He-Month: He-Man Rules!

Sorry...that should be 'Rules for He-Man.'

As regular readers of this blog (both of you) will be aware, I play quite a few different games. Over the last year I've been playing quite a lot of Bolt Action, Dropzone Commander, Dropfleet Commander, BMG and 7TV, along with numerous other systems I play on and off. Combined with the games I've played in the past (WFB, FoW, WAB, etc.) and multiple editions of all of the above, this means that my head is swimming with half-remembered, and often contradictory, rules. Therefore, when it comes to choosing rules for a new project I need to ensure that the rules for the system will be able to find space in my head, and so I apply the following questions:

1. How easy are the rules to pick up? I want to be able to play games properly on the first or second try, I'm not one to spend years mastering a complex system or wading through walls of text (Ganesha games rulebooks have a habit of literally putting me to sleep, yet many people like them - go figure).
2. How easy are the rules to explain? This is important as with all my flights of fancy, I need to convince somebody else to play. No fun is to be had if your opponent is lost in a fog of confusion (BMG, I'm looking at you here).
3. Do the rules provide an enjoyable game? This seems obvious, but 'enjoyable' is a subjective term, there are plenty of rules sets that many people love, but I just can't get on with...ahem...Frostgrave!
4. Is there a set of rules that I already know that will fit this project just as well? Despite the plethora of rules on the market, many of them are somewhat samey in the game that they deliver (the transition from WFB to Kings of War was curiously simple...).
5. Should I just do what I always do and use 7TV?

It's that last one that is usually the clincher for me for all of my mini projects as the 7TV rules are straightforward, fun and familiar. What's more, my gaming group are already familiar with the game, so convincing them to have a go of my latest flavour of the month project is much easier. Additionally, and I think crucially, 7TV assumes that you are going to customise the rules to your own purposes, and actually encourages you to do this.

So, ultimately, I'm using 7TV for games with my Masters of the Universe models.

I've spent the last couple of days putting together some profile cards for the models I've painted so far using the excellent 7TV Casting Agency card creator site. For each of the characters I chose an existing profile which seemed to fit their role (He-Man is an Action Hero, Skeletor is a Sinister Mystic, Evil Lyn is a Double Agent, etc.) and then used the customisation rules in the Producer's Guide to tweak them to be more suitable. Once you get going, it's a fun process as you try to put together combinations of abilities that will at least give a sense of the characters you know.

In terms of the games themselves, I'm going to be using the 7TV rules as written with the only slight change being that I will be using the Future Freedom Fighters Gadget deck rather than the regular one. Mechanically this will change very little, but a Psy-Enhancer seems more appropriate to the genre than a Bulletproof Umbrella. The sci-fi gadgets aren't a perfect fit, but they are less jarring.

With models painted, rules selected and cards created, it looks like there needs to be a game soon. With luck this will happen and I'll have a battle report up over the weekend.

All that leaves is for me to show you the cards I've made. Please feel free to print out and use them for yourself if you wish, although you can probably find better quality images of them on the 7TV Action Facebook Group. I will be creating cards for other characters as I collect and paint them, and I'll endeavour to post them at the same time as I post actual photos of the models.