Battle Report - Marvel Crisis Protocol

Howdy folk,

Here's hoping that the New Year vibes are still treating you well. 

Well, first game of the year, and sure enough it was Duncan and I taking some more Marvel Crisis Protocol to the table. Unfortunately Mike was unavailable, so it would be only two teams of heroes and villains. We took the opportunity to go with a "full meal deal" of MCP, and that included all objectives and special markers (can't remember what they're called in game).

So we selected the mission type, the general table layout, and then objectives...in this case we pulled the mission 'Spider infected civilians', whom we dubbed spider-babies immediately and forever after. As well there were 3 portals on the table...I wish I had remembered that they were portals then, but, such is gaming life.

So, that leaves us with game setup of 5 x spider-babies to rescue, and 3 x portals/rifts to take control of. In the case of the babies, they could move the character holding them distance S if the right (or wrong, depending on your perspective) roll was made. And the portals had a nifty feature that left any characters with the 'incinerate' condition if they were within distance 1. Oh, and our threat level on the card was 17 or 19, but given that I had not brought enough, we went with max value for the figs I had...so our threat value was 14.

Team setup: Duncan had the Soviet Avengers...Winter League, Red Guards...maybe Winter Guard...I honestly can't remember. I just googled it, they're the Winter Guard. He had Soviet Ironman (gawd I gotta google this...)...

...okay, he had Crimson Dynamo, Darkstar, Ursa Major (big ole bear), and the Red Guardian...I was calling him Captain Russia and Soviet Captain America in the game...my comic-fu is a little lacking here. Anywho, to counter this red horde, the Guardians of the Galaxy...Peter Quill, Rocket, Groot, Gamora, and Nebula - all of them are worth 3 points each except for Nebula who is a cool 2 points.

**So we googled while we were playing...Duncan had just bought the new core box, I had the original set...and we saw that there were a varied number of tweaks to abilities and point values between releases, so we're just going to pretend that I'm on the up n up**

Anywho, the Guardians of the Galaxy...

We even broke out Tactics Cards for this as well...admittedly the only cards I recall are the 2 specifically related to Rocket and Groot...I do remember that StarLord had a narly leadership skill which could be doled out to 1 Guardian per turn that allowed up to 3 re-rolls of defensive or attacks dice...at anytime...so kinda handy

In the interest of being fully transparent, as soon as the game was over, I started forgetting details...FAASTT...so this is much less a report and play by play, than random rememberings and thoughts on the game.

Duncan did beat me to the punch and his report is here.

So, here we go...gametime...hope you enjoy the pics!

Table setup, Winter Guard at top of frame, Guardians de Galaxy on the bottom. Terrain was various building and such. Card layout had 5 x red tokens for spider babies, 3 x blue for portals/rifts.

The Winter Guard...Ursa, Red Guardian, Darkstar, Red Dynamo (l to r)

First few turns had the Winter Guards moving up to the Daily Bugle, taking a few spider-babies and controlling 2 x portals. The Guardians moved up and StarLord took a portal, I think Groot grabbed a baby, and the sisters Lady Gamora and Nebula came up from the right.

Rocket and Groot moving fairly close together...their tactic cards have some nice features...Groot is a tank and can absorb damage, and if they're together, Groot can activate Rocket to carry out 3 x plasma rifle attacks up to range 5, but they have to be on 3 different targets. So I just kinda kept them close together...Groot moves S, and Rocket cruises at M.

For the most part, the Red Guardian kept behind the action holding onto the intial portal. Ursa Major who is not only a bit of a tank, is also a real f'ing bear...has some really good damage abilities.

Duncan was making some amazing die rolls...like I was getting a few hits on him, but he really blocked almost all damage I was dealing. The big thing with the Guardians de Galaxy, they generate power on successful hits and damage , so that was a nice bonus...but Duncan's rolls kept that minimized.

Nebula and Gamora are also pretty slick...they have melee weapons, but they are able to do some jazzy range 2-3 attacks that let them end next to their target or keep at range depending on the ability. But, boy can they move, they both move at L and while Nebula cannot contest an objective or hold an object, she is a wicked assassin...

The pic above, the Red Guardian finally comes up from the back...StarLord keeps taking a bit of a beating and will eventually get tossed behind the Daily Bugle and get pummeled in the dark alley.

At this point, the Bugle keeps being hot! and Crimson Stark starts to head off Rocket and Groot. You can see StarLord in behind getting hits from all the other Winter Guards...he takes one for the team and just takes the hits.

At this point, both Nebula and Gamorra have enough and start getting aggressive on the Bugle. Nebula gets tossed to the alley and Gamora keeps charging in.

Nebula makes it back on top of the Bugle...Ursa Major gets knocked off (I think...) and Nebula takes it to Darkstar...getting some wicked ninja assassin hits in on her and knocking Darkstar out of the game...I think Quill is already gone by this point.

Now, Ursa jumps back into the fray, he really likes the Bugle rooftop...and both Gamora and Nebula lay down a beating on him

of note, any red tokens that you see laying on the table are spider-babies that have been dropped by our heroes and villains after they are injured and/or taken out of the game. I think at one point I had 3 of the Guardians de Galaxy get injured at the same time...

The ladies get control of the Bugle rooftop, sending Ursa Major back to Mockba Zoo!!

A few frenzied plays and we're both trying to scoop up spider-babies...

The last roll for me of the game, and I solidly knock Crimson Dynamo out of action...

And with that, we had a game. The extra elements were cool, but definitely took more care on my part to play the characters to their maximum. The game was a lot of fun, and happy to have this start of the year's action. Oh, lol…I forgot to say, Duncan and the Winter Guard for the win…but I think I was within 2-3 points of him…good game regardless!

Take care.

Hello There 20-24

Hey everyone,

Winter is finally upon us…we made it until the second week of January before we saw any snow to follow-up our original snowfall back in mid November. Depending on where you are in Canada right now you are potentially feeling some -40 to -50 Celsius weather, and in some areas that very rarely get any subzero temps…so stay warm Canada.

So, with the dawning of the new year, I guess its time for the mandatory review and some forward thought…last year, my plan was fairly straight forward (I think): paint up more figures, focus on 15mm, get some more gaming in, try some new games, and work through the pile of lead (shame). By year’s end, I was sitting around 133 x 15mm figs painted (vehicle and troops) and 62 x 28mm figs…not my best output, and certainly not my worst output. I worked through a bunch of moderns and Team Yankee figs and I was happy that I started to get into some old starter/expansion boxes that I had laying about.

I didn’t game as much as I wanted to, but I was really happy that I got to give Marvel Crisis Protocol a shot and really enjoyed the game and mechanics. It was pretty cool, finally seeing some figs on the table. 

I had intended on working towards some set projects, but admittedly, I just couldn’t muster the focus. I put plenty of thought towards Afropia, but most of it stayed in the brain pan…although, I did work through some 15mm Team Yankee Red Dawn Insurgents/Militia that will fit in nicely. Funny enough, in the last week before end-year, I ended up looking through some of my terrain collection, put some thoughts towards potential actions, and am thinking that I may need to do a re-think and sync on the project.

So, that leads into the soothsaying and what will the next year hold. Painting more is an ongoing objective, I have plenty in the pile to work through, and some great looking MCP characters to bring to life. So that will continue to be a thing. With the release of NATO Forces, I have some Canadian Airborne Regiment and Special Service Force troops to put together for a continental Canada force. I had started a Cold War scenario some time ago, so I will continue developing that. I have been painting up a good amount of moderns over the last 2 years, so I would like to see them get to the table.

I think I will try to focus my efforts around the following projects and see how it goes:

1. Work on a proper Red/Northern Dawn scenario, ideally 2 of them, and that includes the terrain to get it to the table. So, I would like to work through the VDV starter box, and fill out my Cdn Abn Regt;

2. Work on a 15mm scenario inspired by some of the Bush War actions, I think this will be a good kickstart for me to push som progress on the greater Afropia idea - and really work on some of the wider mechanics and construct of that verse; 

3. I’d like to get some moderns to the table, so thinking of either Danger Close, Spectre Ops, or Force on Force, but moreso a limited small action scenario; and

4. Continue with MCP…and get my Hoth force for Star Wars Legion moving.

I think that covers enough variance over genre…and approaches more of the lead pile. So, we’ll see how we go over the next few months and start getting onto the verse’s.

Take care folks.

A New Year & A New Decade

Howdy folks,

I hope all is well on your end of the WiFi…Happy New Year and all the best in the year to come!!

This post marks a considerable milestone for this blog of mine, we are officially at 10 years of me droning on about my gaming woes, hopefully showing some progress on painting, and random thoughts on gaming and what I see in the community…as I still see myself as a novice to the hobby, I like to think there’s still a world to see out there, so much more to discover. 

It’s been a heck of decade…and in that time I’ve published 327 posts + this one here…so 328. We’ve had just under a quarter of a million views, around 217k, and all in all about 725+ comments left to mark our thoughts. I’d like to say thanks to all the bots, fake accounts, and spammers out there who have made the post count what it is today. If it weren’t for their work, I might actually know what the world thought of my ramblings. More importantly, thanks to the real people out there who pop by everyday…without you folks, who knows…so to the dozen or so real folk out there…thanks! Lol, actually to the 3 dozen-ish followers, thanks for your time!

So with that, I just wanted to say…Thank you!

Last Post of the Year - Modern and Old West

Hey folks,

For the final post of the year, I thought I’d share with you a few figures that I just recently finished. I finally got some Great Escape Games figures off the workbench and put some paint to them and a few figures that I happened upon at my LGS, from Enemy Spotted Studios (ESS).

The Great Escape Games figures were originally released as part of their Dead Man’s Hand game, and with the re-release, I’m sure they’ll figure in the game again…not to mention they’ll work with any other Old West game. It was good to finally get to these figures, I’ve had them for a number of years…and it made a great reason to watch a western or two - Young Guns and Hell on Wheels definitely had some good characters to be inspired by. Buckshot Roberts looks pretty much like Brian Keith’s character in Young Guns, and Common’s as Elam Ferguson in Hell on Wheels looks a near spitting image to the Ely Fergus, and the Preacher - well there are too many to list by name, but are some great examples on the Silver Screen.

Enemy Spotted Studios is a company that is totally new to me. I discovered them online end-summer/early fall and their two lines In-Country (ultra modern) and Killwager (sci-fi). They are a US based company with physical and digital store offering on-demand physical models and STLs - what I particularly like about the company is that the figures have a very dynamic look and appeal, and the company’s business model is to support Veterans causes with a 10% portion being donated to Vet’s programs. As well, they offer their rulesets as free digital downloads on their website. I was pretty happy to see some inventory when I was at Red Dragon a while back, and a little disappointed when I dropped by a few weeks ago and saw that everything had been sold…a good problem to have for ESS, but a little disappointing nonetheless. Anywho, I bought their INX Security Team blister, 4 unique figures each with a very dynamic pose. They were a lot of fun to paint up.

I hope you all have a Happy New Year, all the best, and enjoy the pics.

Painted 

15mm          133

28mm+          62, +7

Bought         131

Progress      +64

Team Yankee - painting update

Howdy folks,

I hope you are able to take some time to rest and recharge over the holidays. I’m still catching up on my backlog of finished minis…almost there, and I thought that I would post some 15mm’s. These are from Battlefront (definitely my 15mm go-to), the Team Yankee and Red Dawn side of the house. The Abram’s come from the Hammerfall box (2 x M1 Abram’s and 3 x T64), the troops are the remainder of the Red Dawn insurgents that I started on earlier this year, and the lone UN ‘blue helmet’ is a leftover Canadian infantry model from the Team Yankee Canuck mech platoon pack.

While I haven’t put a whole lot of thought towards it, I should have no problem fitting the Abram’s into an army list for Team Yankee or Red Dawn. I do have a USMC LAV company that could use some high powered support, and I have my 4CMBG crew that could also do with some more Allied support, not to mention this gives me some heavy metal for any Force Mobile Command list that I might put together for a Canadian homeland force.

The insurgents should find a home in any Force on Force scenario, and in spite of my idleness with Afropia, they could fit in there. Certainly that is where I’m anticipating an appearance from the UN.

Enjoy the pics. 

Painted 

15mm          133, +15

28mm+          55

Bought         131

Progress      +57

The Walking Dead - Another Painting Update

Howdy folks,

I hope that all have had a Merry Christmas and good Holiday Season. In between all of the celebrating, drama, and whatever else the season throws at us, I thought I'd try to gain some posting momentum and highlight some more figures that I've been able to work through.

Continuing on an earlier post from Fall-ish, TWD Painting Update, I have successfully finished the remaining pieces in the Mantic "Days Gone Bye" expansion for their original The Walking Dead game. The expansion was a lot of fun to FINALLY finish up and paint...and as I said before, it offers some figures that could find a home in a variety of genres. 

I guess Mantic is going to be re-releasing TWD in the future, I'll be curious to see if they tweak the game or if it a pure re-release.

That being said, hope you enjoy the pics...this is a rather quick post. Happy Holidays folks!

Trying to get some focus on the Zombie-Police Officer, leaving Zombie-punk somewhat out of frame.

Some cool detail in the zombies...lots of fun to paint up and try out some weathering techniques.

Painted 

15mm          118

28mm+          55, +3

Bought         131

Progress      +42

Marvel Crisis Protocol - More Terrain

Hey folks,

Here’s a quick post on some Marvel Crisis Protocol terrain that I’ve been working through, here and there, a little bit at a time. These are pieces from the NYC Terrain Expansion (the dumpsters), the Construction Site (the barriers), and I think the garbage cans are from the Sanctum Santorum. The pieces are crazy easy to put together…and I’m just trying to get the right amount of weathering with each one…and of course, trying to be consistent with my previous terrain work.

All in all fun pieces to add into the fray, really enjoying the game and the models and terrain continues to be top notch. Cheers…

Painted 

15mm          118

28mm+          52, +10

Bought         131

Progress      +39

More Marvel CP - Battle Report

Howdy folks,

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Fall...apologies for being MIA, it has been a busy couple of past months. But, like I have been known to do, I had limited online time but also kept up with my painting. However, I thought I'd get the post ball rolling with another Marvel Crisis Protocol battle report...given that the first battrep was my last post, it kinda flows nicely with my return.

So, I had a chance to get together with Mike (Mike's version of events) and Duncan again and this time we went with a book battle scenario where there are 3 books to be recovered. It is a bit of a free-for-all, but we each went with a couple of heroes each (about 8 threat points).

If I remember correctly, Mike had Wong, Luke Cage, and Ironfist (or storm?); Duncan had Black Widow and the Hulk; and I went with Deadpool and Cable (go X-Force!).

Here we go...not as many pics as last time, but just as fun:

the setup...Duncan on the left, Mike on the right, me at the bottom...

Hulk and Black Widow

DP and Cable

All of us just start moving folk into the centre to try to get to the books first. I think Mike got to a book first, then DP got one...and Duncan had a bit more to go to get one.

Hulk and Luke Cage would tear it up for a bit...

DP has a book, uses a 'beaming' spell from the book to try to target Black Widow...Cable does his best to manoeuvre and let loose with his plasma rifle

Hulk and Luke continue to fight it out. Ironfist (or storm?) jumps in and lands a haymaker on the Hulk...that just makes him more angry, sigh...

At this point you can see various terrain pieces have been thrown around and destroyed...Hulk is gleefully smashing and throwing fits, Cable tries out some of his abilities and throws stuff around.

The endgame...not the big Endgame, but the end of the game...Mike wins for points - at the lose of Luke Cage and I think Wong; I am close second - at the lose of Cable; and Duncan is tail end charlie - at the lose of Black Widow but also with a very smashy Hulk.