Carrion Crow – The Return

Since my last post on 19th August, there has been speculation in certain quarters as to the reason for my absence in the blogosphere – both posting and commenting.

I can categorically state that I was not spirited away to the Red Planet, fighting four-armed green warriors in the company of pneumatic scantily-clad natives, nor was I ensconced in an Arctic crystalline fastness, brooding in solitude. I was also not trapped in a either a Welsh coastal Village or digitised virtual world, with or without a spoon.

However, I may have been on a sun-kissed Mediterranean island…

I may have followed directions found hastily scribbled on a flyer in a hotel lobby to a certain ecclesiastical building…

And I may have found myself wandering subterranean passages, hewn from Limestone, where I encountered something that frightened me quite badly…

However, being made of somewhat sterner stuff that an Investigator with a low SAN score, I was not reduced to a gibbering wreck and returned relatively unscathed to the shores of good ol’ Blighty.

However, you don’t visit my blog to hear about my trials and tribulations – you’re here for the gaming stuff.

So, whilst the next instalment of The §ingularity War, which will feature two quartets of Cosmic adventurers battling to secure a valuable prize, still remains unfought, I thought it might be time to introduce the instigator of this war – Kronus.

Now, a fair old while ago, I was outbid on some Colossal scale Heroclix figures on eBay. However, I really fancied owning the DC Heroclix Anti-Monitor figure (which was part of the auction), but couldn’t find it at a price I was willing to pay. So, remembering that Eaglemoss did a range of statuettes of various Marvel and DC characters, I searched for this character from them instead and managed to get the figure for less than the original retail price – including postage.

And this is what it looks like in its original format:

Suitably imposing and an ideal character to be re-purposed, as it’s not quite as well-known as some of the other characters produced by Eaglemoss. Obviously, it would need re-painting to match my vision of Kronus, Rewriter of Reality, Destroyer of Universes and ALL-Round Bad Egg, so the first step was to give it a thorough undercoating of white, like so;

Having decided that my colour scheme would echo both Dr. Doom AND would follow the time-honoured tradition of villains wearing costumes that featured both purple and green…because villains apparently have very little in the way of fashion sense, I block-painted the various parts of Kronus in the colours I had chosen.

And this was the result;

Not bad, although it does look like he’s wearing green wellies (Wellington boots for our non-UK audience).

So, the GW Worm Purple parts were highlighted with GW Purple Ink, the GW Chainmail parts with a wash of Docrafts Noir and the GW Woodland Green with a wash of this mixed with more Noir. The base was also painted with Chainmail, then given a generous wash with GW Brown Ink, to give a oily metallic look. The eyes were my own “Pumpkin Orange” blend and the mouth was painted in Docrafts linen, then given a wash of Docrafts Burnt Umber.

And the finished article looks like this;

The actual shading is more noticeable on the real thing and my camera is playing up a bit, so it might not look quite a detailed as it actually is.

And to give a sense of scale, here he is with a Warlord Games plastic Cyberman fawning about his ankles, like some kind of tin-plated cat…

If you have a villain with a ridiculously convoluted and sinister plan, he should be a bit more impressive than a bald guy in a suit…

Now, that I’ve got my hand back in, expect posts on a more frequent basis.

The Crow has returned to it’s nest…

The Singularity War – Episode 1: Hell and High Water

Since the events of December 23rd 1944, Tarmagant Island has garnered a sinister reputation and it, and the waters surrounding it, are avoided by those living nearby.

However, it is carefully monitored for signs of preternatural activity, and when lights and strangely garbed forms were spotted on the island, the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence were immediately notified. Given the importance this locale in his own history, it was inevitable that Hellboy himself would be sent to investigate.

However, his arrival is not only expected, but has been planned for…

I appreciate that is has been a fair old while since I’ve posted anything on the Buffet, but real life threw me a series of curve balls and I’ve been attempting to restore a little bit of normality. As such, I haven’t really had any spare time in which to do anything hobby-related and, to be frank, haven’t really had any motivation either.

But having now secured some temporary employment, my thoughts have returned to my beloved gaming and I’ve finally got around to playing the first episode of The §ingularity War.

Now, I decided to play the first episode using the Clobberin’ Time rules developed by Alan aka Kaptain Kobold, which are available to download from his blog here, which are specifically designed for small-scale superhero skirmish gaming and are relatively straight-forward. These were chosen, as I’ve not yet had a crack at using them and wanted to see how they played out.

So, on with the AAR. I decided to utilise my Heroscape hexes once more, to provide the terrain upon which this conflict would take place. As Tarmagant Island is off the coast of Scotland and has ruined buildings upon it, I think it does do a good job of representing it on the table, like so;

So, the forces of good are represented by Hellboy and two B.P.R.D. agents, Agent Collins at the back and Agent Brown at the front. Under the Clobberin’ Time rules, Hellboy is a Level 3 Hero, whereas the agents are Level 2 Sidekicks. This means that each character gets their level in d6’s to roll for both attack and defence, with a 4+ being considered a success.

In addition, Hellboy has a Medium (6″) Ranged attack, which I decided was ‘weak’, meaning he only got a success if he rolled 5+, as Hellboy is renowned for being a rubbish shot, and both Strength and Resilient. For the agents, I gave them standard Medium Ranged attacks for their pistols and Accuracy, meaning they get a single die re-roll on any ranged attacks per turn.

And these are the forces of easily swayed and/or bought evil – Powerfist, Flashpoint and Count Zero.

These are all characters from my own superhero universe and are currently working on behalf of Kronus, as there is something on Tarmagant Island he needs.

They are all three Level 3 Villains, with Powerfist having the abilities Martial Arts and Strength, Flashpoint having Power Blast Medium and Teleport, and Count Zero having Block, Flight and Hinder.

As you can see from the first picture, each group started at opposite ends of the “island” and the intervening terrain prevented them from seeing each other for a while.

Initiative is determined by dealing each model in play a card from a standard deck of cards, with the characters acting when their assigned card comes up – from Aces down to twos. When activated, each character can move and perform an action. So, a character can move, then shoot or shoot then move. However, it appears that if there are no additional actions you can perform, all the model can do that turn is move. All models have a standard move of 6″, which for the purposes of this game, I’m assuming is the equivalent of 3 hexes, as the hexes are 1 3/4 inches across.

The first two turns saw both groups just moving forward, as the terrain prevented them from seeing each other, so they couldn’t actually do anything else. The actual cards dealt didn’t actually mean anything at this point, as they were just creeping forward, so whether one character or another went first was irrelevant.

At the end of Turn 2, the villains had moved close to the central ruins from one side…

…whilst the heroes had moved to the exterior wall of the ruins from the other side.

At the beginning of Turn 3, Count Zero, being a somewhat hot-headed Russian, (which is strange given his control of ice and snow) got fed up with all this creeping about and launched himself into the air using his Flight ability,so he could get an idea of where their opponents were.Flying up and over the ruined building, he spotted both Agent Brown and Hellboy of the ground below him and decided to freeze Agent Brown is his tracks (Hinder 6″ range). Whilst the Count rolled a single success, Agent Brown managed two successes and dodged the icy blast.

Hellboy moved forward and lined up a shot at Count Zero, hoping that on this occasion his aim would be true and although rolling Weak dice (5+ for a success), managed to get a single success. Count Zero attempted to Block this with an ice shield and failed, taking a wound.

Agent Brown also moved forward and fired his pistol at the Count, and only managed to get a hit from the re-roll allowed by his Accuracy. However, the Count was more successful this time, managing to get an ice shield in the way to prevent further damage.

Flashpoint, who’d been skulking behind the wall, moved into the central part of the ruins and aimed his flame pistol at Agent Brown, unleashing a 4 dice Power Blast at him. He managed to get two successes and therefore two potential hits – Agent Brown managed to block one of them and took a point of damage, reducing him to only one point (the number of Health points equals the character’s level).

Powerfist moved next, but as he was further away, he can hear the sounds of battle on the other side of the wall, but can’t see anyone yet and therefore cannot do anything.

Agent Collins moved around the other wall and can now see Flashpoint, who has just torched his friend, so he shoots at Flashpoint, scoring 2 successes, once of which is blocked, so Flashpoint takes a point of damage.

At the end of Turn 3, Agent Brown, Count Zero and Flashpoint have sustained wounds.

Turn 4 saw Agent Collins up first, who shot at Flashpoint again, causing another wound, then diving into cover behind the wall.

Powerfist finally moved into battle, charging into hand-to-hand combat with Hellboy and scoring a massive 4 successes due to his Martial Arts and Strength. And even though Hellboy is Resilient, he only managed to block two of these, taking two wounds and reducing him to single point of health!

Being slightly annoyed with this turns of events, Hellboy gives Powerfist the smackdown with the ‘Right Hand of Doom’ scoring 3 successes. However, Powerfist’s Martial Arts training allows him to dodge the majority of these, but Hellboy clips him for one.

Count Zero descends to the ground and, as per their plan, attempts to freeze Hellboy in his tracks. However, Hellboy nimbly jumps out of the way, and the wall behind him is covered in rime.

Agent Collins runs down behind the wall and, once in the open, opens fire on Count Zero, whose hastily summoned ice shield manages to block his shot.

Flashpoint, being somewhat of a sadistic bastard, fires his flame gun once more at Agent Brown, and manages to incinerate him. His smoking corpse drops to the ground.

Turn 5 saw both Count Zero and Powerfist attempting to freeze Hellboy in place and then pummel him into submission. However, the World’s Greatest Paranormal Investigator managed to avoid both villains. However, Flashpoint moved forward and unleashed a Power Blast from his flame gun, scoring a single hit on Hellboy, which unfortunately he failed to block. As this was his last point, Hellboy dropped to the ground unconscious.

Realising that he was now alone against three super-powered individuals, one of which had effectively taken down both his fellow agents, Agent Collins decided to take a shot at Flashpoint – and took him down! Collins then retreated, desperately trying to radio for back-up.

Turn 6 saw Agent Collins win the initiative, and he turned and fired at Count Zero, scoring two successes. Unfortunately, both were blocked by the Count.

Powerfist then leaped forward and punched out Agent Collins (4 successes, only one block, 3 hits taken and only 2 wounds).

Count Zero approached the unconscious form of Hellboy and was soon joined by Powerfist, his gauntlets humming with power.

“Our employer will be pleased, comrade.” said the Count, “We have secured the ‘Right Hand of Doom’ as tasked, with only the loss of one of our number.”

Powerfist reached down, lifted and hefted the recumbent form of Hellboy across his back. “Best get back to the portal, then.” he grunted, then paused sniffing.

“Can you smell dry-roasted peanuts?”

Next – Episode 2…

The Singularity War

After millenia of monitoring, analysing and cataloguing every known alternate reality in existence, the Primal being known as Kronus has had enough.

The constant revisions of existing universes as they experience ‘events’ that rewrite their history and reality, the almost infinite variations caused by the tiniest variance from the ‘Prime’ reality, the endless costume changes…it has become TOO much.

Order needs to be restored.

Utilising his vast intellect and extensive knowledge of quantum mechanics, Kronus has designed a machine – The Singularity Engine – which will compress every reality currently in existence into a single cohesive whole.

Billions will die, but Kronus believes the end justifies the means.

However, to complete the Engine, he requires artifacts of power from across the Multiverse.

As he cannot act directly in each reality, he plans to recruit a variety of catspaws to retrieve them for him. The promise of wealth or power will be enough in most cases, but those who think of themselves as ‘heroes’ may require subtle manipulation to unknowingly act on his behalf.

And there exists the risk that those who consider themselves guardians of their respective realities may discover his plans and try to stop him, so they will need to be targeted and removed from the equation.

The countdown has begun...