GtB: Miniature Manual #81 – Optimus Prime – G1 Version (Hasbro)

Following a demo game I did at Games Expo, one person said “So hang on… I could use this game to fight my Transformers against my wife’s My Little Pony and prove that Optimus Prime beats Ponies?… Cool.”

So here we go – Now it’s Optimus’ turn… More than meets the eye… 🙂

Close Combat Bonus: +1

Ranged Bonus: +2

Other Miniature Bonuses: +20 Good/Bad due to height.

Suggested Powers: All of them. It’s Optimus Prime for goodness sake – he can do anything 🙂

Website: www.hasbro.com/transformers/en_GB/

Note: You could also transform him in game and then move to the Nice: the Expansion Vehicle rules!

Good: the Olympics – Part 2

The shot put made for an interesting event in which you need to roll for consecutive inches that the shot covers, the roll getting harder by one each time. Becoming ever more tactical it was quickly worked out what amount of Good was needed to be put into the rolls to secure a 2+ requirement all the way to the 7″ mark, however 1 is always a failure, and 1 always comes up… However it would seem that the Kamino training regime works as Mark’s Clone trooper came out no top.

From the shot, onto the Pole Vault. A run up, then stick a pole in a hole then jump – the key to this event was to get close to the bar and then you could ‘vault’ the last few 1/16ths with an unmodified 11+ roll. Having a Good run up helped as this height was added to the vault. Here the successful vaulters form a line and ignore the failure that was the Aidan’s Ninja. Meanwhile, Optimus gets ready to go…

Here’s what happened:

You can just see Optimus at the side of the landing mat…

Tony’s Sandworm takes the run up (Must have the pole in it’s mouth…

And the roll for the ‘Vault’:

Yep, Tony wins again…

Next, and final event was the Javelin. Stand somewhere behind the line. Run towards the Line. Throw the Javelin before the line. Simple.

It wasn’t exactly rocket science, but somehow two of us managed to fluff a roll and hit someone else, causing severe Bad damage. But fortuantely no-one died from any horrific injures. And those same two also managed to fluff every other attempt… Billy on the other hand actually managed to clear the entire table and have his Javelin ended up somewhere in the middle of the village hall.

And here are the final results:

110m Hurdles:

• 1st – Tony/Sandworm
• 2nd – Aidan/Ninja
• 3rd – Billy/Man with Cricket Bat
• 4th – Mark/Clone Trooper
• 5th – Alex/Optimus Prime Eraser
• 6th – Ryan/Vaettir Varbre

Hammer:

• 1st – Tony/Sandworm
• 2nd – Ryan/Vaettir Varbre
• 3rd (j) – Alex/Optimus Prime Eraser
• 3rd (j) – Mark/Clone Trooper
• 5th – Billy/Man with Cricket Bat
• 6th – Aidan/Ninja

Triple Jump:

• 1st – Aidan/Ninja (5.00″)
• 2nd – Ryan/Vaettir Varbre (4.43″)
• 3rd – Billy/Man with Cricket Bat (4.31″)
• 4th – Tony/Sandworm (3.94″)
• 5th – Mark/Clone Trooper (2.94″)
• 6th – Alex/Optimus Prime Eraser (2.75″)

Shot:

• 1st – Mark/Clone Trooper (9″)
• 2nd (j) – Billy/Man with Cricket Bat (7″)
• 2nd (j) – Aidan/Ninja (7″)
• 4th (j) – Tony/Sandworm (5″)
• 4th (j) – Ryan/Vaettir Varbre (5″)
• 4th (j) – Alex/Optimus Prime Eraser (5″)

Pole Vault:

• 1st (j) – Tony/Sandworm (2.13″)
• 1st (j) – Mark/Clone Trooper (2.13″)
• 1st (j) – Ryan/Vaettir Varbre (2.13″)
• 4th (j) – Billy/Man with Cricket Bat (2.00″)
• 4th (j) – Alex/Optimus Prime Eraser (2.00″)
• 6th – Aidan/Ninja (0.00″)

Javelin

• 1st – Billy/Man with Cricket Bat (95″)
• 2nd – Mark/Clone Trooper (70″)
• 3rd – Tony/Sandworm (60″)
• 4th – Aidan/Ninja (46″)
• 5th (j)- Alex/Optimus Prime Eraser (X)
• 5th (j) – Ryan/Vaettir Varbre (X)

The Winners Podium, with a disappointed Optimus looking on:

and the ‘Real’ Winners:

That’s it for this year. The next Olympics you’ll get from us will be Good: the Winter Olympics. Just imagine how much fun Ski-Cross is going to be… 🙂

Mwahahahahahahahaaa!!

Good: the Olympics Round-up Part 1 –

So here we have the run-down of the first ever Good: the Olympics! The Competitors were Aidan’s Ninja (apparently from Infinity), Tony’s Sandworm, Alex’s Optimus Prime Eraser, Billy’s Man with a Cricket Bat (Hasslefree), Mark’s Lego Clone Trooper, and my Vaettir Varbre (Tor Gaming).

The first Event was the 110m hurdles, and they’re under starters orders…

 

Optimus Prime stacked it at the first hurdle, along with the Clone Trooper who also fell at the the second, despite having the ‘Spring in his Step’ special power. The Vaettir made use of the Ghost special power and just phased straight through the hurdles.

 

Annoyingly Billy’s Miniature used switch on my Varbre and thus put me at the back and him at the front.

Obviously burrowing his way down the straight, Tony’s Sandworm wins the hurdles. Next Up is the hammer throw.

 Trying to make use of the ‘Whirly’ special power it was surely looking good for the Varbre…

It took us all a little while to get used to the mechanics of the whole spinning thing, but after a few goes we were whirling around all over the place. Here’s how the others lined up: 

And despite having no arms, the Sandworm destroys us all in the hammer with his massive throw (Must have vomitted it out)

Next we decided to go for a nice 200m Sprint, and after the lane decisions here’s how we all lined up;All we had to do was run to the finish line, but as it was a game of GtB special powers came into play, and again the Vaettir steamed intio the lead using all 40 Good to burn it round the track. Billy then switched places again and put me back at the start on turn 3… However due to the lane switch Billy nearly kills himself after taking Bad damage. Optimus then decided to blind everyone stopping them from attempting to run (with the exception of Mark’s Clone tropper), as any movement would have been in a random direction.

Tony again, saved it all up and engaged his Sandworm’s Haste power then completed the race by going 90 inches in a single turn!

Triple jump was up next, Hop skipping and jumping the Ninja claimed victory in this event (as he should do given that he had the jjuuummmp special power) – this was Optimus’ amazing attempt:

 

That’s a whole 1/16th of an inch he managed to jump there…

Shot put up next…

 

All Expo’d out

What a weekend! Many thanks to all that enjoyed a demo of GtB, and of course to those that purchased a copy – hope you enjoy your games. Despite arriving later than planned I just about managed to get everything set up before the crowds arrived. And as soon as  I find the correct lead to connect my phone to my computer i’ll load up some photos of the demo table. The greatest crowd puller was the G1 Transformer Grimlock, sitting in the display case ready for plenty of demo games of GtB. The most epic battle of the weekend was Grimlock Versus Lego Clone Trooper, or possibly the Bolt Gundam Versus the chicken…

Although I knew I had a video interview with UK Gaming Media Network www.ukgmn.co.uk – had no idea it was going to be live (and if you look at the first video you can see the moment when he told me that it was live – shock horror!).  http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22861322 and the second part is here http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22861421

Not particularly great quality but they were streaming it through a tiny laptop. There’s a complete edited version with proper sound being sorted right now -they had more cameras than the streaming one – so i’ll let you know when that’s available.

Had the Guys from Purple Pawn www.purplepawn.com have a go of the game and interview me about it all – which was top notch.

Didn’t really get to play many other games, but certainly saw an awful lot of fantastic demos – even after the show people were stillplaying in the hotel across the street well into the night.

Also met the guys who painted the Relics minis for Tor Gaming http://www.torgaming.co.uk/rd/, and were pleased to see relics available to purchase through my store http://www.wargame-miniatures.co.uk  and at the show.

Well done to Mongoose Publishing http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/miniatures/ctastarfleet.html for pipping us to the post in the awards with their game Call to Arms: Starfleet.

A Special mention to the guys at Tied to a Kite http://tiedtoakite.com/ who were stationed next to us and made me feel most welcome during my first expo. And of course to Tony and Mary at Myndgames http://www.myndgames.co.uk/ without whom I wouldn’t have even been to the expo in the first place.

Until Next Year…

GtB: Daily Miniature Manual #48 – Grimlock (Hasbro)

After having a bit of a shift round in my loft I came across this guy – ahh blessed youth! He’s even still got the heat sensitive sticker on him (this obviously isn’t a picture of my one – mine’s far more played with). It’d just be rude not to try him out in a game of GtB wouldn’t it? I had a bit of trouble deciding which form to have him in; Robot or Dinosaur? Then I remembered that they were invulnerable in dinosaur mode – so that’s got to be a winner 🙂

 Close Combat Bonus: +2 (teeth)

Ranged Bonus: +1 (Lava breath on the cartoon if I remember rightly)

Other Miniature Bonuses:  +25 Starting Good due to size, Flight (in Robot Mode only)

Suggested Powers: Monster, Nigh-Invulnerable, AAARGH, Fireball, Desolation, Good for the Skies, Good Quake

Manufacturer Link: http://www.hasbro.com