building. Actually, the coin decided for him. He put together two squads of highly trained goons, came up with two plans, and went to work double-quick.

A specialized GCPD SWAT team, led by the arrogant and trigger-happy Lieutenant Branden, arrives on the scene shortly afterward. Also rushing to the scene, hoping to avoid the certain collateral damage that is to occur when Branden and his team is unleashed, is Captain James Gordon. But neither the SWAT team nor Two-Face counted in the new player in Gotham City: The Batman.

Forces: One player controls Two-Face and his two squads of goons. The other player controls Batman and Captain Gordon. The SWAT team begins play under the control of the hero player, but that may change (see below).

Setup: The board represents a section of Gotham City. The buildings are mostly not important, but there needs to be a building big enough to represent a bank, complete with interior. The bank has 2 exits and several windows. Two getaway cars are parked outside the bank on either side. There should be a separate escape route off the board for each getaway car.

Deployment: Two-Face and his goons begin play inside the bank, looting. Gordon begins in a squad car on one corner of the opposite table edge, while Branden and his SWAT team deploy on the other corner. Batman may be deployed anywhere on the board, but must begin at least 20” from the bank.

Objectives: Two-Face wins if he can loot the bank and make his escape off the board by one of the predetermined escape routes, or if he kills Batman. Batman wins by stopping Two-Face.

Special Rules:

TWO-FACE

The Coin: Any time the Two-Face player wishes to do something where there are two clear alternatives, he must flip a coin and let the coin decide. Examples include choosing which way to exit the bank, choosing which getaway car to use, choosing which escape route, choosing who to shoot at, etc. The only exception to this is that Two-Face can always elect to shoot at Batman without tossing a coin.

Two Squads: In order to give Two-Face better odds than he would otherwise enjoy, he is allowed two squads of Veteran henchmen for this scenario.

Looting the Bank: At the start of the game, roll a d3. The result is how many rounds Two-Face and his goons must spend looting the bank before they can attempt their escape. Looting the Bank is a Difficult (2) Mind roll. Two-Face doesn’t have to make the roll (but he has a better chance of doing it than his henchmen).

THE COPS

SWAT Team: Lt. Branden is a bit of a psycho, and is just as likely to shoot at Batman than at Two-Face or his goons. If the SWAT team ever has line of sight to Batman, they activate immediately and open fire. This happens outside the normal activation sequence and control of the SWAT team reverts to the Two-Face player for as long as they have line of sight to Batman.

Gordon Takes Command: If Captain Gordon can get within 10” and has LOS to the SWAT team, he can effectively take command and the SWAT team will not fire on Batman. This command is lost if Gordon ever leaves command distance, however.

BATMAN

Batman won’t attack cops no matter how much he may want to.

“What are you??!” Batman has a special power for this scenario: Fear Aura. Anyone in short range must make s Difficult (2) Resolve roll or be afraid. Batman gets +1D to Attack and Defense rolls against models he has frightened until they make their Resolve roll. Two-Face is immune to this power.

RESULTS:

I gamed this scenario a couple of weeks back. Sorry, no pictures this time. I played Two-Face, while my friend took the role of Batman and the cops. Although it was fun, it had its share of problems.

First, it’s not all that hard to keep Batman out of the SWAT team’s view, so he never had to worry too much about getting shot at by Branden and his men. This could be further abused by the fact that the same player has control of the SWAT team and Batman at the start of the game, so if they wanted to be unscrupulous about it, they could basically ensure that Batman stayed far away from the SWAT team. (My friend didn’t do this, however. He’s a good sport.)

Second, the game quickly degenerated into the SWAT team and Gordon firing away at Two-Face’s goons (and vice-versa) for most of the game, without either side really doing any significant damage to the other. I think this is because they were too similar. They had the same Vitality, similar stats, and they were all Veterans.

Third, even with a big screen of goons to hide behind, Two-Face is just no match for Batman. Although he managed to flee the bank, Batman brought him down in short order without too much trouble. Two-Face spent three turns just trying to break out of Batman’s Entangle power while Batman waded through his goons without breaking a sweat.

It was fun, however, and we both enjoyed the randomness of the coin tosses and the moment when Batman got to use his Fear Aura on the goons in the bank.

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The Angry Piper's miniatures and gaming blog.

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