SUPERSOLDIERS OF EUROFORCE

Hello again. Even though I still don't know for certain what direction I'll take with the Supers! project, I have started to collect a few minis. At the very least I want to represent the team I presented some time ago (in this post), and many of the necessary minis are already in my collection. There's also the fact that I've written quite a lot of fluff for that setting, so now I'm going to present you some info on the supersoldiers that make up the bulk of Euroforce.

Euroforce is the best known result and the core of the E.S.H.D.I. (European Super Hero Defense Initiative), which was promptly created when U.S.-centric S.H.I.E.L.D. manifested its intention to lead the superhero defense in Europe through its British brand S.T.R.I.K.E.
Basically, Euroforce is composed of two main groups: six superheroes, and twenty-one supersoldiers. The six superheroes are Fusion, Nightslip, S. T. Roid, Zenith, Griffon and Afterburn. When people talk about Euroforce, it's usually about this team they think of.
But, as said, they are supported by other twenty-one soldiers (so that every European state has one member in it). These are deemed "supersoldiers", and rightly so, for they receive a treatment not too dissimilar to the one that Captain America went through, that has taken all of them to the maximum human limits. Because of that, popular belief is that they are almost clones; but that is wrong. The art of war has many facets, and all of them must be catered for.
Twelve of them are "standard" supersoldiers, designed to maximize their efficiency in all kind of situations, as Captain America was. The best equilibrium of strength, resistance, stamina, agility, reflexes, speed and mental capabilities guarantee their supremacy against all non-augmented humans. They are equipped with state-of-the-art next generation armour and weaponry: the armour is a skin-tight fabric made mostly of woven cordura with kevlar, with extra protective plates in key areas; and their weapon of choice is a high velocity rifle, or a plasma cannon as alternative heavy weapon. I will be using old Void Syntha prosthene marines to represent them: click for pic.
Six of them (the ones that were policemen previous to the Euroforce program) form the "protectors". Their augmentation were designed with two clear purposes on mind: to protect the innocent bystanders in superheroics operations, and to repress superpowered crime. Because of that, the stress was put in their strength and resistance, including healing capacities, in lieu of speed and agility. They are granted a rigid heavy armour, including a helmet inlaid with adamantium (so as to avoid mental manipulation), and a riot shield with an adamantium mesh core too. They wield a multipurpose subrifle capable of firing standard ammunition, as well as anti-riot hard foam bullets, and even act as a potent sonic disruptor. These will be represented with Void Viridian (plastic) marines: click for pic.
Two of them were selected to be developed and trained into being a strike team; that is to say, quick support for when things go wrong. They've had their reflexes and coordination maximized, and constantly train both with Griffon and Nightslip. The reason is that they are equipped with wing-shaped jetpacks (so they can quickly get in and out of the action), and Griffon is the master in true three-dimensional combat; and armed with two pistols, an area in which Nightslip's gun-fu reigns supreme. Since they always dive deep into danger a full armour was a must; but it's not so clunky as the one worn by the protectors, so as to no hinder their movements. The Void Vasa shuriken guard are my choice this time: click for pic.
Finally there's the comm technician, who also excels as hacker. This girl was specifically selected for that role since during her service at the army had shown an incredible affinity with any and all computer languages. As a supersoldier her augmentation veered in the direction of enhancing her mental capacities for performing such tasks, including the implantation of cybernetics directly linked to her nervous system. She's not supposed to enter combat, but just in case she wears a slight variation of the common supersoldier garment, and is armed with a simple sidearm. The mini for her is the Void Vasa knight of spirit. Here you can see her as painted by Astorderire on CMoN. The paintjob he used is the one I'll use too: dark blue fabrics, and black armour plates.

That's all for now. Who knows what will the next post be about? And when will it be posted?

EUROFORCE

Continuing with the superhero trend from the last post, I'm going to present the main group of superheroes that may make an appearance in a possible Supers RPG: Euroforce.
The setting will be roughly based in that presented in the first volume of the Ultimates, by Marvel Comics. There, the USA government create a team of superheroes to counteract terrorism by supervillains (i.e. Magneto). Later in volume two it's shown that the European Union is creating its own superteam; but instead of the boring "Captains " I prefer to create a team with more unique supers.
The given name is Euroforce, based on the term "international task force". Doing a bit of wiki-fu I've discovered that there was a short-lived team named "Euroforce", in Marvel Italy; so think of this as an ultimate reboot. This group is part of the European Super Heroic Defense Initiative, or E.S.H.D.I. for short.
What follows is a brief introduction of the main members of the group:

· FUSION
Real name: James Bertrand.
Nationality: French.
The leader of an international scientific research group into cold fusion, that got caught in an accident that made him the wearer of ultimate nuclear power.
His powers include super-strength, invulnerability, the ability to fly, and project beams of pure nuclear or calorific energy.

· S. T. ROID
Real name: Stephan T. Roissburg.
Nationality: German.
He's the abominable result of the abuse of hormones and steroids genetically engineered by a former R.D.A. scientist.
His main power is his top super-strength, as well as enhanced resistance and stamina.

· NIGHTSLIP
Real name: Dionne Backingsdale.
Nationality: British.
The last in a long tradition of London vigilantes that dates back to the XIX century, and the second one to don the "Nightslip" warname.
She has no true super powers, but she's been trained to become the pinnacle of human performance and she's an excellent shooter.

· AFTERBURN
Real name: Tuomo Heikkinen.
Nationality: Finnish.
This is a case of a cybernetic suit of armour using the pilot's nervous system as a C.P.U. to bypass the need of an ultra-advanced A.I.
His powers are: super-strength, super-resistance, flight, repulsion beams and a lesser wireless hacking ability.

· ZENITH
Real name: Antonio Ferrari.
Nationality: Italian.
A former athlete banned from competition accused of doping abuse, due to his constant breach of records, who's actually a mutant that became a superhero to clean his name.
Super-speed and super-agility are his super powers, along with ultra fast recovery from damage and injuries.

· GRIFFON
Real name: Ferenc Balogh.
Nationality: Hungarian.
He's a monstrous amalgamation of human, lion and eagle. A new incarnation of the mythological creature, he's actually a very late product of alien DNA mixing.
He can fly with his wings, has super-sight, and he also possess great strength and dexterity for close combat.

Also, alongside these supers, all the other countries from Europe demand to have a member in the group. In order to satisfy those demands ESHDI has developed a super-soldier program akin to that of the USA, and so there's always a reserve of enhanced humans for minor missions or support to the front team.

Finally, there are two superheroes waiting to enter the group; both of them with powers of mystical origin. Rasputina hasn't been able to enter yet because of diplomatic problems with Russia (her country of birth); and the morals of Diablo are the subject of much debate (he likes walking the thin line between superhero and supervillain).

· RASPUTINA
Real name: Anastasia Morzova.
Nationality: Latvian (Russian).
Anastasia has been trained since childhood to master the magical forces of Nature; she escaped Russia, though, to have more freedom in the use of her wizardry.
She's an accomplished mage, and that means she has telepathy, telekinesis, and conjuration abilities, among others.

· DIABLO
Real name: Eduardo Arregui.
Nationality: Spanish.
He's got a devilish look and hellish powers; thought by many to be a mere mutant, he claims to be a mystical embodiment of evil who plays the good side because it's more fun.
He's got superhuman strength and resistance, but his main power is the control of hellfire, with which he fights or hurls at enemies, and his capacity to induce fear.

SUPERS !

Well, finally I've stopped resisting the urge to buy some superheroes minis. As far as I remember, I've always been a fan of superheroes' comics (I traditionally belonged to the Marvel "sect", although more recently I've become fond of DC goodness too). And lately there are two companies that are releasing some amazing sculpts of superhero minis: Pulp City, and Reaper Minis in its Chronoscope range.
The Pulp City minis have a coherent look to them, that can be easily compared with the modern and realistic designs of the Ultimate line from Marvel comics. The superheroes from Chronoscope are more diverse (as is always the case with Reaper minis), and lean more towards the old style of four-colour heroes. From these manufacturers I've selected some 15-20 minis that will be added to my collection. To these I'll add a conversion for a superhero player character I envisioned some years ago (a Devil's Child alter-ego).

Here are just some for your viewing pleasure (original studio paintjobs):





What will I do with these? Honestly, I'm not sure yet. I have limited myself to keep minis only for their use to represent PCs in roleplaying games. So in theory I should create a Supers RPG just to justify the minis! But I'm not sure if the common ruleset I'll be using (remember, that which adapts the Dragon Age RPG with my previous Arcade rules) is able to cope with the special powers that superheroes have. The most sensible course of action seems to be equating super powers to the special powers the PCs in the Ajsalium setting have. After all, their powers are not all that different to magic. Alternatively to the rpg, a Heroclix-like skirmish wargame would be a possibility, too. What is for certain is that those minis will look gorgeous in my display cabinet!