Trying out Power Legion

On Monday night I thought I'd play out a little skirmish between the Fantastic Four and the Frightful Four in order to get to know the Power Legion rules.

The Frightful Four on a rampage try to find the energy disk.

I had only read through the rules once, late at night so had a pretty vague idea of how they would work. I used the stats that have been put together on the blog Dinahcatofdanger  and printed these off. I then set up a city-scape in the lounge and started to play.

The Fantastic Four arrive on the scene

The scenario saw the Wizard and his cronies the Trapster, Thundra and Sandman looking for a revolutionary fusion energy disk that was being transported in a crate in a truck. The Frightful Four had to locate which crate it was and then escape off the far side of the board. Getting in their way would be the Fantastic Four.

Sandman has got the energy disk.

In order to discover the disk, a character had to be in base to base contact with a crate and roll a '5+' on a d6. Of course, in the first turn the first crate turned out to contain the disk. It was up to the Fantastic Four to stop the baddies escaping with it. Then I rolled a 1 for Reed Richards' activation, which meant a turnover in the first move. As I hadn't read the rules properly, I forgot all about the 'fate' rules which would have given them another opportunity to activate.

So the Frightful Four started moving further off the board. Mr Fantastic activated and moved forward, but he rolled a 3 which gave him only one action. Then the Invisible Woman rolled a '1' which meant a turnover. Ah ha! I said, having read the rules a bit more. Mr Fantastic's leadership attribute allows her to re-roll this die! So I did this and rolled - a '1'! Things were not going well for the goodies. They survived the next round of villainous attacks, and finally started to do some damage. The Human Torch temporarily blinded the Wizard and the Trapster, and Mr Fantastic used a gadget to intimidate Thundra. While she was reeling the Thing charged her, only to miss! 

Battle is joined.

Sandman then hammered the Thing and staggered him. Wizard and Thundra recovered and between them staggered Mr Fantastic. The Human Torch and Invisible Woman proved totally ineffective in the next round, and then I had to call the game quits as it was getting late. If it had played to a conclusion I would say that the Wizard would have got away scott free with a new power source and a number of the FF would have been laid up in bed for a while.

Observations:

1. I roll crap dice.

2. Once the teams got into combat they became very static. I tended to allow them to stand off and blast each other. Only the sluggers - Thing and Thundra - moved during the combat. To be fair the Torch and Invisible Woman never got into a position where they needed to move away, but it did seem that putting all their actions into the offensive, rather than movement was necessary. I never 'banked' an action for a defensive move later, and I think the best use of this facility will be something that I pick up in time.

3. Not only do I need the basic stats on the cards for each super, but also a summary of what their traits allow them to do. It was pretty awkward flicking back and forth through the book to confirm what the various traits enabled me to do with my actions. This will be even more important playing with first-timers that I'm roping into a game.

4. The game seemed to take a long time. Most of this was because I was constantly rifling through the book to see what I could do and trying out different things.Once I've got the hang of it I can imagine it will move much quicker. I definitely want to pick which heroes and villains I want to use and practice with them regularly so that I know their capabilities without having to look them up.

I wonder if playing with a single hero vs a villain and then working my way up is a better idea? The game is not complicated.  I found it much easier to get to grips with than Supersystem for instance. The different dice for different levels of ability works really well. It is just knowing the stats and traits of your characters that is important. I'm looking forward to getting stuck into them again this weekend.

Nate

Lord Curr's Company

After selling off all of my In Her Majesty's Name companies I was still left with the unpainted Lord Curr's Company. I asked Geoff if he was interested in them if I painted them, and he said yes, so I guess this is something of a commission.

The full company of 11 figures.

Some of the Incorrigibles.

More Incorrigibles

The characters - Lord Curr, Mad Mick, Mohan Singh and Lady Felicity

So there they all are, Christchurch bound. I thought I'd put them here so Geoff can decide if he is happy with them.
I have to admit, it was very therapeutic getting the brushes out after all of that marking.
Nate

The up side...

...to selling off your lovingly painted miniatures is the rumble of the courier van in the driveway.
A week since my last delivery, here is the latest:

1918 Germans for the Flames of War Great War rules

Here are the contents of the box set

A big thank you to Caliver Books who delivered this in record time from the United Kingdom - 5 days to the other side of the world! I tried to order the Stoss-platoon as well, but it is not in stock yet. I'll order it later on when all of the WWI terrain becomes available as I'm quite keen on the shattered battlefields and large craters with ruined house.

Also turning up:

Fantastic packaging!

I ordered some Flames of War bases from Sarissa Precision. I have been using Minibits as my go-to for MDF, but they don't make FoW shaped bases, so this was my first order with Sarissa. I'm very impressed with the service and the product, but in particular the packaging. Most companies that export MDF use jiffy bags. This was a box with polystyrene and bubble wrap! I purchased enough bases for the 1914 German and French armies coming from Lancashire Games, but I can guarantee I'll need more in the future, and these guys look like they will be my first point of call.

Still more goodies to come. I can't wait.

Nate

Back on the horse

First element of Battlefront 1918 Brtish infantry from the front

And as seen from behind

Because no-one should have to spend their whole weekend marking exams.

Nate

Just arrived

Courier just dropped this off.

Romans and Carthaginians Field of Glory starter armies, but perfect for the Sword and Spear rules (also recently purchased and which I very much like the look of). 

Thanks Old Glory 15s!

Nate

A bit of a shake up

Every now and then I reflect on my gaming and what I am collecting and why. This inevitably leads to wiping the slate clean and moving on to something new. Well, the last couple of weeks have seen that process in full cry.

I've decided to go big into 15mm - WW1, Punic Wars and the Peninsular War. To fund this transition I have sold the SAGA Normans and Anglo-Danes, and all of my companies for In Her Majesty's Name.

Why would I do this? Something has always sat uneasy about the armies and periods that I collect. They always seem to be a dabble in a niche interest and not a representation of what I fundamentally want in a wargame. And what is it that I want? Do I even know? Well, lately it has been a wave of nostalgia, and that nostalgia is for pushing around 20mm Esci and Airfix Napoleonics 20 odd years ago. It isn't so much the plastic figures with flaking paint or the wooden block terrain with lego trees that I miss. It is the size and scope of the battle - about a dozen units on each side with 16 infantry or 12 cavalry to a unit. My aim is to be able to play some solo games in the evening, sitting in my lounge or at the dining room table, or sometimes in the shed where I can leave them set up on the proper wargames table if I need to. Rules have been selected - Flames of War for WWI, Drums and Shakos Large Battles from Ganesha Games for Napoleonics, and Ancient and Medieval Wargaming by Neil Thomas (with a few little extra rules) for the Punic Wars.

Painting has ground to a halt as I always lose impetus when I'm thinking of moving in different directions, hence this blog going quiet over the last month. I do plan to get back to the Gallic Wars SAGA at some point, but it is now definitely on the back-burner. My projects for the next year or more are now all 15mm. I'll probably start with 1918, then Napoleonics, then Ancients and finally 1914, but that is all subject to change based on what the weather is doing on any particular day.

On another note, I am very, very excited about the release of Ganesha Games' new superhero rules, Power Legion. I have been holding out for these for some time, and I am definitely not disappointed. I had them spiral bound yesterday and read through them last night, and they are exactly what I have been looking for in a set of Superhero rules. If it wasn't exam marking time this weekend I'd be playing my first game. As it is, I will probably have to wait another week.

Nate