On the Painting Desk: Nano-Metal Figs Superheroes

A player of war games should never let things like lack of miniatures get in the way of gaming. I am not averse to using paper templates, proxies, and toys in order to get a game in. I think some genres are especially suited to this approach. I have made it no secret that I think the Super-hero genre is ripe for using toys, especially in 2018 when super-heroes are all the rage. There are plenty of low-cost toys out there that can be used with minimal repainting. These can be used with games like the Batman/DC Miniature games, the defunct Marvel Miniature games, Super System, and more.

One thing I like about the Super-hero genre of wargames is the ability to do some light Role-play as you play. You can have your heroes or villains spout one liners, act heroically, or perform despicable deeds. It is all part of the fun! The fact that you can start into them so cheaply is just a bonus to me.

To this end, I have been working my small collection of Nano-Metal figures. I bought 3 5 packs for about $15 at a local large retailer. That averages out to about a $1 per figure. I then give them the barest of re-paints and a wash. Just like that, my own Super-heroes are made at about the 32-36mm scale. Conveniently, about the scale may skirmish war games are going. When you look at my efforts it will probably be very easy to tell who was who originally.

I have two main groups. The first is the Union of Semi-Professional Heroes and the second is the villainous Black Hearts. I will be using these guys with the SuperSystem 4th Edition rules. I have used these rules a couple oftimes, and enjoyed them.

The Union is composed of amateur, free-lance super-heroes who are not aligned to any government, corporation, or organization. However, each member has dedicated themselves to helping uphold peace, justice, and the law. The Union was founded by The Riverine after he split ways with United States government over his role during the Vietnam War. The Union has been an active organization since 1968. Typically, a the more senior members act as role-models and mentors for younger heroes to help them learn to live as a Super-hero in the modern world. Each member pays monthly dues and agrees to help their fellow members. One of the main benefits is their group health plans, liability coverage, and retirement packages. Afterall, unless you are artificially kept young by an ageless, mystical artifact like the Riverine, you want to retire eventually.

Here you can see the latest roster of the Union.

From front to back, left to right is Mr. Amazing, The Riverine, and Red Streak. The next row left to right is The Duelist, Rampart, and Safeguard. The back row from left to right is The Shark, Oni, Hotness, and Kata.

Mr. Amazing- Mr. Stupendous Archetype

The Riverine- The Shield Slinger Archetype

Red Streak- Speed Demon Archetype

Duelist- Terrible, Swift Sword Archetype

Rampart- Immovable Object Archetype

Safeguard- The Guardian Archetype

Shark- He Just Won't Stay Down Archetype

Oni- Unstoppable Force Archetype

Hotness- Death from Above Archetype

Kata- Lucky Striker Archetype

The Black Hearts are a mercenary bunch of powered individuals. Each has their own nefarious goals and objectives, but they are united in a common understanding that they can not stand alone against heroic groups like the Union. There best chances is to band together in their own evil, yet enlightened self-interests. The individual members of the Black Guards often dislike or even despise each other but they are willing to work together for mutual gain and profit. Many of the Black Hearts members simply want to get paid, while others have more far reaching and grander schemes. However, unlike the Union; the Black Hearts are not afraid to get their hands dirty and cause collateral damage for their cause. Of course, their cause is determined by the highest bidder.

In the front row, left to right is the Nihilist, Black-out, Troll. The second row is Sock Puppet, Metal Head, Brainstorm, and Vampyre. The last row from left to right is Buzzard, Titan, and Cayman.

Nihilist- Empath Archetype

Black-out- Machine Gun puncher Archetype

Troll- Fate's Gunner Archetype

Sock Puppet- Dominator Archetype

Metal Head- Immovable Object Archetype

Brainstorm- Brain Burner Archetype

Vampyre- He Just Won't Stay Down Archetype

Buzzard- Death from Above Archetype

Titan- Mr. Stupendous Archetype

Cayman- Unstoppable Force Archetype

Each character has there own back simple back story, origin, and motivations. However, I will introduce those more in any future battle reports I use these guys in, like I introduced Safeguard and Buzzard in the Smuggler's Run!battle report.

You can look forward to seeing these guys as we finish off 2018 and move in 2019.

Super System 4th Edition: Battle Report- Smugglers Run!

I was very excited to continue using the Nano Metal toy superhero figures to keep building and playing games of Super System. Typically, all this metal models need is a few touch-ups for paint and a wash to be ready to play. They can be found easily at big box retailers and do the trick just fine for these types of games, allowing for fun games on a budget.

I divided my models into two teams. The Union of Semi-Professional Heroes A.K.A. The Union versus The Black Hearts. You can read all about the current line-up of The Union and the Black Hearts in a previous blog post. After the Black Hearts raided a museum and stole several artifacts of ancient and historical South-East Asia, they were confronted by the Union as they made their escape in the desert. Today's adventure is a continuation of the ongoing rivalry between the two factions.

The Nihilist flipped open the briefcase and turned for him to see. For a brief moment, the glitter and flash of uncut diamonds flashed in the dim light.

“Look, it is worth your while to help us out. I have been told you are one of the best smugglers uncut diamonds can buy.”

The other man cast a long thin shadow. He craned his neck and it looked unnatural as he peaked into the container. A filthy blanket wrapped around him as his dark eyes glinted at the sight of the gems.

“I can get you out of country unnoticed easily enough. However, you do realize where you go is a deadly jungle hell hole run by a murderous militia?” The man squawked.

The Nihilist and Metal Head exchanged the briefest glance. “We understand. That's why we are coming to you.”

The man shuffled forward awkwardly in a tattered blanket. His hand shot out and slammed the case closed. A metallic, claw like set of fingers closed on the handle. MetalHead stepped forward and planted his large hand on the case firmly and shook his head slowly.

Nihilist hissed through her mask, “Do we have a deal?”

The man's head twitched forward in what she assumed was a sign of consent. Then he slowly looked up above them. With a speed that surprised the two Black Hearts he stepped back and tore the blanket from his shoulders. As it drifted away, the man raised a red helmet to his head, and a huge pair of mechanical wings stretched outward from his body.

“Company!” he squawked. The two villains turned quickly to see Mr. Amazing flying down from the darkening horizon. MetalHead eagerly crashed his fist into his palm, while Nihilist raised her delicate hood.

The caped hero hovered at the edge of the wooded clearing, “What do we have here? An unexpected catch?”

From the edge of the woods stepped the Riverine and his fellow Union pal, Safeguard. “We came to shut down Buzzard's smuggling ring, but it looks a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!”

Metalhead grinned at the newly arrived heroes, “Let's Rock.” he muttered. However, the Nihilist placed a restraining hand on his bicep.

“Remember, our job was to secure the Buzzard's help. Not smash up The Union. We have the Buzzard, now we need to make our escape.”

With a quick grunt MetalHead nodded his reluctant agreement. The Nihilist turned quickly to their new fellow Black Heart he was now hovering, buoyed by the soft whooshing of micro-jet technology, “It looks like you are one of us now. Come on!” She started running towards their hidden burrowing machine.

Riverine rolled his eyes, “We can't let them get away..... again!” He sprang into action. His fellow Union hero, Safeguard close behind him.

“I knew we should I have asked Red Streak to come,” muttered Safeguard.

We have two new cast members today! For The Union we have Safeguard. Safeguard was a scientist and inventor whose family was killed tragically as collateral damage during a super-villain throw down. He vowed to protect those who could not protect himself and spent years creating the Safeguard armor. It allows him to project protective force bubbles around himself and others to keep other from harm. His appearance to protect civilians at various super-powered slugfests soon brought him to the attention of The Union, and he was recruited by the Riverine.

For the Black Hearts, we have the infamous smuggler and mercenary the Buzzard. Buzzard was able to acquire a suit of specialized flying gear from a smuggling operation that went wrong on the edge of Tajikistan. The former owners of the suit may have been the Soviet Union, Chinese Military, Islamic rebels, or worse. He didn't know or care as he used it to escape capture by a United States military raid. The suit allows him to fly and since he has equipped it with various upgrades to help him stay ahead of his competition and pursuers.

The Forces

The Union (of Semi-Professional Heroes)

Mr. Amazing- Brick- Stupendous Man Archetype

The Riverine- Brawler-The Shield Slinger Archetype

Safeguard- Blaster- Guardian Archetype

The Black Hearts

Nihilist- Mentalist- The Empath Archetype

MetalHead- Brick- Immovable Object Archetype

Buzzard- Blaster- Death from Above Archetype

Mission

The Black Hearts are starting on any board edge up to 12 inches in. The Heroes can start at the closest board edge. The Black Hearts need to get Buzzard off the opposite board edge to win along with one other Black Heart to operate the machine. He can not be captured by The Union. The Union must capture Buzzard first, any other captures are a bonus.

Set-up

The board is to be a wooded clearing. There are rocks and small copse of trees scattered about. It is assumed the edge of the board is surrounded by thick forest and impenetrable, except for where marked for the Buzzard to escape to the Black Hearts waiting machine.

The Black Hearts are in a small group, where they were conducting there business before being interrupted. The Union are along a board edge within 12 inches and directly opposite where the Black Hearts need to escape the board.

Turn 1:

The Nihilist wins the Initiative roll against the Riverine. The Buzzard takes off and fires a blast of firepower. He targets Mr. Aamzing as he is the only opponent who can fly, but the super hero simply shrugs off the blasts.

The Riverine knows how dangerous MetalHead can be when he changes into his metal form, so he dashes forward and tosses his trident. It grazes along the rockers arm, and draws blood as he stumbles back. MetalHead grabs his arm, looks at the blood on his hand, and snarls at the Riverine. He quickly changes into his metal form. He takes a step towards the Union leader

Nihilist thows up her hand, “Cover Buzzard!” Metalhead reluctantly agrees and falls back towards the winged smuggler.

Mr. Amazing takes-off and starts to head for the Buzzard. However, Nihilist mind flares him and clouds his mind. Safeguard steps up and fires force bolts at Nihilist, but she manages to avoid them.

Turn 2:

The Nihilist out leads the Riverine again. Buzzard walks his fire from Mr. Amazing towards Riverine, but he acrobatically dodges the shooting. Casings rain from the sky as Buzzard falls back to the escape route. Mr. Amazing grimaces through the confusing haze in his head and makes his way towards the top of the hill to try and cut off his escaping prey. The mind flare still dances and clouds his mind.

MetalHead keeps his metallic form and falls back, but he is much slower than the Buzzard. He tries to get between the Buzzard and Mr. Amazing.

The Riverine sees his chance as Nihilist is undefended and races forward, and scoops up his trident and leaping attacks the mentalist. His attack strikes home and pushes her back from the impact. Cursing, she mind flares the impudent Hero. The Riverine stumbles back from the mental attack and is stunned. Seeing The Riverine stumble, Safeguard moves up to protect him with a force dome if needed.

Turn 3:

The Nihilist wins advantage again. Seeing the Nihilist get hit, MetalHead switches targets to the disoriented Riverine and smashes him as hard as he can! However, even with a woozy-head, The Riverine is able to dodge the incoming attack.

Mr. Amazing keeps up the pursuit and gets to the top of the hill, his mind still reeling from the Flare. Nihilist runs for the escape route at full speed. The Riverine breaks under MetalHeads swinging fists and chases after the fleeing foes. Safeguard chases after The Riverine.

“Hey, wait-up!” Safeguard skitters after The Riverine. MetalHead glaring at him.

Buzzard keeps falling back, and unloads a barrage of mini-missiles from his suit at The Riverine. The old soldiers twists and turns, but a nearby explosion hits him with streaking hot shrapnel.

The Rioverine looks pointedly back at Safeguard as a trickle of blood runs down his cheek from a minor scalp wound. The scientist shrugged sheepishly, “I had to run to keep up with you, sorry.”

Turn 4:

The Black Hearts can still go first. The Nihilist scampers away from The oncoming heroes. However, The Riverine keeps up the pursuit, and throws his Trident at her. However, the mind flare clouding The Riverine's mind allows her to easily dodge away from the oncoming weapon.

MetalHead chases down the straggling Doctor, and tries to grab him. However, the Doctor squirms away from the lunging big man. Safeguard squirms away and gives MetalHead a blast to the metal face, which causes the metal man to smile like a feral wold.

“Better luck next time, Do,.” Metalhead quipped.

With his head ringing, Mr. Amazing rips a tree from the ground at the top of the hill with a grunt, and throws it at Buzzard. The Buzzard tries to dodge the tree, but it is too large, entangles him, and he falls to the ground with the tree around him.

“Don't leave yet, you forgot your trunk!”Mr. Amazing shouted playfully.

With the roar of micro-jets the battered buzzard burst from the tree with his chain guns blazing at the Riverine, who managed to barely dodge the ricocheting bullets.

Turn 5:

The Nihilist is a great leader and out commands the Riverine. The Buzzard hovered back to the edge of the clearing and laid down cover fire, again whinging the Riverine in the fire fight. However, it wasn't enough to stop him as he attacked the Nihilist. However, she easily dodges the mind flared Hero who hasn't taken the time to clear his head yet. She manages to duck around the swings of The Riverine's trident and manages to fall back to the Burrower with Buzzard.

Conclusion:

A high pitch whistle filled the clearing, and MetalHead looked up from the cowering Safeguard, “Maybe we can dance next time, Doc?” With that he dashed towards his fellow Black Hearts. Nihilist put her hands ot her head and focused an extra strength mind blast that forced Mr. Amazing and The Riverine to grip their heads, momentarily paralyzed. By the time the heroes shook it off, the Black Hearts were gone.

Mr. Amazing flew down to his fellow heroes, his hand on his temple, “What were those two doing here?”

“I don't know, but I am sure it was no good,” The Riverine walked to the edge of the tunneler's path and looked into the ground.

Safeguard shrugged, “Sorry guys, I guess you should have brought Red Streak afterall. He could have caught those guys. I wasn't much good.”

Mr. Amazing clapped his fellow Union member on the shoulder, “Don't be so hard on yourself. We all learned from this encounter.”

“Well said Mr. Amazing. We will be better prepared next time,” The Riverine walked back to his friends, “Come on, let's get back to the Union Hall and consult with the others. Maybe they have some idea of what the Black Hearts are up to?”

Another Super Systems game under my belt. We probably are still making tons of mistakes, but the game was still enjoyable. I have really enjoyed the light role-playing element that this game provides. We were cracking one-liners, taunting each other, and generally just having a hoot at the table. There are a lot of little rules to recall about how powers and special moves interact, but the rules are laid out pretty well to answer most basic questions as you go. It was awesome to have Mr. Amazing throw a tree at Buzzard! That almost took him out too.

This game won't be to everyone's taste as the damage output is not high, and many of the heroes can take a pretty good beating. However, both games have had a strong evasion element to the plot and story line we are developing, so fleeing has been a high priority for the Black Hearts instead of sticking around and pounding each other into super-dust. There is a strong element of trying to create mismatches between characters and powers whenever possible such as having Riverine take on Nihilist and MetalHead vs. Safeguard. However, you also need to know when to put a brick against a brick and so forth. By no means would I call this a tight tournament set of rules, but it is a great tool set for super heroics on the tabletop.

Battle Report: Super Systems 4th Edition- Showdown in the Sands

The Black Hearts had completed the job easily.  The museum had a state of the art security system to protect the artifacts they had collected over the years.  However, those security precautions were no match for villains with the capabilities of the Black Hearts.  Guards, alarms, vaults…. All of it was for nothing when the Black Hearts came to collect.

What exactly they collected was unclear from the video The Union of Semi-Professional Heroes had been provided.  The Black Hearts had easily penetrated the security and made their way to the Hall of Ancient History and moved into the South-East Asia wing.  There they grabbed a variety of artifacts and made their way out. 

“What are these miscreants up to?” Mr. Amazing turned to the Riverine.  He knew that his companion had a long history with that region of the world, not all of it good. 

“I can’t be sure….but that was the region where I received my powers.  There might be a link,” Riverine responded. 

There was a quick blast of red light, and then Red Streak was there with Mr. Amazing and Riverine, “Those goons were spotted out in the desert by a park ranger.  He called it in, and the local police have asked for our help.” 

Mr. Amazing nodded, “Well Riverine, let’s go ask them what they are up to!”  With that, the three heroes rushed out of their lair to intercept the Black Hearts out in the desert. 

************

Forces  

The Super System 4^th Edition book has a few Archetypes to help you get some quick heroes together.  I used them to come up with my two sides.  The Black Hearts are the “villains” while The Union are the “heroes”. 

The Black Hearts

Metalhead- Brick- Immovable Object

Nihilist- Mentalist- The Empath

Troll- Blaster- Blaster- Fates Gunner

The Union (of Semi-Professional Heroes)

Mr. Amazing- Brick- Mr. Stupendous

Red Streak- Speedster- Speed Demon

Riverine- Brawler- The Shield Slinger

I took those archetypes and made a couple of character sheets with notes to refer to during playing.  You can find out more about these heroes and villains in a previous post.   

Set-up

This game will be played on a 4x4 desert board.  I am using my classic wasteland table cover.  I then scattered some rocks around.  I also placed a dirt road across the center of the board.

The Black Hearts are placed within three inches of each other in the center of the board.  They are in a triangle within 3 inches of each other.  The Union can be placed on any table edge.  Mr. Amazing and the Riverine are blocking each table edge at the end of the road.  Red Streak is supporting the Riverine. 

Mission

One of the Black Hearts is carrying the “Loot”.  It is being carried by Troll.  The Black Hearts are trying to get the “loot” off the board.  The Union is trying to recapture the “loot”.  As a secondary objective, they will want to apprehend one of the Black Hearts for interrogation.    

At the edge of the board waits a Black Hearts burrowing machine.  If they can get there with the artifact, they can escape. 

Mr. Amazing slowly lowered himself to hover a few feet from the ground.  He smiled his pearly white teeth, “Going somewhere?”

Nihilist snarled behind her mask, “We need to get to the burrower, we can go around or through them.”

“Through!” Metal Head shouted and charged forward.

Turn 1:

The Black Hearts under Nihilist win the initiative easily.  They go first. 

Metalhead sees Mr. Amazing hovering and blocking their path and rushes forward his full AP the engage.  The Riverine runs up towards the fleeing villains to get in close enough to fight them. 

The Nihilist Mind Flares the Riverine, but he manages to resist its effects.  Then, she hastily follows Metalhead.  Meanwhile, Mr. Amazing moves closer to engage the fleeing Black Hearts next turn and get the angle on The Nihilist as she has the loot.

Troll turns and tosses a Flame bomb at the Riverine who fails to dodge.  He is hit for 4 Vitality loss!  The Riverine is knocked back 4 inches and flips back to his feet and shakes it off. 

Red Streak races ahead and catches up to the Black Hearts, but does not have enough AP left to engage them. 

Turn 2:

The Nihilist helps the Black hearts win Initiative again. 

She flares Red Streak, but he shakes off the mind attack.  Then moves away.  The Red Steak then  buzzes around Metalhead to get in close with the Nihilist and launch an attack.  However, Metal Head uses his Bodyguard ability to get in the way.  The Red Streak’s punch just makes Metalhead laugh.

Metalhead then triggers his Density Increase and haymakers Red Streak, which he barely manages to dodge with his speed.

The Riverine runs forward and gets behind cover as he approaches, wary of Troll’s flame bombs.

This time, Troll launches at Mr. Amazing who is hovering in the way.  He tags the flying man, and reduces him 6 Vitality with a blast to the face.  This knocks him tumbling back 6 inches.  Mr. Amazing steadies himself, but can only fly closer to the fight and can not engage this turn.

Turn 3:

This time The Riverine manages to outlead the Nihilist.   The Union will go first.   

Mr. Amazing charges at the Nihilist, but Metal Head is there with his Bodyguard ability to get in the way.  Mr. Amazing charges forward, but Metal Head snatches his from the air and holds him up and away from Nihilist.  He then grabs Mr. Amazing and holds on. 

The Riverine comes up behind Troll, and throws his Trident at him.  Fate intervenes and Troll manages to dodge out of the way of the attack. 

In return he runs past and tosses a Flame bomb into the melee of Metal Head, Nihilist, Red Streak, and Mr. Amazing looking to hit Red Streak.  The Red Streak easily avoids the blast, but the Nihilist is singed in the attack. 

“What are you doing idiot!” she yells.  In response, the Troll just shrugs, “It is what I do!” 

Despite the blast, she manages to Mind Flare The Red Streak.  This leaves him “Stunned”.  She is then able to move past and away from him towards safety.  The mind flare causes The Red Streak to stumble after Nihilist, but he can not catch up to her yet.   

Turn 4:

The Nihilist shouts at Troll, “Get The Red Streak now, while he is disoriented!” 

Troll smiles wickedly and tosses his bomb with great accuracy.  It easily hits the disoriented speedster and blasts him back 5 inches and leaves him with 1 Vitality left. 

The Riverine rushed up and grabbed his trident and launched an attack on Metal Head.  The Trident slammed across the back of the brick’s head, and the shock of contact bounced it from the Riverine’s hands.  Metal Head slowly cracked a smile. 

Metal Head squeezes Mr. Amazing, but fails to damage the hero.  However, he is also unable to free himself from the thugs grip. 

The Nihilist makes it to the burrowing machine at the end of the road and jumps in with the stolen artifacts from the museum. 

Conclusion:

The Nihilist jumped into the open hatch of the waiting burrower.  She turned and the rest of her team got the hint, get in or get left behind.  Troll scampered after her with his shambling ape-like gait.  Meanwhile, Metal Head tossed Mr. Amazing aside and ran for it. 

Riverine dashed to his friends aid and crouched beside him to make sure he was okay.  AS he did so, the engine of the burrower rumbled to life, and the great machine tore into the ground with a rumbling screech.  The red Streak covered his ears as the machine descended into the ground.  

“Looks like they got away,” Mr. Amazing said.  He clutched the side of his head in pain. 

“This time,” the Riverine responded.    

Well, I am sure I messed up a lot of rules in my first play through in a long time.  Using the archetypes in the book was much easier than trying to design my own characters.  They came out pretty well balanced.  When I designed characters on my own before the results did not work as well as the arch-types. 

The villain of the match was definitely Troll.  He caused havoc with his Fortune powers.  He was tagging people left and right and easily did the most damage.  However, Metal Heads bodyguard ability combined with Density Increase was really helpful as well.  He was right there to keep anything from happening to his boss.  Nihilist’s mind flare worked when I needed it to and allowed her to escape at the end. 

The Heroes turned out to be underwhelming in this game.  Part of that was the fact that they were poorly matched up.  Red Streak ended up fighting Metal Head, a fight he could not win.  Mr. Amazing was a much better match for him, but by the time he got involved it was too late.  Riverine also ended up being too far away to be much help in this mission.  Oh well, I can see where the Heroes powers could be really tough to beat, but today the combos did not work.  Perhaps because of their needs for haste early it left them a bit unorganized when the fighting happened.

I really like the opposed GOAL roll system, even if sometimes it felt a bit dice heavy.  It is also pretty tough to take someone out of action leading to drawn out combats.  This fits with the ethos of Super Hero fighting, but would not work with all genres.  I also like the “tool box” nature of the rules as they give you plenty of things you can add and use as you progress in skill with the game such as special attacks, powers, vehicles, Henchmen, etc.  Anyway, you can read a full review of the rules here if you want.        

I look forward to playing more of this game and these characters.  I mean, who do the Black Hearts work for?  Why did they steal artificats from South-East Asia, where the Riverine found his Trident?  Who will The Union call in to help them track down the Blakc Hearts? I am excited to look over the Nano Metal guys I have left and start assigning them some powers and having them join the conflict.   

Wargaming on a Budget: Toys for the Superhero Genre

Recently, I posted about using toys for gaming purposes.  I think there are three major genres that lend themselves well to toys as game aids.  The first is dexterity based games, the second is car combat, and the third is SuperHero games.  Typically, there are plenty of toys out there that can be used in these genres.  A case could probably be made for other genres such as Mecha/Giant Monsters or Sci-Fi spaceships too. 

To prove that I wasn’t all hat and no cattle, I decided to put my money where my mouth was and show some examples of how this could be done.  I have had the Super System 4^th Edition rules for some time now, but have only run through a partial game using statted up Skylander toys.  That was the original reason I picked up the rules, so that I could use all those silly Skylander models on the tabletop instead of just for the game.  I will probably still do this, but I feel like my window for relevance on Skylanders as a wargame has closed. 

Anyway, I was at the local discount retail chain store (Target) and saw something called Nano Metal Super Hero figs in packs of 5.  I looked them over and bought 3 for about $15 or a dollar a figure.  I have also seen people take cheap Heroclix models and repaint them for Super Systems too.

The first thing I did was use the rules to set-up some basic teams.  Thankfully, the rules have some “arch-type” pre-made characters that I applied to my teams.  They were:

The Union (of semi-professional Heroes)

The Union represents a body of “amateur” heroes that have banded together for mutual support and aid in their fight against crime and evil villains.  They are not technically part of any government, military, or police force and are free-lancers doing their own hero work when they can get time away from their normal lives.  Generally, they are the good guys and have some basic ethical and moral guidelines in order to join.  However, the key part is the collection of the dues in order to fund their retirement and benefits package.  In addition, there is some mentoring and support from other more experienced heroes.  That is the main perk of being part of The Union.

Here is a group shot of our current Union heroes: Mr. Amazing, The Red Streak, and The Riverine.

The Red Streak, The Riverine, and Mr. Amazing

The Red Streak-  The Red Streak became a hero when a lab experiment he was part of involving a super-collider went wrong and he was exposed to trace amounts of an unknown element.  This increased his ability to move very fast, and in some cases extra-dimensionally.  The exact physics is still up for study by the scientific community.  The red Streak is a young physics Grad student.  He wants to live a mostly normal college life.  However, he looks up to the Riverine and sees him as a hero and mentor.  The Red Streak is a Speedster arch-type with the Warp ability.     

The Riverine- The Riverine was a private during the Vietnam War and spent most of his career serving on Patrol Boats.  On a mission, he was deployed off the boat with his fire team.  They promptly got lost deep in the jungle.  They were attacked by Rock Apes and his companions were killed.  He was thought to be dead, and dragged by the apes through the jungle until they came to a ruined South Asian temple.  There, the former Private found a trident.  When he dragged himself to it, he felt its power and energy course into and transform him.  From then on, he was known as the Riverine, and found his way back to civilization. 

Disgusted with the Military and government of the era, the quit and was a founding member of The Union.  The Trident seems to have slowed his aging and allowed him to live an unnaturally long and healthy life.  In addition, he gained extra strength and speed beyond a normal mans.  Over the years he has become a skilled fighter and tactician with his trident.  I used the Shield-Slinger Brawler arch-type for this character.   

Mr. Amazing- Formerly Captain Amazing, he changed his name when other heroes accused him of “Stolen Valor” as Mr. Amazing had never actually been part of the military.  Therefore, he respectfully changed his name to the more civilian friendly Mr. Amazing.  Mr. Amazing has a day job and identity that he keeps secret from his peers.  He is actually a CPA that mostly does tax returns for blue-collar folks and middle income folks.  He gained his powers when he was exposed to bizarre radiation from a meteorite that landed near his home.  Since then, he has the ability to fly, is very resistant to injury, and super-strength.  He uses the Mr. Stupendous arch-type for a Brick.   

  

     

The Black Hearts

The black hearts are a gang of mercenary, powered villains.  They will do dirty deeds for cash, cut diamonds, or other rewards.  Their code is power, wealth, and material comforts.  They are aligned as long as the pay is good enough and it keeps coming.  They are not a complicated bunch, but they know that when the Heroes show up, it is better to work together than try to go it alone…. Most of the time.

Troll, Nihilist, and Metal Head

Troll- His upbringing and childhood closely match that of the Nihilist.  His family life was in constant turmoil and struggle with incarcerations, narcotics, and foster families filling it.  He was a bitter and angry child prone to violence and sarcasm.  He became a petty gun runner and drug dealer and slowly rose through the ranks.  However, a drug lab raid went bad and left him horribly disfigured in an accidental explosion.  From there, he was recruited by an evil organization who outfitted him with armor, weaponry, and gear to match his twisted visual persona.  From there, he became an enforcer and eventual criminal mercenary.  Troll is the Fate’s Gunner Blaster Arch-type.

The Nihilist- The Nihilist developed her powers at the end of her high school career in a dramatic reveal at her graduation.  She had mostly be an outsider her whole life, and developed a malicious streak.  Most of her life she felt persecuted by the ‘Haves’ and now she strives to show them all the pointlessness of their materialistic and status chasing ways.  The Nihilist uses the Mentalist Empath arch-type. 

Metal Head- Metal Head was a blue collar worker who developed his powers when he was accidentally exposed to an irradiated mix of hazardous chemicals at the plant he worked as an electrician.  This gave him super strength and toughness and the ability to turn into a metal form.  He has a love for Heavy metal music and wants nothing more than to tour the world seeing and discovering rock bands.  However, such a lifestyle is not cheap, and the Black Hearts and their mercenary ways have allowed him to finance his nomadic lifestyle.  Metal Head is the Immovable Object Brick Arch-type.  

 All of these models were from the Nano Metal toy line.  Once I had the general idea of who each figure was, it was a simple matter of doing some easy re-paints to make these well-known characters into my own heroic or villainous creations.  Soon, we will see these Toys on the battlefield as they face-off in comic book action.  

Review: Super Systems (4th Edition)- 4-Color Studios

Before I begin, let me be clear that I have not played any of the previous versions of SuperSystems.  This will be my first exposure to the rules.  Unlike other super-hero systems out at the moment (Pulp City, Batman, Marvel) it is designed to be generic and allow the players to create their own supers.  

According to the introduction, the rules are designed to allow for a fast-paced, skirmish game designed to simulate the clashes of characters you will find in the pages of your typical comic book.  The game is designed to be played on a 4x4 board between two or more models per side.  The game also contains campaign elements, solo-play, and even role-playing if you so desire.

Wow, that is trying to tackle a lot of ground.   Let’s see how well they succeed.

Things I Liked
The game used an opposed dice rolling system based on successes called a Goal roll.  Readers of my reviews will recognize that I love this type of opposed success rolls.  I feel they give the most interaction between players to determine results.  The game refers to them as Pools, but they are not really pools as they can be used over and over again.  It is just their stat line.  Pools would indicate that the number of dice rolls diminish and must be husbanded like a resource.  These do not work like that.

This system allows a model to do all sorts of interesting and creative actions with a different Target Number for success on a dice.  This allows the game to be very flexible for both combat and also story-telling/narrative type actions such as busting open a door, figuring out a computer code, repairing a vehicle, etc.

This game comes equipped with a decent campaign system that is organic to the rules called a Series.  It includes the usual injury, experience, etc.  However it also has plot hooks and Scenario Scripts to play around with.  It also comes with Solo-play built in which is something I do not see in a lot of games.  The rules use a card deck to determine randomization.  This is used to determine the difficulty of the foes, and Motivations indicate how the Model should act on the board.      

The game uses diagrams and has lots of examples of play to clarify or demonstrate its rules.  That is good.

Things I Do Not Like
Sadly, this game uses an Action Point system to determine what a model can do.  In theory, this is a cool way to introduce resource management into the game so you have to think about what actions you can/should do.  For example, complex actions like a special power move take more Action Points to perform.  You gain and lose Action Points based on moving, attacking, doing things, etc.  Therefore, if a model chooses to run they might not have the AP to launch their big power move.

Well, that makes it sound pretty good.  Why is it in this section?  I have never really been a fan of Action Points.  Perhaps it is simply irrational hatred from my youth but I prefer to have a less fiddly way to monitor actions and capabilities of a model.  For example, I would prefer if the model was assumed to always be able to do certain things with no penalties, but to do others may need to make a successful GOAL roll of a certain difficulty.  If failed it couldn’t be attempted again that turn.  This would keep the uncertainty of action and avoid the fiddly tracking and the model’s skill level would play a factor.  Thankfully, SuperSystems has a low model count, so it should not be an issue.        

The game has a few basic archetypes and power sets to get you started.  Without those, building your Super team could take some time.  The process can be a bit cumbersome and knowing what everything does would be a challenge.  

Meh and Other Uncertainties
The turn sequence is alternating activation.  When a model is activated, he can do all of his actions.

Unsurprisingly, when your game is trying to capture the feel of comic books, and allow for the creation of custom heroes; there are going to be a lot of special rules.  This book is filled with all sorts of Combat maneuvers, powers, henchman abilities, etc.  That leads to a lot of complexity.  This will not be to some players taste.  Again, I think the scope and size of the skirmish allows the game to get-away with it to some extent but you will want a reference sheet handy.

This game uses differentiated Attributes and Special Rules for the models.  This allows a greater range of customization as powerful Bricks might have a weakness against Mind attacks, and Mentalists may be prone to drop to a casual punch.  This is the right amount of variability in the game to keep it interesting and not allow anyone to become one-note.  This is a big contrast to say, [i]Song of Blades and heroes[/i]; however this is more of a taste issue.    

In addition, whenever there is a custom build option in the rules you can expect some builds to just be that much better than others.  I would imagine balance could be an issue in this game, and it is designed to be a friendly match between friends more than a competition game.  There are build rules and archetypes for quick play, but no game is balanced perfectly.  There will be some things that are just better than other equal point structures.      

Final Thoughts
This game really is in-depth and covers all the possibilities.  In a sense, this leads a bit to scope creep.  It covers things like animals, vehicles, RPG, using the system dice less, henchman, solo-play, Series, you name it.  It is a great toolbox for helping you tell the stories you want to see on the table.  I love it.

However, this type of gaming is not for every type of player.  This will work best with a tight group of players who like narrative style gaming.  This is not for competitive players.  Generally speaking, I like the mechanics used in the system and think it captures what it sets out to do.  

If you have played the game, let me know what your experience has been.