Cops and Robots

Another 7TV outing, this time for Cops and Robots.

The Law and Order cast was lead by Austin Powers (Secret Agent), Crockett & Tubbs (Maverick Cops), Riggs (Police Sergeant), Murtaugh (Plainclothes Cop), four street Cops and two motorcycle Cops.

The Robots were led by a Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 and Mad Scientist, along with four other Terminator T-800s (Infiltrator Robots), a Military Robot and a Killer Robot.

The objective was to recover as many of the computer chips distributed along the halfway line and destroy the opposition, and the scenario took place on an industrial estate.

I positioned my Maverick Cops on the left, the large police unit in the centre and Loner Secret Agent on the right.  With no Units, but plenty of Loners (who activate for free if further than 6" from any other model), John deployed much more spread out.

Both casts had a lot of firepower and the cops rushed forward to ambush the lone robots attempting to recover the computer chips.  Despite a hailstorm of bullets, the Infiltrator stood his ground for some time, and the cops took some losses as their grouping for their Unit status also left them vulnerable to Spray area attacks from the robots.

Arnie moved to the corner for a computer chip and a bead on the action down the street...

...but Austin Powers was creeping up on him, feeling brave and reckless.

Despite the other Robots in the vicinity, Austin went in for melee, stunning the Model 101, inflicting a wound.  He then Stole the Scene to inflict another wound and retired to distance using the Grappling Hook, leaving the Villainous Star in a bad way.

On the other flank, the Miami Vice duo kept together to double up their attacks and take out another of the Infiltrators.

Back in the centre, following the loss of Arnie, a group of robots started to take revenge by picking off the Cops, who were steadily wiped out.

The Hero cast was now axed but they bravely battled on.  The Military Robot had been mainly on defence duties protecting the Mad Scientist but was hampered by being unable to move and shoot in the same turn.  The Mad Scientist was letting the metalwork take all the risks for him but a late Script Card saw the scenery he had been cowering behind moved to the side.  This provided the opportunity for Crockett & Tubbs to take him out, and the Villains were also axed in the last turn.

The two casts were well-matched and this made for a good close game.  Losses were high and both casts were axed.  The Robots collected more objective markers but lost their Star and Co-Star whereas the Cops only lost Extras, which meant the Victory this time went to the forces of law and order.

Shiver me timbers! - a 7TV Pirate game

I have a lot of old Foundry pirate figures with which we used to play Warhammer Historical's "Legends of the High Seas".  I was delighted to see a lot of pirate profiles in the recent 7TV Fantasy Genre Guide so put a couple of casts together to try it out.

The Heroes comprised a Dashing Rogue star, Enchanting Beauty co-star, a Freebooter Captain, a Freebooter Bosun and three Sailors.  The Villains were co-stars Callous Corsair and Greedy Governor, with a Cursed Pirate Captain, a Cursed Pirate Bosun and three Cursed Pirates.

The 3 feet square layout had some old buildings, a few trees and a very small coastline.

And in the centre was the legendary pirate pub, the Drunken Parrot!

The casts were deployed within 10 inches of the opposite corners bottom right and top left.  Along the other diagonal were randomly placed three chests - one empty, one full of gold and one full of skulls.  Opening the chest with the gold would reveal Davy Jones' Chest maguffin, and the skulls the Treasure Map, following a successful roll against the Cursed Treasure adventure trope on page 151 of the Core Rulebook.  We played with Fantasy script cards and Fantasy props.

I had initiative in the first turn with the Heroes but the script card required all my characters take a Spirit test to activate, which they pretty much all failed.  Pushing forward on her own, the Enchanting Beauty took cover behind some boxes of snuff and barrels of rum.

Kieron's Villains had a better start and made good progress towards two of the chests.  In my second turn, my cast woke up and started progressing.  Before Kieron's pirates could reach the Chest outside the pub, the already well-advanced Beauty stole the scene and opened the chest to reveal Davy Jones' locker.  Given her lack of support she then started retreating back towards her crew.

The villains began to chase her to recover the loot and nearer the coast, Cursed Captain Blackbeard was filled with rage as he found his chest was filled with nowt.

Giving up their firearm advantage, Kieron's cast ran into the town square, pinning the hero pirates, and a huge melee ensued.  Kieron deployed the "Royal Crown" prop which knocked most of the Heroes down, but they were not out.

The Heroic Star finally got involved in the action shooting the Greedy Governor from distance, eventually despatching him.

The Freebooter bosun used (appropriately enough) his free seven league boots to bound across and open the remaining chest, despite now knowing it contained cursed treasure.  Fortunately, the curse was merely an earth tremor that he easily withstood (those sea legs serving him well) and he took the Treasure Map.

The Enchanting Beauty lived up to her billing and bewitched the Callous Corsair twice but both times failed to entice him to successfully land a blow on one of his own Sailors.  When the spell was broken, the Corsair and the bosun eventually took out the Beauty and she dropped the chest.

However, the Villains' losses were piling up and the cast was axed and the remnants ran away before they could recover Davy Jones' Chest from where it lay, resulting in an Epic Victory for the Heroes.

We had a fun game and I was pleased that 7TV Fantasy enabled me to get these figures back out again.  The profiles worked well and the only change I would make next time is to have bigger casts with some Sea Dogs for the Heroes and more Cursed Pirates for the Villains.

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.