"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

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

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...

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

THE FANTASTIC FOUR AND THE BLACK PANTHER BATTLE DOCTOR DOOM AND DRAGON MAN

This game was played using some homemade rules (M.I.S.S.) in order to allow us to quickly field a handful of my re-painted "Heroclix" miniatures, and took place upon the "Warlord Games" 32.5" x 22" rubber Science Fiction Playmat. The battlefield was populated with a variety of scenery produced by "Wargame-Model-Mods", “Wargames Terrain Workshop” and "Mantic Games"; most notably an abandoned vehicle, three ruined buildings and some street furniture.

The Fantastic Four, who started in the south-west consisted of the super-team's original line-up, Mister Fantastic (10pts), Invisible Girl (10pts), The Thing (10pts) and the Human Torch (10pts), as well as the Black Panther (10pts). Whilst Doctor Doom's forces began the fight in the north-east corner, and consisted of the Latverian Monarch himself (15pts), three Doombots (total 30pts) and Dragon Man. The New York City battlescape had five strategic locations, each worth an unknown number of victory points. These would only be revealed at the end of Turn Six, and could only be claimed by an unopposed unit touching it.

THE TABLETOP - A DESERTED PART OF NEW YORK CITY

"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 FANTASTIC FOUR ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE BLACK PANTHER FROM DOCTOR DOOM

Having won the initiative, Doctor Doom confidently strode [Move: 6"] to Objective Four (Oil Barrels) and from his position commanded his robotic slaves to fly up into the air and fan out south-west towards his hated opponents.

In response Sue Storm-Richards closed to within almost touching distance of Objective Two (Grave), whilst her younger brother flew fast [Move: 8"] beside her east towards Objective Five (Drinks Machine). The Thing slowly thundered along behind the pair [Move: 4"], admiringly watching the lighting quick Black Panther race away north-east in the direction of Objective One (Bin). Finally, Mister Fantastic rolled his rubbery-form up into a ball and bounced after the King of Wakanda.

"The first superhero of African descent in mainstream American comics" swiftly reached Objective One [Move: 8"] and impatiently waited as Reed Richards approached. The Human Torch continued to fly east towards Objective Five (Drinks Machine), noting that his sister was somewhat behind his fiery trail. Ben Grimm lumbered up to Objective Two (Grave).

VICTOR VON DOOM SEIZES AN EARLY OBJECTIVE AS THE FANTASTIC FOUR SPREAD OUT

The super-heroes were making far too much progress for Victor Von Doom's liking, so with a motion of his armoured gauntlet, the Latverian ruler directed one of his three Doombots and Dragon Man [Move: 4"] to head ever closer to Objective Five (Drinks Machine). In the mean time the powerful Sorcerer ordered his remaining two Doombots north-west to tackle the Black Panther.

Doctor Doom fixed Johnny Storm with a hard stare, and chuckled as his armour's targeting sensor's locked onto the flaming human mutate's form. Laser beams poured out of the despot's metallic glove [Shooting: 2 dice] and caused a single wound. First blood to the super-villain, albeit the Human Torch was far from out of the fight yet.

With an audible roar, Dragon Man flew ever faster towards towards Objective Five (Drinks Machine) and landed a foot-step away from it. The increase in pace however, had made Professor Gregson Gilbert's creation significantly more vulnerable for a short while [causing him to be hit on a roll of 4, 5 or 6 rather than a 5 or 6]. The two Doombots to the north split up so that one was heading straight for Objective Three (Debris), whilst the other flew past an abandoned car towards the Black panther and Objective One (Bin).

THE THING SECURES AN OBJECTIVE BUT THE HUMAN TORCH IS WOUNDED

The other Doombot joined his fearless master's barrage upon Johnny Storm by firing his own laser-weapons at the flaming youth [Shooting: 2 dice]. Initially the robot failed to strike its target, but due to Doom's proximity and leadership ability [Command: A friendly unit that is within 12" may re-roll a single dice roll once per turn] eventually damaged the Human Torch, reducing the Hothead down to just two health before the battle was even half-way through.

The Fantastic Four and their Wakandan ally may well have covered more ground than Doctor Doom's less agile, robotic force, but in doing so they had exposed themselves to the mad Latverian monarch's withering firepower...

To be continued...

"Across The Dead Earth" - WIP - Part Three

I’ve spent the past couple of days beavering away at some more of my 28mm scale wooden Commercial Style Buildings by “Wargame-Model-Mods”. These models are going to help populate the 3x3 table I plan to play “Across The Dead Earth” on. As I want a good mixture of single level structures and single-storey buildings I’ve started to build a small three-walled little ruin, a longer ‘office-like’ construction and another taller assembly but without the buttresses my earlier two creations had.

All are currently being treated to a coat of “Vallejo” Black Lava textured paint. A previous posting as to how I fully paint these buildings can be found here: http://fantorical.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/wargame-model-mods-wip-part-two.html

I’m also (hopefully) close to finishing the five “West Wind Productions” models I will be using as my State gang. These “Empire Of The Dead” 28mm miniatures are excellent sculpts by Andy Cooper but I sometimes wish he didn’t pay so much attention to their detail. The black and white duty armbands are annoyingly difficult to paint and many a time I’ve wished my police officers weren’t on duty as a result. Still all the black-blue uniforms are finished, as are their truncheons and hands. A couple have even had their faces and custodians finished, so just require some flesh highlights and then the metal on their chains and helmet badges picked out.

‘Queenie’ is also coming along well with all the colours now blocked in on her light machinegun. I’ve just got to properly paint in her white lace-work and grey hair, and then wash these areas with black Shade before giving her a regal stare.

"Across The Dead Earth" - WIP - Part Two

I’ve finally finished two of the many 28mm scale wooden Commercial Style Buildings by “Wargame-Model-Mods” I plan to construct in order to play “Across The Death Earth” by “Dead Earth Games”. As the rule set is based in a post-apocalyptic environment and designed as a skirmish game I want to be able to populate a 3x3 table with as much ‘cover’ as possible. 

A previous posting as to how I paint these buildings can be found here: http://fantorical.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/wargame-model-mods-wip-part-two.html

 
In addition I am slowly painting up the five “West Wind Productions” models I plan to use as the start of my State gang. All the figures are from their “Empire Of The Dead” range and I’ve now finished most of the blue undercoat on the British bobbies, and even started double-washing them with black shade. I am slightly struggling with the finer detail of their black and white sleeve markings, but think I have worked out an approach using a black ink wash prior to some black and white line work, that is both reasonably quick and produces a neat result. I’ve also managed to get some areas painted on my Queen ‘Queenie’ Victoria gang leader model, having painted her blue sash and the majority of her light machinegun.

"Across The Dead Earth" - WIP - Part One

For the past few weeks I’ve been reading with great envy a number of blog postings regarding the post-apocalyptic skirmish wargame “Across The Death Earth” by “Dead Earth Games”. I’m not entirely sure why I never opted in for the kickstarter but battle reports such as ‘Capture The Convoy’ on Simon Quinton’s “Brummie’s Wargaming Blog” made me determined to grab a copy of the rules just as soon as they were on general release. A couple of weeks ago this finally happened and I immediately ordered a copy their excellent rulebook. After a very quick turnaround it arrived and for the past few days, in between some other painting projects, I’ve been pouring through Rich Chappell’s extremely well-written ‘survival manual’ trying to work out what scenery and miniatures I need to get gaming in a world set “three generations on from The Last War”.

There's a very good review of the "Across The Death Earth" kickstarter and its models on "The Spiderweb Of History" blog here:
http://historyspiderweb.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/well-done-to.html

Back in March of this year I picked up a bag of 28mm scale wooden Commercial Style Buildings by “Wargame-Model-Mods”. Over three posts I constructed one of the larger buildings, textured it, painted it and based it… and then placed the remaining nine structures on a shelf for another day… Readers of the “Across The Dead Earth” scenery postings on both “Brummie’s Wargaming Blog” and “Brains And Guts” will know that these buildings are precisely what I need to create some fun-packed post-apocalyptic battles, so I’ve taken down three of “W-M-M” models and started painting them up so I’ll at least have a handful of structures to fight around during my first battle report.

As you can see these will be nothing actually fancy, just simply single-storey and ground floor ruins. But they should provide plenty of cover and vantage points to start with. If you fancy high-rise mayhem then I’d urge you to visit Lord Siwoc’s posting “Post Apoc Terrain Buildings” and see just what you can do with “W-M-M” buildings: http://lordsiwoc.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/post-apoc-terrain-buildings.html

Likewise Simon Quinton is doing a fantastic job on a scratch built piece of terrain on his blog here: http://brummieswargamingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/post-apoc-terrain-piece.html

In addition I have been rummaging through my lead mountain trying to find some suitable miniatures for a couple of gangs. Now “Dead Earth Games” do produce some great models themselves, sculpted by one of my favourite sculptors Andrew May (of “Meridian Miniatures”). But I currently own a fair few unpainted figures so have really been trying and resist the urge to get any new models for the past few weeks; especially as they’ll be plenty of time for that next month.

Having read up about The State an idea occurred to me, and as a result I’ve dug out some London Bobbies miniatures from the “Empire Of The Dead” range by “West Wind Productions”. I actually started painting three of these back in July, but quickly put them back in a drawer when my attention wandered to something else. However I’ve now added a fourth flatfoot to the group as well as model of Queen Victoria with a gun, who’ll act as the group’s leader. The narrative goes that this particular gang considers itself to rule the Dead Earth in the former United Kingdom. So having raided Madame Tussauds my leader has donned some royal attire, and garbed her trusty gang members with some apparel from the Black Museum of New Scotland Yard. Thus ‘Queenie and her Peelers’ has been borne.

As I hope to use the campaign rules to build up this gang, they’re actually a rather low-costing group for now. Indeed with the exception of Queenie and her Light Machinegun, and her pistol-carrying sergeant, the others are all only armed with wooden truncheons (clubs). But as they all see their leader as the reigning sovereign, I’ve awarded each gang member the General Trait of Loyal. I’m hoping in future to perhaps build a second similarly influenced gang from The State and escalate the situation into a bizarre English Civil War campaign. 

For now however I just want to get the buildings finished and the miniatures painted. Having pondered how to actually create the bluish black colour Victorian Policemen are typically painted, I’ve decided to simply give the models a deep blue undercoat and then apply a couple of washes of black ink. The copper’s cloaks themselves will be black, and that should give me plenty of dark colours upon which I can pick out silver buttons and belt buckles.For those especially interested in “Across The Death Earth” then a link to their webstore can be found here: http://www.deadearth.co.uk

Simon Quinton’s “Capture The Convoy” battle report is here:
http://brummieswargamingblog.blogsport.co.uk/2014/11/capture-convoy-across-dead-earth-game.html

Wargame Model Mods - WIP - Part Three

I've finally finished basing the first of my commercial style buildings by "Wargame-Model-Mods". In order to 'tie it' in with my model collection, I simply based the wooden building in exactly the same way as I do my miniatures; drybrushing "Citadel" Doombull Brown and Rakarth Flesh over a "Coat D'Arms" Black undercoat, and then washing the entire area with the  "Citadel" Shade Agrax Earthshade. Finally I applied some green flock both in and around the building.

I'm currently waiting for a few larger 9 x 6 inch 2mm MDF bases from "Arcane Scenery & Model Supplies" for the bigger buildings, so in the meantime I've built and textured three of the smaller ones; including two with tiled ground floors.

In addition I'm continuing to persevere with the intricate details of my first "Games Workshop" "Warhammer 40K" Ultramarine Sternguard model. I've completed all the blue on his space armour, as well as the white of his linen skirt and moved onto the white areas of his enormous shoulder pads.

To keep me sane as a momentary distraction, I've quickly based a third (old) Street Judge by "Mongoose Publishing". Unfortunately, the detail on this miniature is, in parts, the worst yet as I've had to sculpt a (missing) knee-pad strap onto the figure using green stuff. 

Wargame Model Mods - WIP - Part Two

Having waited long enough for its coat of "Citadel" Foundation Astronomican Grey to dry, I've given my entire first "Wargame-Model-Mods" commercial style building a healthy wash of Nuln Oil and, on the flooring and around the exterior buttresses, some  Agrax Earthshade; the later really helping to bring out some of the tiling detail etched onto the floor.

I've then spent some time drybrushing the building with more Astronomican Grey using an old "Royal & Langnickel" number six round brush. I'm really glad I managed to resist the temptation to 'base' the building prior to this stage of the painting.

Once finished I've sealed the entire building with a coat of PVA glue, and, having used "Gale Force Nine" green stuff basic epoxy sculpting putty to provide a better fit on the bottom of the buttresses, used more PVA to secure it to a six inch square 2mm MDF base from "Arcane Scenery & Model Supplies".

I've actually found myself rather losing focus on my painting over the past few days. This usually occurs because I've lost interest in my main project and start getting far too distracted with the mini-projects I tend to turn to as simple diversions. This isn't actually too much of a surprise as I've been predominantly painting models for my "Savage Worlds" "Weird War Two" setting for two months, and that usually is the limit of my 'don't start buying a load of new shiny lead minis for a different game' discipline. As a result I've found my painting table swamped with models from "Mongoose Publishing", "Forgeworld", "Games Workshop", Wizkids", West Wind Productions", "Ground Zero Games", "Pendraken" and even some 1/72 "Zvezda" plastics, as well as large amounts of scenery from "Ainsty", "Snapdragon" and "Minibits".

I've therefore returned the majority of these models back to their respective cardboard boxes and plastic containers, and with the exception of a couple of old(er) "Mongoose Publishing" models from their Judge Dredd range and eight "Secrets Of The Third Reich" British Infantrymen, plan to turn most of my attention prior to Salute 2014 to the "Forgeworld" converted Space Marine (now Ultramarines) Sternguard I recently purchased from Ebay.co.uk.

Wargame Model Mods - WIP - Part One

One of my purchases, having attended two Wargaming Events in eight days, has been a bag of 10 Commercial Style Buildings by "Wargame-Model-Mods". These 28mm scale wooden buildings have been a joy to construct and easily slotted together with just a little PVA glue. Indeed I've already ordered a second bag from "Pendraken Miniatures" "Minibits" webstore.

Over the next few weeks, as part of a build-up to "Salute 2014", I plan to construct, paint and base a nice collection of these buildings in order to be able to completely populate my 5' x 3' table.

Despite there being some details etched onto the buildings' tiled floors, the models themselves are rather bare. I've therefore also bought a large pot of "Vallejo" Black Lava. This "heavy paste of natural stone and black pigment" should help create the illusion that my buildings are made of concrete, as opposed to wood; especially once I paint them grey and give them a black wash.

I'm also progressing on another blister of B-SOTR05 British Commando Carbines by "West Wind Productions". These "Secrets Of The Third Reich" 28mm metal miniatures will form half the second section of infantry I want to be able to field to properly game the 'Fall Of France' with "Savage Worlds".