I consider Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake to be one of my favorite games ever. I had to use a MSX emulator to get the original experience, but also played the updated version that came with one of the MGS3 special editions. I got into Metal Gear thanks to Metal Gear Solid around 1999 or so, buying a copy for my PS1 with a gift card for a birthday, picking that game as I remembered playing the original NES Metal Gear. It was a great shock to me how much of MGS as far as themes, plot points, and events were lifted from MG2.
Cool story bro, I know. The point is, when IDW announced their Metal Gear Solid board game, I was all in. But delay has followed delay, and now my mind has wandered to alternate game systems for some Metal Gear action. This project was planned as a reskin of the board game, but I've also found Osprey Games' Black Ops by Guy Bowers. He lists MGS as an inspiration in the foreword, and it's clear he's a big fan. I'm still digesting the rules, but this seems like a great system to get my Solid Snake itch taken care of. https://ospreypublishing.com/black-ops
I've customized a few figures for this theme already. Made in 1990 but set in the far away year of 1999, it has a delightfully 80's feel to it, so I wanted to try to capture that when possible, and I wanted to try and be as true to the characters as possible- even if they're just 8-bit sprites. I did make a few altercations in the name of gameplay and (hopefully) spicing up specific encounters with certain enemies.
Solid Snake here is originally a RAFM figure from their Modern Heroes line, I think he's called the SWAT lieutenant or something to that effect. Main conversion work was cutting away the M4 carbine he was holding and replacing it with a silenced MAC-10 from Hasslefree, a MAC-11 being what Snake eventually finds in Zanzibar Land. Otherwise, just a small bit of trimming to make a channel in the sculpt's hair to make room for the trademark bandana with GS, a small GS pouch on the right breast to cover some of my hacking to remove the M4, and a GS silencer for the holstered pistol (which we'll assume is a Beretta 92F). Colors mainly blocked on at this point with some drybrushing, still need to do some washing and highlights.
Using a Crooked Dice Department X Commando figure (you'll hear a lot about these figures in this post), I made a Natasha Marcova just with a headswap from Crooked's 'female minions with berets'. Renamed 'Gustava Heffner' in later versions, Natasha/Gustava was a member of the Czech STB who infiltrated Zanzibar Land's army when she and Dr. Kio Marv were captured, setting in motion the plot of the game. She needed to look the same as the Zanzibar Land guards as below, as she stole one of their uniforms and was walking around as an enemy a la Meryl Silverburgh in MGS.
Next up is the 2nd boss you fight in the game, Running Man. This was a $3 USD Reaper Bones figure with some trimming done and minor GS work to make the hooded gas mask he wears in the game, as the original sculpt already had a hooded mask thing going for it. A disgraced former Olympian-turned-terrorist/mercenary, you fight him in an armory flooded with nerve gas while he plays keep away from you so the gas can finish you off before you can finish him. You need to set some mines to "catch" him, but I'm concerned that wouldn't be the most entertaining scenario on the table, so I gave the figure a MP5 SMG from RAFM for some direct offensive ability. Very happy with how he turned out, especially for how cheap and easy a figure he was.
Further into the game, you get ambushed by Red Blaster. A former Spetsnaz explosive expert with a special operations degree, he rather creepily crawls onto the screen after you exit an elevator, trip wires all over the place to restrict your movement. He lobs grenades at you from cover, and the way to beat him is to throw grenades back. This was another Crooked Dice Department X commando figure, with a large hood trimmed off the shoulders and a smaller collar from GS in it's place. I rolled 5 little GS balls and glued them to his belt to represent Red Blaster's love for grenades. Going to try and paint the white and blue striped undershirt (telnyashka) of the Russian airborne and naval infantry troops, cause you know, Russia. Another departure from the game, I gave the figure a SPAS-12 shotgun from RAFM, just in case the grenades failed to do the trick.
Even later in the game, you fight Predator, who got renamed to 'Jungle Evil' in later versions, which sounds lame. Former South African special forces-turned-mercenary, he was called the "master of the jungle ambush." In game, he looks like he's got a big LMG for a weapon, so I used another Crooked Dice figure which happens to be carrying a LMG! Head swap for a New Order head from Mad Robot mainly to match the big, thermal goggle look of the character. Looking at his sprite, he seems to be wearing a gas mask even though you fight him in an open field, so I'm not sure why that is even as I copied the look. A backpack from Mad Robot and some GS ghillie-type netting draped over his shoulders and I'm calling him done.
Lastly, the man himself: Big Boss! Simplest conversion here, this is a Hasslefree figure with a GS eyepatch and a weapon swap from a dinky handgun to a more respectable MAC-11. The pose of the figure limits what I can do for weapons, as Big Boss comes after you with a big honking gun in the game that I just couldn't fit with this figure's pose.
For grunts, I'm again using Crooked Dice Dept X commandos with X insignia filed off for the basic Zanzibar Land guards, the brown-and-orange camo, red beret-wearing mooks who make up the vast majority of in-game opposition. The game manual states that the Steyr AUG and the Enfield L85 were the standard weapons, but as Zanzibar Land's army was mercenary, I think popular guns like the MP5 and the FAL would be well-represented, too. Like Snake, these just have some colors blocked in for proof-of-concept purposes (they don't even have their signature red berets yet!), and need a lot more work for washing and highlights. I have at least a few more ZL guards planned, including a green beret to be followed, maybe as a squad lead or miniboss-type of profile.
I'm still on the lookout for good figures for Black Color, Ultrabox, Night Fright, and Gray Fox, after which I'll have all of Zanzibar Land's elite mercenaries on the table. I'm thinking maybe a ninja from Infinity for Black Color, who was a member of -get this- NASA's extraterrestrial special forces unit! How cool is that?! Even cooler, the game manual hints that Black Color wasn't the only member of this unit running around ZL, just that Kyle Schneider was the one you encounter in the game.
These are the sprite sheets I've been using as reference...
Thanks for looking!
