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This week, the highly anticipated Web of Spider-Man expansion set releases, featuring a bunch of new Spidey-related pieces. It’s fitting, then, that this week’s featured mod is of the until-now-most-recent Marvel Universe version of the marquee character:

SPIDER-MAN  (Secret Invasion)

It's like a toy found in a "Happy Meal."

In fairness, this isn’t a bad sculpt. It’s inventive, even striking, and certainly outside the norm. It’s also widely derided as the “Happy Meal” Spider-Man for its super-bright colors, slightly oversized feet, head and hands (not dissimilar to this toy for the under-4 set).
Plus it’s cumbersome to fit “McSpidey” here into my over-stuffed clix box.
So here’s what I did:
  • Cut Spidey’s feet off the pole with a hobby knife.
  • Sawed the pole off the dial base with several knives. It was difficult.
  • Colored the cut mark on the dial black with a permanent marker.
  • Painted over the red parts of the costume with a heavily watered-down black acrylic paint wash. This would fill in the web design on his outfit with black and slightly darken the too-bright red. I used a Q-tip to sop up excess black paint.
  • Using super glue and modeler’s glue, I glued his feet to the dial.

Still a bit silly-looking, but it fits in my box now!

Completed mid-2008, this is a Spider-Man I’m not ashamed to field.

Next Monday: SKRULL INVASION!!!!!!!

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IRON MAN (Secret Invasion)

I’d like to say this mod was all my idea, but I can’t.
At all.
Here’s the original:

Also known as the Robert Downey Jr. sculpt.

Neat, unconventional sculpt. In fact, the sculptor revealed that he was under instructions from Marvel to specifically do an un-helmeted Iron Man sculpt.
But someone on HCRealms.com thought it’d be neat to put his held helmet on instead of his head, and did. It looked simple enough to do, and I’d done more radical mods already, so here’s how I proceeded:
  • Cut Robert Downey Jr.’s head off with a hobby knife.
  • Carefully cut the Iron Man helmet from the left hand.
  • Used a heated push pin to poke a small hole in both the neck stump and the corresponding point on the helmet.
  • Stuck a straight pin in the hole, then cut it off about 1.5 mm above the neckline.
  • Glued down the new head and swiveled it to a new facing position.
  • Painted the left side of his head and left hand where they were once joined together.
  • Painted the eye slits, chest unibeam and palm repulsor in white.

Completed mid-2008. Photo by Antonio Cade.

Again, not even remotely original; there are probably a dozen other guys on HCRealms alone who did the same. But it’s among my mods, so here it is.

Next Monday, I bring another Marvel icon down to earth.

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BATMAN & ROBIN (Justice League)

So the promo and official image looks like this:

See the yellow underside of Robin's cape?

But the production model’s Robin has an unpainted, black cape. So I:
  • Painted the underside of Robin’s cape with yellow acrylic paint.
  • Then I did it again, because it wasn’t thick enough and it looked a sickly green instead.
  • Then I added another layer.

Completed mid-2008.

OK, I guess. I learned that not all paints are equal to the task.
Next week’s wasn’t even my idea. But it’s one of my mods, and it worked well. Hope you’ll check it out!

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GAMBIT (Mutations & Monsters)

Or, as I like to call him: GUMBO.

Of all the core X-Men, Gambit is possibly the last one to straight-up fight a Sentinel. That’s one reason I never really liked the humongous robot’s hand on this sculpt. I also hated the way it took up so much room in my tackle box. So here’s what I did instead:
  • Used a combination of a stout exacto knife and brute force to snap the hand off the base.
  • Worked Gambit off the hand.
  • Glued Gambit’s feet to the dial base.
  • Cut the excess centimeter or so of his quarterstaff so he’d sit flat on the table.
The results:

Completed mid-2008.

Svelte enough to fit my overstuffed ‘clix box and yet still somewhat acrobatic-looking.

Next week: I finish what WizKids left undone.

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UGH! I knew I was forgetting something yesterday…my customary Monday modification article!
Lesson learned: To do lists are my friends. MAKE THEM!!! :)

GIANT-MAN (Mutations & Monsters)

Yet another version of the many-alter-ego’d Dr. Henry Pym in Heroclix, this one is an alternate-Earth Pym turned into a zombie.
I hate zombies on principle, pretty much. I don’t get what the fascination with them in certain circles is. But the fascination exists, and it has invaded HeroClix on numerous occasions.
This clix version has possibly the most gruesome sculpt in the game.

He's holding a dismembered hero in his arm and has one of those members in his mouth. That's just not even CLOSE to being right.

Hey. Black Panther is one of my favorite characters! I’d almost get rid of this figure just for that, but the dial is pretty playable. So here’s what I did instead:
  • Removed the arm from Giant-Man’s mouth.
  • Removed the BP figure.

Completed early-2008.

OK, so he’s got a gaping hole in his chest. So what? HE’S AN UNDEAD ZOMBIE. I’m over it. :)
Next Monday: Speaking of dismemberment, next mod features a “hand-ectomy.”

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I open this article with a new philosophy on battle reports. I’ve spent many a column whining about various FAIL moments in this game. But an audiobook chapter of “The One-Minute Millionaire” persuaded me to stop brooding on my failures in the game or to blaming others, the dice, or even myself. No, instead, I simply treat every game, win or lose, as a learning experience and become a better player — and person — as a result.

Now. Let’s lock and load, ‘clixers!

For many months I shelved pretty much the entire Guardians line-up. (It’s not as though they’re underused or anything. :D) But with the revamped Alternate Team Abilities now in play, I thought it was time to see what the new Guardians of the Galaxy team ability could do for me.

  • At 5 points per character, it costs a bit more, making it harder to fit on the team.
  • But it no longer overrides their natural team abilities, making it a real boon to most of its members.
  • It can’t be wildcarded, so it’s better on pure GotG teams anyway.

Here’s the team I built:

Phyla-Vell 138
One-Who-Knows 123
Star-Lord 90
Rocket Raccoon 65
Yondu 53
R Aleta 51
Bug 44
+ Guardians of the Galaxy 35
= 599 points. (0 in feats). BFCs: Assembled, Wasteland.

I got to the venue early, so I tried this out against the judge in a friendly game. Well, “friendly” being a bit relative as Thomas fielded all three Batman figures from the Arkham Asylum set (the 208-point Sinestro Corps one, the 120-point “Lamppost” and 64-point “Batman Beyond” version), the Out of the Shadows Batman and the Crisis “AzBats” Batman. I won the map roll and picked the Space map and theme-cancelled Thomas’s Deep Shadows BFC.

The Space map’s unique rules would cut into Sinestro Batman’s Running Shot + 10 range advantage, and the lack of hindering terrain would leave the Bats little room to hide. Or, at least, that would have worked if not for Sinestro Batman’s free-action Smoke Cloud Special Power. With that, Thomas was able to thoroughly nullify the majority of my offensive ability, and every time I attempted to fight, he was able to concentrate multiple attacks per turn while I was limited usually to only one. Consequently, despite his rolling 2 0r 3 critical misses, he lost only AzBats and wiped my whole team out. 0-1.

It wasn’t quite as lopsided a game as it looked (and often felt) like, though. The new Guardians of the Galaxy team ability made the Outwit that four of the five Batmen wielded almost completely useless. And my team’s ability to chain defense values with Defenders TA helped them last a lot longer than they might’ve otherwise. If I hadn’t accidentally blocked the Telekinesis lane Aleta needed to move Phyla-Vell into a much-needed first strike up Sinestro Corps Batman…if I could have thus gotten rid of that free Smoke Cloud and thus opened up the Bats to the full firepower of the Guardians of the Galaxy…who knows what the end result may have been?

LESSON LEARNED: Don’t block my TK lanes!

Fortunately, that was only a bye-round match of the tournament, which officially began while Thomas and I finished our match. That meant I got a 0-point win and still retained my once-per-themed-team’s BFC cancel ability.

NEXT OPPONENT: Andy and his mighty Avengers:

Thor (Hammer of Thor), Thorbuster, War Machine (Hammer of Thor) and Captain America (Hammer of Thor). He picked the Graveyard map and tried to use the Disbanded BFC. Thankfully, I was able theme-cancel that team-killing card.

Things didn’t go well for him from the start, as his first-strike single-target Pulse Wave attempt on Bug critically failed. Thor landed a massive hit on Yondu way back in the starting area, but Aleta’s Barrier slowed down the coming assault, forcing War Machine to fly over the makeshift wall and deep into my territory to press the attack. Multiple uses of Probability Control (both natural and theme-team versions) made it a wasted attempt.

I concentrated all my efforts on Thor first with Star-Lord’s Galactic Marksman ability to deal 4+ damage when targeting multiple foes, eventually wearing the god of thunder down and out of the game. By the time Captain America made it into the fray, I was able to keep him tied down with Rocket Raccoon (who was well-defended with Super Senses). I then followed with a KO of War Machine and finally, a last attack on Thorbuster with Bug’s Exploit Weakness — the armored Avenger’s early miss on my cheapest character truly coming back to haunt. I lost no characters. 1-1 (2-0, officially)

LESSON LEARNED: I tried to use this map’s special “Open Graves” terrain, which blocks lines of fire to the character occupying it, to my advantage. But my opponent reminded me that ALL lines of fire, including friendly ones, are blocked, preventing a couple of attack opportunities. This could’ve been disastrous…and would be for certain opponents in future games.

FINAL OPPONENT: Zach and his Sinestro Corps

Superman Prime (borrowed from me, actually), Arkillo, Lyssa Drak and a Manhunter (Arkham Asylum).

The 11-year-old picked the Castle map, but I used my Wasteland BFC to turn much of it into rubble, leaving Prime nowhere to run and hide but also giving the Hypersonically Speedy, super-strong beast a very long “swing” range when coupled with Lyssa’s TK.

Fortunately, that first strike missed, and I was able to get Star-Lord into the fight properly by first using Galactic Marksman’s AV bonus to ping Superbrat off his Invincible click (which reduces all damage to 1) and then using it to lay down 4+ damage on the bruiser thereafter. Prime was sent running to the opposite end of the field.

Manhunter laid a critical hit on Star-Lord, but not enough to KO him, so he was able to help shoot down Arkillo (who’d Charged in on Bug and Rocket). One-Who-Knows tangled with Lyssa Drak and Phyla-Vell pursued Superman Prime, who got a perfect Regeneration roll to become a renewed threat.

In the end, though, the tide was too much against the Corps. I’d lost Bug but got the wipeout.

FINAL: 2-1 (3-0 officially)

LESSON LEARNED: Guardians of the Galaxy work best together when multiple pieces can make attacks each turn. Because there’s currently no starting or early Outwit on the team, they really have to dig through enemy defenses. That also means they’ve got to expose themselves to the enemy in turn.

This is why the new ATA is so excellent for them. Bug, Rocket Raccoon, Yondu and One-Who-Knows are much better when they don’t have to fret about their Super Senses or Energy Shield/Deflection being countered, and their ability to share their solid 17 DV helps the normally 16-or-less DV Star-Lord immensely. The big gun of the team, Phyla-Vell, can push freely as her Power Cosmic team ability allows — something she couldn’t do with the old GotG feat. And fragile little Aleta, who’s such a linchpin for this team due to her TK, holds up just a little better under fire.

My only regrets are that the ATA left absolutely no room for feats and that this build can’t be used in Modern Age. Perhaps the upcoming member Groot in the soon-to-be-released Web of Spider-Man set will help the team out!

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DRAGON MAN (Avengers)

Anyone who’s ever played this figure knows what the problem was. The darn thing’s too top-heavy to stay upright and the flight peg, too under-manufactured to stay on the stand!
Because Dragon Man’s trade value is so low, I didn’t mind making a change:
  • Cut him off the oversized flight base.
  • Broke off the flight stand.
  • Glued his feet to the dial.

Completed late-2007.

Now, at least, he’ll stand up straight, even though I still never play the guy. But one day I will, just because of this comic. ‘Cause y’all know how much I like Power Pack.

Next Monday: The most eviscerating mod ever.

Next post: RELOAD.

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FALCON (Avengers)

Despite the fact that the sculpt is absolutely comic-accurate:

from "Ultimate Nightmare" #2.

…I’ve never liked it. And why would I? This is a character whose only power is flight and the sculpt is of him crouched on the floor…
…in mid-air.
Um…really?
Emboldened by my successful re-position of Danger Room Storm’s cape, I attempted a similar approach with this piece. Here’s my process used:
  • detached the wings off the extra-large flight base with exacto knife.
  • using the same knife, cut away the fight base until only the flight peg remained.
  • put figure in hot car to increase malleability.
  • resculpted in new position and run under cold water to set.
  • placed in freezer to fully set.
The problem, I found, was that the crouching position was the real issue, and no amount of hot car time would stretch those legs out. The result:
…this total “bleh” of a mod completed mid-2007. Well, they can’t all be resounding successes, and I’m not hiding the failures in this series!
Next: making a resounding success from a manufacturing error.

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They’re looking down on me in contemptuous disappointment. (Except Venus. She’s laughing at me.)

Last time I wrote about this themed team, I fretted about feats. But in the new Modern Age format, feats (and battlefield conditions) are disallowed. Fortunately, the team still works fine — in theory — with just a few bystanders and Special Objects.

Jimmy Woo 46
M-11 59
Gorilla-Man 61
Namora 76
Marvel Boy (Hammer of Thor) 102
Venus 125
Thug (Avengers) 7
Thug (Avengers) 7
Thug (Avengers) 7
Thug (Avengers) 7
+ Yellow Lantern object 5
+ Indigo Lantern object 5
+ Tombstone 0

= 500 points. (Or so I thought.)

FIRST ROUND: As the odd player out, I took a bye round, facing the judge Thomas’s League of Assassins: Ra’s Al Ghul, Talia Al Ghul (both from The Brave and the Bold), Merlyn, a Man-Bat Assassin and two each of League Assassin and League Elite. My first mistake was not caring which end of the Stealth-friendly Dawn of Time map I picked. Bad decision against a dangerous sniper like Merlyn. I crept behind blocking terrain to go after safer game until Thomas came after me.

Marvel Boy had to break away for his life while only a clutch Regen roll saved M-11 from the junkheap. Gorilla-Man went down swinging, and Namora finally got untied to deliver a key blow to KO Ra’s al Ghul.

I lost Gorilla-Man and a pair of Thugs but KOed Ra’s, an Elite and the Man-Bat Assassin for the win. 1-0.

SECOND ROUND: Young Brandon was my opponent. I picked the BPRD water map against his Lex Luthor and Brainiac, Kryptonite Man, BN Atom and Goodness & Mercy. I lost Marvel Boy but somehow got a win anyway by KOing Goodness & Mercy. And it was a win I didn’t deserve, because although the boy has picked up the game very quickly, he was still green enough to thoroughly forget to use the Superman Enemy team ability, which could have wreaked utter and absolute havoc on my team. 2-0.

CHAMP ROUND: It was the League of Assassins again, this time vs. Andy. He ran Bronze Tiger, The Sensei, BB Talia al Ghul, BB Ra’s al Ghul, Merlyn, a Man-Bat, and finally some Assassins and Elites. He picked the Graveyard and arranged his team in a solid defensive formation.

This game was fraught with FAILs.

  • Namora never made an attack due to my inability to get within Charge range of possible targets and my unwillingness to push her…positioning FAIL.
  • I completely forgot about Gorilla-Man in a late-game tag-team round that absolutely cost Namora her life…actions FAIL.
  • I wasted round after round Incapping an Elite with Venus instead of, say, Mind Controlling the guy (or picking a different target to do her bidding)…supreme power-use FAIL.

So while I KOed Ra’s and Merlyn, the loss of my pogs, Marvel Boy, M-11 and Namora were way too much to handle.

FINAL: 2-1. Despite the technically winning record, this wasn’t a good outing for this team at ALL. In addition to the FAIL-infested final round and the preying on Brandon’s inexperience/TA FAIL, I was hobbled by my chosen Special Objects. The Yellow Lantern, while great for M-11 when he took a hit and Marvel Boy’s late-dial, kept the robot from making some needed close attacks early on. The Indigo simply sat uselessly in a corner somewhere. Worst of all, the Tombstone deprived Namora of her much-needed heavy object boost, as she inevitably was the first targeted. She really needed the Kinetic Accelerator to be able to get into the fight earlier.

But, as I insinuated earlier in the team build, I inadvertently overbuilt by a 7-point pog. It didn’t end up making a difference, but I say it’s appropriate that I didn’t win the tourney. I’d be having to return a prize.

I’m determined to run Atlas again in Modern Age. Next time, I’ll use only the Yellow Lantern (it’s still quite useful; if M-11 gets hit off Super Strength and onto Psychic Blast, he actually gets an AV boost), the Accelerator and a normal heavy object to give Namora a real shot in the fight. And I’ll remember that Venus has Mind Control, and use the power, darnit.

In the meantime, I ran half the squad in a rare 200-point tourney:

Wouldja believe this is pretty much the only image of these three together alone?

Namora 76 + Warbound 5
M-11 59 + Warbound 5
Jimmy Woo 46 + Warbound 5 + Book of Destiny 4
+ Kinetic Accelerator, Eleha’al Vine and Generator.

= 200 points. I’d never used Book of Destiny before, and I never will again, because of the first round: my pal Lenny with a typically min/maxxed team of Captain America (Hammer of Thor)+ Contingency Plan, Iron Fist (Secret Invasion)+ Lunge, and R Mantis. He picked the Graveyard map and set up most of his team behind the wall. Namora failed her Accelerated Charge on Fist and she fell to his and Mantis’ combined assault when the following M-11 was forced to drop Lenny’s Shield Disruptor nearby after Cap knocked him off Super Strength.

  • In retrospect, I completely should have left the Disruptor where it was. Namora was well out of its range and it affected neither M-11 nor Woo. FAIL.
  • It was also foolhardy to make the Charge without enough Acceleration speed to take M-11 along and ensure the Warbound effect could continue unabated. Warbound FAIL.
  • Finally, I neglected to put Namora in adjacent water terrain during the Charge, where she may have had a chance to heal via her SP. Positioning FAIL.
  • Oh, and Book of Destiny, which I thought would negate Iron Fist’s Super Senses? Well, it does nothing of the sort, so I cursed myself for not putting Inside Information on Woo like I started to, which would have been incredibly useful against this enemy team of Martial Artists. Bonus Feat FAIL!
  • Bad as those gaffes were, though, the biggest FAIL here was my actually forgetting to use Woo’s Leadership, robbing him of an absolutely critical shot attempt on a weakened Iron Fist that may have saved Namora. (Seriously, I’m the type who rolls for Leadership when it’ll have no effect at all, just so I won’t forget it when it matters. And here, I forgot it when it mattered. The hell?!?) EPIC FREAKING FAIL.

It came down to Woo against a battered Mantis and full-health Cap; the latter just stood by nursing Contingency tokens while Mantis healed on the Vine from all the damage Woo dealt her (enough to KO her at least twice if not for that dang special object). Woo won the battle but Cap won the war. 0-1.

SECOND round was against young teenager Conrad, who, despite playing steadily, is still a bit reckless and careless. He ran a one-woman team of LE Nova (Critical Mass) who, despite her Power Cosmic team ability allowing her not to be completely outactioned or Outwitted, simply could not stand against the effectiveness of my Warbound combo. Nova dealt damage to Woo but was a relatively quick KO. 1-1.

THIRD, I faced veteran Paul’s bug team: Wasp (Infinity Challenge)+ Contingency Plan, Yellowjacket (Secret Invasion human) and LE Ant-Man. I won the roll and picked the water map. Scored a first strike on YJ, and though he was able to retaliate and take down Namora, M-11 caught up to finish the job. Then it was a matter of rolling high enough to get Ant-Man or Wasp (with their DVs of 20 and 19, respectively), who had to come to me to stand a chance of winning. Both fell.

FINAL: 2-1. I actually ended up winning the tournament, so it wasn’t completely full of FAIL. Still, the sheer number and severity of mental pratfalls in that first round leaves me unsatisfied. Atlas will rise again!

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Rookie SHAZAM (Origin)

Mildly (or wildly) inappropriate joke-quote here.

People called this the NAMBLA sculpt. While I think those people are either a bit overreactive, it’s not hard to see why they might make such a comment. It is a little bit…disturbing.
More to the point for a comic book continuity nerd like myself is that Billy Batson the human boy doesn’t fly until he transforms into Captain Marvel, the “Shazam!” half of the sculpt. And it’s not like there wasn’t precedent for a proper sculpt.
Yeah. So here’s what I did to fix it for myself:
  • Used an exacto knife to cut Billy Batson off the sculpt at the feet.
  • Glued Billy to the dial base.

Now it's right.

Completed mid-2007.
Simple. Now when I play R Shazam, I don’t add the Shazam half of the sculpt until I push him to the powerful clicks. It’s more fun that way.
Next Monday, I attempt to make another character who flies actually look like he’s flying.