25mm Mayfair Games Teen Titans

A few weeks back, I posted up some 25mm superheroes from the mid-1980s. I got another box in the mail, this time the Teen Titans. The box came with six heroes and four villains and I managed to get the heroes painted up.

First up are Wonder Girl, Nightwing and Jericho. There are lots of variant costumes available to choose from but I took the earliest ones (which is what the minis were based on).

Overall, the sculpts are nice, if a bit thin and static. The second set included Cyborg, Starfire, and Changeling. I can see why the sculptor would have chosen the flying pose for Starfire but her shooting a bolt of whatever out of her fist would have been a more useful pose. Changling shifting into a lion is a nice effort.

Overall, these are decent enough figures. The omission of Raven and Kid Flash are notable, although at least the Titan box contained a few women. They more or less scale alright with the Justice League figures. Maybe the Titans are a bit thinner but I guess we could write that off as they're not quite fully grown. 

The scale difference between the 25mm Mayfair figures and more modern 28/32mm sculpts (these being heroclix) is quite marked. 

I'm not sure if I'm going to get another post up before I take a summer break. If not, happy summering and I'll see you in September!

Mayfair Games 25mm Super Heroes: Justice League

Back in about 1984 or 85, Mayfair Games released a superhero rpg called DC Heroes. For a kid who loved dungeons and dragons and comic books, this was fantastic. They also released a bunch of boxes of 25mm superheroes and villains. 

I recently bought the Justice League box to see what they were like. Straight out of the box, these were hugely disappointing, being very small 25mm figures with very flat and static poses. After some work, though, they started to grow on me. 

The heroes in this box were Batman, Green Lantern, Superman, Hawkman, the Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow. The lack of Wonder Woman is notable, but not as notable as the insane pose they gave Batman (which looked way worse on bare metal).

In the end, I was reasonably happy with the results. There is some nice detail on Hawkman and the rest do well with simple, bold colours and a quick wash.

 

I presume the Bat-wahtuzzi or whatever the hell is happening here is an homage to the campy Batman of the 1960s and 1970s so I painted him in those colours. Th eGreen Arrow sculpt was super dissatisfying but then suddenly came alive with some paint.

I struggled with Sup's chest emblem and finally decided that this the best I can do (you are seeing him at least 2x) and he looks fine on the table. Ditto Green Lantern's emblem.

The backs of the figures are also pretty decent in terms of detail and animation.

The only modern comparator I could find in a matching pose is Green Arrow, with a heroclix on the left. He'd probably about 32mm and you can really see the effects of scale creep over the 25mm 1980s standard.

The box also contained four "super" villains.

Sinestero is an okay pose, I guess, and the Joker is fine enough (again, evoking the 1960s and 1970s renderings).

Brainiac is a pretty nice sculpt that I struggled to paint up with the detail of the comics. Darkseid, a villain I have always hated, is just an awful figure and three tries (with different colour palettes) and this was the best effect I could get (the sculpt is just terrible, terrible work, even by 1980s standards).

Overall, I had a fun time with these guys and, if I see the other boxes for a decent price (especially the Titans and the Outsiders), I will definitely pick them up.

Fistful of Dice: Deathstroke vs the Teen Titans

Bruce dropped by a few weeks back to try out Fistful of Dice with some superheroes. I put together the most asymmetrical game I could manage in order to really give the rules a test. The result was one hero and a bunch of goons versus four specialists.

Scenario
Deathstroke has been contracted to kill the Teen Titans. To lure the Titans into the open, he’s staged a jail break, killing the cops in the precinct, and releasing into the streets four of the most fearsome gangs Gotham has ever known.

Team Death Stroke (leader plus 4 groups grunts)

Deathstroke d12 shooting/melee

• sniper rifle 16/32”
• sword (+1 in close combat roll)
• dead eye (+1 to shoot rolls)
• ferocious (+1 to wound rolls in close combat)
• tough as nails (4 wounds)

Smith’s Grifters 3x grunts d8 shooting/melee

• pistol 6/12”

8th Street Ladies Club 3x grunts d8 shooting/melee

• pistol 6/12”

Father Mark’s Boys School Photography Club 5 x grunts d6 melee only

• club (-1 to wound roll but add additional shock marker)

Sister Mary’s Girls School Field Hockey Team 5 x grunts d6 melee only

• club (-1 to wound roll but add additional shock marker)

Team Titans (4 specialists)

Robin d10 shooting/melee

• batarang 6/12” (shock result only; 2 shocks = 1 wound)
• staff (may attack from 2” away in close combat)
• master (roll 1 additional die in close combat and select best result)
• fancy footwork (win ties in close combat)

Wondergirl d10 melee only +3” to movement

• magic lasso (may attack from 4” away; wins ties; add additional shock marker)
• tough as nails (4 wounds)
• impervious (ignore wound penalties on movement, attack and recovery rolls)

Speedy d10 shooting/melee

• long bow 11/20”
• fists (-1 to wound rolls)
• sniper (once per turn re-roll shooting)
• eagle-eyed (extra range already factored in)

Cyborg d10 shooting/melee +3” to jumping

• electric shock 6/12”
• power fist (-1 to wound roll but add additional shock marker)
• armoured (roll 1d10 per hit, on an 8-10 the hit is absorbed by the armour)
• brawler (reroll close combat roll once per turn)

Set-up

1. Deathstroke sets up four gangs within 1” of the police station; Deathstroke may be placed anywhere within 1" of the station, including on the roof.
2. Titans are positioned at least 9” from the police station.

Victory Points (highest total wins)

• Deathstroke gets 5VPs per Titan OOA, 10VPs if Titan dies in post-game resolution
• Deathstroke gets 0.5VP per grunt exiting the Board (max 8) and 2 VP per building burgled (no maximum, buildings take 3 wounds to enter).
• Titans get 1VP per grunt OOA or captured and 10 VPs if Deathstroke OOA

Coppers Arrive

Roll 1d6 at the end of each turn and adding the following:

• +1 for gunfire having occurred in the game
• +1 for each building being burgled in the game
• +1 for each figure OOA in the game

When the roll plus mods equals 12, 1d6 cops from other precincts arrive at a random board edge at the end of each turn. After all play is resolved, the cops make 2 moves towards (1) any visible bad guys or (2) the police station. Any grunts contacted by the cops are arrested. Cops will not attempt to arrest Deathstroke or the Titans. Team Deathstroke can attack cops but OOA cops just recycle.

Game ends

• All Titans are OOA or off board or
• All Deathstroke grunts are off board, OOA, or captured.

Outcome

I ran through the scenario three times (Deathstroke won twice) and it poses some difficult choices. Deathstroke (with a d12)  is super powerful and can easily take out a Titan. But he's also vulnerable to bad rolls. The grunts are almost useless but, again, a bad wound roll can take out a Titan. and there are so many grunts.

Mixed bag of painting

I finished a random assortment of things today. When I was using my Mageknight dungeon tiles recently, I realized I had no stairs. I had two idea to deal with this. The first was to take some of the "trap" tiles that had a centre cut out and use them to make spiral stair cases. This is one with the centre piece pulled out, a wedge of the piece cut as a step and the rest of descending steps painted in. This looks better in person than in this picture. I did two of these.

I also did the reverse to build stairs going up, basically taking centre pieces and cutting them to give the impression of stairs. Not playable in any way but a reasonable enough representation. The other approach is straight stairs that sit on tiles. I'll start these this week. 

I got this random sci-fi guy in a job lot. I had no idea what to do with him. His gun looked suitably impractical that he could stand in a Mr. Freeze in my super hero games.

Craig also kindly mailed me a couple of Heroclix figures over the holiday. On the left is Ra's alh Ghul' daughter (but will do as a generic gunslinger). On the right is the Ventriloquist from the campy 1960s/70s Bat comics but who could be a very dark villain if you wanted.

Up next: Some Russian Crimean Hussar Lancers are almost done.

Fistful of Lead Batman, Game 4 Finale

Alright, a few weeks late but here is the last instalment off my initial foray into adapting Fistful of Lead for low-powered supers. In addition to bringing this mini-campaign to a thematically appropriate conclusion, I wanted to do something indoors, using the Mageknight dungeon terrain I've been collecting. And I wanted to see if it was possible to break Fistful of Lead using a min-max strategy. Consequently, I give you the Joker's Lair.

Highlights include the main doorway at the bottom right. At the bottom left is a secret alternate doorway (requiring a task roll to be found). Middle left is the Clown Gun (tm) which takes five turns to activate (with a successful task roll each time). The baddies are sleeping and distributed throughout the lair, so must cope with closed doors and distance. To even it up, the goodies must chance activating a trap any time they move in a hallway (five traps total).

The Joker starts in his study. Note in the background the secret exit he has, with a suitcase by the door. The Riddler (who is good at tasks) starts beside the Clown Gun.

Penguin and Harlequin were injured last time and were not available. Poison Ivy and a gang boss also died last time (!) so I had to fill out Joker's roster with five groups of street punks (three one-wound melee characters in each gang). Having 15 low-level thugs let me test out whether I could break the system by flooding the zone with bodies (spoiler: not really). They were mostly sacked out in their bedrooms while Catwoman was in the dining hall getting some milk.

Team Bats was without Batman (again...) because of some wounds so I added in a second group of rookie cops with night sticks. I assigned Robin and Batgirl and one set of rookies to the secret door while everyone else assaulted the main door. 

On Turn 1, Batgirl couldn't find the door but eventually Robin did and the rookies ran in. Meanwhile, Joker moves out of his office and next to the Clown Gun. There were  bunch of secret passages, access to which could be obtained by Team Bats on a task roll.

 

Meanwhile, at the front door, some rookies forced the door, providing a meatshield for the heroes. A hidden Tommy Gunner was behind the wall and felled two. Neither Green Arrow nor Black Canary could seem to hit him and Green Arrow repeatedly had to reload due to atrocious shooting rolls (he was a huge disappointment in this game after a great showing previously). The rest of the team burst past this antechamber and into the hallway, triggering traps and winding up in a first fight with the first group of punks, who were pulling the midnight shift in the armoury.

Catwoman and the rest of the punks bolted into action at the sound of shots but faced long corridors and closed doors that slowed their progress. I tried to keep the lair small but still allow for multiple pathways. In the end, that wasn't really all that successful as the location of the Clown Gun pretty much drew everyone to the main room. If Commissioner Gordon had not been rescued last time, he would have been caged and offered a diversion for the players.

Turn two saw Robin kick in the door to the Clown Gun room and batarang Riddler (who had successfully activated the gun a second time). His status was a question mark. (Apologies of the pun, Terry reads my blog and I wanted to throw him a bone.)

The rookies followed Robin into the room and rushed the Joker, hoping the three-to-one odds would help them. It did not, although they did drive him away from the Clown Gun. Batgirl hurried to catch up.

Over at the main entrance, Back Canary and Green Arrow could just not get it together and were jammed up for another turn. The detective and remaining rookie braved more traps and waded through the rest of the first punks. A beat cop rushed ahead to pop the door and himself got popped by a gangster. The remaining thugs were still running towards the sound of battle (so many doors). Black Lightening threw a bolt through the open door, disrupting a group of punks.

Turn 3 saw Batgirl finally show up and hit Joker with a batarang. Joker used one of his traits to assign the wound to Riddler. This was a questionable play since, with only two wounds, the Riddler expired.  Again, apologies for the pun. Another rookie fell victim to the Joker.

The main hallway was full of traps, which took their toll. The beat cop and the rookie managed to get to the main room and hold the door against an approaching group of punks. Black Lightening got KOed. But Black Canary's sonic scream helped even up the losses.

On Turn 4, a gang of thugs turned up to help Joker. Catwoman also appeared, hoping to activate the Clown Gun. Batgirl managed to run out of batarangs and the last of the rookies was KOed.

There was quite  a lot of mayhem in the main hallway, but lBack Canary managed to throw a sonic scream over some downed coppers and force a pathway into the main room. The Tommy Gunner abandoned his position and rushed to cut her off.

Turn 5 saw Catwoman complete a task roll and move the Clown Gun one more step towards activation. Thugs attacked Batgirl and Robin and were repulsed. Robin then KOed the Joker with a very lucky batarang so Batgirl rush a thug and then Catwoman and knocked her down. This was the turning point of the game.

The hallway fight spilled into the main room. The Tommy Gunner stepped around the corner to hose down Black Canary at short range but forgot his drum was empty. Robin dashed to help Black canary but somehow lost a melee and went down wounded.

Turn 6 saw Batgirl continue to kicked Catwoman on the ground.  But the rest of the baddies failed recovery rolls and the turn was simply a mop-up operation for Team Bats.

Team Bats picked up 5 reputation points giving them a total of 22 for the campaign and a clear win. Team Joker got 2 points for a total of 16. Things could easily have gone the other way if the Clown Gun had been successfully activated. To conclude this, in case I decide to pick it up again, some terrible end--of-game rolls meant Team Bats got Black Lightening back but Robin died from his wounds. The Joker was also wounded and will need to select a permanent negative trait. Catwoman was also wounded.

The Mageknight terrain as functional enough: a bit finicky to assemble and probably not ideal for a club game. I would think that some floor tiles made from extruded styrofoam (with a black cloth to create negative space) and some stand-alone doors would be more functional, durable, and much cheaper. That said, I was happy to have gotten this stuff on the table finally.

Fistful of Lead Batman, Game 3

So, picking up the storyline in this series of linked scenarios, the Joker had destroyed enough of Gotham's communication infrastructure that he was able to kidnap Commission Gordon! Unfortunately, during the dust-up, Joker was seriously injured and had to sit out a game, as did Green Arrow. 

I wanted to see how well the game played with four players as well as use some of my outdoorsy terrain so the scenario is that the Joker's gang has to get Commissioner Gordon from the far corner of the table to the near corner, and then into the Joker's liar. This requires going through Gotham woods, which is bisected by a stream and a marsh. Harlequin and various gangsters start with Commission Gordon. For support, a team of four specialists marches out of the Joker's Lair.

Batman is back from his rest break and comes on the table from the right side with three beat cops. More cops can join him on a die roll at the end of each turn. On the left side of the table, Black Lightening and Batgirl enter. They can be joined by Robin and Black Canary on a die roll. I played each side with a separate hand of cards.

Turn 1 sees mostly movement on the far side of the board, as Harlequin grabs Commission Gordon and hauls ass. Penguin, Catwoman, Riddler, and Poison Ivy advance, only to run into Batman. A Batarang takes Poison Ivy out on the first turn!

Turn 2 sees Riddler try to confuse Batman and fail, only to get hit twice by batarangs and pick up two shock markers for the trouble. This effectively suppressed the Riddler. There was more frantic movement on the far side of the table as Batgirl and Black Lightening tried to control the ford over the stream.

Turn 3 saw reinforcements begin arriving for Batman and a huge bunch of melees. Catwoman took a beating at the hands of a bunch of cops before Penguin waded in with his umbrella sword and thinned the cops out. Riddler got further suppressed.

Meanwhile, back on the far side, Black Lightening and Batgirl turn to face a bunch of gangsters while Harlequin sneaks past them with the Commissioner. Robin arrives on the far edge of the board.

 

Turn 4 was rough for Team Joker. Penguin called in some thugs for help but was promptly KOed by Batman in melee. Riddler and Catwoman are also so beat up as to be useless.

 

Mid-board, Batgirl took out some thugs only to be gunned down by some gangsters. Harlequin snuck across the river into some willows with the Commissioner, and Black Lightening left Batgirl to follow Harlequin.

Turn 5 saw Harlequin sprint across some open ground before Black Lightening could react and got the Commissioner into some trees. Black Lightening blasted her and ended up shocking her and Commissioner Gordon! Catwoman routed, Riddler got KOed, and Batman rushed into the melee. A beat cop ran to try and block Harlequin's exit. On the far side of the Board, Robin got wounded and Black Canary finally arrived.

Turn 6 saw Harlequin get within inches of the board edge, slowed by the shock she'd picked up. The beat cop plowed into her and KOed her, rescuing Commissioner Gordon!

Batman, maybe still suffering from his past wounds, got beat in melee and was wounded.

And, in the middle of the board, Black Canary took out a mob boss while Robin ran out of batarangs. Black Lightening also ran out of juice, but the fight had largely gone out of the remaining mobsters and they bolted.

At the end of the game, Team Bats scored 10 points (for a total of 17 so far) while Team Joker picked up 4 points (for a total of 14 so far). Both teams had a lot of figures injured who will need to test to see if they are available for the last fight, deep inside Joker's lair (giving me a chance to haul out my dungeon terrain).

Overall, the game played fine with four players (perhaps even more interesting because the action shifted back and forth and more special cards came up). Batman might be a touch too powerful with his shooting and I wonder if the damage done by batarangs need to be downgraded to shock only?