SuperSystem is a game that lets you pit superheroes and villains against each other to save or destroy the world as your tactics and dice dictate. Since super powers are pretty much standard across most comic publishers lines, fans of just about any comic company (DC, Marvel, DarkHorse, etc.) should be able to adapt their favorite heroes/villains to this system with ease. If you’re looking for a nice little minis game to get into that won’t soak you in order to buy enough miniatures to play OR if you want to quickly resolve super hero battles in an RPG campaign that you’re in--this game is what you’ve been looking for.
Overall, the models (28 mm scale) are well-done and the game is extremely well thought out. The only flaw I found with the game was one minor and easily fixed quirk with who goes first each turn (I explain how I fixed it for my group near the end of this review).
As an avid player of many mainstream war games, I am happy to see an action point-based skirmish game that doesn’t require a million pages to cover. I got the game and models from Four Color Figures because they wanted an in-depth review of their product. Before I dive into a really detailed description of this game and models though, a couple of definitions:
Skirmish game: Miniatures games in which you don’t have to invest $47 million in miniatures in order to play. That is, you can play most skirmish games with just a few models per player--many miniature games require huge outlays of money and time to buy, construct and paint their models. SuperSystem doesn’t fall into that category.
Action Points: Models may do any of a number of actions during their turn but must pay an “action point” price in order to do it. The more action points a model has, the more actions it may take during its turn.
Four Color Figures has produced some really good-looking models for their game. I received three individual hero blisters and a blister of henchmen along with the rules for review. The SuperFIgs model proportions are good and the sculpting is first-rate. The prices listed on the blisters :) and on the company website match and are actually very reasonable for miniatures ($2.95 for an individual hero and $7.95 for a blister of 5 evil henchmen types). I’d invite interested parties to check out the company’s site just to see what they have available and to judge the models first hand (as much as your monitor allows you to do that).
While the models “technically” fit into the Four Color Universe, they’re similar enough to many popular comic characters to be converted to serve as your favorite superheroes from whatever source. No, they don‘t break copy write laws or anything, but there‘s only so many ways to sculpt or draw a dude in tights:) It looks as though in many cases, all that the models need is an appropriate paint job to serve as this popular hero or that popular villain. One final note on the models: these babies can easily be used in RPGs and even other near future or sci-fi miniature war games.
Looking at both the models featured in the book and on the website (www.super figs.net), it’s obvious that the company has invested in producing a wide range of characters and even different henchmen groups. And since Four Color Figs is a miniature company, you can bet they’re cranking out new stuff to meet demands for even more variety.
Another kudo for the company is the rules updates and errata that you can find on the website. For example, I was kind of disappointed to learn that with the rules in the book, I couldn’t make a wall-crawling hero. However, I’ve since learned that rules added to the website make a spidery climber possible. Hmmmm. What could I call such a character?
The game rules come as a 64-page soft cover book. Many experienced gamers are now asking themselves “how can you pull off a decent game in so few pages?” I think that Four Color Figures has figured something out that many miniature games makers haven’t: If you organize things properly, you can get a lot more bang with less pages.
The table of contents lays out every section of the game and finding what you’re looking for could not be simpler if you use this oft-forgotten-by-the-publisher item. The book’s organization is simple, neat and logical. Anybody who’s tried to look up how to attack or what to do when you want to do “x” or “y” in many of the big-time games that are out there will appreciate what I’m talking about.
The artwork is appropriately comic book style and even includes a small 3-page set of panels highlighting the heroic “S-men” and their efforts to catch the evil Dr. Simian. While the game does have a very nicely done backstory, it’s not required in order to play the game.
I enjoyed not reading “fluff” every page and a half. If you want to read the setting stuff, flip to those pages. If you want to access rules, then go to that section. I, for one, am happy to not have to sift rules out of the flavor text or vice versa. The rulebook also does people like me a huge, mondo favor: EXAMPLES!
Whenever a mechanic is introduced or discussed, you can just about bet there’s a shaded box nearby that demonstrates just what the devil is being discussed. While some ambiguity in war game rules is to be expected--since you can’t write a rule for every possible situation--SuperSystem anticipates a good many frequently asked questions and addresses them as the rules are presented.
SuperSystem is d6 based and uses goal rolls to determine the success of an attempt to perform certain actions like zapping a bad guy with your power ring or leaping from one rooftop to another. Some rolls are unopposed (e.g. if I jump a gorge I make a Strength check) while others are opposed (e.g. if I swing at someone, I make an Agility check to hit and the defender makes an Agility check to dodge/parry the blow).
Basically, you consult the appropriate attribute OR super power (let’s say it’s three, for example) and roll that number of dice. Every die showing a 4,5, or 6 is a success; for example, if you rolled a 1, 1and a 5, you would get a single success. Depending on what super-power is being used, 6’s can sometimes be counted as more than a single success. In the case of opposed rolls, whoever has the most successes (defender wins ties) gets to do what he/she was planning to do to the target.
SuperSystem characters are defined by four attributes: Strength, Agility, Mind and Resolve. Strength meters the damage you deal, the damage you can take and how strong you are. Agility measures close combat ability and ranged attacks. Mind gauges perception and mental attacks while Resolve, er, resolves Green Lantern-sque issues like willpower.
Characters are built using Build Points (BPs). Like many miniature games, players agree to field “x” number of points, in this case BPs per side. Players are given the option of using lower point values to create more human heroes and villains such as Batman or Lex Luthor; higher point limits make it possible to field real toughies like the Hulk, the Thing or even Superman. Obviously, the higher the attributes assigned to a hero, the more dice he/she rolls and the better chance of some of those dice coming up as 4’s or better.
Game turns are broken down into 1) Initiative and 2) Actions. While the Actions portion flows really well, I gotta serious problem with the Initiative sequence. It’s just too doggone complicated! Fortunately, there’s a lot of really easy fixes for that problem.
Initiative is determined by an Agility check and I have to say the only slow-down I see in the system is determining who gets to go first. You see, if you have any ties on the first check, then you look at Agility attributes. If that produces a tie, then you move to the number of AP available to the tying models. If that ties, you roll a single die. Even though this litany is nicely printed on the handy-dandy reference sheet at the end of the book, I think a simple re-roll of the first check would simplify things.
Once initiative is determined, models then perform all their actions, spending none, some or all of their allotted APs for the turn before the next model may go. And boy have they covered actions! I can charge, move normally, climb, fall, jump, fly, hide, activate/deactivate/pick-up objects and even stand up if I’ve been knocked down. Heck, if I wanna copy the old Colossus-Wolverine “Hail Mary” pass (X-men fans will remember the tactic of a strong dude throwing a ball of flailing fists into the baddies), I can even do that.
Can’t have a supers game without mentioning the powers. From Mr. Fanstic-oid “elasticity” to Incredible Hulk-ish super strength to Flash-ian super speed, SuperSystem makes it possible. Just about any super power you can think of is in here. Plus, you can always check www.superfigs.net for updated ideas.
As I mentioned before, you buy these with points you’ve agreed to before the game and many like elasticity have special effects that are either free or that cost BPs too. Many of the special effects add true comic book color to the game. Vertical charge lets super speedsters literally run up walls (over several turns if necessary to make it to the top). Rubbery heroes can stretch to step up onto low rooftops and trees or they can use their own bodies to envelope close up opponents!
Let‘s not forget the badguys! Now evil dudes and dudette characters are treated just like superheroes, but who hasn’t watched Blade or Batman take on a roomful of thugs and thought “Cool!”? How do they do that in SuperSystem? Henchmen groups! Henchmen form teams that act, in essence, as a single model for movements and actions.
This mechanic does a really good job of simulating that lone tough good guy wailing on a bunch of lesser skilled punks. Be warned: when you play the heroes, henchmen groups should not be underestimated. They can put a hurt on you, especially if they seriously outnumber your guys.
For those of you who are still awake, the last few sections of the rules cover campaign options, pregenerated scenarios and the Four Color World. Last but not least is the aforementioned handy dandy reference sheet that condenses the game rules nicely into a single sheet. Character data sheets and objective counters are also provided for easy photocopying before use in the game.
Oveall, I like this game alot. The only real snag that I saw was minor, but it did concern me at first. But then I referred back to page 6 of the book (no joke) to The Most Important Rule. “If you don’t like the way something works, discuss it with your gaming group and make a change that is acceptable to everyone”. Any game company that acknowledges that breaking, bending or changing its rules isn’t tantamount to either Constitutional violation or heresy has got my vote.
Well, that was a lot of writing, but gamers deserve to get the best intel a reviewer can give. I wonder how many posts I’m going to get from the reviews reviewers noting my comma splice:) Doctoral theses have been less savagely attacked than many of the reviews that I’ve seen on rpg.net of late. Happy Gaming!
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