Tannhäuser Tuesday - Georgi & Ramirez

I finally received my Georgi and Ramirez expansion packs so I thought I'd give a look at what comes in the box. You get the tokens, the character sheet, rules booklet and of course the figures.

Sergio Ramirez Delastillas

The Ramirez pack comes with 2 figures. One is Sergio Ramirez Delastillas, a Warrant Officer in the Union Army. The second figure is the Hound DOG (Directionally Operated Gun), a remote that Ramirez can send off to shoot things.


Ramirez

Special Object is the Hound DOG remote control.

Combat pack:
Mark 19 mod A1 grenade launcher - the grenades do not cause automatic wounds or Debris Tokens, but he has an unlimited supply.
HB-3 Visor lets him ignore smoke penalties.
Bouncing Betty - the user place this mine and then can set it off at any time (even in the middle of any player's turn) to do 2 automatic wounds to figures on its circle and all adjacent circles.

Stamina Pack
Mark 19 mod A1 - grenade launcher
Purple Heart - The first wound Ramirez takes each game is cancelled.
The Brothers Bomb - A remote bomb that explodes causing 2 automatic wounds to all adjacent characters.

Mental Pack
Mark 19 mod A1 - grenade launcher
Corporal 5th Grade - Receive a +2 to the Deployment Roll.
Bronze Star - Receive 1 Bonus point at the start of the game.

Hound DOG card picture courtesy of littlewars

Additionally, the NOS Token of the Month is included in this pack. It allows the Hound DOG to move 3 spaces on one turn. This can only be done once per game. The Hound DOG only gets one token and it must be an "Area 51" token. NOS is the only Area 51 token so far.



I am not too happy with the paint job on my Ramirez figure. It is possibly the worst of any of my Tannhäuser figures... But I love the character and his tokens look like they give a lot of interesting choices.

Georgi Volkov

Georgi Volkov is the leader of the mysterious Phantom Division; a Matriarchy hero that may also be taken as a Mercenary by other factions. However, Georgi will never fight against a team that contains Matriarchy characters. Unlike Ramirez, Georgi is fairly well painted.


Georgi

Special Object is Multiple Targets - this ability allows Georgi to shoot at 2 different targets during his Action Phase. The 2nd attack uses his lowest Combat Value.

Combat pack:
PPSh-41s Submachine Guns - these add a 1-point bonus to the result of each die (except 1s) and add 1 to the users Combat Value.
F1 Fragmentation Grenade - regular grenade rules.
Hero of Rugen - Georgi's Combat Value column is 5,5,5,5.

Stamina Pack
PPSh-41s Submachine Guns - see above.
Survival - If Georgi is killed his figure remains on the board until the end of the next game turn. He may not be healed, move, take any action, or be affected in any way. His disposable equipment is not dropped until his figure is removed.
Hero of Giva - The first time Georgi is wounded in each game, he automatically ignores one wound.

Mental Pack
PPSh-41s Submachine Guns - see above.
Gold Star - Once per game Georgi may use his highest row of stats until the end of that game turn.
Major - Receive a 5-point bonus to the Deployment Roll at the start of the game.



Additionally in this pack is Wolf's Wolftrap Token. You may use an Action Phase to place the token on an adjacent circle on the same Path. Any character passing over that circle suffers one Automatic Wound. This Token may only be used by Mercenaries.

This is really great for people who didn't pre-order the game 2 years ago and have never been able to get Wolf without paying an arm and a leg on Ebay. This token can be used by other Mercenaries, but really... FFG should have either included another token or release Wolf now. It has been a pre-order exclusive long enough. Or they could have made Wolf available as a pre-order special with Novgorod. Players of these kinds of games with lots of expansions tend to be completists and having something they can't get can make folks a little bitter. Now if there were lots of exclusive expansions like Zooloretto then that would be different. Getting everything would be a challenge and part of the fun, but not when there is just one thing you can't get. Just put Wolf for sale, FFG. C'mon, be a sport.



I also recieved Okko in the same shipment from The War Store. This looks like a pretty cool game and the floor tiles might be adaptable into Tannhäuser maps.


The publishers of Okko have kindly supplied a bunch of clip art of the furniture and accessories to assist people in customizing their maps! I will post a write-up of Okko in the near future.



I FEEL U-CHRONIC!!!



© 2009 Peter Miller


My custom additions to Tannhäuser are not created by, distributed, or endorsed by Take on You, Asmodee, or Fantasy Flight. Tannhäuser and all related characters are trademarks of Take on You and © Take on You LTD.

Pulp of the Week - Doc Savage #3

May 1933 - Quest of the Spider

This issue of Doc Savage Magazine should be remembered for 3 things. Doc is called a superman, a man of steel, and his arctic retreat is call his Fortress of Solitude. This is well before Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 on June 30, 1938.

While many have pointed out similarities between Doc and Superman, in my opinion the pulp tales were not more than a small influence. The differences are huge.

This issue explores a bit deeper into Doc's "Crime College" - the facility where Doc sends captured crooks in Upstate New York; a criminal rehabilitation facility where crooks undergo brain surgery and other therapies to wipe their past and send them into society with a skill and a purpose.

The story itself takes Doc and the Fabulous 5 into the swamps of Louisiana in search of the mysterious Gray Spider. The Spider's devious plot involves taking over the lumber industry. Ehh. This is not one of the best of the Doc novels.

However, there are some good characters and the opening sequence is quite exciting.

I give it a 6 out of 10.


Pulp Cover by Walter Baumhofer.
Bantam Cover by Fred Pfeiffer. I read my copy of Bantam #68 - May 1972 2nd printing for this review. Why Bantam published the novels this out of order is madness... The third novel was published 68th.


© 2009 W. Peter Miller

Pulp Movie News - Doc Savage

Well, this isn't the Doc Savage news I am hoping for from Warner Bros, but they have announced a new no frills make-to-order DVD service called The Warner Archive. The plan is to make the entire Warner Bros library on DVD (no Bluray, dangit) and this week they announced the first 150 titles. 'Doc Savage' is among those titles.


Now get on the ball WB. Last year at the San Diego Comic-Con Michael Uslan announced that there would be a new Doc Savage movie. No news since. I recently had LA Times reporter and blogger Geoff Boucher (Hero Complex - great blog, by the way) ask Mr. Uslan about the Doc movie and Geoff reported back to me that, "I did ask him about Doc Savage but he said there's no update he could share publicly at this point." Maybe at Comic-Con this year...

Tannhäuser Tuesday - Roger

The U-Chronic History
of
Roger the Homunculus

What can be said about our dear departed Roger...

He was a kind soul that we cannot believe is truly gone because he was dead when we met him. Even though he was blasted to bits in The Black Flame, we know he will return, but only when the time is right and when Mike Mignola and John Arcudi figure out why he needs to come back.

It is easier for us in the U-Chronic world, because history has changed. Roger was not discovered in March 1997 by Liz Sherman, but instead found in 1947 by Trevor Bruttenholm and Hellboy in the ruins of Czege Castle. Hellboy calls the inanimate homunculus Roger. They brought him back to Connecticut where he is put in storage.

Less than a year later, a teenaged girl is brought in to the BPRD HQ. The girl get loose from her handlers and escapes down into the storage catacombs of the base. The agents chase her down and in her fright she explodes in a massive fireball. The agents are killed, but the girl and Roger survive.

The energy seems to have jump-started Roger and he comes to life. It doesn't last long, but the BPRD scientists soon fit a generator to his chest hole and power him back to life. Only at the highest levels of the BPRD is it known that there is a bomb contained within the generator.

Roger learns that in times of war people move up quickly. He becomes an agent in the fall of '49.

ROGER'S TOKENS

SPECIAL OBJECT
The Secret Bomb - The BPRD has hidden a bomb in Roger's Power Cell. Roger has a Power Cell even if the BR-66 Power Cell is not chosen.
The BPRD will explode the bomb automatically under the following circumstances: 1) If Roger kills a BPRD or Union figure the bomb will go off on the first turn that Roger does not share a path with a BPRD or Union figure. If Roger attacks another BPRD or Union figure the bomb explodes instantly, negating the attack. 2) If exploding the bomb has a chance of winning the game for the BPRD on that turn; i.e. if detonating Roger could kill all of the opponents figures and not kill the majority of the Union or BPRD figures on the board. When the bomb explodes all figures on Roger's path are attacked with 6 dice and regardless of the Shock Roll results will take at least 1 damage.
Roger has a standard Power Cell if the BR-66 Power Cell is not chosen.



COMBAT PACK
BR-66 Power Cell - Roswell-developed Ilirium energy technology gives Roger massive strength and life.
Add 2 to Combat, Stamina, and Movement.

Edison .75 Gauss Assault Gun "Tornado" - This is the most powerful hand-held weapon in the BPRD arsenal.
Type: Heavy Weapon - Each Natural 10 rolled results in 1 additional hit.
This weapon can only be carried by figures with Incredible Strength, Supernatural Strength, or have the Athletic Skill.

Incredible Strength


STAMINA PACK
BR-66 Power Cell - Roswell-developed Ilirium energy technology gives Roger massive strength and life.
Add 2 to Combat, Stamina, and Movement.

Colt .45 1911 A1

Immunity to Pain

MENTAL PACK
M15 Smoke Grenade

MKII A1 Grenade

Colt .45 1911 A1

I FEEL U-CHRONIC!!!



© 2009 Peter Miller

My custom additions to Tannhäuser are not created by, distributed, or endorsed by Take on You, Asmodee, or Fantasy Flight. Tannhäuser and all related characters are trademarks of Take on You and © Take on You LTD. Roger the Homunculus is trademark and © Mike Mignola. All Rights Reserved.

Tannhäuser Contest

I have announced a Tannhäuser contest over at the biggest and best Tannhäuser fan site in the world (well in English anyway) TannBunker.

Go check it out.

Tannhäuser Tuesday - Re-Basing HeroClix Pt. 2

Here is my excessively over-illustrated guide to re-basing HeroClix for Tannhäuser. Luckily for us, both Dungeons & Dragons and Star Wars minis have bases that are the same as Tannhäuser.



Here are some minis just waiting to sacrifice their bases for the betterment of Tannhäuser-dom. These happen to be Star Wars Minis - all commons that can be cheaply purchased. I bought the Weequay Mercenary from Clone Strike (29 cents at Gamingetcstore.com), Devaronian Bounty Hunter from Clone Strike (45 cents at Gathering Ground), and Twi'lek Scoundrel from Rebel Storm (29 cents at Gamingetcstore.com). Strikezone also has good prices. With Star Wars Minis just be sure to stay away from the Alliance and Empire set as the bases are square. I bought 50 figures at one dealer to save on shipping.

Here are the simple steps to re-basing your Lobster Johnson (or other HeroClix).

1 - Get out the X-Acto knife or single edge razor blades. I am a big fan of the razor blades... But if you are a kid - get your parent to help. These blades are super-sharp and will cut you if you get a finger in the way.


2 - Lobster Johnson, like may Clix figures has circles under his feet that are molded with the figure. Put the figure on your cutting surface with the base at a right angle to the table. Put your blade between one of these circles and the base. Push down with your fingers clear of the blade and that foot will pop loose. Repeat for the other foot. You now have Lobster free of his base, but with circles under his feet.


3 - Stand Roger up on his feet and go around the outside of his shoes with your blade. The X-Acto works best here. When you are done Roger will look like he is wearing Herman Munster boots.


Put Roger on his side and slice half of the extra soles off his shoes. His feet will have a sliver of white plastic around them. That's OK for now. Set Roger to the side.


4 - Take your random human size D&D or Star Wars figure and carefully cut off the base. Remember you are more interested in the round black base than the figure. Try to make the base as flat as possible.




5 - Super-Glue Roger to the new base. I use Super-Glue gel. I like it best. Hold him down firmly while the glue dries. Try to line up Roger's feet with where the feet were on the D&D base.

6 - Paint the top of the base gloss black. While you are doing this you can paint the edges of Roger's shoes.

You will now have a figure that blends in great with the official Tannhäuser figures. You can repeat this process until you have a whole shoebox full of faux-Tannhäuser figures.

© 2009 W. Peter Miller

Pulp of the Week - Doc Savage #2

April 1933 - The Land of Terror

OK, I'll get this out of the way right now. The Land of Terror by Lester Dent (published under the house name Kenneth Robeson) has Doc Savage fighting dinosaurs. We see that right on the cover of the Original Pulp; one of my favorite Walter Baumhofer paintings.

Dinosaurs are also on the cover of the Bantam reprint (not one of my favorite covers).




Everyone reading this super-saga knows that somehow Doc is going to get to fight dinosaurs. So why does it take so darn long to get there?

The Land of Terror starts well, with a mentor and friend of Doc Savage being murdered in a horribly weird way by a gang of killers. Doc just misses catching them. He worries about the method of the killing and set out to find the killer. Along the way he enlists the aid of an old friend of his father.

He tracks the killers to a run-down tourist attraction - a pirate ship, complete with death traps and bodies - real and fake.

The story takes us back and forth to this ship at least two too many times. Doc does get in some brutal killings; shootings, neck-snappings, that kind of stuff. Doc is a killing machine in this novel if he or others are threatened with lethal force. This goes on for about 80 pages. Doc Savage's 'Crime College' is briefly mentioned as a place where criminals are rehabilitated in upstate New York.

Finally, Doc and his men head to a mysterious island in the South Pacific. The island is where the dinosaurs are. Here the story finally kicks into gear and is quite fun. The dinosaurs are quite terrifying and well described. The story ends well, but I just don't get why Lester Dent spent so much time away from the Land of Terror.

I give this book a score of 7 out of 10.

For this review I read my copy of the Bantam paperback - 6th printing circa 1974. For some unknown reason, the Bantam paperbacks and the 2-in-1 Nostalgia Ventures reprints do not follow the original publication order. That is the order that is commonly preferred, but recently some Doc Savage fans have been recommending reading the stories in the order they were originally submitted to the publisher. That order follows the published sequence for the most part, especially in the beginning. I will be reading in that order.

I have already finished Doc Savage #3 - Quest of the Spider... And Green Lama #2... Keep an eye out.




© 2009 W. Peter Miller

Tannhäuser Tuesday - Converting HeroClix Figures

You can thank Yojimbo for this topic...

The simple steps to converting HeroClix figures into Tannhauser figures.

This first article will deal with the simple method of swapping bases on HeroClix figures. Later articles will discuss the cards, powers, and stats. Oh yes, there will be photoshop...

1 - Buy your discount Lobster Johnson for as little as 69 cents.
2 - Buy some cheep Star Wars or D&D minis figure. Be sure to buy a figure with a standard size circular base. You really want a human size figure and be sure that there isn't too much stuff on the base. Simple human feet are great. Figures that have only one foot on the base can be even better.
3 - When you get your stuff in the mail, or from your local shop if you are that lucky, get out the X-Acto knife or single edge razor blades. I am a big fan of the razor blades... But if you are a kid - get your parent to help. These blades are super-sharp and will cut you if you get a finger in the way.
4 - Lobster Johnson, like may Clix figures has circles under his feet that are molded with the figure. Put the figure on your cutting surface with the base at a right angle to the table. Put your blade between one of these circles and the base. Push down with your fingers clear of the blade and that foot will pop loose. Repeat for the other foot. You now have Lobster free of his base, but with circles under his feet.
5 - Stand Roger up on his feet and go around the outside of his shoes with your blade. The X-Acto works best here. When you are done Roger will look like he is wearing Herman Munster boots. Put Roger on his side and slice half of the extra soles off his shoes. His feet will have a sliver of white plastic around them. That's OK for now. Set Roger to the side.
6 - Take your random human size D&D or Star Wars figure and carefully cut off the base. Remember you are more interested in the round black base than the figure. Try to make the base as flat as possible.
7 - Super-Glue Roger to the new base. I use Super-Glue gel. I like it best. Hold him down firmly while the glue dries. Try to line up Roger's feet with where the feet were on the D&D base.
8 - Paint the top of the base gloss black. While you are doing this you can paint the edges of Roger's shoes.

You will now have a figure that blends in great with the official Tannhäuser figures. You can repeat this process until you have a whole shoebox full of faux-Tannhäuser figures.

I will be adding pictures to this post later...




© 2009 W. Peter Miller

Pulp of the Week - The Green Lama #5

The Green Lama #5
The Man Who Wasn't There

Adventure House is having a sale. Many pulp reprints can be had for $3. I picked up a few and as it turns out, High Adventure Magazine #88 is the fifth Green Lama story, originally published in the August, 1940 issue of Double Detective Magazine. I have to say I liked the story a lot. But, then again, I had just read Capt. Hazzard...


The Green Lama first appeared in Double Detective Magazine in the April 1940 issue. Kendall Foster Crossen and the Frank Munsey publishing company created the character to have a competitor to "The Shadow." The character was originally conceived as "The Gray Lama" thinking that he could hide in the shadows and sneak around, but tests of the cover art proved to be less than satisfactory so they changed his color to green.

The character was published regularly through the March 1943 issue of Double Detective. The Green Lama is Jethro Dumont, a wealthy New Yorker who travels to Tibet and studies Buddhism. It is there that he gains the insight, perspective and dedication to the ideal of righting wrongs and helping others. He also has an additional identity in Dr. Pali, a Buddhist Monk.

The Green Lama has also had a life on the radio and in the comics, where Kendell Foster Crossen also wrote the scripts. In the comics he gained superpowers including flight. The character lives on in the public domain and is currently seen in "The Green Lama" published by AC Comics, vintage reprints by Dark Horse, and Alex Ross and Jim Krueger's version by Dynamite Entertainment.



Having come in at issue#5 I am not sure exactly how Dumont returned from Tibet and brought two new personas to New York and assembled his team. Pair this with the fact that Jethro Dumont does not appear in this story at all and this reader is not crystal clear on these story points. This story features a lot of Dr Pali.

"The Man Who Wasn't There" is a murder mystery set on an ocean liner sailing from Los Angeles to New York. It is a good adventure yarn that pits Dr. Pali and his friends against a vicious criminal gang who isn't shy about throwing people overboard. The leader of this gang is shrewd and frames Pali for the murders. There is an adventuresome call to Port in Havana after passing through the Panama Canal. Through use of his lock-picking, Radioactive Salt powers, and intellect the Lama uncovers the villain's identity and saves his reputation.

Kendall Crossen writes the Lama well, using lots of Buddhist quotes and sayings. He obviously did research and enjoyed it. The beliefs are treated with respect and made to seem exotic and fascinating. I enjoyed the yarn and I'm looking forward to reading more.

I give the novel a score of 7 out of 10.

© 2009 W. Peter Miller

Tannhäuser Tuesday - Play Aid

By littlewars

This month's token is actually a play aid. It is a sheet of small counters that you place on your character cards to remind you of any adjusted Characteristic Values. The sheet includes reminders for tokens from Operation Tannhauser, Novgorod, and the Bonus Tokens; Section Kaos and the Wonderstahl. Click on the image below for a high res version with instructions. These value reminders should help your games run a little bit smoother.

For your convenience here are two tokens that are used in this month's Play Aid.