Miami Vice at Historicon 2023

At Historicon 2023, I ran a game using the 7TV rules.  The scenario was based on the 1980s tv show Miami Vice and was set up for 4 players: Miami Vice, a Colombian Cartel, the Miami Mafia, and the Japanese Yakuza.  As documented in my previous posts, I created the scenario in part as motivation to paint the excellent Brigade Games miniatures that I had for Miami Vice and the Cartel.  Research consisted of watching seasons 1 & 2 of Miami Vice on DVD.  The links below will take you to the posts for the factions that I painted for the game (the Mafia were older miniatures):

Miami Vice

Cartel

Yakuza

Each faction started with 7-10 miniatures.  In 7TV terms, each was 31 points and consisted of a Star, a Co-Star, and assorted extras.  I created custom game cards using the 7TV Casting agency, which allows you to edit the profile cards used for each miniature and add your own photos.  I then printed them out at a larger size.  You never know how the lighting will be and they are easier to read.

Each player also had a chance of reinforcements showing up in a random location during the game  Miami Vice frequently had guest stars on the show, so I chose miniatures that best fit the 1980s setting.  Each had a special ability that fit their character.  All were painted for this scenario except the Cartel ones.

Miami Vice's reinforcement was police officer Axel Foley from Beverly Hills Cop (Eddie Murphy), on vacation in Miami.  Next to him is ex-Taxi Driver Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro), who has moved to South Florida and is now a UPS driver, since I have a UPS van.  If he shows up he shoots at a random target.  Both are from Studio Miniatures/Hayland Terrain who have an extensive line of film and tv inspired miniatures.

The Cartel reinforcements consisted of two local dealers.  The one on the left is a Reaper Bones mini; the one on the right is from Hasslefree.  I already had these in my collection and thought they fit the setting perfectly.

The Mafia reinforcements were some associates from out-of-town.  Years before their starring roles in Pulp Fiction, Jules and Vincent (Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta) are visiting Miami on a business trip.  Also from Studio/Hayland., 

The Yakuza were able to call on their ship's crew, who have disembarked from the freighter and are visiting local businesses.  They are from North Star's Tong line

Now on to the games.  I ran the same scenario twice, which featured a warehouse complex with various tokens representing drugs, money, guns, etc (the yellow tokens in the pictures).  Setup areas were in each corner of the table.  Miami Vice had the complex under surveillance from a jewelry store (lower left) and moved in when they spotted the Cartel boats had docked (upper right).  Joining in the action were the Yakuza on a freighter (lower right) and the Miam Mafia at Carfagna's butcher shop (upper left).

Some highlights from the first game.  The Yakuza sumo wrestler attempted to crush Crockett and Tubbs in their convertible.  He wounded them but was thrown off the car when it moved the next turn.  The Yakuza leader is at the right holding a sword.  He met his end after being crushed between the car and a building.

Two DEA agents have confiscated some drugs.  Unfortunately there was an explosion and they are now on fire.

The tanker truck was hijacked by the Yakuza, but shot up by the police and has come to a stop.  The police surveillance van was destroyed.

The Cartel are escaping with their goods at bottom.  In the upper left, the Cartel 2nd in command (behind the row of barrels) is shooting at Crockett and Tubbs with his submachine gun.  

At the end of the game, Crockett took his third and final wound thanks to Cartel bullets with Tubbs frantically trying to revive him.  In true tv fashion, I am sure that he will have recovered next week!  The Cartel managed victory with 8 points (3 from killing Crockett), the Mafia 5, Miami Vice 4, and the Yakuza 2.  The Mafia won a shootout with the police to claim objectives, while the Yakuza fought both the police and cartel which wore them down.

The second game started with Miami vice deploying.

The Mafia approach the warehouse complex.

A view of the table.

Cartel advancing

The Yakuza advanced and had an early lead after taking control of the big warehouse to the right.

Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction taking shots at the police.

The Yakuza have forced the Cartel to retreat from the warehouse.  The Sumo Wrestler nearly crushed the Cartel boss (orange shirt) to death, he had one wound left and barely escaped.  The Cartel minion wasn't so fortunate.

Crockett and Tubbs have exited the car (after running down a Mafia soldier) and are exchanging shots with the Mafia.

The Yakuza were in the lead with 6 points, but the tide has turned against them.  They have moved through the warehouse, into the alley, and are now trapped in between the Mafia (top) and the Cartel (in the building at center right and the wharf at bottom.). Three of them are down and the 4th was shot while retreating.

Miami Vice have cleared the upper warehouse and left side and are moving against the Mafia.

The Cartel attempted to recover their drugs but were whittled down by the Mafia.

At the end the Cartel managed a narrow victory on points with 8 (1 from objectives and 7 from killing opposing stars and co-stars), Miami Vice 6 (and satisfied that they had confiscated a large quantity of drugs), the Mafia 1, and the Yakuza 0. 

Both games were fun to run and the players all seemed to have a good time.  7TV is a great set of rules that are adaptable to a wide range of settings.  I am already working on ideas for next year.

28mm Yakuza

The Yakuza are the third faction for my Miami Vice game.  When deciding what other factions to use in the game, I originally planned to use several that I already had painted such as bikers and the mafia.  I happened upon the Yakuza by accident in May 2023 when I was ordering some paint and really liked the look of them.  The 1980s was full of stories about Japan business overtaking the US, so I thought they would fit in well thematically and also provide a distinct group that would be easy to identify on the table.  After thinking about it for a day or two, I ordered them from a seller on eBay.  They are packaged as a 7-miniature set from North Star's A Fistful of Kung Fu range.

For the skin I used a basecoat of Howard Hues Oriental Flesh, a coat of GW Contrast Gulliman Flesh, then highlights with the original Oriental Flesh.  Five of them are dressed all in black and white, so I used contrast black and white to do a quick job on them.  I like the facial expressions and the slightly different clothing each is wearing.  As a nice touch, one has a missing little finger joint, which is a traditional Yakuza punishment.

The boss on the left with a sword and his ex-sumo wrestler henchman on the right.  I wanted to do a tattoo on his chest but many of the examples I found on Google were fairly elaborate for painting freehand.  I searched through my stash of decals and found some 15mm Norman shields by LBMS that were leftover from a project at least 10 years ago.  Several had dragons, with a hole for the shield boss, which allowed me to cut them up into 4 sections: head, body, wings, and claws.  Cutting them up was necessary to fit the available space.  I mixed parts of 2 different decals, applied them, then painted in a longer neck to connect them.  I think it turned out pretty well.

Three rank-and-file Yakuza who are very well-armed.

Two junior Yakuza.  The one on the left has an arm tattoo and brass knuckles.  With so much skinh showing I thought it needed something, but was wary of too complicated a pattern.  I modeled it after the fish-scale tattoos that I found on Google.

Ready to take over Miami!  They are fewer in numbers but heavily armed.

28mm Miami Vice

If you are going to run a Miami Vice-based scenario, you have to include the good guys.  The Miami Vice Squad consists of 11 miniatures.  Nine are from Brigade Games Drug War Z range, while two are by Studio Miniatures (now available from Hayland Terrain).  I have all the Brigade police models except for one which I overlooked during my original purchase.  If they need backup, I have several police from Crooked Dice in and out of uniform.

As I noted in my previous post on the Colombian Cartel, I painted these models in order to use them in a game I am running at Historicon 2023.  I will be using the 7TV rules, which are perfect for this sort of scenario.  I painted them in spring 2023.  Research consisted of watching the entire first and second seasons of Miami Vice on dvd, courtesy of my local library.  I haven't watched the show since it was first on in the 80s, and I thought it held up fairly well.  It also adjusted my usual color palette towards the brighter end of the spectrum.  I primarily used bright colors from an old Citadel paint set, Vallejo, and GW Contrast paints.  

The detectives are all in plain clothes, and like the Cartel models, are very well sculpted.  They had minimal flash, painted up well, and were fun to paint .  Most are armed with pistols so they will be outgunned by their criminal opponents.  Just to get you into the mood: Miami Vice theme

The stars of the show (l-r): Detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs (with his favorite sawn-off shotgun).  I admit that I didn't try and paint Crockett's trademark stubble because I couldn't find a technique I liked and thought would look right.  These are the versions from Studio Miniatures/Hayland Terrain.  

Lieutenant Castillo, played by a young Edward James Olmos.  A good representation of the actor.  He joined the show partway through the first season after the original lieutenant was killed.

An array of undercover detectives.

Two DEA agents.  Various DEA agents appear in episodes throughout the series.

The Brigade Games versions of Crockett and Tubbs.

The entire department ready to arrest evildoers.

The Citadel paint set that provided many of the colors used in this project. They worked well.

28mm Colombian Cartel

During Historicon 2022 I was brainstorming ideas for a game to run at Historicon 2023.  One idea was to run a Mimi Vice-themed game using the 7TV rules, which would be perfect for this sort of game.  I estimated that I already had most of what I would need, albeit unpainted  Back in 2020 I had backed a Kickstarter by Brigade Games for their Drug War Z range and had bought all of the Cartel and DEA packs.  They were still in my unpainted pile and this project would give me a reason to paint them.

I started with the 18 Cartel miniatures.  Colombians were frequent villains on Miami Vice.  While I wouldn't need all 18 for this scenario, I wanted to paint them in one batch.  I knew I would need some new pastel and/or bright paints.  By chance, while still at Historicon 2022, I was talking to another flea market seller at the end of a session and I walked over to his table while I was packing up.  He happened to have an old boxed set of Citadel edge paints, 9 pastel colors, for $10.  They were unopened and still liquid, so I decided to give them a try.  

The Citadel paints worked well over white and light colors.  I also used Vallejo and a few GW contrast paints.   I painted these miniatures in winter and spring 2023.  They are nice miniatures, cleanly sculpted with a variety of weapons and good period details such as wristwatches and rings.  There is a mix of facial features, hairstyles, and body types.  They are now available at Brigade Games.

My research for this project consisted of watching the first and second seasons of Miami Vice on dvd, courtesy of my local library.  It certainly adjusted my color palette to feature lots of bright colors and white pants!

Hitman on the left, the Cartel Boss on the right.  Did I mention the white pants?

The guy with the white-and-purple striped shirt is one of my favorites.

If I remember correctly, the Al Pacino Scarface mini on the left was free to early backers.

The one with the hat is another of my favorites.

The whole cartel.