Thursday 16 March 2017

Throwing down the Gaunlet - da Gobbo's response

Hi all

Before I get to the post, I've just noticed how close I am to getting 100,000 views - a figure I would not have imagined I would get near to when I started back up a couple of years ago, I'm just thrilled that people have taken to reading the stuff I put out there. So if I tip over the 100k mark in the next few days I'll bring forward the competition I was going to run in the summer to April as a thank you.

 Now we return you to your regular viewing...

you may remember last week, Rich "Nerd4Life" Gates issuing a challenge to the rest of the Nerd Herd (link is here). He of course took his beloved War of the Ring, a game none of the other Herders have taken up  before much to his annoyance.  Well I had to put my thinking cap on and come up with something special, something to grab the imagination of the lads......


2e-Box-Set7TV2e!!!



Yes! it just screamed out to be taken up by the Herd.  I've played it once before with Damon but it has fallen to the wayside as these things do, Rich and Chris hadn't even looked in it's direction before - scandalous.  For those of you not familiar, 7TV2e is the latest version of the game produced by Crooked Dice that allows us gamers to recreate those cheesy 60's and 70's TV shows that had us enthralled every week.  Love you some Capt Scarlett - it's covered, The Sweeney your jam - covered, how about The Man From Uncle, The New Avengers, Dr Who - yep, yep, yep!!  Perfection....

I've lifted the following straight off the Crooked Dice website so feel free to head over there and read the rest but in a nutshell this is how it works....

The basic rules allow you to put together a cast of between 3 and 24 (or more!) models and fight other casts in abandoned warehouses, secret volcano lairs, forbidding jungles and underwater bases – in fact anywhere you like! Use your star qualities, special effects and gadgets to get your mission accomplished before the countdown ends and the episode is over. The core rules are generic, so if you’ve seen it on screen or had a dream about your perfect lineup, you can put your cast together quicker than ever before.

Making a 7TV 2nd Edition cast

There are two ways to make a 7TV cast; open casting and using a Programme Guide. The Programme Guides each detail in full the personalities and rules for all the models from one of 7TV Studios TV shows. Open casting is the system in the core rules, and allows you to choose a wide range of generic models to fit the kind of cast you’d like to build.
First you choose either a heroic or villainous cast. Each side gets a different mix of Stars, Co-Stars, Extras and vehicles to choose from. Then you choose your cast’s ratings – both sides play with an equal ratings value). This could be between 25 for a small game to 50 or more for a climactic blowout.

Fire vs Water!

Then you choose your Stars and Co-Stars. These are highly rated, but have excellent abilities. You have to include at least one Star or Co-Star model to lead your cast. Each one has access to two or more genres, or which there are 7: Civilian, Crime, Law and Order, Military, Science, Secret and Unknown. Then you pick your Extras (and vehicles). These provide the numbers your cast will need, but you can only include a particular Extra or vehicle if they share at least one genre with one or more of your Stars or Co-Stars. Tricksy.

Beware faulty gadgets!

The Episode

Image result for end credits of 1970's tv shows
There are 6 basic episodes you can play, all of which offer different rules to keep the game variable. Each episode will see 5 identical objective tokens played on the table, to represent vital info, secret plans, alien technology and the like. A win is more likely if you can grab as many as you can. Some episodes also feature the ‘maguffin’, a kind of really super objective. If you use it, make sure you end up with it!

Security guards on patrol

Image result for drama tv shows of the 1960'sGadget and Countdown cards

7TV wouldn’t be complete without gadgets – cutting edge technology you can use to get your models out of trouble in an instant. You’ll draw gadget cards from the deck of 20 then choose the ones you think will serve you best during your episode. You’ll also create a shared Countdown deck of cards, which will tick down during play. Once the last card is gone the episode will end. Each turn a player can turn over 1 or 2 cards (2 gives you benefits, but makes for a shorter game!) then play the event detailed on the last card drawn.There are 45 Countdown cards, including 15 more potent Finale cards. These add a random element to the proceedings, and make each turn start with a tactical choice – speed up the countdown for the benefits during your turn, or advance it normally and get more turns to play?

Heroes 2 NEWNinja DealParanormal ExterminatorsSCUBA

Plot Points

Image result for drama tv shows of the 1960'sAt this point you will have a pool of plot points in front of you (you can use anything for these – pennies, glass beads, dead spiders). You use these during your own turn to activate models and use some of their special effects, remove debilitating statuses and make more effective attacks. If you’re lucky you will have enough to do everything you want in your turn, but more often, you’ll have to make some tough choices. And try not to spend them all! You’ll need to keep some for you opponent’s turn, as you need them to try to protect your models from your opponent’s attacks. Phew!


So I've chosen the game system, what do I want to do with it? Now it would be really easy just to wheel out my TMNT miniatures, which is the reason why I looked into 7TV2e in the first place, but this smacks of a total lack of effort on my part - after all what have I done differently.  But at the same time they make such excellent 7TV2e casts and it would be a shame to not use them, especially in light of Crooked Dice producing a Programme Guide for them, so they have to be in. Btw you can find my previous TMNT posts in the links here, here, here and here. So what can I offer that's different? well a couple of things really.  First of all I'm going to scratch build a series of modular boards that would be perfect (I hope!) for gaming with the Turtles, I will of course chart my progress on that project on here in a series of posts and videos for the YouTube channel so you can see the boards develop.  This I think will be visually alluring and whet the Herd's appetite for the game. Is that enough to satisfy Rich's challenge? Well if not hopefully the second part of the project will appeal to the inner nerd of any gamer and it involves a certain enigmatic.........what's that? I've run out of time in this episode for the big reveal?  Oh well in the style of those amazing TV shows of our yesteryear - "Tune in next time for more 7TV2e!"


hope you enjoy
dGG









32 comments:

  1. To be honest I think the first edition of 7TV is better. We have great games with it.

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    1. I never got to play it mate, although zombietv appealed greatly!

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    2. The first was good. But this version is far more accessible I think and less open to abuse with the more free character creation that first had.

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  2. I absolutely love your choice of game, Andy. Whilst I know virtually nothing about first edition 7TV, a number of folk have said that is a good thing in helping you enjoy 7TV2e even more. Although I have only played 7TV2e once, I hope to play more games of it in the future. I shall be following this project very closely and I wish you and your nerd herd all the best of luck.

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    1. I love the games system, have only played it once but enjoyed the feel of it so hopefully the other nerds will feel the same.

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  3. Great insight to the breakdown of the game, and look forward to seeing the boards you create for TMNT, look forward to the big reveal in the next episode, until then it's goodnight from him

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  4. I've played several games of the first edition and really enjoyed it...though spy-fi isn't really my thing...and several more games of 7th Voyage which I liked even better...much more my thing. Shall look forward to seeing you dive in!

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    1. yes I believe the first version had loads of spinoffs. Crooked Dice have claimed that they have slimmed down the game and taken out a lot of the clunky bits, I can only take them at their word never having played the first version.

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  5. I've never played the game, but I have heard good things. Look forward to seeing your progress on this project dGG!

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    1. I love the concept behind the game Rod and love me a cheesy 70's serial show so here goes nothing! The rules are downloadable as are a load of the programme guides so its only cost me time and the cost of printing out some tokens and gluing them onto some cereal box cardboard.....

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  6. Interesting, are you going to do a "battle" report with this game??

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  7. Cool! Whilst I now own a copy of 7TV2e, I've not yet played it, so it will interesting to see what you do with it. And watching you create new boards is always fascinating and inspiring. I've also got a feeling I know "Who" your enigmatic guest will be. Am i right? ;-)

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    1. Play it Jez! The beauty of the game is the multiple genres you can get mixed up in!

      I'm just waiting for some bits for the boards but I've already started the basics and painting up some of Dave Stone's excellent terrain pieces for it.

      Lips firmly sealed...... but Who knows? ;-)

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  8. Another game that I loved the look of, bought the box and 4 sets of starter casts from them and then promptly didn't get around to playing it! Looking forward to seeing what you do with it as seeing other people actually playing helps shame me into action!

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    1. We fickle gamers huh? The guys in the group are like that with most games. This one is fun and I'm looking forward to showing the nerds how good it is!

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  9. Awesome glad your enjoying it. I'm going to the 7TV day in July up at Wargame Illustrated its going to be an awesome days gaming.

    There is a post apoc expansion coming soon so looking forward to seeing what gets ported across from the 7ombietv expansion they did its looking promising.

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  10. Cool looking forward to see more in the near future!

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  11. Great posting, Andy. I've played both quite a bit and always end up going back to the first edition; albeit with a couple of rules nabbed from "7TV2E" such as the wonderful Countdown cards. Brummie is probably right that the second edition is far more accessible, but if you put the time into creating a load of 1st Edition characters (as I have) then its hard not to see this latest versions archetypes as somewhat watered down. Both rule-sets are excellent vfm though imho.

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    1. Having never played 1st edition I'm not in a position to compare but I'm sure the 2nd edition will be just fine ;-)

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  12. This is a brilliant choice for the challenge. Its versatility means that you can do pretty much anything with it and use everybody's mini collection. So far we've don TMNT, Ghostbusters, Zombies, Dr Who, 70s Action, Spy-Fi...

    Its brilliant for those personal niche projects.

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    1. Exactly Kieron, the possibilities are limitless

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  13. Just had a closer look ad the post and noticed you didn't mention TV series from the 80s, like Allo Allo, and maybe some American TV series mixed in... yeah I know you are British and all but still :)

    Also, a area to have the stand of might I suggest Hawaii and a red Lamborghini as scenery ;)

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    1. Charlie's Angels are in their mate, Farrah Fawcett......yum

      Magnum PI what a show!

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    2. I just remembered it was a Ferrari and not a Lamborghini... one should not make such mistakes ;)

      And not to forget a Majordomo and his two Doberman :)

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  14. This looks like it will be interesting, TV7 seems to be one of the "in" systems at the moment and Simon has made it look rather appealing with his Batreps, it will be good to see your interpretation of the system too.

    Oh and I was always a Jackie Smith man myself (though I wouldn't have kicked Farrah out of bed, well I would as I was only eight at the time but you know what I mean).

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. I hope it'll turn out to be a lot of fun for the chaps.

      Jackie Smith was gorgeous ;-)

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  15. Best review on and talk about 7TV2e I`ve seen to date - ever!

    Highly enjoyable read Andy, thanks for that. Deeply informative too.

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