TMNT go Tribal

[Freelancer]

I finally got a chance for my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to see some action last night. I had been collecting the models to use with my Pulp gaming rules, but a friend came by for a game at fairly short notice and was interested in trying out the rules for Tribal. http://www.manapress.com.au/
 I thought it was a chance to test the rules in a modern gang context so we quickly improvised the stats for the Turtles vs Shredder and co.
The Turtles and Casey Jones were 5 hero models. The Turtles had medium armour (shells) and all but Donny were armed with short weapons. Total of 12 Honour points.

The Shredder was in league with Baxter Stockman in an attempt to resume production of Mouser robots. The Shredder was maxed out with light armour, specialist short weapons and strong skills. His foot soldiers had thrown weapons (shuriken), and Karai had specialist short weapons. They also had two units of Mouser Robots to help in the fight. Total of 10 Honour points.
.

The scenario was the April had discovered Baxter's plans and stolen the constuction codes before calling the Turtles for help. After hiding the plans in her van she returned to keep an eye on Baxter but was captured by The Foot. She is being held prisoner on the factory loading gantry by Stockman, while the Shredder heads for the Van. The Turtles and Casey Jones show up and must defend the van and rescue April.

[Freelancer]

The Turtles began the game split into three groups. Raph and Don decended the rooftop fire escape to head straight for the Mouser factory, Leo and Mike headed around the abandoned warehouse to avoid bottlenecking their rescue attempt. Casey was left behind to defend the van.



Raph was the first to get into the action, as he sprinted across the street he was set upon by a band of Foot soldiers. They hurled Shuriken at him as they charged, but none struck home. Fortune favoured the Turtles when Raph was dealt 2 Aces and the 2 Jokers in the first combat hand (it was shuffled I swear!). Even though 3 were red defensive cards, one of the attacks doubled the Foot's efforts and 2 soldiers were killed by one flurry of Raph's Sai. The remaining 2 Foot fell back as a swarm of Mousers moved in.

Donny swept into the Mousers crushing 3 of them, but copping two nasty bites in return, only one of which was saved by his shell armour. In their next turn Raph and Don moved in and finished off the remaining Foot and Mousers on the street for minimal damage in return.

[Freelancer]

Then The Shredder arrived! Raph recklessly charged in, and although he only suffered one more wound he lost combat and was pushed back... into Karai's ambush, falling back again with only one wound remaining.


Leo and Mike were near the back of the warehouse when they encountered another Mouser swarm. Mike's nunchucks drove them back, the Mousers unable to do more than inflict a single bite.


Casey seeing Raph and Don in trouble, sprints to help (leaving the van undefended). However, when he reaches them they realise their best chance is for Casey to push through and rescue April.

Don tries to drive off Karai. With the combt deck reshuffled, he gets another Joker which he leads the attack with. Unfortunately Karai counters with her own Joker, winning the combat (black joker played as a club gave Karai +2 with short weapons) but also triggering a disaster. Without the supernatural causes described in Tribal, we decided it was a booby trap set by Stockman, and set off by Casey. As a huge electric discharge arced through the streets, every unit suffered 1 wound. This meant Don and Raph lost their last wound and collapsed unconcious.

Leaving Casey to rescue April, Leo and Mike were forced to sprint back to guard the van. The Shredder had the lead on them and Karai stepped in to block Leo, who won the round but lost his activation because of Karai's attack.



Casey easily drove Stockman off the controls and was able to bring April to safety. But with police sirens wailing their approach, time was up. April was safe, but the Shredder had recovered the codes. It was time to count honour and the turtles just won by a nose (and turtle noses are small).

The system held up very well for a close combat based superhero/vigilante game, with each combat feeling tense and challenging. The Shredder was vicious and the Foot soldiers inept (so kept in character).The Turtle shells saved them on 3 seperate occasions, and were probably the only reason they won in the end.

[flags_of_war]

The game looks great.

[Johnno]

Very nice AAR!
It's what we all strive for...beautiful minis and terrain and good narrative describing the action!

[DivisMal]

Cowabunga, dude! Awesome game.

May I ask what figures you used? The clix versions?

[supervike]

More entertaining than those Michael Bay movies!

[Freelancer]

Yeah, most of the figures are clix ones either repainted, touched up or ink washed. The Shredder is Crooked Dice.

Supervike, a kick to the crotch is more entertaining than a Michael Bay movie

[Lord Blackheart]

The game looks great. I hadn't thought of using Tribal for Superhero games, but it seems perfect for it now, with focus on close combat, push backs and honour. Any plans for a supers supplement to the rules? How would guns figure into it?

[supervike]

Supervike, a kick to the crotch is more entertaining than a Michael Bay movie

 

[Freelancer]

With the Prehistoric (caveman wars) supplement Primeval finished and printed, the next book is gang warfare. Lon, the brains behind Tribal, has some interesting ideas about guns. Superheroes are one of the ideas for future supplements, along with immortal deities, but that is a way down the line for now.

[Elbows]

Nice pics.  This kind of thing intrigues me to the point of wanting to do an old school TMNT and Other Strangess (after the bomb) kind of project.