Monsters Menace America DELUXE EDITION

[Garada]

Have any of you played this fun little game by Avalon Hill?

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/MMAPoster.jpg

I was into it for a while, in my BH period. 8)

For anyone not familiar, you control a giant, archetypal monster [King Kong, Godzilla, Giant Lobster, Giant Eyeball, etc, all generically named] and rampage around on a map of the US stomping major cities and landmarks and fighting the military until the giant monster smack-down that is the endgame.

For those who may not know, the game is played on a HEX MAP, and the terrain from Heroscape could easily be adapted for use with Monsters Menace America.

The game is not without its flaws but is a blast to play anyway. I made a few rules changes and several custom game elements featuring official Godzilla and Ultraman characters, mainly due to a need to justify my burgeoning collection of Kaiju [Giant Monster] miniatures. My idea was to make a DELUXE EDITION of the game that is FREE to everyone who owns the original.
Think of this as a 'What-If' EXPANSION SET for Monsters Menace America that not only features 'Officially Licensed' Kaiju, but also NEW CARDS and MAPS.

Here are my custom MONSTERS:

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/Godzilla.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/Mothra_adult.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/Hedorah.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/Mechagodzilla.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/Anguirus.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/baragon.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/Megalon.jpg

And a custom MONSTER MUTATION CARD:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/FeedingTimev1.jpg

I also made a custom MILITARY RESEARCH CARD:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/UltramanCard.jpg

to bring into play this custom GIANT UNIT:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/Ultraman.jpg

I also made a map/board for a theoretical MMA expansion [B]Monsters Menace Paris (http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/monstersmenaceparis.jpg), but beware that the file is over 6MB!

I took all of the MONSTER pictures myself and put them through the photoshop wringer. They are from a cool set of SD* Toho 'Trading Figures' from Japan. They are 'in-scale' with MMA. The image on the 'Feeding Time' Monster Mutation Card is from a screen-rip I made from my 'Godzilla vs Hedorah' DVD. The Ultraman picture is from a scan I made from one of my Ultraman DVD boxes. The map of Paris is a high res image I found on google images. I'm crafty!

If anyone wants to make their own custom monsters, and you use PhotoShop, send me a PM and I'll send you my Photoshop Template. I also have templates for the Monster Mutation and Military Research Cards. If you DO make a custom, please post it in this thread, I'd love to see it.

If you want to use any of these in your own Monsters Menace America game, just print them out on 28# color copy paper, cut them out, laminate them and use colored paperclips as 'damage sliders'.

I had some other stuff planned, but then I got addicted to Heroscape. If you are interested, I might make a few more customs. Let me know what you'd like to see. Keep in mind if you want me to make a custom MONSTER that I don't already own a figure of, I might need you to send me a FREE copy of the miniature to photograph and then keep for my archives! ;)

If anyone is interested, I will also post more info about the miniatures I use for my MMA customs.

*Super Deformed, a niche, Japanese art style, sometimes called 'Chibi', that emphasizes the cuteness of warlike robots and giant monsters.

[Manatee]

I love everything about this game except the endgame. It feels kinda tacked on.

Far better would be if the military actually had a chance to do some damage (or if they had research cards that packed a bit more of a punch). That way, monsters could be weakened enough that another monster could finish them off (or maybe even have the military kill them outright). Then you wouldn't need the current show-down; you could just have the monsters get ground down until only one is left--The King of the Monsters!

Oh yeah, and Konk rules! ;)

[Garada]

I love everything about this game except the endgame. It feels kinda tacked on.

Far better would be if the military actually had a chance to do some damage (or if they had research cards that packed a bit more of a punch). That way, monsters could be weakened enough that another monster could finish them off (or maybe even have the military kill them outright). Then you wouldn't need the current show-down; you could just have the monsters get ground down until only one is left--The King of the Monsters!

Oh yeah, and Konk rules! ;)

I agree, the endgame is kinda abrupt, but that IS how they do it in classic monster movies... most of the buildup is the monsters [both good and evil] rampaging around, destroying jets and tanks until finally facing off in the last act. My friends and I made it more interesting by adding MORE Stomp tokens so that you had more time to 'level up' your monsters and really flatten the continent before the final showdown.

I made a number of custom 'Army Cards' [to use HS lingo] for custom Monsters... there are a ton of great looking Godzilla and Ultraman miniatures out there. Go back up to the first post to read the updated first page of MONSTERS MENACE AMERICA DELUXE EDITION. Your interest in this tread inspired my to put up all of my custom made MMA material. Thanks! Now I don't feel like I wasted my time.

And YES, Konk does rule... last time we played, I WON using him! I want to find a miniature suitable to be a KING KONG custom figure. I guess I could just make a new Army Card for Konk with a few cosmetic changes. Any suggestions? I bet there's a D&D mini of a gorilla, or something. HELP!

[Garada]

Some supplemental files for MMA:

MONSTER Card Back:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/MonsterTileback.jpg

MONSTER MUTATION Card Back:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/MonsterMutationCardback1up-1.jpg

MILITARY Card Back:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/MilitaryBranchTileback.jpg

MILITARY RESEARCH CARD Back:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/MilitaryResearchCardback1up-1.jpg

[Garada]

Fans of destroying stuff will be happy with this one. Since you probably lost some, AND the original game didn't come with nearly enough of them to begin with...

For your stomping pleasure, here are some EXTRA STOMP MARKERS!!!

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/StompTokens21uplores.jpg

I recommend ONE STOMP MARKER per DESTRUCTIBLE HEX on the MAP. That includes MUTATION SITES, MILITARY BASES, CITIES and INFAMY SITES.

[Garada]

SNEAK PREVIEW!

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/SRBteaser.jpg

Add GIANT ROBOTS to your MMA game with SUPER ROBOT BATTLE!

The first unofficial spin-off / add-on for MONSTERS MENACE AMERICA is coming soon. Best of all, it's FREE!

Featuring Giant Robots from the MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UNIVERSE!
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/srb_rx78_gundamPREVIEW.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/srb_ms06_zaku_II_PREVIEW.jpg

[Garada]

COMING SOON!

Monsters Menace Valhalla [aka KaijuScape]
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Garada_K7/Monsters%20Menace%20America/kaijuscape1.jpg

Do do something else with all that Heroscape terrain... let GIANT MONSTERS and ROBOTS battle to the death on it!

Look here for rules, ideas and suggestions for using elements from Heroscape [not just terrain, but dice and wound markers] with your Monsters Menace America game.

[Vydar]

If you haven't heard of Monsterpocalypse is, you ought to check it out. I don't know what the scale is on Monsters Menace America, but the MonPoc figures might work well for game additions for you. You might find you like MonPoc better anyway.

[Garada]

If you haven't heard of Monsterpocalypse is, you ought to check it out. I don't know what the scale is on Monsters Menace America, but the MonPoc figures might work well for game additions for you. You might find you like MonPoc better anyway.

I am indeed aware of MonPoc, and they look amazing, but I'm bitterly opposed to the whole RANDOM buying scheme. I'm waiting for either a themed STARTER SET [where I know which figures I'm getting] or for singles to drop in price on the internet. From what I've seen, they would indeed fit well with MMA. As far as liking MonPoc BETTER... well, they're 2 different games with 2 different flavors. MMA is more casual and silly while [from what I've witnessed and read] MonPoc is more complex.

Either way, I LOVE GIANT MONSTERS!! Oh, and Robots. Can't forget them.

[Sweetcurse]

Garada nice job! I will definitely use the stomp markers. Thanks man. Also, are the superdeformed minis hard to find?

[Garada]

Garada nice job! I will definitely use the stomp markers. Thanks man. Also, are the superdeformed minis hard to find?

Aha! So you're not the only one who thought the game was lacking in STOMP markers?!

Well, the SD minis aren't TOO hard to find... not for me at least. A local ANIME import store sells them [randomly packaged mind you] for $2.99 each. I've seen singles of them on eBay for reasonable prices too, when I was looking to complete my collection.
The best bet is to type in 'SD Godzilla' on eBay and see what comes up.
The figures I use are from the 'Tokusatsu Heroes' collection. I just searched that on eBay and a number of items came up, including lots and sets. However, I've been collecting SD figures for YEARS, and any of them work just as well. Check your local Japanese or Asian grocery store [Mitsuwa, Nijiya, etc]... I just got a bunch of awesome Ultraman Monsters the other day for less than three bucks each!

[Manatee]

Sorry for the necro, but this really is an add-on and doesn't warrant a whole new thread....

It hit me today that my post above is all wrong: the final showdown IS the game; all the stomping around and destroying stuff is just the build-up to that finale.

I couldn't see it before because I'm so used to the game part taking the bulk of the time and the endgame just being a quick wrap-up. The time proportions in MMA are just backward.