A week after the last game, I played Morrison again for a shot at ending the Iron Campaign at last with a winning record for my Stark armory teams. This time the build total was 600 points:

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20 + Alpha Flight 0
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172 + Alpha Flight 0
LE Iron Man (Supernova) 160 + Alpha Flight 0
Guardsman 32
R Mandroid Armor 28

= 600 points exactly.

Morrison had a Soldier team of

Uncle Sam 140
The Thing (Secret Invasion) 100
August General in Iron 100
Captain America (Avengers) 95
The Punisher (Secret Invasion) 83
Dum Dum Dugan (Secret Invasion human) 75

and picked the Arkham map. He also played the game-changing Deep Shadows battlefield condition, rendering my vast range advantage completely moot. Both of us fielded Eleha’al Vines; I used a Kinetic Accelerator and he had a Tombstone.

He moved out first, hefting a Tombstone with Cap, and I saw a chance to take a free first strike despite the shorter range by doing a Running Shot with Vet Iron Man then TKing him back to the start area with Mandroid armor.

Here I made a horrible mistake. I sent V AW Iron Man to take his shot, boosting his Speed to do so, only to miss the target. But I’d wound up putting him JUST OUTSIDE Mandroid’s Deep Shadows-truncated Telekinesis range and so was forced to leave him a wide open target for Thing’s “Clobberin’ Time” attack.

Which didn’t miss.

From that point on I was completely on the defensive, again making a terrible error late in the game when I got that same V AW Iron Man figure on the healing Vine but didn’t block the doorway with the Mandroid that he’d taxied FOR THAT VERY PURPOSE and thus gave up easy, easy points to Uncle Sam’s Transporter move & attack. In the end, I’d KOed no one and lost all but Secret Invasion Iron Man and the Mandroid.

Attempt to end the Iron Campaign today with a winning record? FAIL.

With plenty of tournament time left and no other players, we played a second game, a rematch. This time Morrison picked the Sinister Prison map. My Wasteland got Ordinary Day‘d. But with my full range powers back, I was able to blow down multiple walls to get early shots on his team and keep HIM on the defensive all game, losing no one and KOing Uncle Sam and Dugan.

So again the Iron Campaign holds at an even win/loss record: 11-11. The first match shows how truly range-dependent this team is. I rather wish I’d swapped out Vet Iron Man for Hulkbuster after all (if only to avoid making that disastrous first move). Similarly, the second game illustrates how dominant the team can be even on super-cramped field like the Prison.

OK, so it’s quite a bit later than Monday, when I intended to post this. I apologize for overpromising and underdelivering. Here’s the 1000-point Stark team I chose this time:

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20 + Improvise 7 + Thunderbolts 5
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172 + Thunderbolts 5
Hulkbuster 165 + Unstoppable 5
LE Iron Man (Supernova) 160 + Stunning Blow 10 + Thunderbolts 5
U Iron Man (Mutations + Monsters) 100
Anthony Stark 100 + Thunderbolts 5
Guardsman 32
R Mandroid Armor 28

in a battle royale on the Great Arena map against (clockwise from my left):

BRYCE’S

The Mighty Thor 286
Doom (Secret Invasion) 249
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188
Iron Man (Avengers) 154
Super Skrull: X-Men 106

PAUL’s goofy clix

Bizarro #1 (Arkham Asylum) 199
Mordru (Cosmic Justice) 109
Ch’p 82
Plasmus 80
Impossible Man 72
Batzarro 69
Mr. Mind 68
Red Ghost 59
Super Apes Peotor 50
Ambush Bug 50
Val-Or 23
Joe Chill x 2
(and more I can’t recall)

and TIM’s villains

Mordru 245 (Crisis)
Immortus 157
Clown Prince of Crime (Arkham Asylum) 150
Circe (Arkham Asylum) 149
Doctor Destiny 99

and one more I can’t remember.

By round 3, the “shock the turtle” effect would come into play (in which every round a “shock barrier” would move a square closer to the center of the map, dealing 1 unavoidable damage to anyone caught in it and thus shrinking the effective map size). That’d keep me from hanging back to use my range advantage for very long.

And It Went a Little Something Like This
Paul, hoping I’d do his dirty work for him, helpfully Outwitted Bryce’s Iron Man’s Invulnerability and I took the bait, delivering a 5-click Stunning Blow to unhelmeted Tony.

Bryce, while a very sharp player for one so young and relatively unseasoned, made a critical error in pushing to retaliate. Although he hit my powerless FCBD Iron Man (thanks to Doom’s “Powerless” super-Outwit option) for a whopping 5 clicks with Mighty Thor, he’d planted both Thor and Doom where they’d take Shock-the-Turtle damage next turn.  I concentrated my efforts on keeping Doom’s Powerless countered while I finished off Bryce’s Iron Man and then Thor for an insurmountable lead before time ran out. Fairly easy win for the Stark team that put it at 8-10.

The next day, I had to field a slightly different 1000-point team because Bryce accidentally walked off with my U Iron Man (Mutations + Monsters).

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20 + Improvise 7 + Alpha Flight 0
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172 + Alpha Flight 0
Hulkbuster 165 + Unstoppable 5
LE Iron Man (Supernova) 160 + Stunning Blow 10
Spider-Man (Avengers) 111 + Alpha Flight 0
Anthony Stark 100 + Alpha Flight 0
Guardsman 32
R Mandroid Armor 28

My plan: sit back and pile on Improvise tokens until targets present themselves. With the Mandroid’s TK, I had some flexibility in attack options.

There were three players, so I got the first bye.

MORRISON
14-15 year-old occasional player. Very skilled.

His team: AVENGERS

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20
Namor (Secret Invasion) 150
Dr. Strange (Secret Invasion) 149
Hercules (Secret Invasion) 142
U Iron Man (Mutations + Monsters) 100 + Vendetta 6
Spider-Girl 77
Spider-Man (Secret Invasion) 50

After watching Conrad squander his Green Lantern team’s range advantage by rushing down to the center of the map, there was no way I’d repeat such an error. Using Perplex and TK, I took superlong-range shots with V AW Iron Man, trying to hit Iron Man’s 21 DV (double-Perplex+terrain). I constantly missed, but Morrison was completely unable to retaliate due to my range advantage. It was only a matter of time, then before I either hit his Iron Man or another character.

So he ventured out to destroy my Kinetic Accelerator and thus opened up the battle for true. It ended with my taking his Iron Man and Dr. Strange while losing none.

CONRAD
14-year-old occasional player. Not very skilled.

Ganthet 286
Kyle Rayner (Crisis) 182
Alan Scott 171
Green Lantern (Crisis) 157
Colossus (Mutations + Monsters) 158

Again I played a highly conservative game, only venturing out to blow up a Meteorite. The game turned when Conrad TK’d Alan out to Running Shoot V AW Iron Man for 4. That left the soft Alan open for severe punishment and KO. Hulkbuster managed to barely survive Conrad’s focused onslaught to preserve  my win (although even losing him would have meant a ONE-POINT MARGIN of victory).

Win/loss: 2-0

Iron Campaign: 10-10. First goal reached! Now I’ll try to end with a winning record before my sparring partners get COMPLETELY sick of the red & gold.

As promised last time, here’s a look back at the first Iron Man-themed swarm I ever played.

DATE PLAYED: 2/16/08
POINT TOTAL: 800, 10% feats, no pogs

Tony Stark 150 + Alpha Flight 0 +Brilliant Tactician 20 +Protected 8
Hulkbuster 165
V AW Iron Man 172 + Alpha Flight 0
NGN Iron Man 160 + Alpha Flight 0
V War Machine 124

= 799 points. This was well before the 10% feat cap became an official rule. As such, it was good training for that eventuality!

First game was vs. Lee and his team of E Jade, R Gotham Undercover x2, E Metropolis SCU, E CD Green Lantern, Dream Girl, V Icons Raven, R Brainiac 5, E Jinx, Easy Co. Medic x2, JL Batman, R Huntress, V OR Booster Gold and Cosmic Boy in the Hulk Arena. This was a fairly easy match, since Lee didn’t meat-shield Jade when she carted a bunch of fig onto hindering, giving me a shot on her. With Vet Iron Man’s range boosted to 11, he could fire from beyond anyone’s Probability Control range. Subsequent shots on Green Lantern kept him running to medics and unable to mount a real offense. In the end, I was able to KO Jade, GL and Dream Girl without losing a suit. 1-0.

Lessons learned:

Range is king with this team. It would take me several more games to truly apply this knowledge, though.

Second match was against “Galactus” (I think) and his team of Green Scar, Maestro (both with Fortitude), Hulk (Avengers) and Rampaging Hulk. I played my just-traded-for Krakoa and boy did that screw me up. Not only did I thus deny myself the rooftops to snipe from and lose a huge tactical advantage, but I RunShot with Vet IM to blow up a Tombstone and unthinkingly placed him next to hindering, and his all-too-precious Outwit was soon gone. My 2nd great error was “using” Ramp.Hulk’s Squash to place an object to activate Krakoa next to giant Hulk 1) after the big guy already had two tokens and 2) where Green Scar could (and did) EASILY grab it and paste Hulkbuster one. Add that to the fact that too many of my attacks missed like Tony had decided to “fortify himself” with a bottle of rum before the fight and you end up with a crushing defeat…which is USUALLY how Hulk vs. Iron Man fights go!  I lost Vet Iron Man, War Machine and NGN Iron Man, only getting Ramp.Hulk in return. 1-1.

Lessons learned:

Never play a Battlefield Condition half-cocked. With a team of fliers that’s so range-dependent against a ground-pounding team that has NO range, it was a game-breaking decision to not be able to use the rooftops.

Hulkbuster is NOT the equal of Hulk in comics…OR ‘Clix! ‘Nuff said.

Finally, I faced “Thrash’s” Future theme of Time Trapper, Cosmic Boy+CP, Dream Girl, SR Flash, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Ultra Boy, KC Hawkman and V Emerald Empress in the Arena. Again, it seemed that Tony was drunk and affecting the rest of his remote-controlled A.I.-driven suits. The Separation Field was too close to Phantom Girl, allowing Ultra Boy to land a big hit on NGN Iron Man. Lightning Lad then RS to ping my Vet off Outwit. But Hulkbuster, War Machine and Tony were still on full, so all was not lost…

…until Cos TK’d out V Empress for a single-target PW on Tony. She missed.

And missed.

And missed.

And missed.

And…missed.

And on his LAST theme-PC roll, she hit.

No longer able to boost my attack values to counterattack Stark’s drunken die rolls, I was at a serious disadvantage. But my worst mistake was a Running Shot by Hulkbuster to finish off Lightning Lad to avoid Time Trapper’s line-of-fire for PC…putting myself IN range of his Psychic Blast after the Lad was gone! Bye-bye Impervious and all Hulkbuster’s good clicks. By this time, KC Hawkman was in the fray, KOing Iron Men with every attack. I was wiped out but at least I took down Lightning Lad, Empress and Ultra Boy with me!

Just goes to show…you can’t fight the future!

Get used to this feeling, Iron Man.

WIN/LOSS: 1-2. Thus began a string of 1-2 tournaments with Iron Man-centric teams.

Lessons learned:

Again, range is a big deal that I didn’t really leverage enough. I should have struck from 11 squares out for every attack until he was forced to get within everyone else’s zone.

Perplex and other stat boosts are also highly necessary. Particularly with these older Iron Man pieces, which each lack something in their combat values. Tony Stark’s AV and damage top out at 10 and 3 respectively and wane from there. Hulkbuster has poor range and mediocre AV and damage for his points. V AW Iron Man’s 3 damage keeps him from being the hard hitter he needs to be for his cost. SN Iron Man and V War Machine’s 8 range holds them back from greatness. It’s amazing how much more effective all these pieces have since become with the help of Perplex and the new SHIELD ability to boost range.

Hulkbuster is junk. Well, that’s the lesson I THOUGHT I’d learned. But as I showed last time, what matters is how you play him. Now I can hardly conceive of NOT playing him on one of these teams unless the build is under 500 points.

Last weekend, I played another three rounds of the Iron Campaign. With an overall record now of 7-10, I had a chance to reach .500! See if I did on Monday!

Soooooo close to a thematic team.

Yeah, a lot like one of my first posted teams.

So here came Gamora, TK’d over and Charging Hulkbuster. I said, out loud: “I’m REALLY getting tired of this chick.”

Ready to RUMBLE.

Got three games in last Saturday to continue the Iron Campaign. I went wayyyy too in-depth with my last battle report (though some told me they enjoyed it — THANKS!) so I’m going to try to shorten things up and make it a little more readable.

First game: 200 points

Anthony Stark 100 + Alpha Flight 0
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100

vs Lenny’s

Winter Soldier 70
Gamora 73
Scarlet Witch (Avengers Super Rare) 35

I got to pick the wide-open Arena with a Tombstone, Eleha’al Vine and Dynamostat to help me out. Lenny used only a Meteorite.

Opening moves.
I had Anthony Stark grab the Tombstone and park behind the Dynamostat, leaving Iron Man in the starting area. I expected Lenny to move Winter Soldier immediately to the map’s existing hindering terrain, giving him a great sniper’s coverage of nearly the whole Arena. But he instead picked up his Meteorite and parked on a light object while moving Scarlet Witch to a building. A turn later, he moves Gamora to the existing hindering.

First shots.
Winter Soldier blew away the Dynamostat, exposing Stark. This was fine with me; Iron Man then blew away Winter Soldier’s hiding place so Stark could Outwit his Ranged Combat Expert. Lenny tied up Stark with Scarlet Witch, but it didn’t seem to help him much; Iron Man Running Shot Winter Soldier off his top click and Scarlet Witch fell to a OHKO by Stark’s Tombstone. Stark then Outwitted Gamora’s Charge.

Turning point.
Lenny forgot about Charging and simply based Stark with Gamora. In the meantime, Winter Soldier was able to pop him off Outwit. That opened him up for Gamora to peel his suit apart with hit after Weakness-Exploiting hit.

Iron Man started to break for the Vine, having taken a crithit from WS and further damage from Gamora, but I realized Gamora would catch up and probably KO him before any real healing occurred. Managed to break WAY away from her to chase Winter Soldier, but the gun-toting spy managed to immediately roll the 9+ needed to win the game.

Iron Campaign record slips to 5-10.

Lessons learned:

Anthony Stark should be kept just close enough to use Outwit until it’s time to close in. I got too close in, trusting too much to the Dynomastat for cover KNOWING it would get blown up, and then pressing the attack instead of retreating beyond any possibility of being swarmed.

Beware enemy tie-up. Especially if a swarm or snipers are involved.

Get Gamora while the getting’s good. I treated WS as the main threat too long and Stark paid. Without Stark, I couldn’t win.

Second game: 700-point 3- way Battle Royale.

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20 + Inside Info 4 + Thunderbolts 5 + Alias 3

Hulkbuster 165 + Unstoppable 5
Iron Man (Supernova) 160 + Stunning Blow 10 + Thunderbolts 5
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100 + Vendetta 6
R Mandroid Armor 28

As usual, Lenny loaded for bear:

Superman (Justice League) 226 + Fortitude 25
Green Lantern (Crisis) 157 + Shellhead 10
Green Arrow (Crisis) 104
Batman (Justice League) 75
Gamora 73

Soooooo close to a thematic team.

Paul, on the other hand, went for mostly wackiness:

Bizarro #1 (Arkham Asylum) 199
Ch’p 82
Plasmus 80
Impossible Man 72
Batzarro 69
Mr. Mind 68
Plastic Man (Justice League) 55
Ambush Bug 50
Val-Or 23
Franklin Richard 2

Yeah, a lot like one of my first posted teams.

Paul won the map roll and picked the old office, an indoor map with an open space between compartmentalized rooms. He also played Damage Control, while Lenny cancelled my Bright Lights with Ordinary Day. I made my T-Bolts Ultimates.

Opening gambits.
I played very conservatively to not get double-teamed. I’d picked the most open part of the map to give my ranged fighters maximum lines of fire.

Lenny, though, underestimated Paul’s reach with Ch’p’s TK and got Green Arrow immediately crithit by Bizarro onto his last click. (That’s all Bizarro could do, eventually becoming the first KO.

I get involved.
Me, I kept my tin men well down the open hallway in a snipers’ formation to prevent any easy forays against me. But Paul decided not to leave me alone, sending Plastic Man (who I’d deliberately let alone despite having easy attack access to him via my TBolts) to tie up my 100-point Free Comic Book Day Iron Man and somewhat spoiling my options.

An opening!
After Lenny used Superman to finish off Bizarro #1, he put him in a safe place around a corner…or so he thought.

Using the Unstoppable feat, Hulkbuster smashed the wall Superman was hiding behind and SN Iron Man landed a Stunning Blow that caused 3 clicks all told to Supes, effectively ending his Hypersonic Speed threat. Then, thanks to the Damage Control BFC, the wall closed up, preventing any possibility of retaliation. Meanwhile, SI Iron Man Running Shot Plastic Man to near-uselessness (though it took a couple of tries.

Lenny and Paul continued to fight it out, with Paul definitely on the losing end of matters. Though Green Arrow finally dropped, Paul lost Impossible Man, Plasmus and Mr. Mind in the process.

Too little, too late.
I wouldn’t be able to use my Unstoppable wall-break trick again, so I inched closer to the skirmish. Made the slight error, though, of using my Mandroid as a meat shield for his taxi, Hulkbuster. Ch’p came out and Running Shot the ‘droid into near-uselessness. Meanwhile, I was way short on points and nearly out of time in “regulation play,” so I threw my efforts into nailing Ch’p and Batzarro for points. Got the squirrel, but couldn’t quite finish Batzarro…not without pushing, and it wouldn’t NEARLY make up the deficit. So as time expired, I found myself in a distant  2nd place.

The REST of the story (with apologizes to the late great Paul Harvey).
We played on. As Paul retreated to attempt an end-around of my team with his remnants, Lenny came after me, big time. Green Lantern TK’d Gamora into Perplex-aided Charge range of Hulkbuster, hitting him for 4 straight (Exploit Weakness. Ugh, I hate that chick). The rest of the Iron Men lit her like a Christmas tree in the fireplace. Similarly, Superman was hit hard onto his 20 DV click and eventually off the board.

Now there was only Green Lantern and Batman to deal with (besides Paul’s Val-Or, Franklin pog and Ambush Bug sneaking in behind me), but they weren’t going quietly. Batman’s Outwit made sure Hulkbuster felt all 3 clicks of GL’s Running Shot, sending the suddenly Stealthy big guy to the bushes. Batman was the next to fall (at the replusor-wielding palms of SN Iron Man — thank you Thunderbolted Ultimates TA), but not before SI Iron Man got blasted for 4 clicks off his Extremis powers and onto Charge.

By now, Paul had gotten his scragglers in place to tie up most of my team, leaving them sitting ducks for Green Lantern to take potshots at once he;d finished off Hulkbuster. SN Iron Man was particularly stuck with Val-Or, failing breakaway after breakaway. Fortunately, SI Iron Man made most of his and eventually cleared out the annoying fodder until SN Iron Man finally got clear to finish the game.

Lessons learned:

SI Iron Man wins games for this team. So much so, I almost decided not to use the piece in the next game.

Hulkbuster + Unstoppable pays off. It seems unthinkable to me that there was a time I was determined to never play him on this theme again. (I’ll tell THAT story in a future installment.) Unstoppable on him is ALL about giving this ranged team a way to compete on cramped, indoor maps, and it worked big time.

Got to be careful of those time limits without overextending myself. Haven’t quite found the balance, here.

Paul had a date, so completely-uncoupled-up Lenny and I played one more game.

Third game: 700 point match.

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20 + Inside Info 4 + Thunderbolts 5 + Improvise 7
Hulkbuster 165 + Unstoppable 5 + Lunge 5
E Iron Man (Armor Wars) 135
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100 + Vendetta 6
Guardsman 32
R Mandroid Armor 28

vs

Thanos (Supernova) 267 + Shellhead 10 + Protected 8
Dr. Doom (Fantastic 4) 200 + Alias 3
Susan Richards 120
Gamora 73 + Alias 3

I won the map roll and picked a map I usually hate: the Rooftops of Galactus. Limiting Thanos and Gamora’s range of movement was key, I figured, and it would also lessen Skrull Sue’s opportunities to shoot through walls and stuff.

The fight starts QUICK!
I huddled much of my team on and around my Kinetic Accelerator and Eleha’al Vine behind a tiny bit of blocking terrain. Nearly paid dearly for it when Sue TK’s Thanos who barely missed his Psychic Blast on Hulkbuster. I pushed E AW Iron Man to try to ping Thanos but missed. The mad Titan hit him back.

The 2nd wave.
Now Sue tossed Doom out to Running Shoot someone. Fortunately, Doom missed, giving E AW a chance to get off the Accelerator and to the Vine right next door. Unfortunately, I rolled too high on the Accelerator and blew it up, negating my plans for Hulkbuster to Charge Thanos 10 squares away. I went to the backup plan and TK’d (with my Mandroid) Hulkbuster to hit Doom with the Meteorite for big damage.

Uh-oh.
That was the good news. The bad was that Doom had regained his free-breakaway Special Power, had Willpower and would certainly leave Hulkbuster wide open for Thanos to easily destroy. That is, unless I sacrificed Guardsman to block Line of Fire. Which I did. It also had the side benefit of preventing a TK’d Gamora from getting to Hulkbuster as well.

As I expected, Doom ran behind Thanos’ skirts (well, okay, it’s a tunic, technically) and Thanos hit Guardsman…even with a roll of 3…even though I’d Brilliant Tactician’d up his defense. And because I’d had to push Guardsman to make the move, he was thus one-shot by the mad Titan.

So here came Gamora, TK’d over and Charging Hulkbuster. I said, out loud: “I’m REALLY getting tired of this chick.”

Fortunately, she missed her initial attack. But the advantage was all Lenny’s thanks to the free-push abilities of Gamora and Thanos.

Turning Point.
E AW Iron Man had healed a single click via the Vine but still had Perplex, so I boosted SI Iron Man’s range with him while using Extremis to boost his damage. FCBD Iron Man then Running Shot, using Mandroid’s free SHIELD range  boost to ping Thanos off his first click. Then I did a Running Shot with SI Iron Man him next to both Mandroid and FCBD Iron Man to gain a double SHIELD boost to range to hit Thanos from 11 out, keeping all from Thanos’ retaliation.

Now unable to shoot anyone at the moment, Thano chased and based E AW. That gave me a SHIELD-boosted Running Shot with FCBD Iron Man to knock Thanos off his Probability Control clicks. E AW was done for as soon as Thanos could act again, but I was OK with this, as it had allowed SI Iron Man to chase down Doom for the KO. Meanwhile, Hulkbuster had survived several low Gamora rolls and scored a couple on her to take her out.

Now I could swarm Thanos, with Hulkbuster basing and all missing (I continually Extremis’d down Thanos’ AV). Between misses against Thanos, SIron Man got Sue and eventually Hulkbuster cracked through for the KO.

Made of WIN.

Iron Campaign improves to 7-10. Getting there.

Lessons learned:

SHIELD TA is worth its weight. Make sure I always have one or two cheap sources of the ability on a team OTHER than Free Comic Book Day Iron Man.

Put Hulkbuster on the Kinetic Accelerator, not some other “placeholder” character. E AW Iron Man’s premature overloading of the special object could have been a crippling occurrence.

And again: Hulkbuster comes through. Next installment, I’ll take a look back at an event that contributed some of the loss-column numbers of the Iron Campaign back in early 2008.

With the lessons learned from my last few pre-Iron Campaign excursions, I fielded a 1000-point version recently.

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188
+ Brilliant Tactician 20
+ Thunderbolts 5
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172
+ Thunderbolts 5
Hulkbuster 165
+ Unstoppable 5
Iron Man (Supernova) 160
+ Stunning Blow 10
+ Thunderbolts 5
Anthony Stark 100
+ Thunderbolts 5
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100
Guardsman 32
R Mandroid Armor 28

= 1000 points of cutting-edge Stark technology.

My opponent was Lenny, who fielded a team that would test my mettle.

Silver Surfer (Avengers) 231
Green Scar 230
+ Fortitude 25
+ Protected 8
Namor (Secret Invasion) 150
Dr. Strange (Secret Invasion) 149
+ Brilliant Tactician 20
Gravity 75
Gamora 73
SR Scarlet Witch (Avengers) 35

He won the map roll and picked the Outdoor Danger Room map. I didn’t mind, as that gave my range-heavy team plenty of wide-open space to shoot at. I played the Inferno BFC to flush out anyone hiding in hindering terrain, but Lenny cancelled it with Ordinary Day. Again, that suited me fine. I fielded a trio of Special Objects: The healing Eleha’al Vine, the Meteorite and the Kinetic Accelerator. Lenny used his own copies of the former two. Finally, I picked Mystics as my Thunderbolts team ability.

Immediately, Lenny used Gravity to move Surfer via Telekinesis to his rooftop so he could blow up my Accelerator!

I used Mandroid Armor to TK Guardsman to the roof, then did a Running Shot next to him with V Armor Wars Iron Man (Vet AW) to gain the SHIELD damage boost. But I missed the shot, and next turn Lenny retreated Surfer from any sort of followup shot.

Lenny moved Namor out to grab a heavy object while moving Dr. Strange, Scarlet Witch, Gravity and Scar to a patch of hindering terrain within easy reach of my team. With a TK move from Gravity, Scar could hit any one of my people at will if I wasn’t careful.

Here I made a first real mistake. Instead of attempting a Running Shot off the roof with Vet AW, I tried a standing shot from there. It didn’t work, thanks to Dr. Strange’s high defense compounded by the hindering terrain bonus. This left the Vet open to retaliatory Hypersonic Speedy shots from Silver Surfer, forced rerolls by Scarlet Witch’s Probability Control, and sniper shots from Dr. Strange himself. (A better decision would have been to try a shot from extreme range on Gravity.)

I found myself forced to back up the Vet with Secret Invasion Iron Man (SIron Man), the linchpin of the team, much earlier than I liked. Also failing his attack, at least he was able to keep Gravity’s TK Outwitted to prevent the big Hulk strike.

Alas, that didn’t do much to prevent the big Namor strike! The avenging son of Atlantis soon came Charging in to Flurry the Vet Iron Man hard with a heavy object. Fortunately, Namor missed the followup Flurry strike, preserving the precious Outwit power. Unfortunately, on my turn both Hulkbuster and Supernova Iron Man failed their respective Charge and Running Shot attempts.

Tired of my constant Outwitting of Telekinesis, Lenny simply used Green Scar’s Leap/Climb (part of his “Smash” Special Power) to base SN Iron Man, putting both him and Hulkbuster in jeopardy. And then he based SN Iron Man with Gamora, too! Things looked hella bleak for the Silver Centurion.

Figuring that, at minimum, Gamora was about to use Willpower+Exploit Weakness to punch through his armor like wet paper, I pushed SN Iron Man to deliver a Stunning Blow on Green Scar. CRITICAL HIT! Scar took 3, got knocked back, lost his Meteorite and gained a token to keep him from moving. Dr. Strange, too got hit well at last by either SIron Man or Free Comic Book Day Iron Man (FCBD) to make him a relative non-factor (well, not entirely accurate, as he still could Brilliant Tactician). It was about here, though, that Vet AW fell at last to Namor and Scarlet Witch for the game’s first KO.

Just within the normal time limit, Dr. Strange was knocked out. Unfortunately, his KO points (149 + Brilliant Tactician’s 20 = 169) wouldn’t exceed what I lost in Vet AW (172 + Thunderbolts’ 5 = 177). Even if Lenny’d thought to use Protected on the Green Scar hit, the game would’ve been a draw.

We played on. FCBD tried to push and hit Gamora to stop her attack on SN Iron Man, but whiffed. Green Scar didn’t miss, having been beaten to his sweetest click, and neither did Gamora. SN Iron Man was down!

Anthony Stark was using Outwit to keep Namor in check (countering first his  Exploit Weakness, then his Avenging Son SP) while Hulkbuster worked him. SIron Man had been TK’d behind the building to Brilliant Tactician his fellows (and get away from Silver Surfer, who’d fortunately not yet landed his ranged attacks on the high-defense leader of my team) to help speed up the hits.

FCBD Iron Man made a Running Shot further away to try hitting Gamora, but failed yet again. Green Scar, despite making every Impervious roll so far, couldn’t make any attacks (Hulkbuster blocked access to the roof) and was in danger getting swarmed with both Namor and Gravity down, so he beat a retreat toward his Vine for healing and I couldn’t stop him. Gamora, for her part, based FCBD to prevent any further shooting and force him to deal with her 20 DV in close combat. Breakaway proved unsuccessful.

I took an opportunity to push Hulkbuster to Charge Silver Surfer with Scar’s discarded Meteorite to put a swift end to his hypersonic ways. But now he, too, would be able to Phase away and retreat.

Moving Anthony Stark to the ground for better firing/Outwit opportunities, I figured to push to FCBD Iron Man’s next “Invincible” click to minimize the damage Gamora could do once she was clear to act. But I forgot to use A.Stark’s Outwit to counter Gamora’s Exploit Weakness, making my move pretty pointless. She hit FCBD to his last click.

Scarlet Witch, though long beaten off her Prob. Control, proved to be a further annoyance by tossing up a Barrier, keeping SI Iron Man from pressing his pursuit (having already missed shots on the 200+ point targets). Scar, now on the Vine, was healing back up to move+attack deadliness.

FCBD got a clutch breakaway from Gamora and certain defeat to a nearby rooftop. Hulkbuster moved to the roof, too (Running Shooting Scarlet Witch on the way) and SIron Man also joined him there (Running Shooting and missing Scar and Surfer on his way). Bad move: SIron Man got Psychic Blasted by Silver Surfer. Mandroid pushed to base Surfer to prevent further shooting.

Back on the ground, A.Stark hit Gamora hard with a SHIELD boosted shot and  kept her nerfed with Outwit. Green Scar, now healed back to his move+attacking early clicks, moved just below SIron Man and Stark, threatening them both (thanks to his Leap/Climb, which allows close combat on differing elevations). SIron Man took a Running Shot on Scar, who broke away (from the Guardsman I’d just moved to tie him up with) to jump him with Exploit Weakness for 4 damage deep into his dial!

Fortunately, SIron Man could still Brilliant Tactician, enabling FCBD to hit Green Scar with Ranged Combat Expert while Hulkbuster Running Shot Gamora and A.Stark blew Silver Surfer away. Scar got swarmed, and when his Regen failed, it was easy winnings.

Stark Industries’ record improves to 5-9.

Despite an unhealthy number of poor die rolls, this Stark Armory team did pretty well! Lessons I gleaned from this game:

Range helps. When the Iron Men can use their range to the fullest, it helps. To that end…

Running Shot at full range if at all possible. If I have 10 range and have the opportunity to take a shot from extreme range, even if the target isn’t  the best choice, take it anyway. Minimize my vulnerability to counterattack.

Set up where enemy has minimal cover or where I can shoot at will. This particular map has an edge and corner with almost no cover

Mandroid Armor’s Telekinesis is a huge bonus. Since the theme allows for not just Iron Men, but also Stark-designed characters like the Guardsmen, “Iron” Spider-Man and the like, I’ll be including one of these fellows on every team I can. TK helps address the Iron Man’s dependence on range.

T-Bolt to Ultimates, always. Just do it. As much as Mystics helped me whittle down Green Scar a little bit or prevented Dr. Strange from taking shots on me, being able to ignore hindering terrain bonuses might’ve helped more.

Piece-by-piece:

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188:  Performed as the linchpin he’s supposed to be. He should be a first choice on any Stark team over 300 points.
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172: Honestly, I’m torn. I liked his range (longer than the others’), his Outwit and his AV. But he never quite works out because I never quite use that range right. If I decide I don’t want another Avenger on the team, I may downgrade him in future games for  the E Armor Wars version instead.
Hulkbuster 165: Definitely pulled his considerable weight, bringing a  needed close-combat prowess to the table. Especially good w/ Mandroid’s TK. Although I didn’t need it this time, using Unstoppable on him could be key for painlessly opening lanes of fire on indoor maps.
Iron Man (Supernova) 160: Excellent as usual with Stunning Blow, even though he only landed the one attack.
Anthony Stark 100: Useful as the cheap mobile Outwit alternative to the heavier hitters with the power and as a clean-up hitter…
Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100: …but this one was intended for the cleanup role. Only so-so this game, but well worth it.
Guardsman 32: not only good for SHIELD TA but for taxiing the Mandroid and acting as tieup when needed. Great filler for this theme.
R Mandroid Armor 28: But again, this little guy changes everything. TK minimizes range dependence while SHIELD TA maximizes range effectiveness.

Good first outing for the Iron Campaign. We’ll see if the winning ways can continue this weekend.

First step in the Iron Campaign is to figure what went right and wrong with the previous attempts.

The 2300-point birthday game

V Iron Man (X-Plosion) 189 + Trick Shot 20
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172
Hulkbuster 165
Iron Man (Supernova) 160 + Stunning Blow 10
Iron Man (Avengers) 154
Tony Stark 150
Iron Man (Ultimates) 144
E Iron Man (Armor Wars) 135 + Mercenary 15
V War Machine 124
Spider-Man (Avengers) 111
E War Machine 109
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100 + Protected 8 +Vendetta 6
Anthony Stark 100 + Outsmart 10
U Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89
R Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89
Guardsman 32

= 2300 points.

In a battle royale against Psicardi’s “ladies’ night” team featuring Ms. Marvel (Skrull), Wonder Woman (Arkham Asylum), Moondragon, Chase Spider-Womanand a full complement of six Cuckoos, among many more; Lord Timothy (aka Bilbo3000) and his Parallax, CR Mordru, AV Ares, Magus, SN Thanos, Immortusand more; and Lenny’s JL Superman, AV Silver Surfer, SI Iron Man, CR Green Lantern, Gamora, Iron Spider, CR Green Arrow, OOTS Batman and the like.

RESULT: Took 75 points, lost 344, by far the worst showing on the map.

What went right: Using XPlosion Iron Man as the hidden Trick Shooter. Thanks to his awful-for-the-points attack values, this old rendition of the character is good for nothing other than this niche role. Fortunately, it worked eminently well, leading to my only points of the night.

What went wrong:

Trying to use Ultimates Iron Man to Energy Explode a pile of Cuckoos. While the first attack succeeded, the followup to get the girls off their dangerous clicks failed, leading to said Iron Man — who ventured well within their retaliation range — taking about 2 more clicks of Psychic Blast damage than he could stand. Lesson learned: better to pick targets off one by one if possible. Also, never NEVER move + attack INTO an enemy’s shorter range if it can be helped.

Not being able to leverage Brilliant Tactician enough. The indoor map and my huddled pieces hindered my ability. Lesson learned: equipping Secret Invasion Iron Man with Coordination in addition might prove beneficial. Also, I need to otherwise be prepared for cramped spaces that hamper ranged attacks.

Six-person Battle Royale:

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100
Paramedic 8

= 296 points.

RESULT: I was the first one wiped, since we had a special rule that prevented teams from pouncing on the nearest enemies (and me from targeting most of the weaker players on the board).

What went right: Not much, really, despite being the first player to score a KO.

What went wrong: Missed a gift of a first-turn shot at Gamora by forgetting the range-boosting aspect of M+M Iron Man’s SHIELD team ability. When that same player’s Batman and Gamora closed in, I risked a close-range Running Shot that I absolutely could not afford to miss…and did. Lessons learned: This is a range-centric team that should leverage that ability at all times and in all ways. When the enemy closes in, Running Shot away…or just run, period.

The late Father’s Day team

SI Iron Man 188 + Inside Information 4 + Thunderbolts 10 (Ultimates)

AV Spider-Man 111 + Lunge 5
Spider-Girl 77 + Lunge 5

This game was a Father’s Day holdover in which 2 figures on the team had to be a father and his offspring.

RESULT: I beat Nathaniel Richards, his son FF Reed Richards, his son Franklin Richards, V Corsair and his sons V Havok and V IC Cyclops and a couple more pogs. Lost the Spiders, though.

What went right: Pretty much everything. I caught Nathaniel Richards with his pants down (i.e., away from Mastermind fodder) and hit hit early with Iron Man’s Running Shot to put Paul on the defensive early on. I was also well-equipped with Outwit and two boot speed Leap/Climb figures to tie up the opposition pretty well. Lesson learned: Use that range advantage and maintain it, even if tie-up pieces have to be put at risk.

What went wrong: Still lost significant portion of team. That’s just the way the dice roll sometimes, though. Lesson learned: Cheap tie-up is better.

Finally, I played one more Stark swarm:

U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100
Anthony Stark 100 + Outsmart 10 + Alpha Flight 0
U Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89 + Alpha Flight 0
R Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89 + Alpha Flight 0 + Armor Piercing 10

= 398 points
against a Warskrull, V Vampire Lackey and White Martian x 3 team and a JL team of CR Green Lantern, CR Green Arrow, OR Carter Hall and LE Atom.

RESULT: I was wiped first and scored no KOs.

What went right: Nothin’.

What went wrong: An early attempt on Warskrull proved a huge game-breaking error. Not only was I only marginally successful (putting the target on its Stealth clicks and causing later problems with range attacks), but I put my whole team in range of multiple Charging White Martians, who couldn’t even be Force Blasted away. Thus tied up, my force was helpless against the JL team shooting mine in the back even while the Martians fought me. Lessons learned: No matter how tempting/fearsome the target, do not EVER give up the Stark team’s range advantage under any circumstances. A tied up Iron Man is halfway lost already.

Using R and U Armor Wars Iron Man. The one has too-low damage (requiring Armor Piercing) and the other, too-low range. Forced to choose between the two, I’d pick the Unique for its better damage, Super Strength and tie-up ability. Lesson learned: It’s probably better to fill the team out with Stark-built generics like Mandroid Armor or Guardsman instead of these pieces, anyway.

That final lesson was key, actually, in that it reminded me that in a “Stark Industries” theme team would allow me to field Mandroid Armor, which would serve well to add Telekinesis to the team’s range.

I would have a chance to apply some of these lessons in a 1000-point match a week later. Would the Iron Campaign’s numbers in the loss column slide into double digits? Find out in Part 3 of the Iron Campaign in a couple of days!