Friday 6 July 2018

"Wizkids" Battle Report: Fantastic Four - The Black Panther Strikes - Part Two

THE BLACK PANTHER BATTLES ONE OF VICTOR VON DOOM'S METALLIC MINIONS
"The story so far… Doctor Doom has reactivated the super-strong android, Dragon Man and plans to use the automaton to kill the royal leader of Wakanda. Deducing the Latverian's scheme to usurp T'Challa's throne, Reed Richards and the rest of the Fantastic Four have intercepted the mad tyrant's assassination squad, and together with the Black Panther plan to put a stop to the diabolical plot..."
THE TABLETOP - A DESERTED PART OF NEW YORK CITY

Sue Storm-Richards continued to head east to contest Objective Five (Drinks Machine) with Dragon Man, whilst Ben Grimm slowly followed up behind her. Eager to bring his vibranium claws to bear upon his country's enemies, the Black Panther charged into the Doombot stood just north of the car [Attack: 4 + 2 dice for the Charge]. The chieftain of the Wakandan Panther Clan sliced through the automaton's defences [Heavy Armour: Saves any hits on a roll of 5 or 6] and it exploded into a dozen burning pieces.

Meanwhile Reed Richards curled himself up into a ball and bounced into the gap between Objective One (Bin) and Objective Three (Debris). To his south, his fiery brother-in-law hurled a fireball at the Doombot approaching Objective Three, but discovered his attack was just out of range [Short Range: 10 inches].

With the battle now at its midway point, the Fantastic Four pressed forward with both T'Challa and the super-team's ultra-intelligent bendy-limbed leader charging into the Doombot which the Human Torch had moments before unsuccessfully tried to fry. The humanoid robot was crushed to pieces by the 'dynamic duo', and provided an ailing Johnny Storm with an opportunity to fly back to Objective Two (Grave) and secure it.
MISTER FANTASTIC, T'CHALLA, THE HUMAN TORCH AND THE THING IN ACTION
Further south-east The Thing continued his ponderous run towards Dragon Man, and quickened his pace when he saw Invisible Woman's force field missile simply bounce off of the formidably-sized android's skin [Heavy Armour: Saves any hits on a roll of 5 or 6].

Having infuriatingly witnessed two of his three mechanical minions fall to the power of his hated arch-enemies, Doctor Doom ordered Professor Gregson Gilbert's creation to charge into Benjamin Grimm and watched with some satisfaction as the huge dragon-sized automaton pounded upon the hero's rocky hide [Attack: 3 + 2 dice for the Charge]. Fortunately for Aunt Petunia's favourite nephew though, only one of the blows actually did any lasting damage, and the Thing had plenty more left in the gas tank yet [Mass: 5].

With an angry yell, Latveria's benevolent monarch aimed one of his armoured gauntlets in the direction of the Black Panther, and momentarily gave a satisfied sneer behind his metal mask's face-plate as he saw his energy blast wound the king of Wakanda [Shooting: 2 dice]. Nearby, the tyrant's sole-surviving Doombot took a pot-shot at Sue Storm-Richards, but missed.
REED RICHARDS AND SUE STORM-RICHARDS TACKLE THE EVIL DOCTOR DOOM
Despite being under-fire, Invisible Woman reached Objective Five (Drinks Machine), and momentarily paused to watch The Thing impressively dent Dragon Man's artificial casing [Attack: 5 dice]. To the north-west, the Black Panther retreated back to the relative safety of Objective One (Bin), leaving Mister Fantastic to go toe-to-toe with Victor Von Doom; a brawl which saw Reed Richards successfully wound the "skilled sorcerer".

The time for words or even ranged attacks was clearly over, as the final Doombot flew across the battlefield into Invisible Woman. Ably protected by her psionic force field [Armour: Saves any hits on a roll of 6], the female human mutate was unharmed, as was her husband, courtesy of his rubbery-flesh, when Doctor Doom punched him a mere second or two later.

Sadly, Ben Grimm did not come away from his bout with Dragon Man quite as unscathed, and suffered another wound at the clawed hands of the monstrously-winged robot.
THE FANTASTIC FOUR BRAVELY BATTLE THE FORCES OF DOCTOR DOOM
The contest's final round degenerated into a total punch-fest as both Sue Storm-Richards and her metallic counter-part exchanged superficial blows with one another. Whilst the Thing found his usually solid legs start to weaken as the supernatural villain he faced struck home with yet another powerful punch. Meanwhile "the son of a Romani witch" continued to ineffectively pummel away at Mister Fantastic's elastic torso, desperately trying to land a telling blow upon his most hated rival.

But time had to an end for Victor Von Doom, and with the Fantastic Four revealing seven Victory Points worth of Objectives to the Latverian dictator's zero, it was clear he had completely failed in his bid to seize the day and replace T'Challa as Wakanda's ruler...

24 comments:

  1. Great! Who would have thought the rubber hall tactics of Reed Richards would be so effective! Not happy with you portraying Ben Grimm as having wobbly legs! Outrageous! Nice read. Wakanda forever!!!

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    1. Thanks Undercoat, these games are good fun to play, and reasonably quick too, so hopefully that sense of fun came across in the write-up. I think perhaps though I need to paint up some more Doombots... or maybe a different version ;-)

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  2. Nice report. A fitting heroic result to the tale!

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    1. Cheers Simon. Ultimately it was a bit of a one-way result, despite Dr Doom's forces actually costing more points-wise.

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  3. Whilst I was most pleased that the Fantastic Four won I did expect more of a fight from Doctor Doom and his minions. In the end, a 7-0 victory just showed how one-sided it was. Even so, it was still a fun read.

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    1. Thanks Bryan. It did turn a bit one-sided once T'Challa downed two of Victor's Doombots, but that can happen in such skirmishes. Hopefully the third instalment will be a little closer, but I have some painting to do first :-)

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  4. I enjoyed this report with a nice cup of tea and the grandkids asleep.

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    1. Cheers Phil. That's precisely what this BatRep is aimed at getting you to do :-)

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  5. We demand Captain Britain !!!

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    1. Yes. I do too, tbh Phil. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found a Captain Britain "Heroclix" mini worthy of re-painting. They always make him tiny as he's flying...

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  6. Nice Bat Rep Simon, good victory for the heroes, some of the characters seem under powered compared to their comic exploits, perhaps they forgot to have their weetabix that morning ! LOL

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    1. Thanks Dave. The Doombots definitely fell quicker than the last time they took to the field. But The Thing vs Dragon Man has always been a two-comic fist-fight ;-)

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  7. Great stuff Simon, and a good win for the FF.

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    1. Cheers Anonymous, it was a bit of an FF romp tbh :-)

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  8. Excellent fun

    FF 7 Hurrah - Doom Bots 0 Boo.

    Not that I'm Partizan you understand.

    You should do more of these reports, they are hugely enjoyable.

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    1. Thanks very much indeed, Vagabond. That's very kind of you to say. The plan was to do one a month this year, with each part being posted every fortnight, but I'm a bit behind.

      I do however need to paint a couple more minis before the next "FF" battle. However, that doesn't mean I won't be delaying things as "The Howling Commandos of SHIELD" step up soon to thwart an invasion of Dire Wraiths - Excelsior!

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    2. You know I've no idea what you are talking about but I just know it's going to be fun. :)

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    3. LOL, Vagabond. You’ll see - more “Marvel Comics” madness :-)

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  9. I think it's time for Dr. Doom to hang up his supervillain boots after this debacle.

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    1. Indeed, Joe. Victor definitely needs to get some more firepower, so I'm hoping to put a few more of his minions in my painting queue soon.

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  10. I don't read the comics - but who needs to with write ups like this?! :-)
    Great stuff Simon, and I have a mental picture of Dr Doom back in his lair, throwing a hissy fit at his minions and plotting his revenge!

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    1. Thanks Greg. Victor Doom does indeed need to return to the drawing board for his next assault upon the Fantastic Four - I just need to paint the couple of minis needed :-)

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  11. Fab AAR Simon! Though I'm always for the "good guys", I was hoping for just a wee bit of some Doom damage to occur lol :)

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    1. Cheers Ivor. I fear this was not Victor Doom's finest performance. But he'll get another chance at some point ;-)

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