Return to Warmington-on-Sea

Happily I was able to schedule a game with John and then (like Dad's Army episodes are always on repeat) play it again the following night with Adrian.  The guests played the Home Guard whilst I controlled the villains.

The Heroes were Mainwaring, Wilson, Jones, Pike and Godfrey.  The Villains were Major Shreck, Hauptmann Kurtz, and two Nacht Jagerkommandos (all vampires) along with three Totganger zombies and a wolf.  Both casts were 28 points.

In the first game, Jones appropriately enough charged ahead bayonet fixed whilst Godfrey excused himself to visit the pillbox.

The zombies very slowly ambled towards the Home Guard whilst Shreck approached the searchlight and the wolf galloped ahead to capture an objective marker in its slavering jaws.

Rejoining the action, Godfrey was charged down by a Kommando.

Jones combined two gadgets to form a crucifix beam which illuminated but failed to injure the Major.

The other Jagerkommando joined his comrade and together they took out Jones, siring him to return as a Half Blood on their side shortly after (hence the swap to his butcher clothes).  Wilson was also killed and unluckily also promptly returned as a Half Blood.  John only really rolled high when he didn't want to.

The zombies eventually reached Mainwaring and the Major swooped in to join the action.

Despite the overwhelming odds and Pike becoming dominated, Mainwaring managed to hold on for a further two rounds until dawn came and the villains disappeared back into the forest.

The Heroes got 3 objective markers for 3 Victory Points, as did the Villains, along with 1 VP for axing the Hero cast and 4 for killing Wilson and Jones.  8-3 to the Villains game them a Decisive Victory.

In the second game, some crack shots from Adrian's Heroes saw the wolf and a couple of zombies quickly picked off at a distance while Shreck and the Kommandos moved in on the other flank.

With Jones eventually within charge range, Shreck went in for the kill but found his claws (and gadget Awesome Long Claws) decidely blunt.

Everyone piled in for a massive melee.  The other zombie and two Kommandos were killed but everyone else slogged it out.

In the last turn, the vampires finally managed to defeat Mainwaring.  Kurtz flapped his flamboyant cape in a flourish and disappeared, whilst Shreck locked himself into his coffin, leaving the Home Guard frustrated and alone, trying to get the lid off.

Again both sides scored 3 VPs for collecting objective markers.  The vampires lost 6 of their 8 figures earning the Heroes another 1 VP for axing the cast, but the despatching of Mainwaring gave the Villains another 3 VP and a Minor Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat at the last moment.

As always, lots of fun and great to share 7TV with more of my friends. 

Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you?

 First outing for Mystery Incorporated...

versus the Cult of the Lycanthrope - two werewolves (fighting as a Raging Brute and a Missing Link) and a group of Cultists (two with bows so added a Bow Shoot Attack):

The casts were both 25 points and I used a mix of Core and 80s Profile Cards for the Scooby Doo gang:

The scenario was that the Cult needed to retrieve an ancient tome from an old village.  This tome contained a ritual they wanted to perform, and of course Mystery Inc needed to get to the book first.

Essentially, this was a Steal Episode with a single centrally-placed objective.  We used the Cursed Treasure trope and the cast with the book at the end of the episode would earn an extra two victory points.  Andy controlled the Cult and I took the Scooby gang.

All the characters moved into position around the edge of the village and with uncharacteristic bravery, Shaggy raced in and snatched the secret tome.

Daphne and Scooby encountered a werewolf who charged round the building on to Daphne.  She defended herself and Scooby knocked the werewolf down so Daphne could take her revenge.  The werewolf took a couple of hits but survived to see an unlucky Script card result in Daphne being captured.

On the other side of the village, a few of the Cultists bought it but the big werewolf charged down Thelma, taking her out, before scrapping with Fred.  Another Script Card saw a Cultist Archer remove Scooby Doo from the episode.

Neither of them did any permanent damage to the other and at the end of the episode, the Cultists earned three points, two for removing Thelma and one for the status on Daphne.  Mystery Inc had removed three Cult Extras but no Stars or Co-Stars, so their only points were gained from the successful retrieval of the secret tome.

One point difference is a draw under 7TV rules which seems fair.  Mystery Incorporated had lost a Co-Star but they had prevented the Cult from carrying out the ritual.

Cats and dogs living together

This was the first play using the 7TV Paranormal Exterminators Programme Guide. The scenario was the first in the guide ("Cats and dogs living together") which is based on the first Ghostbusters film but I expanded the casts to around 36 points by adding a Sergeant and four Cops to the heroes side...

...and remixing the villains side to comprise two Demon Dogs, the Bell Witch and the Missing Link as co-stars, with two Harbingers, two Spectres, a Sewer Alligator and (of course) Slimer.

The three foot square playing area included the Ghostbusters Firehouse headquarters, some factory buildings and a playground in Central Park.

The defending heroes of Kieron and Stuart deployed in "Riverdance" formation on one side of their starting edge...

...whilst the attacking villains of David and James deployed more spread out so that they could make a good start for the majority of the five objective tokens.

We played with the 80s Genre plot cards and the first one drawn required an Extra to move into contact with any enemy co-star.  It had to be Dana Barrett in Gatekeeper form being drawn to Peter Venkman.

The heroes ignored her and pressed on together further into the park, with Winston then bravely engaging alone with the Demon Dog that had moved up to the central objective marker.

Despite his beam gadget knocking down the Bell Witch, Winston was swiftly the first casualty.  Having collected all the objective markers between them, both heroes and villains held off a bit in expectation of a super supernatural event in the finale.  Control of both Harbingers switched between the teams and they were used to harry the rears of the casts.

As the game entered the final act and the Destructor was summoned, Ray Stantz foolishly recalled his favourite corporate icon from his childhood, and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man stomped into New York.  This figure stands about 17cm tall and I was very pleased to find this original 1984 model on eBay a few years ago.

However I was less pleased that he entered on the heroes' turn in the place we agreed it made most dramatic sense to enter.  The heroes were ready for him and he was melted before the villains had a chance to cause havoc with his impressive range of attacks.

The film ended here but this wasn't a scenario end condition so, although disheartened, the villains battled on.  Slimer did get to slime Venkman who subsequently killed him.  The Sewer Alligator together with Louis Tully's energy blast made short work of the Sergeant and another couple of cops. 

However, the involvement of the Bell Witch really turned the tide, as did a crazy cop who kept firing into close combat, missing and taking out his colleagues instead.  Over a couple of turns, the heroic cast melted away almost as quickly as the Destructor.

So although the heroes earned big points for taking out the Marshmallow Man plus one of the Demon Dogs, the villains earned more points by wiping out all of the Ghostbusters, giving them a minor victory.

Thoughts on the scenario:

• the rules say the referee decides where the Marshmallow Man appears. Without a referee, we agreed beforehand the Destructor would enter along the central road from the villains' starting edge, which dramatically made sense, but from a game perspective it might have been better to randomise which end of the road. And I think he should enter in the first villain turn during the Finale so he actually gets a go before being toasted!

• the finale as described in the scenario is 10 turns (longer than the first two acts together) as Heroes can only take one card each time, and Villains don't take one at all. A longer finale was welcomed as it would give the Heroes a better chance of finishing off the Destructor but given how quickly they accomplished this, playing out the remaining turns felt too long. I think we will add a Scenario End Condition of destroying the Marshmallow Man. Storywise, it's the climax and it felt odd to continue playing.

• the Bell Witch can gain plot points for each enemy near her, and then use these to change dice rolls to 1s or 6s. In close quarters, this effectively rendered her invulnerable. We wondered whether she was overpowered but I think we should try more ranged attacks on her before concluding that. It is worth noting that the Ghostbusters only used their proton packs on the Marshmallow Man and didn't trap a single ghost.

All in all a great game, with Star Qualities and Special Effects that capture well the action and story of the movie.

7TV Vlad's Army Episode 3

In the third and final episode "The Siege of St Aldhelm's", the Home Guard are taking refuge in the church whilst Major Shreck and his vampire horde close in to finish them off.

The Home Guard and Reservists deployed within the graveyard...

...with the Vampires, Half Bloods and Swarms on two edges of the playing area.

The entire Home Guard rushed into the church to rescue the Vicar and Verger, and stock up on the gadgets hidden inside.  The Reservists were left to defend the perimeter.

The Vampires started advancing on the graveyard, deploying a cannister of Axis Gas which transformed one of the Reservists into a Totganger.  Hauptmann Kurtz used his ability to control and swarm and wolfpack attacks.  Sadly, he was incapacitated in the following turn as we mixed up the Gadget Cards, and the Home Guard put him into a coffin for the rest of the game. The mistaken confinement of the co-star and his control ability was a significant loss to the villains.

The Reservists rescued another couple of civilians and began to bring them into the safety of the church.  The Reservists used a Crucifix Beam on the swarms and the wolves charged in to attack.  The Reservist was killed and a wolf picked up the torch in his jaws, but it was killed and the Maguffin recovered in the following turn.  After several failed attempts, the villains thought to use a stretch dice on their Totganger check, so some zombies finally emerged from the graves to attack the Reservists.

Major Shreck then started causing havoc, killing a series of Reservists in turn.

In their last turn, fearing the approaching dawn, the villains drew back from the church.  The Home Guard then finally emerged from St Aldhelm's, deploying a range of weapons and gadgets, and fistfuls of dice, resulting eventually in the loss of a NachtJagerKommando.  Despite lots of Reservists and Totgangers taken out, this loss was the sole Victory Point awarded in the game, giving the Home Guard their third Minor Victory in the campaign.

We enjoyed playing these scenarios but when we come to play them again, we will balance out the sides somewhat.  The gadgets and Leader abilities of the Home Guard give them a huge advantage over the Vampires, particularly with the latter's lack of ranged attacks.  We are also considering whether we need a way to ensure that the first player doesn't also have the last turn of the game, a double advantage with significant impact on the outcome.

Don't Panic! Hitchhikers vs Aliens

Another 7TV game with John playing Mars Attacks and Grey aliens, and his son Tim playing the characters from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

We used a simple three feet square gaming area with some scenery, a scattering of alien plants and rocks plus half a dozen crystals acting as objective markers.

We used the "Watch the skies!" sci-fi trope in order to introduce even more randomness to the story when the objectives were recovered.

Between them, the Hitchhikers made swift work of two Imperial Troopers before revealing an objective with the "They're Here Already" effect, enabling them to turn the Imperial Trooper Commander to their side, and promptly using him to kill the remaining Imperial Trooper.

Things were looking pretty sticky for John with four of his nine figures already lost but fortunately he was able to Steal the Scene with General Tor (his Evil Overlord) and snap the Commander out of his dominated status. His countdown card also enabled him to bring one of the Troopers back to life.

This rebalancing was to prove short-lived.  Tim swiftly killed the resurrected Trooper and even more devastatingly, Marvin emptied his SMG into an unfortunately closely grouped set of Alien Greys.  

The Alien leader rolled so well for defence that a roll of 9 was required.  Usually this is challenging on a D6 but 7TV's option of adding extra dice allows every 4, 5 or 6, to add +1 to the highest die roll.  Tim made sure of it by adding a ludicrous 10 extra dice and the whole lot were wiped out with one roll.

Although John's cast was axed, they battled on, with General Tor ambushing Trillian, who had already been infected by an alien egg, and she soon returned as a Cursed Creature fighting on his side.  

However, the following turn saw General Tor's morale waver and he promptly left the set.

John's cast earned a couple of victory points for the statuses attached to the opposing team but with the aliens essentially wiped out, and most of the crystals collected by the Hitchhikers, it was a Crushing Victory for Tim.