Cyberman v Sea Devils

 This is a 50 point game of 7TV using the Pulp rulebook and fan-made Dr Who profile cards from the 7TV Productions facebook group. All the models are from the old Harlequin range.

I had Cybermen. While the models depict 1960s Cybermen the stats are for the modern ones. They are very hard to kill and very expensive, I was outnumbered significantly. I had a Cyber-Leader and 5 Cybermen.Kev had the Master, the Myrka (a monster made from a pantomime horse which became an infamous example of bad special effects), a Sea Devil leader and a mixture of regular and elite Sea Devils.

 

The Scenario requires the Sea Devils to exit the table on my side carrying a 'Mcguffin'. The countdown cards left my central group unable to activate on the first turn, and the same group were knocked down by a blast on the second turn. The countdown card inbetween allowed my models a short free move but it soon became clear the Sea Devils were going to come to me as fast as possible anyway so the terrain wasn't going to have much effect.

 

A large group, forming a unit with their leader came down what I'll call the North of the the table. The two Cybermen did a great job. An early casualty was revealed to have been carrying the McGuffin which the Sea Devils crowded round to protect. With shooting and then despite being mobbed in melee I took out most of this lot.

 

The Myrka headed for my central group attacking the Cyber-Leader and one Cyberman. The Master tried to slip past but my Cyber-Leader was able to intercept him. Shots were fired, the Master was unable to use hypnosis against models with the Robot rule. We each had one gadget which now came into play, I moved into contact, the Master used a teleport ring to escape and I used a rocket pack to chase him!

At the South end of the beach it was one on one. After some shooting the Sea Devils charged, both were stunned and one then taken out with a second stun. A countdown card came up that required the next two cards to be drawn and played. One relieved everyone of statuses (like stunned), the other caused all Extras (non characters) to be knocked down. That was find by me, using an action to stand up delayed them exiting the board.

With time running out the remaining Sea Devils ran for the sea. One Sea Devil escaped with the McGuffin.

 

 In my last turn I had a great round of shooting, killing three more Sea Devils. This took Kev below half strength.  In his next turn the survivors  would have had to take morale tests, possibly running away, and I would have gained another victory point. However I'd chosen to take two countdown cards rather than one to end the game there and prevent more models escaping, so Kev didn't have another turn. This resulted in a draw. It was great to get these old models into a game at last and 7TV is always fun.

Orcs v Night Crawlers

 

 This is a 2,000 point game of Kings of War, 3rd edition.

Richard's Night Crawler army are figures from the Dream Blade board game, repainted and based.
 The 3 units of monstrous sized infantry are Butchers, the 2 units of smaller infantry are Dopplegangers.

 

My army today consists of 2 hordes of Axe each with a magic item, one horde of Long Axe, one Regiment of MoreAxe a regiment of Gore Riders and a regiment of Trolls .The characters are a Krudger, Flagger, God Speaker and Troll Bruiser.

 

After advancing the Gore Riders they are charged by two units on turn one and are almost destroyed. The morale test makes them waver in their next turn so they get charged again and are destroyed.

 

The Nightcralwers make the first charge and inflict a lot of damage. When the Orcs charge back they destroy one unit of Doppelgangers.

 

 Doppelgangers use the attack stats of the unit they are fighting, the Orc Horde has a lot of attacks and Crushing Strength (1) so they do a lot of damage.

 

 One of the Orc hordes is destroyed, the MoreAxe charge in next and are flanked in the following turn.

 

The longAxe Horde are unable to protect their flanks but the Flying monster go's for the Orc Flagger instead. The horde are charged by three units but take little damage. When they charge in their following turn the Orcs destroy the unit in the centre.

In Kings of War only the charging unit attacks, if the enemy is not destroyed they back of an inch and they enemy will charge in the following turn. Unless they suffer a Wavering result on the morale test in which case they can't charge.

My remaining Orc units are destroyed with only the Trolls making a last charge. My surviving characters, the Orc Krudger (general) and the Troll Bruiser both charge enemy characters for some single combat. 

 

At the end of the game only the Trolls and 2 characters survive.

Flash Gordon in 15mm

copywrite: King Features

Flash Gordon was created by Alex Raymond in 1934 for King Features. By the late 1930s, the strip was published in 130 newspapers, translated into eight foreign languages, and was read by 50 million people. Three film serials followed in 1936, 1938 and 1940, inspiring George Lucas to make Star Wars instead when he was unable to secure the rights. In 1980 a film produced by Dino De Laurentiis and directed by Mike Hodges was released, featuring a soundtrack by Queen. In this film Flash is a professional (American) Football player rather than a Polo playing Yale graduate.

copwrite:Universal Pictures (USA), Studio Canal (rest of world)

This is a 15mm for Alien Squad Leader. It is based on the the above three incarnations of Flash although there are various other adaptations. It uses the Rebel Alliance army list which features several factions united by Warrior Monks.

copywrite: King Features

Flash is dressed in 1930s style and dismounting the Hawkman Rocket Cycle shown in the film. The Rocket Cycle is converted from a Peter Pig Red Alien Flyer.  Dr Zarkov and Dale Arden can be fielded separately as 2 models or together as 1depending on the army build, both are dressed in the original style. They represent the Warrior Monks faction, Flash is the Grand Master (Grand Master Flash), Zarkov and Dale are Warrior Monks.

Brian Blessed gave a memorable performance as Prince Valtan in the 1980 film, he is converted from one of the Northlander Character figures from Copplestone Castings. Being 18mm he is suitably impressive, I added armour with green stuff, wings and converted the weapon. The remaining figures are the former MJ figures now produced by The Scene (only the foot poses seem to be available now).

copywrite: Universal Pictures (USA), StudioCanal (rest of world)

copywrite: King Features

These are Flying infantry from the Birdmen Faction. Valtan can either be fielded alone as the Bird King, or he can be part of a normal squad upgraded to a command stand. One stand has a circle cut out which can hold Valtan or an ordinary warrior.

In the comic the Frigians ride giant ostriches, or slightly alien versions of them. Queen Fria's hairstyle inspired George Lucas to create Princess Leia's "space buns" style. These Alien Tribal Cavalry are Riders with the 'big and ugly' upgrade and past of the Alien Tribal Warriors Faction. I also gave them a Warrior Hero.

copywrite: King Features

copywrite: King Features

The ostriches are converted from North Star 2mm ostriches with added crests, wattles and largerbeaks to match the comic. The Riders are French Line Lancers from Time Cast. Queen Fria is converted from a Battle Valor figure. I cut cut her off at the waist and put a dress over the donating bugler's legs, cut the staff down to a mace and replaced the hair bun with two on the sides.

The Lion Men vary between incarnations. In the comic strip they appear to be very tall with manes and tails, in the 30s serial they are hairy barbarians, in the 1980 film they are resemble Africans dressed in gold. Prince Thun is a ally of Flash.

copywrite:King Features

I have opted for the original style. The figures are 1/72 scale (roughly 20mm) Barbarians from Esci. I added manes and bigger beards in green stuff (I went overboard on the beards) and inserted brass rod tails, also with green stuff added. These are Alien Tribal Warriors which are Fighters with the Big and Ugly upgrade.

The Arborians are tree dwelling humans, sometimes depicted with bows, or more advanced weapons, and a Robin Hood theme. Prince Barin is an expert swordsman, ally of Flash and lover of Princess Aura. These are classed as Inferior Infantry with one stand upgraded to a commander. They are part of the Human Faction.

copywrite: Universal Pictures (USA), Studio Canal (rest of world)

The figures are from Peter Pig, mostly medieval handgunners, each squad has a scout with a bow which are elves. Prince Barin and the standard bearer are from the Red Martian range. I included the Tree Father from the film as a medic, originally he was going to be on the command stand but he was far too tall, this was a Battle Valor figure.

The remaining parts of the Human Faction are non-specific representing the various other inhabitants of Mongo. The command stand with Jump Packs are from Alternative Armies. The smoke plumes they are pinned to are also from Alternative Armies but the figures they came with were far to large.

The Floaters and Light Vehicles are from the Peter Pig Red Martian range.

The Crewed Weapons used British WWI 60 pounders from QRF. I cut the barrel off half way, shortened it and put on top of the remaining weapon facing backwards. So the shortened barrel becomes a kind of view-finder. The front of the gun is a Heavy Arc Rifle from Games Workshop, one of the weapon options in the Adeptus Mechanicus Kataphron kit, and part of a Tau weapon was put at the back. The crew are WWII Russians from Peter Pig with AWI Dragoon (Tarleton) helmets transplanted.

I will at some point make an Alien Imperial army based on Ming the Merciless and his Mongon Minions.

 Finally if you ever want the most useless fact in the universe: in French translations of the comics some characters were renamed, and Flash was renamed Guy l'Éclair.

copywrite: King Features

7TV Apocalypse

Lincombe Barn Wargames Society is of course on hiatus due to the coronavirus outbreak. So here are some pictures of a game we had last year using 7TV Apocalypse from Crooked Dice.

We had four players in two teams and 50 ratings (points) per player.  There was one moveable objective in a ruined temple in the centre of the table.

Pete's Mean Machine leads his followers forward

This was my team which included and Action Hero and Monster Hunter as it's stars.

The Simians were slow to get moving as they had no unit leader, Nathanial complained "we're monkeys, we're not organised eneugh for this sort of thing".

On of Clive's savage types scales the temple with a grappling hook.

We don't want to fight that thing hand to hand so we ran it over with the truck

This truck was equipped with a machine gun which had just mown down a bunch of Clives savages. I was determined to take it out, which took a lot of models some time.

More car-nage as we attempt to stop the enemy getting the objective off table.

Single combat between opposing stars. The soldiers joined in. My medic failed to arrive in time to save Clive's character.

My Monster Hunter kept finding herself in the wrong place to carry out any slayage. Here she fails to reach the all star melee before the game ends.

The other side won. This was a fun game with plenty of mayhem and monkey related banter. 7TV is popular at the club with the original spy-fi version and pulp also being played.