7TV Day: The Russian Job

Yesterday saw me attending the Wargames Illustrated 7TV Day for a movie sequel entitled 'The Russian Job'. This was an extremely relaxed campaign day largely devoid of the usual focused tournament lists, and mainly concentrating on having a bit of a laugh.  The day was broken into three 'shooting blocks' putting together a larger narrative.

The initial brief saw my cast of Professor von Schteppbyonde and the staff of Project Meteor heading to Soviet Russia, along with several teams from a loose organisation called the 'Disruptors', to investigate something being referred to as the 'Mesti Incident', which potentially involved an extra-terrestrial item of great and terrible power...which was right up the Professor's street. Opposing were a network of notorious do-gooders referred to as the 'Valhalla Project'.

Scenario 1 - The Defective Defector

Yuri Blankenhof, rumoured to be the only survivor of the 'Mesti Incident', had sent a message - he wished to defect. In addition to his knowledge of Soviet science, he was offering information regarding what happened in the 'Mesti Incident'.

Keen to learn what he could, and then use it for his own nefarious ends, the staff of Project Meteor set out to locate Blankenhof, aid in his defection and learn what he knows. However, stood in their way were not only the KGB, but also non other than Hugo Solomon and a team from Department X.

Curses!

I was playing against Cameron using one of Crooked Dice's house casts, Department X:

• Team Leader - Hugo Solomon (Star), Secret Agent. Think James Bond, Jason King and Austin Powers rolled into one.
• X-Commando Strike Team - Captain Franklin (Co-Star) and 3 X-Commandos (Extras)
• Psychic Support - 2 Fox Agents (Extras)

The Spawn fail to locate Blankenhof.

The Worm and the Herpetologist begin their search.

Department X move up in formation.

The Worm erupts. Taking out most of the Strike Team.

Solomon leg sweeps Dr Kurtz just as the KGB arrive.

This turned out to be the shortest game of 7TV I've ever played. The scenario required us to roll a d10 when we interrogated civillians; on a 10 it would turn out to be Blankenhof, on a 1 it would be a KGB agent. When 3 KGB agents had shown up (which happened by the end of my second turn), we had to skip straight to the Finale cards in the Countdown Deck. Cameron then proceeded to draw cards which required him to draw more cards, thus ending the game.

However, this didn't mean that it was a dull game. In those two turns, the Death Worm popped up in the middle of Department X and took down all of the X-Commandos. One of the Foxes defected to my side. Captain Franklin blasted everywhere with his plasma rifle. The Spawn repeatedly failed to form words and so were unable interrogate civilians. Hugo Solomon was able to use his Tibetan Aikido to take down Dr Kurtz, technically winning the game, although the agent also had to flee when the KGB arrived.

We worked out that Blankenhof was caught in an explosion which seemed to emanate from some of the Professor's equipment...oops! However, the Professor was able to gather some notes from his body, whilst Sylvia Smother and Bob the Janitor helped the stunned Herpetologist to escape the clutches of the KGB.

Scenario 2 - Pieces of Hate

The death of Blankenhof was unfortunate, but at least the parts of the artefact involved in the 'Mesti Incident' were identified as being in packing cases located in several warehouses situated around the city of Rastava.

Project Meteor set of to one of these locations, with the aim of securing one of these crates and leaving the city before the Valhalla Project could get there. However, stood against the Professor this time was a mysterious individual known only as 'The Doctor' and his retinue of companions.

In this game I played against Mike's War Doctor and retinue (I don't know much about the War Doctor, so I'm working off the information I managed to glean from Mike in conversation):

• The War Doctor (Unearthly Traveller/Star)
• Squire (Action Hero/Star)
• Luther (Police Sergeant/Extra)
• 2 Gribblies (Ninja/Extras)

Both sides were also given a mini (emblazoned with a Union Jack to help them blend in) to help move the artefact.

The Doctor wins the race to crate.

The crate is dropped as Minis collide.

With his companions down, the Doctor stands alone.

This game also looked set to be over quickly as Mike's cast got to the crate on the first turn, and looked set to drive it off the board on the second. However, driving too fast saw it fall from the roofrackless Mini, and then my scientific wonders were able to gang up on the dispersed time travellers.

The Worm and Dr Kurtz double teamed Squire, whilst the Sylvia led the Spawn into the Gribblies and the Professor lasered Luthor in the back. Bob took some shuriken to the face, but since his accident, these kinds of things have not kept him down for long. The Doctor was ultimately surrounded and overwhelmed, allowing Project Meteor to deliver the crate into the grasping arms of the Disruptors.

Several other agents of the Disruptors had also been successful and, when presented with an alien device of potential devastation, a gang of villainous masterminds were obviously going to put the thing together to see what it did...

Scenario 3 - Self-Preservation Society

The Mesti Device was activated and, seemingly searching for more energy, began to devour the city of Rastava. Although there was apparently a force field surrounding the city, there was a gap, a small gap, which might allow a single vehicle, or group, to leave.

Somehow cramming everybody into the Mini (it took some effort to get the Worm into the boot), Project Meteor set off at speed to get to the gap before the other agents (who'd had the same idea), all the time avoiding panicking civilians.

A long road ahead.

Under starter's orders...

...and they're off!

Some fool starts shooting...yes...it was me.

Chaos ensues...

The Worm is unleashed to slow the others down.

Realising he might be faster on foot, Dr Kurtz legs it.

The Professor is caught in traffic.

Dr Kurtz was away and free...

This game was bedlam. Cars were exploding all over the place, and grudges flew back and forth. Somehow, despite having starting the shooting match, mine was one of only a handful of vehicles to make it off the first board. Given the amount of obstacles and the fact that players were allowed to use the vehicles to crash into you, I realised that Dr Kurtz, as an Aqua-Maniac, had the ability to ove faster than the vehicles were allowed to in the scenario, and so I dropped him off and then set about trying to keep the rest of my cast alive long enough to allow him to get to the gate.

Unfortunately, my plan was rumbled with my scaly roadrunner clear of danger, and pretty much everybody set about taking out the rest of my cast. Sylvia and the Spawn were, I think, dispatched by a combination of East End Coppers and the Master. The Professor's mini was wrecked by a drive-by from an old lady in an Aston Martin, and the Worm was swallowed by the advancing  Mesti Wave.

Under threat of my cast being axed, Dr Kurtz passed two spirit tests to make it to within one turn of the end, and then, predictably, my luck failed...and there was much rejoicing!

The game was ultimately won by one of the the little old ladies companions, narrowly ahead of one of the murderous coppers, who both managed to escape the clutches of a couple of Predators. The other agents, aliens, Moon Nazis and monkeys were all swallowed by the Mesti Wave.

However, Dr Kurtz heroic run did not go unrewarded. Everybody who attended received a goodie bag/box containing 4 Plastons (which I will use as Autons from Dr Who), three 7TV dice and a discount voucher for Crooked Dice. In addition, thanks to my glorious failure, I also received a couple of Ainsty Casting vehicles, one of which, the hovercraft, has been on my 'I must get round to buying that' list for some time.

All in all, this was an excellent, if slightly bonkers, day. It was good to meet quite a few people who I know only through Facebook, and we also got quite a bit of insider knowledge about the future of 7TV from Karl from Crooked Dice. Personally, I'm more than a bit excited about the upcoming Time Lost Programme Guide which will be featuring dinosaurs and Doug McClure!

Best Foot Forward

Despite the lack of blogging,, I have actually been painting, and here are the results. My Foot Clan for games of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 7TV.

Crooked Dice only currently do one set of three ninjas and so a little bit of weapon swapping meant that there is more variation amongst them than was initially likely. They do, however, do some very Foot-like alternate heads (coincidentally) and so painting them up like the Foot Clan was actually a doddle.

Shredder is one of Crooked Dice's Claws of Shiva, and is a great little model. However, despite the resemblance to Oroku Saki, as the Claw of Shiva is actually an extra in 7TV, he actually lacks a little in stature, and was potentially going to be towered over by my rather bulky Turtles. I resolve this by basing him on some scenery I'd removed from a Black Mask Heroclix model I'd converted into a gangster. It not only raises his height, but also somewhat removes him from the context, helping with size comparisons.

I've also been painting the last few models of the 7TV Weird Science cast I'm taking to the Wargames Illustrated 7TV day this weekend.

First up if Dr Konnor Kurtz, the Herpetologist, hideously transfigured when experimenting with combining reptilian DNA with an extra-terrestrial ooze extracted from meteors that had fallen in a shower in the wastes of Siberia.

The model is from Westwind, and is part of their Empire of the Dead range. The more observant of you will have noticed that he bears a more than passing resemblance to Spider-Man's enemy, Dr Curt Connors, the Lizard. This is deliberate, as he will be performing double duty with my Marvel collection. In 7TV he will be an Aqua-Maniac, a creature from the Paranormal Exterminators Programme Guide.

Another product of experiments with the ooze is 'Ze Vurm'. I giant burrowing invertibrate unleashed on the world by my Mad Scientist, Professor von Schtebbyonde.

This chunky beast is the fantastically cheap Purple Worm from the Reaper Bones range and will be operating as the massive Death Worm, also from the Paranormal Exterminators Programme Guide. This was a really fun model to paint, and I'm hoping it will be equally fun to use.

 And here they are in their full glory: the staff and test subjects of Project Meteor. Professor von Schtebbyonde (Mad Scientist), Dr Konnor Kurtz - the Herpetologist (Aqua-Maniac), 'Ze Vurm' (Death Worm), Sylvia Smother (Administrator), Bob the Janitor (Failed Experiment) and Test Subjects 23a and 23g (Spawn).

You may notice a couple of extra models in the picture. There is an extra Spawn as due to one of their traits, I could potentially get a larger cast during the games as more Spawn appear. There's also an extra Scientist as...well...I'd...erm...got my sums wrong about what I was able to fit in my cast, so he had to be cut.

I'm really looking forward to the weeking and taking part in the movie, 'The Russian Job'. It'll be interesting to see what people bring. As I've already seen evidence of Ape-Men, Moon Nazis and the Old Bill, it should be...interesting.

I'll do a full write up next week.

7TV: Scooby Doo and the Gruesome Ghoul of Gatorsburg

I appreciate that I've been quiet recently. I've been a bit out of sorts with the whole blogging thing. I think it might be because I binged a bit in April and over-faced myself. Anyway I'm back now and here's a game I played with Mike a couple of weeks ago as I was keen to get Mystery Incorporated on to the tabletop.

We played 'The Search', which is a scenario in the free PDF from Crooked Dice, in which Mystery Incorporated and the Crystal Cove Police Department (played by me) hunt for clues surrounding the disappearance of a bystander (Father Addams, the local priest), whilst the baddies, led by the Gruesome Ghoul of Gatorsburg, try to stop them. I had to grab the objective tokens (for which I scored points), and each time I did I got to roll to see if I'd located the missing priest. Once found, I would need to keep him safe and get him off the table.

Mystery Inc. and the CCPD start the search.

The Gruesome Ghoul awaits with his Ghosts and Zombies.

The team decide to split up to search for clues...

The CCPD shoot first and ask questions later; one Zombie down.

Jinkies! A clue!

Scooby and Shaggy find another clue. The Ghoul takes a bullet.

Hey Fred! Do you think this might be important?

The Ghoul's horde finally gets close.

Sheriff Stone is knocked flat and in danger. 

He somehow holds on whilst the deputies thin out the horde. 

Fred continues to search, seemingly unaware that Daphne is with him.

Scooby gets attacked by one Ghost...

...then a second one. Scooby-Dooooooo! Noooooo!

The Sheriff finally succumbs heroically.

Velma takes over, directing the deputies.

Fred finds the final clue!

In a blur of action, snacks and gadgets, Shaggy avenges Scoob.

Concentrated fire brings down the Ghoul, and the cast is axed.

A typically convoluted plan means Fred doesn't find the missing priest. 

Scooby and the Sheriff were both found dazed, and information pointing the location of Father Addams was found, although Mystery Incorporated couldn't claim credit for his rescue. The Gruesome Ghoul was unmasked as Terence the Choirmaster, who was trying to force the church to repair his organ. The CCPD are going to face some serious questions about their excessive use of lethal force, as the 'ghosts' and 'zombies' turned out to be the hypnotise members of the choir...oops!

Despite the fact that by the end of my third turn I'd found three of the clues and begun to slaughter the zombies, the game ended up being quite close. Fred's intricate plan was foiled by the Gruesome Ghoul being unmasked, forcing the rest of the cast to flee, ending the game early. I didn't manage to locate the priest, which meant Mike grabbed enough points to bring the final score to a knicker-grippingly close 8-7 to Mystery Incorporated.

The game was loads of fun, and the Scooby Gang are suitably thematic in their abilities. The amount of gadgets they get seems odd, but I suppose this reflects the wackiness of their adventures. The only thing missing from the game, as you can see, was the Mystery Machine, and so I've recently rectified that issue with a small purchase...

This is a Hot Wheels Elite 1:50 scale diecast model and is really good in terms of scale. My only grip is with Shaggy and Scooby being in the front seats, so I may need to do something about that.

Otherwise, you can look forward to it showing up in the next episode.

Scooby-Dooby-Dooooooo!

Mysteries & Monsters

I've had another busy month, so I'm just getting back to painting and blogging. I needed something fun to ease me in and I had nothing more fun sitting around than my Scooby Doo cast for 7TV that I picked up from Hasslefree Miniatures at Salute this year.

I've discovered that cartoon characters really suit my painting 'style' as I tend to prefer bright block colours. The Scooby Gang have these in abundance, and I really enjoyed doing them. I even...gasp...mixed the lilac trim on Daphne's dress! These were some of the quickest and most fun models I've painted in a long time. The models are simple and well sculpted, and I'd highly recommend them.

I now just need a Mystery Machine.

I also finished off the Death Worm for my Mad Science cast that I will be taking to the Wargames Illustrated 7TV day in July.

The Death Worm is actually a Purple Worm from the Reaper Bones line, and it's chunky thing - the base it's on is 50mm diameter. The paint job is really simple and done to match the spawn in the rest of the cast, which also makes it usable as a Kraathatrogon - a giant mutagen producing alien space worm from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.

A fun extra, I discovered that there have been giant worms in Scooby Doo too, which gives me a chance to use the two together.

Now I really need that Mystery Machine...

Beatings Around The Bush

Last week saw me attending another Batman Miniatures Game event run by Animosity at the Holmfirth Gaming Centre. These are always themed events with teams rather than straight tournaments, but it creates a much more inclusive atmosphere as you work with people you don't know towards a goal.

For this tournament I deliberately decided to take something that has been a little bit controversial in BMG circles recently, namely the tournament exclusive card for Borj (one of Poison Ivy's plants) beefed up with the new Ancient Plant upgrade in therecently released Arkham Knight Campaign Book. The fuss revolves around the fact that with the right set of upgrades Borj can pop up on the first turn in the enemy deployment zone, beat up one or more enemy models and poison them, mind control another two to attack their friends, and use its roots to slow down the whole crew's advance.

I wanted to find out if it was as bad as the doomsayers claimed, and, as Poison Ivy is probably my favourite Batman villain, I decided to give it a test drive.

My Crew:

Poison Ivy (Comics) - Modified Pheromones

Deadshot (Arkham City)

Calendar Man

Borj - Ancient Plant, Titanic Mutation, Large Roots, Corrosive Blood

Prisoner 1 (Tube)

Prisoner 4 (Bodyguard) - Corrosive Blood

Pavillion A Subject - Mutation Serum

Given that the Ancient Plant upgrade makes Borj large, I decided to use one of my homemade plants instead of the official model as it looked more impressive. One of the cool things about the Animosity events is that they apply the 'rule of cool' to conversions and suitable proxies.

My plan in games was simple. I would use the Early Bird strategy to get the first turn with Borj and use him to smash a hole in the enemy line, turn them on each other and slow them down. Calendar Man and the henchmen would work their way towards objectives to pick up points, and  Ivy (protected by her bodyguard) and Deadshot would work clean up on enemies who got free of Borj and defend the opponent's objectives.

Let's see how it went...

Game 1: Patrol vs Jimmy's Bane Crew

Jimmy's crew was as follows:

Bane (Dark Knight Rises)

Deadshot (Suicide Squad)

Dallas - Extra Ammo, Night Vision Goggles

Smash

McGregor

Cuchillo (referred to during the game 'Chewbacca' and 'Chinchilla')

Prisoner 3 (Axe)

Prisoner 4 (Bodyguard)

Although the footslogging Bane crew and the Patrol scenario really suited my strategy as I could pretty much guarantee that Jimmy wouldn't get to my deployment zone, I was very aware that I was significantly outgunned and outmatched in close combat. This meant that the central zone was likely to end up almost certain death for my crew. I resolved to send runners around the long way, hoping to sneak on to my objectives after Borj had done his work.

The game began with Borj popping up close enough to get pretty much all of Jimmy's crew in his roots radius to slow them down. I used him to attack Deadshot and put significant damage on him. However, Deadshot helps nearby characters with Willpower tests and this meant I was only able to mind control Smash, who promptly failed to do any damage to a nearby prisoner.

With Borj not having had the impact I was hoping for, rather than trying to escape his grasp, Bane and his veterans went on the offensive and mobbed the giant plant. Although they didn't bring him down, it was clear he wasn't going to last long. Meanwhile the rest of my crew began to sneak up the board.

The following turn, Borj continued to be underwhelming, as I split his attacks between two opponents and only damaged one of them (although the poison would later prove to be a death sentence for the bodyguard). He then mind controlled Dallas, who promptly missed Deadshot. An with that, Bane splattered Borj and I had to accept the consolation of Borj's corrosive blood damaging half the crew.

The game now had me back on the defensive. Ivy and the prisoners thought better of charging towards Dallas and Deadshot and moved back to back up Calendar Man, who had been grabbing Riddles and now had the entire enemy crew free to run at him. Meanwhile Deadshot slunk about popping off shots at enemy henchmen, and succeeded in bringing down Cuchillo.

Bane used inspire to get his crew moving quickly, and I foolishly left Calendar Man too exposed and got him killed. The end of the game saw Ivy risk the full might of Bane to mind control both Smash and McGregor and remove any chance of them reaching their objectives. She managed to avoid his attacks and danced away to safety.

The final score was 7-5 in my favour, but this was still a draw, which was appropriate for such a cagey game. However, I had learned a few things about who Borj should target to get the most out of him.

Game 2: Dirty Money vs David's Joker Crew

David's crew was as follows:

Joker (Arkham City)
Mr Freeze
Killer Croc
Punker
Triston
Prisoner 1 (Tube)

This scenario was part of the campaign and each turn we controlled one of the central objectives, we would not only gain 2vp, we also contributed to earning bonuses for our team in the final climactic round. I'd also worked out that Borj would be better off going after the three henchmen rather than Joker (with his rerolls), Mr Freeze (with his armour) or Croc (who could destroy Borj with a push).

We were on the Joker's Fun House board and this didn't have much cover in the centre where the scenario objectives were, and so I was happy that David only had a similar amount of shooting to me, and Deadshot was able to operate fairly freely.

Borj popped up, clobbered Triston into unconsciousness and mind controlled Punker and the Prisoner into inactivity. Over the following turns, the plant prevented David's henchmen from really getting forward, killed both Punker and Triston (Deadshot later capped the Prisoner) and kept one side of the board free for the Bodyguard to grab loot and the scenario objective, and the lunatic to run across the board to grab my ammo objective.

The other side of the board was more challenging. There was not much I could do to prevent Mr Freeze reaching his primary target loot, and all I could do was use Calendar Man's disarray (a trait he only has in May) to prevent Mr Freeze reaching another objective without dropping his loot.

Between them, Ivy, Calendar Man and the Tube Prisoner battled over the central objective with Joker and Killer Croc. Ivy fluffed a set of defence rolls and was torn apart by Croc in one round. Joker was successfully bullying Calendar Man and the Prisoner, and so I used the regrowth strategy to move Borj over to help them. This was risky because if Croc could pull off a charge at Borj, he would destroy him without having to attack.

However, Deadshot was able to inflict significant damage on the giant reptile and drove it into cover on an objective. This left Joker alone, and so not only did Calendar Man survive, but the Clown Prince of Crime was ultimately beaten to death by the giant plant.

Despite the ferocity of the battle, being able to totally control one side of the board meant that I came out with a 42-29 victory. Ancient Borj suddenly felt a bit dirty...

Game 3: Race For Glory vs Scott's Justice League Dark Crew

Scott is the guy behind Animosity, and despite going to numerous events, this was the first time we'd played. He had a themed Batman crew based on the Justice League Dark:

Batman (Modern Age)

Swamp Thing

GCPD Detective (Zatanna)

GCPD Detective (Played by Liam Neeson)

GCPD Detective

GCPD Policeman

This scenario saw all of our objectives being placed one one side of the board, and our crews starting in the corners on the other one. We would then race to our objectives. This, combined with the fact that not only did Scott have three Detectives who could essentially start on top of the objectives, he also had a large model who could kill Borj instantly, I changed my usual plan and deployed Borj amongst Scott's objectives, contesting all of them. The only one he would be able to score off without killing Borj would be the infamous Bat-signal.

Borj popped up and immediately began beating up and mind controlling the three Detectives that Scott had grouped together. He essentially took them almost completely out of the game. His attacks were surprisingly ineffective, but poison claimed two of them and they were pretty much unable to do anything. Scott wasn't helped at all by the fact that I kept getting first turn.

This essentially left Batman and Swamp Thing (and a single cop) to try to stop my whole crew from running across to score at will from my objectives. 

They almost managed it.

Deadshot, who thought he was popping off a shot at Swamp Thing as they went past, was surprised to find both of them double back and beat the snot out of him. He managed to last a round longer than I thought he would, but was ultimately taken out.

Next they headed off after the easy picking of the prisoners who scattered. Swamp Thing chased down and beat down the lunatic who had grabbed some loot, and almost got his claws into Calendar Man on the last turn.

Batman chased Ivy into a corner (who had sneakily mind controlled the cop into arresting an unconscious detective), and again she was completely unable to defend herself and Batman took her down in a single round. The cop made up for his earlier error and arrested her.

Despite these heroic efforts, the steady flow of victory points from the Bat-signal, loot and late the ammo that the Tube Prisoner had used sewers to get to saw the final score being 29-17 to me.

Borj had been ridiculously effective, but ultimately quite dull. I have to commend Scott on his good humour as Borj robbed him of half his crew. What was becoming apparent, however, was that Ivy was turning out to be a bit of a weak link, Calendar Man was tough but not especially dangerous, and Deadshot was not the force he once was. Basically, my crew was really dependent on Borj.

Game 4: Fight For Gotham vs Reuben's Batman Crew

I've played Reuben three times before at these events and they are always tight affairs. He usually brings a Law/Batman crew and he knows what he's doing with them.

Commissioner Gordon - Heliport

Nightwing (Arkham City)

Catwoman (Arkham City)

SWAT Alpha

SWAT Bravo

SWAT Delta

GCPD Detective

Again I was out-gunned, but I'd worked out that I needed to use Borj to neutralise Reuben's ability to dominate the ranged battle given that the board we were on had long sight lines. I positioned him where he could influence all three of the SWAT cops, however, I knew that there wasn't much I could do to stop Catwoman getting her primary target loot, and if Nightwing got stuck in, I could be in trouble.

Again, Borj popped up and began by clobbering Gordon into unconsciousness. Gordon's Heliport upgrade allows him to shoot anybody on the board and I wanted to neutralise this if possible. He mind controlled Delta and Alpha closer into his roots zone whilst Calendar Man moved on to loot. Deadshot took the opportunity to sneak round the corner and injure the Detective (a job he finished off the following turn).

Reuben wisely aimed to get his SWAT out of range of Borj as quickly as possible, starting with Bravo (who later knocked out Calendar Man), but over subsequent turns Delta also managed to esacpe, but Alpha was ultimately killed. Catwoman and Nightwing met in the middle to eventually get the loot into her hands, and then in a potentially game winning move, Nightwing swung in to attack Ivy...

...and missed. At last her defence rolls worked.

She then used confusion to allow her minions to gang up and beat Nightwing into unconsciousness. The Tube Prisoner sneaked through the sewers to grab some points from my Ammo, before Catwomn ran over to knock him out.

The final score was 15-8 to me, although I was fully aware that things could have been different.

So it was time for the prizes, and with three wins and a draw I found myself in third place. Second was Jimmy, who I'd played in the first game and so we'd clearly had very similar days. As ever, the prizes at Animosity events are excellent and I won Arkham Origins Deathstroke (a model I've wanted for a while), some resin Secret Weapon bases (the kind I'm using for my TMNT project), a Shadowstorm tournament card, some League of Shadows tokens, a 20% off voucher for Multiverse Gaming Terrain, a snazzy bronze dice and a certificate saying I'm ace.

In the spirit of generosity, and because I wouldn't use them, I ended up giving the tokens back to use as prizes for future tournaments and I gave the voucher to the Bradford Gaming club (which many of the the attendees are part of) to help them buy terrain. I also gave the Shadowstorm card (which I already have) to Rob who makes all the excellent boards that I've enjoyed playing on at the Holmfirth Gaming Centre.

Here's me with my loot...

In terms of my experiment, I found that Borj is very powerful, especially against henchmen heavy crews which haven't encountered him before who don't (or can't) spread out. However, I don't think he's over-powered (any more so than other strong combinations) because without rerolls, he does miss a lot of attacks, there are ways to counter his effectiveness and he leaves the rest of the crew significantly weaker. If you can avoid him having a major impact on the first round, then fast and aggressive models can really get stuck into the rest of the crew.

My major issue about this combination is that it's not especially interesting for the player. I pretty much did the same thing every game, and I'm fairly sure having half your crew immobilised for much of the game wasn't much fun for the other player either. There is apparently a change coming via FAQ (soon...)which will either prevent Borj using Ancient Plant, or limit him to a single upgrade. This should force players to at least have to think a bit about how or whether to use him.

As ever, the event was a really fun day and I highly recommend that you attend any Animosity events that might pop up in the near future. 'Watch' out for one coming up in July...