AVENGERS (40K): part 1

AVENGERS I

I know I can’t be the only big geek planning on seeing the new Avengers movie.  I wasn’t really expecting it to be that good (story- or character-wise at least, I’m sure the visuals will be awesome), but then I saw that Joss Wehdon was involved, so that’s given me hope that it might end up pretty good.

Anyway, a while back I made up 40k stats and rules for quite a handful of them (and X-men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, too—went through a stage where I wanted a bunch of Heroclix, not necessarily to play, just to collect).  So I thought that it would play well with the movie hype to share some of my 40K Avengers over the next few weeks.  These stats are just for fun but are written befitting their superness as if they were joining an Imperial Guard force, mostly as Independent Characters.  (Hey, the Guard need all the help they can get—even their tough guys are sissies!) 

So here’s the first three:

1. Trooper Banner a.k.a. The Hulk:

Trooper Banner is not quite your average rank and file guardsmen, though he starts out looking that way.  He is bought with a Troop choice guardsmen unit and secretly embedded much like an assassin.  Mark down which unit he is with but don’t tell your opponent.  (He’ll find out soon enough.)

“Don’t make me angry...” 

Treat the unit as normal until Banner Hulks-Out.  This happens in two ways: 

*  The first time the unit takes casualties.  At the end of the phase, if any models remain, replace one trooper with the Hulk, placing it 2” away from the unit.  He acts alone from here out.  But if the whole unit is wiped out—either in shooting or sweeping advance or whatever—Banner may die before he can become the Hulk.  Roll a die.  On a 1 Banner is killed and never Hulks-Out. On 2-6 place Hulk at least 1” from enemies.  

*  The squad sergeant or commissar is privy to Banner’s secret and decides not to take any chances.  He maims Banner himself with a las-pistol in order to provoke the Hulk.  You may choose to activate him this way at the beginning of your turn.  Remove one trooper and place Hulk 2” away.  Then roll a D6: on a 1-3 Hulk kills the sergeant or commissar that shot him, remove that model.  Hulk begins play from here out starting with the Move phase.  (Note that if no sergeant/commissar is present, this isn’t possible.)

“...You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” 

The more you hurt Hulk the more pissed he gets and the stronger and more dangerous he becomes.  For every Wound Hulk takes add S+1 and A+1, max S10, A6.

Universal Rules:  Eternal Warrior, Furious Charge, Counter-Attack, Fearless, Rage

Monster:  Once he becomes the Hulk he is a Monstrous Creature in all respects.  In addition, due to his sheer invulnerability and rapid healing, he has a 4+ invuln save.

HULK:

WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
4	0	7	6	4	3	3	7	-/4+

40K Flavor:  If I were going to remake him for 40K, I’d need a much bigger model than the Heroclix version.  An ogryn could work but they’re too dumb and fat looking.  Maybe modify an old minotaur mini or something.  A big muscular model with torn clothing, obviously painted green.  Trooper Banner should be dorky with glasses, maybe with a vox caster to show his scientific aptitude. 

*

2.  Captain America: 

WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
6	5	5	4	3	5	3	10	5+/4+

Super-Soldier:  Cap has Eternal Warrior, Preferred Enemy, and Feel No Pain, as well as being Stubborn.

Inspiring Presence:  All units within 12” may use Cap’s Leadership score.  In addition, any unit he joins gains Stubborn and Preferred Enemy.

Tactician:  Your army may reroll to determine who gets the first turn.

Scalemail Costume:  Armor 5+

Vibranium Alloy Shield:  Cap’s shield gives him a 4+ Invuln save.  He may also throw it as a ranged weapon with the following profile:

            Range 12”        S4        AP--    Assault 3*, Stun*

* As the shield ricochets around before returning to his hand, he may split the 3 hits among up to 3 different target units in range.  If he makes a successful To Wound roll against with his throw, whether they make their Armor Save or not, the affected model has their Initiative reduced to 1 in the immediate Assault Phase. 

40K Flavor:  I’d have fun remaking Cap as an Imperial Super Soldier.  Rather than the American motif he could have an Aquila on his chest, probably like the carapace breastplates some Impie officer models have, plus lots of belt pouches and straps and holsters and such.  Obviously he’d have a big round storm shield with an Imperial symbol on it and probably a bolt pistol.  He’d be best joined to storm trooper or vet squads. 

*

3.  Wolverine

WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
7	4	4	4(5)	3	6	D6	9	6+

Claws:  His claws count as 2 CCW (A+1) that Rend on a 5 or 6.  When Rending roll an extra D6 for armor penetration rather than a D3.

Healing Factor: Wolverine heals at such an incredible rate that he makes Feel No Pain rolls and can do so for any wound he receives—the normal restrictions do not apply (such as against power weapons, AP 1 or 2, etc.).  If he recovers from an Instant Death he comes back with 1 Wound left.  

Adamantium Skeleton:  His unbreakable bones give him Toughness +1 (shown above).  This does not count when making T-tests or determining Instant Death.

Berserker Rage:  When in close combat, Wolverine rolls d6 for his number of attacks.  You then add in his extra hand weapon (+1) and any charging or special bonuses.  He is also Stubborn and has Fleet.  

Superhero Costume:  Armor of 6+

40K Flavor:  To make him more 40K, and to reflect his background as a spec ops soldier, I might augment a storm trooper model and give him that armor (so change Save to 4+), and of course give him the claws and an appropriate Space Wolf head, maybe with sniper goggles on his forehead.  He could be an upgrade to a storm trooper squad.  I’d probably make him a little less powerful too (this is the superhero version, after all).  As a storm trooper upgrade and spec ops specialist, maybe he’d give the unit Infiltrate and Stealth too.

**And I just thought of something else I hadn’t before: while I’m remaking Marvel heroes for IG use, what if Ghost Rider was a rough rider upgrade...?