5 More Superhero Wargames Armies Ideas

Given that absolutely no one seemed interested in my last article about building superhero-themed miniature wargames armies, I decided I just had to do another one. Seriously, that article is probably one of my least viewed, it's crazy. The lack of interest, however, hasn't stopped my brain from coming up with more and more ideas for wargames armies inspired by superhero media, hell, I even built a Warhammer 40,000 Deathwatch army based on the Asgardians from Marvel Comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Anyway, if you're superhero inclined and wargames inclined, here are some more ideas on combining the two in games other than SuperSystem and the like.

Wilderbots (Marvel)

(really wanted a better picture, sorry) 

Concept: On the distant planet of Sakaar, technology has regressed and society is slipping backwards into feudalism. Out in the wastelands, the dread "Wilderbots" roam free, terrorising the natives, destroying crops and raising villages. The Wilderbots are malfunctioning and broken robots that have gotten loose and exist only to destroy, a great wargames army concept if ever I heard one. Seriously, I've been tempted to build this army since I first read Planet Hulk. 

Army Building: What immediately springs to mind for me is that the Wilderbots would make a great "counts as" army for Tyranids for 40K. The army would be made up of rampaging robots off all shapes and sizes, so something that lets you build in more than just "standard infantry size" is a must. An alternative would be something like Chaos Daemons or even an army with plenty of cavalry and tanks. 

Models: There is such a wealth of robot, android and cyborg miniatures available that I would be doing a disservice to try and list them all. Add the number of toys and models that also fit the bill and you'll be spoiled for choice. If it were my army, I'd be looking at Star Wars, Heroclix and Horrorclix to fill out the bulk, as they're the only ranges in plastic that aren't GW Necrons.

GCPD (DC)

Concept: Making a wargames army of police may seem a little odd, but a quick look at Batman No Man's Land or Battle for Bludhaven and you'll see that Gotham PD is a force to be reckoned with. This isn't something that would be a huge army, but more of a platoon at most, with more of a focus on characters and interesting army building than ranks of troops. Sure, Jim Godon is your "General", but don't forget elite SWAT teams lead by Brandon or Petit, "scout squads" of tertiary Batman allies like Huntress and Spolier and, of course, Batman as your elite assassin or maybe orbital bombardment token. 

Army Building: I've covered this a bit above, but there really is no limit to this if you think about it a bit. I'm not going to make a political comment on militarised police forces (much), but surely Gotham has been issued with APCs and sonic canons from the Wayne Foundation, and we know that Gordon is happy to use the myth of Batman to his advantage, which could translate to the tabletop as some kind of punji pit or minefield thinning out the thugs. Hell, Clayface joins the force in one continuity! There's your Dreadnought/Giant/Mech right there! 

Miniatures: There is plenty available in the Knight Models range, but cost may be prohibitive, for a cheaper alternative, Heroclix and Modern Police are pretty widely available. Most of the characters (Gordon, Montoya, Bullock etc) are in the Heroclix range, not to mention there are plenty of great APCs, police vans and cars around in toy lines and even 3D prints. 


Africans (Tarzan)

Concept: Basically, what if The Legend of Tarzan had ended with a proper battle and not the cop-out we got? Seriously, that still bugs me. Natives, apes, lions, wildebeest, crocodiles and snakes, all led by Tarzan himself, that's a heck of a force to put on the table. I've already made something like this for Empire of the Dead, but there is plenty of scope for larger armies in games like GASLIGHT or Dragon Rampant.

Army Building: Obviously, Tarzan will be a combat-based leader, like a Space Marine Captain or Ork Warboss, but the rest of the army should be close-combat heavy as well, though the native tribes could have some mild ranged attacks to represent spears and bows. Large apes could form units of fast-moving shock troops, with crocodiles and snakes forming ambush units or trap counters. 

Miniatures: Plenty of companies make Tarzan, I bought the Tin Man one because it has a good size and presence, but the Reaper version is also pretty nice. When it comes to animals, I tend to shop at Eureka, because of the price and range, and also because I can drive there in around half an hour. Once again, Reaper and Wizkids do a decent range of affordable animals. 


Space Knights (Marvel/IDW)

Concept: Rom has a complex history between the Marvel and IDW runs, but basically, the Space Knights are an alien race who have sacrificed their bodies to become the ultimate cyborg warriors to battle the Dire Wraith menace. Each Space Knight is the master of a particular martial skill or weapon, making them individually formidable and almost unstoppable en masse. Sent across the galaxy to hunt down and eliminate Dire Wraith Infiltrators, the Space Knights are a law unto themselves. 

Army Building: The Space Knights would be an ideal basis for any gaming army that focuses on a small number of elite troops, like Grey Knights, Deathwatch or Enforcers. There are characters like Rom, Starshine and Terminator for leadership roles, plus plenty of disposable background Space Knights to fill out your squads. One of the best parts of this concept is that each Space Knight is unique, so "counts as" weapons need not really be an issue, who's to say one can't have a Plasma Gun or Assault Canon? 

Miniatures: There are actually a few Space Knights in the Heroclix range to get you started as well as a few good "not-Roms" if you look around. More so than other armies on this list, Space Knights will require some conversion, fortunately the "generic" Space Knights in the Heroclix range are pretty easy to work with, especially if you have some plastic GW Eldar arms lying around. Space Knights tend not to use vehicles, but any suitably Kirby-esque space craft will probably suit the look just fine. 


Monster Society (One Punch Man)

Concept: Admittedly, this one isn't too different from either the Wilderbots above or the Abomi-Nation from last time, however, the visual aesthetic would be vastly different. A hidden collective of monsters set on eradicating humanity, the Monster Society operates on a brutal system of "survival of the strongest", with those who fail or get injured becoming food for the others. If you like big nasties and being evil, the Monster Society is right down your alley. 

Army Building: Again, the Monster Society offers a great deal of flexibility for a wide variety of games. From 40K Tyranids, to Warpath Plague and even Horizon Wars, just about any army with more of a close combat bent to it would work fine with this theme. I could honestly see it working brilliantly as an Age of Sigmar Gloomspire Gitz force if you have the player group that would let you get away with it. So long as there's a vague Anime vibe, just about any monster will fit this army pretty well. 

Miniatures: There are plenty of monsters around in a variety of scales, but I'm actually thinking of a toy line from another Manga series, MUSCLE. A little big for 28mm, but perfect for heroic scale games, MUSCLE are a hard rubber figurine line that features anime styled monsters and aliens. For bigger units, take a look at model ranges from Ban Dai and the like, there is a wealth of stuff available. 

Hope that gets you started, I know I'm trying to resist making more armies along superhero lines, but then, it's kind of a problem for me...

Miniatures Finished: Anachronaut Squad 2

This one took a while longer than expected, though more to trying to finds suitable miniatures than getting the painting done. I'll admit that some of the historics are a bit daunting, especially the Napoleonic era, but trying out something else every now and then helps flex my skills a little. As a project, I'd love to do a bit more on this, but hunting for individual plastic miniatures can be a little tough. 

The second team of Anachronauts is ready for action! Suitable minions for Kang, Immortus, Chronus or even a Doctor Who "The War Games" scenario. 

Samurai, Gaul Warrior, Union Scout, Imperial Guard Sergeant and Mercenary Billman. 

 Cobra Viper, English Civil War Handgunner, Republican Roman Legion, Medieval Archer and Pirate. 

With the Viper and the Guardsman, I was mostly using some old miniatures and kind of pushing the "Greatest Soldiers from Human History" element out a bit. After all, in Avengers Forever there are Sci-Fi Anachronauts, so why not an Imperial Guardsman from the year 40,000, or a Stormtrooper from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (see Squad 1). Eventually I'd like to so an 'elite' squad of Anachronauts, with characters like Beowulf, Guan Yu and Jack Churchill, but miniatures are, again, the sticking point. Maybe a cavalry unit? Maybe a T-34, Sopwith Camel or Bradley? Maybe I should just bite the bullet and start using metal miniatures? Only time will tell. (pun intended) 

Superhero Media: Transformers - The Last Knight

But why? Why the hell does this film exist and why does anything that happens in it happen? None of The Last Knight makes any sense, even less so than the previous films in this series, and I really struggled to get through it. After traveling into space at the end of the last film, Optimus Prime returns to Cybertron and is immediately captured and brainwashed into being 'Nemesis Prime' and sent to conquer Earth. That's about the last element of the plot that makes sense in this film, every other major turn feels like it was taken from a post-it note on the writers' room wall. Josh Dhumal comes back, at the same rank, doing the same job. Marky Mark is a Knight of the Round Table suddenly. Bumblebee fought in World War Two. Cybertron is Beast Planet from War Planets and Earth is Unicron, but this never gets resolved. What the fuck? Add the usual "Bayhem" and the fact that no one seems to be able to stay standing during an action scene, and none of this makes sense. 

Did I mention that everyone keeps falling over? Like, all of the time? It's really distracting, like there should be a laugh track over the top, or at least some kazoo music like an old Picture Hall Funny. Essentially none of the characters are interesting, even Antony Hopkins fails to deliver any gravitas, and that's kind of his thing. The Last Knight is almost Bay Transformers Bonox, taking everything dumb, over-the-top and/or nonsensical and filtering out almost everything worth watching. Any clever ideas, like Cybertron and Earth being twin planets, or Nemesis Prime are shunted to the background and barely heard of for the rest of the film. Seriously, Nemesis Prime is in, perhaps, three scenes before Bumblebee turns him good again and we have to fight the Decepticons again. Hell, the US army having to team-up with the Decepticons and releasing several from prison Suicide-Squad style is cool, but doesn't last more than one firefight.

I'm glad this is the last one of these, I don't think I could sit through another. No, Bumblebee doesn't count, it's barely in continuity with these filmic abortions, and thank Primus for that. I'd say that there doesn't really need to be any Transformers films for a few years, but that's not how the industry works anymore, and the franchise does have a lot to work with, Transformers Prime is evidence enough of that. I'm honestly not sure how this proposed "Hasbro Cinematic Universe" is meant to go, do we retroactively count Battleship? I will be disappointed if Marvel Studios can't get the rights back to Rom the Spaceknight though, even though the IDW crossover event around the Dire Wraiths does look pretty cool. I just hope any new films with these characters keep Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and Frank Welker as Megatron for as long as they can.

Superhero Media: Ghostbusters II

I really like Ghostbusters II and I honestly don't get why people are so set against it. Yes, it isn't as good as the original, but the level of derision this film is met with simply baffles me. Years after saving New York from Gozer and Mr Staypuft, the team are split, having been sued into deep debt for destroying an apartment building. I really like that take, you don't see heroes having to deal with the legal consequences of their actions too often in films, it's something I need to work into my Supers roleplaying at some point. Sure, the Avengers have insurance and all that, but what happens when Ghost Rider wrecks your house during a fight? Who covers that? I can't get the hail damage on my car fixed! Dana and Venkman are no longer together, she having married someone else, had a child and divorced in the interim. When a mysterious happenstance almost kills baby Oscar, Dana goes to Egon for advice and the team comes back together to start an investigation. I personally think that's a reasonable premise for a sequel, but then, I never watched The Real Ghostbusters. 

I personally believe that The Real Ghostbusters is the reason Ghostbusters II gets such a bad rap. The original Ghostbusters is a frat comedy in the same vein as Caddyshack and Animal House, but the supernatural elements and slapstick made it play well with children as well. Of course, being the 1980s, a cartoon and toy line were commissioned and the brand became quickly associated with a school-aged group, rather than the original audience. Now, when we look at Ghostbusters II, with its characters getting a bit older, having to deal with life's disappointments and thinking hard about their values. That's not the film that several years of toys, cartoons and Ecto Cooler had prepared the youthful audience for; but I do appreciate it now that I am an adult going through my own shit. If you're really invested in the "mythos" of Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II has plenty to draw on, Vigo is an interesting villain, an evil Wizard, setting up a nice science vs magic bit, though the actual resolution lets him down a bit. What I really like, and has been burnt into my psyche since childhood, is the "mood slime". 

What is the slime? Where does it come from? It responds to emotion, is it alive? It can store and broadcast emotions, we see that, but for how long? Does it run down like a battery? Do some emotions work better than others? Could it be used to treat depression and other mental mood disorders? On the subject, I think the Statue of Liberty bit is awesome, if silly, and the idea of using a symbol to unite a city against evil is one worth exploring, imagine using Cap's shield, the Bat-Signal or Excalibur to better effect in a superhero narrative. I still like Ghostbusters II and I'm probably not going to be turned around on that by any films that are yet to come. Personally, I'm disappointed that the 2016 version of Ghostbusters isn't going to continue and the pitch for the new one seems odd, but I'll give it a go anyway. I'll never get the devotion of the Ghostbusters fan-base that hate everything except the original and The Real Ghostbusters, I've been a Spider-Man fan my whole life and will even defend parts of "One More Day". As always, make up your own mind.

Superhero Media: Infestation 2

Hot on the "success" of Infestation, IDW launched the second part, Infestation 2, leaner, meaner and with more than a few changes. Rather than a single entity, like the Undermind, Infestation 2 pits its heroes against the entirety of the Cthulhu mythos, which makes for grander stories, but the overall effect is slightly weakened without a recurring villain like Brit to tie the narrative together. Infestation 2 features the Transformers, Dungeons and Dragons, TMNT, GI Joe and 30 Days of Night, most of which are better than the stories in Infestation, but without the kind of crossover promised, like Snake Eyes meeting Optimus Prime and Leonardo, it's still unfulfilling. Once again, the GI Joe story is the best one, with a cult uprising at a Cobra asylum for insane operatives. Crystal Ball (Cobra Old Ones Expert), Storm Shadow, a Cobra Psychologist and a cadre of lunatics have to survive a wave of hybrids to shut down the ritual and escape. I'd watch that film, even without a GI Joe framework and characters. 

The Transformers story takes place, not "now" or in the near future (like the 1986 film), but in 1887, with most of the Autobots and Decepticons in hiding, until Dunwhich is overrun by Deep Ones and corrupted Decepticons and Nikola Tesla has to awaken Optimus Prime to save the day. It's ridiculous nerd-bait, but the fun concept and diesel-punk transformer designs make it worth a look anyway. Nothing else in the anthology is really worth mentioning, though none of it is strictly bad, if you have the Omnibus Edition like I do, the whole Infestation/Infestation 2 does make for a good read and has plenty of inspiration for supers and horror games of all kinds. For me, the Infestation[s] are a nice additional antagonist for a campaign without having to buy additional miniatures, as I already own more than enough zombies and cultists to combine Infestation with Annihilation or to run it as its own series of games.

I've read almost all of HP Lovecraft's published works, and whilst I'm not a huge fan, his ability to evoke the otherworldly, the uncanny and a sense of unknowable horror is unmatched. It's no wonder that his style and mythos have endured and become a major fixture of popular culture. Of course, having such powerful beings as the great old ones leads some writers to wanting to see this power flexed; hence many derivative stories being more action-focused. As I've mentioned a number of times, a certain subset of supers fans are more interested in seeing the fights than the characters, so that superheroes fighting mythos monsters is a pretty expected result. Sometimes, this works really well, like Hellboy or Atomic Robo, but there are far too many poor attempts that leave me mostly disappointed. For me, the best Old Ones in comics are the ones that were there before we knew what they were, Starro, Galactus and Stardust the Super Wizard, for example. What's the point of a mountain-sized monstrosity when Superman can still throw it into space, after all?

Miniatures Finished: 12/06/2018

Funny story, I bought 16 miniatures over the weekend, so I set a goal that I'd finish painting at least 16 this week. Last night I completed 10 and it's only Tuesday, so I'd say I'm off to a good start. 

Spider-Man 2099 - I'm pretty sure my motivation behind this one was playing him as a "Lone Vigilante" in Judge Dredd Miniatures Game, but now that I have a sweet Cyberpunk set-up to play on, maybe I should do some "Future" supers games. Heroclix

Metalhead - Need a fifth for your TMNT team? Well, if Casey Jones, Slash or Splinter aren't to your liking, maybe give Metalhead a go. Heroclix 

Mew - He's actually closer to 1/35 scale, but I'm so damn happy with hand-blending the shade of pink on him perfectly that I don't care. I actually have some plans for the Pokemon stuff, but I'll need someone good with image editing to help out. Vending Machine Toy 

Nebula - I was on a deadline to get all of my Guardians finished for Little Wars Melbourne 2018, but it turns out they weren't needed, so Nebula got left a week or two. Big fan of her role in the films, so expect to see her in a few games. Heroclix 

Brothers Grimm - When I opened one of these guys in a booster (I was going thru one of my Clix-playing phases), I knew I had to put two of them on a base and run them as a single character. I'm beginning to focus on villains that have interesting gimmicks so that I can vary play a little. Heroclix  

Granny Goodness - Seriously Warner Bros, do a "Fourth World" film and pay Betty White whatever she asks to play Granny Goodness, what could you lose at this point? I'm not too keen on most of the Female Furies, so how about I run a game where they're other female super-villains? Thinking Titiania, Brit and Ursa? 

 

Miniatures Finished: Mousers

After having four of these buggers painted for a while, I decided to pull my finger out and buy the rest of the damn henchmen team I'd want to play them as. 

 Also included another Knights of Dice park bench. 

I don't actually really remember much about the Mousers, but it's nice to have some "Indy" henchmen to throw into games. Teaming these guys up with Ultron or Brainiac would be a lot of fun. Heroclix. 

Superhero Media: Transformers - Age of Extinction

Well, it took three films to get here, but Age of Extinction is actually pretty watchable. The normal Transformers series problems are here, like the overly-long third act, occasionally difficult to follow action and too many superfluous characters. Making the overall quality of the film better are elements like better looking Transformers, a human protagonist who isn't Sam and some decent world-building. After the Battle of Chicago in Dark of the Moon, both Autobots and Decepticons have been ruthlessly hunted by the CIA and only a few are left. Cade Yeager is a down on his luck inventor, trying to hold on to the family home and fund his daughter's College when he acquires a damaged Optimus Prime hiding in an old theatre, soon the CIA is after him and he, his daughter and his daughter's boyfriend are on the run alongside the surviving Autobots. There's something interesting in one of the antagonists of the film being the CIA, especially given Michael Bay's propensity to glorify the American Military-Industrial Complex, but nothing really comes of it sadly, with the reveal that it was the doing of just a couple of corrupt people in charge. 

It seems that someone finally showed Bay what Transfomers actually look like, because all of the Autobots are nicely colour-coded, so you can tell who is in each scene without squinting! I still can't remember any of their names, other than Optimus, Bumblebee and Hound, but at least I know which one I'm looking at. There are several villains in Age of Extinction, the above-mentioned CIA guys, a resurrected Galvitron and an intergalactic Bounty Hunter, Lockdown. The film chooses to represent Lockdown as being from Cybertron, but the Transformers Wiki indicates that he's a different alien who clashes with the Autobots. Lockdown is a really neat villain, kind of like a combination of Lobo and The Collector, he would be great in a variety of supers games and settings, I'm even considering something similar for Kill Team, which I'm getting pretty into right now. I wonder if this was a first attempt at building the "Hasbro Cinematic Universe" that keeps popping up in the film industry rumor mill. Could Lockdown have been conceived as a rogue Space Knight or something from MASK? We may never know, but it's nice to have a decent villain in the film. 

What stops this from being a genuinely "good" film is a problem, once again, with the human characters. Cade is actually fine, probably one of the best human characters in the franchise, the difficult relationship with his daughter is a bit cliche, but works fine with the tone of the film. The issues mostly revolve around the boyfriend, Shane, the nature of his relationship with Tessa, and the reasons for him in the narrative. The core of the conflict between Cade and Shane is that Shane is 20 and Tessa 17, which really isn't a big deal until Shane states the specific Texas State Statute that means it's not statutory rape for them to be together. That's kind of creepy. Not the age difference, when I was 23 I dated an 18 year-old and no one really arced up at all, but pointing out a specific law that makes it "not a crime" smacks of someone on the crew wanting to point that out for a long time and not having the opportunity to do so. Someone creepy. With a fixation on teenage girls long after they're of an age where that's appropriate. After that, Shane just kind of fades into the background and doesn't do anything to drive the plot. Age of Extinction is far from perfect, but is probably the best film in this series; if you only give one a go, make it this one. 

From the Archives - Vol 1

Been doing a big catalogue of my Supers stuff and realised just how little of it is on this blog. To remedy that, I'll be running the occasional entry showcasing my older efforts. 

First up, here is my old "Trailer" for my Little Wars Melbourne 2015 game, now on YouTube: 

Enjoy! Next time, some miniatures and maybe terrain. Actually, I'd like to do some more video stuff, but it's very time-consuming, so probably not any time soon. 

Superhero Media: Transformers - Dark of the Moon

I've never been too sure about why the Transformers film series is so maligned; as I've written previously, I actually enjoyed Transformers. After seeing Dark of the Moon, I finally understand just how bad this series is. Essentially every defense I could muster for Transformers and Revenge of the Fallen melts away in the glare of this cinematic symphony of error, I have to liken it to the "Dark Age" of comics, in which publishers marketed to exactly the wrong aspect of something that worked once, and the audience lapped it up. I will still maintain that Transformers is a reasonably decent film, though one with a great many flaws, Revenge of the Fallen was about as good a sequel as the same team could have put out, but Dark of the Moon goes full Terminator 3 on this franchise. Mikaela, the only character with any agency thus far, is gone, Michael Bay having sexually harassed Megan Fox into breaking her contract, leaving the audience following Sam's continuing refusal to move past adolescence, now trying to land his first real job and dating Carly, another impossibly-attractive woman framed as an object. 

The Autobots, now working for the US Military, discover a crashed ship on the moon, recovering and awakening Sentinel Prime, Optimus' former mentor, starting a game of keepaway between Autobots and Decepticons. Soon, it is revealed that Sentinel has been working with Megatron the entire time, with a diabolical plan of using a space bridge to bring Cybertron to Earth's solar system and enslave the human race to rebuild their war devastated planet. So wait, the entire first two films were a ruse? The Decepticons were just biding their time, accepting considerable losses, until the American Government made an agreement with the Autobots, a conspiracy theorist leaks information to Optimus Prime and Sentinel is awoken to complete his space bridge after thousand of years? I don't think I can actually list all of the major problems with this plan in the length of this article, even if I were given over to that kind of nit-picking. The film builds to a big battle in Chicago where Lennox and the Marines from Transformers help Sam and Carly get to Sentinel before time runs out. The battle is nifty in parts, but is far too long and over the top to be interesting after the first fifteen minutes. 

That's not to say that everything in this film is terrible, merely that the overall film isn't worth watching unless you're of the kind of mindset as I am. As mentioned above, the Chicago Battle is interesting in parts, and would make a good scenario/campaign/roleplaying session, even if, when watching, you will get bored of Sam and Carly falling out of buildings and screaming. At the start of the film, the Decepticons are hiding in the desert, barely functioning, with tiny drones clambering all over them, it's actually a really engaging tableau, which I could see working well in Sci-Fi or Post Apoc gaming, if you had the conversion skills. Dark of the Moon, even outside of the space bridge, has plenty of references to Transformers cartoons, including The Wreckers, but like Punisher War Zone, the references only highlight the flaws in comparison to the original material. Also there's Shockwave, who is pretty cool and probably my favourite Transformer, but he's not even purple so why bother? I know it gets better after this, but I'm really sick of this franchise right now. 

Superhero Media: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Out of the Shadows

I stand by my (more-or-less) positive review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), whilst it doesn't reach the heights of the 1990 film or even Turtles Forever, it manages to be fun and there are a lot of good scenes and some great visual elements. Out of the Shadows is not even as good as the 2014 film, though I believe it is precisely the TMNT film I wanted when I was eight years old. Yes it's dumb, but it's a story about four mutant turtles fighting a ninja master and inter-dimensional aliens, how serious did you expect it to be? If you can't enjoy the Turtle-Van chase sequence or Bebop and Rocksteady riding a tank down a river, what the hell are you doing calling yourself a TMNT fan? Yes, Out of the Shadows isn't really that good a film, but it's so fun and so quickly paced that watching it, I really didn't care. 

Sadly, there is no backpedal on the terrible Shredder, but once he accidentally ends up in Dimension X and makes a deal with Krang to open a portal in return for the death of the Turtles, he fades into the background. In order to facilitate this, Krang hands over a container of Ooze so that Shredder can make his own mutants. Baxter Stockman, of TGRI, uses the ooze on a couple of street thugs, and Bebop and Rocksteady are born. Holy hell, how is Out of the Shadows the most faithful TMNT adaptation? Sure, it's not all good news, Tyler Perry is terrible as Baxter Stockman, which is no surprise, and the sub-plot of the ooze turning the turtles human both makes no sense and goes nowhere. Purists may complain about the turtles getting a public debut, but I like the new spin on the story and would be interested to see where it went in any following films.
 

Stephen Amell is not a good Casey Jones, not holding a candle to Elias Koteas, but the script gives him little to do and fighting off ninjas with a hockey stick and puck makes for a fun scene. The climatic battle on top of the slowly-forming Technodrome with Krang looks like it would make an awesome SuperSystem game, and that Mikey saves the day with a skateboard is pure Turtles gold. Internet nerd culture have panned this because of what Bay did to the Transformers franchise, give it a fair go and you may just find a lot to enjoy. There's also a brilliant version of the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song over the credits that's really hard to find, but is on Google Play and can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMZjlllTz5I Hey, I said this was the version I would have wanted as a child, embrace it! Turtle power!

Superhero Media: Transformers Prime

Like everyone of a certain generation, I grew up watching Transformers and playing with the toys. Like many favourites of childhood, when I want back to try and watch the classic series, I was disappointed with the reality of 25-minute toy commercials that were more interested in merchandise than telling good stories. I've also been watching the recent series of Transformers films, which are not good, so I wanted to try and find some kind of Transformers media that was worth watching. I reached out to a fiend who is a big fan of Transformers and he recommended Transformers Prime, saying it was probably the best version of the programme out there. I was still wary, but gave it a go anyway; Transformers Prime is pretty damn amazing, with a strong story, well-written characters and the main drive of the narrative changes each season to keep things fresh. Peter Cullen and Frank Welker return to their iconic roles and the whole series is simply engaging in the way a lot of children's television fails to be for adults. 

The set-up is essentally the same as it always is, the Autobots and Decepitcons come to Earth after Cybertron was destroyed in their war and hostilities renew. Where Transformers Prime differentiates itself is in the smaller cast than normal, the main Autobots for the first half of the series are Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Ratchet and Arcee. Along with the Autobots, there are three teenagers, Jack, Miko and Raf, who provide the human element for the series. As much as the humans are typically the least engaging part of any Transformers series, Jack, Miko and Raf are really interesting in their own rights, help out more than they hinder the Autobots and each have a special relationship with a particular Autobot that really drives character development. There's something about Transformers Prime that makes it come across, to me, at least, as an adaptation of someone's, really awesome, Transformers role playing campaign. Each player gets an Autobot and a human and occasionally an NPC does something awesome, mostly Optimus Prime.
 

There's more than just Autobots and Decepticons at war in Transformers Prime, the FBI are involved, as well as a few independent Cybertronians and a clandestine cult of Xenophobes. Much of the second season is taken up with a quest for several Cybertronian artifacts that could change the course of the war, culminating in Optimus Prime finding the Autobot equivalent of Excalibur and cutting through a goddamned mountain. To add more believable conflict to the war, there are disposable Decpticon minions and the Autobots suffer losses and reversals, rather than just winning all of the time. Characters grow, change and suffer in a way that most children's television doesn't bother to do, Transformers Prime really does reach higher than the rest of the franchise and is well worth your time. I never thought I would really care about these characters, but that's all changed and now I'm browsing eBay for toys to convert into wargames miniatures.

Superhero Media: Transformers Revenge of the Fallen

Is this the one everyone hates, or is that the next one? All I remembered was the giant Decepticon with the wrecking ball testicles, and that didn't bode well. I held out some hope during the first act of the film, as Revenge of the Fallen opens with a joint US Army/Autobot task force taking down Decepticons across the globe, which really should have been the entire damn film, as Josh Duhamel makes a much better protagonist than actual cannibal Shia LaBeouf. Before too long, Optimus Prime is dead, Megatron is alive and there's some kind of global chase for the Matrix of Leadership which can either destroy the planet or resurrect Optimus, or something like that, I wasn't really paying close attention. There's just something about Revenge of the Fallen that glosses past the mind's eye without really registering, like eating chips, you don't realise how much you've had until it's gone. 

The last act of Revenge of the Fallen is probably the most interesting to take a look at, with military forces and Autobots protecting the corpse of Optimus Prime whilst Sam races to them. The sequence is fun to watch, Bay can shoot the hell out of an action scene and has a particular eye for soldiers and military equipment, but there are some really distracting elements. Firstly, the USMC flies into Egyptian air-space without permission, shooting at an army of alien robots that have been covered up for years. When the Egyptians twig to what's happening, their own military flies in to "help", or presumably tell the Americans to get the fuck out of their national borders, but they get shot down by Decepticons so that the white people can save the day. Also, I swear Sam is running for a good forty minutes, the film just takes forever to end, I was sick of seeing Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf fall into the sand. 

Revenge of the Fallen is not a good film, but whereas the first Transformers was enjoyable despite it's flaws, this one is really hard to get anything out of. The only parts I can remember liking were the old Prime talking about the Autobot/Decepicon divide being a political one and Optimus rocking that sweet jetpack, but similar scenes in Transformers Prime are much better if that's what you're after. Despite the flaws, problematic characters and terrible dialogue, there is something to these films that makes them somewhat compelling; for me, I think it's how well they defy traditional analysis, but if they're really that bad, how are they still making more of them? I'm not sure why this series is a big as it is, but I will keep watching them, so long as I can do so without paying money.

Superhero Media: Transformers (2007)

I hadn't seen this film for a number of years, but I remember loving it back in 2007. Yes, I really enjoyed Michael Bay's Transformers when I first saw it, shortly before I started studying cinema. You see, Bay makes big, dumb, fun films for an audience that doesn't want to think about them too much, and that's ok. And actually, Transformers was probably the perfect franchise for a series of big, dumb, fun films, the cartoons having always been dumb and fun, but occasionally aspiring to something greater. Really, there are quite a few moments to enjoy in Transformers, the Autobots and Decepitcons look good, but a little busy, the fight scenes are pretty decent and Michael Bay can shoot the hell out of a car chase. The real problem of the film is, once again, a focus on uninteresting characters at the cost of those with far more stake in what is happening around them.  

No, I'm not one of those fans who complains that there are more humans than Transformers in the film, I do think it was a good choice for the first one. However, Sam is a big problem, he literally has no reason to be in the film other than owning the glasses that both sides are hunting. I don't think Sam's motivation, of wanting to have sex, is that bad, it does fit his character, but his entitlement, narcissism and ignorance of his own privilege render him nothing more than an irritant rather than a character. Mikaela is the daughter of a car thief, why couldn't she initiate the plot by stealing Bumblebee? The sub-plot of Captain Lennox and his men surviving a Decepitcon attack, learning how to fight them and bringing that knowledge back home is really good, why wasn't the film about that? That would have been really cool, actually.

It was an interesting experience going back and taking another look at Transformers, the sexism and racism made for uncomfortable viewing, but at the same time, there were some great moments that felt overlooked in the broader discussion. Jon Voight is in this film, (remember that? I didn't) playing a surprisingly forward-thinking and pragmatic Defense Secretary who is willing to listen to the most outlandish theory from his lowliest subordinate when she brings him evidence of the impossible; I don't recall ever seeing that in any film. Having Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime is pretty damn fantastic and lends a shocking amount of gravitas to the character's dialogue. When Bumblebee and Mikaela decide to go back and join the fight, despite his being wounded and her being scared, is possibly the centerpiece moment of the film, but I didn't remember it. In short, Transformers is a study in contrasts; it's not good, but has great moments. Has a brilliant (for the most part) cast, but resorts to uncomfortable stereotyping. Perhaps worth another look, but far from a classic.

Coming Soon to a Table Near You!

Reposted from my wargames club's Facebook group: 

In order to get some people playing some SuperSystem, I'm proposing a little "mini-campaign" in the months of November and December. Nothing terribly involved, just teams of three characters and playing a handful of games over the seven meetings that fall in the given months. Think something along the lines of "Contest of Champions" or "Secret Wars"; a big goofy crossover relying more upon showy splash-panels than actual plot. I'll be posting up on my blog about the games we play and probably laying over some Silver Age justification. 

As I said, we'll start with three-character teams, so easy to build up a team or find some already in your collection. I'm happy to help with some of the stats, but I'm not doing it all for you sorry. 

Need some inspiration? I dug through the web for some "left-field" team ideas and put them here.

 Nazi Occultists, classic pulp villains, ready to menace the free world! 

 The Ghostbusters (any version) make a perfect team, the similar power-set can be used with slight differences to have a team that work well together. 

 Voodoo priest, cultists and zombies, not only a lot of fun, but there are already heaps of comic examples to draw on. 

 I'm not a huge fan of the pop-culture team-up in general, as it often comes across as goofy (see the above LXG April Fool's for example), but they can be fun if they make enough sense.

Problematic recent film aside, the Suicide Squad has an interesting history and the "Supervillain Dirty Dozen" idea has been around in a variety of forms since the Silver Age. If you're better at being bad than good, this is a pretty fun option. 

Movie Monsters have been part of comics since the beginning, getting shoved into the Marvel and DC universes thanks to Lee and Kirby being just the right kind of crazy. They don't have to be Hammer classics either, Aliens, Terminator and Predator have all fought the likes of Batman and the Avengers. 

Sometimes it seems like I'm the only person that likes Martial Arts superheroes anymore. Ok, so Dragonball Z is not to everyone's tastes, but what about Kung Fu, TNMT or Iron Fist? Lots of potential here for fun games and characters. 

A few of other points to note;

1. A typical game of SS4 takes between 30 and 60 minutes if we all know at least vaguely how to play, so we don't have to give up Frostgrave, Warmachine or any of our regular games. 

2. Teams of henchmen run from 5+ and count as one "character". 

3. For those who don't have the book, I recommend Lulu Print-on-Demand, just make sure to get SuperSystem 4th Edition by Scott Pyle and David Lewis. 

4. For those that do have it, try making an 85 point character or two, we can change down the track if we want to, so don't feel locked in to the first effort. 

5. Taking any suggestions for a name for our "Crossover Event", something like the classic Secret Wars or Crisis on Infinite Earths. 

6. At the moment, I'm considering having a big finale game on the last meeting of the year, let me know what you think. 

Excelsior!  

Miniatures Finished: The Incredible, the Miraculous and Undead Squared

As painting is something of a stress relief for me, it's no wonder that essay season is a good time to get miniatures finished. 

 Brit (aka "Big Boobs Brit") from IDW, a converted Indy Clix, the smallest toy of Mr Incredible I've found to date and Mister Miracle. Brit will be important for a campaign down the track and my quest for a Heroic 28mm set of Incredibles continues.

 Two more fast and easy dipped Clix civilians and Mirror Master. Part of me is tempted to get a few more of these Clix and one of the new ones, leaning out of the mirror, to really capture the character, but that's an idea for down the track. 

 

Ultimate Alliance: Civil War - Part I

With the recent battle between Batman and Superman having left an entire city in ruins, the Superhero Registration Act is primed to be signed into law by Congress. This creates a divide in the superhuman community, with Captain America coming to represent those making a stand against the Act and Iron Man leading those working for it. Some heroes, such as Doctor Strange and Superman, elect not to take a side, staying out of the brutal conflict between friends and colleagues. 

Yes, Little Wars Melbourne approaches again and it's time to prepare for some super-heroic action! This year, I'm capitalising on the big summer movies, especially Captain America: Civil War, with two teams of mixed heroes going toe-to-toe. I'm yet to finalise the teams, but so far the playtests are going well and I may even be ready a little early!

Pro-SRA Deployment 

 

Standard table glamour-shots.

The fight we all paid to see! 

 

The ground shakes as Luke Cage and She-Hulk come to blows! 

 

Iron Man wasn't expecting a ninja strike from the shadows. 

 

She-Hulk brings down Captain America. 

 

 

Cage flees to fight another day. 

I think I have the team balance right at the moment, expanding it to six-hero teams and a couple more play tests should see me right. This time around, there's not so much to prepare, so hopefully I can add some real polish to the game. Excelsior!