Defining Game #3: Twilight 2000

3. Twilight 2000, 1984

So by '84 I was a ten year old, full into GI Joe figures ('84 being the best year for them) and Star Wars. I had some RPG goodness behind me already, not to mention this was the same year Red Dawn came out.

That's when I found Twilight 2000, it was all the roleplaying I had experienced to this point, plus all the guns and paramilitary action that was prevalent at the time. It was kind of the perfect combination at the perfect time.

Twilight 2000 also marks a first in that this was the first roleplaying game I began playing with friends on a regular basis where your character one week was the same one you used the next. This is where the beauty of linked games, a campaign even, began to come to light to me for the first time.

Friday Rucht Hour: Meet the Pathfinder Crew

So, as you know, we are playing Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords in one of our regular gaming groups. And here we have some of our 6-man party. If you recall (or not) we are playing the Rise of the Runelords AP, but placing it in quasi-historical/quasi-mythological Ireland.

First up, our barbarian, Drin. As a inheritor of the Irish ristrahd he started out the game in a position of honor and expectation. He's expected to lead his sept in battle and heap glory upon his clan. My friend Nick modded the sword here and painted it up. You can see the original Reaper mini, here.

Next up is our druid, Gisamael. As a druid, he is a bit of an outsider in 10th century Ireland, which is mostly Christian at this time. Still, the old ways are respected and the Irish come to his people from time to time for aid and advice. Again, Nick modded this mini as well, but he was painted by yours truly.

The shillelagh you see in his hand used to be a spear, but Nick shortened the end and added mistletoe to make it a proper druidic badge of office. See the original model here. Note to people about this model - Nick pinned it in a number of places and I highly recommend that with this guy. His shillelagh has come loose a number of times and pinning saved me a lot of headaches.

This is one of our favorite models of the lot - our bard, Colin. This mini is just an excellent all-around adventurer. He's got a sword and his decked out with all sorts of adventuring equipment. I painted this one. As a bard, Colin isn't just some minstrel plucking a lute and being a fop. Bards in ancient Ireland occupy an honored place in society as historians. A great bard heaps honor and glory upon his clan and can represent the deeds of his sept when he goes to high court. In the legends, Irish bards could shape reality.

This guy's so awesome that it's worth checking out the back of him. He's got the back pack and elbow guard - just a lot of details and a great model. 

All right, next week, we'll look at the other three members of the Pathfinder crew. 

Thor's Day Hero: Geddy Lee

It's hard to obtain "living legend" status in the music world today, but I can't think of any other place to put Geddy Lee of Rush. My favorite band, Rush, is interesting because there's no middle ground with them; you either love 'em or hate 'em. I've seen them in concert more than any other band, which is to say, quite a bit. Roaring through the cosmos, the Thor's Day Heroes pick up steam and new members all the time. Such an endeavor requires quite the soundtrack, and who better to have along for that than Geddy Lee.

The Cabin v6.0

Two days from we'll be kicking off our sixth mini-con of supergaming and culinary indulgences. Tomorrow we've got another Thor's Day Hero, and Friday I'm sure Mr. L has something special in store for us with Friday Rucht Hour, so this is the last post by me until I get back. I'll try to recap the last five preceding mini-cons:

• Cabin I: I received my first two European boardgames; Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan. We tried to play Blood Bowl at this one, but it was not conducive to extended trains of thought.
• Cabin II: Same location as last time, more games, more food including steaks, ribs, seafood, and a keg of Newcastle.
• Cabin III: We saw a bear come up to the house, someone fell down a flight of stairs but miraculously didn't spill their drink, and two inebriated people who have never played Wii Golf before destroyed all sober challengers who dared swing a virtual club on the same green.
• Cabin IV: This one was cool because there were a pair of standup classic arcade machines. I played more Time Pilot '84 than any XBox or Wii games combined. It was almost an injury-free cabin except for the wasp sting on someone's genitalia.
• Cabin V: This one saw the epic eight hour game of Settlers to date; six players with both Cities and Knights and Seafarer's expansions in full effect.

The gist of it is we rent a modern cabin somewhere up in the mountains. Everyone brings truckload of games, we spend almost as much on beverage and groceries as we do the cabin itself, and we lock ourselves in for a solid three or four days. Gaming, eating, drinking, and even more gaming (and more eating and more drinking). I'll try to get some pics up to the mobile feed and I'll post an AAR when the dust has settled as well and my body has mended.

We found out early on that miniatures games are not suited for the cabins, you've got the hassle of lugging all of those armies up there, plus terrain, but then you have to worry about keeping everything safe and finding all the table space. Quick play games and easy to learn rules are the most imperative. There's a lot of games on this list I am eager to play; Super Dungeon Explore, Eminent Domain, Alien Frontiers, and Stone Age immediately come to mind. We'll see how it all goes, until next time, enjoy!

Mega Supers Giveaway Contest!

It has been quite some time indeed since I've witnessed a massive blog giveaway the likes that Tales of a Tabletop Skirmisher is in the midst of performing.

ToaTS Big 100K Giveaway!

It's a massive, superhero figure laden prize indeed featuring the Pulp City rules, Pulp City figs, and a jaw-dropping amount of of supers related figs such as Reaper Chronoscope, card art, and tons more.

PRIZES

1) 2 Pulp City starter boxes, 2 extra Supremes and a full colour printed PDF rulebook (over £80 worth)
2) 4 Reaper Chronoscope Supers and a Beast - Thanks to Miniature Heros
3) 2 Lvl2 and 2 Lvl1 Pulp City Supremes of your choice - Thanks to Pulp Monsters
4) 3 x sets of Pulp City Artwork Postcards - Thanks to Pulp Monsters again

That there is plumb amazing! So I entered, I think you should too. Even if I don't win, which would be a bummer indeed, I think my curiosity is more than picqued about Pulp City, and the figs look stunning, so my overflowing plate just got that much more full.

Defining Game #4: Nintendo

4. Nintendo (NES), 1985

Up until now we've talked about miniature gaming and roleplaying, but I would be terribly remiss (something that crops up a lot apparently) if I did not include videogames in my defining games. Here I am, a grown man almost three decades later and I still avidly play them, so this cornerstone is too important a piece to not mention, and at the number four slot to boot.

I have a great story about the first time I ever saw a home videogame system back in 1979, but that's for another time. Not having a lot of money growing up it was pretty epic (for me anway) when I got my first console at age eleven. We didn't have the fancy set up with the robot and all of that, but I had the console and some amazing games.

This wasn't the 'family console' set up in the living room, like the Atari which oddly enough I never really messed with. I had a tiny little television in my room with this thing hooked up to it, it was awesome. I had many great games too; Mega Man, Final Fantasy, Zelda, Mario Brothers, and the like. I don't know whatever happened to my NES, but it definitely got me started off in the videogame world; NES, then Sega Genesis, Playstation, Dreamcast, PS2, XBox, now XBox 360. My father jokingly, yet stubbornly, gives me a hard time about 'wasted time playing videogames' and the like, but I'm quick to point out hat they were really the ones to start me down that path, and it all started here.

Monday Night Miller 001 ~ Introductions

Hey Everybody! Chris “Bi3cuit” Miller here to throw some of my artwork at your eyeballs. A few of you may know me from my postings over at MotMM. To the rest of you asking yourselves, “Who the hell is this guy?” Allow me to introduce myself; I’m an awesome aspiring (feel free to think that means awe-inspiring) artist from the Amish enchanted lands of the Northeast United States. I am particularly handy with a Prismacolor Col-Erase, 20044 Blue, Pencil and Wacom tablet. I’ve got degrees in Graphic Design and Animation and a passion for drawing that exceeds my imagination at times. My interests range from the Avengers to Zombies (get it? A-Z word play!) and I draw inspiration from all of them.

Introducted!

Mik has been asking me to drop some art postings here at Mik’s Minis for a while now and, obviously, I finally agreed. I’ll admit though that I had some qualms about what exactly to post. So many options to choose from, where do I begin! What do I want the world to see? Should I post just raw sketches, a web-comic, genre specific artwork, concept work, my own personal pieces, tutorials, stuff from art school??????? *click* Why not all of it?

Challenge accepted!

That little problem out of the way I had to next decide what my first post should be. I knew out of gate I had to show something that hopefully depicted how I work. My favorite thing to check out in anyone's collection of work is their sketches. I love to see the process of creation through trial and error. Raw lines, erased mistakes, and loads of half-finished ideas that eventually evolve into the final piece. To me a sketch displays the most character that concept will ever have. That ideal in mind I set off with the task of scouring through my sketchbooks. I had my still growing, over a decade old collection of sketchbooks and drawings sprawled out all over the living room floor. It was like flipping through old photo albums. Oh the memories... Now one thing I confess and think you should know about me is that I am a very forgetful person. It is horrible how much I forget on a day-to-day basis. There have been knockdown drag-out fights with the wife about what I have forgotten. But combing through those dusty yellowing sketch books I could tell you what song I was listening to or had stuck in my head at the time, which DVD I had playing in the background, which room and piece of furniture I was sitting in, what I was eating and/or drinking, how long it took to complete. Its crazy how it all came back as I flipped through the pages with a smirk on my face and I hadn’t even gotten to the many flash drives and digital back-ups I have stashed away. Two hours later and I still had no clue what I should post first. Then it hit me again. Why not all of it??

So here you go…

SKETCH DUMP!

Okay, I didn't really show you all that I had to offer. What kind of weekly blog feature would this be if I gave you everything in the first post? I’m thinking of the future after all. Sky's the limit! A lot of the artwork featured in this particular post was pulled heavily from my art school sketch books. At the time I had to keep the designs simple as they would of ended up being animation projects that had to be completed within a semester.

I'm eager to show what I've got and everyone can look forward to seeing more sketch dumps (or not, we'll see how this one worked out!) and an array of other artworks ranging from sci-fi to fantasy, concept art to web comics, the possible to the impossible, and probably quite a bit of Lego inspired concept drawings. Much like Mik, I am a big fan of the minifig and brick. I might even take some requests.

Anyface, I look forward to seeing everybody from the Mik’s Minis community in the comments section and here's hoping you want to see more of what I've got to offer.

~ Enjoy

New Feature Starts Tomorrow

It's not just another new weekly feature, but I'm happy to announce that the author ranks here at Mik's Minis has grown by one more. Perfectly complementing Rucht's authoring we're bringing on board Chris "Biscuit" Miller to do a weekly art feature. Chris is an integral part of our gaming group here and his "doodles" far surpass anything I've seen in the "gaming art" world.

Shown here is one of his many Mouse Guard characters from our fun but shortlived campaign some time ago. We all know that gaming moments are the best inspiration for art, and surely that will compose a lot of his posts but I suspect we'll get to see all kinds of cool stuff from his sketchbook. I have no idea, it's his feature, he's in the pilot's seat, and I couldn't be more excited.

So welcome aboard Chris, and here's to the newest weekly feature here at Mik's Minis:

Monday Night Miller!

Sunday Rucht Hour: First Scenario for Alpha Wolf Pack!

Sorry I'm late again, but here we are.

I got the first scenario written up for Alpha Wolf Pack, even though the role-playing game is still in its very raw stages. As I've learned from previous playtests, you don't discover the rough points of your rules until you just play through your game. Then, as each game unfolds, you realize the points that you've missed. Like, hey, how do you grapple someone? (Always complicated.)

So, an opportunity has come up to playtest Alpha Wolf Pack with some interesting folks. I'll report back when that happens. Here's a few tease peeks at the first scenario written up.

Formatting is important to me, so I put in call-outs, chose interesting fonts, printed the whole thing on card stock and even rounded the corners of the paper.

As you can see in this last picture, each act of the scenario fits on a single page. Beyond that, there are player handouts, description of a space station, and things like that. But the important bit is that the whole adventure - the part that you need to run the scenario - is contained on four pages. 

If Alpha Wolf Pack takes off, this is the sort of thing I want to push with the game. I've seen four-hour modules that are dozens and dozens of pages long. Instead, I'd like to see scenarios written short and sweet. I got this idea from Savage World's one-sheet adventures, which are a great idea. Essentially, the idea is that an entire adventure is contained on one page, period. I'd like to keep refining a short scenario format until I can get it down to maybe one, short, four-hour scenario written up in just four to five pages. 

The idea is that picking up an adventure shouldn't necessarily be an entire walkthrough. Instead, a scenario might be like picking up another GM's notes and then taking the reins from there. 

Garden Greenery Abounds

Wow, I hadn't realized my last garden post back at the end of April was of cleaned-out and empty beds! Compared to those pics it has come a long way indeed. So without further preamble, here's this year's garden, I know y'all have been on bated breath for this.


You can tell from the title pic that the center section of the upper bed has been completely dominated by zucchini. I may have erred in putting two plants in as they are threatening to overtake each of their neighboring side beds.


Two eggplant, err, plants are doing okay, but only just. Unfortunately the zuchs have overshadowed the Tabasco pepper and the Park's Orangesicle. I don't know what the latter is but it sounded neat so I thought I'd try it out this year.


Here's some of the pepper plants literally living in the shadow of the zucchini. I've now spelled zucchini three times and still can't get it right! Honestly though, only one of these four plants seems to be doing all that great. These are chili and Thai peppers.


This is one of my favorite sights right now. This Thai chili pepper plant is bursting at the buds with what promises to be a bunch of spicy, tasty pods of deliciousness. My mouth just watered a little bit while thinking of it, but I avoided outright drooling.


Here are my two jalapeño plants. They look a little scrawny here but I've already 'harvested' about six medium to large sized peppers from the pair. They went into a large batch of chicken and shrimp jumbalaya. So in past years I planted too many of these so the sight of just a mere two is kind of weird, I'm hoping it will pan out in the long run.



The above two plants are doing great, they're a green and a red bell pepper respectively. Have you priced organic bell peppers lately? They're like a buck a pop! That's not why I'm growing them mind you, we use bell peppers in the kitchen a lot, so they're pretty handy to have around. Not to mention you can eat them like an apple too, which is tasty.


Last we have the tomato plants. They're tall and green with plenty of baby maters on the vine. I thought the one on the far left wasn't going to make it, but it came in well considering. Note I said "left", the tiny one on the right is a different story.


I thought I was getting a Roma plant but this obviously isn't a Roma tomato plant. It's a patio tomato plant, genegineered to be grown easily on an apartment balcony in a flower pot taking up little room. As you can see it looks to yield a lot of maters too, but they're freaking me out how closely they're all bunched together. Time will tell on this one, but I'm already skeptical, I wanted Romas darn it for sauces, salsas, and the like.


This is a good to close on, nice, normal tomatoes growing on the vine. I know the garden hasn't been featured as much this summer as summers past, so hopefully this pic heavy post will make up for that. More to come for sure, until then enjoy!

Thor's Day Hero: Skeletor

Look at this guy, he's got the body of Schwarzenegger, killer leather armor, a hood, and half of a power sword. Oh yeah, did I mention he's got a freaking skull for a head? Forget whatever you know of Skeletor from the old Masters of the Universe cartoon, he was never allowed to live up to his potential. The rated 'R' version would have him ruthlessly taking Prince Adam out of the picture, for good, joining both halves of the power sword, marrying Teela, and totally taking over Castle Grayskull and becoming master of its arcane secrets.

Defining Game #5: Battletech

5. (Classic) Battletech, 1986

I chose the cover of this technical readout because this was the first kind of supplement I had bought for a miniatures game, and memorized it cover to cover.

Battletech was my first minis game, ever. I played it with the same neighborhood kids that introduced me to #3 on the list, and I see a trend developing here. Not only are these my 'foundation' games, but almost every entry has "blown me away" in one fashion or another.

Classic Battletech (we just called it Battletech back then) was just such a game. It was sci-fi, it had minis that you bought and painted, and it used terrain. This was it, this is the game that had me putting figs on the table and going "pew pew" to a complicated set of rules. We would spend whole weekends playing this game, often leaving the table setup to finish the game the next day.

Defining Game #6: Gamma World

6. Gamma World 3rd edition, 1987

Gamma World was the point where all of the gaming moments #1-#5 started to really come together. It was more than just roleplaying too because we really got into the creation of settings, rolling up NPCs, making monsters, equipment, cartographizing (yes, I just made that up) whole lands, and lots more.

Before Gamma World, roleplaying for me had some tentative steps and of course solid beginnings but Gamma World was the first time I personally put it all together. We had a lot of memorable post-apoc games starting with the box set you see here. It would expand of course, but it's important to note our games weren't always serious stuff, we were just having fun with it and seeing where the rules, and our imaginations, were going to go. This was the first time my gaming took a light-hearted approach, and for that I had such a good time, obviously a trend I would take with me, well, pretty much always.

Defining Game #7: WEG Star Wars

7. Star Wars RPG, 1988

I remember when this game first came out, it was a roleplaying game...set in the Star Wars universe. "What? Are you kidding me?", I thought. That was so awesome at the time, and West End Games had an instant hit, I was blown away.

It's really funny, in high school I got in with a group that was playing Star Wars, this would also be the first time I went somewhere else to game other than home (or the neighborhood). Not being old enough to drive however my folks had to drive me there. The house they drove me to is in the neighborhood I currently live in, in fact it's just one street over. It's kind of neat to think about. Anyway, WEG Star Wars was great fun, it was a great license and with the sourcebooks I got to learn so much more about my favorite franchise (at the time) to boot.

Defining Game #8: WH40K Rogue Trader

8. Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader, 1988

In terms of miniature gaming, this is the big one, that one defining moment that really kicked it all off to the present. I bought the softcover rules that were shrinkwrapped with the classic box of thirty "beaky" space marines at a Waldenbooks. Yeah, I was shocked when I discovered I not only had to paint the figures, but assemble them as well. Of course putting together thirty beakies made something click deep inside, with superglue stuck to my hands, space troopers with big guns half-assembled on the table I knew something was right with the world. White Dwarf magazine wasn't far behind, and before I knew it I was officially a miniatures gamer. Definitely a defining gaming moment.

Defining Game #9: AD&D 2nd Edition

9. AD&D 2nd edition, 1989

Anyone who gamed in the eighties is going to have this one on their list. The weird thing is that this is number nine on mine. Usually Dungeons and Dragons is at the top, if not in the number one slot. Nope, it's not even top five material for me believe it or not. It doesn't make it any less special, it's just noteworthy that in all of my gaming foundations, DnD came pretty late in the game.

Of course once it made its debut it never really left, so for that reason and more, here it is. We usually played in the Forgotten Realms, but had brief stints in pretty much all of the other settings out there, Dark Sun being one of my more favorites, though it was short lived. Homebrew campaigns, hand drawn dungeon maps, lengthy character bios, all the tropes and more that come with the territory were formed during this time. As far as staying power, and games that shape what the future was going to bring, AD&D had it all. We would eventually go back and play first edition, as well as have a very long 3/3e campaign within recent years. Whatever its incarnation, DnD is just that, DnD; it's not just a staple, it's the staple..

Friday Rucht Hour: The Minis of Alpha Wolf Pack

Well, I wanted to get into Crucibles and Incidents, but I'll save that for a later date. Right now, let's talk minis.

The Alpha Wolf Pack system that I'm writing relies on mins for its combat, though you could do without it, if you really wanted. I ran a playtest back in May using proxy minis, but the playtest group definitely said that the game was lacking something with the proxies that I had to use.

So, I went about looking for some good sci-fi minis for my next playtest. I asked Mik and he directed me to Pig Iron, which was an excellent suggestion. I was able to get about ten good military sci-fi figures for about 30 dollars. A reasonable price for 10 figs. Much better than what I would have paid at Reaper.

Here's the work:

Here are some typical guys base coated. Heavy infantry. Need to get proper bases for all of them, though.

And here are two of them painted up. They paint up really fast. I was able to knock one out in 30 minutes. But onto something I'm pretty stoked about. I needed a heavy gunner mini, and here's what they had....

He's another heavy infantry guy, with an underslung rifle. But I wanted a more dramatic weapon for a heavy gunner, so I got an old heavy weapon I had from a Reaper mini that I had and did a replacement.

I used the Dremmel that you see back behind the fig. The tricky part was the weapon's stock, behind the figure's right hand. I had to saw that off carefully and reattach it to the soldier's hand. Anyhow, here's the final result....

Viola! He was definitely fun to assemble and paint.

And here's a parting shot of the back of all three figures painted so far. More later!

Thor's Day Hero: Solomon Kane

Nigh on a hundred years later, Solomon Kane is still a character too cool for words. Sharing a lineage that goes back to the same Howardian inkwell that gave us Conan the Barbarian, Kane is a 16th century dark hero, brooding and smiting evil with all the zeal only a Puritan can muster. Equally at home with musket and rapier, not to mention a magic cudgel from time to time, Kane cut a swath through supernatural horror before people even realized supernatural horror was a genre.

Defining Game #10: Champions

10. Champions 4th edition, 1990

Starting off with number ten does leave a lot of questions unanswered as to what came before, but suffice it to say the other nine spots before this one helped only to make this one that much better.

It was 1990, I was sixteen and had a car, and a bunch of gaming under my belt. I was also big into comic books, so when a superhero rpg came out, I had to sign up. This was also the first time I remember having to actually work for the money to buy the hardback rulebook, which was kind of expensive at the time!

So I was mobile, driving myself to comic shops and games of Champions at other friends' houses, it was a good time indeed. I remember a lot of these games mainly due to the characters we painstakingly crafted but also the epic four hour battles against equally cool villains.

After 1990, and this foray into Champions, everything else gaming in my life just kind of exponentially grew. There's a reason I stuck with the first ten for this list, because the next twenty plus games could go on and on for quite a while!

I've got a lot of honorable mentions along the way, cool games that might've been one-shots or short-lived. The ten I picked out for this list however are the milestones themselves. So with Champions in the number ten spot we kick off the first ten gaming moments that have defined who I am, as a gamer, today. Enjoy!

Gaming Foundations

I know, this photo is shamelessly lifted from a SBH game I played with my daughter last year, but I think it fits the subject of this post quite well. After reading BaronVonJ's recent post about their "defining top ten" games, and another similar one over at Lead Addict (of which I can't find right now to link to) I decided to jump in as well with my own variation.

If you know me, or just follow here or whatever, you know I play a lot of games, all kinds from roleplaying to tabletop minis to boardgames, and then all different genres in each of those categories as well. But what started me on this path? What were my first forays in gaming, who brought me to the first big dance? Well following this post will be my first ten gaming milestones, going all the way back to age seven. Now that I'm pushing forty I can safely say they had an impact on me.

My buddy Oz, who has been along for the ride for a lot of the games to be mentioned, had said just the other day about how I haven't been posting a lot. It's true, but this should remedy that somewhat. Also in the vein of Counterfett and his excellent series of lists that he does, I'm going to space out my gaming moments as well. Sure, it's a cheap ploy for mileage on my part, but it spares y'all from having to read all ten at once as well. So look for the number ten spot tomorrow, and as usual I'd love to engage you in whatever recollections you have about these same games. Until then, enjoy!

Friday Rucht Hour: The Threats of Alpha Wolf Pack

Last week, we got to peek at the Alpha Wolf Pack character sheet. This week, I thought I'd let you guys peek at one of the threats of the World of 2359:

Worms

Worms are formally known as temporal entities or T.E.s. This species of alien life appears to be actively hostile to the human race. It is believed that they possess some form of intelligence, though it is unknown to what degree this is the case. Social scientists point out that Worms appear to have no culture, construct no artifacts, and use no tools. At the same time, they appear to understand human language and are known for targeting key systems on ships and bases.

Worms were first discovered around the planet of Gorgon, one of two habitable planets in the Barnard’s Star system. They were discovered approximately one Terran year after the first science stations were founded on the surface of the planet. The first encounters with the Worms were exceedingly deadly. The entire science team that was planet side during the assault died, save one.

The site of the attack was a science station, known as EO6. It is now considered to be a no-go zone for all Terran personnel. Amongst the Wolf Pack Squadrons, the infamous science station is known as the “Ghost Pit” and has gained an almost legendary status in space lore.

Worms are often terrifying for those who encounter them, due to their strange ability to bypass the laws of time and space. Watching these beings travel back and forth through time, pass through solid objects, and occupy two places at once often proves disconcerting for those observing them. 

Worms take a variety of forms, but the most common is that of giant maggots which flow through space as if it were water. Their hooked mouths constantly open and close, continually chewing. Most advanced forms of Worms appear to be giant maggots with multiple limbs, though each of these limbs appears to be comprises of smaller Worms. Finally, there are the “sliders” which appear to be humanoid beings composed of swarming Worms that continually roil in space. 

So, there's some of the fluff. Let's look at some of the rules involves with Worms. The Worms get a number of special abilities. We call these Stunts in Alpha Wolf Pack. Player characters get Stunts as well. The Director also gets a number of story abilities called Incidents. They are a limited resource that he can play on characters and on the units they control. The reason Incidents are separate from Stunts are because they allow the Director to radically alter the story, setting, or part of a unit not just give his bad guys extra abilities. Here's an example of some incidents for Worms specifically. 

I’m Already Dead!

One or more a unit’s men has seen themselves dead. Pass a Leadership skill test or your unit gains the Horrified condition. Your unit has gained the horrified condition. This means that, to take action, you must pass a Leadership test first. If you take on a Crucible, you may eliminate this condition.

Separated in Time

A commander or her unit (or both) disappear into the past for a time. This may mean that they miss a scene or a round of Tactical Combat. While they are back in time, they are able to interact with the people and events there for a short period.

Schism

A time schism occurs, possibly slicing people in half or damaging equipment. Unit takes damage 3d6+6. Proper use of an Authority Skill in a one-off scene lowers the damage to 2d6+4. An outstanding roll or roleplaying can reduce the damage as well. Both a successful roll and good roleplaying bring the damage down to 1d6+2.

Man Out of Time

A single soldier slips out of time, but returns! He is shocked and horrified at what he saw. A dramatic scene might pull some more information out of him!

Loop Around

The platoon encounters an already damaged enemy (half Stress). When it is killed, it later appears in the game at full health, only to disappear when half of its Stress is done to it in damage.

Loop Forwards

Cause a damaged enemy to disappear - it may reappear anywhere or at anytime later.

Future Man
A character from the past appears amongst one of the Wolf Pack units. The group as limited time to interact with him before he disappears into the past again. Until then, the unit can protect the man just like an asset. They use crowd control to move the past-character and must protect him as well. 

Remember, to activate this ability, the Director must spend one of his incidents to do so. What's fun about this is that different threats will have different lists of incidents, making each one distinctive in tone and flavor. We'll get more into Crucibles and Incidents next time! 

Thor's Day Hero: Steve Zissou

Oceanographer, explorer, adventurer...Steve Zissou is all of these things and more. Driven by his passion for the sea, and to wreak vengeance upon the Jaguar Shark that ate his friend, Zissou is a charismatic whirlwind. Imagine Cousteau with a sidearm. He fights off pirates, rival oceanographers, film critics, and more to pursue his goals, where the means always justify the end. He knew this bartender, Kino, that made the best rum cannonball he ever tasted. I daresay that when the Thor's Day Heroes assemble, Zissou might be the force of personality it takes to keep them all in line.

"Anne-Marie, do all the interns get Glocks?" -Steve Zissou