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After Part I, Part II and Part III, it’s time for the last part of these changes: the Comprehensive Rules. And they start with this new card design:

microsoftteams-image-71-471089-MUdosLWp

I’m not sure how much I like this change.

  • YES, having the Improved symbols next to everything else important is good.
  • But wait NO, the team symbol ISN’T next to everything else important. So what the heck
  • YES, the full sculpt image is kinda nice.
  • But NO, I do not like the wasted space on the back.
  • Especially because NO, I do not like the loss of flavor text.
  • YES, the lighter design is kinda nice-looking.
  • But NO the dial info is more cluttered and harder to read — AND on the front, which we didn’t like when they first proposed it in 2016 and we still don’t really like now. But…..¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But this isn’t a game changer. Actual game changes are game changers. And there are a few!

 

SPIDER-SENSE TA!

  • The Spider-Man team ability is no longer wild card but now Super Senses on a 6 or +1 if they already can use Senses. A welcome change even though some weird characters will suddenly get extra dodgy (Luke Cage).

 

KNOCK BACK PAIN

  • It’s confirmed: Hitting walls/blocking or falling off elevated deals 1 damage. With boosts to Quake, Force Blast and less immunity from knock back since the 2021 change, this could get wild. I’m here for it.

 

R.I.P. TEAM TEAMS

They’ve nerfed Themed Teams in two important ways.

  • Every themed team gets +3 to first player roll, regardless of team size, because the old “+3 to your opponent’s roll” language was very confusing. I think they SHOULD have made it exactly like the Rule of Three, but they didn’t ask me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (This game would be way better if they asked me)
  • Theme Team Prob is GONE. They said a lot of flimflam about it only really aiding alpha strikes which, like old-school Super Strength attacks, they’ve kinda been dialing back (while still making figs like Sky Tyrant ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). So they just removed it. I’m kinda very OK with this even though I kinda hate it.

 

WALL CLIMBING … SORTA

  • One change we saw coming in the look at the PAC last week but now is confirmed: Every character can climb elevation. They just have to immediately stop (like in the old hindering terrain movement rules) when they switch elevation unless they have the right improved movement or at the red diamond transition point. This stops easy tactics of bottlenecking rooftops against non-fliers, for instance. (There’s a related rule keeping you from setting terrain up at the transition points, too.)

This is a FANTASTIC change and we can’t wait to see how dynamic it makes gameplay.

 

ACTIVE PLAY

  • So this one is a little complicated. For ages, if two or more effects had simultaneous timing, the active player would decide the order of resolving those effects. Now, the players owning each effect, starting with the active player, will choose the order, sort of. It’s hard to explain without coming up with some corner case example, so I’m not gonna bother. The short version: The attacking player doesn’t get to just order stuff to their own advantage anymore.

 

SHRINKING SIDELINE

  • Old rule allowed you to pack 3 sideline pieces per 100 points of the build, MAX: 15. Now it’ll just be 2 per 100. But anything can go on the sideline, not just things with a specific interaction with a starting element. I like this change a lot — in the height of the ID card era, it was sooo common to see way more pieces off the field than on it. And that’s just wrong IMO.

 

That’s it! This is a much more substantive rule shift than they said at the outset. But overall they’re mostly positive in my opinion. What say you? Leave a comment!

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PART III

We looked at new terrain changes and map sizes last post. Now let’s unpack the PAC!

 

SPEED

  • Flurry: No change
  • Leap/Climb: No change EVEN THOUGH IT NEEDS ONE
  • Phasing/Teleport: No change
  • Earthbound/Neutralized — no change (even though we still think it could use an update/reversion)
  • Charge : No change, but a few powers it interacts with make it more viable
  • MIND CONTROL: Its minimum RANGE option gets reeled from 6 to the previous 4. For longtime clix players, this feels very familiar. Personally, I thought the minimum for this power should have remained 4.
  • Plasticity: No change
  • FORCE BLAST gains a minimum range of 4 for its POWER action application, down from 6. This seems appropriate, since the classic version of the power used to be 0 range. More to the point, the return of knock back damage means this should be reeled in a bit.
  • Sidestep: No change
  • Hypersonic Speed: No change
  • Stealth: No change
  • Running Shot: No change, but read on. There’s a new power combo with Telekinesis that didn’t exist before.

ATTACK

  • Blades/Claws/Fangs: No change
  • Energy Explosion: No change
  • PULSE WAVE: It gets a big change — the halving of range values is OVER. Pulse Wave just has a 4 range now. This is a boost to characters who had 6 range or less (well, mostly, since sometimes you kinda wanted that really low range to not catch your friends in the wave). It’s a little bit of a nerf to figs with 8+ range. Though we still kinda want this power to be scarier, this is a pretty good fix.
  • QUAKE: Another big change. Quake now wrecks terrain within 1 square before hitting the target(s). On a F.U.N. level, we’re not sure how we like this; we’d gotten used to this power reflecting both the massive ground-pounding of, say, The Thing, but also Black Widow sweeping the legs out of a bunch of foes at once. But the ability to smash through a wall to attack someone hiding behind is actually pretty darn cool. We’ll get used to this fast. It’s also back to being a dedicated CLOSE action.
  • SUPER STRENGTH: It now can pick up non-object terrain, such as Barrier. Long one of the worst standard powers, Super Strength might have gotten its mojo back.
  • Incapacitate: No change, still InCRAP
  • Penetrating/Psychic Blast: No change
  • SMOKE CLOUD: It gets the minimum 4 range nerf — or, as we longtime clix players might feel, a proper correction to its prior state.
  • Precision Strike: No change
  • Poison: No change
  • Steal Energy: No change
  • TELEKINESIS: Not only does its minimum range drops from 6 to 4, but the distance of each TK placement is also slashed from 6 to 4, regardless of range value. That’s a HUMONGOUS nerf. But TK gets some boosts in being able to move terrain around — AND use it in RANGE attacks again! In fact, said attack now works with Running Shot, so that’s interesting.

DEFENSE

  • Super Senses: No change
  • Toughness:  No change
  • Defend: No change
  • Combat Reflexes: No change
  • Energy Shield/Deflection: No change
  • BARRIER: Minimum range drops to 4 and it’s vulnerable to Super Strength and more, making it MUCH easier to counter — probably a needed balance to this power. But it also gains the ability to effectively generate weapons for Super-Strong or Telekinetic members of your team as well. That’s a new offensive support for this formerly purely defensive power.
  • Mastermind: No change
  • Willpower: No change
  • Invincible: No change
  • Impervious: No change
  • Regeneration: No change
  • Invulnerability: No change

DAMAGE

  • Ranged Combat Expert: No change
  • BATTLE FURY: It now allows RANGE Terrain Actions as an exception to its barring of range attacks! That’s fantastic and sounds like great F.U.N.
  • SUPPORT: It’s basically Regen for other people, losing the guaranteed 2 healing (making it markedly less effective on STOP clicks) and possible 4, but also losing the extra “attack” roll and other limitations.
  • Exploit Weakness: No change
  • Enhancement: No change
  • PROBABILITY CONTROL: Drops to minimum 4 range. It’s going to be much more difficult to use this power as safely as before, especially on enemy turns.
  • Shape Change: No change
  • Close Combat Expert: No change
  • Empower: No change
  • PERPLEX: Drops to minimum 4 range. It’s riskier to use, requiring you to be much closer to buff friends or nerf enemies.
  • OUTWIT: Also drops to minimum 4 range. This is not good for Outwit, because unlike many of the other support-style powers, the Outwitter can’t hide in the back line.
  • Leadership: No change

ABILITIES

  • OBJECTS are replaced with terrain. Terrain has stats now governing how far it can be thrown, how much damage or reach it gives in attacks, and how much it takes to destroy it.
  • IMPROVED MOVEMENT: DESTROY BLOCKING is much better — I will no longer have to tell players they can’t stop in that blocking square they were in the process of running through.
  • KNOCKBACK: Deals 1 damage for falling or hitting certain terrain — a partial return to old rules. But the PAC is going to either require an errata/clarification or game terminology may be changing, due to this weird wording: “(A character that is knocked back onto a lower elevation or into terrain suffers 1 damage.)” Suffer isn’t a game term, soooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • IMPROVED MOVEMENT: ELEVATED: The language has changed to “This character does not have to end its movement when crossing a boundary of Elevated terrain” — characters can now climb up and down rooftops without using transition squares. (Much more about that in Part IV.)

 

OTHER CHANGES

  • INDESTRUCTIBLE: “This terrain marker can only be destroyed by using it in an attack or by its own effect.” It’s a new key phrase for these new terrain rules.

 ….that’s a lot, but not nearly as much as in 2021. They are leaning even more into melee. It’s looking like F.U.N.!
So far, all these changes are positive. Even the ones I was sure I hated at least a little are looking better by the moment. But there’s one more part WizKids is set to drop: New comprehensive rules. Hopefully they won’t ruin stuff.

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What, AGAIN? We just DID this not even two years ago lol

PART I

Change of Terrain

WizKids said: “this specific rules update began with a single question: How do we make standard objects matter again? Standard light and heavy objects have long been overshadowed by equipment.”

I mean, that’s YOUR fault, WizKids. But instead of just giving a small tweak to Super Strength — say, making it deal +1 damage with ANY object attack, like we suggested in 2021, or allowing it to generate NEW objects — WizKids is getting rid of objects altogether.

Upon first reveal, I said “I’m not sure if I hate it a lot or just a little.” And this old quote from Heroclixin’ is why:

“There was once a time you needed a whole chart to figure out:

  • who could hold any of FOUR different kinds of objects and
  • how FAR you could throw each and
  • how much damage each could do in close
  • or at range because it was different based on what the object was
  • and if it was thrown or not …
  • GAAHHHH.”

Now they wanna bring all that back, but as terrain markers now. Instead of the old flow chart, each terrain will have the stats printed right on them:

  • How far it can be thrown
  • How much damage it adds in close or range attacks
  • How much damage to destroy it
  • How much Giant Reach it gives you
  • Gaahhhh. (But in lower case)

The REAL upside? There’s a couple.

  1. It looks like Super Strength will work with terrain markers, such as being able to grab, say a square of Barrier and hit someone with it!
  2. They’re also bringing falling damage back to the game. Hopefully this is a nice middle ground and not a wholesale return of knock back damage which could get silly with there being a ton more knockback in the game in general.

That’s exciting. We’re here for it.

 

PART II

Map quest

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They’re shrinking the standard map size from 2×3 to 2×2 — AND changing the startup/setup rules. Quoted from the article [with my additions in brackets]:

  • After rolling for First Player, whoever wins the roll chooses between being the First or Second Player.
  • Second Player chooses the map.
  • First Player chooses which edge they’ll use as their starting area [this is only on the 2×2 maps for 1v1 games … older 2×3 ones still use the purple start zones, I think] and places their force and terrain markers; Second Player uses the opposite edge as their starting area, and places their force and terrain markers.
  • Once setup is complete, First Player begins their first turn and the game begins!

This is a bigger deal than the terrain. For ages, first player’s been picking map and going first — both pretty huge advantages, especially with Telekinesis and mega-taxi pieces. Now, with the smaller field and ability to orient the map multiple ways and the single-line starting area, plus the addition of all kinds of special terrain, this game may feel really new.

But the real meat is always the new PAC. The next part’s all about that and they’ve already teased a pretty substantial change:

the minimum range for any standard power or team ability that has one is being changed from 6 to 4.

So that means Mind Control, Force Blast, Smoke Cloud, Telekinesis, Barrier, Probability Control, Perplex and Outwit probably all get their range slashed. They also said some powers would get “tweaks to give them greater interactivity with terrain” — such as Super Strength.

We can’t wait!

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So I guess this is a regular feature now: looking at how legacy cards might be a F.U.N. way to bring some old pieces back into Modern/Silver play or rework some old figs that never really worked right before (or don’t anymore due to rule changes).

Here’s the latest batch, from the first set of 2023, Batman Team-Up.

———

L001 Batman
(Batman, 2012)

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THEN: At 200 points, he had a “Team Leader” trait that gave Batman Ally TA to cheaper allies who share ONE keyword of his choice (Batman Family, Gotham City, Justice League, Justice League International, Outsiders). He also had a 100-point line without that trait, starting with his “I Will Not Fail Gotham” SP that gave him +1AV when he had 1 token. The main thing that made him special in 2012 was his then-new Improved Movement. Overall, he was kinda cool but overcosted, even with his long 10- or 6-click but barely armored dial(s).

NOW: He’s slashed to half his original price, completely losing the Team Leader trait and all his IM but upgraded to Flight, so not really much of a loss, especially since the new trait gives his passenger Bat Ally for a turn. He also gets Senses and Willpower from another trait. And his old SP now gives Precision and Smoke Cloud, with a rider allowing him to jump from hindering to hindering for FREE. Speaking of hindering, he can now see through it. And he has 60- and 30-point start lines for budget play.

F.U.N.? This is a pretty solid and definitive Batman, even if the Flight ability is bit much in our opinion.

———

———

L011 Commissioner Gordon
(Batman The Animated Series, 2018)

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THEN: At 35 points, he was offensively a weak Incap Leadership piece with a chance at double-tokening if he hit. More useful was his Barrier.

NOW: He swaps the Incrap for the MUCH more useful Telekinesis instead — especially with the FREE version for fellow Gotham City, Detective and Police keywords.

F.U.N.? This piece will help Police swarm teams a lot. But it has meta potential as well. One to watch.

———

———

L019 Crazy Jane
(World’s Finest, 2016)

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THEN: She snuck onto my faves lists that year with her literally random dial. From 2016’s writeup: “She has a great support-style click with TK and Perplex (click 2) but it’s unlikely to get to it to actually intentionally use it. Likewise, her great melee tie-up click is buried at no. 4 and she has the exact same chance of landing on the range-centric Click 6 — and near death. Her starting click, for its part, is completely weak, emphasizing attack avoidance with almost no real attack ability.
The key to Crazy Jane is to go crazy with her. Roll her die (it’s optional) and use what you get. Push her with impunity; she resets to her original click anyway at turn’s end (again, optional). Each of her non-starting clicks have some aspect that can potentially boost teammates even when she’s double-tokened. And even if she gets KO’d, she’s a low 2d6 roll away from dodging death.”

NOW: She’s even MORE random than before, since her d6 is no longer optional. And she also has no resurrection ability like the original. But she’s cut down to just 50 points instead of 75. Or 40. Or 30. Or 20 or 10, all via a new trait to pick her cost. Instead of taking damage, she loses life tokens until KO. So at 50 points, she has to be hit 5 times to get KO’d. Or just once at 10 points.

F.U.N.? This looks really nifty — but the random factor keeps her from being busted. We like it.

———

———

L031a The Question
(Justice League Unlimited, 2020)

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THEN: He was a 40-point die replacer; maybe the most balanced because he had to POWER to make his die, not starting the game with the d6 on his card. He also brought Outwit and could make his own Stealthy smoke to hide out. Finally, he had the Justice League Unlimited trait to have a 1/6 chance of taking a token off a fellow JLUer.

NOW: His die replacement gets a boost and a nerf at the same time. He no longer has to burn actions to get the d6, but must wait for the enemy to use Prob or Perplex or Outwit within 6 squares. That’s a nerf. But he no longer needs LOF to mess with the attack roll results. That’s a boost. Beyond that, he gets actual Smoke Cloud now (instead of the 1-square end-of-turn version from before) that he can also use FREE to drop in one square, usually his own. All for 10 points less!

F.U.N.? Good question. And he’s a good Question.

———

———

L029 Nightwing
(Crisis, 2008)

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THEN: He had a Speed SP giving him Titans and Outsiders team abilities and symbols (instead of just, y’know, actually printing them alongside his natural Batman Ally. WizKids was weird about certain things) and a Defense SP granting Reflexes, ESD and Leap/Climb. Later he got a Flurry SP so he could have normal Leap/Climb. At the time we loved him because he was great for wild cards to copy two of his TAs, despite his slightly unwieldy 79 cost.

NOW: He no longer wastes SP space to temporarily get his dual memberships, instead gaining fight-ready Charge+Flurry+Leap/Climb. In defense, he gets Super Senses with the ESD and Reflexes. And his later SP boosts AV +1 if he’s on elevated terrain. Oh and he’s got traited CCE and Empower. All this for way LESS points: 50.

F.U.N.? He’s quite a bit more definitive but not overbearing.

———

———

L037a Riddler
(Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes, 2014)

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THEN: Though only 55 points, pretty much all he brought to the table was Perplex versus enemies. Well, without needing range or LOF, too, so that’s pretty OK.

NOW: He drops 10 points and gains normal Perplex that ignores LOF (but not range anymore). Perplexed foes get Puzzled tokens, which another trait counts to rack up Mission Points.

F.U.N.? Mission Point characters are always on the F.U.N. end and this is no exception.

———

———

L039 Joker
(Icons, 2005)

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THEN: Back when we looked at the legacy card for Lockjaw, we mentioned the LAMP strat. Joker here was often the Poisonous, Masterminding and Armor Piercing aspect of it. Even better: he had the Stealth and Outwit to REALLY make the combo work. Sure, it cost more than half your team (10 for Armor Piercing feat card — think Precision Strike but for damage only — 38 for Lockjaw, 107 for Joker) but this was a championship-worthy strategy.

NOW: He no longer needs the old feat card. He has a trait that does the same thing, with a second half that makes him heal when he lands a KO and use Poison even if he moved. Another trait keeps him from being multi targeted — making him immune to Energy Explosion, Mastermind’s hardest counter — and also gives him SAFEGUARD: Outwit, Mind Control and Poison

F.U.N.? He’s completely built to relight the LAMP in a modern game. Not sure how F.U.N. that’ll be, but we’ll see.

———

———

L042 Atrocitus
(DC 75th Anniversary, 2010)

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THEN: He had a trait that nerfed Impervious into Invulnerability, and Invulnerability into Toughness. Later in his Charge+Super Strength/BCF and Battle Fury-laden dial, he got a SP that allowed him to move 1 square after landing a hit (with the equivalent of IM:Characters) and free attack a different target. At 202 points, he left a lot to be desired.

NOW: Slashed to 125 points, his new traits A) turn off STOP clicks and healing on adjacent enemies; and B) give him Close Combat Expert and Prob. The SP now is a retaliation-style power. He also has a new 75-point starting line.

F.U.N.? Very thematic and WAY more playable. We look forward to raging out with this guy.

———

———

L051a The Chief
(World’s Finest, 2016)

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THEN: He could give Sidestep a single ally within 6 and LOF. He could Mastermind to any friendly adjacent character of any cost. He could use Outwit and Perplex from keyword-sharing pals’ square IF they were within 6 squares — or, if he didn’t use Outwit, he could pick a keyword ally and give them  SAFEGUARD: Outwit. And like his Crazy Jane teammate, the Weird Resurrection trait could save him from KO. Not bad for 50 points back then.

NOW:  He’s a keyword cheater who can turn Celebrity, Soldier or Robot pieces into Doom Patrol keyword with the normally uncopyable Outsiders TA via trait. He can now POWER to move an adjacent Doom Patrol up to 5 squares … kinda like a friendly mind control. he can now Mastermind within 4 range and LOF … but only with keyword pals. Finally, he has Leadership that can grant SAFEGUARD:Outwit … IF a friendly uses Outsiders TA on themselves. Oh, and he now actually HAS Outsiders TA himself this time. No more Weird Resurrection, though. But for 40 points, can’t have everything.

F.U.N.? We don’t like the idea of non-Doom Patrol characters just getting to become a Doom Patrol team at the expense of the actual team. But for said actual team, I like it.

———

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L051b Batman Beyond
(Justice League Unlimited, 2020)

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THEN: He was loaded with stuff: a once-per-game semi-FREE/teleport, immunity to range when next to blocking, SP granting Precision Strike plus a choice of range and close attack powers; another SP with Leadership and a choice of a number of damage powers. His 125 and 75 point costs were a little unwieldy, though, and realistically some of those pick-a-power options were pointless. What’s never pointless: IT Hindering.

NOW: He loses a lot: The teleport, the super-stealth, the array of standard attack and damage powers he could pick. He also lost a lot of points, now weighing only 75 or 50. Instead, his Attack SP keeps Precision with a FREE attack against an Outwitted target. His other SP grants that Outwit regardless of LOF (note that range is still needed) if he’s in hindering terrain. Finally, defensively he gets traited Super Senses with +1 if he Outwitted the attacker last turn.

F.U.N.? He’s now MUCH more like the Terry McGinnis of the show proper.

———

———

L052a Hal Jordan and Sinestro
(War of Light, 2014)

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THEN: A full 300 points, this pair had the duo symbol — Duo Attack (POWER: Attack a single enemy, then attack a single enemy but -1 damage [Minimum 1]); a Speed SP with Running Shot + Duo Attack as RANGE but having to pick a different target from the first; and an Attack special to pick a power (but not the same two in a row).  At their lower 100-point price, they lost the duo symbol and both SPs, but both levels have a common trait granting Willpower and 66% chance of immunity to Outwit and Perplex.

NOW: In the wake of the duo symbol’s old — and overcomplicated — Split and Merge abilities, these legacies are doing something special in homage to it:

When Hal Jordan and Sinestro is KO’d by an attack, before removing them from the game, you may generate a character named Hal Jordan and/or a character named Sinestro from your Sideline on their last non-KO clicks, then heal them each 2 clicks. The total points of the generated characters must be equal to or less than Hal Jordan and Sinestro’s point value. If Hal Jordan and Sinestro is 75 points, only generate one of the two characters instead.

I like it. Meanwhile, their Speed SP gets upgraded to Hypersonic Speed plus an extra attack after resolutions, while their Attack SP now copies the standard printed attack and damage powers of adjacent pals — which could work VERY nicely given their new Green Lantern TA to carry 8 allies and their much, much cheaper 175 top price. They cost just 75 at their lower value and their Willpower-based trait is unchanged from before — except that it also works against enemy Prob.

F.U.N.? I never understood why they didn’t get the GL TA back then. For that alone, this seems like a F.U.N. fig. Time will tell if the upgrades are too competitive for our taste.

———

———

L052b Batman
(DC 75th Anniversary, 2010)

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THEN: This true “year one” 1930s Batman had a trait allowing him to FREE move around or next to elevated terrain — IF he didn’t have tokens. Not bad. He was also a Transporter (an old symbol giving Passenger:1 and a nerfed version of Hypersonic Speed) and sported the usual Gotham City and Detective keywords along with the more niche All-Star Squadron and Justice Society keywords. Finally, he ended with a SP “I Used Guns … Once” that gave him 8 range. At 80 points, though, he was a little pricey for little impact on a team or game.

NOW: While his “Rooftop To Rooftop” trait still requires zero tokens and being on elevated terrain, now he’s not limited on his destination. It also blocks LOF to him when he’s on the rim of elevated while he has Stealth on his dial. He upgrades to the Wing symbol, allowing him to carry a pal with him as the sculpt suggests — a slight nerf from Transporter — and Batman Ally TA along with his original JSA TA. A final downgrade: His guns SP is only 6 range now. But it also grants RCE, so he’s better able to hit and hurt his target. All not bad for a much more reasonable 50 points.

F.U.N.? This is a right well-done legacy that fills a nigh-unforgivable problem of the original (not having Batman Ally).

———

———

L058 Harley and Ivy
(Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls, 2017)

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THEN: These gals started with a Sidestep+Stealth SP and another that gave Incap, Smoke Cloud, and Poison (plus immunity to it) with a rider allowing FREE Incap to a target in their Smoke Cloud. They also had a later damage SP that boosted AV and damage against a solo target with action tokens. A Batman Enemy and wild card, they wrapped up their 125-point package with IM:Hindering.

NOW:  In return for shaving down to 75 points, they lost duo symbol along with Duo Attack. But upon KO, they can get replaced by a cheaper Harley or Ivy or combo of both. Their new Speed power is WAY more aggressive: Charge, Flurry, Stealth. The attack SP drops Incap entirely and offers a 2-square FREE Smoke option. It also spreads the SAFEGUARD: Poison around to all friendlies in their 6 range. That mid-dial SP now boosts attacks against multiple targets.

F.U.N.? Much better and straightforward piece. Can’t wait to try them!

———

———

L059 Lex Luthor & The Joker
(World’s Finest, 2016)

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THEN: A 200-point duo fig, they had a Mastermind trait that granted the Underworld TA to friendlies 20 or higher. A Speed SP gave them double Sidestep (which unfortunately didn’t work with Underworld back then) and in the damage slot was SP Perplex and Outwit in addition to Superman Enemy TA Outwit. Finally, they couldn’t get Outwitted or their stats nerfed — and with 11 AV and 4 damage with Duo Attack, that was kinda OK. Their three-click 75-point line was focused on Poison and lacked the Speed SP (but still had Sidestep).

NOW: Trimmed down to 150 and 50 points, they lose the blanket immunity-to-Outwit/stat-nerfing trait (for a weaker SAFEGUARD:Outwit as long as no Superman Ally/Batman Ally enemies are in range+LOF) and the Outwit-plus SP (swapping it for one that has +/-2 Perplex and makes adjacent pals into Superman Enemies). Their old double Sidestep is gone, too; instead, when an adjacent pal non-free moves, they ride along and can attack afterward for free — and because it’s a placement and not carry, they can do a non-free action as well.  Finally, after getting KOed, this duo can be replaced by a cheaper Lex or Joker (or both, if you used the 150-point full dial) two clicks from KO.

F.U.N.? Clever reworking of the old duo abilities. We like it.

———

———

L060 World’s Finest
(World’s Finest, 2016)

wf060

THEN: They had three point costs: a big 300-point one which offered Colossal Stamina (but at 2 damage cost instead of 1), immunity to Outwit/stat-nerfing, and a free extra attack if they missed a non-Duo Attack attack. At 200, they lacked the Stamina trait, and the low 75 price didn’t get the bonus attack roll. All price points had a late dial DV SP of Combat Reflexes and Toughness and both the Bat and Superman TAs.

NOW: Like their archenemies above, upon KO this duo can be replaced by a cheaper combo of Batman or Superman (or just one if you used the 60-point dial) two clicks from KO. They lose the extra attack attempt trait for a much better FREE attack against a foe that made an attack or Outwit since last turn. And unless an enemy is more points, World’s Finest have a 50% chance of only taking 1 damage from hits. Finally, the DV SP is heavily upgraded to Invincible+Super Senses — the latter improving with their number of action tokens. That’s a lot better for a lot less points: 175, 125 and 60.

F.U.N.? The retaliation-style trait alone gives this piece competitive potential.

———

———

L096 Green Lantern
(Legacy, 2005)

lg096

THEN: With 10 range, RCE, 20 DV with Willpower, KC Alan Scott here was fearsome on those first two clicks — and difficult to knock off them, especially with him being a prime candidate for the old Trick Shot feat granting him Improved Targeting: Characters and Hindering. Basing him to stop him lighting up your force was tough, too, thanks to the Kingdom Come team ability (then functionally the same as today’s Hypertime TA). He also had TK, which was mostly useless on him because he was the main attacker and TK was for hurling main attackers out for fighting.

NOW: He gets slimmed down to 175 points but only makes gains: Traited Invincible and a choice of either BCF (that light sword is no longer for show) or Super Sense/2-square FREE Barrier. He also adds Justice Society TA and a ton of keywords to his original two generic Future and Politician ones: Armor, Gotham City, Green Lantern Corps, Herald, Justice League, Justice Society and Mystical. But in similar fashion to other Kingdom Come-themed figs, he has a lower price point that has a very different character and play style: At 20 points, he starts on his ending two Defend clicks with a trait giving him Leadership and the ability to use it or Defend or JSA TA up to his range and LOF. It also, once per turn, boost a friendly’s DV from +1 to +3 (based on a d6 roll).

F.U.N.? The low dial for sure. The top dial is just pricey enough that it’s not too unfriendly either.

———

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BTU

Hi there: It’s our usual checklist. And possibly our last: The old files and templates were lost in the latest computer crash. Unsure if we can get the old programs used to build them back.

That’s the bad news. The good news is my work computer has the software so I was able to rebuild the templates there for now. And thanks to the crowdsourcing done on HCRealms, Clix Nexus and several Facebook clix groups, we think we have the complete info for this set.

Downloadable PDF below contains two checklists apiece: one with the main set and miniature game and the other a list of the team-up cards, mystery cards, the ring equipments and constructs. It’s a lot to collect; keep track with this checklist.

BatmanTeamUp

 

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black watcher

2022 has been much more normal than either 2020 or 2021 were.

But with actual map time at a premium in 2021, there was one fig that could’ve made 2021’s favorite list but didn’t stand out immediately until it got play this past year — potential “late bloomer” faves.

So I introduce this year’s list with an addition to last year’s, again asking “Is this figure Fair, Useful and Nerdcore?” and “When I see this figure, do I immediately wish I had a team to fit it on?”

——

Omega (House of X 056)

200 points

hx065

What’s Fair: With the nerfing of Pulse Wave since spring 2021, ultimate Karima here is a lot less scary than she was upon her January 2021 release. And 200 points is like your whole team.

What’s Useful: But her potential 20 clicks of life tho. And Cosmic Energy. Not a truly bad click on her dial — and she can boost her stats on the few that are borderline.

What’s Nerdcore: Heroclixin’ board member Chadd knows how much I like Sentinels.

Folks think Nimrod is the baddest Sentinel, but it’s really her.

Omega smirks

——————

OK. On to the actual list, which is somewhat more than the usual top 10 but fewer than the 20 I picked for 2020.

Alphabetical order.

——————

Blue Marvel (Avengers Forever 031)

150 points / 50 points

av4e031

He’s Fair: Though he’s a Hypersonic Speeder at full, his value is pretty modest. He’s gonna put himself at some risk to extend across the board. And his traited PW doesn’t work with HSS.

And Useful: But TRAITED PW THO. And also Force Blast, which means he can pinball a whole squad through their defenses and ruin formations. He’s also difficult to snipe, as he heals from any range attacks on his person (hit or miss) and has a pair of STOPs. He’s Cosmic Energized, gets some Outwit down dial (or to start when at 50 points) and

How He’s Nerdcore:  He’s a member of the Ultimates with Black Panther, America Chavez, Captain Marvel and Monica Rambeau. Can FINALLY play the squad again.

Back in 2015, WK made a first pass at this character which ranked as one of the worst of that year and HAS NOT AGED WELL. This version stands as an apology for that one. And it is heartily accepted. If I were ranking this year, he’d be likely in the top five.

———

Captain America (Disney Plus 056)

125 points / 75 points / 50 points

msdp056

Is he Fair? Maybe on his lower dials, which lack the big damage and armor of the top. Otherwise, this figure is way OP for the character. If I were still doing pure F.U.N. factor ratings, he wouldn’t make it. This is a meta piece (if a lower-tier one, due to his unwieldy cost and so-so speed value while HyperSpeedy.)

But Very Useful: As I said, he’s OP for the character. Stealthy and anti-Stealthy (thanks to Avengers Initiative). 19 DV Invincible  plus the Energy Shield/Deflection from his no-cost Cap’s shield equipment. A HUGE 12 AV 4 damage first click — 13/5 in close! — and Defend+Toughness he can share with his pals. But of course what puts him over the top is his ability to drag a target he punched along with him:

YOU JUST EARNED THIS WHOOPIN’: Force Blast, Hypersonic Speed, Stealth. When Captain America uses Hypersonic Speed and hits with a close attack, after resolutions he may place a hit character adjacent to himself, then use Force Blast as FREE.

Add to that his Willpower and ability to generate a Redwing drone for an extra HSS Precision attack or Outwit — or both — and you see why he makes the meta list.

How He’s Nerdcore For Me: I first saw this piece about 7 months before release and bought it almost as soon as I could. No regrets. He’s now a fixture on my competitive Cookout team of all-Black characters. And he led that team to a win in WizKids’ World Championship — a bucket-list item for me! (And something I need to write about here.)

———

Captain Carter (Disney Plus 041a)

95 points

 

msdp041a

Britain’s Fairest: She’s not nearly as busted as the prime variant, so she’s not going to make opponents quake after they notice she lacks the green ring. At 100 points (because you WILL play her with the shield), she’s a lot of a team and outdone by a lot of smaller pieces.

A Usefully Stiff Upper Lip: She really is good for smaller pieces, though, not only Defend-ing them via trait, but boosting the DV of friends NOT next to her if they’re within her 6 range. Speaking of which, she can punch or Quake at that 6 range (via SP Giant Reach:6) and knock back in any direction.

Nerdcore: A breakout star of the What If cartoon. She’s a nicely straightforward piece I didn’t expect to like so much.

———

Falcon (Avengers Forever 006)

50 points

av4e006

Fair Flight: At just 50 points, this Charge piece isn’t frightening anyone, not even if playing with his team up card to get free attacks if a Captain America hit.

Useful in the Skies: But Improved Movement: Characters means he’s rarely getting tied up, giving his 50% Super Senses trait vs. range more of a chance. He mid-dials to Running Shot with Perplex and ends with a bit of Willpower+CCE.

How He’s Nerdcore For Me: In a year with Sam Wilson as the scale-tipping Disney Plus Cap America seen above (not to mention the SR Falcon from the same set), this one would seem a letdown. And yet, it’s this perfectly F.U.N. fig I’m always considering for teams when I need a more pure Falcon to run.

———

Hulk (Avengers Forever 045)

200 points

av4e045

Hulk Fair! Giants are big ol’ targets, and Hulk here is no exception. He’s also 200 points and still not quite the total tentpole needed at that cost, especially without constant Outwit protection.

Hulk Useful! But Gamma Clap, though! It’s almost the perfect power for such a big target. It’s so good for friends, too, since it triggers when adjacent friendlies are targets. He also gets a few STOPs that do give him Safeguard:Outwit on those clicks. It’s a great balance that keeps him viable without the extra cost (and unF.U.N.ness) of being completely immune to the black damage power.

Puny Nerdcore!: Across the two decades of HeroClix, Hulk has rarely gotten definitive versions. This is one of them.

HULK CLAP

———

Isca the Unbeaten (X-Men: X of Swords 031b)

45 points

xmxs031b

Fair? Kinda, For Someone Who Can’t Lose: Despite being a prime, she’s a Charge piece. Not scary on the outset and, being a Rally figure, it takes some time for her to ramp up.

Useful? Yeah. Her Mutant Power Is Inability To Lose: But when she does, though. Rally on any 4 means she could get them pretty fast, and then use them on her attacks, give herself critical hits, or make attackers miss her. She’s also got Invincible, Precision, Exploit and, later, Steal Energy and Empower. She’s a wild card and has a STOP click with +1 Super Senses if there’s a 4 in the attack. Finally, she’s a Sword Bearer, so for 5 points extra she can wield one of the Sword Equipments to give more ways to win. I prefer her story-accurate sword, Mercy (either version), which allow you, the player, to either reroll an attack on her or her attacks, respectively.

She’s So Nerdcore I Can’t Lose Playing Her: So none of the four (!) versions of her actually really represent her inability to lose. But man do I have F.U.N. trolling over it — whether I’m winning or losing. And as of this writing, I have not yet lost a game with her on the team.

Isca lounging

———

Kurse (War of the Realms 035)

60 points

wotr035

She’s Fair: A 3-damage melee piece, even with Sidestep and a bit of Giant Reach, isn’t that rude to see.

She’s Useful: But she’s not that polite. Difficult to hurt from range, courtesy of an unOutwittable SP, she’s also smart and bears Outwit and Sidestep. So she can ‘Step around a corner, counter a defense and then Charge in with that Giant Reach. Later she gets Flurry, Steal Energy and Close Combat Expert. All for just 60 points!

How She’s Nerdcore For Me: I was surprised to learn this Kurse is a chick! That only makes her cooler in my book.

———

Mindful One (Avengers Forever 030)

40 points / 25 points

av4e030

Fair-Minded: Super Strength is not good. And Charge figures die. So despite his Mystics TA, Mindful One alone isn’t going to be super-unF.U.N. to deal with.

Of A Mind To Be Useful: But he’s never alone, is he? At 40 points, he’s an 18 Defend piece who gives the Defended Mystics TA (not at 25 points, though). He spawns Mindless Ones with Rally dice (on friendly 1 rolls). And he’s a rare medic who can fight, either Charging in or shooting from 4 out.

How He’s Nerdcore For Me: I originally just wanted to team him with old Mindless Ones for mindless goodness. But actually fielding him won him this spot among the year’s best favorites.

———

Miss America (Avengers Forever 050)

50 points

av4e050

Young and Fair: Her 8 Hypersonic Speed is not much, and her best use of it doesn’t pair well with TK, the usual power combo. So Miss America isn’t an unfriendly sight to see.

Avenger Useful: She’s one of the only HSS figs able to take friends along, making her a great taxi — one who can attack on the way! Or, after the melee has begun, she can evacuate pals with HSS’s second move (though not far, thanks to her low-ish 8 Speed). She also brings Empower and later CCE to do her own punching.

Nerdcore: The original America was one of my all-time favorite clix pieces, but this one overshadows her in a number of ways. I can’t say I like this year’s model better, but I really really like it and honestly don’t know when I’ll reach for the 2017 version over it. But in any case, she’s a member of the Ultimates with Black Panther, America Chavez, Captain Marvel and Blue Marvel AND on the Young Avengers. She’s a fixture on both teams for me.

AmericaChavez

———

Miss Minutes (Disney Plus 029)

35 points

msdp029

“Time’s Up!”

Fair Timeline : No Incap piece is anything to be worried about.

Useful Timeline: But she’s a decent one, with 12 AV and 2 targets. She also brings Prob Control to the force, with the ability to “teleport” next to blocking terrain in her 6 range. She’s also a potential Mission Point threat if the other force has multiples of a same-named character in range+LOF.

Nerdcore Time: Taylor, there’s finally an Incap piece I love. This shady little robot AI just tickles me that she exists in clix.

———

Storm (X-Men: X of Swords 001)

45 points

xmxs001

Fair Weather:  For best results, she often has to put herself a bit in harm’s way. Still, with no moving attack, this Storm is not going to wreck anyone’s team with damage.

Uncannily Useful: But she’ll wreck formations with ease, being able to move and FREE Force Blast in any direction. She’s also Stealthy and Perplexing. And she’s a Sword Bearer, so +5 points can make her a Blades piece.

Nerdcore: Representing Storm stealing the sacred sword Skybreaker from Wakanda, this is an interesting take on the character. Not the perfect Storm we’ve still not gotten in clix — I want one who can make whole hurricanes — but more than OK.

———

Valkyrie (War of the Realms 042)

70 points

wotr042

Fair (not really a) Maiden: Very few Charge pieces should ever be a terror — not unless they have the full-Speed variety of the power — and Val here doesn’t. She’s also a pricey BCF figure, and weak to Exploit Weakness in particular.

Valhalla-level Useful: Where she shines is in damage reduction. She can weather penetrating damage from non-adjacent foes (that includes EW blows from Giant Reach!) and reduce +1 damage from adjacent ones (though not the aforementioned EW or other penetrating attack from them). But maybe she doesn’t mind fighting a crowd: Her SP allows her to use BCF against multiples.

Nerdcore: I’ve loved this Tessa Thompson-inspired version of Valkyrie since the Thor: Ragnarok film and it’s nice to get the comics analogue in clix. She’s got Exiles keyword — that’s how I played her during Games With Chadd this past summer — and she’s an addition to the The Cookout!

———

The Watcher (Disney Plus 101b)

40 points

msdp101b

He Sees All Is Fair: He starts with a 10 AV but just 1 damage. He ends with a 3 damage but just 8 AV. And with neither his Outwit nor his Perplex ever making him a credible offensive threat, he’s not a frightening presence on the other team.

But boy is this guy Useful. First of all, his line of fire is never blocked, so he is a supreme TK figure. With 8 range, he can be a surprising attacker (though again, not much of one) and an Outwit threat at all times. That’s because he can pick any of his clicks at the beginning of the turn — including a superb 20 Defend click at end dial. Add to that his bearing Mystics TA, and he’s worth most of his 40-point cost.

How He’s Nerdcore For Me: This is the What If version of Uatu, so he gets added to the Black Box of Black-themed characters. He was a key addition to that themed team I took to Worlds this year.

———

I didn’t rank ’em this year, same as last. But if I had to choose right now, my top 10 would be:

No. 10. Kurse

No. 9. Hulk

No. 8. Storm

No. 7. Miss Minutes

No. 6. Captain America

No. 5. Valkyrie

No. 4. Mindful One

No. 3. Miss America

No. 2. Blue Marvel

No. 1. Isca the Unbeaten

———

I might try a new version of something I did last year while still under quarantine: Play this year’s team of faves against the prior year’s.

150 AV4E031 Blue Marvel
125 MSDP056 Captain America
95 MSDP041A Captain Carter + shield 5
50 AV4E006 Falcon
200 AV4E045 Hulk
45 XMXS031B Isca the Unbeaten + sword 5
60 WOTR035 Kurse
40 AV4E030 Mindful One
50 AV4E050 Miss America
35 MSDP029 Miss Minutes
45 XMXS001 Storm + sword 5
40 MSDP101B The Watcher
70 WOTR042 Valkyrie

= 1020 points

versus

HoX053 Captain Britain 80
WW80067 The Commissioner 50
WW80045 Dr. Poison 40
WW80024 Harley Quinn 50
WW80054 Lex Luthor 50
A4E026 Loki 60
HoX051 Maggott 40
MP20-001a-200 Master Mold 200
A4E041 Monica Rambeau 150
XRF007 Multiple Man 40
XRF007 Multiple Man 40
XRF007 Multiple Man 10
A4E015 Onome 40
A4E072 Rikki Barnes 75
A4E047b T’Chaka II 45
XRF008 Sentinel 25
XRF008 Sentinel 25

= 1020 points.

I’ll let y’all know if it happens.

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In all fairness, across 20 years of HeroClix, what’s considered “bad” has changed a lot. The worst pieces in 2002 are WAY more terrible than this past year’s junk.

But someone’s gotta be in last place, so here we go, in no particular order because who wants to do all that work???

——

Noh-Varr (Avengers Forever 034) 50 points

av4e034

Screen Shot 2022-12-25 at 8.02.07 PM

Bearing trait Super Senses, IM:Elevated and Running Shot+Energy Explosion+RCE, he doesn’t seem bad at all for the points, especially with a STOP click.

…which, instead of saving him, actually insta-KOs him unless he’s by himself. It’s kinda comic accurate, but WOW.

  • BOTTOM LINE: His other SP on that click is “This Fight Is Over” and in his case, that’s actually usually true.

——

Redroot the Forest (X-Men X of Swords Storyline 039) 70 points

redroot 039

Screen Shot 2022-12-25 at 8.00.55 PM

Oh, I want to like this one so much. FREE damage and terrain wreckage seems good.

But she has to get into range. THEN get to POWER Smoke Cloud — while hiding in Stealth with no other defenses (though she can Defend others) — then hope she can actually do something to an enemy. Her 3 target Incap would be great if she had ANY range or Charge. But nah … she’s a mess, esp. at her top dial.

  • BOTTOM LINE: She might be able to sneak into effectiveness at 40 points, but overall she’s kinda rotten

——

Lockheed (X-Men X of Swords 008)  45 points

xmxs008

Screen Shot 2022-12-25 at 7.45.13 PM

Another Defend piece. He can slip in a FREE attack when enemies attack. But it doesn’t function with his Energy Explosion, and that makes him not a great use of 45 points.

  • BOTTOM LINE: I’d love him at 25 or maybe even 35 points. As is, this tiny dragon is bloated

——

Synch (X-Men X of Swords 019) 70 points

xmxs019

Screen Shot 2022-12-25 at 7.43.50 PM

When this dial was revealed, I thought my prayers for a proper Synch had finally been answered. He could finally — FINALLY — copy the powers he needs like the in the comics. But then I saw: “This turn” meaning he’s virtually defenseless: No reducers, no Stealth, no Shape Change, No Senses to help him survive opponents’ turns.

Plus, despite a free healing trait, he needs OTHERS to heal first to use it.

And on top of all else, he can only copy displayed powers — doesn’t key off SPs or traits — and those only from characters who aren’t giant OR colossal OR tiny OR pogs OR enemies OR out of line of fire

  • BOTTOM LINE: He looks really bad next to the similarly powered Hope Summers. A 70-point fig should be more self-sufficient and not just dead/defenseless if he happens to be the last guy standing.

Same problem goes for the OTHER Synch:

Synch (Hellfire Gala 007) 75 points

MHG-006_Synch_HiresRender_file_1660193822

Screen Shot 2022-12-25 at 7.42.07 PM

No defenses AGAIN. Depending on teammates AGAIN (this time for them to roll for the Gala trait so he can copy ONE of some X-Man’s standard power). And SP Perplex that does himself very little good. He’s also wasting points on Incap for some reason.

  • BOTTOM LINE: Maybe don’t waste points on him for any reason (outside a Hellfire Gala team)

——

 Magik (X-Men X of Swords 102a) 30 points

Screen Shot 2022-12-25 at 7.37.21 PM

Leap/Climb is a spectacular waste of a power on a character with Flight. Even as a training figure, that’s a spectacular waste, as the only extra benefit is easier breakaway from Plasticity, which doesn’t even show up in the starter set she’s from.

  • BOTTOM LINE: What a spectacular waste

——

Monica Rambeau (Disney Plus 026) 45 points

Screen Shot 2022-12-25 at 7.36.45 PM

She’s there to sort of defend other allies. But she kinda needs the same defense boost she offers others for her price point, esp. since she’s doing zip else with 0 range and zero moving attack powers. Her common variant is better at nearly half the cost.

  • BOTTOM LINE: She’s a zero

——

Thor (War of the Realms Fast Forces 001b) 75 points

ffwotr001v

Screen Shot 2022-12-25 at 7.35.51 PM

This many points for this few clicks? And his cool SP doesn’t show until he’s hit hard. And then he’s just got Toughness to protect him before he’s an easy KO.

  • BOTTOM LINE: UNWORTHY.

——

Moon Knight (War of the Realms 032) 70 points

wotr032

Screen Shot 2022-12-25 at 7.33.26 PM

His trait depends on him getting hit, which is … less than ideal. His SP depends on him hitting. But it’s not on his top dial where, ideally, he’d stay — and with him being a Running Shot piece, the SP’s emphasis on melee powers like Quake, BCF and Steal Energy seems wasteful. Maybe could’ve left them off and saved 10+ points.

  • BOTTOM LINE: I don’t even have anything cute to say

——

Iron Man (Avengers Forever 014) 50 points

av4e014

 

Screen Shot 2022-12-25 at 7.29.28 PM

Soooo I think the point is he’s supposed to stand in place and defend allies or something. Which would be OK with longer range, but 6 is really average. Then later, Outwit shows, which would be way more welcome top dial — and, again, with longer range.

  • BOTTOM LINE: It’s giving me bad old Iron Man fig energy

——

Hulk (War of the Realms 009) 70 points

wotr009

Screen Shot 2022-12-25 at 7.28.00 PM

Basically a tie-up fig for 70 points. He’d be effective at 70 points with Improved Movement to ensure he can get in faces. Or Plasticity — even at 70 points — to keep there. But without those things, he’s just a highly ignorable 70 points. Or 70 points you need to dedicate another piece or pieces to make work.

  • BOTTOM LINE: Hulk mashed

——

Empath (X-Men X of Swords 008)  75 points

Empath

Screen Shot 2022-12-25 at 7.26.12 PM

At 75 points, this is a single-target Mind Control piece that HAS to land that attack or he’s utter trash, Masterminding attacks to teammates who are probably more useful than he is. Meanwhile, his low dial lacks the stats to make him effective.

  • BOTTOM LINE: He’s a bottom feeder.

————

OK, that’s enough of this garbage. I’m going to hold my nose and use each of them effectively on a team in the coming months.

But before that, next up: Heroclixin’s top 10 (or so) favorites of 2022.

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In principle, legacy cards are a F.U.N. way to bring some old pieces back into Modern/Silver play, rework some old figs that never really worked right before (or don’t anymore due to rule changes).

In practice? Well, let’s see. Here’s the latest batch, from 2022’s Avengers Forever set.

———

L006 Black Knight
(Fantastic Forces, 2005)

 

L006_file_1666750717

THEN: Dane Whitman here was nearly as basic a Charging Exploit piece as you could get. Sure, he had the then-new Transporter Move And Attack ability (Hypersonic Speed, but only when not adjacent to enemies and at -2 Attack) but for 77 points, you could and would play something better, even in those pre-card days.

NOW: He gains the Defenders TA along with his original Avengers and a trio of traits:

  • 1. Hypersonic Speed proper;
  • 2. Super Senses and Combat Reflexes;
  • 3. A complicated one called “Honor Bound Not Kill” that first gives him Close Combat Expert but also grants bonuses for hitting but not KOing enemies (token removal or healing or Mercy tokens, which up his AV).

F.U.N.? He’s a 50-point Charge piece. His Exploit Weakness notwithstanding, he’s not a scary enemy. So we’ll rate him pure F.U.N.: Useful and Nifty enough but Friendly for casual play as well.

———

L012 Hawkeye
(Fantastic Forces, 2005)

 

L012_file_1666324562

THEN: 84 points was his base cost, but sky cycle Hawkeye was always played with the powerful Trick Shot feat allowing him to shoot through friends and enemies — and defeat the far-more-impenetrable-back-then Stealth — with impunity from 10 range. He was also a Transporter.

NOW: Busted down to 50 points, he gains a trait “Training the Thunderbolts” that mimics the now completely defunct T-Bolts Alternate Team Ability feat that used to go on every Avengers team if possible. He also has a “Trick Shots From The Sky Cycle” trait that boosts his AV and DV each time he hits — and when he maxes on those modifications, he can pick a power on his card to use.

F.U.N.? It encourages aggressive play in a neat way, without veering into game-breaking territory. We like it.

———

L024 Black Panther
(Avengers, 2007)

 

av024

THEN: I wrote pretty effusively about this 92-point piece when he was new, especially in comparison with the BPs we’d had before:

He’s the great fighter he’s supposed to be, with an 11 Attack Value that never slides below 9, where the Infinity Challenge vet PEAKED. His three Blades/Claws/Fangs slots aren’t all front-loaded but are spread down the dial. He’s as much a thinker as a fighter, with double the Outwit (4 clicks in total) and Perplex everywhere else, including the opening slot. Like the IC vet, he lacks natural Stealth and instead has a full dial of Leap/Climb. But he’s a wildcard, giving him much more flexibility. Defensively, he sports Toughness and Super Senses to give him life in the fray, and his lone bare click, his last, spikes back up to a 17 value.

But a lot that was good about him — feats, 10-range Outwit, Perplex on  his damage, Leap/Climb, wild card TA — has suffered or vanished altogether over the many years since summer 2007. So he could use an update.

NOW: Though slimmed down to 60 points, he gains a version of the classic “Out of the Shadows” SP in a trait (if he’s in hindering, FREE place him within 4 squares and line of fire) and another trait “Diplomatic Immunity” that keeps him from being shot at or Outwitted if he’s already been attacked that turn. He also gets Stealth.

But … he lost the Avengers keyword somehow.

F.U.N.? Seriously, how does a longtime Avenger in a set called Avengers Forever who had the Avengers keyword on the original figure not get the keyword?

 

———

L033 Tigra
(Fantastic Forces, 2005)

 

L033_file_1666581181

THEN: Stealth + Blades + Super Senses was what 54 points often bought you.

NOW: Her nondescript dial is enhanced — and lengthened — by her “Nine Lives” trait that spends up to nine of her Lives tokens to heal up that many clicks.

F.U.N.? Yes. A simple, svelte upgrade well worth the 40 point price.

———

L035 Jarvis
(Avengers Assemble, 2015)

 

L034_file_1666586626

THEN: He boosted the ID card meta at the time, sporting also a trait that kept him from damage while next to an Avenger. Granting fellow Avengers IM/IT:Hindering rounded out his utility for 40 points.

NOW: He lost all ID card interaction in favor of a new trait allowing him to clear out terrain markers within 4 squares. That’s OK, I guess? He kept a version of his damage resistance when adjacent to Avengers, but it’s no longer Protected: Outwit.

F.U.N.? I suppose? The new version loses a LOT of utility at only 5 points shaved.

 

———

L036 Agent Coulson
(Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD, 2015)

 

L036_file_1666576772

THEN: Agent Coulson had Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Energy Explosion on his SP, the latter of which was not good on him at the time. He also had a SP with Enhancement and Leadership on 2 figs instead of one. But all this cost 75 points, and even his Field Team Backup trait giving corner-case Prob couldn’t help make him playable.

NOW: He’s slashed to 45 points. His Attack SP is Incap+damage instead, now, and his damage SP is Outwit+Leadership, with the ability to generate a SHIELD Operative from the set. But his real worth is the Sideline Active trait that brings him into the game from free if a 50-plus-point SHIELD Leadership roll works.

F.U.N.? Definitely as a main force fig. As a sideliner, he is potential meta material.

———

L039 Cosmo
(Avengers Infinity, 2018)

 

ai039

THEN: I wrote a bit about him when I used to collect and play Guardians of the Galaxy figs.

He’s prime TK for the team. He also bears Outwit (and immunity to same) with IT:Hindering. Mind Control (with +1 AV against multitargets) is hampered a little by 6 range, as is his second damage power to shut down POWER actions. Fortunately, he doesn’t need LOF for that SP. His last click is Charge with 12 AV and BCF and Battle Fury. … His short, unarmored dial is his one weakness, especially for [70] points.

NOW: He’s absolutely slashed in price to 45 points and gets much more useful SPs for the savings. His first still grants basic Mind Control, but … well, read it.

CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER OF K.N.O.W.H.E.R.E. AND I SAID NO!! Mind Control. // POWER: Choose a standard power. Until your next turn, Cosmo has “Opposing characters within range can’t use the chosen power.”

His other SP, which doesn’t appear until clicks 2-4, is Outwit that makes the target Immobile. It’s harder to use because he can’t get to those clicks without help. And I suppose it’s why he’s not more points.

F.U.N.? Nah. Being able to quasi-Outwit potentially a whole team without an attack or even line of fire is pretty busted. This is a meta piece that will be a little difficult to deal with.

———

L040 Captain America
(Hammer of Thor, 2009)

 

L040_file_1666577179

THEN: He made Heroclixin’ first Top 10 of the Year list, back in late 2009:

Cap seems a bit of a disappointment until you note his special power “Deflection Trajectory.” Only walls and indoor blocking terrain block his line of fire. This means he can shoot:
  • past characters, friend or foe (take that, Sharpshooters)
  • around buildings
  • from the middle of a roof to the ground, or vice versa
  • at Stealthed characters
  • at characters using the Camouflage feat(!)
  • through Barrier(!!)

Improved Targeting wasn’t really a thing back then and so he was extra special, even at a slightly weighty 72 points for how otherwise sparse his dial is.

NOW: He’s just 50 points and his SP loses the IT:Outdoor Blocking he used to have. He gains a trait that heals a friendly character 2 clicks when he removes an action token from them — himself included.

F.U.N.? As noted above, he’s a lot less special now. Pure F.U.N.

———

L043 Darkstar
(Captain America, 2011)

 

L043_file_1666749512

THEN: Heroclixin’ noted her as one of a new crop of characters who kinda introduced FREE Smoke Cloud to the game back in 2011. We thought it was fine on her, being a Phasing TK and Barrier piece at nearly 100 points, but could be problematic on cheaper figs.

NOW: Cut WAY down from 98 to 50 points, she becomes that problematic cheaper fig. Her old SP granting Toughness and Barrier now gives her the reducer and the ability to turn up to half her Smoke into blocking, a la Molecule Man. 

F.U.N.? Along with Stealth, she is a piece that could very well make the meta once Molecule Man retires. Marginally F.U.N. in our opinion.

———

L044 Ursa Major
(Captain America, 2011)

L044_file_1666748639

THEN: Wait, forget what we said about Black Knight earlier: THIS was as basic and unremarkable a Charging brick as you could get, despite existing well into the carded fig era. A bloated 102 points gave nothing interesting — you played him because you were running some sort of theme or not at all.

NOW: He slims down to a much more appropriate 75 points with a trait boosting his DV +2 if he’s in 6 squares of enemies and his AV +2 if he’s adjacent to multiple foes.

F.U.N.? Yes. Unbearably so. (Sorry, couldn’t resist)

———

L048 Kang the Conqueror
(Supernova, 2006)

 

L048_file_1666581745

THEN: I mostly liked him back in the day.

At nearly 200 points, a 9-click dial with only one click of starting Invulnerability is a bit of a disappointment. But most of those clicks are excellent, and a 13 attack (WITH Running Shot!) in today’s game shouldn’t be passed up.

NOW: He loses 74 points of cost because the old point formula got COMPLETELY jettisoned some years ago, obviously. He gains a “Master of Time” trait that gains him Time tokens on hits that he can rack up to boost distinct values or spend (up to 3) to heal up. So that opening 10/13/18/4 can become 11/14/19/5 when he has 4+ Time tokens.

F.U.N.? Seems OK to us!

———

L050 MODOK
(Captain America, 2011)

 

ca050

THEN: We had F.U.N. with him leading MODOK’s 11 back in 2011, though he’s overpriced at 160 points to just be a flying PPBing brick. Sure, he had a Pulse Wave SP on his back half that could selectively not hit his chosen keyword allies, but his soft defense at that point kept him from using it very often.

NOW: In addition to keeping the above PW SP, he gains a lot of new tricks. First, he can carry now, which is important for 2) traited Leadership and Mastermind, the former of which can generate minion pogs that 3) gain the AIM keyword. 4) AIM characters rack up Mission Points each turn instead of dealing damage if you like.

All this for exactly HALF the original cost, though. WizKids is wild.

F.U.N.? This piece looks F.U.N. as hell.

———

L067 Rick Jones
(Avengers Assemble, 2015)

avas067

THEN: The first bonafide chase piece to legacy’d, Rick was also a bonafide meta figure back in the day. He started by spawning a Captain America pog, one of three bystanders on his card he could send into battle while staying safe in the back, generating a different when/if the previous one was lost. He also had 10 range TK/PPB, so he could get them into the fray with relative ease. Finally, he had a DOUBLE POWER that could token up every foe in the game under certain circumstances.

NOW: He can still spawn those bystanders on his card and send them into battle while staying safe in the back. He loses the TK and PPB for 10 range Incap that deals damage.  All for an economical 45 points, down from 75.

F.U.N.? We hate that chase figures are getting legacy cards. That said, not being able to push at will to get to Perplex keeps him in the F.U.N. zone for me.

 

———

L084 Thor
(Supernova, 2006)

 

L084_file_1652148524

THEN: At 235 points, he was always an overcosted pile of a piece. Yes, 12 AV was VERY good and rare in late 2006. 16 DV was NOT, even with Impervious. So he was highly dependent on his Running Shot and 8 range and 5 damage to get that first blast in, or he was getting Outwitted and swarmed down.

NOW: In addition to a massive three-figure cost cut to just 125 points, he gains the all-important Cosmic Energy TA to avoid the Outwit threat. He also gets a pair of traits that essentially allow him to throw a Mjolnir marker at a foe (this is either a CLOSE or RANGE) for +1 damage, then at the end of the next turn, call it back to him, wrecking blocking and enemies in the way.

F.U.N.? That hammer move is pretty Nifty. Time will tell if it’s too Useful to be Fair — that’s an ability to attack for huge damage every single turn.

———

In a pretty cool move, WizKids packed each legacy card with Team Up Cards as well. But this isn’t a review of those. Maybe in a future feature.

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It’s become a DragonCon tradition: Heroclixin’ Board Member Chadd Franklin comes down to Atlanta for a con and for big games with yours truly. And this year, we did it in grand fashion … sort of.

GAME 1: NIGHT OF THE SENTINELS

SENTINELS v XMEN

Thursday was the big kahuna, a titanic match between Chadd’s mutant heroes out to wreck my horde of every Sentinel I could possibly field in 2,500 points.

Bishop (X of Swords) 80
Exodus (House of X) 95
Apocalypse (X-Men Rise and Fall ) 125
Gorgon (X of Swords 022) 65
Kid Gladiator (X-Men Rise and Fall ) 75
Magik (X of Swords 023) 65
Marvel Girl (House of X 020) 80
Phoenix (X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga) 350
Polaris (X-Men Rise and Fall 026) 50
Kitty Pryde (Empyre) 35
Rogue (X of Swords 037a) 60
Professor X, Dreamer (X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga) 50
Scarlet Witch (Empyre) 50
Cable 75 + Futuristic Holograms 25 (X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga)
X-23 (Fantastic Four) 50
Egg (House of X) 25
Hope Summers (X of Swords) 100
Cyclops (X-Men Rise and Fall) 45
Dazzler (Empyre) 35
Colossus (Empyre) 125
Iceman (House of X) 65

Elixir (House of X) 40
Forge (House of X Fast Forces) 75
Sage (House of X Fast Forces) 50
Dr. Moira MacTaggart (X-Men Rise and Fall ) 20
Deadpool (X-Men Rise and Fall 100) 60

Beast. (X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga Fast Forces) 70
Gambit (X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga Fast Forces) 70
Jubilee (X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga Fast Forces) 50
Storm (X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga Fast Forces) 70
Wolverine (X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga Fast Forces) 70

X-Men Blue ATA 4 points each

Monster Hunter feat on everyone legal 3 points each

This was an impressive 2,500-point force and one well suited against a colossal Sentinel force, something like what I fielded:

Alpha Class Sentinel @150
Bastion (XDPS g013) @100
Cerebra @150 + Brilliant Tactician 20
Cyclops Sentinel @150
Friend of Humanity @5
Karima + Robot Team Up card 75
Master Mold @200
Nimrod (047b) @125
Nimrod the Greater 25
Nimrod the Lesser 100
Omega 200
Omega Prime Sentinel 59 + Infiltrate 2
Omega Sentinel 50
Orchis Soldier 25
Phoenix Sentinel @75
Sentinel (Captain America) @200
LE Sentinel Captain 29
legacy Sentinel Mark II @100
legacy Sentinel Mark V @40
Sentinel Squad ONE 70
experienced Sentinel Trooper 25
Tri-Sentinel @30

He’d brought the Morlock Tunnels, a cramped indoor map that I’d had to diagram carefully to even be able to place my starting force.

Chadd’s plan was to Barrier up in between my waves of attacks. But it didn’t go that way because why would I march up to get shot like that? Sentinels are artificial intelligence … emphasis on INTELLIGENCE. And so that map hampered him more than it helped — especially when Tri-Sentinel blew up the walls

We played for some hours but had to call it far too early because Chadd had been up for nearly 20 straight hours and I had been awake for more than 16 myself.

We planned revisit this battle on Monday, when the con was basically over, ahead of our Tuesday morning checkout time.

RESULT: INCONCLUSIVE (but the momentum was mine)

——

GAME 2: X-MEN #1 (1991) COVER vs. ACOLYTES

Chadd built a 1000-point team based on the iconic cover:

xmen1

So I opted to face him with Magneto and his Acolytes!

Magneto (XDPS G025) 300
Frenzy
Colossus (XDPS) + Inside Information
Amelia Voght
Scanner
Kleinstock Bros x 3
Random
legacy Fabian Cortez

We agreed to play on Genosha, the site of the battle. And we kinda played it twice because the first go-round we made some ridiculous misplays. I played the Acolytes about as poorly as one could — Magneto wasn’t even on his right starting click! — while Chadd realized too late he hadn’t packed the right Beast for the team.

The second game, I had full command of my team, such that Chadd  folded.

RESULT: MAGNETO WAS RIGHT

——

GAME 3: EXILES V. EXILES

Exiles-logo-600x257

Chadd built a team of Exiles: Blink, Juggernaut, Proteus, Dazzler, Longshot and Sage.

So I wanted to play my OWN EXILES: T’Chaka II, Magik, Valkyrie, Tessa, Nocturne and Spider-Man 2099

But … this game was almost a bust because, again, Chadd had brought the wrong piece — this time a Juggernaut.

But … we found a way to rebuild our teams to have a match anyway.

But … it ended in a draw. And we didn’t even do a roll-off because WHY? It was a draw.

RESULT: A DRAW

——

GAME 4: THE NAME GAME

This is a F.U.N. scenario that Chadd came up with for Dragon Con years past where you build a force based on your government name.

C: Cyclops (Regenesis) @120

H: Honey Badger @80

A: Apocalypse (XMRF) 125

D: Dark Phoenix (M10th Anniversary) @100

D: Deadpool (X of Swords) 40

vs.

K: King Shark (Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls) @90 + Submerged 5 because he’s a shark

H: Harley Quinn (WW80) @50 + Alias 3 because she’s literally wearing someone else’s clothes

A: Ant-Man & Wasp (Chaos War) 168 + And Stay Down! 5 because they are a one-two punch duo

R: Rikki Barnes (Empyre) 75 + Loner 5 because she’s literally the last survivor of her world

I: Ironheart (Captain America and the Avengers) 85 + Shellhead 10 because she’s armored and has the old defense symbol to gain the +2

I LOVE how the feats are thematic for each of them.

We left the hotel room for this one, playing in the Heroclix gaming area at DragonCon. The map was the David Leverette/Howard Brock-provided Barnstable Wedding map.

I wound up winning, but the biggest moment was when Jonathan, Honey Badger’s pal wolverine, one-shot King Shark. Ohhhhh I was as salty as the water King Shark likes to swim in.

RESULT: KHARI’S VICTORY BUT CHADD HAD BEST SCENE

——

GAMES 5-6: THE CHARLIE

Another Dragon Con classic, we saved this for nearly last — because we had multiple teams to run.

The Charlie (named for Charlie “Rockman” Cates, an old school Heroclix judge and former player) works like this: Seven figs, all in differing point brackets, sit on the sideline. The cheapest fig starts first. When it heals or takes damage, immediately roll d6 and replace it with the corresponding fig on the sideline.

First game, Chadd had as many Phoenixes as he could muster: from Dark Phoenix down to Jean Grey and an X-Trainee filling in the very cheapest slot.

I ran a bunch of legacy card figs: Leech, Havok, Deadpool, Warlock, She-Hulk, Namor and Thor & Loki.

RESULT: SHINY LEGACIES SHINE

 

Some hours later, we found a quiet table in the gaming hall and did the other team. I forget what Chadd packed but I used my All Black Everything squad: 25-point WOTR Black Panther, Isca The Unbeaten prime, SR Uhura, 022 Power Girl @115, Empyre Monica Rambeau @150 and 250-point chase Black Panther.

RESULT: ALWAYS BET ON BLACK

——

GAME 7: NIGHT OF THE SENTINELS PART II

Now it was time to do our real match, being relatively rested this time and having several hours to do it justice.

Well, that didn’t quite happen either, as Chadd for some reason needed nearly an ENTIRE HOUR just to set up his team. Then he never quite played his force’s best pieces, essentially letting me take the offensive at will.

SENTINELS v XMEN 2

He’d built an impressive team. But the whole thing was just a little too overwhelming for him.

RESULT: SOME MUTANTS ELIMINATED, SOME SENTINELS WRECKED … but not nearly enough of either!

———

Chadd is skipping DragonCon next year, but coming to MomoCon in the spring. We’ll be holding the points down to a cap of 1000 this time. And we’ll have more F.U.N. Heroclixin’.