by ·0 Comments
E002 EVOLUTIONARY WAR
This dial is nonstop; that is, it doesn’t have a red line to signify  an endpoint. So it can continue until the last KO or time is called.
WHAT TO BRING: A current Powers and Abilities Chart (PAC) is mandatory for the GENESIS CHAMBER effect later in the dial.
TURN THE DIAL: At the end of each round.
WHAT IT MEANS: Straightforward.
PURIFIERS (black, slots 1-5): At the beginning of each round, each player can declare a special or standard power. All declared powers are ignored until the end of the round.
WHAT IT MEANS: You want to be careful of fielding powers that are key to your early strategy, especially those shared by multiple characters. PURIFIERS will enable opponents to nix them entirely. And note that the powers are ignored, not countered. This means that even team abilities that grant use of certain powers aren’t immune; if a player chooses Stealth, then Batman Allies are suddenly left exposed. It also means you’ll want to pay attention to pure stats over powers when team building. Note, however, that Traits are immune to this effect.
RESTORATION (cyan, slots 4-7): At the beginning of each round, remove all debris tokens from the map. All destroyed walls are no longer destroyed. All clear, grounded, outdoor terrain is hindering terrain. Each player can choose a friendly character that occupies an opponent’s starting area and heal it of 2 damage.
WHAT IT MEANS: Suddenly, there’ll be a lot of hindering terrain for Stealthy characters (assuming they survived the early game and the brief overlap with PURIFIERS isn’t still nerfing them) to hide in and fliers, Phase/Teleporters and Leap/Climbers to move freely over and through. High-speed characters might be a boon for this segment of the game for getting the free healing in enemy starting zones.
GENESIS CHAMBER (red. slots 8-12): Once at the beginning of each player’s turn, each player can choose a target friendly character and declare a combat value (other than range); if the target possesses a standard power of the chosen value, ignore that power until the end of the turn. Then each player who chose a target rolls a d6. On a result of 1-3, the target can use the standard power on that combat value on the PAC that occurs immediately before the ignored power, until the end of the turn. On a result of 4-6, the target can use the standard power of that combat value that occurs immediately after the ignored power, until the end of the turn. (The first standard power of a particular combat value on the PAC is considered to be immediately after the last standard power of that combat value.) At the end of the turn, deal the target 1 unavoidable damage.
WHAT IT MEANS: This is an entirely optional effect that you should be very careful about using! Basically, you get to swap a power on your dial for one before or after it on the Powers & Abilities Chart (PAC). But it’s 50/50 which you’ll get, and the character takes a click either way, so don’t give up a sweet click for this effect. Moreover, you can do this at the start of both YOUR and an OPPONENT’S turn.  Here’s a guide:
On YOUR turn
Never use GENESIS CHAMBER on:
Phasing/Teleport
Charge
Mind Control
Hypersonic Speed
These will stick you with useless (for offense) or far-inferior (for the circumstances) powers.
Always consider using GENESIS CHAMBER on:
Earthbound
Stealth
In this circumstance, the powers you gain will be much more useful. Make sure it’s a click you can afford to lose, though!
Maybe consider using GENESIS CHAMBER on:
Plasticity
Force Blast
Incapacitate
Smoke Cloud
Poison
Mastermind
Exploit Weakness
Perplex
Leadership
You might get a better power or one of equal worth. Again, beware of the self-damage you’ll take regardless.
On ANOTHER’S turn
Never use GENESIS CHAMBER on:
Phasing/Teleport
Charge
Plasticity
Force Blast
Hypersonic Speed
Stealth
Running Shot
any Attack power
Toughness
Mastermind
Impervious
Invulnerability
Battle Fury
Exploit Weakness
Perplex
Outwit
Leadership
Either the new power is useless on defense or simply not worth the click you’ll be sacrificing.
Maybe consider using GENESIS CHAMBER on:
Earthbound (but ONLY to take the click and get OFF Earthbound at the end of the turn without taking a token)
Super Senses
Defend
Barrier
Willpower
Regeneration
Enhancement
…You might gain a power that could help avoid or reduce big damage. Check out the PAC carefully in relation to your current circumstances. (For example, choosing Barrier will land you either Energy Shield/Deflection or Mastermind, so checking if you have any potential fodder adjacent or are in danger of being shot is key before making the swap.)
Any power not listed here is probably not a good risk to use this effect on.
SUMMING IT UP: Evolutionary War is a simple, straightforward event dial. But the last condition, GENESIS CHAMBER, is so byzantine to figure out in mid-game that players may opt to ignore this optional element completely. This is a phenomenon that afflicts many event dials, as further installments of this series will demonstrate.

E002 EVOLUTIONARY WAR

I actually much prefer this image to the one actually used on the dial's card. More "MU-WHA-HA-HA" = much more awesomeness

I actually much prefer this image to the one actually used on the dial's card. More "MU-WHA-HA-HA" = much more awesomeness

WHAT TO BRING: A current Powers and Abilities Chart (PAC) is mandatory for the GENESIS CHAMBER effect later in the dial.

—

TURN THE DIAL: At the end of each round.

WHAT IT MEANS: Straightforward. Note, though, that this dial is nonstop; that is, it doesn’t have a red line to signify  an endpoint. So it can continue until the last KO or time is called.

—

PURIFIERS (black, slots A-E): At the beginning of each round, each player can declare a special or standard power. All declared powers are ignored until the end of the round.

WHAT IT MEANS: You want to be careful of fielding powers that are key to your early strategy, especially those shared by multiple characters. PURIFIERS will enable opponents to nix them entirely. And note that the powers are ignored, not countered. This means that even team abilities that grant use of certain powers aren’t immune; if a player chooses Stealth, then Batman Allies are suddenly left exposed. It also means you’ll want to pay attention to pure stats over powers when team building. Note, however, that Traits are immune to this effect.

—

RESTORATION (cyan, slots D-G): At the beginning of each round, remove all debris tokens from the map. All destroyed walls are no longer destroyed. All clear, grounded, outdoor terrain is hindering terrain. Each player can choose a friendly character that occupies an opponent’s starting area and heal it of 2 damage.

WHAT IT MEANS: Suddenly, there’ll be a lot of hindering terrain for Stealthy characters (assuming they survived the early game and the brief overlap with PURIFIERS isn’t still nerfing them) to hide in and fliers, Phase/Teleporters and Leap/Climbers to move freely over and through. High-speed characters might be a boon for this segment of the game for getting the free healing in enemy starting zones.

—

GENESIS CHAMBER (red, slots H-L): Once at the beginning of each player’s turn, each player can choose a target friendly character and declare a combat value (other than range); if the target possesses a standard power of the chosen value, ignore that power until the end of the turn. Then each player who chose a target rolls a d6. On a result of 1-3, the target can use the standard power on that combat value on the PAC that occurs immediately before the ignored power, until the end of the turn. On a result of 4-6, the target can use the standard power of that combat value that occurs immediately after the ignored power, until the end of the turn. (The first standard power of a particular combat value on the PAC is considered to be immediately after the last standard power of that combat value.) At the end of the turn, deal the target 1 unavoidable damage.

WHAT IT MEANS: This is an entirely optional effect that you should be very careful about using! Basically, you get to swap a power on your dial for one before or after it on the Powers & Abilities Chart (PAC). But it’s 50/50 which you’ll get, and the character takes a click either way, so don’t give up a sweet click for this effect. Moreover, you can do this at the start of both YOUR and an OPPONENT’S turn.  Here’s a guide:

On YOUR turn:

Never use GENESIS CHAMBER on:

Phasing/Teleport
Charge
Mind Control
Hypersonic Speed

These will stick you with useless (for offense) or far-inferior (for the circumstances) powers.

Always consider using GENESIS CHAMBER on:

Earthbound
Stealth

In this circumstance, the powers you gain will be much more useful. Make sure it’s a click you can afford to lose, though!

Maybe consider using GENESIS CHAMBER on:

Plasticity
Force Blast
Incapacitate
Smoke Cloud
Poison
Mastermind
Exploit Weakness
Perplex
Leadership

You might get a better power or at least one of equal worth. Again, beware of the self-damage you’ll take regardless.

On ANOTHER’S turn:

Never use GENESIS CHAMBER on:

Phasing/Teleport
Charge
Plasticity
Force Blast
Hypersonic Speed
Stealth
Running Shot
any Attack power
Toughness
Mastermind
Impervious
Invulnerability
Battle Fury
Exploit Weakness
Perplex
Outwit
Leadership

Either the new power is useless on defense or simply not worth the click you’ll be sacrificing.

Maybe consider using GENESIS CHAMBER on:

Earthbound (but ONLY to take the click and get OFF Earthbound at the end of the turn without taking a token)
Super Senses
Defend
Barrier
Willpower
Regeneration
Enhancement

…You might gain a power that could help avoid or reduce big damage. Check out the PAC carefully in relation to your current circumstances. (For example, choosing Barrier will land you either Energy Shield/Deflection or Mastermind, so checking if you have any potential fodder adjacent or are in danger of being shot is key before making the swap.)

Any power not listed here is probably not a good risk to use this effect on. And note that you absolutely can’t use it on Special Powers.

—

SUMMING IT UP: Evolutionary War is a simple, straightforward event dial…mostly. But the last condition, GENESIS CHAMBER, is so byzantine to figure out in mid-game that players may opt to ignore this optional element completely. This is a phenomenon that afflicts many event dials, as further installments of this series will demonstrate.

Whew! That write-up alone was enough to delay this column for months (I wrote it in March or April)! And the next one is no simpler in its way, being another that rewards a proper build and could punish a normal one. Get ready to rumble with Unlimited Class Wrestling!!!

by ·0 Comments
E001 MUTANT MASSACRE
Based on the classic X-Men crossover circa issue 210 or so of the Uncanny X-Men series.
BRING: Character cards (or an official keyword list).
TURN THE DIAL: At the end of any turn in which a character that has a point value of more than 30 points is knocked out or eliminated.
WHAT IT MEANS: Unlike many other dials, which turn at the end of each round, Mutant Massacre only turns when characters leave the game. This means that various conditions can affect your game for a pretty long time, especially the first:
MASSACRE (Black, slots 1-8): Before the beginning of the first turn, each player declares a keyword. During the active player’s turn, if an opposing character that has the keyword named by the active player takes damage, after it takes damage deal that character 1 unavoidable damage. Critical hits to all characters deal an additional 1 damage.
WHAT IT MEANS: Any character with a keyword could be a target for extra harm, and this condition lasts a LONG time. You’ll want to seriously consider fielding characters without keywords. They will not be as vulnerable to the MASSACRE condition. By the same token, you should avoid theme teams entirely.
HELP FROM ARTIE AND LEECH (red, slots 3-4, 7-9): At the beginning of your turn, roll a d6. On a result of 4-6, a single character on your force that can’t already use Outwit can use Outwit once during that turn. In addition, if the result was a 6, you can also give an action token to one opposing character that has zero action tokens.
WHAT IT MEANS: Consider fielding Power Cosmic/Quintessence figures. They’ll essentially be immune to this condition. Anti-Outwit feats/powers like The Society, Outsmart, Fortitude and Stealth will help as well. Willpower and Indomitable will be less vulnerable to the token dump, at least.
EMERGENCY TRIAGE (cyan, slots 5-6): At the beginning of your turn, all of your characters that have two action tokens are healed of 1 damage.
WHAT IT MEANS: Another good reason to invest in characters who can push freely through Willpower or other means to gain free healing.
SUMMING IT UP: Mutant Massacre can truly make for a rough game for the unprepared. This is one dial that’s infinitely more fun when you can build for it. At the very least, avoid keyword themes.

Ugh. OK. So I said I’d have this installment up “some time this weekend?” Yeah. Didn’t happen. So I’m not making those kinds of promises anymore. Just look out for new posts, all right? All right. :)

E001 MUTANT MASSACRE

Based on the classic X-Men crossover circa issue 210 or so of the Uncanny X-Men series.

89071-4706-mutant-massacre_large

BRING: Character cards (and/or an official keyword list).

TURN THE DIAL: At the end of any turn in which a character that has a point value of more than 30 points is knocked out or eliminated.

WHAT IT MEANS: Unlike many other dials, which turn at the end of each round, Mutant Massacre only turns when characters leave the game. This means that various conditions can affect your game for a pretty long time, especially the first:

MASSACRE (Black, slots A-H): Before the beginning of the first turn, each player declares a keyword. During the active player’s turn, if an opposing character that has the keyword named by the active player takes damage, after it takes damage deal that character 1 unavoidable damage. Critical hits to all characters deal an additional 1 damage.

WHAT IT MEANS: Any character with a keyword could be a target for extra harm, and this condition lasts a LONG time. You’ll want to seriously consider fielding characters without keywords. They will not be as vulnerable to the MASSACRE condition. By the same token, you should avoid theme teams entirely.

HELP FROM ARTIE AND LEECH (red, slots C-D, G-I): At the beginning of your turn, roll a d6. On a result of 4-6, a single character on your force that can’t already use Outwit can use Outwit once during that turn. In addition, if the result was a 6, you can also give an action token to one opposing character that has zero action tokens.

WHAT IT MEANS: Consider fielding Power Cosmic/Quintessence figures. They’ll essentially be immune to this condition. Anti-Outwit feats/powers like The Society, Outsmart, Fortitude and Stealth will help as well. Willpower and Indomitable will be less vulnerable to the token dump, at least.

EMERGENCY TRIAGE (cyan, slots E-F): At the beginning of your turn, all of your characters that have two action tokens are healed of 1 damage.

WHAT IT MEANS: Another good reason to invest in characters who can push freely through Willpower or other means to gain free healing.

SUMMING IT UP: Mutant Massacre can truly make for a rough game for the unprepared. This is one dial that’s infinitely more fun when you can build for it. At the very least, avoid keyword themes.

Next time, we’ll look at the next phase of event dial development: Evolutionary War.

by ·24 Comments
During this extended downtime between new sets and Approved Play tournaments, players may be seeking some new scenarios to play. Now is a perfect time to try out some of the event dials released each set since 2007’s Monsters and Mutations!
For those who’ve never played or seen an event dial before, here’s a primer: they’re like playing under ever-changing, multiple Battlefield Conditions. I’ve only played a few, but they can be a total blast…WHEN players are able to build a team for the dial beforehand.
Not all event dials are created equal in terms of team builds. More to the point, some have particular build restrictions that prevent you from simply playing any old team and expect to do well — or even be able to legally play it! And all of them can be confusing.
This series is designed to advise players on how to interpret the sometimes byzantine rules of the event dials, and what sort of team to build or avoid for each one. I’ll quote the rules and conditions (along with the color circle associated with it) found on the folding card that comes with each dial and then give a “WHAT IT MEANS” translation along with tips on what to field or not field when building a team for the chosen dial! Finally, I’ll sum up the event and list extra material players should pack in addition to the usual HeroClix gear.

E001

During this extended downtime between new sets and Approved Play tournaments, players may seek some new scenarios to play. Now, then, is a perfect time to try out some of the event dials released each set since 2007’s Monsters and Mutations!

For those who’ve never played or seen an event dial before, here’s a primer: they’re like playing under ever-changing, multiple Battlefield Conditions. I’ve only played a few, but they can be a total blast…WHEN players are able to build a team for the dial beforehand.

Not all event dials are created equal in terms of team builds. More to the point, some have particular build restrictions that prevent you from simply playing any old team and expect to do well — or even be able to legally play it! And all of them can be confusing.

This series is designed to advise players on how to interpret the sometimes byzantine rules of the event dials, and what sort of team to build or avoid for each one. I’m using the following format:

WHAT TO BRING: Any extra elements needed or recommended besides the usual items used in normal HeroClix games will be listed here.

THE SETUP: Here I quote the special rules for the event dial that are marked with the checked box on the event dial card. Then I give a “WHAT IT MEANS” translation along with tips on what to field or not field when building a team for the chosen dial! I also do the same for each condition that appears on the dial (along with the color circle representing it and which slots they appear on).

Update (01/11/10): Turned this into a prologue for newcomers to the blog and series.

by ·1 Comment
Sorry for the delay in this update and post-mortem on the Iron Campaign. But I just had to stick with the notion of finding and scanning all this artwork in addition to writing the text. :) From most to least expensive, I’ve done a mini-review of each Stark-designed piece of armor in the HeroClix game based on its usefulness as part of a Stark-themed scheme. I also list feats that work and give each a general rating and an “Iron” rating based on how well they work on an Iron-themed team.
V Iron Man (X-Plosion) 189
One of the earliest Iron Men and one of the worst. Tipping the scales at nearly 200 points, it looks like the points all went to range and Ranged Combat Expert. One click of 10 attack and a steady drop from there, though, makes his fairly impressive damage potential worthless. Which makes him fairly worthless. Don’t play him unless you have a huge team (think 1500 points and up) that you can hide him behind in the background. Feats that work: Trick Shot. With him safely in the background, he can actually be a highly effective sniper.
GENERAL RATING: 1.5 of 5
IRON RATING: 2 of 5.
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188
Great numbers on Attack (11), Defense (18) and Damage (4) almost make you not care how expensive he is. Then you see his Special Power “Extremis” granting him Perplex, Outwit and Super Senses all together for the first third of his dial. Quite simply the best Iron Man to date, SI Iron Man makes the Stark Industries theme build viable in an unprecedented fashion. Feats that work: Brilliant Tactician fits him, well, brilliantly. It’s hard to recommend much more on top of that, even though Outsmart, Coordination and the Avengers feats Thunderbolts and Alpha Flight are great fits as well.
GENERAL RATING: 4 of 5
IRON RATING: 5 of 5.
Veteran Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172
His high Attack Value, 10 range and Outwit are nice, but at a full 72 points less there’s another Iron Man that does all that save the Outwit. Attack values slack off too quickly and precipitously, and his damage is never that great (making his double targets mostly useless). Try to keep feats light: either Outsmart to guard against enemy Outwit or Nanobots to take advantage of all that 2 damage. Or stick with the minimally-costed Avengers alternate team abilities (ATAs) Thunderbolts or Alpha Flight for the very best bang per buck.
GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5
IRON RATING: 3 of 5.
Hulkbuster (Mutations & Monsters) 165
Although his Attack and Damage stats are a bit lightweight for his cost, “Buffet” Iron Man brings a well-appreciated close combat expertise to the Iron team. His theme-best defense (18+Impervious) is also a boon to him. Feat him either with Unstoppable to allow him to bust open firing lanes for the others or with Lunge to grant some small move+attack ability on his post-“Flight Stabilizers” clicks.
GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5
IRON RATING: 4 of 5.
Iron Man (Supernova) 160
As though Running Shot with 11 Attack and 4 damage weren’t enough, the Silver Centurion suit adds both Incapacitate (with 2 targets) and Outwit to the mix. That’s more than enough to make up for his less-than-optimal 8 range and to make him absolutely essential for any Iron Swarm greater than 400 points. One of the first truly good Iron Man figures. Feat him with Stunning Blow; it makes him expensive but also delivers a potentially crippling blow to the enemy and is worth dropping T-Bolts from the team to fit it on.
GENERAL RATING: 3.5 of 5
IRON RATING: 5 of 5.
Iron Man (Avengers) 154
The first alternate universe Iron Man of the list, this one isn’t bad with his high 10 range, high 4 damage and, best of all, his Stealth-busting Ultimates team ability. Starting with Impervious and spiking to 11 Attack Value is a great bonus, too. Sad that he’s got one of the bar-none worst Special Powers in the game, though. No feats.
GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5
IRON RATING: 3.5 of 5.
Tony Stark (Armor Wars) 150
This Limited Edition version has great range + Perplex to help his other mediocre stats, but he’s a bit too costly for what you get, especially since he can’t push off that first click and keep the power. Only good for Brilliant Tactician if you can’t run the Secret Invasion version; feat him with such (and if running a lot of Avengers, use Coordination to ensure he can always keep line of fire open to them). The Avengers ATAs fit, too.
GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5
IRON RATING: 3 of 5.
Iron Man (Ultimates) 144
8 range and lower defense numbers make him the inferior Ultimate Iron Man by far (despite double-target Energy Explosion and stuff). Only field him if running an Ultimates armor theme or as a point filler for a truly massive Stark team. Don’t bother with feats.
GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5
IRON RATING: 2.5 of 5.
E Iron Man (Armor Wars) 135
Boasts Running Shot plus a great 10 range along with Perplex to help his other mediocre stats. Works wonderfully on this team as a sniper and support piece without costing a lot. No TA, though. Feat with Mercenary if you run one of the Ultimates along with him. Otherwise consider Improvise.
GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5
IRON RATING: 3.5 of 5.
V War Machine (Armor Wars) 124
Mediocre damage and attack values are balanced by great defense. Not the first to reach for, though, especially with no team ability to add to the team. No feats needed.
GENERAL RATING: 4 of 5
IRON RATING: 3.5 of 5.
Iron Widow (Avengers) 117
A 3rd alternate Iron Man. I didn’t run her at all during the campaign due to forgetting she actually counts as a Stark suit. If I had, I’d have found her an effective anti-Stealth solution that works well with the cheap SHIELD pieces used as fodder when she’s inevitably targeted and hit. No feats really needed, but Fortitude or Outsmart can make her a tough KO on her back end.
GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5
IRON RATING: 3 of 5.
Spider-Man (Avengers) 111
For the Iron squad, he’s best employed as mobile (via Leap/Climb) Outwit and Super Strength (though he’s not the cheapest for the role). Survivable and taxiable, he’s the one of the first non-Iron Man pieces to consider when deviating from the theme. Feat him with Lunge sometimes.
GENERAL RATING: 4 of 5
IRON RATING: 4 of 5.
E War Machine (Armor Wars) 109
While a fairly stellar piece in its own right, for the Iron Man squad its  damage, attack and range values are all a bit too low for the points when compared with the cheaper Free Comic Book Day Iron Man. Still a fine piece, esp. with the Thunderbolts feat.
GENERAL RATING: 4 of 5
IRON RATING: 3.5 of 5.
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100
10-range and high AV make him good either as a relatively cheap first-striker or as deadly cleanup piece. The “Invincible” power isn’t a killer either. The SHIELD TA is ironically a bit wasted since he’s going to be attacking more than supporting, but try to plan to use it anyhow. Feat with Vendetta and maybe Protected to get the most out of “Invincible.”
GENERAL RATING: 4 of 5
IRON RATING: 4.5 of 5.
Anthony Stark (Armor Wars) 100
As the cheapest Outwit and Super Strength available to the team, this old-school-sculpted piece is a good roleplayer as such. Feat with Outsmart sometimes in addition to the Avengers ATAs.
GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5
IRON RATING: 3.5 of 5.
Unique Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89
With weak stats and range, this figure is useful only as the tieup and Super Strength threat if Hulkbuster, Anthony Stark or Iron Spidey don’t fit the team. Pretty but empty. No feats aside from the ATAs.
GENERAL RATING: 2.5 of 5
IRON RATING: 2 of 5.
Rookie Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89
Terrible damage is only salvaged by 8 range + RS. He does get Ranged Combat Expert down the stretch, and his starting Invulnerability may just land him on those clicks after a hit. But this is one of the last Iron Men to pick in any case. Feat: Armor Piercing if anything beyond the ATAs.
GENERAL RATING: 2 of 5
IRON RATING: 2 of 5.
Guardsman (Avengers) 32
Normally, this piece is OK as a taxi…but on a team of flyers, like the Iron Men? Not so much. No, instead this cheap piece works great as tie-up…sacrificing these 32 points saved more than one game. And the SHIELD TA is SO good on a team full of shooters like this one. Always have as least one Guardsman on the team. No feats.
GENERAL RATING: 1.5 of 5
IRON RATING: 4 of 5.
Rookie Mandroid Armor (Clobberin’ Time) 28
This little guy revolutionized my efforts when I realized that the Mandroids count as Stark-built armor just as the Guardsman does. Telekinesis is a huge bonus, helping to both enhance and redress the Iron Man’s dependence on range. Hulkbuster needs to get within Charge range? Mandroid. V AW Iron Man need to take a shot this turn but not a hit the next? Running Shot with him, then yank him back with Mandroid. And even when his single click of TK is gone, he’s more than worth his points for the SHIELD TA or as a meat shield down the stretch. No feats needed.
GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5
IRON RATING: 5 of 5.
OTHER ESSENTIAL IRON SWARM TIPS:
If you use Thunderbolts, pick Ultimates, always. Just do it. This is a shooting team that works best from 10 squares or more out (thanks to Perplexed or SHIELD-boosted range values), so take the variant of hindering terrain out of the equation completely.
Sometimes you won’t have room for Thunderbolts with so many Avengers on the team and will have to settle for Alpha Flight. Bring a slip of paper to help keep track of who each piece selects as their target.
Battlefield Conditions to consider: Bright Lights, always; the only time it’ll ever hurt your team is if Hulkbuster takes a ton of damage (he’s got Stealth late-dial). Otherwise, this range-centric team can only benefit.
Atlantis Rising and Earthquake do little to hurt this team of nearly all fliers.
Isolation doesn’t affect your team in the slightest (unless you use the Kinetic Accelerator special object…more on that later), so stick it in your hand if you expect Blades/Claws/Fangs or JSA or something.
Finally, consider Wasteland to give your ranged fighters a wide field of vision to take shots. Be careful not to use this if you have problems dealing with Stealth, though.
Ones to avoid like the plague: Krakoa, The Living Island. This BFC denies you not only the cover of hindering terrain, but also the great sniper positions of rooftops. Never, ever play this.
Deep Shadows or Darkness or Shrunk: Again, these anti-range BFCs are absolutely no good for this team, taking away the Iron Man’s one great strength — ranged combat.
Alpha Strike: There are too many Avengers on the team. You’d only give the enemy more chances to rack up bonus points.
Armor Wars: The other strength of the Stark swarm is that nearly all the pieces start with Invulnerability or better. This BFC practically nullifies that. NEVER PLAY IT!!!!
Assembled: With all the Avengers on this theme, this seems like a great choice…until you realize most of them share the same name, “Iron Man,” disallowing the bonus.
Special Objects:
Dynamostat. Although wide-open maps serve the Iron Men well, this little bit of extra blocking terrain to Running Shot from behind can help a lot to set up your attacks…or prevent the enemy’s.
Kinetic Accelerator. If you have it, this is best for Hulkbuster to make him a threat even at long range.
Tombstone. Gives a Super-Strong tie-up piece like U Armor Wars Iron Man a little better shot at absorbing an attack for the bigger pieces on your team.
Meteorite. For Hulkbuster. Although he doesn’t NEED it, per se, thanks to his Exploit Weakness.
Thanks everyone for reading this record of my weeks-long indulgence of my Inner 12-Year-Old’s love of all things Iron Man. Upcoming at last will be the first parts of a series on team-building for the controversial Event Dials introduced in Mutations and Monsters back in Fall 2007. Look for it soon!

ironmanual

Sorry for the delay in this update and post-mortem on the Iron Campaign. But I just had to stick with the notion of finding and scanning all this artwork in addition to writing the text. :) From most to least expensive, I’ve done a mini-review of each Stark-designed piece of armor in the HeroClix game based on its usefulness as part of a Stark-themed scheme. I also list feats that work and give each a general rating and an “Iron” rating based on how well they work on an Iron-themed team.

V Iron Man (X-Plosion) 189

ironmanDoubleFeatureOne of the earliest Iron Men and one of the worst. Tipping the scales at nearly 200 points, it looks like the points all went to range and Ranged Combat Expert. One click of 10 attack and a steady drop from there, though, makes his fairly impressive damage potential worthless. Which makes him fairly worthless. Don’t play him unless you have a huge team (think 1500 points and up) that you can hide him behind in the background. Feats that work: Trick Shot. With him safely in the background, he can actually be a highly effective sniper.

GENERAL RATING: 1.5 of 5

IRON RATING: 2 of 5.

_____________________________

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188

Good 'n' sober.

Good 'n' sober.

Great numbers on Attack (11), Defense (18) and Damage (4) almost make you not care how expensive he is. Then you see his Special Power “Extremis” granting him Perplex, Outwit and Super Senses all together for the first third of his dial. Quite simply the best Iron Man to date, SI Iron Man makes the Stark Industries theme build viable in an unprecedented fashion. Feats that work: Brilliant Tactician fits him, well, brilliantly. It’s hard to recommend much more on top of that, even though Outsmart, Coordination and the Avengers feats Thunderbolts and Alpha Flight are great fits as well.

GENERAL RATING: 4 of 5

IRON RATING: 5 of 5.

_____________________________

Veteran Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172

Sometimes sober.

Sometimes sober.

His high Attack Value, 10 range and Outwit are nice, but at a full 72 points less there’s another Iron Man that does all that save the Outwit. Attack values slack off too quickly and precipitously, and his damage is never that great (making his double targets mostly useless). Try to keep feats light: either Outsmart to guard against enemy Outwit or Nanobots to take advantage of all that 2 damage. Or stick with the minimally-costed Avengers alternate team abilities (ATAs) Thunderbolts or Alpha Flight for the very best bang per buck.

GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5

IRON RATING: 3 of 5.

_____________________________

Hulkbuster (Mutations & Monsters) 165

'Ey!! It's "Fat Tony!"

'Ey!! It's "Fat Tony!"

Although his Attack and Damage stats are a bit lightweight for his cost, “Buffet” Iron Man brings a well-appreciated close combat expertise to the Iron team. His theme-best defense (18+Impervious) is also a boon to him. Feat him either with Unstoppable to allow him to bust open firing lanes for the others or with Lunge to grant some small move+attack ability on his post-“Flight Stabilizers” clicks.

GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5

IRON RATING: 4 of 5.

_____________________________

Iron Man (Supernova) 160

SHINY.

SHINY.

As though Running Shot with 11 Attack and 4 damage weren’t enough, Silver Centurion suit adds both Incapacitate (with 2 targets) and Outwit to the mix. That’s more than enough to make up for his less-than-optimal 8 range and to make him absolutely essential for any Iron Swarm greater than 400 points. One of the first truly good Iron Man figures. Feat him with Stunning Blow; it makes him expensive but also delivers a potentially crippling blow to the enemy and is worth dropping T-Bolts from the team to fit it on.

GENERAL RATING: 3.5 of 5

IRON RATING: 5 of 5.

_____________________________

Iron Man (Avengers) 154

The first alternate universe Iron Man of the list, this one isn’t bad with his high 10 range, high 4 damage and, best of all, his Stealth-busting Ultimates team ability. Starting with Impervious and spiking to 11 Attack Value is a great bonus, too. Sad that he’s got one of the bar-none worst Special Powers in the game, though you needn’t actually use it. No feats.

GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5

IRON RATING: 3.5 of 5.

_____________________________

Tony Stark (Armor Wars) 150

I THINK this is the right image for this suit...

I THINK this is the right image for this suit...

This Limited Edition version has great range + Perplex to help his other mediocre stats, but he’s a bit too costly for what you get, especially since he can’t push off that first click and keep the power. Only good for Brilliant Tactician if you can’t run the Secret Invasion version; feat him with such (and if running a lot of Avengers, use Coordination to ensure he can always keep line of fire open to them). The Avengers ATAs fit, too.

GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5

IRON RATING: 3 of 5.

.

_____________________________

Iron Man (Ultimates) 144

8 range and lower defense numbers make him the inferior Ultimate Iron Man by far (despite double-target Energy Explosion and stuff). Only field him if running an Ultimates armor theme or as a point filler for a truly massive Stark team. Don’t bother with feats.

GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5

IRON RATING: 2.5 of 5.

.

_____________________________

E Iron Man (Armor Wars) 135

Boasts Running Shot plus a great 10 range along with Perplex to help his other mediocre stats. Works wonderfully on this team as a sniper and support piece without costing a lot. No TA, though. Feat with Mercenary if you run one of the Ultimates along with him. Otherwise consider Improvise.

GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5

IRON RATING: 3.5 of 5.

.

_____________________________

V War Machine (Armor Wars) 124

BLACK (andsilver) POWER!!!!!

BLACK (andsilver) POWER!!!!!

Mediocre damage and attack values are balanced by great defense. Not the first to reach for, though, especially with no team ability to add to the team. No feats needed.

GENERAL RATING: 4 of 5

IRON RATING: 3.5 of 5.

.

.

_____________________________

Iron Widow (Avengers) 117

not bad for a suit with about 8 pages of panel time.

not bad for a suit with about 8 pages of panel time.

A 3rd alternate Iron Man. I didn’t run her at all during the campaign due to forgetting she actually counts as a Stark suit. If I had, I’d have found her an effective anti-Stealth solution that works well with the cheap SHIELD pieces used as fodder when she’s inevitably targeted and hit. No feats really needed, but Fortitude or Outsmart can make her a tough KO on her back end.

GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5

IRON RATING: 3 of 5.

.

_____________________________

Spider-Man (Avengers) 111

Iron Spidey

Iron Spidey

For the Iron squad, he’s best employed as mobile (via Leap/Climb) Outwit and Super Strength (though he’s not the cheapest for the role). Survivable and taxiable, he’s the one of the first non-Iron Man pieces to consider when deviating from the theme. Feat him with Lunge sometimes.

GENERAL RATING: 4 of 5

IRON RATING: 4 of 5.

.

_____________________________

E War Machine (Armor Wars) 109

So wait, is this Rhodey, or Tony? I'm stumped

So wait, is this Rhodey, or Tony? I'm stumped

While a fairly stellar piece in its own right, for the Iron Man squad its  damage, attack and range values are all a bit too low for the points when compared with the cheaper Free Comic Book Day Iron Man. Still a fine piece, esp. with the Thunderbolts feat.

GENERAL RATING: 4 of 5

IRON RATING: 3.5 of 5.

.

.

_____________________________

U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100

I have this poster framed on my wall. :)

I have this poster framed on my wall. :)

10-range and high AV make him good either as a relatively cheap first-striker or as deadly cleanup piece. The “Invincible” power isn’t a killer either. The SHIELD TA is ironically a bit wasted since he’s going to be attacking more than supporting, but try to plan to use it anyhow. Feat with Vendetta and maybe Protected to get the most out of “Invincible.”

GENERAL RATING: 4 of 5

IRON RATING: 4.5 of 5.

_____________________________

Anthony Stark (Armor Wars) 100

"Rehab" armor.

"Rehab" armor.

As the cheapest Outwit and Super Strength available to the team, this old-school-sculpted piece is a good roleplayer as such. Feat with Outsmart sometimes in addition to the Avengers ATAs.

GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5

IRON RATING: 3.5 of 5.

.

.

_____________________________

Unique Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89

Oldie but...well, not so good actually

Oldie but...well, not so good actually

With weak stats and range, this figure is useful only as the tieup and Super Strength threat if Hulkbuster, Anthony Stark or Iron Spidey don’t fit the team. Pretty but empty. No feats aside from the ATAs.

GENERAL RATING: 2.5 of 5

IRON RATING: 2 of 5.

.

.

_____________________________

Rookie Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89

Terrible damage is only salvaged by 8 range + RS. He does get Ranged Combat Expert down the stretch, and his starting Invulnerability may just land him on those clicks after a hit. But this is one of the last Iron Men to pick in any case. Feat: Armor Piercing if anything beyond the ATAs.

GENERAL RATING: 2 of 5

IRON RATING: 2 of 5.

.

_____________________________

Guardsman (Avengers) 32

Normally, this piece is OK as a taxi…but on a team of flyers, like the Iron Men? Not so much. No, instead this cheap piece works great as tie-up…sacrificing these 32 points saved more than one game. And the SHIELD TA is SO good on a team full of shooters like this one. Always have at least one Guardsman on the team. No feats.

GENERAL RATING: 1.5 of 5

IRON RATING: 4 of 5.

_____________________________

Rookie Mandroid Armor (Clobberin’ Time) 28

The Wal-Mart version of Starktech.

The Wal-Mart version of Starktech.

This little guy revolutionized my efforts when I realized that the Mandroids count as Stark-built armor just as the Guardsman does. Telekinesis is a huge bonus, helping to both enhance and redress the Iron Man’s dependence on range. Hulkbuster needs to get within Charge range? Mandroid. V AW Iron Man need to take a shot this turn but not a hit the next? Running Shot with him, then yank him back with Mandroid. And even when his single click of TK is gone, he’s more than worth his points for the SHIELD TA or as a meat shield down the stretch. No feats needed.

GENERAL RATING: 3 of 5

IRON RATING: 5 of 5.

OTHER ESSENTIAL IRON SWARM TIPS:

If you use Thunderbolts, pick Ultimates, always. Just do it. This is a shooting team that works best from 10 squares or more out (thanks to Perplexed or SHIELD-boosted range values), so take the variant of hindering terrain out of the equation completely.

Sometimes you won’t have room for Thunderbolts with so many Avengers on the team and will have to settle for Alpha Flight. Bring a slip of paper to help keep track of who each piece selects as their target.

Battlefield Conditions

Consider: Bright Lights, always; the only time it’ll ever hurt your team is if Hulkbuster takes a ton of damage (he’s got Stealth late-dial). Otherwise, this range-centric team can only benefit.

Atlantis Rising and Earthquake do little to hurt this team of nearly all fliers.

Isolation doesn’t affect your team in the slightest (unless you use the Kinetic Accelerator special object…more on that later), so stick it in your hand if you expect Blades/Claws/Fangs or JSA or something.

Finally, consider Wasteland to give your ranged fighters a wide field of vision to take shots. Be careful not to use this if you have problems dealing with Stealth, though.

Avoid like the plague: Krakoa, The Living Island. This BFC denies you not only the cover of hindering terrain, but also the great sniper positions of rooftops. Never, ever play this.

Deep Shadows or Darkness or Shrunk: Again, these anti-range BFCs are absolutely no good for this team, taking away the Iron Man’s one great strength — ranged combat.

Alpha Strike: There are too many Avengers on the team. You’d only give the enemy more chances to rack up bonus points.

Armor Wars: The other strength of the Stark swarm is that nearly all the pieces start with Invulnerability or better. This BFC practically nullifies that. NEVER PLAY IT!!!!

Assembled: With all the Avengers on this theme, this seems like a great choice…until you realize most of them share the same name, “Iron Man,” disallowing the bonus.

Special Objects:

Dynamostat. Although wide-open maps serve the Iron Men well, this little bit of extra blocking terrain to Running Shot from behind can help a lot to set up your attacks…or prevent the enemy’s.

Kinetic Accelerator. If you have it, this is best for Hulkbuster to make him a threat even at long range.

Tombstone. Gives a Super-Strong tie-up piece like U Armor Wars Iron Man a little better shot at absorbing an attack for the bigger pieces on your team.

Meteorite. For Hulkbuster. Although he doesn’t NEED it, per se, thanks to his Exploit Weakness.

Thanks to everyone for reading this record of my weeks-long indulgence of my Inner 12-Year-Old’s love of all things Iron Man. Upcoming at last will be the first parts of a series on team-building for the controversial Event Dials introduced in Mutations and Monsters back in Fall 2007. Look for it soon!

by ·3 Comments
Q: What do these HeroClix figures have in common (besides all being Tony Stark-related characters)?

Q: What do these HeroClix figures have in common (besides all being Tony Stark-related characters)?

It was just me and 12-year-old Bryce this time, so we played a 1000-point game.  Although I wanted to wrap up my Iron Campaign, I actually decided to mix things up by not playing the best figures for the theme. So here’s my Iron team du jour:

V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172
+ Inside Information 4
+ Alpha Flight 0
Tony Stark 150
+ Brilliant Tactician 20
+ Coordination 6
+ Alpha Flight 0
E Iron Man (Armor Wars) 135
V War Machine 124
E War Machine 109
+ Alpha Flight 0
Anthony Stark 100
+ Alpha Flight 0
R Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89
+ Alpha Flight 0
U Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89
+ Alpha Flight 0

= 998 points.

A: They're all from the Armor Wars set of Marvel HeroClix from Fall 2005.

A: They're all from the Armor Wars set of Marvel HeroClix from Fall 2005.

It’s all Armor Wars pieces, a theme I’d wanted to try some time ago once I realized I had all the Iron Men (and such) of that set. But it’s a much more fragile team than the other 1000-pointers I’ve played recently. With no natural damage above 3, only one click of AV higher than 10 and nothing better than Invulnerability on defense, I expected some problems against Bryce’s team:

The Mighty Thor 286
+ Thundering Blow 20
Magog 209
Dr. Doom (Fantastic 4) 200
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188
Batman (Icons promo) 102

…which I’m only now realizing was 5 points over. >:(

I win the map roll and pick the wide-open Rooftops map to give Doom and Batman little cover. Bryce plays Bizarro World while I Bright Lights up the field to completely nerf the Batman Ally ability.

First moves.
I start by moving out the old Iron Man suits to pick up objects. This is bad for Anthony Stark, who’s immediately hit hard for FIVE (thanks to SI Iron Man’s Outwit and Perplex via Extremis) by The Mighty Thor. Just like that, half my opening Outwit — and the heavy object A.Stark was holding — is GONE. And with the rest of Bryce’s team marching in for next turn, things look bleak already.

Not Going Out Alone.
Anthony Stark WILL be KO’d in another turn by Thor, who simply cannot miss his 15 DV. But Bryce has moved Batman in range of a Running Shot from one untokened Iron Man, so I take the shot. Then I call Alpha Flight and boost Anthony’s AV for a KO of Batman. This pushes Anthony to Outwit SI’s Extremis, forcing a “wasted” attack on Anthony to regain it. An early shot on Magog neuters him a little bit.

Things get worse.
I next get a couple of shots on The Mighty Thor, who wins the Impervious roll both times. Then my V AW Iron Man is hit for 4 down to his 8 AV click (which doesn’t belong on the middle of a dial this expensive). In an attempt to save the Vet, U AW bases bad Iron Man to stall him (and perhaps the fire of the still-free Dr. Doom) in a total sacrifice move. Fortunately, Iron Man missed his attack, enabling U AW Iron Man to survive that round and the Vet to retreat to the backfield.

One last push.
Meanwhile, R AW Iron Man tumbles under massive fire, but not before proving his worth by blocking for bigger guns and getting an Alpha Flight + Perplexed RCE hit on Thor. The Asgardian is KO’d after concentrated fire from both War Machines for the win within regulation time.

We play on. SI Iron Man & Doom hit E AW for a solid 3, but E AW busts back for 4 to get Doom off Perplex at last. Now I have two firing every turn. Doom flees too far to use PC so Iron Man starts taking heavy fire. Eventually, V AW Iron Man gets back in Outwit range and the War Machines finish off the rest of Bryce’s team. And, as it turned out, Thundering Blow never came into play, so the slight illegality of his team was never a concern.

Armor Wars set? We salute you.

Armor Wars set? We salute you.

Iron Campaign final record: 12-11.

Mission accomplished: I’ve taken the Stark Armory from a dismal 4-9 record to a winning one after about 5 weeks of focused play. It was especially gratifying to do so A) with a not-quite-optimized build (lacking the awesome 188-pointer and the oh-so-handy Mandroid Armor) that resembles the poorer teams I started with in 2008; and B) against Byrce, a young player who’s played in fewer than 8 tournaments since starting the game last summer but yet is a very sharp player who makes few mistakes.

Be here next time for a round-up of all the Iron Man/Stark Industries pieces I’ve used in this campaign. And as always, thanks for reading!

by ·0 Comments
A week after the previous post, I played Morrison again for a shot at ending the Iron Campaign at last with a winning record for my Stark armory teams. This time the build total was 600 points:
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20 + Alpha Flight 0
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172 + Alpha Flight 0
LE Iron Man (Supernova) 160 + Alpha Flight 0
Guardsman 32
R Mandroid Armor 28
= 600 points exactly.
and Morrison had a Soldier team of
Uncle Sam 140
The Thing (Secret Invasion) 100
August General in Iron 100
Captain America (Avengers) 95
The Punisher (Secret Invasion) 83
Dum Dum Dugan (Secret Invasion human) 75
and picked the Arkham map. He also played the game-changing Deep Shadows battlefield condition, rendering my vast range advantage completely moot. Both of us fielded Eleha’al Vines; I used a Kinetic Accelerator and he had a Tombstone.
He moved out first, hefting a Tombstone with Cap, and I saw a chance to take a free first strike despite the shorter range by doing a Running Shot with Vet Iron Man then TKing him back to the start area with Mandroid armor.
Here I made a horrible mistake. I sent V AW Iron Man to take his shot, boosting his Speed to do so, only to miss the target. But I’d wound up putting him JUST OUTSIDE Mandroid’s Deep Shadows-truncated Telekinesis range and so was forced to leave him a wide open target for Thing’s “Clobberin’ Time” attack.
From that point on I was completely on the defensive, again making a terrible error late in the game when I got V AW on the healing Vine but didn’t block the doorway with the Mandroid he’d taxied FOR THAT VERY PURPOSE and thus gave up easy, easy points to Uncle Sam’s Transporter move & attack. In the end, I’d KOed no one and lost all but Secret Invasion Iron Man and the Mandroid.
Attempt to end the Iron Campaign today with a winning record? FAIL.
With plenty of tournament time left, we played a second game, a rematch. This time Morrison picked the Sinister Prison map. My Wasteland got Ordinary Day’d. But with my full range powers back, I was able to blow down multiple walls to get early shots on his team and keep HIM on the defensive all game, losing no one and KOing Uncle Sam and Dugan.
So again the Iron Campaign holds at an even win/loss record: 11-11. The first match shows how truly range-dependent this team is. I rather wish I’d swapped out Vet Iron Man for Hulkbuster after all (if only to avoid making that disastrous first move). Similarly, the second game illustrates how dominant the team can be even on super-cramped field like the Prison.

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

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

= 600 points exactly.

Morrison had a Soldier team of

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

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

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

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

Which didn’t miss.

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

ironmansmashed

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

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

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

Next post, early next week, will continue the coverage Iron Campaign endgame. Will the Stark Industries-inspired figures soar in triumph at last or stumble further into mediocrity?

by ·1 Comment
OK, so it’s quite a bit later than Monday, when I intended to post this. I apologize for overpromising and underdelivering. Here’s the 1000-point Stark team I chose this time:
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20 + Improvise 7 + Thunderbolts 5
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172 + Thunderbolts 5
Hulkbuster 165 + Unstoppable 5
LE Iron Man (Supernova) 160 + Stunning Blow 10 + Thunderbolts 5
U Iron Man (Mutations + Monsters) 100
Anthony Stark 100 + Thunderbolts 5
Guardsman 32
R Mandroid Armor 28
in a battle royale on the Great Arena map against (clockwise from my left):
BRYCE’S
The Mighty Thor 286
Doom (Secret Invasion) 249
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188
Iron Man (Avengers) 154
Super Skrull: X-Men 106
PAUL’s goofy clix
Bizarro #1 (Arkham Asylum) 199
Mordru (Cosmic Justice) 109
Ch’p 82
Plasmus 80
Impossible Man 72
Batzarro 69
Mr. Mind 68
Red Ghost 59
Super Apes Peotor 50
Ambush Bug 50
Val-Or 23
Joe Chill x 2
and more I can’t recall.
and TIM’s villains
Mordru 245 (Crisis)
Immortus 157
Clown Prince of Crime (Arkham Asylum) 150
Circe (Arkham Asylum) 149
Doctor Destiny 99
and one more I can’t remember.
By round 3, the “shock the turtle” effect would come into play (in which every round a “shock barrier” would move a square closer to the center of the map, dealing 1 unavoidable damage to anyone caught in it and thus shrinking the effective map size). That’d keep me from hanging back to use my range advantage for very long.
And It Went a Little Something Like This
Paul, hoping I’d do his dirty work for him, helpfully Outwitted Bryce’s Iron Man’s Invulnerability and I took the bait, delivering a 5-click Stunning Blow to unhelmeted Tony.
Bryce, while a very sharp player for one so young and relatively unseasoned, made a critical error in pushing to retaliate. Although he hit my powerless FCBD Iron Man (thanks to Doom’s “Powerless” super-Outwit option) for a whopping 5 clicks with Mighty Thor, he’d planted both Thor and Doom where they’d take Shock-the-Turtle damage next turn.  I concentrated my efforts on keeping Doom’s Powerless countered while I finished off Bryce’s Iron Man and then Thor for an insurmountable lead before time ran out.
The next day, I had to field a different 1000-point team because Bryce accidentally walked off with my U Iron Man (Mutations + Monsters).
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20 + Improvise 7 + Alpha Flight 0
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172 + Alpha Flight 0
Hulkbuster 165 + Unstoppable 5
LE Iron Man (Supernova) 160 + Stunning Blow 10
Spider-Man (Avengers) 111 + Alpha Flight 0
Anthony Stark 100 + Alpha Flight 0
Guardsman 32
R Mandroid Armor 28
My plan: sit back and pile on Improvise tokens until targets present themselves. With the Mandroid’s TK, I had some flexibility in attack options.
There were three players, so I got the first bye.
MORRISON
14-15 year-old occasional player. Very skilled.
His team: AVENGERS
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20
Namor (Secret Invasion) 150
Dr. Strange (Secret Invasion) 149
Hercules (Secret Invasion) 142
U Iron Man (Mutations + Monsters) 100 + Vendetta 6
Spider-Girl 77
Spider-Man (Secret Invasion) 50
After watching Conrad squander his Green Lantern team’s range advantage by rushing down to the center of the map, there was no way I’d repeat such an error. Using Perplex and TK, I took superlong-range shots with V AW Iron Man, trying to hit Iron Man’s 21 DV (double-Perplex+terrain). I constantly missed, but Morrison was completely unable to retaliate due to my range advantage. It was only a matter of time, then before I either hit his Iron Man or another character.
So he ventured out to destroy my Kinetic Accelerator and thus opened up the battle for true. It ended with my taking his Iron Man and Dr. Strange while losing none.
CONRAD
14-year-old occasional player. Not very skilled.
Ganthet 286
Kyle Rayner (Crisis) 182
Alan Scott 171
Green Lantern (Crisis) 157
Colossus (Mutations + Monsters) 158
Again I played a highly conservative game, only venturing out to blow up a Meteorite. The game turned when Conrad TK’d Alan out to Running Shoot V AW Iron Man for 4. That left the soft Alan open for severe punishment and KO. Hulkbuster managed to barely survive Conrad’s focused onslaught to preserve  my win (although even losing him would have meant a ONE-POINT MARGIN of victory).
Win/loss: 2-0
Iron Campaign: 10-10. First goal reached! Now I’ll try to end with a winning record before my sparring partners get COMPLETELY sick of the red & gold.

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

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

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

BRYCE’S

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

PAUL’s goofy clix

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

and TIM’s villains

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

and one more I can’t remember.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

His team: AVENGERS

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

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

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

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

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

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

Win/loss: 2-0

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

by ·0 Comments
As promised last time, here’s a look back at the first Iron Man-themed swarm I ever played.
DATE PLAYED: 2/16/08
POINT TOTAL: 800
SCENARIO: 10% feats, no pogs
TEAM:
Tony Stark and his remote A.I.-driven spare Iron Man armors
Tony Stark 150
+ Alpha Flight 0
+Brilliant Tactician 20
+Protected 8
Hulkbuster 165
V AW Iron Man 172
+ Alpha Flight 0
NGN Iron Man 160
+ Alpha Flight 0
V War Machine 124
= 799 points
This was well before the 10% feat cap became an official rule. As such, it was good training for that eventuality!
First game was vs. Lee and his team of E Jade, R Gotham Undercover x2, E Metropolis SCU, E CD Green Lantern, Dream Girl, V Icons Raven, R Brainiac 5, E Jinx, Easy Co. Medic x2, JL Batman, R Huntress, V OR Booster Gold and Cosmic Boy in the Hulk Arena. This was a fairly easy match, since Lee didn’t meat-shield Jade when she carted a bunch of fig onto hindering, giving me a shot on her. With Vet Iron Man’s range boosted to 11, he could fire from beyond anyone’s Probability Control range. Subsequent shots on Green Lantern kept him running to medics and unable to mount a real offense. In the end, I was able to KO Jade, GL and Dream Girl without losing a suit. 1-0.
Lessons learned:
Range is king with this team. It would take me several more games to truly apply this knowledge, though.
Second match was against Galactus (I think) and his team of Green Scar, Maestro (both with Fortitude), AV Hulk and Rampaging Hulk. I played my just-traded-for Krakoa and boy did that screw me up. Not only did I thus deny myself the rooftops to snipe from and lose a huge tactical advantage, but I RunShot with Vet IM to blow up a Tombstone and unthinkingly placed him next to hindering, and his all-too-precious Outwit was soon gone. My 2nd great error was “using” Ramp.Hulk’s Squash to place an object to activate Krakoa next to giant Hulk 1) after the big guy already had two tokens and 2) where Green Scar could (and did) EASILY grab it and paste Hulkbuster one. Add that to the fact that too many of my attacks missed like Tony had decided to “fortify himself” with a bottle of rum before the fight and you end up with a crushing defeat…which is USUALLY how Hulk vs. Iron Man fights go!  I lost Vet Iron Man, War Machine and NGN Iron Man, only getting Ramp.Hulk in return. 1-1.
Lessons learned:
Never play a Battlefield Condition half-cocked. With a team of fliers that’s so range-dependent against a ground-pounding team that has NO range, it was a game-breaking decision to not be able to use the rooftops.
Hulkbuster is NOT the equal of Hulk in comics…OR ‘Clix! ‘Nuff said.
Finally, I faced Thrash’s Future theme of Time Trapper, Cosmic Boy+CP, Dream Girl, SR Flash, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Ultra Boy, KC Hawkman and V Emerald Empress in the Arena. Again, it seemed that Tony was drunk and affecting the rest of his remote-controlled A.I.-driven suits. The Separation Field was too close to Phantom Girl, allowing Ultra Boy to land a big hit on NGN Iron Man. Lightning Lad then RS to ping my Vet off Outwit. But Hulkbuster, War Machine and Tony were still on full, so all was not lost…
…until Cos TK’d out V Empress for a single-target PW on Tony. She missed.
And missed.
And missed.
And missed.
And…missed.
And on his LAST theme-PC roll, she hit.
No longer able to boost my attack values to counterattack Stark’s drunken die rolls, I was at a serious disadvantage. But my worst mistake was a Running Shot by Hulkbuster to finish off Lightning Lad to avoid Time Trapper’s line-of-fire for PC…putting myself IN range of his Psychic Blast after the Lad was gone! Bye-bye Impervious and all Hulkbuster’s good clicks. By this time, KC Hawkman was in the fray, KOing Iron Men with every attack. I was wiped out but at least I took down Lightning Lad, Empress and Ultra Boy with me!
Just goes to show…you can’t fight the future!
WIN/LOSS: 1-2. Thus began a string of 1-2 tournaments with Iron Man-centric teams.
Lessons learned:
Again, range is a big deal that I didn’t really leverage enough. I should have struck from 11 squares out for every attack until he was forced to get within everyone else’s zone.
Perplex and other stat boosts are also highly necessary. Particularly with these older Iron Man pieces, which each lack something in their combat values. Tony Stark’s AV and damage top out at 10 and 3 respectively and wane from there. Hulkbuster has poor range and mediocre AV and damage for his points. V AW Iron Man’s 3 damage keeps him from being the hard hitter he needs to be for his cost. SN Iron Man and V War Machine’s 8 range holds them back from greatness. It’s amazing how much more effective all these pieces have since become with the help of Perplex and the new SHIELD ability to boost range.
Hulkbuster is junk. Well, that’s the lesson I THOUGHT I’d learned. But as I showed last time, what matters is how you play him. Now I can hardly conceive of NOT playing him on one of these teams unless the build is under 500 points.
Last weekend, I played another three rounds of the Iron Campaign. With an overall record now of 7-10, I had a chance to reach .500! See if I did on Monday!

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

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

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

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

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

Lessons learned:

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

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

Lessons learned:

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

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

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

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

And missed.

And missed.

And missed.

And…missed.

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

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

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

Get used to this feeling, Iron Man.

Get used to this feeling, Iron Man.

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

Lessons learned:

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

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

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

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

by ·1 Comment
Got three games in last Saturday to continue the Iron Campaign. I went wayyyy too in-depth with my last battle report (though some told me they enjoyed it — THANKS!) so I’m going to try to shorten things up and make it a little more readable.
First game
200 points
Anthony Stark 100 + Alpha Flight 0
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100
vs Lenny’s
Winter Soldier 70
Gamora 73
Scarlet Witch (Avengers Super Rare) 35
I got to pick the wide-open Arena with a Tombstone, Eleha’al Vine and Dynamostat to help me out. Lenny used only a Meteorite.
Opening moves.
I had Anthony Stark grab the Tombstone and park behind the Dynamostat, leaving Iron Man in the starting area. I expected Lenny to move Winter Soldier immediately to the map’s existing hindering terrain, giving him a great sniper’s coverage of nearly the whole Arena. But he instead picked up his Meteorite and parked on a light object while moving Scarlet Witch to a building. A turn later, he moves Gamora to the existing hindering.
First shots.
Winter Soldier blew away the Dynamostat, exposing Stark. This was fine with me; Iron Man then blew away Winter Soldier’s hiding place so Stark could Outwit his Ranged Combat Expert. Lenny tied up Stark with Scarlet Witch, but it didn’t seem to help him much; Iron Man Running Shot Winter Soldier off his top click and Scarlet Witch fell to a OHKO by Stark’s Tombstone. Stark then Outwitted Gamora’s Charge.
Turning point.
Lenny forgot about Charging and simply based Stark with Gamora. In the meantime, Winter Soldier was able to pop him off Outwit. That opened him up for Gamora to peel his suit apart with hit after Weakness-Exploiting hit.
Iron Man started to break for the Vine, having taken a crithit from WS and further damage from Gamora, but I realized Gamora would catch up and probably KO him before any real healing occurred. Managed to break WAY away from her to chase Winter Soldier, but the gun-toting spy managed to immediately roll the 9+ needed to win the game.
Iron Campaign record slips to 5-10.
Lessons learned:
Stark should be kept just close enough to use Outwit until it’s time to close in. I got too close in, trusting too much to the Dynomastat for cover KNOWING it would get blown up, and then pressing the attack instead of retreating beyond any possibility of being swarmed.
Beware enemy tie-up.
Get Gamora while the getting’s good. I treated WS as the main threat too long and Stark paid. Without Stark, I couldn’t win.
Now that Paul, our last player of the day, was here, we played a 700-point 3- way Battle Royale.
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20 + Inside Info 4 + Thunderbolts 5 + Alias 3
Hulkbuster 165 + Unstoppable 5
Iron Man (Supernova) 160 + Stunning Blow 10 + Thunderbolts 5
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100 + Vendetta 6
R Mandroid Armor 28
As usual, Lenny loaded for bear:
Superman (Justice League) 226 + Fortitude 25
Green Lantern (Crisis) 157 + Shellhead 10
Green Arrow (Crisis) 104
Batman (Justice League) 75
Gamora 73
Soooooo close to a thematic team. :)
Paul, on the other hand, went for mostly wackiness:
Bizarro #1 (Arkham Asylum) 199
Ch’p 82
Plasmus 80
Impossible Man 72
Batzarro 69
Mr. Mind 68
Plastic Man (Justice League) 55
Ambush Bug 50
Val-Or 23
Franklin Richard 2
Yeah, a lot like one of my first posted teams. :)
Paul won the map roll and picked the old office, an indoor map with an open space between compartmentalized rooms. He also played Damage Control, while Lenny cancelled my Bright Lights with Ordinary Day. I made my T-Bolts Ultimates.
Opening gambits.
I played very conservatively to not get double-teamed. I’d picked the most open part of the map to give my ranged fighters maximum lines of fire.
Lenny, though, underestimated Paul’s reach with Ch’p’s TK and got Green Arrow immediately crithit by Bizarro onto his last click. (That’s all Bizarro could do, eventually becoming the first KO.
I get involved.
Me, I kept my tin men well down the open hallway in a snipers’ formation to prevent any easy forays against me. But Paul decided not to leave me alone, sending Plastic Man (who I’d deliberately let alone despite having easy attack access to him via my TBolts) to tie up my 100-point Free Comic Book Day Iron Man and somewhat spoiling my options.
An opening!
After Lenny used Superman to finish off Bizarro #1, he put him in a safe place around a corner…or so he thought.
Using the Unstoppable feat, Hulkbuster smashed the wall Superman was hiding behind and SN Iron Man landed a Stunning Blow that caused 3 clicks all told to Supes, effectively ending his Hypersonic Speed threat. Then, thanks to the Damage Control BFC, the wall closed up, preventing any possibility of retaliation. Meanwhile, SI Iron Man Running Shot Plastic Man to near-uselessness (though it took a couple of tries.
Lenny and Paul continued to fight it out, with Paul definitely on the losing end of matters. Though Green Arrow finally dropped, Paul lost Impossible Man, Plasmus and Mr. Mind in the process.
Too little, too late.
I wouldn’t be able to use my Unstoppable wall-break trick again, so I inched closer to the skirmish. Made the slight error, though, of using my Mandroid as a meat shield for his taxi, Hulkbuster. Ch’p came out and Running Shot the ‘droid into near-uselessness. Meanwhile, I was way short on points and nearly out of time in “regulation play,” so I threw my efforts into nailing Ch’p and Batzarro for points. Got the squirrel, but couldn’t quite finish Batzarro…not without pushing, and it wouldn’t NEARLY make up the deficit. So as time expired, I found myself in a distant  2nd place.
The REST of the story (with apologizes to the late great Paul Harvey).
We played on. As Paul retreated to attempt an end-around of my team with his remnants, Lenny came after me, big time. Green Lantern TK’d Gamora into Perplex-aided Charge range of Hulkbuster, hitting him for 4 straight (Exploit Weakness. Ugh, I hate that chick). The rest of the Iron Men lit her like a Christmas tree in the fireplace. Similarly, Superman was hit hard onto his 20 DV click and eventually off the board.
Now there was only Green Lantern and Batman to deal with (besides Paul’s Val-Or, Franklin pog and Ambush Bug sneaking in behind me), but they weren’t going quietly. Batman’s Outwit made sure Hulkbuster felt all 3 clicks of GL’s Running Shot, sending the suddenly Stealthy big guy to the bushes. Batman was the next to fall (at the replusor-wielding palms of SN Iron Man — thank you Thunderbolted Ultimates TA), but not before SI Iron Man got blasted for 4 clicks off his Extremis powers and onto Charge.
By now, Paul had gotten his scragglers in place to tie up most of my team, leaving them sitting ducks for Green Lantern to take potshots at once he;d finished off Hulkbuster. SN Iron Man was particularly stuck with Val-Or, failing breakaway after breakaway. Fortunately, SI Iron Man made most of his and eventually cleared out the annoying fodder until SN Iron Man finally got clear to finish the game.
Lesson learned:
SI Iron Man wins games for this team. So much so, I almost decided not to use the piece in the next game.
Hulkbuster + Unstoppable pays off. It seems unthinkable to me that there was a time I was determined to never play him on this theme again. (I’ll tell THAT story in a future installment.) Unstoppable on him is ALL about giving this ranged team a way to compete on cramped, indoor maps, and it worked big time.
Got to be careful of those time limits without overextending myself. Haven’t quite found the balance, here.
Paul had a date, so completely-uncoupled-up Lenny and I played one more match.
700 points
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20 + Inside Info 4 + Thunderbolts 5 + Improvise 7
Hulkbuster 165 + Unstoppable 5 + Lunge 5
E Iron Man (Armor Wars) 135
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100 + Vendetta 6
Guardsman 32
R Mandroid Armor 28
vs
Thanos (Supernova) 267 + Shellhead 10 + Protected 8
Dr. Doom (Fantastic 4) 200 + Alias 3
Susan Richards 120
Gamora 73 + Alias 3
I won the map roll and picked a map I usually hate: the Rooftops of Galactus. Limiting Thanos and Gamora’s range of movement was key, I figured, and it would also lessen Skrull Sue’s opportunities to shoot through walls and stuff.
The fight starts QUICK!
I huddled much of my team on and around my Kinetic Accelerator and Eleha’al Vine behind a tiny bit of blocking terrain. Nearly paid dearly for it when Sue TK’s Thanos who barely missed his Psychic Blast on Hulkbuster. I pushed E AW Iron Man to try to ping Thanos but missed. The mad Titan hit him back.
The 2nd wave.
Now Sue tossed Doom out to Running Shoot someone. Fortunately, Doom missed, giving E AW a chance to get off the Accelerator and to the Vine right next door. Unfortunately, I rolled too high on the Accelerator and blew it up, negating my plans for Hulkbuster to Charge Thanos 10 squares away. I went to the backup plan and TK’d (with my Mandroid) Hulkbuster to hit Doom with the Meteorite for big damage.
Uh-oh.
That was the good news. The bad was that Doom had regained his free-breakaway Special Power, had Willpower and would certainly leave Hulkbuster wide open for Thanos to easily destroy. That is, unless I sacrificed Guardsman to block Line of Fire. Which I did. It also had the side benefit of preventing a TK’d Gamora from getting to Hulkbuster as well.
As I expected, Doom ran behind Thanos’ skirts (well, okay, it’s a tunic, technically) and Thanos hit Guardsman…even with a roll of 3…even though I’d Brilliant Tactician’d up his defense. And because I’d had to push Guardsman to make the move, he was thus one-shot by the mad Titan.
So here came Gamora, TK’d over and Charging Hulkbuster. I said, out loud: “I’m REALLY getting tired of this chick.” :)
Fortunately, she missed her initial attack. But the advantage was all Lenny’s thanks to the free-push abilities of Gamora and Thanos.
Turning Point.
E AW Iron Man had healed a single click via the Vine but still had Perplex, so I boosted SI Iron Man’s range with him while using Extremis to boost his damage. FCBD Iron Man then Running Shot, using Mandroid’s free SHIELD range  boost to ping Thanos off his first click. Then I did a Running Shot with SI Iron Man him next to both Mandroid and FCBD Iron Man to gain a double SHIELD boost to range to hit Thanos from 11 out, keeping all from Thanos’ retaliation.
Now unable to shoot anyone at the moment, Thano chased and based E AW. That gave me a SHIELD-boosted Running Shot with FCBD Iron Man to knock Thanos off his Probability Control clicks. E AW was done for as soon as Thanos could act again, but I was OK with this, as it had allowed SI Iron Man to chase down Doom for the KO. Meanwhile, Hulkbuster had survived several low Gamora rolls and scored a couple on her to take her out.
Now I could swarm Thanos, with Hulkbuster basing and all missing (I continually Extremis’d down Thanos’ AV). Between misses against Thanos, SIron Man got Sue and eventually Hulkbuster cracked through for the KO.
Iron Campaign improves to 7-10. Getting there.
Lessons learned:
SHIELD TA is worth its weight. Make sure I always have one or two cheap sources of the ability on a team OTHER than Free Comic Book Day Iron Man.
Put Hulkbuster on the Kinetic Accelerator, not some other “placeholder” character. E AW Iron Man’s premature overloading of the special object could have been a crippling occurrence.

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

Ready to RUMBLE.

Ready to RUMBLE.

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

First game: 200 points

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

vs Lenny’s

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

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

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

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

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

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

Iron Campaign record slips to 5-10.

Lessons learned:

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

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

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

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

Now that Paul, our last player of the day, was here, we played the real tournament.

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

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

As usual, Lenny loaded for bear:

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

Soooooo close to a thematic team. :)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lessons learned:

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

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

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

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

Third game: 700 point match.

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

vs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Made of WIN.

Made of WIN.

Iron Campaign improves to 7-10. Getting there.

Lessons learned:

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

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

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

by ·4 Comments
With the lessons learned from my last few pre-Iron Campaign excursions, I fielded a 1000-point version recently.
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188
+ Brilliant Tactician 20
+ Thunderbolts 5
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172
+ Thunderbolts 5
Hulkbuster 165
+ Unstoppable 5
Iron Man (Supernova) 160
+ Stunning Blow 10
+ Thunderbolts 5
Anthony Stark 100
+ Thunderbolts 5
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100
Guardsman 32
R Mandroid Armor 28
= 1000 points of cutting-edge Stark technology.
My opponent was Lenny, who fielded a team that would test my mettle.
Silver Surfer (Avengers) 231
Green Scar 230
+ Fortitude 25
+ Protected 8
Namor (Secret Invasion) 150
Dr. Strange (Secret Invasion) 149
+ Brilliant Tactician 20
Gravity 75
Gamora 73
SR Scarlet Witch (Avengers) 35
He won the map roll and picked the Outdoor Danger Room map. I didn’t mind, as that gave my range-heavy team plenty of wide-open space to shoot at. I played the Inferno BFC to flush out anyone hiding in hindering terrain, but Lenny cancelled it with Ordinary Day. Again, that suited me fine. I fielded a trio of Special Objects: The healing Eleha’al Vine, the Meteorite and the Kinetic Accelerator. Lenny used his own copies of the former two. Finally, I picked Mystics as my Thunderbolts team ability.
Immediately, Lenny used Gravity to move Surfer via Telekinesis to his rooftop so he could blow up my Accelerator!
I used Mandroid Armor to TK Guardsman to the roof, then did a Running Shot next to him with V Armor Wars Iron Man (Vet AW) to gain the SHIELD damage boost. But I missed the shot, and next turn Lenny retreated Surfer from any sort of followup shot.
Lenny moved Namor out to grab a heavy object while moving Dr. Strange, Scarlet Witch, Gravity and Scar to a patch of hindering terrain within easy
Here I made a first real mistake. Instead of attempting a Running Shot off the roof with Vet AW, I tried a standing shot from there. It didn’t work, thanks to Dr. Strange’s high defense compounded by the hindering terrain bonus. This left the Vet open to retaliatory Hypersonic Speedy shots from Silver Surfer, forced rerolls by Scarlet Witch’s Probability Control, and sniper shots from Dr. Strange himself. (A better decision would have been to try a shot from extreme range on Gravity.)
I found myself forced to back up the Vet with Secret Invasion Iron Man (SIron Man), the linchpin of the team, much earlier than I liked. Also failing his attack, at least he was able to keep Gravity’s TK Outwitted to prevent the big Hulk strike.
Alas, that didn’t do much to prevent the big Namor strike! The avenging son of Atlantis soon came Charging in to Flurry the Vet Iron Man hard with a heavy object. Fortunately, Namor missed the followup Flurry strike, preserving the precious Outwit power. Unfortunately, on my turn both Hulkbuster and Supernova Iron Man failed their respective Charge and Running Shot attempts.
Tired of my constant Outwitting of Telekinesis, Lenny simply used Green Scar’s Leap/Climb (part of his “Smash” Special Power) to base SN Iron Man, putting both him and Hulkbuster in jeopardy. And then he based SN Iron Man with Gamora, too! Things looked hella bleak for the Silver Centurion.
Figuring that, at minimum, Gamora was about to use Willpower+Exploit Weakness to punch through his armor like wet paper, I pushed SN Iron Man to deliver a Stunning Blow on Green Scar. CRITICAL HIT! Scar took 3, got knocked back, lost his Meteorite and gained a token to keep him from moving. Dr. Strange, too got hit well at last by either SIron Man or Free Comic Book Day Iron Man (FCBD) to make him a relative non-factor (well, not entirely accurate, as he still could Brilliant Tactician). It was about here, though, that Vet AW fell at last to Namor and Scarlet Witch for the game’s first KO.
Just within the normal time limit, Dr. Strange was knocked out. Unfortunately, his KO points (149 + Brilliant Tactician’s 20 = 169) wouldn’t exceed what I lost in Vet AW (172 + Thunderbolts’ 5 = 177). Even if Lenny’d thought to use Protected on the Green Scar hit, the game would’ve been a draw.
We played on. FCBD tried to push and hit Gamora to stop her attack on SN Iron Man, but whiffed. Green Scar didn’t miss, having been beaten to his sweetest click, and neither did Gamora. SN Iron Man was down!
Anthony Stark was using Outwit to keep Namor in check (countering first his  Exploit Weakness, then his Avenging Son SP) while Hulkbuster worked him. SIron Man had been TK’d behind the building to Brilliant Tactician his fellows (and get away from Silver Surfer, who’d fortunately not yet landed his ranged attacks on the high-defense leader of my team) to help speed up the hits.
FCBD Iron Man made a Running Shot further away to try hitting Gamora, but failed yet again. Green Scar, despite making every Impervious roll so far, couldn’t make any attacks (Hulkbuster blocked access to the roof) and was in danger getting swarmed with Namor down, so he beat a retreat toward his Vine for healing and I couldn’t stop him. Gamora, for her part, based FCBD to prevent any further shooting and force him to deal with her 20 DV in close combat. Breakaway proved unsuccessful.
I took an opportunity to push Hulkbuster to Charge Silver Surfer with Scar’s discarded Meteorite to put a swift end to his hypersonic ways. But now he, too, would be able to Phase away and retreat.
Moving Anthony Stark to the ground for better firing/Outwit opportunities, I figured to push to FCBD Iron Man’s next “Invincible” click to minimize the damage Gamora could do once she was clear to act. But I forgot to use A.Stark’s Outwit to counter Gamora’s Exploit Weakness, making my move pretty pointless. She hit FCBD to his last click.
Scarlet Witch, though long beaten off her Prob. Control, proved to be a further annoyance by tossing up a Barrier, keeping SI Iron Man from pressing his pursuit (having already missed shots on the 200+ point targets). Scar, now on the Vine, was healing back up to move+attack deadliness.
FCBD got a clutch breakaway from Gamora and certain defeat to a nearby rooftop. Hulkbuster moved to the roof, too (Running Shooting Scarlet Witch on the way) and SIron Man also joined him there (Running Shooting and missing Scar and Surfer on his way). Bad move: SIron Man got Psychic Blasted by Silver Surfer. Mandroid pushed to base Surfer to prevent further shooting.
Back on the ground, A.Stark hit Gamora hard with a SHIELD boosted shot and  kept her nerfed with Outwit. Green Scar, now healed back to his move+attacking early clicks, moved just below SIron Man and Stark, threatening them both (thanks to his Leap/Climb, which allows close combat on differing elevations). SIron Man took a Running Shot on Scar, who broke away (from the Guardsman I’d just moved to tie him up with) to jump him with Exploit Weakness for 4 damage deep into his dial!
Fortunately, SIron Man could still Brilliant Tactician, enabling FCBD to hit Green Scar with Ranged Combat Expert while Hulkbuster Running Shot Gamora and A.Stark blew Silver Surfer away. Scar got swarmed, and when his Regen failed, it was easy winnings.
Record improves to 5-9.
Despite an unhealthy number of poor die rolls, this Stark Armory team did pretty well! Lessons I gleaned from this game:
Range helps. When the Iron Men can use their range to the fullest, it helps. To that end…
Running Shot at full range if at all possible. If I have 10 range and have the opportunity to take a shot from extreme range, even if the target isn’t  the best choice, take it anyway. Minimize my vulnerability to counterattack.
Set up where enemy has minimal cover or where I can shoot at will. This particular map has an edge and corner with almost no cover
Mandroid Armor’s Telekinesis is a huge bonus. Since the theme allows for not just Iron Men, but also Stark-designed characters like the Guardsmen, “Iron” Spider-Man and the like, I’ll be including one of these fellows on every team I can. TK helps address the Iron Man’s dependence on range.
T-Bolt to Ultimates, always. Just do it. As much as Mystics helped me whittle down Green Scar a little bit or prevented Dr. Strange from taking shots on me, being able to ignore hindering terrain bonuses might’ve helped more.

Iron-man-armors

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

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

= 1000 points of cutting-edge Stark technology.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ironmansmashed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IronManposter

Stark Industries’ record improves to 5-9.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Piece-by-piece:

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

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