Doctor Who - Undeath of the Daleks (AAR)

Recently I've been painting up some more Doctor Who miniatures (expect to see them posted properly in a couple of years, what with the back-log and all) and playing some Mars Code Aurora, so naturally, I combined the two in this little game I played with my friend Andrew at my local club. It's just a little "blow each other up to learn the rules" kind of game. but hopefully it makes for a fun read, at least.

Undeath of the Daleks

As twin suns rise on a frontier world on the very edges of human space, a strange silence is broken by one of the most feared cries in the galaxy; "EXTERMINATE!" The Daleks have arrived to conquer another world, woe betide the poor human settlers.

Something is off, however, the settlement already seems devoid of life. Perhaps it was abandoned or some kind of space plague wiped out the population?

An advanced party of Daleks lands and begins to explore the settlement.

Suddenly, in the distance, something stirs.

A phalanx of shambling corpses surrounding a rusted and staggering mech of outdated manufacture make their way down the street. It seems the plague has indeed come to this world, or rather The Plague, an unstoppable wave of undeath unleashed by the hubris of The Corporation!

But the Daleks hold no fear of death, only a hatred of all that is different, so they open fire, slaying some of the zombies almost as soon as they've been spotted.

As usual, the monomania of the Daleks works against them, and soon they find themselves outflanked by the staggering former humans.

In short order, the lighter Scout Dalek is surrounded and torn apart, screaming in agony.

Dalek forces move up to form a firing line and unleash deadly bolts of energy into their foes.

Despite cries of "EXTERMINATE!" and ceaseless blasting, the Daleks are slowly getting picked off by their inferior foes.

When the lumbering bulk of the enemy mech staggers into range, the twisted mind of the Daleks forms something of a Master Plan...

By concentrating their fire on the mech, the Daleks bring it down, stopping whatever force was keeping the zombies animated. For now, the Daleks are the only inhuman monsters in control of this world, but for how long?

Superhero Media: All Star Superman (2007)

One of the best comics ever written. Review done, go home. Ok, so how do you tell a story about Superman that celebrates his past, looks to the future and remains true to the intention of the character? You write All Star Superman. I've heard All Star Superman described as "a Superman story for people who don't like Superman", but there's so many deep-cuts and Silver Age references, I tend to describe it more as "the ultimate Superman story". During the course of twelve issues, Superman travels through time, battles Parasite, Bizarro and Luthor, and finally cures cancer before ascending to secular godhood. For many potential readers, hearing "Superman Cures Cancer" can turn them off, fearing that the comic will be ridiculous, but really, it's par for the course for this Superman. The Superman of All Star Superman battles time-traveling gods, goes to alternate universes and does all those great, classic Superman things that modern cinema tries to erase from the character. 

The story begins with Superman rescuing Professor Quintum from the surface of the sun, overloading his Krytonian cells with Yellow Solar energy, which will slowly kill Superman over the course of the narrative. Knowing he will die soon and that the world will be left without its greatest protector, Superman undertakes a series of "Labors" in the manner of Hercules, to leave the world a better place after his passing and to light the way for humanity to come after him. "The Man of Tomorrow" is the best description for the Superman of All Star Superman, as more than just his strength and speed is on display; this Superman displays his great intelligence, compassion and creativity, allowing his foes to have moments of epiphany as well as defeating them more traditionally. When battling Solaris, the Tyrant Sun, Superman already has seen the future where Solaris is an ally, so he withholds his power and his anger to create the path to that future. Despite the temptation, I don't read this Superman as Messianic, he's here to light the way, not die for our sins, more of a Bodhisattva, lifting humanity up, so that we can all be better. 

If you're considering a comic collection, the two trades of All Star Superman are pretty much a must-buy, not only because it's one of the greatest Superman stories of all time, but also because it is a great example of how superheroes can be used to tell a great story without stripping away all of the colour, camp and continuity. Forget your preconceptions, find a red towel to tie around your neck, hide the Kryponite and put your faith in the man with heat vision. All Star Superman is not only a great story, but is a powerful tale of humanity, compassion and hope. You may have seen the page from this comic where Superman takes time out from saving the world to save the life of a suicidal teenage girl (it does the rounds on social media pretty often), it pretty much perfectly sums up the tone of this comic; that of the Superman who saves the day, be it for everyone or just one person whose world is falling apart.

From the Archives - 16

On the home stretch of these now, which is good, they're a little tedious to write. 

Abomination: It's hard to pass up a big, scaly monster as a supervillain, and Abomination fills that role nicely. Heroscape. 

Crimson Dynamo: This is probably my second-favourite version of the Crimson Dynamo armour, but I can't find a miniature of the one that appears in Ultimate Fantastic 4. Heroclix. 

Iron Monger: I've seen this figure used to convert or kitbash a bunch of Indy armoured characters like Bunker from Sentinel Comics, but it's good for its original purpose as well. Heroclix.

Sandman: Another early effort, I extended the technique I was using at the time for sand/desert bases and extended it to the full miniature. I'm still pretty pleased with the results. Heroclix. 

Lockjaw: If you're looking for a good Lockjaw (as you should be), this version from the "Fantastic Forces" Heroclix expansion is great and pretty affordable on the secondary market. Heroclix. 

Man-Bat: Again, there is a variety of Man-Bat miniatures available in Heroic 28mm, many of which aren't great, so you'll have to shop around. Heroclix. 

Superhero Media: I Am Not Okay With This - Season 1

In a way, I'm getting sick of this kind of thing, "this kind of thing" being Netflix programmes with intriguing ideas, solid casts and decent writing that have a light-on first season that only really introduces things. I tend to blame the success of Stranger Things for this kind of approach, with everyone thinking they can capture the zeitgeist by recycling the formula. I Am Not Okay With This focuses on Syd, a High School senior in a small American town, trying to survive adolescence and the disintegration of her family after the suicide of her father. Over the course of the first season, Syd will discover that she is queer (and has a crush on her best friend), that her father was experimented on by the US military and that she has the power of telekinesis. 

And that's about it, really, there's a high-school drama/romance subplot, but it's more there to drive Syd's emotional state than be a commentary any more than these things typically are. Many of Syd's conflicts spiral out of her complex grief and the failure of any adult in her life to help her process her trauma, but, again, due to the short first season, none of it really gets resolved. In fact, it only gets worse when Syd's power accidentally kills a classmate. The entire first season of I Am Not Okay With This plays like an extended first act, setting up the characters and relationships that will fuel the series moving forward, but little conclusive happens, making the programme an overall unsatisfying watch for me. 

A bit of housekeeping, I Am Not Okay With This is getting a lot of praise for it's handling of teenage Queer issues, which it certainly does, but if that's your bag, there are better programmes for that sort of thing. Something just didn't quite ring true from my own work with Queer Youth, but your mileage may differ. Also I've seen a few reviews that state that I Am Not Okay With This plays with the idea that Syd doesn't actually have powers and is just mentally ill, but I really didn't see any of that, the existence of the powers is confirmed by someone else pretty early on. I am excited to see more of this programme, but, again, I hope there is more to the next season.

Ultimate Alliance Rulebook - Part IV

Whilst I continue to work on better character cards, I think the best thing I can do for these "Rulebook" articles is to run through a quick game, demonstrating what we've covered so far. This will be a little smaller in scope than what I'd normally do at a convention, with only three heroes and two villains on a smaller table. When planning this kind of game, I always try and get at least one Marvel, DC and Indy character in the hero team, all more or less on the same "power level", as discussed previously, there is no real points cost or balance for SSUA, so this requires some guesswork. I tend to make the villains a little more powerful than the heroes, simply to add a bit for challenge, again, this typically requires a little trial and error. 

For this game, I've chosen a more "horror" theme, mostly because my Necropolis table is quicker to set up than my city. Judge Fire and Judge Fear are enacting a dark ritual to summon Judges Death and Mortis through to our dimension, so Johann Krauss, Iron Fist and Metamorpho are rushing to stop it. For some extra fun, I'll be throwing in some Zombies as cannon fodder and running an objective for the Villains. Each turn, Fire and Fear can spend Action Points (AP) on the ritual, when the AP spent reaches 40, the villains succeed. Each turn after points have been initially spent and in which no AP are spent on the ritual, the counter goes down D6; if it reaches 0, the heroes win. Pretty simple set-up, the heroes need to disrupt the ritual to win. No turn limit as I don't suspect the game will run long. 

Turn 1

The turn starts with Initiative, as neither team has a member with a power that grants a re-roll, it defers to the model with the highest Agility or Mind, in this case, Judge Fear (Mind 6) and Johann Krauss (Mind 8). The roll-off results in the Heroes getting 6 Goals and the Villains 3, so Heroes will Activate first this turn.

Metamorpho's "Shapeshift" ability lets him move through terrain without penalty for no AP spend, and his "Transmutation" lets him make Melee Attacks at 15" range, so he makes a Charge move 16" (8 APx2), granting him a 0 AP attack at the Zombies. Zombies have a Physical Hit of 2 and Rex's "Brawler" attack uses 5 dice. With only two goals, Rex misses, which would normally put him at risk, but his "The Element Man" ability protects him from most forms of Damage, so he should be safe for now. 

Villains activate next; taking the chance to get some points on the board early, Judge Fear dumps all 11 of his AP into the ritual. 

Each character/henchman group can only Activate once each turn, so the Heroes move onto Iron Fist to try and get some damage going. With a whopping 13 AP, Danny can Charge up to 26", giving him more than enough distance to get to the Zombies. Danny's "Kung Fu" has 7 dice, so he easily beats the Zombies' Physical Hit, scoring 6 Goals. The extra Goals will roll over into Danny's Damage, 2 in this case (3-3-1=2, the one needed to hit is deducted as well). Danny's Kung Fu has a base Damage of 6, so now he'll have 8 dice against the Zombies' Physical Resist of 3. Danny scores 5 Goals, taking out two Zombies (5-3=2), as Zombies only have one Hit each. As a Henchman Team, they take Damage as a group, even if the Attack couldn't normally reach, as is the case here. 

Seeing the chance to deal some Damage back, the Villains Activate the Zombies, due to their "Horde" ability, 2D6 more zombies spawn each Activation. Rolling 7, the new Zombies are placed in base contact with the existing ones. Having only 4 AP, Zombies only have an 8" threat, which is more than enough to get to both Metamorpho and Iron Fist. Despite the fact that the Zombies' Attacks can't Damage Metamorpho and they don't get the Ganging Up Bonus against Iron Fist, due to his "Weapon of Kun'Lun" ability, neither model has an ability to leave Combat unopposed, so they will be at least slowed.  

With no Damage being rolled, the Heroes activate their last character, Johann Krauss. Krauss just moves up this turn, as the Zombies can hurt him and most of his Powers/Abilities target Resolve, which the Zombies are immune to. 

Finally, Judge Fire dumps his 9 AP into the ritual, ending the first turn of the game. 

Turn 2

With a roll of 5 to 4 Goals, the Villains win initiative. Pushing their advantage, Judge Fear puts another 11 AP into the ritual, putting them only 9 AP away from victory! 

Due to his "Complex Compounds" Power, Metamorpho is best placed to take out one of the Dark Judges first. Both Fire and Fear have a Power/Ability that halves Damage Dealt, making them pretty tough, so getting around that is vital. Activating the Power costs 3 AP, leaving Rex with 5, Judge Fire is 8" away, so can be struck without Moving this turn. In order to break from Combat, Rex needs to beat the Zombies in an opposed Agility Goal roll. Should Rex fail, the Zombies get a free Attack on him, as they can't Damage him however, there's pretty much no risk involved. Rex Fails the roll, but it doesn't matter, and he's off. 

Judge Fire has a Physical Hit of 5 and Rex has 5 dice to his Brawler Attack, so only this lucky roll of 6 Goals would have been enough. No extra Damage dice this time, Rex will have to beat Fire's Physical Resist of 4 with his base 6 Damage Dice. 

Another good roll sees 6 goals, dealing 2 Damage to Judge Fire, half his Hits. That ends Metamorpho's Activation, but the Heroes are finally getting points on the board. Now, by the letter of the rules, Judge Fire could technically dump his 9 AP into the ritual and win the game right now. However, I tend to run these games at conventions and for friends, so just declaring myself the winner in turn two seems a bit mean. For the rest of the game, the Dark Judges cannot initiate the Ritual when in combat. This will still put the heroes at a disadvantage, because they'll need to get Judge Fear into combat before the next turn starts. 

When he Activates with a foe in base contact, Judge Fire's "Burn With Me" Power triggers, dealing 6 dice Damage to anyone in contact. As Fire is classed as "Energy Damage" rather than "Physcial Damage", this can effect Metamorpho. Rex still has a Physical Resist of 8, so the 5 Goals rolled won't phase him. 

Using his "Trident" Melee Attack, Judge Fire rolls 6 Goals on 5 dice, beating Metamorpho's Physical Hit of 5, but gaining no extra Damage dice this time. With only a base Damage of 4 though, Judge Fire fails to damage the hero threatening him. 
 

 
Still needing some decent luck to keep them in the game, the Heroes try for a tricky play with Iron Fist. Easily winning an Opposed Agility roll 5 goals to 2, Danny Rand Breaks free from the Zombies and Charges at Judge Fear. 

Judge Fear is, naturally, pretty fearsome, his "Dark Judge" ability meaning that enemy models need to pass a Difficulty 5 Resolve Test to Charge him. With a Resolve of 7, Danny is pretty brave, but this terrible roll ends the Charge before it begins. 

As their last Activation, the Villains have only the Zombies left, and another 7 join the party. Sadly, Iron Fist is out of Charge range, so the best move to guarantee victory is to Charge Johann, the only hero really vulnerable to their attacks. 

Due to the size of his base, only 6 Zombies can attack Johann at the same time, so I've cleared the others away for the sake of clarity. Henchmen teams can choose to attack individually or Gang Up, with each additional member granting +1 Hit and Damage die; here, that jumps the Zombies from a 3 Dice Attack to 8 Dice, which is a nice bonus, but it fails to beat Johann's Physical Hit of 3. 

With only Johann left, and him being too far to effectively use his powers against either Dark Judge, the Heroes elect to take a swing before breaking from the Zombies. With an Attack pool of only 3 Dice, Johann fails to connect, but the Opposed Agility Test is a draw, letting him slip away unharmed and get closer to the action. 

Turn 3 

With a spectacular roll of 7 Goals to 1, the Heroes seize the vital Initiative. They need to get Judge Death into Combat before the next Villain Activation, oddly leaving Johann Krauss as their best hope. Johann's "BPRD" ability means he can re-roll a failed Resolve Test, with his Resolve of 10, he has the best odds to get past Judge Fear's "Dark Judge" Ability. 

Starting out wanting to hedge his bets, Johann attempts to use his "Supernatural Expert" Power; he makes an Opposed Resolve Test against an enemy model, and if he wins, that model cannot use Powers/Abilities until Johann's next Activation. Judge Fear has a Resolve of 10 as well, but doesn't get the re-roll that Johann does. 

Johann wins the Opposed Test comfortably without his re-roll, meaning he no longer has to make a Resolve Test to Charge Judge Fear, as the Dark Judge's Powers/Abilities are currently unable to be used, even the Automatic ones. 

Johann isn't much of a fighter though, so his Charge fails to deal any Damage, but it does tie up Judge Fear, as planned. 

Despite not being able to win the scenario outright anymore, Judge Fear is probably still the best choice for the Villain's opening Activation. His attacks are unaffected by his lack of Powers/Abilities, and if he lucks out and KOs Johann, he'll still have a few AP left for the Ritual. With his "Claws" Attack, Judge Fear gets 5 dice against Johann's Physical Hit of 3, which sadly doesn't pan out for him this turn. 

It is now up to the Immortal Iron Fist to save the day! He Charges Judge Fear, connecting with an impressive 7 Goals against Fear's Physical Hit of 5. With an extra die Damage, Danny is in with a shot to take down Judge fear, but will need a total of 10 Goals on 7 dice to bypass Judge Fear's Physical Resist of 5 and 5 Hits. 

The gods of Kun'Lun must be with Danny Rand this day, a roll of exactly 10 Goals ends the threat of Judge Fear for the time being. 

Judge Fire is much in the same boat as Judge Fear was, except that his odds of taking out Metamorpho are slim. Instead, he makes a break from Combat with a tie on the Opposed Agility Test. Charging 4" away for 2 AP, Judge Fire spends his remaining 7 AP on the Ritual, leaving only 2 points remaining for a Villain Victory. 

Once again, Metamorpho activates his "Complex Compounds" power for 3 AP and Charges Judge Fire, just scoring the 6 Goals needed to beat Fire's Physical Hit of 5. With a base of 6 Damage, Rex now needs to score two Goals over Fire's Physical Resist of 4, meaning 6 Goals on 6 dice to win the game. 

Doing just that, Rex scores a victory for the Heroes, ending the game two AP short of a completed ritual. 

So that's a basic game of SSUA, next time we'll dissect this game and discuss various pitfalls of Game Mastering this style of game.