Super Mission Force: The Defenders vs. Justice League Starro Slaves

 It's been WAY too long since I've posted anything, and this isn't even the first thing I've done that I haven't posted. But I'm a bit excited about this one in particular. See, I've wanted a tabletop superhero game for like forever, and really when HeroClix came out it left me cold. Even the figures were pretty sub-par. But they wound up being pretty cheap on the after market once they lost their game value, and I wound up with a pretty big collection of exactly what I wanted and then never played with them. So I've always been on the lookout for a superhero miniatures game that allowed me to stat up the heroes I wanted to use the way I wanted to play them. And I stumbled across Super Mission Force a few weeks ago not because I was looking for it, but because I found a reference to the Solo rules for it. So, a generic superhero system with solo rules, and it's all free.

HELL YEAH!!!

Defenders Defenestrate!

To be really honest, it took me a while to wrap my head around the system and figure out how to stat up the heroes I wanted. Specifically, I wanted the original incarnation of the Defenders issue #2 from October 1972, including Doctor Strange, the Hulk, Namor, the Sub-Mariner, and the Silver Surfer. However, given how powerful both the Hulk and the Silver Surfer are, I instead decided to go with the issue #1 lineup and drop the Surfer and instead class the Hulk as a Powerhouse-level hero, counting as two members of the four man team instead of just one. As an aside, Doctor Strange is included in the rules as a sample character using the name "Professor Weird." So, I had the Defenders; I popped the figures off their 'Clix bases, glued them to some grey plastic bases for a good urban look, and this part of the game was all set.

The Justice League Enslaved By Starro!

Next up, I needed some villains for the Defenders to fight. My first thought was to use the Wrecking Crew, whose first appearance as a team is in Defenders #17. The team consists of The Wrecker, Bulldozer, Thunderball, and Piledriver. As I was searching online to see if anyone had already generated some stats for the team, I found quite a few different takes on the Justice League. As it turns out, I have a small collection of Justice League 'Clix as well, but I don't imagine the defenders and the Justice league finding a reason to just rumble. But what about four members of the Justice League possessed by the bizarre alien entity known as Starro? I have Aquaman, Flash, Gren Arrow, and Green Lantern figures with the distinctive starfish on their face from a WizKids summer event many years ago. So there it was! Starr Slaves versus the Defenders!

A bird's eye view of the Defenders starting position

The Defenders lined up on their table side with Doctor Strange and Namor behind the warehouse and Hulk with a straight shot across the board. As he is a Powerhouse, I am guessing he is going to be the most powerful, and the one to get stuck into the fighting. I am pretty familiar with these guys from the comics, so I have a pretty good idea of what they can do and how to use them.

Enslaved by Starro, the Justice League has lost it's rhyme and reason

The Starro-enslaved Justice League I just kind of spread across the board. I'm not really too familiar with these guys, so I set up Green arrow across from the Hulk hoping to get in a couple of good shots before the green goliath closed for melee. Flash has an incredible 40" movement and can make melee attacks and keep moving if he is successful, so I have him on the corner so he can go around the side and catch Namor with a drive-by punching. Green Lantern? Aquaman? Who knows? I also had the AI sheets printed out, a deck of cards shuffled, and all the elements in place to really use the solo system.

The Defenders start out strong

The first turn, the Defenders won the intitiative and rolled Hulk up to green Arrow and gave him a solid beating. I had set up a lot of fun things to play with, cars and tricks and picnic benches, but I never actually used any of them to throw or beat down any opponents on either side. Also, the buildings had fully playable interiors, but no one went inside. Maybe next time. Aquaman and Green Lantern engaged Hulk, while Flash tried to do my planned drive-by punching on Namor after being zapped by Doctor Strange but failed, and was now locked in melee with him. Oops!

Duelling Kings of Atlantis

The second turn started with Namor giving Flash a solid punch, knocking him back several inches and forcing a KO check; Flash was still on his feet, but barely. I had by this time realized that anyone in melee with Hulk was 1) not going to hurt him, and 2) going to end with a wet squeak (he had by this time already gained 2 extra dice from Rage and was rolling 9 dice on the charge; 4 is the base roll) so I thought maybe Flash should try a drive-by punching on the Big Green Guy. That was a bad idea; Flash was now locked in melee with Hulk in addition to Green Arrow. For his own part Green Arrow annoyed Hulk without any actual effect before Namor flew over to attack Aquaman; there can only be one King of Atlantis! Hulk then solidly punched Green Arrow, who promptly failed his KO check and was removed from the game. First point to Defenders. Green Lantern, switching to a flying form, grabbed Flash and flew both of them to safety well out of range of the Hulks fusilade of fists. I couldn't find any rules to resolve this, but it seemed like a very comic book thing to do, so I decided it was perfectly acceptable. I'm pretty sure Doctor Strange zapped someone; I know he made his Recharge roll for his Power Bolt ability.

Clear disposable shot glasses are amazing flying stands

To start off the third turn, Aquaman took another swipe at Namor, but to no effect. The rival Kings were too equally matched! But HULK SMASH PUNY IMPOSTER! Aquaman was knocked clear across the board by the Green Goliath. Green Lantern then flew behind the Hulk and shot a power blast into his back, unbelievably actually hurting him! Namor then followed up on the Hulk's success to try and dispatch the weakened Aquaman, but to no effect. Doctor Strange again made his Recharge roll for his Power Blast, but failed to harm Flash, who was then able to make a successful drive-by punching on Namor.

This is where the bogging down begins

HULK SMASH PUNY IMPOSTER! The fourth turn of the game opened with Hulk leaping to Aquaman and fully smashing him; Aquaman did not make his KO roll. Namor flew to engage Green Lantern, but did not hurt him. Doctor Strange AGAIN made his recharge roll for his Power Bolt and promptly dispatched Flash, who failed his KO check this time and was removed from the game. Green Lantern fought back against Namor, but had no effect.

HULK SAD! HULK NO FLY!

I frequently find that skirmish games of this type hit a certain point and they start to bog down for some reason. Here, in turn five, I hit that plateau. Doctor Strange tried to cast Jinx on Green lantern, but failed. Green lantern failed to harm Namor. Hulk Leaped across the board, but not close enough to attack Green Lantern. Namor failed to harm Green Lantern. And I realized that there was an entire solo system for this game that I hadn't used at all, I had simply started playing both sides as I frequently do. Since there were no hidden objectives, I guess that's okay, but also no chance for any of the bad guys to start monologuing or stuff like that. Hopefully I'll remember next time.

It's like deja vu all over again

That plateau I was talking about in turn five? Turn six was exactly like turn five. Except I didn't have a revelation about forgetting to use the solo rules. That had already happened,, but was still on my mind.

Defenders triumphant

Then it all came together! Green Lantern failed to hurt Namor yet again, but Doctor Strange managed the Recharge roll for Jinx, and successfully cast it. Namor then dispatched Green lantern, who failed his KO roll. The Defenders win! The warehouse district is safe from Starro!

I am not bothering with any of the campaign stuff for this game, as I'm sure I got some of the rules wrong and I really think the Justice League got the short end of the stick because I didn't realize quite how scary The Incredible Hulk was going to be in melee. The Justice League also suffered from lack of familiarity with the various characters' abilities; I don't think the write-ups I borrowed were necessarily bad, but I'm not that familiar with them to begin with. Shooting at Hulk is much better than trying to melee Hulk. Always ALWAYS shoot hulk whenever possible!

As an aside, I built the terrain featured in this game probably about 15 years ago. It's some of the earliest papercraft models I remember making. The board was going to be to demo some game or another, i never managed to get into it after all. I decided to go with the 2' x 2' board because I had it, not because I thought it would make a better game. I think it made a faster game. Next time, I might go with a 3' x 3' board; it doesn't have to be a city fight!

So I definitely want to play this again.