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A few months back, I played Diana’s Wardrobe: a team consisting of figures wearing some costume that Wonder Woman’s worn across the years. With the recent release of Wonder Woman (#D-001) at Origins and GenCon, there’s a new addition. I was blessed with one of these ultra-rare figures by a fellow player (and brother-in-Christ), so it’s time to dive into the Amazon’s closet once again!

Wonder Woman (Promo D-001) 190
Wonder Woman (DC 75th Anniversary #W-8) 172
Wonder Woman (DC 75th Anniversary #030) 127
Wonder Woman (DC 75th Anniversary #051) 100
+ Yellow Lantern 5
+ Blue Lantern 5
= 599 points

My basic strategy: Angle for a 1st-strike with Horse WW, backed up by #030’s Defend, then toss out the new WW with White Lantern WW’s TK to deliver support via Perplex and KO-blows.

FIRST ROUND vs. Khan’s GX Magneto, Kitty Pryde, Night Nurse, HT War Machine, Red Guardian, WS Nightcrawler on the indoor/outdoor Helicarrier map.
Highlights: Chasing down Nightcrawler at game’s end sort of validates my general anti-NC strategy: ignore the little blue devil in favor of attacking his more dangerous partners.
Turning Point: Inexperienced, Khan didn’t break Night Nurse away from WL WW’s Poison when he had the chance. That cost him a possible chance to heal Magneto, who’d been good and beaten up by the other Women.
MVPs: WL WW’s Poison was good, but JMS WW’s suPerplex was better for making those clutch hits and defending against same.

SECOND ROUND vs. Chris’s X-Men: WS Nightcrawler, GX Prof. X, GX Cyclops, GX Gambit / Rogue and GX Wolverine on the indoor Helicarrier map.
 Turning Point:

  • In an unexpected move, Chris moved NC within 6 squares of my team (though behind tons of walls and blocking cover), putting my force in imminent danger of being snatched to his partners. But that also played into my hands:
    • First, I used WL WW to smash the blocking in front of me so that
    • Second, a Perplexed, Yellow Lantern’d Horsey WW could Charge THROUGH the resultant hindering terrain and get an unexpected first strike on Nighty!
    • But the successful hit was Super Sensed away and he was able to scoot away to safety, ruining my chance and costing me later when he managed to snatch away DC75 WW on his 3rd try.
  • JMS WW gots Psychic Blasted by the duo and Prof X alike…and at no time did I remember her trait to use Energy Shield/Deflection OR Super Senses, either of which would have made those range attack FAR more likely to miss. FAIL Level 3, as this blunder cost me my pivot character’s best powers (her Amazon-friendly Perplex) and eventually her life.

MVPs: The map. Gave Nightcrawler easy access, but it also kept most of the X-Men from capitalizing on their range ability.

THIRD ROUND vs. Brian’s Robots: BB Lex Luthor & Brainiac, BB Metallo, Bonebreaker, M-11, and two Adaptoids on the Krakoa map.
Turning Point:

  • Thanks to Exploit Weakness, a heavy object and rolling boxcars, Old Spice WW KO’d Bonebreaker in one wondrous hit.
  • Krakoa hurt his team more than mine, constantly robbing M-11 and Lex/Brainiac duo of life via earthquakes and nerve center attacks.

MVPs: the map again. It dealt the ‘bots more hurt than me.

Went 2-1. REALLY kicking myself over that terrible failure to use her defensive trait that, in all likelihood, would have saved that one loss. When am I gonna stop making huge mistakes like that?

I was hoping to play all the Wonder Women in a big 1200-point game in a couple of weeks, but I won’t be able to make it to that one. And in any case, a new Wonder Woman is on the way in the upcoming Superman expansion, so Diana’s Wardrobe is not quite complete! Hopefully, come October, I can run the new piece along with the others.

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Forgive me for failing to properly schedule yesterday’s Card Arts update. I hate when I do that.

Continuing the photographic record of Super-Strength characters who can hold their own object tokens, today we’re looking at one of the first character-carded figures — and one of the worst sculpts ever — Captain America from 2007’s Avengers set:

He might be a spindly-limbed, elephantiasis-afflicted monstrosity, but he sure can tote an object token under his arm nicely.

Be back Thursday for another edition of Token Totin’!

EDIT: Sorry I mistakenly titled this one “Gargoyle” by mistake! (Though the sculpt is so bleedingly ugly that the error may be almost excusable.)

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clockwise from top left: The Spot, Super-Adaptoid, Armadillo, Nightshade, Chameleon, Rocket Racer, Living Laser, Mentallo, Puma, Scientist Supreme. And, of course, MODOK in the center.

I recently got the new MODOK (Captain America #050), and so want to run a near-complete M.O.D.O.K.’s 11 team.

MODOK (Captain America #050) 160
Super-Adaptoid (Captain America #020) 175
Scientist Supreme (Captain America #033) 97
Armadillo (Captain America #036) 89
Nightshade (Captain America #027) 72
Mentallo (Captain America #010) 71
Chameleon (Web of Spider-Man #019) 66
Rocket Racer (Web of Spider-Man #044) 60 + Outlaws ATA 1
Puma (Web of Spider-Man #012) 56 + Outlaws ATA 1
The Spot (Web of Spider-Man #051) 51
= 899 points.

There’s no questioning that this is a F.U.N. team. There’s hardly a hint of the powergames that usually go on in 900-point teams. It’s also Nifty, being based the Super-Villain team-up comic.

That leaves only the matter of Usefulness. How in the world will I make this team work?

Well, it’s going to be a little bit like planning a heist, I think.

Naturally, MODOK is going to be the main perceived and actual threat. It’ll probably do for me to run counter to usual wisdom and use my highest-point fig, Super-Adaptoid, as tie-up and blocker. His Shape Change and long, hulk-up dial make him ideal as a damage sponge. With him being a wildcard, though, I need to leverage the Sinister Syndicate TA provided by Chameleon (who’s only good for this one thing, really) to bump up the AV of my third mobile attacker, Rocket Racer.

For the Racer to make any sort of impact, his 2 damage is gonna need Scientist Supreme’s Outwit. That’ll make her a target, so she’ll need to Mastermind damage to Armadillo, chiefly. I must resist the urge to fully hurl him into the fray. Mentallo will try to take up some of that offensive slack with Stealth-busting penetrating shots and HYDRA aid to fellow shooters like MODOK and Nightshade.

Mobility’s going to be an issue, as there’s just one taxi for the whole team in The Spot. And frankly, he may be better reserved for receiving Nightshade’s Werewolf Serum, which turns him into a potentially lethal teleporting buzzsaw of Flurry/BCF on the right map. Setting up that opportunity is going to be difficult, though. I’ll need to rely on Puma in the meantime, keeping him next to WCs and fellow Outlaws to receive the needed movement boost to get in close.

MODOK’s 11 is a team that’ll live and die by the effectiveness of its swarm potential; no hanging back and sniping with this crowd. Neither, though, is it a melee-capable group. Mid-range is the ideal zone; close enough for Scientist Supreme to use her super-Outwit and for Rocket Racer to take ranged shots while getting boosted by HYDRA and Sinister Syndicate.

Can the Eleven pull off this caper? We’ll have to wait for the next Modern Age 900-point game to see!

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Heroclixin’s photographic record of Super-Strength characters who can hold their own object tokens continues! Today we’re looking at Zangief, the Russian wrestler from Street Fighter!

It’s not as secure as it looks! You have to jam the token between his hip and the red spin trail. (It’s not like you’re going to be holding it for long anyway before you use the Street Fighter TA to move and spinning-piledrive someone with it.)

Be back next Tuesday for another edition of Token Totin’!

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After what’s probably the hugest FAIL factor game I’ll ever play, you’d think I wouldn’t so much as touch a team composed of all the Alter Ego figures in HeroClix:

  • With no fliers, phasers or Leap/Climbers, this weak swarm team is pretty immobile.
  • They’ve got hardly any range, or damage reduction, or speed.
  • They take forever to get deployed, and constantly have an action deficit.

I’m kinda stubborn this way, though: I don’t mind playing at a handicap if I think the idea’s neat enough. More importantly, I’m still convinced I can make the team work as long as I don’t make a solid dozen user errors again.

Norman Osborn  (Web of Spider-Man #023) 66 + T-Bolts 8 + Contingency Plan 12
Peter Parker  (Web of Spider-Man #008) 50
Clark Kent (The Brave and The Bold #002) 48
Bruce Wayne  (The Brave and The Bold #001) 48 + Outsmart 10
Jason Blood  (The Brave and The Bold #00)  44
Eddie Brock (Web of Spider-Man #010) 42
Ben Reilly (Web of Spider-Man #024) 38 + Lunge 5
Walter Kovacs (Watchmen #0) 38 + Loner 5 + Infiltrate 2
Hal Jordan (Green Lantern Gravity Feed #002) 35
Diana Prince (The Brave and The Bold #003)  32 + Invigorate 10

Again, I T-Bolted to Ultimates. My opponent Paul was using the following Brotherhood team:

Juggernaut (Giant-Size X-Men #046) 193
Pyro  (Giant-Size X-Men #034) 
Sabretooth (Giant-Size X-Men #040) 93
Esme Cuckoo (Mutations & Monsters #101) 50
Unus The Untouchable (Mutations & Monsters #042) 90

Another themed team, it got easy map choice, placing us on Oa from Green Lantern Fast Forces.

_________________________________________

WS Norman Osborn 66 + T-Bolts 8 + Contingency Plan 12

It’s fair to say that this team rises and falls with this piece. The only one with any range, plus Outwit and the Thunderbolts ATA, he delivers nearly all the early offense. I got a break when Juggernaut had to move just within Osborn’s line of fire (or, rather, where Osborn was going to be once I moved him — thank you Ultimates TA for ignoring hindering terrain for movement), forcing the big guy to either close in or remain Outwitted and unable to Charge in for a long time. That gave Osborn the chance to fight back and whittle Juggy down.

WS Peter Parker 50 

My chief Perplexer survived in this role throughout the game, never having to switch to either Spidey.

BB Clark Kent 48

Unlike last game, Kent was very much a part of this game, continually Perplexing up Osborn’s damage and defense on alternating turns while absorbing Mastermind damage to get to his Alter Ego, Superman (The Brave and The Bold #017). At that point, my team could really start delivering the attacks and had gained a needed taxi in the big blue boy scout.

BB Bruce Wayne 48 + Outsmart 10

Though the Outsmart feat was completely wasted again, his Outwit was another key to the game, despite the problem of his low, low speed. I had to take great care to draw the needed lines of fire to make sure Juggernaut was good and vulnerable. Eventually got him to switch Batman once my initial Perplexer was unavailable.

Jason Blood 44 + Endurance 5

Mr. PC did his thing until the end of the game, even taking the occasional swing. The feat? Just filler.

Eddie Brock 42

This time, Venom got a chance to attack and land a hit or two against Sabretooth before exiting the game. His ability to switch IDs early in the game is important to this team.

Ben Reilly 38 + Lunge 5

Still stinging from the horrible failure of last game, I was much more conscientious of wildcarding to the right team abilities with him. He was still an early KO, barely getting to switch to Scarlet Spider (Web of Spider-Man #040) before dropping, but copying Mystics at least made sure he hurt ’em along the way.

Walter Kovacs 38 

Used his Stealth and, more importantly, his Special Power to much better effect to tie down before eventually switching to Rorschach.

GF Hal Jordan 35

Where he was a key factor in the last game, Hal was an early casualty in this game. He still served to block access to more valuable figures.

BB Diana Prince 

Didn’t set her up right to best use the Invigorate feat due to the lack of actions to move her at first, but she worked out later as Superman emerged. Better still, her solid DV down the line enabled her to survive long enough to switch to Wonder Woman (The Brave and The Bold #018) and land the game’s final KO blow.

______________________

In the end, I wiped the Brotherhood out and only lost Hal, Ben and Eddie for a commanding victory over a team that was arguably stronger than the one that decimated me before. It just goes to show what decent play will do for your chances of winning.

In a Modern Age game, I’d toss in Madrox (Giant-Size X-Men #001) as a sort-of Alter Ego piece in 500 points to make it work. In 600, I’d use two of ‘im and add the mighty morphing Beast Boy (DC 75th Anniverasary) for 597 points of figure switching action. Hope to try it sometime!

Next week: a return to Diana’s Wardrobe.

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Heroclixin’s photographic record of Super-Strength characters who can hold their own object tokens continues! Today we look at an occasional teammate of last Tuesday’s Token Totin’ figure (Bane), the goth-y Black Alice, who holds her token similarly:

 

Bet you didn’t realize her hand wasn’t glued to her extra sculpt element, either!

Be back Thursday for another edition of Token Totin’!

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Continuing my new feature (replacing “My Custom Mods”) in which I talk a bit on how I selected artwork for feats and battlefield conditions that didn’t come with art, originally, let’s look at:

I had to move the text up higher on the card considerably to make room for the art, and at this early stage of the CardArt project (when I wasn’t even very serious about it), I did a lot of things pretty sloppily. If you look closely, you can see where I just moved the text, background and all.

Even more problematic was the art. Though the inspiration was never in doubt — it was from the conclusion of a JLA arc in which half the team was mind-controlled by villain Despero into fighting the rest — the scan was an issue, given that the double-paged spread had a big honking seam in it.

The final version of the card is mostly corrected in Photoshop, but you can still totally see where the seam was. It’s certainly better than my original effort, though:

And it’s crooked, to boot. As I’ve said, I didn’t care so much back then.

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ha-dOOOUUUU-KEN!!!

It’s time for another F.U.N. Friday column. Usually I review a team or figure that fits the F.U.N. acronym: Friendly (not annoying overpowerful for the other player), Useful (not annoyingly weak for yourself) and Nifty (possessing some amusing quality or theme about it). This time, though, I’ll be looking at the new 1 vs. 1 rules designed for the brand new Street Fighter set that released this week.

Here’s a link to the 1 v 1 rules,but here’s the short version:

  • Higher-point characters get minus half the point difference for KOing cheaper opponents.
  • Lower-point characters get PLUS half the point difference for KOing pricier opponents.
  • Wins don’t matter. POINTS DO.

So yeah, a player could field Galactus in 1v1 rules and KO all foes and still lose because he’d get the same 0 points and thus tie the game, forcing a roll-off for the win. Therefore, it pays to not be a powergaming jerk in 1v1 games. That’s the Friendly part.

‘Course, there are some very effective low-point figures who could really shine in this setup, and they actually have a decided advantage against higher-cost pieces that might not be as efficient. I suppose that’s the Useful part.

Finally, the Nifty thing about 1v1 rules is the new play dynamic, shifting HeroClix from a team-oriented game to…something else. Will it prove as fun, or as balanced? Only moves made, tokens placed and dice rolled will tell!

Here are some definite DOs and DON’Ts in playing 1v1:

DON’T: Play high-point tentpoles, now that you’re certain of not getting swarmed. Not only will you hurt the play experience for your opponent, you probably won’t even win since victory is based on points, not KOs.

DO: aim toward using cheaper figs. If you build too high, you’ll struggle to score the points needed to win. Lower-cost figs who KO higher ones get a huge points advantage.

DON’T: field characters who need others to work best. Mastermind, Superman Enemy, Support, Enhancement, HYDRA/PD, Fantastic Four, Defend, wildcards…all these and others are abilities that are just so much wasted points in this format. Consider your fighter carefully.

DO: field characters who can push. Whether they use Willpower or just get better down the dial, being able to take action more often will yield dividends.

DO: field characters who can heal themselves. The most fun (and, IMO, balanced) way to do 1v1 rules is to not heal damage between each match. To that end, being able to Regen or Steal Energy can be a good advantage to have. Finally…

DON’T: play characters who can’t break through Invulnerability. The last thing you want is to need a critical hit just to ping a powerful enemy, particularly in a must-win round of the tournament (i.e., getting knocked out would surrender more points than you can gain back later). Whether it’s through penetrating damage, either of the Combat Expert powers, Outwit, Super Strength or just plain 3+ damage value, make sure most of your clicks can fight!

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So I got a phoned invitation from a friend across town to play a game. I happened to be free and halfway there already and decided to make the trip. And though I was packing a Diana’s Wardrobe team, I had another team I’d been aching to try out: wall-to-wall Alter Egos!

Norman Osborn  (Web of Spider-Man #023) 66 + T-Bolts 8 + Contingency Plan 12
Peter Parker  (Web of Spider-Man #008) 50
Clark Kent (The Brave and The Bold #002) 48
Bruce Wayne  (The Brave and The Bold #001) 48 + Outsmart 10
Jason Blood  (The Brave and The Bold #00)  44 + Endurance 5
Eddie Brock (Web of Spider-Man #010) 42
Ben Reilly (Web of Spider-Man #024) 38 + Lunge 5
Walter Kovacs (Watchmen #0) 38 + Loner 5 + Infiltrate 2
Hal Jordan (Green Lantern Gravity Feed #002) 35
Diana Prince (The Brave and The Bold #003)  32 + Invigorate 10

…and, of course, all their alternate identities. My friend was using the following Hellions team:

Emma Frost (Giant-Size X-Men #011) 81
Cypher  (Giant-Size X-Men #012) 38
Empath (Giant-Size X-Men #013) 47
Wolfsbane (Web of Spider-Man #029) 65
Roulette (Giant-Size X-Men #014) 35
Tarot (Giant-Size X-Men #021) 47
Cannonball (Giant-Size X-Men #022) 82 
Firestar (Web of Spider-Man #020) 81

Cypher was able to make them all Mystics, thanks to Jason Blood’s presence, and the swarming themed team got easy map choice, placing us on the wide-open Bridge map from Web of Spider-Man.

Those were only the first things to go wrong for my team. In fact, this game was such an utter debacle, I’ve had to come up with a new FAIL SCALE to account for it:

  1. Minor, purely circumstancial stuff like a missed roll or having a feat that only wastes points.
  2. Misremembering a power / enemy dial or underestimating enemy tactics leading to a poor situation.
  3. A tactical move or non-use of a power/ability/feat on my part that causes me to lose points.

Because I made some sort of FAIL for every single character on my team.

_________________________________________

WS Norman Osborn 66 + T-Bolts 8 + Contingency Plan 12
He made one of my only successful attacks in a crit hit of Cannonball, but he got forced to push to AE to Green Goblin, still in range of Tarot’s automatic-damage “Devil” power. FAIL level: 1

______________

WS Peter Parker 50 
As Spider-Man, pushed to hit a Mystic. It scored my only points, but KO’d him, too. It was a last gasp in a losing effort, so the FAIL level: 1

______________

BB Clark Kent 48

  • Trusted  Osborn’s Mastermind to get him to AE clicks rather than push. Didn’t work out. FAIL level 1
  • Perplexed GL’s AV instead of damage to Running Shoot Cypher, landing the New Mutant on his last click instead of KO and extending the Mystics TA problem through the whole game. FAIL level: 2

______________

BB Bruce Wayne 48 + Outsmart 10

  • The feat turned out to be utterly wasted on this team. FAIL level: 1
  • Moved him (as Batman) not far enough to avoid Wolfsbane’s Charge near the end of the game. But that was only about FAIL level 2 because of the next entry…

______________

Jason Blood 44 + Endurance 5
Moved him behind said Batman instead of using him to block the Charge. At least he’d have A) had a chance to force a reroll and B) caused Mystics damage if hit. FAIL level 3.

He's got a reason to pout.

______________

Eddie Brock 42
Scared to push AND hit Mystics, I never got an attack off despite him becoming Venom. FAIL level 2.

______________

Ben Reilly 38 + Lunge 5
Forgot to wildcard to Mystics in the one early turn it mattered. He was the first KO in two incredible rolls of nine or better, not even causing feedback damage, practically costing me the rest of the match. FAIL level 3.

______________

Walter Kovacs 38 + Loner 5 + Infiltrate 2
Failed a breakaway roll to get Rorschach out of a deadly triple-team…having thoroughly forgotten that the Infiltrate feat made the roll unnecessary. (Worse still, the move I was trying to make would have saved Venom above at minimum by tying up a foe or two and blocking LOF.)  FAIL level 3.

______________

GF Hal Jordan 35

  • As Green Lantern, crit-missed a final attack on a final-click Cypher. Technically only  FAIL level 1, but far more costly, especially when my better move may have been to try targeting Tarot.
  • Trying to get him to the Vine to heal, boneheadedly moved him in range of Tarot’s Devil zone for automatic KO. FAIL level 3.

A pic from the film is about the best "fail" image I can think of for GL.

______________

BB Diana Prince 
Trying to get out of Tarot’s range, and not thinking far enough ahead at all, I moved her into the water…still well within Cypher’s Charge range. FAIL level 2.

____________________________

As you can see, it was not one of my better-played games. What really gets my goat is that making any one of those user errors dramatically affected the match, yet I made over a dozen of them.

But did I learn my lesson about running a weak team like this crowd of Alter Egos? Oh, nooooo. Apparently I hadn’t had enough. See next week for what happened then…