Chas Does Supers Battles

[chas]

Since Sherman Davies and I both have lots of supers we've never tried out, we had a series of games with different teams for each battle. All were on the amazing Savage Land map by Taeblewalker which I've managed to keep up for a while. The scenario: come in from off the board on the same long swampy edge with about 950 points of supers, and grab a glyph way across in the main building of the ruins section. Have possession at the end of Ten Turns (or points left). We were using SD's Knockback rules and C3Gs get wounded drop the Glyph within 5 spaces and free hand off Glyph rules. All SD's cards were his own designs; you can see them with their point values on his famous DC/Marvel supers customs threads. He may be able to fill in the rosters of his own teams if I missed anyone.

Game 1 Chas Army: Princess Diana's Master Class

Wonder Woman 300 C3G
Amazon Warriors x2=200 C3G
Boom Boom 120 C3G
Blink 145 C3G
Magma 170 C3G
Total: 935

Game 1 Sherman Davies Army: Strange Bedfellows

Ghost Rider
Power Girl
Avalanche
Doctor Octopus

Game 1: The first game was a nightmare, with Doc Ock and Avalanche taking out my two powerful squads of Amazon Warriors very fast in the most walkable area on the board. Blink took Magma to the ruins quickly and got the glyph, but Ghost Rider was able to fend of Wonder Woman, even though he got stuck by her Warrior's Engagment one time. He could and get inside the temple to take the glyph away from us. My plan was for Magma to block the one space Temple entrance, but Power Girl and Ghost Rider were able to power on through.

***

Game 2 Chas Army: Girls and Their Guys

Mantis 170 C3G
Moondragon 300 C3G
Joe Fixit 320 Jammer
Swordsman 160 Drewmanchu
Total: 950

Game 2 Sherman Davies Army: Spidey Villains

Green Goblin
Doctor Octopus
Electro
Kraven
Spider Slayer

Game 2: Once again as in the big Avenger's Game, SD was able to take out my Hulk. I hate that. Moondragon was far off on the other flank working alone, but quickly lost two of her four lives in the ruins. You have to keep her working alone, since he negatively affects your other heroes with her Superiority Complex (that's why I can see her working with Mr. Fixit, who can lose a couple of attack dice and keep on hitting, although I kept them apart in the actual game). The Swordsman and Mantis each took out a villain, but then everyone died with the glyph far away from any of them.

***

Game 3 Chas Army: Superized Star Jammers

Red Tornado 300 C3G
Corsair 150 Drewmanchu
Raza 150 Drewmanchu
Hepzibah 145 (?)
Ch'od 180 Drewmanchu
Total: 925

Game 3 Sherman Davies Army: Teen Titans

Starfire
Wonder Girl
Robin
Cyborg
Raven
Beast Boy
Kid Flash

Game 3: In this game, I finally won. Everyone worked as a team and I played the scenario, rather than match up fights. Ch'od and Red Tornado zoomed up, Ch'od using his water terrain to move right through the swamp. He took out Robin in one attack! Red T. got the glyph after Raven dropped it in the ruins section. While Ch'od used combat challenge to pin some of the enemy, Red T. faded back, got height on Wonder Girl, and took her out. Later Red T. went all the way back to the start edge with the glyph, leaving some of the other opponents behind. Starfire did her famous SD kamakaze thing, putting six hits on my various team members while defeating herself automatically! That was the moment when things looked the worst for me.

But everyone on my team played, taking down Beast Boy, and repelling Kid Flash. Occasionally things work out the way you want them to..! The other Star Jammers held back or finished off the TTs, blocking out the final Cyborg SD team survivor for the win, with Red T. standing far back on the perfect one space swamp island for defense, too far away for Cyborg to reach as he was blocked by Raza and Hepzibah, who used Pheromones to cancel one of his last turns! Go squirrel girl! The card I have for her by another (unknown) designer makes her as powerful as the other SJs. Future games with them (needing a powerful hero) could use Cyclops or Havoc instead of Red T. Limited with only 3 order markers per turn, its sometimes hard to get the best out of team play, but Sherm and I agree that its lots of fun to try.

***

General Supers Comments: After totally reorganizing my Super Scape collection as mentioned elsewhere, its fun mixing and matching Marvel with DC (with Indys) and heroes with villains, as you sometimes see in the comics ("But Ock, if Luthor destroys the world, where will you spend all that ransom money?"--Superman/Spiderman crossover). For example, putting Vigilante with Vixen as in the JLU episode where they were voiced by old Firefly pals Nathan Fillion and Gina Torres! Or experimenting with the many combinations inherent in having all 26 Legionnaires (see my Chas Does Custom Comic Characters thread in the Marvel Legends Heroscape/Comic Hero Custom Creations section). For games with supers of less than 200 points each, including some WWII era games, see Chas Does Pulp Adventure with teams like The Howling Commandoes (US Rangers with Nick Fury) and The Blackhawks fighting together against the Nazis with the likes of Captain American and Bucky or Dr. Mid-Nite!

[chas]

THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES VS THE FATAL FIVE

I divided my huge 26 character Legion of Superheroes into four teams of 6-7 Legionnaires, each with one powerful Kryptonian/Daxaamite, and had them fight the Fatal Five (Tharok, Emerald Empress, Mano, Persuader, and Validus). The bad guys had to hold a Loot glyph by the end of Turn Ten on Taeblewalker's Savage Land map. I was using the C3G glyph rule where if the carrier gets wounded, it it dropped by the opponent up to five hexes away.

Two squads of Science Police (C3G, as are the two Superboys and Supergirl; all other designs are mine) guarded the main building in the ruin section of the map. The bad guys got to start inland on the shore of the ruin section where it joins the swamp section. The LE couldn't take the glyph unless the FF took it first.

This was a first playtest for many of the Legion figures (see Chas Does Comic Custom Characters in the Supers Custom site section for all of these designs, and the changes made as a result of this series of games). The Fatal Five makes a great evil team, even though all the designs are by different people here on the site.

Game One: Strike Team Alpha--M'Onel, Shrinking Violet, Timber Wolf, Bouncing Boy, Karate Kid, Shadow Lass played seven turns, and defeated Validus and Mano, but lost the game after being totally eliminated. Shrinking Violet never got the chance to use her "Espionage Squad" type powers to hide the glyph. M'Onel was eliminated quickly by a defense whiff! Shadow Lass put some hits on the titanic Validus. Karate Kid fought particularly heroically. The Science Police could do no damage to the super criminals, even when firing from the roof of the Temple where the Loot was placed, and from inside it.

Game Two: Strike Team Bravo--Superboy (Kal-El), Chameleon Boy, Triplicate Girl, Live Wire/Lightning Lass, Saturn Girl, Earth Man, and Dream Girl won their game after defeating Tharok and Persuader. Chameleon got away with the glyph and the bad guys couldn't find him again. The Emerald Empress flew about his last known position but missed him!

Game Three: Strike Team Charlie--Supergirl, Kid Quantum, Element Lad, Cosmic Boy, Brainiac 5 and Matter Eater Lad almost won, but were defeated on the last turn of Turn Ten in a real nail biter, after taking out Tharok, Persuader, and Mano! Kid Quantum put Tharok in stasis for a few turns! Supergirl passed the Loot to Braniac 5, who went up on the roof with his force shield belt activated. But Emerald Empress got a high die roll, deactivated it, and grabbed the Loot for the win.

Game Four: Strike Team Delta--Superboy (Kon-El), Star Boy, Colossal Boy, Invisible Kid, Lightning Lad, Ultra Boy, and Phantom Girl wanted to at least even the score for the series. But Mano, a double or nothing character who can take out anyone but if he fails be taken out relatively easily himself, got Superboy! Although both Man and Persuader fell, the entire Legion was wiped out. Having worked out better tactics during the series, The Science Police got some hits from high towers, while not putting themselves in front of the Loot. They ended up chasing the bad guys into the swamp by themselves after the Legion was defeated, but could not stop the thieves.

Some of the Legionnaires needed some expansion and/or clarification of their powers. Also, I recently went over 200 pages of Heroclix figures for sale, and actually found three more Legionnaire figures available--Sun Boy, Princess Projectra, and Dawnstar. So hopefully soon the Legion will have even more members to draw on!

I have not had to tinker with the Fatal Five cards yet. Tharok has the directing power to order another before himself. Validus is a dangerous brute, and often goes for the Loot. Emerald Empress flies and can get around easily. Mano and the Persuader are harder to play, but useful at times, such as when Mano goes to take out a big hero, or the Persuader blocks pursuit of his partners.

I've been reorganizing my supers collection, and am now making up team rosters from which to draw on for both Good and Evil. All nonassociated heroes are part of the "Street Heroes" 'Non-Team.' The idea is to more quickly be able to set up a game. Also, see my variant play option 'Continuous Hero Activation System' for Supers in general in a separate post. So I'm setting up a general system to utilize over 500 supers cards now in my files. Pow!

[chas]

THE ROGUES

Following up my new formation and use of Supers Teams Good and Evil, I've created The Rogues, an employer for them based on the comics, and a mission to foil their plans by the Justice League of America. This will be a two game campaign. First, The Rogues will attempt to steal a glyph from a research laboratory representing a scientific component that Gorilla Grodd needs to finish his evil weapon, the C3G Glyph of E (Evolutionary?)-Ray. Being fairly low pointed crooks, I will oppose them with a team I call 'JLA Lite.' You know they are 'lite' when their team leader is Aquaman and their heavy hitter is Booster Gold! In the second game, we'll assume that the bad guys have been successful, and a more powerful JLA team will have to take the E-Ray away from Grodd in Gorilla City (both locations represented by the Ruins section of The Savage Land map). The game is also an excuse to try out many cards of lesser known heroes and villains who I have not played yet, as opposed to the usual powerful JLA original founders!

Recently, I've redone many of the cards I printed out initially from the site, thanks to printing pointers from local buddy Sherman Davies, and most of them, even the villains, are now in color and of normal card size. Here's an example of the kind of scenario you dream up after looking at lots of cool character cards. Let's see what the teams look like, using C3G cards except where noted:

GAME ONE:

The Rogues
Captain Boomerang 90
Captain Cold 90
Pied Piper 80
Rat Swarm x6 60
Mirror Master 130
The Trickster 65
Weather Wizard 100
TOTAL: 615

JLA Lite
Aquaman 230
The Atom 50
Booster Gold 220
Vigilante (Mine) 100
The Question (Grey Owl) 110
TOTAL: 610

GAME TWO

Grodd's Grunts
Gorilla Grodd 225 (Holding Glyph of E-Ray)
Gorilla City Warriors(3) 125 x4=500
Professor Zoom 250
Deadshot 100
TOTAL: 1,075

Justice League of America
Green Lantern (John Stuart) 340
Rocket Red 215
Firestorm 190
Steel (Sherman Davies) 190
Plastic Man 145
TOTAL 1,080

As a comment on team formation, you may note that Sherman Davies makes cards that cost fewer points than their corresponding characters of C3G. (Its like having two versions of Sergeant Drake or Raelin to choose from). So even if you are using The Guild's cards as a base, you can often adjust point totals while playing the same characters by substituting in SD cards. And of course SD and other designs can give you some characters the Guild hasn't produced yet. Its one of the advantages of mixing your supers card designers in the same game. No other people I know have said they do this, and I'm mentioning my games not as overly detailed battle reports, but more as ideas of what you can do in general with Supers. I welcome any comments about how others play with their Supers.

Game One should be pretty even. In Game Two the JLA would normally be able to tear through the squaddies, but with that E-Ray possibly turning up to three of them into Simians the battle may be even. As a special scenario rule, we'll lower Grodd's Cognizant Control power roll from 16+ to 11+ against transformed JLA Simians! Then its anybody's guess what will happen, should Grod gain temporary control of some of these powerful heroes. Will the heroes be able to pummel Grodd and get the E-Ray away from them to put in their Trophy Room? Or will Zoom and Deadshot be able to help defend him with the Gorilla City Warriors and make monkeys out of the heroes?

Battle Reports to follow as they occur. I know that Gorilla Man and The Red Ghost and his Super Apes will be watching the results closely from the sidelines...

GAME ONE

The first game has been a particularly exciting game of 'saluggi' (keep away). The Rogues advanced from the edge of the Ruins area with Mirror Master, using his special bonus movement, and Weather Wizard. The Good Guys moved Vigilante in, with Booster Gold riding behind and Atom hitching along, getting three figures in to block the raiders from the Laboratory. Then Aquaman, whose power is particularly good in the swampy/water area, swam in from the side and took Captain Cold, the team leader right out!

Weather Wizard put 4 of 5 hits on Vigilante and then moved into the Laboratory to sieze the Component. Aquaman ran along the shore to take out Captain Boomerang! Weather Wizard flew out into the swampy area with Booster Gold in hot pursuit. When the hero wounded WW, he threw the Component into the Bog, figuring it would be difficult for The Rogues, who were up in the Ruins now, to get a second figure needed for any Component carrier to escape, where Aquaman would be able to boost Booster out of the sticky trap!

Mirror Master, having rolled so high on his D20 special movement that he kept overshooting his intended destinationarea, now blocked Aquaman's way to retreat up into the Waterfall. Instead of Booster taking the Glyph, Aquaman swam in to get it, and head to shore. Weather Wizard was now defeated, and Aquaman got adjacent to Vigilante, who rode the merman and Atom far off to the side of the battlefield, and behind a ruin wall. MM got to a tower above the heroes, with Pied Piper and his Rats in pursuit from the center of the Ruins area. By the end of Round Six, the Glyph, having been carried to within one move of the board edge which would have given victory to the Rogues, now rested at the extreme opposite edge of the board. With three Rogues down and only Vigilante of the JLA seriously wounded, it looked like time was now on the side of the Good Team!

Continuing their fight in the swamp, Booster Gold took out Trickster, while Vigilante wounded Mirror Master up in the tower, MM missing a return shot down on Vig. Pied Piper came adjacent to Aquaman and Vigalante, not hurting Aquaman, but his two of his rats swung around the other side of the ruin. Now mostly pinned against the board edge, Vig could no longer bring the group away. Could MM and PP somehow eke out a victory, or at least get the Component away from the JLA? Atom was unable to carry the Glyph as he was Tiny! As the last act of Round Seven, Aquaman put 3 of 4 wounds on The Piper!

Round Eight: Aquaman defeated Pied Piper. Mirror Master wounded Aquaman twice (the hero had now taken 3 of 5 wounds). Realizing that the Rats were also Tiny and could not carry the Glyph, MM was in a dilemna! Being atop a single space tower, there was no place adjacent to him to place the Glyph/Component, which he then placed at the foot of his ladder. But Booster Gold was able to pick it up, and had only 1 of 4 wounds. MM came partway down the ladder and put a second wound on BG.

Round Nine: Suddenly, MM took out BG! Since the first two good Order Markers had been placed on him, this crippled the JLA Team. Then a Rat moved to come adjacent to Aquaman, and although its weak attacks did no damage, served to lock the strongest hero left down. But the King of the Sea took a leaving engagement wound (4 out of 5 now) to leave and attack MM, wounding him (3 of 4) and placing the Component back next to Vig and Atom!

MM took a gamble, forgoing an unlikely attack on the adjacent Aquaman to roll the D20. Getting a 1 allowed him to break engagment. Should he win initiative, he could seize the component on the last turn for a pyrric victory--had he gotten the usual large number, he could have given up the game and "declared an escape" (if you will). So, a little role playing in the face of defeat? Not necessarily. Since his Though The Looking Glass Power allowed him to break engagement and move as far as the D20 roll, he could theoretically win initiative, grab the Component, and then use the power to move toward the edge goal--twice with a high roll would get him there. So he still had a winning. although unlikely, strategy! But with an engaged rat in his path, he'd have to give the first OM to the vermin to get him out of the way, and then the good guys might seize the component with Vig, who could be easily killed.

The goods put their OMs on The Question, who had yet to enter the board. With the final struggle taking place on the edge where the hero could enter, this should lock down the win for the JLA!

Round Ten: The Rogues won Initiative, and the Rat moved off safely from a leaving engagement with Vig to block and lock down Aquaman. Had the Rad gotten its Plague 16 roll, it would have finished the hero off, but the Rat failed. His won die attack almost worked, as Aquaman got only one shield--but one was good enough. Hairy. Then Question entered and picked up the Component! Then MM moved up to Q and put 2 of 4 wounds on him, placing the now dropped Glyph adjacent to them both. Q moved and picked up the glyph. The mysterious hero counterattacked but failed to put the final would on MM. The villain failed to wound Q on his final OM, and conceded the game.

It was a great adventure, and I got to play lots of characters I'd never used before--even some Rat Swarms! In the next game, we'll assume that the Rogues got away with the Component, as they almost did, and another JLA team will track Grodd down in Gorilla City.

*** Join us soon right here--same Bat Thread, same Bat Player! ***

GAME TWO

Setup

The Evil player put Grodd safely inside his throne room, with three Gorilla Warriors in front of him. Deadshot was up on the roof with two GWs to guard him on each side. A line of GWs was in front of the building, with Professor Zoon off to the side behind a ruin.

The Good Guys set up on the shore of the Ruins section.

The First Three Rounds:
Fliers would help in the Ruin/City terrain, with its isolated towers. Therefore Steel and Rocket Red moved up on the flank to rain destruction down upon their enemies. But RR's special missle assault, with the potential to destroy five GWs, only took out one. Deadshot and Steel both put wounds on each other from a distance. Professor Zoom zoomed out, and as the nearby heroes were up in towers, proceded to go all the way to the shore and attack Plastic Man, who would probably give the best advantage against the GWs. After two regular attacks, Plas had taken 4 of 5 wounds! Then Steel took out Deadshot. Gorilla Grodd came out and fired his E-Ray at Steel, but missed. There was some general firing back and forth. Then GG took control of Steel without the help of an E-Ray effect, and had him attack Plas, but the attack missed giving the elastic hero his last wound! Then RR shot the glyph out of GGs hand after putting two wounds on him. The glyph fell out in the open, (C3G does not give GG the power to hang on to the E-Ray, so I didn't either). RR flew down to pick up the glyph, but then GG advanced to hit him with his powerful melee attack, and RR lost the E-Ray, which was picked up by PZ, who 'flashed' back to get it. At this point Steel had 3 and RR 2 wounds. GL(John Stuart) moved up to fire down at a GW but somehow missed. In three rounds, the E-Ray had already changed hands twice! I felt that the Evil player would need its effect to beat the JLA, but it hadn't been effective yet.

Round Four: RR put another hit on GG. PZ ran adjacent, and handed his glyph off to GG, put failed to wound RR, also adjacent to him. GG made an attempt to E-Ray GL, the most powerful of the heroes and yet unwounded, now just above him on a tower, but missed! Firestorm moved up on a tower, thinking to eventually use his stealth flying ("Phantom Flying") ability to grab the E-Ray and run it off the far board edge when opportunity arose. He made a powerful attack from above vs GG to finish him off, but the gorilla rolled four defense and held him off. GG decided to make a attack against RR to finish him off, but curses, was foiled again!

Round Five: More Strategy Than Tactics!
Realizing that the victory conditions are for the JLA to get the GofE off the board, PZ took it from Grodd and raced back through all the Gorilla City Warriors into the throne room! Realizing that this was a game changer, GL carried FS onto the roof, where they proceeded to kill of the two GWs there! It would take some time, but firing down from the roof would be helpful and shield them from attacks while they thinned out the ranks of the squaddies. Zoom would be a tough target to wound, but they'd done it before...as PZ passed his turns, already in the best defensive spot, GL took out a fourth GW, leaving eight left.

Round Six: Monkey Business!
The Gorilla City Warriors now came into their own. They swarmed up the ladder to the roof, although the heroes managed to pick two more off. One went for RR, and with an extra die for being adjacent to GG, now polished the hero off, for the first JLA casualty of the game. Two of the GW's reached the roof and attacked Firelord, but the hero's Intangible defense saved him from what would have been a heavy attack against almost any other opponent. Bonding with the GWs, Grodd ran back in front of the Throne Room, seeking Sanctuary on the next turn.

Round Seven: The Glyph Is Up For Grabs Yet Again!
Firelord flew down and defeated Grodd, saving the team from the danger of the E'Ray. But was there time to recover it? Two GWs on the roof managed to put 2 of 4 hits on GL, while one below failed to hurt FL. Then FL flew through the remaining guards inside the building to put not one but two hits on PZ, who now dropped the E-Ray! Zoom having been given no order markers this round, the Evil player could only have GWs stand on and adjacent to protect it. Coming out of the building, FS killed the GW standing on the Glyph. But the next turn he was attacked by three more GWs. The one now standing on the glyph once again, being adjacent, rolled three skulls and FS whiffed, suddenly going from being unwounded to taking 3 of 5! It was still anybody's game.

Round Eight: Dark Days Ahead
With GL locked down by two GWs on the roof and the other heroes all wounded, the Good player decided to put his OMs on FS. He failed this time to kill the GW standing on the glyph, and that target soon attacked right back with 6 dice, but failed to wound. Suddenly, in a total reversal, FS did knock out the GW on the Glyph, but the last two GWs took FS out. PZ now came out to stand adjacent to the GW on the glyph, since he could do nothing else. It began to look very bad for the JLA, who had previously been favored to win...

Round Nine: GL and PZ
Steel flew down from a tower and killed the GW on the glyph. The last GW on the ground level attacked Steel, which could have finished him off, but missed. Green Lantern took two leaving engagements but no damage, and now took out the GW. PZ now ran to the glyph and picked it up, Speed Dodging GLs final attack. The last two GWs headed down the ladder from the roof.

Round Ten: The Final Chapter

Calculating terrain and counting hexes, the good guys could only win if they won initiative, and Plastic Man scooped up the glyph after it dropped, then using his special move ability. Good rolled a 19, but Evil a 20. Was that the game? Yes. Professor Zoom could now run away with the Glyph of E-Ray at his pleasure, the the JLA having no chance of catching up. The game was up; Evil had won! Pow!!!

I enjoyed this short campaign, although learning nine or ten cards at once is a lot of work. Having a scenario is much more fun that just a slug fest, and the cards were interesting and allowed for neat team work. Play Supers!

[chas]

Three games today on The Savage Land board with Sherman Davies playing his own cards. All proved to be close and exciting games, despite the fact that I hadn't even read all the cards before I put the teams together.

Game One: The Rogues (Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Trickster, Pied Piper, and Weather Wizard) from C3G vs SD's Flash, Fire, Ice, and Tommy Monaghan. My unexpected victory right at the end of the game, stealing a Glyph of Loot in Ten Rounds.

Game Two: My Dr. Strange (C3G), Clea (Mine), Swamp Thing, and Rat Swarm (both C3G) against SD's brand new Wrecking Crew in a simple Kill 'Em All with no time limit. Physical Types vs Mystics. We played entirely in the swampy area of the map. Unable to advance in the terrain as he was, I attacked but was repulsed. Then, having made a sportmanlike try, I sat on an island while he waded out to me and I fired mystic bolts at him. It was so close that SD won with his last character!

Game Three:
My weird Female Asian Assassin Squad: Katana (C3G), Shi, Kabuki, Tomoe and Yukio (various other designers) vs SDs Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Angel and President Obama! I had to kill the Pres; he had to get him off the far board edge through the swamp; otherwise points remaining on the battlefield in Ten Rounds. I didn't think I'd win, but I did with my last character left alive. An enjoyable, cinematic yet simple scenario we came up with off the cuff.

I like scenarios rather than simple slug fests, and they allow characters with different characters to do their thing in a more comic book like and cinematic fashion.

[chas]

The Savage Land Supers Series continued yesterday with three more games.

Game One: Kidnap The Professor!

With Luke Cage adjacent as a bodyguard to The Professor (played as usual by T.O. Morrow in his white lab coat) in the Ruins section, his other C3G Street Hero allies Daredevil, Shang Chi, Iron Fist, and The Falcon remained on patrol offboard, ready to come in from the side. At the shore of the Ruins/Swamp in the middle of the board, a nefarious gang of would be kidnappers included even more weird samurai/ninja women--the demon Yukio, Siamese--they're conjoined twins tied at the hand, and Scarab, (by various designers including Lamaclown and Whitestuff) plus wackos Madame Masque and Typhoid Mary (C3G), with Shade (?) and Black Manta (Sherman Davies)!

Game One ended in slaughter, as Luke Cage proved immovable, and the teleporting and Shadow Demon summoning Shade, who went ahead, was unable to budge him and therefore move the professor. Both wackos, being paranoid delusional or disassociated, had to roll dice to see what their variable strength would be each turn! Playing the losing side, I got to try out or oppose lots more cards I hadn't played yet. Black Manta, who was lurking in the water, eventually had to come out and attack as well. I did kill Daredevil, but that was all. More martial arts madness!

Game Two: Slaughter In The Swamp

Now it as time to play on another section of the map, with the Inhumans vs the Movie Avengers. I'd just gotten all the Inhuman figures (various card designers, but all seven available here onsite), and couldn't wait to play them. My pal took the Avengers (C3G and Hasbro), which I correctly had assessed as about equal in points (about 1500). We'd fight over a Glyph of Loot--no particular effect, a "football"--with C3G Equipment Glyph rules about a wounded glyph carrier having to let his opponent place it up to 5 spaces away.

In this game I got destroyed again, but this time got to try very interesting strategies. My first gambit was to have Crystal move her three Elementals (two water and one air, as I'd allowed 100 points for them) up, decoying and drawing fire from Iron Man on shore. He did kill them off pretty quickly, though. But that left the island with the glyph up for grabs, and I grabbed...

In my next ploy, Triton moved quickly through the water while Lockjaw teleported Black Bolt and Medusa right onto the glyph and its environs on a seven hex island in the swamp. Black Widow managed to knock it out of BB's hand. He pursued it near The Hulk, who he attacked as he took up the glyph again. But this time Hulk knocked it out of his hand again, far backfield to the Ruins area. Meanwhile Thor got on the island to support Black Widow against Medusa, who fell to the thunder god! Lockjaw teleported Triton away.

Meanwhile I'd made the mistake of leaving Gorgon and Karnak off in the swamp, where they could neither escape easily, nor effect the island fight. Gorgon was quickly defeated, and Karnak had to slowly trek through the swamp and swamp water toward shore near by baseline. But Hulk came leaping out to take the martial arts Inhuman down before he could use his powers (don't you hate it when that happens)? Lockjaw and Triton were blasted away from atop a tower in the ruins section at the shore, and I conceded.

Game Three: Kryptonians vs Avengers

I'd played with the big three Kryptonians once before (Zod, Ursa, and Non), but now they appeared on the battlefield with their full C3G posse--three Kryptonian Warriors and a Krytonian Infiltrator. Thor appeared with his special strike once per game C3G strike, putting two wounds on four of my characters, and it was all downhill from there. Being in the ruins section gave the Avengers like Iron Man and Hawkeye the opportunity to fire down from ruined towers, while I had no shooters. Thor and Hulk appeared to force the pace of the game. I blocked off Hulk with my Infiltrator, but the others couldn't handle Thor in their now weakened state. And I never got the chance to get more than one K. Soldier up on the towers to attack the relatively weaker shooters of the enemy. Zod fell, and so the game. Once again I'd lost, but had the chance to play lots of "new" cards for the first time. Great fun, with more matches scheduled for next week, with the Fantastic Four and then Spidey and Friends versus...The Frightful Four!

'Cause I LOVE my teams!

[chas]

I've been playing so many games lately, that I can hardly remember them. So here are my last seven team matchups--just to try out cards I haven't played yet! If I don't get to detailed reports, the teams may give you some ideas.

The Last of the Legion and the Cosmic Cop

Green Lantern Killowog 310
Sun Boy 150
Princess Projectra 120
Dawnstar 140
TOTAL: 720

The Frightful Four

Wizard 140
Medusa 270
Sandman 210
Trapster 75
TOTAL: 695

***

Higher Powers Clash:

Hercules 360
Balder 350
Zauriel 320
Zatanna 240
TOTAL: 1,270

VS.

Loki 420
Executioner 270
Absorbing Man 315
Kang 270
TOTAL: 1,275

***

Put Three Together

In this game, three Glyphs of Loot must be assembled by the same character.

Giant Man 180
Wasp 50
Quicksilver 215
Scarlet Witch 285
Gorilla Man 160
TOTAL: 880

Diablo 180
Mister Hyde 320
Green Goblin 230
Poison Ivy 165
TOTAL 895

***

(Same Scenario)

Dr. Who 200 (Creo)
Valkyrie 220 (His Companion) (SD)
Death Scythe Gundam Armor 300
Mandroid 140 (Gundam Pilot) (Grey Owl)
Black Cat 60 (SD)
TOTAL: 920

Mandarin 280 (C3G; with all 3 Makluan Ring sets)
Nebula 270 (Badgermaniac)
Nessie 230 (Garada)
Intergang Agents (3) (C3G, bonding with her as her pirates)
TOTAL: 900

***

THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS

Sinestro 350 (SD)
Hal Jordan 350 (C3G)
John Stuart 340 (C3G)
Tomar Re 350
Kilowog (C3G)
TOTAL: 1,700

vs. (Evil Mages: Game One)

Morgan Le Fay 570
Malekith 450
Circe 350
Baron Mordo 180
Diablo 180
TOTAL: 1,730

vs. Loki's Legion: Game Two

Loki 420
Asguardian Destroyer 650
Lobo 330
Despero 270
Heat Wave 110
TOTAL: 1,690

***

With more new figures coming in, one of the last of my "Let's Get Acquainted Series:"

Cannonball 180
Elongated Man 180
Mera 350 (Creo)
Wonder Man 350
TOTAL: 900

vs.

Rhino 220
Silver Samurai 210
Enchantress 190
Klaw 110
Vertigo 90
Vulture 90
Enchantress 190
TOTAL: 910

***

[Rexmax2]

[Eraguy816]

[chas]

THE PERFECT GAME!
or
AGENT CARTER COMES THROUGH!

In this game, Good played flawlessly a strategy using the unusual abilities of the relatively minor supporting character Agent Sharon Carter to beat powerful supers on their own turf! I love it when a plan comes together (which almost never happens). Good took casualties of course, but SC snatched the glyph from their building and got it back to her own, when I thought she'd be toast for trying to execute the daring plan.

My pal brought over the last batch of figures I'll be getting for a while, and I looked at them, and my list of cards unplayed (with figures; I've actually now made up lists of cards without figures I have not yet played also). Once again this is part of my project to play or get on the table--even if they stay out of the action, as some often do--cards I have not yet deployed for a game. This gives me a chance to study the cards and begin devising strategies for them, so that in later games I'll know who to pick for which kind of mission. If you are interested in the non C3G cards I've used here, see my thread Chas Quick Scan Master Lists under Supers Customs.

GOOD

Black Knight 110
Captain Atom 380
Geo Force 270
The Falcon 140
Ghost Rider 310
Agent Sharon Carter 110
Dum-Dum Dugan 90
TOTAL: 1,410

EVIL

Black Knight 160
Amazo 390
Radioactive Man 255
Maxima 320
Winter Soldier 240
Tooth Fairy x2 50
TOTAL: 1,415

The amazing thing here is that while the strong Goods battled the strong Evils, I slowely moved up Sharon and Dum-Dum to take advantage of their powers and go for the "football;" the Evil glyph whose retrieval would mean victory regardless of casualties.

To summarize the big battle, Captain Atom met his doom slugging away at Amazo, who was wounded, and Maxima. Ghost Rider zoomed up the flank road to engage Winter Soldier, but neither could hurt each other in the first two exchanges. Maxima engaged GH, but he got an 18 on Penance Stare, and destroyed her in an unwounded state! Wow--this was a huge blow struck for Good. GH then put three more wounds on Amazo, who had taken the Martian Manhunter card as his original steal to move up more of his characters faster. Amazo, with only 1 of 8 lives remaining, then rolled a 20 on his own Penance Stare, and defeated GH with his own power to use the special powers of others nearby! Zap!!!

Meanwhile, Sharon Carter, having been initially deployed far in advance of the Good start zone with her power, now moved up, but was engaged by a Tooth Fairy. She took a leaving engagement attack, now with two of four lives gone, and used her other order marker to attack twice and get 3 extra spaces of movement, combined with another order marker to get into he evil citadel and grab the Evil Glyph. Evil decided to let her go, being busy engaging Radioactive Man and Winter Soldier on the other flank now against Geo-Force, and defeating him. They'd get SC on her way out, and crush her easily. Their (my) mistake! As she left, she fired on the troublesome Tooth Fairy and took it out.

Dum-Dum moved up to give Sharon 'Disengage' if she got close enough to him to use it. Winter Soldier finished off Geo-Force, but had to return to his start zone to reset with his power. This now took him away from the front lines. Radioactive Man pursued SC, but didn't have the range to attack her. She slipped into the friendly HQ with the Evil glyph for the win! Hooray!

It was a perfect example of teamwork, and using different levels of super for different functions. Was it something of a fluke victory, or a harbinger of strategies to come in future supers battles? Either way, it gave a promising boost to what I'm trying to do with all my supers games. Next up will be a total mobilization of SHIELD forces against most of the remaining Evil supers still on my now small Unplayed List.

Stay tuned on this channel...

[chas]

S.H.I.E.L.D. CLEANS UP!

GOOD
Captain America 220
Nick Fury 220
Maria Hill 130
Dum Dum Dugan 90
Sharon Carter 110
Cape Killers (3) 150
SHIELD Agents 110
TOTAL: 1,160

EVIL
Viper 140
Mad Hatter 90
Mysterio (with C3G Holograms) 150
Pyro 120
Riddler 140
Constrictor 90
Calypso 220
TOTAL: 1,140

After only two rounds, it looked like the scenario should be called 'SHIELD Gets Its Clock Cleaned!' Evil had to steal a Glyph from a building, which the good guys guarded from its roof (#1,2,7 from the team roster above). A second squad position was on a hill to the side of the building (everyone else except Sharon Carter, who was off to the side). Nick Fury went first, and moved M. Hill and the Agents up to the hill, where the Cape Killers had started in advance. Then Pyro moved up and rained destruction onto the adjacent figures on the roof, wounding Cap and taking out a two squaddies. Good repositioned a bit only, and Pyro went again, flaming out Maria Hill and two squaddies. Then Calypso took over Fury! Yikes!

Cap took a leaving engament wound from the now hostile Fury, and moved out onto a ladder in order to throw his shield at Calypso below while not being adjacent to Fury, wounding her. Pyro went into the building after the Glyph. Cap threw again and finished off Calypso, which restored Fury to his senses. But a lot of damage had been done already!

Cap pulled back onto the roof, while Pyro moved to pick the Glyph. The last surviving SHIELD agent from the holocaust on the hill moved down to ground level in order to fire at him, but missed. Pyro advanced to flame the brave agent.

Dum-Dum moved atop the hill from its rear, firing at Pyro, who was framed in the doorway. He put a second (of 4) wounds on Pyro! Viper (aka Madame Hydra) advanced with her quick movement and long range, but still could not get to any Good target within 7 spaces.

As Round Four started, about the only advantage Good possessed was getting initiative on every turn. Sharon Carter moved in on from outside the side wall, to get two attacks, putting a third hit on the fiery villain, and dance away far enough that Pyro would have to give up getting the glyph back to go after her. The bad guy chose to ignore her, sneaking homeward along the other building wall, to minimize his profile against Cap and Fury above, giving up a chance to make an attack. Dum-Dum came down off the hill, taking a shot, and rolled 3 of 4 skulls! Would this be the final hit? Pyro rolled two shields--not enough--and was defeated, dropping the glyph (C3G rules) back next to the mustachioed agent in the derby! Another struck blow for Good! With Evil losing a turn with Pyro down, the final Cape Killer descended the rise to pick up the Glyph (squads may pick them up under scenario rules). But literally 'heavy' reinforcement was on the way, as Metallo left the safety of the abandoned warehouse where some Evil characters had started the game, to head for the Glyph bearer, slinking under the same wall where his comrade had recently passed.

Round Five: Good wins initiative again, and the Cape Killer hands the Glyph off to the adjacent Dum-Dum. Then he puts himself in front of his superior, to make it harder for Metallo to reach him! Viper moves up and strikes, but misses. Dum-Dum back pedals back up the hill, shoots back, and missses also. Metallo now cannot reach Dum-Dum, and has no distance attack, so he takes out the squaddie instead, as he advances around him to the foot of the hill. Although his green kyrptonite can hurt no one in this scenario, he is something of a tank, with high numerical values, and a capacity for self repair. Cap throws his shield from above, scoring three hits, for a total of 4 of 6 on the metal menace! But the evil one has marker still on him, and the cyborg climbs up to the same level as the ex-circus strongman, putting his first wound of 4 on him. It being the end of the round Metallo repairs one wound on himself.

Round Six: Cap attacks Metallo but misses with all three shield throws. The cyborg ascends to the summit of the hill, above Dum-Dum, and takes him out, the Glyph flying behind Viper, far to the side. Cap throws against her, pttuing 3 of 4 hits on her. She steps back to pick up the glyph. One again, an Evil character has the glyph, but with only 1 life left as had Pyro in his attempt on it. Viper fires at Cap but misses. Dum-Dum would have retreated with the Glyph, but being down, Good loses a turn, and Mysterio moves forward from the warehouse. Mysterio heals another wound.

Round Seven: Two sharpshooting women begin to duel. Sharon Carter moves forward and fires twice at Viper, but misses. Viper pulls back with the Glyph toward her start zone and victory, firing and hitting Carter. Carter moves up and fires, but misses. Viper moves back again, now only one space out of her start zone. Fury moves down the ladder most of the way. Had Viper had another OM she could have won. Instead Metallo comes down from the hill, and takes out Carter, the only one close enough to stop Viper next round!

Round Eight: Yet again, Good wins initiative, as they have all game. Fury climbs down the ladder and advances. He would just be in range of Viper, but she has dodged behind an everygreen tree! No shot--and Viper moves back to win the game! Evil rules!!! Mwahaha!!!!!

Good drew a tough hand, not knowing how the baddies worked, and grouping together their squads to allow the terrain to help, but making them too vulnerable to Pyro. Although his shots started to go wild, it was enough. Still, it was a hard fought and satisfying game.

[chas]

RAID ON APOCALYPSE!

Time now for one of the great comic book themes, with teams of almost 2,000 points! (For thoughts on this most recent stage of my Supers play, see the post "Interim Meditation" in Marvelscape/A Vision For Super Scape). Since it came out, Jack Kirby's Mister Miracle and New Gods have always been among my favorites. Our heroic "commando team" has chosen a moment when Darkseid and his inner court are a bit out of place inspecting a new factory. They will raid the palace, and try to steal an object that holds part of The Anti-Life Equation, still undeciphered. Played on the "Elsdenopolis" map, they will come from across the river, whose bridges (as major Boom Tube Paths) and shores are guarded by Parademon Shock Troops (squads). Inside the castle for the first three turns are only two Female Furies and two Parademons (Common Heroes). Like other large games I play, I will evaluate the game after 10 turns, and add turns in increments of 5 if both sides still have a chance afterwards (a scenario playtest, if you will).

And so it begins...

The Plan:
Since only the Evil Castle Garrison and the Parademon patrols up on the castle roof and off by the bridges/river bank can take order markers for the first three turns, Evil must be reactive. So the patrols are spread up and down the river. There they will delay any bridge/stream crossers on the first key turns. After looking at the Evil set up, Good makes a Raid Plan.

Barda will carry Orion with her Boom Tube ability right up to the castle door, and engage Knockout two "tanks" to one. They will be backed up by Flash, who can get to the action in two turns. Meanwhile, Turpin, Sabra, and one ESS-1 squad will cross in the extreme south, where there is only one Parademon Shock Trooper on patrol. The other squads, with one hero each (Panther or Miracle), will start at the approaches to the two bridges, to keep the defense spread out and guessing. the Turpin Force will cross to create a screen behind which the heroes at the castle can retire. If possible, they can provide fire support from the hill nearby between their crossing point and the castle. This will also keep the action farthest away from the factory in the north that houses the rest of the Evil forces. The other forces are in support, with both Miracle and Panther making good burglars/ball carriers if needed.

GOOD

Mister Miracle 235 (C)
Big Barda 270 (C)
Orion 350 (C)
Flash (G)
Sabra (SD/C)
Black Panther (G)
Harvey Bullock (C)
(as Ben "Terrible" Turpin)
ESS-1 Police Force(3) x3 (Matt Helm/A3n)
TOTAL: 1,990

C=Chas SD=Sherman Davis G=C3G

EVIL

Darkseid 380 (C3G) (G)
Kalibak 320 (?)
Granny Goodness 280 (IAmBatman)
DeSaad 120 (GreyOwl)
Knockout 300 (?)
Lashina 200 (SD/C)
Parademon x2 150 (FatSnack)
Parademon Shock Troops(2) x3 240 (G)
TOTAL: 1,990

Round One: Barda and Orion Boom Tube all the way across the board to the castle entrance, adjacent to Knockout (I won't let them transport inside the castle). Parademon Shock Troopers (PDSTs) on the roof come down on either side of the invaders to engage them both. The miss Orion but put two wounds on Barda. Orion misses Knockout. A PDST puts another wound on Barda. Knockout puts two on Barda. The former Female Fury has never been damaged so quickly, being the strongest and highest performing tank in past games in my entire collection; now she's down to 5 Wounds of 6 Life (5 of 6). Turpin Force moves forward into the river, with Terrible Turpin putting himself directly in the path of a PDST as a diversion. A policeman takes a shot at the enemy sentry but misses.

Round Two: Knockout knocks Barda out! Orion puts 2 wounds on Knockout, and she puts 1 back on Orion. Sabra, in her first game ever for me, takes out the Parademon sentry for Turpin Force. A Parademon (not an ST, but the Common Hero) moves adjacent to Orion from inside the castle, doing no damage but locking him down by engagement. As the evil minion has Impulsive Counter Attack (Classic Scape Counterattack) this is no small impediment. Flash blurs from Earth over a bridge into Apocalypse, about halfway to the castle, but his Fist Fusillade does no damage to a PDST on patrol nearby.

Round Three: Knockout puts 3 hits on Orion, who is now 4 of 6. The Flash, making no attack to take extra movement, vibrates through the melee and enters the castle, moving all the way inside to engage Lashina, who is standing on the target Glyph. The other Parademon castle guard engages Flash, but does no damage, as the Scarlet Speedster uses Speed Dodge. Flash puts a wound on the beautiful but deadly Lashina. Then the two PDSTs, each rolling two skulls on two dice, actually kill Orion! Pow! Kudos to the C3G designers of the Parademon Shock Troops. Although at first card reading they looked a bit weak, with the right rolls they can hurt the strongest of heroes. Wow. Turpin and his squad cross the river, as Sabra stands guard on the far shore.

Round Four: All Apocalyptics in the Factory (Darkseid's Court characters) are now released into the game! Meanwhile, back in the Castle, the GM rules that Lashina's Lash Restraint cancels out Flashes Speed Dodge once she is activated for the first time. For almost every super power there is a counter somewhere, and now the Scarlet Speedster is in trouble! Lashina immediately puts 3 of 4 on him. He puts two more her (3 of 6). Now Lashina takes out Flash, who slumps against the unforgiving stone wall in defeat, alone in the Palace of Evil! The Good mission is now in serious jeapardy. The Black Panther Stealth Leaps across the river, jumping from between two bushes to land between an opposing pair in enemy territory. During this lull in the battle on the front lines, Evil will move some of its just released characters from the factory toward the crucial castle area. Kalibak advances toward the castle door with the movement bonus of Desaad. Turpin advances to the foot of the hill, with the squad getting two members on the southern road, which leads toward the hill and later the castle entrance on the side.

Round Five: The intrepid Ben Turpin, police detective from Earth, crests the hill, and fires at a PDST but to no effect. The squad is coming up behind the hill on its far slope, but not yet in action. The two original PDSTs, who have somehow survived their melee with Barda and Orion, now fly up. One rises to the summit above Turpin and would have put a wound on him, if Turpin wasn't Tough. The other engages a policeman but misses. Granny Goodness moves up with the Desaad bonus and comes next to Kalibak. Despite his height advantage, Panther misses the PDST he is engaged with. Darkseid does the same with the bonus, and is now behind Kalibak, and Granny. The Panther takes out the PDST on his second attack.

Round Six: The PDSTs miss Turpin but take out a police squaddie. In a magnificent sacrificial gesture, the Panther advances and engages both Kalibak and Granny Goodness, to prevent their attacking Turpin's Force on the hill. But Kalibak pounds the Panther, and would have put 3 of 4 on him in one shot, but the Wakandan King's Vibranium Armor reduces it to one hit only. The ESS-1 cops remaining fire at the two PDSTs with their Marksman (Classic Stand and Fire), but the shots go wild, as the PDSTs have height and height plus bush! Turpin tries to administer some Five Fingered Justice, but the adjacent PDST with height is too resistant. Knockout, who has failed to heal on the last few turns and is 2 of 6, advances up the hill, but is not yet engaged. Sabra flies adjacent to her, and the Jewish superheroine, in her first roll against an Evil Unique Hero for me, rolls 5 skulls on 5 dice! But Knockout rolls 4 shields, and only takes one hit! What a battle, folks--its Homeric!!! Knockout fails to heal once more as the round ends. But at this point, due to the early demise of the initial strike force of Barda, Orion, and Flash, the Good Player has to consider pulling back the raiders in a turn or so, by conceding.

Round Seven: Kalibak misses Panther, who puts two on him. Knockout and Sabra put two on each other. History repeats itself on the hill, where a PDST misses Turpin due to his Tough, but the other kills off another squaddie. The last ESS-1 fires from below, but misses the PDST. Knockout's Slow Heal fails yet again.

Round Eight: The dice favor Good during the round, who wins initiative and give more than they get. Sabra heals one wound on herself with her Life Transfer. Panther puts 2 more on Kalibak. Knockout puts one on Sabra. Sabra knocks out Knockout, who had a third more points than she did, but was previously wounded. Panther and Kalibak put one on each other, and the Price of Apocalypse is now 6 of 8. Kalibak misses Panther.

Round Nine: Sabra heals her last wound. But the dice now favor Evil, who wins initiative. Granny Goodness takes out the Black Panther! As this voids the Good Order Marker 1, GG moves uphill, attacking Sabra from below. But there is no effect, and Sabra puts 2 of 6 on the old harridan. Darkseid moves to the foot of the hill and puts 2 0f 6 on Sabra with Omega Effect, but misses the killing roll. Mister Miracle now makes his first move, flying downriver south, away from the two PDSTs up north who have not been activated yet.

Round Ten: Sabra heals a wound. Granny Goodness move uphill to an even level with her opponent, but misses. Sabra puts 2 more on GG for 4 of 6. Kalibak moves uphill to cover Darkseid, and misses Sabra from below. Next the Israeli Mossad Supercommando takes out Kalibak! Darkseid flees inside the castle behind a Parademon still standing guard in the entrance, so he can continue to use Omega Effect by not being engaged. He rolls 5 skulls on 7 dice, but Sabra gets 4 shields, taking only 1 hit. Darkseid tosses his D20 getting an 18, where 19-20 is needed for instant disintegration! Curses--foiled again!

Since Good still has two superheroes left and two backup police squads, they decide they will continue the game a bit longer.

Round Eleven: Sabra heals her only wound. But GG puts 3 of 6 on her. Sabra puts 1 more on GG, now 5 of 6. Darkseid now uses Omega Effect on Sabra for the third time, which proves to be the charm, and takes her out.

Good surrenders. Darkseid is now free to continue his research into the Anti Life Equation. The Universe trembles!!!

[Sir Yeshua]

Just for the record, I have to say that: