I’ve long been a fan of those ridiculous Japanese monster movies where Godzilla or Gamera or whoever wrecks Tokyo and beats up any other monsters that get in his way. I also have a sizable collection of wind-up insect toys. I’m not proud of this, but it’s the truth.

A nightmarish scene indeed!

So when I saw Phil’s huge collection of foam and cardboard buildings I immediately wanted to run a monster game. A search of the Internet turned up a great set of rules called “Destroy All Monsters!” The rules were written by John Xavier Crimmins are available for free at http://voicenet.com/~johncrim/Monsters.html

The rules are fast and fun. Each player gets a monster which is rated in a few categories like strength, power, health, and armor. Each monster can be a unique creation complete with a few super powers and a weakness. Monsters battle each other by rolling loads of 6 sided dice. An entertaining twist is that the player adds up all his dice and gets to re-roll and sixes so there is a large range in the possible final total. There are quite a few nifty monster powers that match most of the antics from the movies: flight, energy blast, venom, burrowing, forcefield, etc. It’s important to be careful when you design your monsters to avoid creating the unbeatable UberMonster that will pound every other monster into pudding and leave the rest of the players in tears. Monsters expend power points to use their special powers and regain their power points at a rate of one per turn. Using your power points wisely is one key to success. If you’re not satisfied with monster fights you can send in the army. The army units are predictably fragile but if they gang up on some poor monster they can hurt. Monsters are able to stomp large numbers of army units at will, but watch out for the secret weapon!

The game is easy to learn and provides a refreshing break from historical wargaming for the young at heart. The game can also be enjoyed by children. I suggest you invite gamers to bring their own monsters then let them go at it. We play tested these rules twice, including a big fight at the Feb. Game Day. Each player got one monster, but we gave John two because in the first game he was killed almost instantly and we felt sorry for him. The combatants at the Feb. “Monster Mash” were:

SuperFly - A giant fly with a venomous bite (Ceasar)
Mothra - The famous monster movie star with the power of flight and a cosmic energy blast (Charlie)
Sparkzilla - A Godzilla wannabe with electric breath (John Burke)
Gimantis - A Praying Mantis with sharp claws and a bad attitude (John Burke)
MechaGodzilla - A robotic Godzilla with laser eyes and a forcefield (Rob McBride)
Goo Slug - An icky pink slug that can spit acid or goo
Pink Wabbit - A horribly cute pink rabbit with an energy drain, AKA The De-Energizer Bunny (Matt)
Army - Several tank, missile tank, and infantry units, plus their dreaded Secret Weapon (Tony McBride)

Predictably, the battle began with John and Ceasar sending their monsters straight at each other. Gimantis carve up SuperFly, leaving him with one health point, but SuperFly’s venom proved lethal. Fortunately we had provided John with a back up monster. Rob’s MechaGodzilla blundered into the Army and they swarmed him like a bunch of angry army ants. They obliterated him in two turns, but MechaGodzilla’s death throes wrecked the secret weapon and scattered the remaining Army units.

The other monsters were curiously passive in the early turns. Pink Wabbit seemed to be wandering aimlessly, and Mothra knocked down a few building just for the fun of it. The monsters were enraged when the Army killed one of their fraternity. Only monsters are allowed to kill monsters! SuperFly and Mothra spent several turns pulverizing the Army. The remaining monsters moved towards a fatal showdown. Goo Slug, Sparkzilla, and Pink Wabbit attacked each other.

Pink Wabbit was on the verge of death when he was saved by his energy drain. This really annoyed the other monsters and soon the cry rang out “Kill the Wabbit!” But Pinky was much tougher than he looked and he bravely took them both on, and fought on even after Mothra joined the fight against him. Pinky’s only ally was Superfly, who couldn’t pass liked the game enough to play it a few more times on their own. In conclusion I strongly recommend “Destroy All Monsters!” to anyone looking for an amusing diver-sion or a miniatures game that will appeal to the kiddies.