Strongest There Is!

I've painted the Hulk!

Well, actually, it's more like repainted. I picked the model up a couple of years ago, but decided he was too big for my other Marvel project. So, I decided to use him as Solomon Grundy in BMG. Here's how he looked:

I was really happy with him, but as soon as I began to build my Avengers for the Marvel Universe Miniatures Game, I knew that I'd end up repainting Grundy/Hulk, rather than buying a second model. However, I was determined to actually use Grundy a few times before he headed back to the paint table.

Over the summer, not only did he briefly feature as the Destructor in a Ghostbusters game of 7TV, but he also covered himself in glory (and gore) at the 'In Squad We Trust' Animosity Games event, where he killed Deathstroke, Deadshot and Batman, whilst scaring the crap out of Green Arrow, the Flash and half of the GCPD. It was fitting that this would be his last hurrah before 'going green'.

In fact, he was so good, that I'm determined to get the official Grundy added to my collection fairly soon.

And so, Hulk became Grundy and then became Hulk again.

The model is a bit troublesome, as there are quite chunky mould lines and gaps to fill, and I'm not the only one to find this. However, he's a pleasure to paint once you get to it. What's more, he also needed re-basing, as the Marvel Game has more sensible base sized, so he no longer teeters on a 40mm base, and is somewhat stable on a 60mm base. The basing is simply rocks from our front garden, and this goes some way to acting as a counter weight as Hulk is a hefty chunk of metal.

I'm really pleased how he's turned out, and I can now field a full 50 level team of Avengers, with the option of swapping someone out for Wolverine. I'm now not in a rush to get more, but one of the things I like about this game is that each model changes tactics and options, and makes games between the same players turn out differently. Next in line is likely to be Black Panther, but I might not pick him up until Wes and I have had a couple more games. Wes is looking at picking up Groot (which makes sense for the Guardians of the Galaxy) and Dr Doom (which...erm...doesn't really, but Doom does what Doom wants).

Next weekend we're off to the Derby wargames show, and I'm hoping to pick up a few models to use as zombie survivors, as I'll once again be taking part in Zomtober, hopefully a bit more successfully than last year.

What A Bunch Of A-Holes!

Wes and I arranged a game of the Marvel Universe Miniature Game, partly because we hadn't played for a while, and partly because it was good motivation for Wes to get his Guardians of the Galaxy finished. We were both using the basic starter sets because this is pretty much all we have (although I do have Wolverine available to change things up if necessary), and we decided to play the Relics mission in which there were two objectives near the centre of the table and all of the VP's related to the control of them.

Earth's Mightiest Heroes: Thor, Cap, Widow and Iron Man

Guardians of the Galaxy: Gamora, Starlord, Drax and Rocket

I'd used my Avengers a couple of times before, and so had a fairly good grasp of their capabilities, whereas Wes would be using his Guardians for the first time. It had been about four months since our last game, and so it's entirely likely that we got stuff wrong.

TURN ONE

The Avengers arrive on the scene. Widow infiltrates up near the stones.

Groot and Gamora head straight for a fight.

The Avengers hurl everything they've got at Drax and Gamora.
Cap and Drax hold the Relics.

TURN TWO

The fight kicks off in earnest, with cars thrown and hammer's swung.
Iron Man unleashes his Unibeam, and Drax drops the Relic.

TURN THREE

Starlord grabs the Relic and runs.
After finishing off Drax, the Avengers follow.

Gamora charges Widow because of Comics Rule #236:
Only girls can fight girls.

Captain America heroically sneaks off with a Relic.

It all gets a bit fanfiction as Gamora and Widow lie down together...
...after failing their KO rolls.

TURN FOUR

Cap heroically bounces his shield on the head of the comatose Gamora.
She's removed from play.

After being pushed off a roof..
...Rocket runs and hides.

Thor and Iron Man close in on Starlord.

TURN FIVE

When faced with a dance-off, Thor decide to chuck a building at Starlord...
...just to be sure...

With Starlord taken out, Iron Man grabs the second relic.

With nothing left to lose, Rocket charges Cap and Widow.

Well that went well...

After Rocket failed his KO test, we decided to end the game with a turn to play. Wes had no models in play and was not able to score any VP's to change the result. I'd gained 1 VP for knocking the Relic out of Drax's grasp, 1 VP for holding both Relics at the end of turn five, and would have scored another one at the end of turn six. So, overall the score would have been 3-0 to the Avengers.

I think Wes struggled for a couple of reasons. Firstly, lack of familiarity with his crew. He was still working out how best to use them through the game, and naturally, made some bad choices. Secondly, the Avengers are a bit good (and in terms of Thor, possibly too good), being more mobile and harder to damage than the Guardians. Finally, I think Wes didn't concentrate his attacks to leave characters vulnerable. Had he done this, he could have dropped Black Widow quite quickly to give him a numbers advantage.

Overall, it was a good game. My highlights were firing a Unibeam through Drax, Gamora and a taxi (which blew up), pushing Rocket off a roof, and throwing a building at Starlord. Wes threw his share of cars, but struggled to make the damage count (Thor isn't the best target).

I think Wes has plans to get his hands on Groot, and I'll alter my line up the next time we play, just to be different. We're still hoping to convince others to join in as its a fun game, with a low model count, that doesn't really cater for 'serious' play, which makes it a great casual game.

Hopefully, this is the start of full resumption of usual services. TTFN.