Yet More Superhero Wargames Armies Ideas

I can stop anytime I want, I swear. It's just that I think people could really benefit from these army ideas, even if these are some of my worst-performing posts. Something I can do just for me, right? Like I can get these damn ideas out of my head so that I'm not tempted to make them myself, even if I did end up buying most of the Space Knight Heroclix recently for gaming. 

If you're not caught up by now, the idea behind these infrequent pieces is to discuss ideas for bringing a superhero-inspired Miniature Wargames armies into existing games if your FLGS or local club isn't keen on the genre. Whilst I try to not keep the ideas focused on any specific game or set of rules, I do have a vague idea of something along the lines of Warhammer 40,000 in mind, at least in terms of army size and variety of units.


The Brotherhood (Marvel)

Concept: Based on the representation of the "Brotherhood" army in X-Men 3, the entire concept of this force boils down to Magneto saying "In chess, the pawns go first". Despite probably being powerful enough to take Alcatraz by himself, Magneto doesn't want to run the risk of losing, so he brings an army of disposable minions to his side to do the dying for him. With his core group of more powerful mutants to back him up, Magneto is master and commander of a very dangerous rabble. The similar army Magneto builds in Ultimate X-Men is probably worth a look here as well.

Army Building: This one seems pretty straightforward, with mobs of weaker mutants making up the bulk of the force and a small number of elite and powerful members to provide the real punch. As most of the "lesser" mutants don't need to have really specific powers, they could be grouped in "squads" that serve functions. For example, mutants with strength and claw mutations for close combat, chameleon and climbing mutants as scouts and psychics scattered here and there as "radio operators" mean you can fill out a decent sized army pretty easily. Juggernaut and Phoenix fit easily as Dreadnought like vehicles and "monster" infantry, and plenty of games allow for powerful solo characters like Pyro and Kid Omega. 

Models: Honestly, I'd be looking at Heroclix for most of this, just as a way to keep costs down and to scale well with other games. There are plenty of thugs and criminals in other ranges if you want a look closer to the film for your mobs of disposable mutants. I could see using Knight Models or Crisis Protocol for Juggernaut to get something big enough, but I know from past experience that getting enough models in the right scale to match is pretty difficult and expensive.

Red Ribbon (Dragon Ball)

Concept: A mercenary army dedicated to conquering the world, Red Ribbon not only has troops, tanks and planes, but also robots, monsters and ninjas; what else could you want in a wargames army? Probably the only truly recurring villains in the Dragon Ball franchise, the Red Ribbon forces have brought everything from mercenary soldiers to Perfect Cell against Goku and friends over the years, giving plenty of scope for a fun and unique army build. Plus much of the naming scheme is colour-based, so you can have fun with naming things, like Colonel Taupe, Major Heliotrope or Sergeant Aqua. 

Army Building: The spread of troop types and characters means you can never really run out of ideas on this one. You can have plenty of Red Ribbon soldiers, tanks and planes to fill out the rank and file, of course, but do you need an elite unit? How about robots, or maybe ninjas? An elite assassin? Tau Pi-Pi is ready to go. Hell, there's even the Androids and Cell if you need something of an otherworldly power scale. For this concept, I'd probably be working backwards, deciding on a game and army, then finding stuff in the Red Ribbon catalog to fit. 

Models: Sadly, the amount of Dragon Ball miniatures on the market is rather low, but don't give up before you start. Most of the major characters can be found as a 3D print, and there is a great line of model vehicles that vary in scale from 28 to 40mm for pretty cheap. For the soldiers, there are plenty of lines of Cold War Chinese and Soviets that fit the bill quite well, and scale alright with some of the Girls Und Panzer tank models that are a bit more rounded and "cute" in style, for that Anime look.


Free Armies of Mongo (Flash Gordon) 

Concept: What happens when the heroic Flash Gordon of Earth turns the citizens of Mongo against the foul Emperor Ming? The Free Armies of Mongo are born! Mostly taken, in concept, from the King's Watch and King's Quest comic series, this idea works for pretty much whatever version of Flash Gordon that you happen to prefer. Hawkmen, Lizard-men, Tree People and whatever else you feel like are ready to go fight for their freedom against the evil empire!

Army Building: This army falls into the "Halo Covernant" or "How the Tau should work" category, in that each unit will have a very different look, perhaps even being a different species. It's pretty straightforward from there, really, Hawkmen are a "jump pack" unit, Aborians are commandos, Lizard-men are scouts, and so on. The various characters like Flash, Dale and Vultan are ready-made commanders and squad leaders, and there are plenty of rockets to fill out all of your vehicle needs. 

Models: There are plenty of "Not-Flash Gordon" miniatures available with a quick search online, I own some from Reaper and Dirk Garrison myself and they suit fine. Bringing together several different ranges may be necessary, depending on how big you want your army to be. The rocket ships may be a little harder to get, but I've seen a few good 3D print examples around with a good "retro" vibe.

Foot Clan (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

Concept: It's a Ninja Clan with some comic book extras, not much more to this one. An ancient Ninja Clan, transplanted to New York City, embraces both mysticism and advanced technology in order to further its agenda of accruing power and influence. Most often led by the mysterious figure of "The Shredder", the Foot includes everything from Mutants, to inter-dimensional mercenaries and even robots depending on the source material, but there are always plenty of Ninjas to throw at the enemy. 

Army Building: I'd by lying if I said I hadn't been considering putting together a Foot Clan force for my wargames club's Samurai League, but I thought better of it. The Foot just kind of work really well for a lot of games, because you can have as many ninja as you want or need, then just add in whatever else is required for elite units and characters. Personally, I'd be using a mixture of elements from different incarnations of the Foot, from Rock Soldiers and Krang to Karai and Mousers, because that would give me more variety and more options to choose from. 

Models: There are plenty of Ninja models avaiable, which should fill out whatever you need in terms of "squads"; even the TMNT Heroclix Foot Clan Ninjas are pretty nice, though the weapons can be warped and often need replacing. Naturally, Heroclix have all of the characters you'll need, most are pretty affordable on the secondary market as well, but there is the IDW Board Game if you're one of those people who cannot abide Clix. Mantic does a great tunneling vehicle in the Warpath range too.

Superhero Media: X-Men The Last Stand

In an act of contrary thinking not seen since, let's be honest, probably only a month or two on this blog, I want to ask, is X-Men The Last Stand really all that bad? Yes, it's not as good as X-Men 2, but The Last Stand is still, what, the fourth or fifth rated film in the series, if you don't count the Deadpool films? The loss of Bryan Singer as director was a blow to the series, though we got Superman Returns out of it, and it turns out Singer is a massive creep, so maybe not the worst outcome. Following on directly from the previous film, Mystique has been captured by someone (the government? It's all pretty vague), Cyclops is falling apart from grief and Kelsey Grammer is playing Hank McCoy and that's awesome. The main issue with The Last Stand is the two conflicting plot-lines, being the "Mutant Cure" and Dark Phoenix, both of which are interesting and have good moments, but neither gets the time it deserves to develop. 

The conflict between mutants being able to stop being mutants and "mutant" being an identity for many is really interesting, but with Rogue being the only mutant with powers that affect her quality of life. Had there been some characters with more physically obvious mutations, like Beak, Ugly Steve or Glob Herman, an actual debate could be had and there would be some nuance to proceedings. Instead, Rogue gets the cure, because she really needs to, let's be honest, and Iceman forgives her as they can finally be together; it's a nice moment and a good end for Rogue's arc in the films. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood has expanded to include Arclight, Callisto and Quill, who are obscure enough I actually had to look them up, and also Multiple Man and Juggernaut, and I kind of like Vinnie Jones' take on the character, as goofy as it is. With the "government" (maybe the NSA or the military? None of this is clear) putting the cure into weapons really quickly, the Brotherhood elect to assault Alcatraz, leading to one of the best sequences in the series, where Magneto finally gets to show off just how powerful he is, by moving the Golden Gate bridge. 

The Phoenix arc of the film is often highlighted as the major failing, and I cannot really disagree, as it feels rushed and lacks any real emotional depth. I feel that splitting "Dark Phoenix" into a fourth film, though starting it in The Last Stand still, would have given the story time to breathe, as Jean herself only really gets three scenes to do anything with everything else going on. Also, the choice of Jean's powers being represented as pulling things apart into ash/dust rather than burning away with "Phoenix Flames" just seems like a silly choice by the design team. Yes, the film is already too CGI heavy, but a last-minute drop of the full fire-bird Phoenix effect would have been as big a fanboy punch as the Fastball Special, Sentinel attack and Iceman "Icing Up" were; I remember cheering in the cinema when Bobby finally went full Iceman, and I wasn't the only one. The Last Stand was better than I remembered it being, when all is said and done, and I will probably go back to it again sooner than I may have because of that. If you're still convinced that this film "ruined the series", maybe give it another go and try not to be mad that it's not X-Men 2 this time.

Ultimate Alliance: China - Part IV

As tear gas canisters rained down into the rear of the pro-democracy protestor's lines, an all-too-familiar wave of panic began to ripple through the ranks. Even now hardened by months of protests and living off scraps in unpowered and unplumbed University Dorms, the unforgettable burning sensation of CS gas hitting mucus linings could give pause to the men and women fighting for their freedom. Inflexible doctrine meant that the gas would also be followed by a police surge, already the lookouts were reporting that a line of riot shields had formed and was preparing to advance; those protestors who could arm themselves with makeshift shields did so as the designated medics prepared for more casualties. The surge came, the police crossing the open ground of the forecourt with practiced quickness, closing in on the makeshift barricades that protected the dorms. 

With a booming crash of twisting metal, a car landed only meters from the advancing police, halting them in their tracks. Before the shock could register and convert to action, a second object impacted the ground with incredible force, only to stand a moment later, a spotlight revealing the chrome and magenta form of Inframan. For a moment, the entire scene paused, with even the roar of the fires and crack of random shots seeming to fade for a moment to allow Inframan's arrival the gravitas it deserved. Training and experience soon kicked in, and a smattering of small-arms fire was shortly directed at Inframan, to little effect. Leaping more than a dozen meters, Inframan landed a series of kicks, clearing a space in the middle of police lines for himself.  

"These people are under my protection," the booming, semi-robotic voice of Inframan cut through the roar of battle, "retreat now and you shall not be harmed!

Inframan's answer was a roar from a nearby officer as several came at him with batons raised, he deflected the first into the second with his elbow just in time to be dog piled by a dozen more. Activating the rocket boosters in his feet, Inframan slowly rose, lifting a score of police officers as he left the ground, before tossing them into their comrades, scattering the crowd. Even in his battered state, the image of Inframan, hovering in the air in exactly the way humans could not set off a primitive response in many of the police, and even the hardened riot officers began to back away from the superman in front of them. Just as it appeared to the beleaguered pro-democracy protestors that the tide had turned, however, something impacted Inframan, and a moment later, he was thrown to the ground by a small explosion.

Through the clearing crowd of police strode a black-clad figure, sporting the unmistakable leather suit of the Masked Warrior, a ripple of disbelief and anticipation moved through those around the two costumed heroes. The Masked Warrior stopped only a few feet from Inframan, who had picked himself up, and the two began to circle, gauging each other's movements in the manner of practiced martial artists. Growing up in Hong Kong, Hayama had head stories of the Masked Warrior, even seen some of the films they made, but was never sure that he was really real. Assuming that what Hayama knew was accurate, then he was confident he could win this fight easily. Engaging his rocket boots, Inframan leapt into the air, aiming a powerful kick straight at the Masked Warrior. 

Superhero Media: Supernatural - Season 5

And here our journey ends. I know that Supernatural continues for a great many seasons, but the close of Season 5, with Dean losing everything and turning away from hunting for good, is one of the best "finales that aren't actually a final episode" in television. Yes, I still maintain that "Free The Future" is the best ending Dragon Ball has ever had and Luther should have finished at the close of the third season. For the entirety of the fifth season, Sam and Dean are in a Sisyphean struggle against destiny, soon learning that Sam is to be the vessel of Lucifer and Dean of the Archangel Michael, and that their battle will destroy the Earth. Fatalism and duty are the major themes of this season, with the brothers, Dean especially, standing for free will and humanism, even when that stand costs them everything they have. The focus of this season of Supernatural is less episodic, with plots running across several entries, though still bookended for network television. 

In what is something of a shock for an American television programme on a major network, it is revealed in Supernatural that God is absent, the Metatron has become a dictator and the Angels are on board for the Apocalypse because it will be the end of a lot of filthy humans. That's basically the plot for a chunk of the His Dark Materials series, and draws a lot more from the Apocrypha and William Blake than it does any Biblical source. Whilst I would love a big Sci-Fi/Horror production to draw its mythology from something other than an Abrahamic source, the approach that Supernatural takes is at least pretty interesting, moving away from a loving God and Biblical literalism that even Xena Warrior Princess ran with in later seasons. Another excellent choice is stripping many of the characters of power they've previously had, meaning Sam and Dean have to take on Angles, Demons and the Horsemen of the Apocalypse with rock salt and experience, rather than CGI tricks. 

In the end, the battle for the future of the Earth comes down to two guys wrestling in a graveyard, and the car that has been a feature of the programme since the pilot is pivotal in preventing the End of Days. When Lucifer and Sam are trapped in the Room Without Doors, along with Michael and an unfortunate character idea (the lost third Winchester brother), Dean is left with only Bobby and a lifetime of grief and regret. The end of Dean's story is his reuniting with an old flame from a previous season and looking for meaning in a life that has never really needed any before. This ending is perfect, a brilliant juxtaposition to the "Supernatural Convention" episode where a fan tells Dean he envies his life of freedom and adventure. One day, I may look at the seasons that follow this one, but my brief foray into Season 6 and beyond has left me cold so far, and I'd rather keep my feelings for the story and characters intact. I think it will be a while before I come back to Supernatural, but for the most part, going back over it again has been a worthwhile experience.

Drokk the Law!! - Part III

Welcome back to the blocks, citizen! For those who came in late, my friend Andy and I are playing the oldish Mongoose Judge Dredd Miniatures Game to live out our 2000AD dreams on the table-top and play a gang skirmish game that's a little lighter than Necromunda. With a few tweaks, the game is working nicely, so we're trying out different Missions and teams to see if we could sustain a full campaign.

This week's games were around the Heist! mission, where one team tries to get the majority of their members off the table with stolen loot. As we had Judges, Renegade Robots and a Street Gang, the Judges were trying to prevent the escape; in the name of the law! For the mission, each model is carrying a piece of loot, more than half of which must make it off the table to get the win; if a model is removed from play, they drop the counter and a friend can pick it up by moving over it.

In the first game, Sam played the Judges and I played my Robots. In order to cover the exits from the central area of the table, the Judges had to be split up, which meant they couldn't back each other up very much, so Haro-2-Goodbye and my Robodog were able to mop up two of the Judges in a few turns. Close Combat, as it turns out, is difficult to break from safely, so as soon as Haro-2-Goodbye made contact with the Psi Judge, even though she made her saves, she was essentially out of the game. Given the inherent risks of Melee combat over Ranged, we're not finding this to be an issue, but I'll be trying out a melee-only gang at some point (Zombie Master) to push that idea further.

In the second game, I took the Judges against the Bryan Ansell Blockers (Street Gang) played by Andy, and I found I had the same problem of not being able to cover enough escape routes and the game wrapping up in just a few turns. Also, I failed every sing Arrest roll I had to make, but that's just part of wargaming. Now, I don't actually think that the Judges being unable to realistically win this mission is necessarily a bad thing, at least in the context of a campaign, which the game is designed to play.

The Justice Department is a pretty powerful team, in terms of raw stats and gear, right out of the gate. Especially on our smaller tables, the Judges' range difference is less pronounced and the variety of ammo in the Lawgiver helps minimise the advantages of Cover and Armour. However, Judges can't just recruit new members like the other gangs can, they have to rely on falling behind, getting reinforcements for a mission and then recruit the requisitioned Judges. So, functionally, the Judges have to lose and fall behind a little in order to catch up. A mission like Heist! advantages the perps, but also limits the need to actually fight the Judges, so is actually kind of ideal for an ongoing campaign. Hopefully we can find a couple more players and give a full Campaign a go in 2024. 

Superhero Media: SHAZAM!

Boy did this one come out of nowhere, huh? I mean, the trailer looked good, but that's no indication of final quality, as anyone who remembers The Phantom Menace can tell you. I think the moment I realised that SHAZAM! might be something special was when a friend of mine messaged me out of the blue and told me to go see the film; as this friend is more into cult horror and exploitation films, I was keen to see what he found so interesting. When friends ask me what I want to see in a particular hypothetical film or television adaptation and I tend to respond "make a good film first then worry about the character", and it seems that the crew of SHAZAM! must have been spying on me for a while, because that's pretty much how the film works. Billy Batson is a teenage runaway looking for his long lost mother when he lands in a foster home with a gaggle of colourful siblings and gets recruited to be Captain Marvel by the Wizard Shazam. Yes, I'm going to refer to the character as Captain Marvel, deal with it. 

Probably the greatest achievement of SHAZAM! is finding a dozen child actors who are decent enough to carry all of their lines and keep a straight face during their scenes. Add to that some decent writing that actually evokes young people and their interactions, and the superhero parts of SHAZAM! are almost secondary to the enjoyment of the film. Not that the film slumps in this area thanks to the sheer menace Mark Strong brings to Doctor Sivana, and the Sins look scary enough to be a legitimate threat, though I would have liked them to look like the Golden Age versions for one scene. C'mon, Mister Mind has two cameos, it wouldn't have shifted the tone all that much. By Zeus, I'm hanging out of a DCEU Mister Mind, can't wait to see an evil caterpillar be the headline villain; hope they don't wuss out on it. SHAZAM! takes risks, not just with the source material and focus on child actors, but in the balance of the lighthearted and scary moments and the challenge of superhero movie tropes; the scene where Sivana makes an evil speech Captain Marvel can't hear is great. 

I want to see more of Captain Marvel and his family, both in more films of their own and in the broader DCEU, whatever that turns out to be. The lighthearted tone that the Marvel family brings would be a great way to move away from the Snyder aesthetic so gradually perhaps the grim and gritty set may not even notice and start to have fun with their lives. At the very least we need a recreation of the Superman/Captain Marvel fight from Justice League Unlimited, if not having Captain Marvel hanging around the Teen Titans and getting along because he's a teen as well, like in Young Justice. Hell, I'm just happy to see more DC films that don't involve Superman or Batman, so I'm down for a few more in this series just on that merit.

Thinking Out Loud: Phantom Continuity

I'm not a comics fan that is particularly engrossed in the idea of continuity for its own sake, but I do tend to appreciate it when it is left to be neutral or positive. For example, having to read tie-in comics and events to fully enjoy a run of Fantastic Four is tedious and distracts from the fun, but Spider-Man making a joke about clones in The New Avengers is fun, because I only have to know about the Clone Saga to get a little chuckle. Aside from Avengers Infinity War and Endgame, the Marvel Cinematic Universe does a great job of this kind of continuity, with little "hat-tips" like Aaron Davis talking out his nephew (Miles Morales) or Thor offhandedly referencing having been turned into a frog at one point. There is one comic and publication house, however, that has even Marvel and DC beat for continuity, Frew Publications, the people behind the continuing The Phantom comics. Yes, for those that don't know, Frew has kept The Phantom in print continually since 1948, and, what's more, it's all in continuity. No, Really. 

Sadly, The Phantom isn't as popular as it once was, but here in the Asia Pacific region, the character has always had a strong following and is pretty much the only comic that can be purchased at a Newsagent or Milk Bar anymore. I grab the odd issue where I can, especially the wonderful Giantsize volumes which contain comics from the 1940s through to today. I was reading the 2020 Giantsize Annual and was delighted to see Cat-Man, Sir Falcon and The Shadow (more on them later) turn up, and during some exposition there was one of those little boxes explaining a continuity link people may not be aware of. Although this story was first published in 2019, the little box reads "Cat-Man & Kit met Dr. Claux and Brutus in CAT-MAN #10 1958", because the same Cat-Man that appeared in the 1950s is still running around in the 21st century. Now, obviously, the design, tone and writing has changed in 70 years, but the fact that there has never been a "Line-Wide Reboot" at Frew is pretty impressive in its own right. 

The fact that Frew's boom in the 1950s, due to some weird import laws that made American comics pretty much impossible to get in Australia, birthed so many characters that they still use is pretty cool. None of the characters are all that unique at the end of the day, but being the only real Australian comics that have lasted, I have a soft spot for Cat-Man, The Shadow (no, not that one, the other one) and The Raven and I hope they get a shot at being on the big screen one day. C'mon Film Australia, superhero movies are all the rage, and most of these characters are just people in masks! That's money on the table! Cleverman got two seasons and it was dense and slow, Cat-Man could be up and running in a weekend, just rip off Batman stuff no one cares about anymore because it isn't "gritty" enough. If you have the chance to pick up some Frew stuff, give it a go, there's a lot to enjoy, and some editing of the older stories means the racist and sexist elements are downplayed somewhat. At the very least, you may get to read some comics that are vastly different to the typical Marvel and DC fare. 

Superhero Media: Goku Midnight Eye

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, if we wanted to watch anime that wasn't Ghost In The Shell, Pokemon or Neon Genesis Evangelion being repeated yet again, we had to brave the back of dusty video stores for cassettes that had no English writing other than the title and then try and sneak them past the person at the desk because we didn't have proof of age. One of the staples of my friendship group was Goku Midnight Eye, a two-part OVA (Original Video Animation) about a cyberpunk private detective in future Tokyo with plenty of blood, boobs and laughable translations to keep our juvenile minds entertained. Being vintage 1980s anime, Goku Midnight Eye was made off the whiff of an oily rag, and it shows just how cheap it was in plenty of sequences where only one element on-screen is animated, one of the most notorious being a scene where the water is rising in a corridor. Now that I'm more than twice as old as when I first saw it, however, I have to say, Goku Midnight Eye is actually pretty fun. 

Let's get it straight, "fun" doesn't mean "good", and Goku Midnight Eye is wall-to-wall cheese and camp machismo with barely a plot to be had, so if your tolerance for such is low, maybe give it a miss. After getting involved with a case surrounding a Corporate Tech Zillionaire suspected of being an arms dealer, Goku is almost killed by a bionic hypnotist peacock woman and is abducted by aliens who replace his wounded eye with the greatest supercomputer ever devised. Returned to Earth, Goku discovers that he can hack any device by thinking about it and sets about taking down the antagonist and his bodyguard of animalistic cyber-women, one of whom is a stripper and a motorcycle because that his how this anime rolls. In the second adventure, Goku has to track an experimental military grade cyborg, who basically has telekinesis, but we're told can shoot plasma from his skin. This second outing is a little better animated and Goku actually uses his powers more than once, but don't go in expecting something on the level of Akira. 

For people that have only seen more modern anime, or just the classics, Goku Midnight Eye is worth tracking down for the experience alone, you can find it on YouTube most of the time and the DVD is obscenely cheap from most outlets that stock weird shit. Watching this film again was a matter of gearing up for Reality's Edge and Cyberpunk 2020 for me, rather than an outright superhero bent, but, honestly, Goku could slide into Batman Beyond, Marvel 2099 or even Judge Dredd with little trouble. The shaggy hair, slim suit, tie and no shirt are pure '80s peak cyberpunk goodness and you know you want a slice of that in your life, even for just the 90 odd minutes the whole mess runs for. If you can make it through everything silly, sexist and backwards about Goku Midnight Eye, you may at least get a few laughs and some cool design aesthetic out of the experience. I know I'll be mining this for my next Cyberpunk 2020 campaign.

Drokk the Law! - Part II

Finally had a chance to squeeze in some more games of Judge Dredd. To catch people up, my club mate Andy and I are modifying the Mongoose Judge Dredd Miniatures Game rules from the 2000s to try and play some fun games in Mega City 1 and maybe even the Cursed Earth. Having gotten the basic adaptations down last time (alternating activation and dropping the table size), it was time to play around with some gangs and scenarios.

Now, I've always wanted to run Renegade Robots in the Meg, so that was my first choice for these games. They're a little more elite in the armour and toughness department, but expensive and Judges don't need to make arrest attempts, so they can be a little fragile if you take too many risks. Sam fielded a team of Judges (Street, Psi and two Cadets) for his learning game and we had a little Street Brawl; not tactically deep, but plenty of gunplay and trying out the different Actions fighters can make. This was the first game where Charge and Melee actions became relevant, as both my Demolition Droid Hero and Robodog were close combat only.

On this table (belonging to my club), cover was again king, with basically everything providing +3 Agility and +3 Armour. With decent weapons however, this doesn't slow the game too much, as damage is resolved with saving throws, and a natural 1 is always a fail. My opponent Sam tends to hug cover even when he should push up however, so the game played out with my Robots closing in and picking off Judges one at a time. Turns out most longarms in the game outstrip the Judges Lawgivers for range, enabling other gangs to keep the law at arm's reach if they play clever and stick to cover. I'm going to have to put together (or maybe proxy) a Judge team myself to try them out and get to grips with the strategy.

Second game saw my Robots take on Andy's Street Gang, which I painted most of, as it happens. We settled on a Scrawl War, where the gangs compete to graffiti places on the battlefield; it's exactly my kind of mission, with motivated movement, objectives and some good tactical choices.

The Scrawl points were all along the centre line of buildings, so both sides rushed up out of heavy cover on the first turn, perfect. In the first game, my Robots were the tougher team, but weren't as well armed as the Judges, so I had durability, but outside of my Hero, was pretty much on-par weapon-wise with the Street Gang. In fact, the Street Gang (I started calling them the "Bryan Ansell Blockers") had a Heavy Machine Gun which would prove pretty dangerous, even to my heavily-armoured Demolition Droid.

The game was pretty fun and even, with the Street Gang getting ahead on the scrawling early, but being pretty easy for the Robots to take down. Two issues arose during the game which we have to address now in our slight tweaking; Alert Status and Will to Fight. Alert Status enables a model to react to an enemy model that finishes an activation within 10". The rule isn't terribly clear, but it functions a little like Overwatch from the classic Necromunda as far as we can tell. To go on Alert Status, a model must sacrifice both its actions to potentially make one action later, meaning only certain weapons and Psi powers can be used in response. Will to Fight is the "Bottle Roll" of the game, made when a Minion sees a Hero taken out or when only 25% of a Gang remains on the table. I think this one will need some modification to be made every turn, in addition to when the conditions are met.

Turn limits are something we really need to lock down, as in this second game, Andy would have clearly won if it didn't drag out too many turns and fizzle into a draw. The current GW model of 5 or 6 feels a little short, so maybe we'll try 8 as we play through some other missions in the book and try out new teams. For our next few games, Andy wants to get his Fatties on the table, while I'm going to try Zombies and Badlands Desperadoes, but also have a go at Judges myself and try a better build for Street Gangs.

I also finished my first Renegade Robot while writing this article, so meet "Haro-2 Goodbye", Renegade Robot hero. More to come as we take this journey through Mega City One.

Superhero Media: Dragon Ball Z - Return of Cooler

Return of Cooler has a reputation for being one of the cheapest looking Dragon Ball productions ever, and whilst it's visually not great, I certainly have seen far worse back in the dim days of the 1990s, where we grabbed whatever anime we could find at the back of the video store. When New Namek is attacked by the hilariously named Big Ghetty Star, a call is put out to Earth and soon the Z Fighters arrive to discover an army of robots lead by none other than Cooler! Who is now also a robot and called "Meta Cooler" because anime. Aside from the Androids and some other Red Ribbon stuff, DB doesn't feature a great deal of people fighting robots, so Return of Cooler gets points for at least having some unique moments of action and an enemy that can't be overcome with the character's usual tactics. Seeing the team with bruised and torn hands from punching metal makes me wonder why there aren't more robots kicking around the franchise. 

Much as with the previous film, it's the antagonist of Return of Cooler that I find the most interesting, not simply Cooler himself, but the whole package of the Big Ghetty Star, which has a fun mix of Borg, Skynet and Galactus. Born of an "Intelligent Computer Chip" that began to assimilate all around it, the Big Ghetty Star became a major threat when it found the remains of Cooler floating through the void, and added physical power to it's machine abilities. That's a pretty solid villain origin right there, and I could easily see the Guardians of the Galaxy or Green Lantern Corps taking on something like that with minimal modifications. The Big Ghetty Star consumes all in its path, using biological matter of all kinds to fuel itself, throwing it in the Galactus/Unicron ballpark pretty handily, and I can see there may be a possible connection to DBGT's planet M-2 and the Machine Mutants, if you like that kind of thing. 

Is Return of Cooler the first piece of DB media where Goku and Vegeta have to team up to win? I honestly much prefer it to either fighting alone for the thousandth time, even if they have a habit of taking turns rather than actually working together. The ending is pretty unsatisfying, with Goku and Vegeta suddenly being too powerful for Cooler and the Big Ghetty Star to handle, despite almost being dead, and the rotting, Borg-esque, "Core Cooler" seems like a waste of a really cool design. That said, Return of Cooler is probably better than most give it credit for, even with the dodgy animation and rather bland story, because at least there is some variation in theme and look over the normal DBZ fare. I have to say that I was pretty tired of these films, but Return of Cooler has given me a little boost that will at least get me through the next few.

Thinking Out Loud: Serial Killer "Heroes"

After the success of serial killers as villains in 1980s and '90s comics, where was there left to go? Naturally, make some of them into heroes. Now, I'm not talking about The Punisher here, Frank is pretty much never represented as a sociopath or psychopath and his approach is pragmatic, not psychosexual in any way. What about Venom? Certainly some publications featuring the character as a protagonist lean in heavy on the murder and mayhem, but I want to go even deeper. I was actually watching the second season of Hannibal, when a man in a pneumatically-powered, cave bear-themed murder suit was jumping through a window, and my first thought was, "Wait, shouldn't this guy be fighting Spider-Man instead?" After doing some quick thinking about how to make an appropriate miniature, I went to considering the titular Hannibal's plan to create a "team" of serial killers and how that may work in comics. After a minute or two, I dismissed the idea as being pretty terrible and generally the kind of thing an adolescent would think up. 

Thankfully, I'm not one of those Psych graduates who has an intense interest in psychopaths, sociopaths and serial killers (despite The Silence of the Lambs being my favourite film), so I'm not likely to look at a murderous antihero like Kaine or Red Hood (Jason Todd) and be instantly enthralled. However, if I was the only kind of comics fan, basically the entire industry would be Invincible, Marvel NOW! Hawkeye and Atomic Robo, so maybe that's a good thing? Anyway, thanks to the "success" of the Venom film, as well as people misinterpreting why the Deadpool[s] and Logan were so good, a resurgence of the "Killer" superhero is happening in comics, television and film, leaving me sighing quite a bit as supposedly grown men get excited about Carnage being on the big screen. Hell, don't get me started on Joker, I'm actually glad that the COVID-19 pandemic canceled PAX Melbourne 2020 just so I didn't have to see 200 guys dressed like sad clowns while they complained about Captain Marvel not having a masculine narrative structure. Ok, this one's getting a bit off-topic, sorry. 

The serial killer is a fascinating bogeyman for audiences because they look so much like us but are so different in many ways. Pretty much everyone has indulged in a brief fantasy of murdering an overbearing manager, frustrating customer or significant other of our object of desire, but killing as a sexual release is utterly alien to us. Hannibal Lecter, Zodiac and Joker are fascinating and engaging villains because they are unknowable in terms of motivation (Joker less so as writers keep going back to the well of diminishing returns that is his origin). Heroes, on the other hand, even antiheroes, have pretty clear motivations, be they guilt (Spider-Man), duty (Captain America), altruism (Superman) or even revenge (Batman); but turning that to "getting my rocks off with violence" only worked in Watchmen. And Watchmen, just to reiterate for those still in denial about this, is not intended to glorify its characters. As interesting as they are to think about, Hooded Justice, The Comedian and Rorschach aren't heroes for the ages, and don't really need their own series or films to "fill out", as there's not that much there to begin with.

Superhero Media: V for Vendetta (2006)

It's been quite a while since I reviewed the graphic novel, so I really probably left V for Vendetta a little long, but by Odin's beard, this is a great film. Dropping some of the more absurd elements of the comic, condensing the story and updating it, V for Vendetta is slick, fun and still manages to be really smart in a lot of places. As an anarchist myself, I definitely identify more with the V of the film than the comics, as there is a lot more focus on the people of England coming around to a more humanistic point of view and deciding to change, rather than being forced. Not that I'd recommend V for Vendetta, in any form as a grounding text for contemporary anarchist thought, check out The Accidental Anarchist for that. Back to this amazing film, how good is the cast? Rather than populating the leads with Hollywood actors, only Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman aren't major fixtures of British film and television, and both manage their accents and mannerisms perfectly. Hell, just how good is Weaving to get all that emotion through a mask and gloves for the entire film? 

There is a reliance on style and theme in V for Vendetta that can weaken the impact on subsequent viewings, for example, V's plan depends on everything going exactly the way he predicted, but I feel that viewing it as some kind of "grounded thriller" is missing the point. V for Vendetta needs to be at least somewhat "over the top", as telling a straight story about violently resisting fascism gets weirdly ignored, just like in real life, where people seem to think ANTIFA is a terrorist organisation, despite being anti-terror and not really an organisation in the political sense. Sorry about that, but I stumbled across a Hard-Right reading of V for Vendetta whilst researching it online and I'm both baffled and furious that V, who is a minority put into a death camp by a fascist military dictatorship and carves an inverted Anarchism symbol into a propaganda poster, is somehow resonating with morons who think universal health care is communism. Maybe we do need a humanist revolution after all... 

Probably my favourite part of V for Vendetta that people seem to forget is the Stephen Fry sequence where he's hosting a campy variety show and they run a little pantomime number with both Hugo Weaving and John Hurt. This is the kind of fun that doesn't seem to make it into too many American action films, even factoring in the lack of a panto tradition in the USA. I think those who didn't grow up with the level of exported British television that I did aren't always aware that essentially every British actor has done some combination of Shakespeare, Pantomime, Doctor Who and/or Midsummer Murders; it's actually a fun drinking game to take a shot every time an actor in a new programme has been killed in Midsummer Murders. That V for Vendetta is destined for Cult Classic status is obvious, but I think it deserves more than that, as a film, it's slick, smart and carries a humanist message that is pretty rare for big blockbusters.

Even More Superhero Movies that Never Happened

This should really be the last of these for a while, especially as none of these films ever made it out of pre-production, with a bit of the casting being wish-lists and scripts never finished. With only one exception, I'm pretty glad that none of these never got up, as none of them sounded too interesting or that capable of being good. Ok, maybe two? But the second one is more about seeing what the director would have done than it being a decent film in its own right.


Spider-Man 4 

There is a lot of conflicting information online as to what a potential 4th Sam Rami Spider-Man outing could have looked like, with just about every Spidey antagonist, from Black Cat to Scorpion, but the main lead seems to be around Curtis Conners (as played by Dylan Baker) becoming The Lizard. Seriously, just about every internet film site has a different "leaked script" to work from, and all of them claim to have the real deal. After seeing how the conflict between Rami and the studio affected Spider-Man 3, I think not getting this one is more like dodging a bullet than missing out on anything.

Hellboy III 

Yes, I really wanted this one, and I maintain it's a shame that it never materialised. However, after the smaller return on Hellboy II, and with the plan being an end-of-the-world story with a downer ending, Hollywood just would have never gotten there. Sometimes what's good and what's going to make the studio a bunch of money just aren't close and we get a mediocre reboot rather than the finale of a unique series in the Superhero genre. Think about it, in the "Demonic Superhero" film sub-sub-genre, Hellboy is the ONLY worthwhile entry, being great even factoring in that the competition is Spawn and Faust Love of the Damned. How would this have gone? I'm not sure, but given how amazing the previous two outings were, this one really does feel like a loss.

Justice League Mortal

The idea of what Justice League Mortal could have been, especially in the wake of the 2017 version being disappointing, has become a flag for diehard DC fans to flock to, but my interest in it is more from a construction standpoint. As it stands, the intended director of this film would have been Australian legend, George Miller of Mad Max fame, and seeing him taking a swing at a Justice League inspired by both the Bruce Timm DCAU and Mark Waid comics version. I'm not sure that Miller would have been a good choice for the tone, and I maintain that John Stewart is too thin a character to carry anything grander than a cartoon, but there was potential there and had it been made, perhaps the face of the DC films would have been vastly different.


That Shitty James Cameron Spider-Man 

Not only could this have been a terrible film in it's own right, it may well have been so bad that it could have conceivably scuppered the entire Superhero Film industry for years. Featuring none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger as Doctor Octopus (who is calling himself "Spider-Man" for some reason), Peter Parker would have been a student of Doc Ock before getting his powers, and the two would have battled, along with a giant robot spider on top of the World Trade Center. Cameron is a decent director, no doubt about that, even if I'm not really a big fan myself, but the details that have leaked about this project leave little room for favorable interpretation. Much like former entries, YouTube is full of little documentaries about this that go into far more detail than I can really do here, if that's of interest to you. 

Superhero Media: Captain Britain and MI13

Been a long time since I ran my SuperSystem RPG campaign based on this comic (and Alan Moore's run on "Captain Britain"), but if you haven't heard of it, Captain Britain and MI13 may well be one of the best comics you've never read. Written by Paul Cornell, decent Doctor Who novel writer, poor Doctor Who television writer and reasonable comics writer, Captain Britain and MI13 starts in the middle of the Secret Invasion crossover event, as British heroes battle the Skrulls for the control of Earth's magic. Answering the call are Captain Britain, Union Jack, Spitfire, Black Knight and Pete Wisdom, having to battle the Skrulls in their midst as well as the invading forces, before Avalon and the Fae realms fall to the enemy. Through the death of Captain Britain, the freeing for Merlin from the dark realms and Brian Braddock being reborn more powerful than ever before, and wielding Excalibur, Britain is saved from the Skrulls and a new team is born, MI13. 

Union Jack makes his own way with MI5, but pops up in the story here and there, with Dr Faiza Hussein joining the team as the new wielder of Excalibur and Blade, yes, the Daywalker, signing on as well, because he's actually British, believe it or not. In the second volume the team takes on obscure magical foe Doctor Polkta, a Duke of Hell and Master of the Mindless Ones, who has taken over a Birmingham block of flats, before the dial gets turned to eleven and the team battle Dracula himself, with his army of vampires invading England from the Moon. No, I didn't make any of that up. In a smaller title like Captain Britain, Paul Cornell is free to go nuts in a way a writer never could in a more popular book, which is great, but the only thing better than Captain Britain punching Dracula in the face, is that the whole series is actually well-written, with compelling characters and good moments of humour. 

Naturally, this series, sadly canceled early, is way up the top of my list for properties I want adapted into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yes, there are a lot of great Captain Britain stories, and it would be great to see the Corps and The Fury show up, but Captain Britain and MI13 is almost perfectly set up for a big screen trilogy already. The first adventure need not be tied into the "Secret Invasion" plot, but could piggyback onto any big Avengers moment, then the next two films follow on into "Hell Comes to Birmingham" and "Vampire State". The cast is already reasonably diverse, a little fiddling of the Meggan elements is needed, but even dropping her and bringing Faiza and Black Knight's relationship more into the fore is a reasonable possibility. Sadly, the three volumes of Captain Britain and MI13 aren't all that easy to get your hands on, with the print runs of all but the first volume being pretty small and not in the typical Marvel covers, but if you can find it, it's a great series that I go back to again and again. Hopefully, Cornell will get another run at the team one day, but what is there is great.

Thinking Out Loud: Serial Killer Villians

In the grim and dark reality of 1990s comics, a new kind of villain emerged, edgier and more dangerous that what had come before it; the Serial Killer. Murderous villains had been a thing since the Golden Age, of course, with even The Owl and Egghead racking up the odd kill, but with the change in tone and market that came with the Dark/Iron Age, things changed. Suddenly, rather than taking on costumed criminals or mob bosses, Daredevil and Batman were fighting The Surgeon General and Mr Zsasz. Now, a superhero fighting a murderer isn't the worst thing in the world, especially for the more detective style characters like Batman and Daredevil, but how about someone more lighthearted in tone, like Spider-Man? So I, personally, find Venom to be a pretty uninteresting villain, but much of his original run is good and as the "glass darkly" version of Spider-Man, he does well enough. Naturally, Venom wasn't hardcore enough for the 1990s, so along came Carnage. 

Not only was Carnage even "worse" than Venom, his first host was a serial killer (Cletus Cassidy), he was red, and his super powers let him make nasty bladed weapons. Yawn. Sure, there have been a couple of decent Carnage stories, I remember one where the symbiote was hopping people to escape attention that was a fun mystery, but "edgier Venom" can never be that interesting when Venom is just "edgier Spider-Man". But back to Mister Zsasz, who immediately gets points for having a palindrome name, he's enjoyed something of an upswell in fans thanks to his appearances in Arkham City and Birds of Prey, and I actually don't mind him as an antagonist; most of the time. In the tie-in issues for Batman: No Man's Land, there's a story where Dr Leslie Thompson elects to treat an injured and unconscious Zsasz despite the danger; it's an interesting story with some ethical dilemma and is a nice break from the main story. That is, unit Zsasz starts killing people in his sleep. Yes, he's so deadly, he murders people whilst unconscious. Odin's beard is that dumb. 

So what am I getting at will all this complaining? Well, the 1990s were not a great time for comics, though I maintain there was plenty of gold if you looked, but it's still pretty much all stuff that happened, and comics love keeping track of stuff that has happened. So now, when we look back and go, "man, Maximum Carnage is really pretty bad", it kind of doesn't matter because Carnage is still here, he never went away. In fact, pretty much all of the Serial Killer Super Villains are still with us, and will now be forever. What's bugging me about that is how much I see the trope pop up in indy comics, even when it doesn't really fit. Hell, as great as it is, Invincible is already pretty violent, so did Conquest really add anything as a character or was it just a fun fight? I know when we homebrew our settings, we want a Joker or a Venom, but does that really fit? Hell, is it at least interesting? What does Zodiac or BTK in a colourful costume add to your story other than an excuse for buckets of blood? Think on that and we'll examine the flip-side of the coin later down the track.