The scientists have been busy.

The Grymn super-soldier program is continuing apace and now the small group of characters has been joined by Beast:

He brings additional combat prowess and scientific expertise to the group. The next soldier is one who is a little different. When the scientists started the program they worked on Grymn volunteers and never in their wildest dreams expected one of the revered OGrymn turning up to try the super-serums that were on offer. Well, one did turn up and after taking the serum the already large OGrymn took on giant proportions so he took Goliath as a name and here is a WIP of him (he's the one on the left):

There are more super-soldiers planned but at the moment, I am not racing ahead so for now I just want to finish Goliath.

If you want some reading to keep you entertained, here are two stories for you. The first is finished:

The Duplicate Adventures

The second one is still being written so stay tuned for further instalments:

Rebirth

Both are tales of a space-faring crew of Grymn and a selection of aliens. I hope you enjoy the read.

Iron Man and friends.

It has been a while but Iron Man has joined the Super Team:


He has further been joined by Captain Britain:

Both of these new heroes continue the super-soldier ethos with Iron Man gaining all of his powers from his armoured suit and Captain Britain being an acrobatic brawler with super strength and endurance.

I still plan to add a few more but sculpting has slowed for the time being so I can't say when the next member of the team will arrive.

On to different news and Hasslefree Miniatures will be releasing the long awaited Grymn Officers tomorrow. I have been waiting a long time for them and will be placing my order tomorrow. If you also take into account that they have their December Bonus time starting tomorrow then it is, indeed, a great day!

She Hulk joins the team

This week, the super-soldier program gains another member and that is She-Hulk:

This is a slight departure for the Grymn scientists as they have been experimenting with a mix of super-serum and radiation to try and enhance their volunteer. Fortunately, the experiment worked and there have been few side effects...apart from a change in skin colouring! She-Hulk is super strong, super resilient and very agile as well.

Another Superhero and some HF news

To add to the superhero group, I have been busy sculpting Puck (from Alpha Flight):

He is a smaller character with a very slow ageing process and depending on where you get your info from, has a body resembling hardened rubber. He is the 'cannonball' of the team. He's a bit of a light weight hitter but he can knock down a human sized opponent easily by barrelling into them. I chose him because he is just so full of character that he really adds something to the team.

On a completely different note, Hasslefree Miniatures are making some interesting noises with regard to Grymn Walkers. If you follow this LINK you will see some rather cool WIP pix of a completely re-vamped machine. I don't need to say how much I like it.

Team Leaders

Every team needs a leader and the Grymn super-team is no exception. Enter Nick Fury, special agent of SHIELD:

Nick Fury will be acting as a mediator between the heroes and the military. His main job is to decide the best time to send the heroes in, whilst liaising with the military to gain the best results.

When there is squabbling going on amongst the superheroes, it is his job to calm things down and restore team harmony.

Nick's super-serum has slowed his ageing process down and given him superhuman endurance. His skill with weapons and fighting ability has been gained over many decades of training as a soldier.

More Superheroes.

The next member of the super-team has been completed...Juggernaut joins the team:

So far we have an agile martial artist, a super-fast speedster and now the brute for the team.

I think one of the most important things about putting together a super-team is to get a good range of attributes spread across the team members. I am working on that idea and am looking to have fliers, brawlers, brains and techs in amongst the mix...with a few little extra surprises as well.

As for how to use them, I have been sent a copy of 'Super System' version 3 and am slowly reading through them to try to allocate the correct powers to the team. When I have a decent grip of things, I will add further posts and information with regards to the rules.

The next member will be posted soon.

As fast as lightning!

This time around we have Hurricane. She has been given implants and a super-serum to enhance her athletic prowess to the point where she can run at a super-fast pace:

That makes two down with four more to go. Once the team is complete I will be looking into how to integrate them in a rules system and how my standard infantry can be used.

More to come soon.

Blowing the dust off.

It has been a while but it seems that there are a few more bits and bobs coming from Hasslefree soon. The two greens in my last post are going to be available at the end of November so I can finally start thinking about a higher command level for my armies.

An idea struck me a few weeks ago...why couldn't the Grymn have a secret, scientific branch of their armed forces? A branch that was dedicated to the enhancement of a Grymn's fighting prowess? A super-soldier program?

This got me looking through various sites on the WWW to see which super-soldiers would be good as a super-team for my Grymn armies. I decided that mechanical means (bionics/powered armour) and super -serums/genetic manipulation were fine but any sort of mythical/magical/mutant ways of explaining powers were not.

The first character to surface (after a few niggles with the putty) was Black Widow. Here she is with a GW Dark-Eldar, A Grymn Tunnel Fighter and a Void VASA marine:


She is a pretty normal soldier whose martial arts prowess has been heightened with a super-serum which make her far stronger and more agile than a normal Grymn. She is able to use all manner of weapons, dodge bullets and has extreme acrobatic prowess.

The super-soldier team will consist of five main members, with a liaison officer to act as a go between for the normal Grymn armies. They will have a special transport and will act as a special unit that is not part of the army but may be called upon to help in times of crisis.

Watch the skies for the next hero to arrive!

Some new stuff...'out there'

I am very pleased to see that there are a few new sculpts from Kev over at Hasslefree Miniatures. Here are a couple of new Grymn naval officers:

I am looking forward to these being released as they are very characterful :) .

Grymn Characters - Silvia and Edgar

Silvia and Edgar are two Grymn you wouldn’t expect to see together. Silvia is a picture of Grymn beauty, with stunning looks a perfect physique and eyes you could drown in. Edgar is an aging, war weary, grey-haired veteran of the Grymn armed forces. If you were to ever see them together in their civilian attire, it would not only be exceptionally rare but they would also appear completely at odds with each other. However, when they are in their military fatigues, they are as much a picture of solidarity as they are a highly effective and professional team. The reason for this is that Silvia is a natural and very gifted sniper. It was said that, during her training, Silvia could shoot the tip off a pencil at ranges in excess of 500 metres but since then her expertise has become so great that the Grymn high council decided that she needed to be protected and cosseted so they chose someone to act as her spotter and her protection. Edgar was perfect for the role. He was a veteran of many wars, had high tactical awareness, was a talented leader and also had the patience of a saint. He immediately stepped in as Silvia’s mentor, protector and spotter and since they first met they have been like a father and daughter team.

Silvia and Edgar have become a dedicated assassination unit. They have been highly trained in the use of camouflage, concealment, communications, survival techniques and the use of most weaponry. Edgar will act as Silvia’s link between the high council and the jobs she has to carry out and shadows her every move in the field. As effective a sniper Silvia is, Edgar is a bodyguard beyond compare. Once the team is in position, Edgar will spot for Silvia and keep an eye out for enemy forces while she concentrates on the assassination. When it comes to extraction, Edgar takes the lead and ensures that they escape in the required manner. They are a team beyond compare and as a result, will only be used when a specific target needs to be eliminated and it is of the utmost importance to get the job done correctly, in the right time frame and with the correct precision.

Using Silvia and Edgar in your army

Edgar and Silvia make up a single unit and must remain within two inches of each other at all times.
Silvia will have normal trooper stats and will be equipped with a Grymn pistol and sniper rifle.
Edgar will have a veteran’s stats and will be equipped with a Grymn pistol, SMG, comms and scanners/binoculars.
Both will have the ‘Camouflage and concealment’, ‘Move through cover’ and ‘Specific target’ special rules. Silvia will have the ‘Sniper beyond compare’ special rule and Edgar will have the ‘Bodyguard’ special rule:

Camouflage and concealment

When in their chosen position, Silvia and Edgar become more or less invisible. They cover themselves with camouflage netting, IR reflective material and have all manner of jamming devices that mask scanners. When deployed, you do not need to tell your opponent where they are on the table. You can deploy them anywhere on the table but you must have a map with their position marked clearly on it so that when they are revealed, you have proof of their position. Silvia and Edgar will be revealed whenever they move or fire. Once this happens, they are visible for the rest of the game.

Move Through cover

Silvia and Edgar are adept at moving through cover. They may move through wooded areas and over broken ground without any penalties for movement.

Specific Target

Silvia and Edgar are chosen to carry out specific orders and then to return safely to their designated extraction zone. They are far too valuable to be risked in ‘run of the mill’ actions. At the beginning of the game, the controlling player may choose up to two specific targets. Each of these targets can be any model on the table. If Silvia or Edgar manages to kill the target(s), they will not only receive double the victory points for doing so but must also begin to withdraw to the army deployment zone (or a pre-determined safe/extraction point). They must do this once the targets are eliminated and they must do it in a characterful manner, using cover and speed but still returning fire as they withdraw. Once in the safe zone, they will play no further part in the battle.

Sniper beyond compare (Silvia only)

Silvia is literally, a sniper beyond compare. She is able to blank out the clamour of battle and pick her targets with precision. She is able to target vulnerable spots in armour and can calculate trajectories and wind-age with the skill of a savant.
Silvia can target any model on the table without restriction. If she has a line of sight, she can target any individual model in range whether they are basic troopers or army commanders. She can also double the range of the sniper rifle she carries with no penalty. If she does this then she may NOT use the following ‘additional penetration’ rule.
Additional penetration – if Silvia scores a hit (within normal range), then role a d6. On a roll of a 5 or 6, she will get double the strength of the weapon (to represent hitting a vulnerable point on the target). If the rule set doesn’t give the rifle a strength value then this rule will give you a 5 or 6 chance of wounding in addition to the normal rules (some common sense will be required so as to not make this too powerful a rule).

Bodyguard (Edgar only)

As long as Edgar is within two inches of Silvia, he will leap in front of any shot targeted at her and will fight any opponents in hand to hand that try to attack her. Simply switch Silvia for Edgar and work out the results normally.



Footnote: I have made this unit a little bit more vague than 'Lucky' because it has the possibility of being a game winner if used in the manner it should be.

I would suggest that this unit would only be used in a game where there was a specific commander or specialist that would reasonably be considered a major target. If there isn't a major target, Silvia and Edgar wouldn't even get out of their rooms.

Once the targets are eliminated, the next objective for the team would be to get to their extraction point. It may be necessary to either reward them for getting there or penalise them for not getting there. How about making them lose the 'double victory points' if they don't reach their extraction point...or even removing all of the victory points? It is characterful for these two to act in a professional manner and once they had carried out their duty, they would move to the extraction point straight away...it is their next objective after all.

Again...it is all food for thought and any comments are welcomed.

Grymn Character - 'Lucky' Lund Thorsen

Trooper Lund, Thorsen was a soldier in the Grymn army. He was a fairly run of the mill soldier who went through training in an un-extraordinary way; only just achieving the results that enabled him to join the infantry when he graduated. In fact, you could almost have said that he was completely average in every way; almost. You see, Lund started out his time in the Grymn army with a shiny metal hand.

When he was a child, he had been playing with his friends when he was involved in a car accident that saw him dragged down the street for a hundred metres...only coming to rest when his hand was ripped from his wrist. It took him many months to get back to his full strength but his hand couldn’t be saved so he had a bionic one grafted on in its place. All who knew him, said that he should have been killed and that it was a miracle he survived; let alone returned to full strength.

Once Lund had finished his military training, he was deployed on operations in the desert regions where he saw lots of action fighting Bohkin infiltrators. Many times he fought and many times he was injured but no matter how bad his injuries, he was patched up and sent back to duty after ‘miraculously’ surviving wounds that would have seen other Grymn dead.

Over time, he gained a number of extra bionics, including an eye, an arm (the opposite one to his metal hand) and a foot but still he survived and returned to his unit. After a while Lund’s unit began to see him as a bit of a mascot and gave themselves the nickname of ‘Lucky-Lund’s Lads’ because every time they managed to rescue Lund, they managed to win victory, achieve their objectives or escape where there should have been no escape.

You may have thought that Lund was destined for greater things but all through his career, he showed absolutely no aptitude for leadership and had no wish for it either. He was happy doing his duty as an ordinary foot-soldier and completed his 20 year service as trooper ‘Lucky’ Lund, Thorsen.

Using ‘Lucky’ Lund, Thorsen in your army

Any single, normal trooper in your army may be replaced as ‘Lucky’. When you do this, he gains the normal stats for that trooper, keeps the same weapons and gets the same equipment that the trooper would normally get. In addition, the following rules apply:

Lucky

While ‘Lucky’ is still alive and able, the unit he has joined will receive a bonus to their leadership. This will add one level to the leadership of the whole unit (depending on the rules system)

Rescue the muppet!

If ‘Lucky’ falls, he is considered wounded and not killed. He has miraculously survived but plays no further part in the battle. Any member of his unit will be responsible for rescuing the poor chap and must move into base contact with him. The rescuer will not be able to shoot for the remainder of the game but will be able to defend himself during hand-to-hand-combat, if he is attacked. The whole of the unit will become immune to leadership tests and will gain an extra level of weapon skill and shooting skill while ‘Lucky’ is being rescued but they will no longer be able to advance towards the enemy. They may remain where they are or retreat but they place keeping ‘Lucky’ safe, above their normal objective. If they return to their deployment area and drop him off then the unit returns to the fight with their basic stats as if ‘Lucky’ was just a normal member of their squad who has fallen. Of course, lucky will end up being healed and will be able to return in future battles to fight as normal.

If by the end of the game, 'Lucky' has not been returned to his deployment area, the unit he is with is counted as destroyed for the sake of victory points or objective reasons. If 'Lucky' is injured, the unit he is with may not claim objectives...unless they have already returned him to the deployment area and dropped him off.

Extra Equipment

‘Lucky’ gains bionics as extra equipment for no extra cost. He has a Bionic eye, hand, arm and foot and this will need to be taken into account depending on which rule-set you are using (with the relevant bonuses applied if applicable).



Footnote: You can see from this example how easy it is to add a lot of flavour to your army by just adding a bit of narrative to a normal soldier.

When 'Lucky' is injured, you have the big decision of standing in place and getting all of the extra bonuses (risking his life in the process) or returning him to the deployment area and ending up with the basic stats again...

...that means risky, power-gaming or fighting with a narrative...

The choice is yours.