Heroclix Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I must admit that I had not planned on buying the Heroclix Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set as I was more than happy with the My Way Miniatures 28mm scale versions I had of them. See here for a link to them. What persuaded me to get them was an enthusiastic e-mail from my good friend and  co-editor, Steve. He was going to order the set but because the seller was based in Spain and wouldn't ship to Ireland, he asked if he could have them sent to me so that I could forward them to him? We have had this arrangement in place for a while now so I was only too happy to help him out. As I looked more closely at what the boxed set contained (plus watching a few videos of it on YouTube) I became convinced that not only did I want it but I needed it as well! Yes, it was that good and I'm delighted I did end up ordering a set for myself as well. Obviously, you got the four Turtle heroes as Heroclix figures in the set, but you also got a huge double-sided map (the biggest Heroclix map I've ever seen) as well as separate room and corridor tiles to extend the playing area even further. Be warned, you would need a very large table to fit everything on! A full colour rulebook and loads of counters of allies, enemies and terrain items rounded out the set. Let's take a closer look at the figures.

Here they all are arranged in alphabetical order from left to right - Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael. The sculpting of these figures is superb and I love their poses. The paintwork is perfectly acceptable to me so I won't be repainting them. For their Heroclix stats they each have six clicks of powers before they become KO'd. Their powers change after 3 clicks and most of them have two powers for each stat. All four Turtles have the Swim ability, so they can freely move through water terrain squares.

Donatello has Range 2. For his Speed he has Leap/Climb 6 followed by Sidestep 6. For his Attack he has Quake 10 followed by no power 9. For his Defence he has Willpower 17 followed by Energy Shield/Deflection 17. His Damage is Outwit 1 followed by Support 2.
Leonardo has Range 0. For his Speed he has Charge 6 followed by Sidestep 6. For his Attack he has Precision Strike 10 followed by Blades/Claws/Fangs 10. For his Defence he has Combat reflexes 16 followed by Willpower 17. His Damage is Leadership 2 followed by Empower 1.
Michelangelo has Range 0. For his Speed he has Sidestep 6 followed by Charge 6. For his Attack he has Incapacitate 10 followed by no power 9. For his Defence he has Willpower 17 followed by Super Senses 16, His Damage is no power 2 followed by Perplex 1.
Raphael has Range 4. For his Speed he has Flurry 6 followed by Running Shot 6. For his Attack he has no power 9 followed by Penetrating/Psychic Blast 10. For his Defence he has Combat Reflexes 16 followed by Willpower 17. His Damage is Shape Change 2 followed by Exploit Weakness 1.
They are a well rounded and balanced group of Superheroes.

I am certain someone would have asked me to show a size comparison shot to show how they compare with the My Way Miniatures figures. As you can see here with Donatello and Leonardo the Heroclix figures are much taller than my resin cast figures. But note just how thick the new style Heroclix bases are. I am not a fan of these "Oreo" bases and I may well ditch them. The two Donatello figures are very similarly posed. The My Way Miniatures Leonardo is more animated than his Heroclix counterpart and I like him slightly more than his bigger version.

Once again, the size difference is very evident, even allowing for the thickness of the bases. I am undecided which figure of Michelangelo I like best. Both are very good. However, for Raphael, I much prefer the Heroclix version.
Amazon UK still have a couple of the boxed starters sets for sale for £29.99. Here's a link if you're interested - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B019NCZZ8W/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They are really nice figures. I had planned on buying a load of Greebo Games not-TMNT enemies, especially the Mousers, but they are an Italian based company and now that the UK has left the EU I am very wary of ordering anything from abroad given how poorly the pound  has dropped in value. Let us hope things pick up but I'm not holding my breath.

Crossover Miniatures TMNT Foot Clan Ninjas

When I first saw a sampling of these figures on Andy's blog da Gobbo's Grotto, see here  I praised them and Andy said, "the Foot Clan I thought would tickle your fancy and I knew you would want to be putting your wallet into service once more... :-)" He wasn't wrong! These 15 figures from the Crossover Miniatures Ninja range are just perfect stand ins for the Foot Clan ninjas, arch-enemies of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. What makes them so good is that they all come with a choice of three heads - bug eyed masked heads, cowl masked heads and unmasked Asian heads. The bug eyed heads are ideal for the Foot Clan. The Foot Clan ninjas have a long history dating back centuries and originating from feudal Japan, although their backstory changes depending upon which version you believe - comics, film or TV. Nowadays they are primarily a terrorist organisation based in New York and led by Shredder. Also, most Foot Clan ninjas are now robots created by Shredder and his alien partner, Krang, but some are still human.

I have bought all of the 28mm scale Ninjas made by Crossover Miniatures and have divided them up into three groups of five. The first group comprises the swordsmen. All are armed with the ninjato, a slightly shorter and straighter version of the Japanese long sword known as the katana, which was the primary weapon of the samurai. At the far left is the group's leader who appears as Ninja Guard on the Crossover Miniatures webstore. He stands in a simple pose and is the least animated figure out of the group. He costs £3.25 and comes with a choice of heads and a separate ninjato in scabbard to glue to his back.

The remaining four figures come as a set and are posed ready for action. You must specify which head type you want including when you place your order. They all come with separate ninjato scabbards. This group of four costs £9.95.

My second group comprises the exotic weapons specialists. They are led by a Ninja Boss who is armed with a pair of ninjatos on his back and is posed dynamically pointing to a target. The figure comes supplied with all three head options and he costs £3.75.

Once again, the other figures can be purchased as a set of four and you must choose which head option you want for them. From left to right they are armed with a pair of kamas (a type of hand axe), a pair of sais (three-pronged daggers), a pair of tiger claws which fit to the back of the hands, and a short bow with a separate quiver of arrows. Price is £9.95 for all four.

The third group comes much more up to date and are armed with ninjatos and sub-machine guns. The leader is simply known as Ninja Boss with Gun on the Crossover Miniatures webstore. He comes with separate heads and a ninjato in its scabbard. He is in a similar dynamic pointing pose directing the action as the boss with the twin ninjatos shown above. He costs £3.75.

That just leaves the last four figures who must be bought as a group of four. They are also armed with sub-machine guns, ready to go all out. In addition to their separate heads, they also come with separate ninjatos in scabbards. This quartet also costs £9.95.
My plan to use these figures is to include them as part of Shredder's villainous gang in 7TV2e. There are stats for ninjas in 7TV2e, but I agree with Andy when he was creating stats for his TMNT figures that these should actually be classed as Minions. They are not that good in combat and tend to get mown down in vast numbers without doing much damage to the vastly superior Turtles.
Crossover Miniatures are sold by Minibits and here's a link to their webstore - http://www.minibits.net/Crossover-Miniatures-c25/Ninjas-sc89/
I have a lot of ninja figures in my collection, bought when I was playing FGU's version of Bushido. I also have a few Hand Clan ninjas from the Marvel Heroclix range. I could have used some of these older figures for my Foot Clan ninjas but these guys fit the bill far better. They look very similar to their comic book counterparts and because they're all made by the same company, they tie in well together.

Next time, yet more superhero goodness as I show the first of my entries for the Forgotten Heroes challenge. For more information see here - https://forgottenheroessite.wordpress.com/2016/05/08/forgotten-heroes-the-rules/

Greebo Games TMNT Allies and Enemies 01

Earlier this year I renewed my interest in the superheroes series of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles thanks to an inspiring series of posts shown on my good friend Andy's blog, da Gobbo's Grotto Blog. I ended up buying most of the figures he had bought for this project with just a couple of exceptions, most notably, April O'Neil and Splinter. Today I'm going to review another ally of the Turtles and the first of their major opponents. All of these figures were made by Italian firm, Greebo Games. Delivery took a couple of weeks but they were a good company to deal with.

At the far left is a tiny figure called Mr. TM. I know hardly anything about him. I did not order him, but Greebo Games kindly sent him out as a thank you for my order. Hey, I'm not going to turn down a free figure and he seems to fit in with this selection of figures. I think the TM stands for Tournament Miniature as he is one of the Greebo Games Fantasy Football Tournament Miniatures special edition figures. But for me, he is Mister Tiny Mouse. I don't even know what species he is - he could be almost any furry animal. My thoughts are to use him as a kind of criminal overlord, not so much as a Mr. Big but more a Mr. Tiny, but still with the same kind of clout and influence. If he stays behind the scene out of sight whilst masterminding a crime-wave, the heroes will get quite a surprise when they finally reveal who is behind it all. "What! You're the mastermind?"

The next two characters are both from the TMNT series. In the centre is Casey Jones. A vigilante who wears a hockey mask to protect his identity, Casey has become one of the Turtles' closest allies, as well as a love interest to April O'Neil. Casey first encountered the Turtles after having a fight with Raphael. He fights crime with an assortment of sporting goods he carries in a golf bag, such as baseball bats, golf clubs, and hockey sticks. On the Greebo Games website he is known as Hoky Jo - Referee. He is a two piece casting with his left hand and hockey stick being a separate component. He is also very tall. He stands 35mm tall. This will put a lot of you off him but not me.
The main enemy of the Turtles is Shredder. He is a villainous ninjutsu master called Oroku Saki who is the leader of the Foot Clan group of ninja assassins. In every incarnation of the TMNT franchise, he has been the arch-enemy of Splinter and the Turtles. Shredder prefers to use his armour instead of weapons in some versions. This terrific figure is as tall as Casey and he is known as Shiju the Blade Master on the Greebo Games webstore. He is a one-piece casting and I think in his case, his oversized height works to his advantage.

These three villains are known from left to right as Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady. Krang is an alien from Dimension X and he uses the torso of a muscular robot as his cockpit to move around whilst on Earth. His personal goal is to rule all dimensions. Upon his arrival on Earth he soon allied himself with Shredder and the two have worked together ever since. The figure stands 40mm tall but because he is essentially a robot construct, I don't mind that he is clearly oversized. He comes in three parts with his arms being separate from the body and legs. Greebo Games list him as Mind Golem on their webstore.

Bebop and Rocksteady are a team who were originally humans in a New York street gang controlled by Shredder. When they lost a battle with the Turtles, Shredder offered to make them more powerful by transforming them into a mutated warthog and rhinoceros respectively with neither of them fully knowing the exact details of the transformation. The transformation worked, making them bigger, stronger and tougher but added nothing to their lowly intelligence. They are simple musclemen who come back time and time again to battle the Turtles and always without success. Again they are vastly oversized figures but that doesn't bother me simply because they are mutants. Bebop came in six parts, body, arms and legs, two hands, head and two tusks. He was not easy to put together. Those tusks caused me considerable grief! Rocksteady came in four parts - body and legs, head and two arms. I did a lot of drilling and pinning on these models to ensure a clean bond. You will find them on the Greebo Games webstore as Razorbog and Rynock respectively.
Mr. TM costs 4.99 Euros. Casey Jones, Bebop and Rocksteady cost 6.99 Euros each and Shredder and Krang cost 7.99 Euros each. You will find most of them as part of the Tartalar Fantasy Football team, where they can be purchased individually if you click on the Single Player tab of the Greebo Games webstore. Mr. TM can be found in the Tournament Miniatures section.
For more information on Casey and Shredder please check out Andy's blog here.
And for more information on Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady check out Andy's blog here.
He knows far more about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles than I do. The main reason for doing this project was so I could use the figures in a game and the game I most want to use them in is 7TV2e. However, there are no official stats for any of the TMNT characters. Fortunately, my good friend Andy, came to the rescue and created stats for them all. You can see his 7TV2e stats for the Turtles and their allies here  and the stats for their enemies here.
Andy, I salute you!

Vampifan's Views 79 - Monthly Musings 54

Haven't I seen her before?

Another month and another Joe Jusko painting of Vampirella to start my Monthly Musings post. Those of you with good memories may recognise this painting. This is the image used on my life-sized cardboard cut-out of Vampirella that I showed last year. See here.
Of course, with this painting you get to see the complete picture. This is one of my favourite Joe Jusko paintings. It also appears on my 2016 Vampirella calendar that I have hanging next to my computer.

In my hobby news I have got back into Heroclix and Horrorclix in a big way. I played these games a hell of a lot in the early 2000's when they first came out and I collected hundreds of figures for them. When my gaming group broke up, I put them all back on the shelves and pretty much forgot about them. Earlier this month, Steve and Hil, my fellow editors of the All Things Dungeon Crawl blog asked if I had any spare Heroclix or Horrorclix figures lying around as they fancied getting back into both games - Steve with Heroclix and Hil with Horrorclix? Imagine their surprise when I told them that I had loads of figures spare and they could have them all. Hell, they were no good to me; they were just gathering dust. They wanted them, so they got them and now they have a very impressive collection of clix figures for both games. As a result of their enthusiasm I have rediscovered my own love of both games, Now I'm playing solo games and actively looking for new figures. I bought a few new starter sets this month - Captain America: Civil War, Fantastic Four and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, partly for the new figures but also for the rules, as I wanted to know how much the 2016 rules had changed from the original 2002 rules that I was so familiar with. The answer to my surprise, was surprisingly little. A few tweaks here and a few additions there but essentially, they were exactly the same. This was good. The game was just as I remembered, so I had no problem in getting back into it.

When it comes to collecting Heroclix figures or any other kind of clix figures there are basically two schools of thought - keep the figures intact on their bases or remove the figures from their bases to rebase and use in other games. What kind of collector am I? The answer is both. I do cut figures from their clix bases but only if the figure is a swap. Any clix figure that I only have one of, remains a clix figure. This means that I have very few rare, unique and limited edition figures that are rebased because they are much harder to come by. As far as the clix games go I have a massive collection of Marvel, DC and Indy superheroes and villains and almost as many figures for Horrorclix and its three expansion sets. I may do some figure reviews of figures from my collection in the future but I'll leave any other Heroclix/Horrorclix articles or batreps to Steve and Hil to publish on the ATDC blog. You can see the first of their Heroclix/Horrorclix posts here - http://thegamerscupbard.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/by-hilary-gilbert-may-2016-thefirst.html
Note the new address!

Other than those three Heroclix sets I mentioned I haven't bought anything else hobby-related this month. On my painting table at the moment are a batch of Zombicide: Black Plague zombies. I only have a few left to paint to finish them all. I am hoping I can get them all finished before I receive my huge parcel of Black Plague expansion sets, which are due very soon. You can expect a lot of Black Plague posts appearing on my blog over the next few months.

My other hobby news is that I am just starting work on Jez/Carrion Crow's Forgotten Heroes project, which is due to launch in June. I'll have a few figures to show for that, so keep an eye open for my entries next month. As for what's coming next on the Vampifan blog, fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles should rejoice. I have my TMNT allies and villains to review.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Heroes 02

When I first saw the My Way Miniatures 28mm scale figures of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle heroes on Andy's blog site here I immediately liked them. They were so well sculpted and beautifully animated. I mentioned to Andy that I already owned figures of the four Ninja Turtles but that mine were in a smaller scale. He wanted to see them, so for Andy, and everyone else, here they are.

These figures were made by Dark Horse many years ago (mid 1980's) and are no longer available. They are 20mm scale metal figures and are extremely rare. I read that Dark Horse had a lot of troubles casting them with as many as one in two figures being miscast! They are very nicely sculpted and I like how they are all scowling angrily. These are not the fun-loving heroes from the cartoon TV series. They came with integral bases and I have glued them to pieces of plasti-card and filled in the surrounds with Milliput. In the days before slottabases were invented, this was how I based most of my figures. They are also painted in simple block colours with no highlighting, shading or ink washes, which just goes to show how much I have developed as a painter over the years.

I'm sure you can recognise them all but they are arranged alphabetically from left to right with Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael. I'd seen them in the very first comics they appeared in and to be honest, back then I had no idea how tall they were meant to be in real life. So, I was happy to use these figures in games using 25mm scale and later, 28mm scale figures. How times have changed.

I knew that there was no way I could write this post without showing you some size comparison photos of the Dark Horse Ninja Turtles and the My Way Miniatures Ninja Turtles. So, to begin with here are the two versions of Donatello and the two versions of Leonardo. Note that I painted the flesh of the Dark Horse Turtles a lot darker than on the My Way Turtles. I also used different shades of brown for the belts, elbow pads and knee pads. Incidentally, when I dug them out for this post I noticed they all wore the same coloured red bandana. This is how they originally appeared but I decided to bring them more up to date so I repainted the bandanas for Donnie, Leo and Mikey.

Finally, here are the two versions of Michelangelo and both versions of Raphael. Another thing to notice is the difference in height between the bases. I am not a fan of slottabases but I have so many figures glued on them it would be a nightmare to change them now. My preferred bases are either flat plastic or wooden MDF bases and you'll see more and more of my figures glued on them in the future. It is highly unlikely I will ever use my Dark Horse Ninja Turtles in a game, although a scenario in which some mad scientist villain has a shrink ray may be a good way to use them. There is no way I'll be getting rid of them, because they must be worth a nice sum nowadays.
Incidentally, I forgot to mention that the My Way Ninja Turtles cost 11 Euros each or you can get all four for 36 Euros, which is what I did. An alternative is to get all four figures plus a scenic sewer base for just 40 Euros. You can find details of their complete range here - http://mywayminiatures.com/
I have just placed an order for the Ninja Turtles' ally, Casey Jones, as well as the main villains of the Turtles, Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady and a horde of Foot Clan Ninjas, all based on Andy's recommendations, i.e. figures from Greebo Games and Crossover Miniatures. As soon as I get them they'll be jumping to the front of my painting queue. Turtle power!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Heroes 01

I respectively dedicate this post to my friend, Andy Nash, aka da Gobbo Grotto. It was thanks to his wonderful blog posts about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT), their friends and villains that inspired me to collect my own versions of these iconic characters from comics, film and TV. Andy and I both agree that the best 28mm scale figures of the four "heroes in a hard shell" are produced by Russian  company, My Way Miniatures. Their customer service is first rate.

From left to right are Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael, all named after Renaissance artists by their rat sensei, Splinter. From their home in the sewers of New York, they battle petty criminals, evil overlords, mutated creatures and alien invaders whilst attempting to remain hidden from society. Note that these are all multi-part figures made of resin and are rather fiddly to glue together.
Donatello (or Donnie) is a scientist, inventor, engineer, and technological genius. He wears a purple mask and wields a bo staff. Donatello is perhaps the least violent turtle, preferring to use his knowledge to solve conflicts, but never hesitates to defend his brothers.
Leonardo (or Leo) is a tactical, courageous leader and devoted student of his sensei. He wears a blue mask and wields two katanas. As the most conscientious of the four, he often bears the burden of responsibility for his brothers, which commonly leads to conflict with Raphael.

Michelangelo (or Mikey) is the most stereotypical teenager of the team. He is a free-spirited, relaxed, and often goofy jokester and known for his love of pizza. Michelangelo wears an orange mask and wields a pair of nunchakus. He provides the comic relief, though he still has an adventurous side. The least mature of the four Turtles, he shows characteristics of a "surfer" type and is often depicted with a Southern Californian accent.
Raphael (or Raph) is the team's bad boy. He wears a dark red mask and wields a pair of sai. He is physically very strong, has an aggressive nature, and seldom hesitates to throw the first punch. He is often depicted with a very pronounced New York accent. His personality can be fierce and sarcastic, and often-times delivers deadpan humour. He is intensely loyal to his brothers and sensei.

Next up are two very important characters in the TMNT world, April O'Neil and Splinter.
April O'Neil is a former lab assistant to the mad scientist Baxter Stockman and is the plucky human companion of the Turtles. April first met the Turtles when they saved her from Baxter's Mouser robots. She embarks on many of the Turtles' adventures and aids them by doing the work in public that the Turtles cannot. Originally, April was a television news reporter. Later, she and her friend and TMNT ally, Casey Jones, worked for a shipping firm. My version of April is clearly based on her role as a TV reporter. The figure is a conversion of the Crooked Dice Games second version of Pandora King. I snipped of her pistol and made it into a microphone. I also cut off the holster from her right hip. It was a very easy conversion.

Splinter is the Turtles' sensei and adoptive father. He is a Japanese mutant rat who learned the ways of ninjutsu from his owner and master, Hamato Yoshi. Originally, Splinter was Hamato Yoshi mutated into a humanoid rat instead of being just Yoshi's pet. In the IDW comics, he is Hamato Yoshi reincarnated as a mutated rat. The figure I used for Splinter is by Mantic Games from their DreadBall set of three team trainers (the other two are human and dwarf). In DreadBall, he is a Veer-myn team coach. He is such a good match for Splinter that I didn't have to convert him at all.

Andy knows far more about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles than I do and I recommend checking out his own post for the four hero Turtles here. He covers April and Splinter in this post here. Note that he has chosen different figures from me to represent both characters. Finally, in yet more praise for my esteemed blogger friend, he has created stats for the TMNT and friends to appear in the 7TV2e game, which is exactly what I want to use them for. Check out his 7TV2e stats for them here.

Finally, before I leave, I'd just like to point out these are the first photos I took with my brand new Canon EOS 1200D camera. It took me no time at all to get the hang of it and transferring the photos to my computer so I could edit them and show them on my blog was a doddle. I couldn't be happier with my new purchase and I look forward to many years of hassle-free photography.