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OK, so I went to my 5th 300-point sealed game of HoT so far, right? And there’s a decent turnout for a Sunday afternoon. Here’s what I pulled from my first booster:
Pluto
Marvel Boy
Sif
Bi-Beast
Malekith
Yeah, somewhat underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong; Sif is a winning piece, and Malekith’s Telekinesis is good, too. But he’s not worth much beyond that, and with this assortment of characters, I stood a chance of being out-ranged, out-maneuvered and underbuilt. So I opened the next booster:
Pluto
Marvel Boy
Sif
Bi-Beast
Malekith.
REALLY. So now I’ve got to build a team out of this duplicate crud, and the underbuilding concerns just got amplified. I decided to go for high AV’s and higher build total over TK mobility: Sif, Pluto, Bi-Beast. Basic strat: Sif carries Pluto to a building and he shoots next turn if possible while Bi-Beast slowly gets into the fight.
ROUND ONE against teenager Morrison’s Daredevil, Phalanx Soldier, Captain America, Namora and Hand Ninja went well. He’s a great player, but his team’s general lack of damage reduction made my eventual hits hurt. Wiped his team, losing none. 1-0.

ROUND TWO against Morrison’s neighbor Conrad’s Phyla-Vell, Rocket Raccoon, Pip the Troll, Spider-Man and Fire Demon*. I scored an early hit on Phyla-Vell when he unwisely moved within Pluto’s line of fire. Or, at least I would’ve, had not Rocket Raccoon seen it and forced the reroll, which she Super Sensed out of. I tried basing the team but he rocked me like a hair band in the 1980s. I got the Fire Demon but was wiped out. 1-1.

ROUND THREE was against Jay’s Balder, Venom and Star-Lord. He played the most cautious, not giving my Pluto that first shot. But he got just a little too close, and Sif was able to base Star-Lord (taxiing Pluto), who missed his counterattack and was gone a turn later. Wiped Jay’s team and lost none for a solid 2nd-place finish.

Sometimes a pig with lipstick will kick your...!

(*Yeah, for the second week in a row I played someone using a way-overbuilt team. I have GOT to start checking behind other peoples’ math!)

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At long, long last, HeroClix Organized Play is BACK! For those who don’t know, Organized (or Approved) Play is a system of tournaments held at gaming and comics shops nationwide where HeroClix players can compete for Limited Edition prizes that cannot be found in random boosters like the other pieces.
One popular format for both players and the company is Sealed, in which each player buys a couple of boxes and builds a team out of what’s inside. It’s a great equalizer between the veteran collector with thousands of characters to choose from and the new player who only owns an even dozen.
Today’s battle report is on the 300 points sealed Hammer of Thor tournament! Here’s what I ran:
Heimdall 149
Fandral 101
Rock Troll 45
= 295 points. This “Asgardian” keyword team lacked range, but I hoped Fandral’s Leap/Climb and Heimdall’s immunity to most move & attack powers would mitigate that weakness somewhat. The Troll was both filler and a damage-soaking tie-up piece. Now I turn it over to my “narrator”…

Heimdall, guardian of the Bifrost Bridge, gate of the golden realm of Asgard:

“At long last, we of the golden realm of Asgard hath exited our year-long sleep to enter the light of HeroClix day! But no sooner hath we blinked the matter from our eyes than we find the realm assailed by invaders!!
BATTLE ONE:
“Immediately I recognized the wicked Amora the Enchantress leading the miscreants: the lord of rock trolls Ulik and a Phalanx Soldier from a galaxy in Midgard’s heavens. They would not escape mine eyes. Battle was joined; our compelled Rock Troll drew Amora’s wrath as Fandral and I battled the incredibly tough-skinned Ulik. Even sharp-witted Fandral could find no chink’s in the fiend’s armor. The Rock Troll was defeated after many, many blows from Ulik and Enchantress and mine own forbearance against Ulik nearly cost us everything when he managed to wrest himself from our grasp. A merry chase they led us on, but eventually we ran them to ground. FOR ASGARD!!!
As we caught our breath and tended our wounds, we were startled to find our selves facing yet more invaders from the mortal realm’s heavens…”
BATTLE TWO:
“One calling himself Air-Walker and his dimunitive, furred companion Rocket Raccoon claimed Asgard for his master Galactus. Having seen long ago his dismissal from his role as herald for that infernal planetbreaker, I for my part dismissed his threat as mere bluff, but soon found that he was not to be taken lightly.
Fandral suggested we approach slowly, for while I could see his movements to avoid his attacks, he and our troll could not. And indeed, Air-Walker dealt his share of wounds to my stalwart ally. But we fought on bravely, waylaying the duo with blows that would have done even Thor proud, forcing this artificial being to self-repair again and again. Meanwhile, we also ran the animal to ground.
I know not when Fandral fell, but eventually it was I alone against the herald. And I failed, giving him a chance to self-repair and flee once more. At last my own sight failed as well and I took grievous harm. No longer able to strike with my usual vigor, I could not stop him from self-repairing one last time to seal my defeat.
It was fortunate indeed that this Air-Walker had not been in the thrall of his celestial master.”
BATTLE THREE:
“And yet it was not ended! A third group of interlopers appeared at the gates of Asgard: the reformed villain Songbird, Thor Odinson’s mortal ally Captain America, both accompanied by a Valkyrie of the realm and…by Odin’s beard!…another Fandral?!??
‘This deviltry needs be met with care,’ Fandral said. And so with care did we tread: myself using the Bifrost Bridge to widen my zone of movement and Fandral using his wits and agility to keep his opposite number in sight at all times. Meanwhile, we sent the troll ahead to act as diversion.
Mine eyes had seen what Captain America was capable of with that shield of his; not for nothing does he command Thor’s immortal respect. Fortunately, whatever madness impelled him to assault the golden realm also prevented him from fully using his ability to ricochet his shield to even unseen targets. Instead, his companion Songbird flew him into the fountains. And now it was time to strike.
The troll was ready to obey my command to rush forward to engage, but the woman surrounded him in solid sound–and nearly ensnared me. But I was free and clear to attack in the next moment, and did, rendering her utterly unconscious. Fandral then joined the now-free rock troll in engaging the Captain while the other Fandral engaged me. But the troll fell to the combined assault of the Captain’s fists and the rogue Valkyrie’s spears.
Now it was Fandral’s duty to engage the Captain, and I was left to battle dark Fandral alone. Alas, I could not best him. The last thing I saw before darkness took me was Fandral defeating the Captain, yet somewhat the worse for wear compared to his doppelganger.
“And now it falls to me, Fandral the Dashing, to relate the end of this grim tale. It is said that one who flees may live to duel again, and thus did I to the nearest rooftop. My doppelganger followed. Pushed to the edge of endurance, I successfully kicked him stoutly enough that we were now at the same level of endurance and forced him to draw his blade and show me the full measure of his skill.
He lunged. I parried and riposted. My blade struck true and deep; my opposite number went down and I was the victor.”
“And so we defended the gates of Asgard with enough success to call it a truly Legendary Day.”
======================
Three excellent games. The one against Air-Walker may well have been my win if not for three solid Regen rolls by Tim, the venue judge and my opponent…a very epic game. The first round vs. Scott found him a bit stymied by his slight lack of grasp of rules that hampered his planning. He still played fine…he never made any serious errors. The last game came down to Fandrals on the same BCF/CR click against a towering 19 DV and I won out with a game-ending 5 BCF roll.
Went to another venue for another game. Pulled and played Air-Walker (seeing how effective he is in this format), Jimmy Woo, and MOLLY HAYES, who, as it happens, will be our narrator this time.
=======================
“YAY! I got on the team!
The leader of the team was Air-Walker. He does walk on air, sorta, ’cause he can fly. He also dresses in pretty colors and is flaming. The other guy on the team was Jimmy Woo, who’s totally opposite. He wears a normal suit and looks totally normal. But I could tell  he was a little scary, too, in his own way. (And just between us, I think he was the REAL leader, not Mr. Walker.)
Me? I’m PRINCESS POWERFUL!!!!
Anyway, we got in a fight with some robots. Ultron was the scary-looking one and M-11 was the kinda hokey-looking one. Oh, and there was a ninja, too. We had the fight in a real CASTLE!
Ultron was scarier than the last time I remember. Mr. Walker’s first few attacks didn’t even scratch him! But now it was MY turn to fight! Mr. Walker brought me right in front of Ultron and I dared him to try and hit me.
M-11 tried to shoot Air-Walker but Mr. Walker dodged while I was dodging Ultron over and over. (I guess I’m smaller than he’s used to.) For some reason the Ninja jumped out of the open to fight me, but he couldn’t hurt me either. So while I was pounding on Ultron, Mr. Walker speeded away with Mr. Woo.
Then, because Mr. Walker has Cosmic Power or something like that, he and Mr. Woo shot Ultron with a HUMONGOUS energy blast. Then I hit Ultron with a humongous punch that knocked him out cold! YAY!
Mr. Walker and Mr. Woo shot M-11 right off the castle wall and in the moat. Then Mr. Walker double-shot the robot and the Ninja at the same time and we won!”
FIGHT TWO
“We went to a lab that looked like it was Iron Man’s or something and we fought some sorcerers named Enchantress (who’s really pretty) and Malekith (who’s not). And there was that Thunderbolt, Penance. He’s scary-looking.
Mr. Air-Walker and Mr. Woo told me to be careful because punching the magic man and lady would hurt me back like grabbing a live wire. I hate it when grown-ups try to tell me what to do! (Even when they’re right.)
Anyway, we were wondering how we were gonna get to the bad guys until they shot a hole in the lab wall. (OK, I guess THAT works.) Mr. Walker used his Cosmic Power to fly out and shoot Malekith really hard. Mr. Woo told Mr. Walker to carry me up to the hole because I’m the strongest and toughest one of us all. And I proved it when Penance tried to hit me and it didn’t even hurt! (But I hurt MYSELF trying to hit him one time.)
Both the grown-ups made short work of the bad guys, and we won again!”
FIGHT THREE
“We were in space now, but it was really weird. There was a fat guy, the Kingpin. And then there was an Asgardian Warrior, who looked and acted like a real-life Viking. There was Ultron AGAIN!!! Didn’t I punch him out? But the weirdest thing was seeing my friend Karolina Dean on the other team!! That’s not FAIR!!
Things started slow. Mr. Walker shot Karolina, sending her back to shield Ultron. (How wrong is THAT?) Mr. Woo told me to fight Ultron again, so I did. But this time I also had to fight the viking AND the Kingpin, who kept telling the other bad guys where to hit me so it hurts! SO UNFAIR!!!!
The worst part was that I was so scared that I hurt myself trying to fight again. And that made the viking knock me out with his sword.
Ugh, I HATE LOSING!
Mr. Walker told me later that Mr. Woo was so sorry I got hurt that he ran up to fight Ultron by himself, and lost. Then Mr. Walker was all alone but winning when he ran out of time. He said he was so sad about me that he forgot to focus on beating the Warrior instead of Ultron, which would’ve made us win ’cause he’d KOed Karolina already.

Two crit-misses. Poop.

Well, DUH! He SHOULD’VE hit the Warrior, ’cause the Warrior hit ME! Sheesh.
Anyway, it didn’t have a good ending, but it was still a cool adventure. Mr. Air-Walker is really awesome in this sort of random fighting and Mr. Woo works good too ’cause he’s a secret agent of SHIELD. At least that’s what he says.
Y’know something, though? Nobody was paying attention then, but I’m not a dumb little kid like people think. Karolina TOTALLY shouldn’t have been on that team. Not only is she my friend, but:
Ultron 174
Kingpin 78
Asgardian Warrior 37
Karolina Dean 55
= 344 points. I think someone’s math was really off.

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Way back in December, I set about reacquiring a Dr. Psycho from 2005’s Collateral Damage set so I could play this team:
The Society
From left: Talia, Black Adam, Lex Luthor, Deathstroke, Dr. Psycho, Calculator.
Essentially the anti-Justice League, but worse than that, since each of these characters have been able to singlehandedly challenge entire teams with their machinations. Together as The Society’s inner circle? Nigh-unstoppable.
As an 800-point HeroClix team, though, they are somewhat less terrifying. Four of them — Luthor, Deathstroke, Calculator and Dr. Psycho — are wild cards with no team ability to copy from the team-less Talia and Black Adam. So immediately, I have to bend the theme somewhat to get any real playability from them.
Here’s my first take and my first match.
The Society
Black Adam (Crisis) 254
Lex Luthor (Justice League) 161
Deathstroke (Crisis) 156 + Outsmart 10
Dr. Psycho 100
Calculator 55 + Outsmart 10
Gotham City Detective 27
Talia (Batman Alpha) 20 + Loner 5
=798 points
vs. the Justice League of…well, Lenny.
Superman (Justice League) 226 + Fortitude 25 + ICWO 10
R Shazam 105
Green Arrow (Crisis) 104
Wonder Woman (Justice League) 94
Batman (Justice League) 75 + ICWO 10
Gamora 73
Cosmic Boy (Legion of Super-Heroes) 70
= 792 points
For shame, busting up a perfectly good DC team with that green cheesecake chick from Marvel. :)
Lenny won the roll and picked the Days of Future Past map. I holed up inside. No BFCs played.
Black Adam parked on the Kinetic Accelerator. Lenny TK’d Gamora to attack him, but she missed and got pounded for a quick KO. Superman snaked his subsequent attack, losing the Meteorite vs. Black Adam. Adam, Calculator and Deathstroke ganged up on R Shazam, keeping him Outwitted until he was done.
OOTS Batman sat on an object but lost it from an Enhanced attack from Talia. That didn’t save Dr. Psycho, who missed his Mind Controls and got pincushioned by Green Arrow. Lex Luthor also underperformed and fell to a double KO by Superman (which he Masterminded to the GCD) and Wonder Woman (no one left to MM to). At least Calculator got to the Vine to heal (dodging a shot from WW) as Black Adam, now on Hypersonic Speed, successfully took on Superman, Batman and Green Arrow with Deathstroke in tow. Cosmic Boy went down and WW was the last to fall. I had BA and Ds left.
Played the same team the next day against Scott’s semi-cosmic team:
Annihilus 126
Proteus 180
Magus 184
The Mighty Thor 286
= 776 points.
On the Junkyard map, I ran Infiltration and got Poor Teamwork’d. Deathstroke hunkered down safe in the map’s swath of hindering terrain, but Talia got OHKO’d by Thor right off. Psycho successfully Mind Controls Thor to attack Annihilus but the enthralled Asgardian fails. The bad Dr. takes 2 (and needn’t call anyone when he wakes from his impending KO). Lex Luthor gets tied by Magus. I return the favor, pushing Gotham City Detective  to cuff Annie and prevent the space buglord from Psychic Blasting Adam. GCD doesn’t last a turn.
Delay of game penalty.
Calculator takes Obsessive click (after lonnnnnng check on the computer to  check for common keywords on older figs), then takes a KO by TK’d Dumpsterator. Time’s up just before I can finish laying into Thor (due to that slooooooow-loading computer) so I take the time-limit loss, having KO’d no points to Scott’s 217.
We play on. Thor fails his Flurry and falls to combined Deathstroke/Black Adam assault as Dr. Psycho gets hit off board. Now Hypersonic and Super Strong, Adam starts beating down Magus and Proteus as Lex pushes to weaken, then KO Annihilus. Alas, the “Price” is not right and Lex goes down from his own Perplex. But now Black Adam and Deathstroke can’t be stopped and they again clear the board of all foes.
Because it takes a while to get KOs, this team isn’t very good in the time limit, but when played to the last, the two high-pointers tend to win out. I made an adjustment for a game played a few weeks later:
Black Adam (Crisis) 254 + Fortitude 25
Deathstroke (Crisis) 156 + Outsmart 10
Lex Luthor (Crisis) 113
Dr. Psycho 100
Calculator 55 + Outsmart 10
Gotham City Detective 27
Talia (Batman Alpha) 20 + Loner 5
R Ragman 25
=800 points. I just didn’t seem to be getting results from Lex, and since Alex was the REAL power behind the Society, having disguised himself as Lex, it fits.
Couldn’t resist the temptation to mutilate the theme by adding a conveniently brainwashed R Ragman to the team. :)
First, I played Mohammed, a very young player still very shaky on the rules. He had a cobbled-together team of borrowed figures:
Dr. Doom (Fantastic 4) 200
The Flash (Justice League) 114
Yellowjacket (Secret Invasion) 100
Yellowjacket (Skrull) (Secret Invasion) 100
Batman (Arkham Asylum) 64
Robin (Arkham Asylum) 66
The Caped Crusader 50
E Deathstroke (Cosmic Justice) 50
We played on the Dawn of Time map. My victory was never in doubt — the poor kid’s not a solid player yet — but my score wasn’t very high due to coaching him through the rules and Skrullojacket making too many Shape Change/Skrull rolls to KO him early enough to add more than that 100 points to my victory points.
Second round was against Lenny, who ran:
Silver Surfer (Avengers) 231 + Protected 8
Susan Richards (Fantastic 4) 120
Mr. Fantastic (Fantastic 4) 100 + Brilliant Tactician 20
Johnny Stom (Fantastic 4) 100
Benjamin J. Grimm (Fantastic 4) 100
Winter Soldier 70
Spider-Man (Secret Invasion) 50
Battlefield conditions: He Sabotaged me by tokening Black Adam (I missed my roll) while I tried to cause Telekinetic Strain. But he got to choose the Fantastic Four map, which played to his strengths and hurt many of mine.
I used the Sabotage to immediately push Adam to Hypersonic Speed and the Kinetic Accelerator, pretty much ensuring that he could reach any target on the map once he cleared. I also clustered the rest around him in case Surfer tried to alpha-strike my big gun. But Lenny was much more careful than that, positioning his whole team so that any Adam attack would leave him open to a massive counterattack.
I took the bait anyway, successfully hitting Winter Soldier within a click of his life. Nearly paid dearly for it when Sue TK’d Grimm a short distance  to try hitting with a Meteorite (missed), then Johnny Running Shot Adam for 5 clicks (hit) and Surfer tried a HSS driveby (crit-missed).
Psycho Mind-Controlled Surfer away to double target Winter Soldier and Sue (only hit him, though) then end up in easy range for Alex to Psychic Blast him (missed, though). More shots on Grimm landed but failed to KO. And somehow, time ran out before any more KOs could occur. Lost none.
Finally, I face Lord Timothy’s quartet of Deities:
Ares (Avengers) 275 + Protected 8
Thor (Ultimates) 186 + Protected 8
Hercules (Secret Invasion) 142 + Protected 8
Circe (Arkham Asylum) 149 + Alias 3
On the Dawn of Time map, I Infiltrated half my team into the bushes. Tim used no Battlefield Conditions, since the one he would have played — Skrull Kill Krew — would have hurt his Circe worse than me.
Using the Dynamostat to cover Adam on the Accelerator, I immediately tried Mind Controlled Herc to beat Thor. Thor got his Impervious, though. My backup plan to Psychic Blast Thor with Alex worked a bit better.
Tim ran Herc behind Thor, which opened the Norse thunder god to Dr. Psycho’s MC. He took 2 more clicks of damage into utter deadweight, but it was worth it: Circe took 5 clicks from the hammer and Thor took 1 from the Mystics.
Ares had just failed his Running Shot at Adam with a ridiculously low roll (13 on 19 missed? Really?) so it was time to return the favor. Only I did too well, with another ridiculously low roll into a miss. Feh. At least the taxied Talia managed to follow up with an actual solid hit…especially with Deathstroke countering Impervious. Too bad Protected swallowed it up, and Circe Outwit her sword next time. Black Adam, now on Flurry, landed another hit but was rapidly taken out by Herc and Ares. Talia didn’t last much longer. Neither did Circe…Alex took her down.
Now Ares closed in on my Detective and Calculator. While Calc took the defeat, Deathstroke, well-Perplexed, took on the god of war and came out on top while Herc was tied up by GCD’s Plasticity…I thought. Good thing I Outwit his Wrestler SP (was concerned about Charge and Flurry and had forgotten Herc’s Plasticity)! Herc couldn’t take on two Outwitters alone and fell.
3-0! Nice, but with Adam Fortituded, the Outsmarts were a waste. So in a later game, I swapped them out:
Black Adam (Crisis) 254 + Fortitude 25
Deathstroke (Crisis) 156
Lex Luthor (Crisis) 113
Dr. Psycho 100 + Compel 15
Calculator 55
Gotham City Detective 27
Talia (Batman Alpha) 20 + Loner 5
R Ragman 25
= 795 points.
There was weird format in this game…a special third die was rolled with every attack roll:
1=nothing
2=knockback x 2
3=heal after the attack (1d6-2, like Support)
4=automatic crit miss
5=automatic crit hit
6=nothing
FIRST match I faced John and his
Thanos 267
Trigon 263 + Protected 8
Darkseid 210
Doombot 5953 40
We were on the Crash Site map. I used the hindering to keep just out of range of that range-heavy team. Again Dr. Psycho did his thing, forcing Darkseid to punch Trigon in the shins and take Mystics feedback. But that just made Trigon start tossing Dopplegangers out and forced me to Outwit that so Psycho could get taxied to the Eleha’al Vine and start tokin…uh, I mean healing up.
My opponent was highly frustrated with my solid Stealth bunker, as I was with Black Adam’s inability to hit his lone lead man, Thanos. So he closed in on me. But it was too late as time ran out. I got the points for Protected for the win.
Then there was Christian’s cheese pizza:
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Fortitude 25
Iron Man 154
Mr. Fantastic 100 + Brilliant Tactician 20
R Kang (Supernova) 87
Ant-Man (Infinity Challenge) 50
E Dr. Mid-Nite 43
R Mandroid Armor 28
R Black Panther  (Infinity Challenge) 27
V Lockjaw 38
R Destiny 20
R Paramedic 8
I stuck us on the Armor Wars map. I managed to get Lockjaw and then Kang. But a Compel, a pair of missed attacks, an untimely (for me) Impervious roll and a tactical failure to tie up AV Iron Man with Ragman left a pushed Black Adam way too open to a massive pair of Running Shots from the Tonys that dealt him 10 clicks when he could only take 8. That was the game.
So how’d this cadre of villainy wind up working?
Black Adam: the beater really has to pull his weight at this point level. In the first build, the Outsmart combos really encouraged me to hold him back, causing the rest of the team to take a lot of early fire and forcing him into a cleanup role too late in the game for timed matches. In the later builds, he was often the first to go into battle and usually paid for it by getting pounded by multiple counterstrikes. It’s hard to find a proper balance.
Lex Luthor: Key example of a piece forced to do too much in the first build. Great AV, but his defense always took that first hit into less usefulness. He’d probably do better in the Ragman build…if the points allowed! That 161 cost and my general insistence on sticking to the villain theme kept Rags out the first go ’rounds.
Deathstroke: Like Adam, he’s one of the main fight engines of the team. But he lacks the mobility to really get into it alongside Adam. Still one of the major keys to this team’s viability.
Alex Luthor: Quite the upgrade from Lex for nearly 50 points less. He made room for more TAs to copy and better feats. His upfront Perplex also made him more effective as a backrow type to boost the real fighters’ attacks or defenses. Still disappointed that I NEVER got to use his BFC-canceling SP!
Dr. Psycho: If not for this theme, I’d never play him again. He was highly, HIGHLY ineffective in the first build for want of decent die rolls. He simply can’t afford to miss those Mind Control rolls when he’s going to be taking the next attack thanks to that dismally low defense. With Bat-Stealth, though, he had new life. It was more than worth taking multiple clicks of self-damage from feedback and pushing to make the enemy do some of my work for me.
Calculator: Similarly, Calc is suspect as a piece. Sure, he’s got built-in Brilliant Tactician, sorta, and Outwit. But that Outwit is gimped by the keyword factor — he’s toast against themed teams — and losing his single Stealth click is really dangerous for him. And there’s not enough Mastermind fodder to help him AND Psycho. Maybe I need to invest in pogs…
Gotham City Detective: the corrupt cop on the villains’ take. Basically only there as Mastermind fodder and, more importantly, a source of TA for the four wildcards on the team, especially Dr. Psycho (who’s useless without a TA to copy). Also served well to tie-up thanks to 2nd-click Plasticity.
R Ragman: NOT a villain. Just conveniently “brainwashed” by Dr. Psycho into aiding them. :) Perma-Stealth for these wildcards, well, wildly increases their effectiveness. For the 25-40 points that the Alex Luthor build offers, there’s no better DC clix for the role he plays here. Maybe none in the game at all.
Talia: most of the time, she was just tie-up fodder. But sacrificing that 25 points wasn’t so bad if it meant Black Adam lived to fight another round or two. Which it usually did, to my benefit. And when enemy Outwit is focused on a 20-point piece instead of elsewhere, that’s pretty OK, too.

Taking a quick break from the Event Dials series to deliver some battle reports.

Way back in December, I set about reacquiring a Dr. Psycho from 2006’s Collateral Damage set so I could play this team:

The Society

From left: Talia, Black Adam, Lex Luthor, Deathstroke, Dr. Psycho, Calculator.

From left: Talia, Black Adam, Lex Luthor, Deathstroke, Dr. Psycho, Calculator. From Villains United #1.

Essentially the anti-Justice League, but worse than that, since each of these characters have been able to singlehandedly challenge entire teams with their machinations. Together as The Society’s inner circle? Nigh-unstoppable.

As an 800-point HeroClix team, though, they are somewhat less terrifying. Four of them — Luthor, Deathstroke, Calculator and Dr. Psycho — are wild cards with no team ability to copy from the team-less Talia and Black Adam. So immediately, I have to bend the theme somewhat to get any real playability from them.

Here’s my first take and my first match.

The Society

Black Adam (Crisis) 254
Lex Luthor (Justice League) 161
Deathstroke (Crisis) 156 + Outsmart 10
Dr. Psycho 100
Calculator 55 + Outsmart 10
Gotham City Detective 27
Talia (Batman Alpha) 20 + Loner 5

=798 points

vs. the Justice League of…well, Lenny.

Superman (Justice League) 226 + Fortitude 25 + ICWO 10
R Shazam (Origin) 105
Green Arrow (Crisis) 104
Wonder Woman (Justice League) 94
Batman (Justice League) 75 + ICWO 10
Gamora 73
Cosmic Boy (Legion of Super-Heroes) 70

= 792 points

For shame, busting up a perfectly good DC team with that green cheesecake chick from Marvel. :)

Lenny won the roll and picked the Days of Future Past map. I holed up inside. No BFCs played.

Black Adam parked on the Kinetic Accelerator. Lenny TK’d Gamora to attack him, but she missed and got pounded for a quick KO. Superman snaked his subsequent attack, losing the Meteorite vs. Black Adam. Adam, Calculator and Deathstroke ganged up on R Shazam, keeping him Outwitted until he was done.

OOTS Batman sat on an object but lost it from an Enhanced attack from Talia. That didn’t save Dr. Psycho, who missed his Mind Controls and got pincushioned by Green Arrow. Lex Luthor also underperformed and fell to a double KO by Superman (which he Masterminded to the GCD) and Wonder Woman (no one left to MM to). At least Calculator got to the Vine to heal (dodging a shot from WW) as Black Adam, now on Hypersonic Speed, successfully took on Superman, Batman and Green Arrow with Deathstroke in tow. Cosmic Boy went down and WW was the last to fall. I had BA and Ds left.

Played the same team the next day against Scott’s semi-cosmic team:

Annihilus 126
Proteus 180
Magus 184
The Mighty Thor 286

= 776 points.

On the Junkyard map, I ran Infiltration and got Poor Teamwork’d. Deathstroke hunkered down safe in the map’s swath of hindering terrain, but Talia got OHKO’d by Thor right off. Psycho successfully Mind Controls Thor to attack Annihilus but the enthralled Asgardian fails. The bad Dr. takes 2 (and needn’t call anyone when he wakes from his impending KO). Lex Luthor gets tied by Magus. I return the favor, pushing Gotham City Detective  to cuff Annie and prevent the space buglord from Psychic Blasting Adam. GCD doesn’t last a turn.

Calculator takes Obsessive click (after a lonnnnnng check on the computer to  check for common keywords on older figs), then takes a KO by TK’d Dumpsterator. Time’s up just before I can finish laying into Thor (due to that slooooooow-loading computer) so I take the time-limit loss, having KO’d 0 points to Scott’s 217.

We play on. Thor fails his Flurry and falls to combined Deathstroke/Black Adam assault as Dr. Psycho gets hit off board. Now Hypersonic and Super Strong, Adam starts beating down Magus and Proteus as Lex pushes to weaken, then KO Annihilus. Alas, the “Price” is not right and Lex goes down from his own Perplex. But now Black Adam and Deathstroke can’t be stopped and they again clear the board of all foes.

Because it takes a while to get KOs, this team isn’t very good in the time limit, but when played to the last, the two high-pointers tend to win out. I made an adjustment for a game played a few weeks later:

Black Adam (Crisis) 254 + Fortitude 25
Deathstroke (Crisis) 156 + Outsmart 10
Lex Luthor (Crisis) 113
Dr. Psycho 100
Calculator 55 + Outsmart 10
Gotham City Detective 27
Talia (Batman Alpha) 20 + Loner 5
R Ragman 25

=800 points. I just didn’t seem to be getting results from Lex, and since Alex was the REAL power behind the Society, having disguised himself as Lex, it fits.

Couldn’t resist the temptation to mutilate the theme by adding a conveniently brainwashed R Ragman to the team. :)

First, I played Mohammed, a very young player still very shaky on the rules. He had a cobbled-together team of borrowed figures:

Dr. Doom (Fantastic 4) 200
The Flash (Justice League) 114
Yellowjacket (Secret Invasion) 100
Yellowjacket (Skrull) (Secret Invasion) 100
Batman (Arkham Asylum) 64
Robin (Arkham Asylum) 66
The Caped Crusader 50
E Deathstroke (Cosmic Justice) 50

We played on the Dawn of Time map. My victory was never in doubt — the poor kid’s not a solid player yet — but my score wasn’t very high due to coaching him through the rules and Skrullojacket making too many Shape Change/Skrull rolls to KO him early enough to add more than that 100 points to my victory points.

Second round was against Lenny, who ran:

Silver Surfer (Avengers) 231 + Protected 8
Susan Richards (Fantastic 4) 120
Mr. Fantastic (Fantastic 4) 100 + Brilliant Tactician 20
Johnny Stom (Fantastic 4) 100
Benjamin J. Grimm (Fantastic 4) 100
Winter Soldier 70
Spider-Man (Secret Invasion) 50

Battlefield conditions: He Sabotaged me by tokening Black Adam (I missed my roll) while I tried to cause Telekinetic Strain. But he got to choose the Fantastic Four map, which played to his strengths and hurt many of mine.

I used the Sabotage to immediately push Adam to Hypersonic Speed and the Kinetic Accelerator, pretty much ensuring that he could reach any target on the map once he cleared. I also clustered the rest around him in case Surfer tried to alpha-strike my big gun. But Lenny was much more careful than that, positioning his whole team so that any Adam attack would leave him open to a massive counterattack.

I took the bait anyway, successfully hitting Winter Soldier within a click of his life. Nearly paid dearly for it when Sue TK’d Grimm a short distance  to try hitting with a Meteorite (missed), then Johnny Running Shot Adam for 5 clicks (hit) and Surfer tried a HSS driveby (crit-missed).

Psycho Mind-Controlled Surfer away to double target Winter Soldier and Sue (only KO’d him, though) then end up in easy range for Alex to Psychic Blast him (missed, though). More shots on Grimm landed but failed to KO. And somehow, time ran out before any more KOs could occur. Lost none.

Finally, I face Lord Timothy’s quartet of Deities:

Ares (Avengers) 275 + Protected 8
Thor (Ultimates) 186 + Protected 8
Hercules (Secret Invasion) 142 + Protected 8
Circe (Arkham Asylum) 149 + Alias 3

On the Dawn of Time map, I Infiltrated half my team into the bushes. Tim used no Battlefield Conditions, since the one he would have played — Skrull Kill Krew — would have hurt his Circe worse than me.

Using the Dynamostat to cover Adam on the Accelerator, I immediately Mind Controlled Herc to beat Thor. Thor got his Impervious, though. My backup plan to Psychic Blast Thor with Alex worked a bit better.

Tim ran Herc behind Thor, which opened the Norse thunder god to Dr. Psycho’s MC. He took 2 more clicks of damage into utter deadweight, but it was worth it: Circe took 5 clicks from the hammer and Thor took 1 from the Mystics.

Ares had just failed his Running Shot at Adam with a ridiculously low roll (13 on 19 missed? Really?) so it was time to return the favor. Only I did too well, with another ridiculously low roll into a miss. Feh. At least the taxied Talia managed to follow up with an actual solid hit…especially with Deathstroke countering Impervious. Too bad Protected swallowed it up, and Circe Outwit Talia’s little sword next time. Black Adam, now on Flurry, landed another hit but was rapidly taken out by Herc and Ares. Talia didn’t last much longer. Neither did Circe…Alex took her down.

Now Ares closed in on my Detective and Calculator. While Calc took the defeat, Deathstroke, well-Perplexed, took on the god of war and came out on top while Herc was tied up by GCD’s Plasticity…I thought. Good thing I Outwit his Wrestler SP (was concerned about Charge and Flurry and had forgotten Herc’s Plasticity)! Herc couldn’t take on two Outwitters alone and fell.

3-0! Nice, but with Adam Fortituded, the Outsmarts were a waste. So in a later game, I swapped them out:

Black Adam (Crisis) 254 + Fortitude 25
Deathstroke (Crisis) 156
Lex Luthor (Crisis) 113
Dr. Psycho 100 + Compel 15
Calculator 55
Gotham City Detective 27
Talia (Batman Alpha) 20 + Loner 5
R Ragman 25

= 795 points.

There was weird format in this game…a special third die was rolled with every attack roll:

1=nothing

2=knockback x 2

3=heal after the attack (1d6-2, like Support)

4=automatic crit miss

5=automatic crit hit

6=nothing

FIRST match I faced John and his:

Thanos 267
Trigon 263 + Protected 8
Darkseid 210
Doombot 5953 40

We were on the Crash Site map. I used the hindering to keep just out of range of that range-heavy team. Again Dr. Psycho did his thing, forcing Darkseid to punch Trigon in the shins and take Mystics feedback. But that just made Trigon start tossing Dopplegangers out and forced me to Outwit that so Psycho could get taxied to the Eleha’al Vine and start tokin…uh, I mean healing up.

My opponent was highly frustrated with my solid Stealth bunker, as I was with Black Adam’s inability to hit his lone lead man, Thanos. So he closed in on me. But it was too late as time ran out. I got the points for Protected for the win.

Then there was Christian’s team:

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Fortitude 25
Iron Man 154
Mr. Fantastic 100 + Brilliant Tactician 20
R Kang (Supernova) 87
Ant-Man (Infinity Challenge) 50
E Dr. Mid-Nite 43
R Mandroid Armor 28
R Black Panther  (Infinity Challenge) 27
V Lockjaw 38
R Destiny 20
R Paramedic 8
+ Thunderbolts 15 (Defenders)

Wow. That’s a full T.O.P.P.S.-style Pit Crew*, there. I actually got the taste for a pizza after seeing all that cheese.

I stuck us on the Armor Wars map. I managed to get Lockjaw and then Kang. But a Compel, a pair of missed attacks, an untimely (for me) Impervious roll and a tactical failure to tie up AV Iron Man with Ragman left a pushed Black Adam way too open to a massive pair of Running Shots from the Tonys that dealt him 10 clicks when he could only take 8. That was the game.

So how’d this cadre of villainy wind up working? Basically went 6-1 (technically 5-2, but the loss against Scott within the time limit would be invalidated had that keyword check taken 1 minute instead of 5). Piece-by-piece:

King of PAIN.

King of PAIN.

Black Adam: the beater really has to pull his weight at this point level. In the first build, the Outsmart combos really encouraged me to hold him back, causing the rest of the team to take a lot of early fire and forcing him into a cleanup role too late in the game for timed matches. In the later builds, he was often the first to go into battle and usually paid for it by getting pounded by multiple counterstrikes. It’s hard to find a proper balance.

Dunno what HE'S so happy about, getting KOed all the time.

Dunno what HE'S so happy about, getting KOed all the time.

Lex Luthor: Key example of a piece forced to do too much in the first build. Great AV, but his defense always took that first hit into less usefulness. He’d probably do better in the Ragman build…if the points allowed! That 161 cost and my general insistence on sticking to the villain theme kept Rags out the first go ’rounds.

He got his own series because he never got KO'd in any of these matches. :)

He got his own series because he never got KO'd in any of these matches. :)

Deathstroke: Like Adam, he’s one of the main fight engines of the team. But he lacks the mobility to really get into it alongside Adam. Still one of the major keys to this team’s viability.

Younger model. Smarter model. And dresses 100% fruitier. (Which is saying something. You SEE that purple & green getup?)

Younger model. Smarter model. And dresses 100% fruitier. (Which is saying something. You SEE that purple & green getup?)

Alex Luthor: Quite the upgrade from Lex for nearly 50 points less. He made room for more TAs to copy and better feats. His upfront Perplex also made him more effective as a backrow type to boost the real fighters’ attacks or defenses. (In fact, he’d be a great Brilliant Tactician for his fellow Calculators…something to consider in future runs.) Still disappointed that I NEVER got to use his BFC-canceling SP!

Short but slow.

Short but slow.

Dr. Psycho: If not for this theme, I’d never play him again. He was highly, HIGHLY ineffective in the first build for want of decent die rolls. He simply can’t afford to miss those Mind Control rolls when he’s going to be taking the next attack thanks to that dismally low defense. With Bat-Stealth, though, he had new life. It was more than worth taking multiple clicks of self-damage from feedback and pushing to make the enemy do some of my work for me. In any future runs, I may try using Mental Shields instead of Compel on him. In a build without Bat-Stealth, I think I’ll go with Contingency Plan and keep him well out of the fray.

Love the megalomania evident in this cover.

Love the megalomania evident in this cover.

Calculator: Similarly, Calc is suspect as a piece. Sure, he’s got built-in Brilliant Tactician, sorta, and Outwit. But that Outwit is gimped by the keyword factor — he’s toast against themed teams — and losing his single Stealth click is really dangerous for him. And there’s not enough Mastermind fodder to help him AND Psycho. Maybe I need to invest in pogs…

Gotham City Detective: the corrupt cop on the villains’ take. Basically only there as Mastermind fodder and, more importantly, a source of TA for the four wildcards on the team, especially Dr. Psycho (who’s useless without a TA to copy). Also served well to tie-up thanks to 2nd-click Plasticity.

R Ragman: NOT a villain. Just conveniently “brainwashed” by Dr. Psycho into aiding them. :) Perma-Stealth for these wildcards, well, wildly increases their effectiveness. For the 25-40 points that the Alex Luthor build offers, there’s no better DC clix for the role he plays here. Maybe none in the game at all. That said, I’d much rather run an Alfred pog in his place instead. Anyone want to sell me one? :)

Best 20 points in HeroClix?

Best 20 points in HeroClix?

Talia: most of the time, she was just tie-up fodder. But sacrificing that 25 points wasn’t so bad if it meant Black Adam lived to fight another round or two. Which it usually did, to my benefit. And when enemy Outwit is focused on a 20-point piece instead of elsewhere, that’s pretty OK, too.

So much for the bad guys! Next comic-accurate theme is likely to be the Inhumans Royal Family. But that’ll have to wait until I get another string of 800-point games to play. In the meantime, enjoy a return to the Event Dial series. Ciao!

* ( Telekinesis. Outwit. Perplex. Probability Control. Support. A “Pit Crew” contains figures whose sole purpose is to cheaply provide one of these powers.)

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300 points. Character-card sets only.

My take: Power Pack #6 “theme team”
Lightspeed 25
Mass Master 30
Energizer 35
Gee 40
SI Spider-Man 50
+ Lunge 5
+ Loner 5
SI Cloak & Dagger 109
= 299 points
See my blog, heroclixin.wordpress.com for this write-up!
Round ONE
Easton, 12-year-old from Huntsville, AL
On a shaved-down Indy map (the Evil Lab, I think), I took on his Stardust, SI Captain America, M+M Marvel Girl and AV Scarlet Witch. He played a great game, easily KOing first Gee, then Mass Master for an early lead. But Spidey and Cloak+Dagger began landing their respective double attacks, taking out Cap, Scarlet Witch and Marvel Girl. Stardust, still at full health, critmissed a big attack, enabling my two Phasers Lightspeed and C+D to run from the herald until Spidey could finally hit it — and then to run from it when it gained HSS. A 2nd critmiss spared Energizer’s life and the grownups finished the now-hittable Stardust for the wipeout. 1-0.
Round TWO
Clark, a 12-year-old former Atlanta kid now in Florida but back for Dragon*Con.
On the Crashed Spaceship map, this slightly spacey kid fielded a team of bi-coastal Avengers: Lionheart, U.S. Agent, Ronin, Moon Knight and AV Scarlet Witch. Not nearly as sharp a player as my last opponent, but much better than when I last played him, Clark took down Mass Master and Energizer and very, VERY nearly got Cloak & Dagger; a miss from a weakened Lionheart allowed the duo to Phase away and support a well-beaten-down Spidey from afar. Managed to hold on for a win despite frequent sniping from the hidden but nearby Moon Knight and Clark’s semi-secret weapon, Ronin. Got U.S. Agent and Lionheart. 2-0.
Round THREE
Nathan, a former S. Carolina player moved to Wisconsin back for Dragon*Con. On the HorrorClix Carnival map, he dealt me a vicious beating with a team lacking anything resembling a blind spot: SI Nick Fury + Contingency Plan with Skrully Ms. Marvel — both Warbound. And Lila Cheney just to round out. By not covering Gee in my initial move, a Kinetic-Accelerated Ms. Skrullvel took him, and any chance I had of winning, out in one shot. I retreated to force him to overextend a bit, though it cost me Mass Master in the next turn. And it worked some; by basing Lightspeed with Lila (outwitting her P/T to force Lightspeed to fight, he said) he’d left an opening for Spider-Man to Lunge-attack Lila (missing), then Nick Fury, hitting him and forcing a L.M.D. warp away from Ms. Skrullvel and thus negating the constant Warbound attacks. The team was actually able force a critmiss from her and knock Fury to hit late dial and even get KO points for Lila before getting wiped by this incredibly effective trio. 2-1.
Round FOUR
A guy whose name and hometown I’m blanking on. Did I ever ask?
I picked the Castle to face his Justice League of America: Starro Green Lantern, OOTS Batman, JL Zatanna and JL Black Canary. Again incautious with Gee placement, I got my TK first Outwitted, then lost outright to Green Lantern’s Running Shot off the bat. Fortunately, Cloak & Dagger would remain safely Stealthed on the Kinetic Accelerator, no matter what. Mass Master was my first casualty, blocking Batman’s fire for his brother. Energizer (via Lightspeed) proved her worth by disintegrating the object Bats sat on, leading to shots from Cloak & Dagger and a Spider-Lunge that took him to eventual KO. Both girls fell to enemy fire, but the Fantastic Four TA healed Gee back to TK, enabling him to push and move Cloak & Dagger forward to take out Zatanna. All four kids were lost but I wiped all but Green Lantern for the win.
Win/Loss: 3-1. I built this team just for kicks, being a great fan of the old-school ‘Pack. But it proved to be way more effective than I dreamed.
A couple of days later, we had a 200-point unrestricted game, and I saw a chance for another Power Pack-heavy team:
Lightspeed 25
Mass Master 30
Gee 40
R Shazam! 105
= 200 points. “Kid” keyword makes it a themed team. See my blog, heroclixin.wordpress.com for this write-up, too!
Round ONE
I was late, so I had to take a bye round. :(
Round TWO
A relatively new player whose name I can’t remember. He played, on a shaved-down old “Mall” map: Gamora, Spider-Man (Armor Wars) and The Question (Arkham Asylum). I was able to bunker my kids in an interior room to block nearly all line of fire from enemy fire and Outwit. Thus Shazam was able to easily beat down the whole team for a wipeout. But not without cost: Question crithit Gee into a wall for a one-hit-KO (OHKO). 1-0.
Round TWO
Now I faced Scott, a local player and friend. A master modder, he ran half of his Offenders team: an awesome Red Hulk (on the Hercules (Secret Invasion) dial) and Tiger Shark (Captain Mako repainted with a fin) on the Crashed Spaceship map. I used the terrain (and Mass Master’s Smoke Cloudform) to slow down the close-combat specialists. But they quickly based, then KO’d the boy when Shazam failed 4 attempts at hitting Rulk (burning both theme PCs and a push). Both fliers got the team away, forcing the Offenders to trudge back through hindering terrain. Shazam landed on his Billy clicks and hid in a corner with Gee blocking access to him. Gee fell, but it was enough time to get back to Captain Marvel power. One successful Impervious roll later, sole survivor R Shazam was able to chase down Rulk and then Shark for a come-from-behind win. 2-0.
Round THREE
Now in a battle for third place, I again faced young Easton’s nigh-unbeatable team of The Flash (Legacy) + Alias, V Spoiler + Loner and R Destiny. And when I neglected to block line of fire to Shazam and got his Hypersonic Speed countered, I was pretty screwed. Had to sacrifice nearly the whole Pack to block line of fire to try for additional attacks. It didn’t go well; failed the Kingdom Come roll and then the consolation attack on Destiny. Made a 2nd mistake when I neglected to move to my Telephone Booth to get off my Billy clicks. Only a successful Regen roll got me back in fighting shape. Constant Outwitting of KC’s Outwit kept me Invulnerable and safe from him, but unable to catch up to him to make an attack. So I pushed and rolled for the moon and failed due the Alias feat. Game Over! At least I got the other two. 2-1
TOTAL RECORD: 5-2. So OK, both Pack teams got utterly dragged by completely min-maxed builds played by master players, and certainly didn’t deal many KOs (only Gee got any, and it was a character half his points — R Destiny). They still well outperformed my and my opponents’ expectations.
Gee: As one of the game’s cheapest TK characters, he’s already a staple of teams worldwide. But he especially makes this team work, giving both my main attackers Spider-Man and Cloak & Dagger the reach they needed to use their respective Lunge-Flurry and duo attacks effectively. In the Kid team, Gee was instrumental in yanking Shazam out of harm’s way after a failed Charge attempt.
Lightspeed: The game’s most efficient taxi did the job here, too, getting Spidey or her brothers and sister in place over and over again.
Energizer: mostly served only as sacrificial tie-up but got that great move against Batman. She also scored an Exploit Weakness hit on U.S. Agent.
Mass Master: Also limited to tie-up, though he drew Outwitters’ ire away from more dangerous opponents.
And that’s really the Power Pack’s strength; while these swarming preadolescents are pretty weak on their own and even as a unit, they tend to make any grown-up figures on the team work better. For example, a Lunge-enabled Spider-Man, already beastly, is twice as effective when paired with cheap TK (Gee) or cheaper air taxi (Lightspeed). Shazam depended on the kids to block LOF from Question, Charge lanes from Gamora and to absorb the extra objects “Red Hulk” carried. And Energizer can be OOTS Batman’s worst nightmare.
The kids are INDEED all right.
One of the greatest comics Marvel's ever produced.

One of the greatest comics Marvel’s ever produced.

If I had to point to one comic that’s responsible for my near-lifelong love of comics, it’s this one: POWER PACK. Ever since I spied this promo ad in the spring of 1984, I knew this book could be something really special. I wasn’t disappointed: a deft melding of superheroics and the kids of the Narnia Chronicles, Power Pack was a comic well ahead of its time yet more innocent than most of  today’s fare.

Power Pack is also the reason I glommed onto HeroClix as both a game and as a collectible. Only the HeroClix line made room for not only the marquee characters like Superman or Spidey but also for Z-list characters largely unseen in comics for a decade or more like Ambush Bug or Zzzax. So I knew that if HeroClix lasted long enough, eventually I’d see my beloved superkids in playable, miniature plastic form.

Gee, Lightspeed, Mass Master, and Energizer. Aren't they cute.

Gee, Lightspeed, Mass Master, and Energizer. As ‘clix. Aren’t they cute.

Were they worth the wait? Well, yes and no. Yes, it was great to get them in ‘Clix and all at once…no waiting across different sets like fans of larger teams have had to. And given that HeroClix soon suffered a yearlong near-death experience mere months later, I’m glad they showed when they did.

But no. Not only are the sculpts a bit lacking, being influenced by the cute-but-inferior revamp of the 2000’s, but the dials aren’t right, either. Most of the problem is that it seems that the game designers couldn’t figure out which version of each character to emulate, leaving us with an oddly amalgamated Pack that doesn’t represent either very well.

I control gravity -- G POWER! Get it?"

“I control gravity — G POWER! Get it?”

Gee: Originally, the oldest Power kid (age 12.5, not 15 like his card says) could only affect the gravity of people and objects he touched, making some version of Super Strength and the Carry ability a shoo-in. But the current revamp recasts him as more of a standard telekinetic, and that’s the clix we got. It’s OK, but not accurate.

.

.

"I can fly -- so fast you can hardly see me! Is that the speed of light, Alex?"

“I can fly so fast you can hardly see me!”

Lightspeed: Also mis-aged on her character card, Julie only flew real fast at first. Much, MUCH later she learned to teleport, but that was never her main power. The current Lightspeed (in the kids’ books, not the teenaged runaway seen in recent years) has been treated as much as a speedster as anything, and even the original broke the sound barrier early in her career. Would it have been too much to give her at least ONE click of Hypersonic Speed, even with super-low attack and damage values?

.

"I'm MASS MASTER, punk! Don't you forget it!"

“I’m MASS MASTER, punk! Don’t you forget it!”

Mass Master: the greatest disappointment of the four, thanks to his way-too-low defense numbers. Think of it; he’s an intangible cloud most of the time (and a 5-inch-high, 60-pound “Jack Hammer” the rest). He should have 17 DV at minimum with Defend or something, not to mention Phasing/Teleport for his ability to slip through any crack in his cloud form. Drop his damage to 0 with Close Combat Expert.

.

.

"I just touched stuff and it disintegrated."

“I just touched stuff and it disintegrated.”

Energizer: the original Katie was considerably more destructive than the new incarnation that the ‘clix version seems based on. Always relied upon to either disintegrate or smash walls and such, the youngest deserves some 3 damage clicks.

Enough griping, though. The fact is, barring a sudden explosion in their popularity, the Pack we have is likely all the Pack we’ll get. And I’ve been hankering to run them in a team. I got the opportunity at Dragon*Con last weekend, the first big HeroClix tournament in many, many months.

SCENARIO/BUILD RULES: 300 points. Character-card sets only. This is only sets from summer 2007 and newer.

My take: Power Pack #6 “theme team” (both Spidey and Cloak & Dagger made cameos)

Lightspeed 25
Mass Master 30
Energizer 35
Gee 40
Spider-Man (Secret Invasion) 50
+ Lunge 5
+ Loner 5
SI Cloak & Dagger 109

= 299 points

Round ONE

Against Easton, 12-year-old from Huntsville, AL

On a shaved-down Indy map (the Evil Lab, I think), I took on his Stardust, Captain America (Secret Invasion), Marvel Girl (Mutations and Monsters) and Scarlet Witch (Avengers). He played a great game, easily KOing first Gee, then Mass Master for an early lead. But Spidey and Cloak+Dagger began landing their respective double attacks, taking out Cap, Scarlet Witch and Marvel Girl. Stardust, still at full health, critmissed a big attack, enabling my two Phasers Lightspeed and C+D to run from the herald until Spidey could finally hit it — and then to run from it when it gained HSS. A 2nd critmiss spared Energizer’s life and the grownups finished the now-hittable Stardust for the wipeout. 1-0.

Round TWO

Clark, a 12-year-old former Atlanta kid now in Florida but back for Dragon*Con.

On the Crashed Spaceship map, this slightly spacey kid fielded a team of bi-coastal Avengers: Lionheart, U.S. Agent, Ronin, Moon Knight and AV Scarlet Witch. Not nearly as sharp a player as my last opponent, but much better than when I last played him, Clark took down Mass Master and Energizer and very, VERY nearly got Cloak & Dagger; a miss from a weakened Lionheart allowed the duo to Phase away and support a well-beaten-down Spidey from afar. Managed to hold on for a win despite frequent sniping from the hidden but nearby Moon Knight and Clark’s semi-secret weapon, Ronin. Got U.S. Agent and Lionheart. 2-0.

Round THREE

Nathan, a former S. Carolina player moved to Wisconsin back for Dragon*Con. On the HorrorClix Carnival map, he dealt me a vicious beating with a team lacking anything resembling a blind spot: Nick Fury (Secret Invasion)+ Contingency Plan with Skrully Ms. Marvel (Secret Invasion) — both Warbound. And Lila Cheney just to round out. By not covering Gee in my initial move, a Kinetic-Accelerated Ms. Skrullvel took him, and any chance I had of winning, out in one shot. I retreated to force him to overextend a bit, though it cost me Mass Master in the next turn. And it worked some; by basing Lightspeed with Lila (outwitting her P/T to force Lightspeed to fight, he said) he’d left an opening for Spider-Man to Lunge-attack Lila (missing), then Nick Fury, hitting him and forcing a L.M.D. warp away from Ms. Skrullvel and thus negating the constant Warbound attacks. The team was actually able force a critmiss from her and knock Fury to hit late dial and even get KO points for Lila before getting wiped by this incredibly effective trio. 2-1.

Round FOUR

A guy whose name and hometown I’m blanking on. Did I ever ask?

I picked the Castle to face his Justice League of America: Starro Green Lantern, OOTS Batman, JL Zatanna and JL Black Canary. Again incautious with Gee placement, I got my TK first Outwitted, then lost outright to Green Lantern’s Running Shot off the bat. Fortunately, Cloak & Dagger would remain safely Stealthed on the Kinetic Accelerator, no matter what. Mass Master was my first casualty, blocking Batman’s fire for his brother. Energizer (via Lightspeed) proved her worth by disintegrating the object Bats sat on, leading to shots from Cloak & Dagger and a Spider-Lunge that took him to eventual KO. Both girls fell to enemy fire, but the Fantastic Four TA healed Gee back to TK, enabling him to push and move Cloak & Dagger forward to take out Zatanna. All four kids were lost but I wiped all but Green Lantern for the win.

Win/Loss: 3-1. I built this team just for kicks, being a great fan of the old-school ‘Pack. But it proved to be way more effective than I dreamed.

A couple of days later, we had a 200-point unrestricted game, and I saw a chance for another Power Pack-heavy team:

Lightspeed 25
Mass Master 30
 + Fantastic Four o
Gee 40
R Shazam! 105

= 200 points. “Kid” keyword makes it a themed team.

Round ONE

I was late, so I had to take a bye round. :(

Round TWO

A relatively new player whose name I can’t remember. He played, on a shaved-down old “Mall” map: Gamora, Spider-Man (Armor Wars) and The Question (Arkham Asylum). I was able to bunker my kids in an interior room to block nearly all line of fire from enemy fire and Outwit. Thus Shazam was able to easily beat down the whole team for a wipeout. But not without cost: Question crithit Gee into a wall for a one-hit-KO (OHKO). 1-0.

Round TWO

Now I faced Scott, a local player and friend. A master modder, he ran half of his Offenders team: an awesome Red Hulk (on the Hercules (Secret Invasion) dial) and Tiger Shark (Captain Mako repainted with a fin) on the Crashed Spaceship map. I used the terrain (and Mass Master’s Smoke Cloudform) to slow down the close-combat specialists. But they quickly based, then KO’d the boy when Shazam failed 4 attempts at hitting Rulk (burning both theme PCs and a push). Both fliers got the team away, forcing the Offenders to trudge back through hindering terrain. Shazam landed on his Billy clicks and hid in a corner with Gee blocking access to him. Gee fell, but it was enough time to get back to Captain Marvel power. One successful Impervious roll later, sole survivor R Shazam was able to chase down Rulk and then Shark for a come-from-behind win. 2-0.

Round THREE

Now in a battle for third place, I again faced young Easton’s nigh-unbeatable team of The Flash (Legacy) + Alias, V Spoiler + Loner and R Destiny. And when I neglected to block line of fire to Shazam and got his Hypersonic Speed countered, I was pretty screwed. Had to sacrifice nearly the whole Pack to block line of fire to try for additional attacks. It didn’t go well; failed the Kingdom Come roll and then the consolation attack on Destiny. Made a 2nd mistake when I neglected to move to my Telephone Booth to get off my Billy clicks. Only a successful Regen roll got me back in fighting shape. Constant Outwitting of KC’s Outwit kept me Invulnerable and safe from him, but unable to catch up to him to make an attack. So I pushed and rolled for the moon and failed due the Alias feat. Game Over! At least I got the other two. 2-1

TOTAL RECORD: 5-2. So OK, both Pack teams got utterly dragged by completely min-maxed builds played by master players, and certainly didn’t deal many KOs (only Gee got any, and it was a character half his points — R Destiny). They still well outperformed my and my opponents’ expectations.

I spent some lines writing about what’s wrong with the ‘Pack. But what’s right about them?

Gee: As one of the game’s cheapest TK characters, he’s already a staple of teams worldwide. But he especially makes this team work, giving both my main attackers Spider-Man and Cloak & Dagger the reach they needed to use their respective Lunge-Flurry and duo attacks effectively. In the Kid team, Gee was instrumental in yanking Shazam out of harm’s way after a failed Charge attempt.

Lightspeed: The game’s most efficient taxi did the job here, too, getting Spidey or her brothers and sister in place over and over again.

Energizer: mostly served only as sacrificial tie-up but got that great move against Batman. She also scored an Exploit Weakness hit on U.S. Agent.

Mass Master: Also limited to tie-up, though he drew Outwitters’ ire away from more dangerous opponents. That free Smoke Cloud occasionally helped, too. Finally, pushing to his 2nd click made him an actual threat worthy of the enemy’s attacks as a decoy.

And that’s really the Power Pack’s strength; while these swarming preadolescents are pretty weak on their own and even as a unit, they tend to make any grown-up figures on the team work better. For example, a Lunge-enabled Spider-Man, already beastly, is twice as effective when paired with cheap TK (Gee) or cheaper air taxi (Lightspeed). Shazam depended on the kids to block LOF from Question, deny Charge lanes to him from Gamora and to absorb the extra objects “Red Hulk” carried. And Energizer can be OOTS Batman’s worst nightmare.

The kids are INDEED all right.

OK. Enough postponing on the event dials articles…! Next time.

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After largely dominating in a pair of friendly games, it was time to put the Seven Soldiers of Victory through a real test in a tournament.
ROUND ONE
Opponent: PAUL
Team:
Spider-Man (Avengers)
Hercules (Secret Invasion)
Wasp (Universe Starter)
Spider-Woman (Armor Wars)
Sersi
Ant-Man (Infinity Challenge)
Hmmmm. Yes, this team was a bit more optimized than the one he’d played last night, with a great lead hitter in Herc and solid support in Sersi (TK) and Spidey (Outwit). Plus he had a themed team and picked the Avengers map. I picked the trench side with a Kinetic Accelerator special object to give me a shot at a first strike with Bulleteer and her Meteorite.
Paul use Spidey to counter Bulleteer’s Charge and thus prevent her getting to Hercules. In the meantime, I needed to get into position for actual fighting, but in a way that wouldn’t leave anyone open to Hercules’s Charge range after being moved by Sersi’s Telekinesis. Zatanna carried Klarion to a large patch of hindering to hide in, just beyond Hercules’ Charge range.
Or so I thought. Klarion WAS in the big demigod’s reach and took both hits of a Meteorite-boosted Flurry! Only Toughness saved the witchboy from instant KO.
Well, the bait was good and taken (though I hadn’t exactly planned it thus). I needed Bulleteer to retaliate, so I took a Running Shot with Frankenstein to ping Spider-Man off Outwit and get my Charge back. Thus re-empowered, Bulleteer would have just the boost she needed from the Kinetic Accelerator to Charge through the hindering (thanks to Unstoppable) with the Meteorite.
But first, I needed a good Regeneration roll for Klarion. Got the best, to land on his best click: Stealth + Duo Attack-granting SP + Probability Control. Nice!
Bulleteer landed her attack, which softened up Hercules considerably for Guardian and Klarion to finish him off. Frankenstein, for his part, was a bit tied up with Ant-Man, Wasp and Spider-Woman but someone managed to tag both ladies to send Spider-Woman running and Wasp off the board.
Paul retreated to his healing Eleha’al Vine and my forces gave chase (Miracle taxiing Guardian ahead and Zatanna carting Klarion). Bulleteer had Spider-Man cornered on his Vine when time was called. I’d lost none and KO’d Wasp, Spider-Woman and Hercules. 1-0.
ROUND TWO
Opponent: TIM
Team: Stone-faced cosmic despots
Thanos (Supernova) +
Darkseid (Crisis) + Outsmart + Protected
=495 points
OK, here was a real test! I picked the Icons park map. At all costs would I avoid the vast killing field in the middle, instead planning to bunker on a rooftop and use a Kinetic Accelerator to perhaps get a first Charge in a Meteorite. But Tim decided to rush me down, basing Bulleteer (and Outwitting her Strength) before she could move.
Had to proceed very carefully here, in order to stand a chance.
1. Break Bulleteer away by plunking Shining Knight diagonally between her and Darkseid.
2. Fly Zatanna to a back edge of the roof where she can see Bulleteer’s eventual attack square —
3. — and so her passenger Klarion can see Frankenstein for Perplex.
4. Hold Frank back a little bit longer to build up one more Opportunist token.
Next turn, Bulleteer picked up the Meteorite, Charged through the hindering terrain and hit Thanos for a solid 4 with the Meteorite. Frankenstein followed with an Opportunist-boosted Running Shot to turn a Probability Control-forced miss into a hit for three damage (thanks to Klarion’s  Perplex). To wrap up, I walked Klarion between Bulleteer and Darkseid so the latter couldn’t Outwit the shiny gal’s Invulnerability — the only thing that saved her from swift oblivion when Thanos punched her in the face for 7 damage (natural 5 + Close Combat Expert).
I should have taxied Klarion instead of walking him; I found myself on prime fighting clicks after Darkseid’s counterattack but unwilling to push for it. At least Darkseid took Mystic damage and burned his Outwit on countering Shining Knight’s Flurry.
Thanos got smacked to Regen and then out of the game, as did Guardian. But now it was my whole team on Darkseid, and he eventually fell. 2-0.
ROUND THREE
Opponent: LENNY
Team: Gotham
Batman (Arkham Asylum chase #99) + Opportunist
Batman (Arkham Asylum)
Nightwing + Contingency Plan + Takedown
Batman (Justice League)
Robin (Arkham Asylum)
Captain Gordon (Arkham Asylum)
Thanks to his fielding a themed team (Gotham) Lenny won the map roll and picked the Dawn of Time. I played Rushed Assault to blunt his assault. That turned out to be a mistake, as Lenny didn’t take the bait and bided his time WAY longer than he had any need to. Meanwhile, my outgunned team simply could not afford to waste a single attack on the Rushed Assault penalty, especially knowing that then nothing would slow the Bats from whaling on me. So we literally went at least 40 minutes of the 50-minute game without making any attack rolls.
I really wanted to chide Lenny for waiting so long. With Perplex, a full Contingency Plan stock, a team nearly full of double-digit Attack Values and three theme-team Probability Controls (provided he shut off his Bat-Stealth for line of fire first), he really had little chance of missing that first attack. To be fair, though, I didn’t give him easy targets: Mister Miracle with 19 Defense (thanks to Loner) + Super Senses or Frankenstein with Invulnerable 19 DV (thanks to a snatched Tombstone of Lenny’s).
Finally, Lenny took a shot at Frankenstein, who I’d set up ready to attack Nightwing (having forgotten that he had Takedown). The intentional whiff took out the Tombstone, giving Watchtower Batman an easy shot for three.
I gave the game away then, when, to tie-up that Batman, I Perplexed Guardian’s speed to Charge him in a failed attempt (despite having Probability Control). Batman did not fail to Flurry Guardian for the game’s only KO, as time ran out just two minutes later.
In retrospect, then, Rushed Assault was a horrible choice with no way to counter its effects myself. Halfway through the game, I should have broken someone away to threaten Captain Gordon.
WIN/LOSS 2-1. 4-1 total record.
This team looks like a hot mess on paper: only two team abilities, no wildcards to benefit. Only one character with greater than 6 range, and she can’t crack Invulnerability without help. The heavyweight starts with just a 9 Attack Value. Bulleteer is overcosted. At this point level, they seem plain outclassed.
What they do bring to the table is a pair of Perplexers and Probability Control to help out the low Attack Values. A few feats also bring out extra potential:
Opportunist on Frankenstein is superb…you have to hold him back early in the game, but once he starts, the Indomitable monster doesn’t have to stop and those built-up tokens make it hard for him to miss.
Shining Knight is MADE for Double-Time. While Frank’s biding his time, she can taxi either Guardian or Bulleteer in close to a target of opportunity, tying up the foe for a Charge next round. And with her Defense double-Perplexed by teammates, she might survive to push and Flurry (again, double-Perplexed) the next round to finish off or soften up whoever her fare Charges and hits.
Bulleteer + Unstoppable = a surprisingly capable attacker, either as a backup or frontliner. Twice in these games, the feat got her in position to make improbable hits. Invulnerability makes her short dial seem longer.
Loner makes the highly-mobile Perplexer Mr. Miracle nigh-untouchable. If he IS touched hard enough, he gets to take over PC duties from Zatanna.
As for the non-feated, they work out in the end, too. Klarion is a linchpin of the team; his Stealth and Mystic TA protect him from a lot of attacks while his Perplex makes the rest of the team work. He becomes a solid fighter down his dial.
Zatanna serves well to fly him around and help with Probability Control — as well as serving as bait for attacks. That worked out for me as she was able to make Frankenstein more dangerous with her Enhancement.
And Guardian truly shines on this team, as he’s the ultimate clean-up guy, Charging in after Frankenstein has softened everyone up. It’s when I failed to use him as clean-up that he fell.
And so a team I intended to play just for fun has turned out to be a true dark-horse winner. It’s not top-tier by any stretch — the final match showed that — but it’s better than you’d think!
Next post will either be a battle report on today’s “Zero-Range Brawl” — no ranged attacks allowed) or the first of a series of articles on how to build teams to play the controversial Event Dials first released in the Mutations and Monsters set of fall 2007. Keep an eye out for it!
Did they stand or fall in a real tournament?

Did they stand or fall in a real tournament?

After largely dominating in a pair of friendly games, it was time to put the Seven Soldiers of Victory through a real test in a tournament.

ROUND ONE

Opponent: PAUL’s Avengers

Spider-Man (Avengers)
Hercules (Secret Invasion)
Wasp (Universe Starter)
Spider-Woman (Armor Wars)
Sersi
Ant-Man (Infinity Challenge)

Hmmmm. Yes, this team was a bit more optimized than the one he’d played last night, with a great lead hitter in Herc and solid support in Sersi (TK) and Spidey (Outwit). Plus he had a themed team and picked the Avengers map. I picked the trench side with a Kinetic Accelerator special object to give me a shot at a first strike with Bulleteer and her Meteorite.

Paul used Spidey to counter Bulleteer’s Charge and thus prevent her getting to Hercules. In the meantime, I needed to get into position for actual fighting, but in a way that wouldn’t leave anyone open to Hercules’s Charge range after being moved by Sersi’s Telekinesis. Zatanna carried Klarion to a large patch of hindering to hide in, just beyond Hercules’ Charge range.

Or so I thought. Klarion WAS in the big demigod’s reach and took both hits of a Meteorite-boosted Flurry! Only a low Meteorite roll and the witchboy’s Toughness on the 2nd hit saved him from instant KO.

Quite the marksman with Opportunist!

Quite the marksman with Opportunist!

Well, the bait was good and taken (though I hadn’t exactly planned it thus). I needed Bulleteer to retaliate, so I took a Running Shot with Frankenstein to ping Spider-Man off Outwit and get my Charge back. Thus re-empowered, Bulleteer would have just the boost she needed from the Kinetic Accelerator to Charge through the hindering (thanks to Unstoppable) with the Meteorite.

But first, I needed a good Regeneration roll for Klarion. Got the best, to land on his best click: Stealth + Duo Attack-granting SP + Probability Control. Nice!

Bulleteer landed her attack, which softened up Hercules considerably for Shining Knight (who’d jumped between Herc and Klarion to protect the latter) from further attack), Guardian and Klarion to finish him off. Frankenstein, for his part, was a bit tied up with Ant-Man, Wasp and Spider-Woman but someone managed to tag both ladies to send Spider-Woman running and Wasp off the board.

Paul retreated to his healing Eleha’al Vine and my forces gave chase (Miracle taxiing Guardian ahead and Zatanna carting Klarion). Bulleteer had Spider-Man cornered on his Vine when time was called. I’d lost none and KO’d Wasp, Spider-Woman and Hercules. 1-0.

ROUND TWO

Opponent: TIM’s stone-faced cosmic duo of despots

Thanos (Supernova)
Darkseid (Crisis) + Outsmart + Protected

OK, here was a real test! I picked the Icons park map. At all costs would I avoid the vast killing field in the middle, instead planning to bunker on a rooftop and use a Kinetic Accelerator to perhaps get a first Charge in a Meteorite. But Tim decided to rush me down, basing Bulleteer (and Outwitting her Strength) before she could move.

Had to proceed very carefully here, in order to stand a chance.

1. Break Bulleteer away by plunking Shining Knight diagonally between her and Darkseid. This also would deny Darkseid an attack upon or further Outwit of Bulleteer
2. Fly Zatanna to a back edge of the roof where she can see Bulleteer’s eventual attack square —
3. — and so her passenger Klarion can see Frankenstein for Perplex.
4. Hold Frank back a little bit longer to build up one more Opportunist token.

BANG!

BANG!

Next turn, Bulleteer picked up the Meteorite, Charged through the hindering terrain and hit Thanos for a solid 4 with the Meteorite. Frankenstein followed with an Opportunist-boosted Running Shot to turn a Probability Control-forced miss into a hit for three damage (thanks to Klarion’s Perplex). To wrap up, I walked Klarion between Bulleteer and Darkseid so the latter couldn’t Outwit the shiny gal’s Invulnerability — the only thing that saved her from swift oblivion when Thanos punched her in the face for 7 damage (natural 5 + Close Combat Expert).

I should have taxied Klarion instead of walking him; I found myself on prime fighting clicks after Darkseid’s counterattack but unwilling to push for it. At least Darkseid took Mystic damage and burned his Outwit on countering Shining Knight’s Flurry.

Thanos got smacked to Regen and then out of the game, as did Guardian. But now it was my whole team on Darkseid, and he eventually fell. 2-0.

ROUND THREE

Opponent: LENNY’s Gotham Knights

Batman (Arkham Asylum chase #99) + Opportunist + Protected
Batman (Arkham Asylum)
Nightwing + Contingency Plan + Takedown
Batman (Justice League)
Robin (Arkham Asylum)
Captain Gordon (Arkham Asylum)

Thanks to his fielding a themed team (Gotham) Lenny won the map roll and picked the Dawn of Time. I played Rushed Assault to blunt his assault. That turned out to be a mistake, as Lenny didn’t take the bait and bided his time WAY longer than he had any need to. Meanwhile, my outgunned team simply could not afford to waste a single attack on the Rushed Assault penalty, especially knowing that then nothing would slow the Bats from whaling on me. So we literally went at least 40 minutes of the 50-minute game without making any attack rolls.

I really wanted to chide Lenny for waiting so long. With Perplex, a full Contingency Plan stock, a team nearly full of double-digit Attack Values and three theme-team Probability Controls (provided he shut off his Bat-Stealth for line of fire first), he really had little to no chance of missing that first attack. To be fair, though, I didn’t give him easy targets: Mister Miracle with 19 Defense (thanks to Loner) + Super Senses or Frankenstein with Invulnerable 19 DV (thanks to a snatched Tombstone of Lenny’s).

Finally, Lenny took a shot at Frankenstein, who I’d set up ready to attack Nightwing (having forgotten that he had Takedown). The intentional whiff took out the Tombstone, giving Watchtower Batman an easy shot for three.

I gave the game away then, when, to tie-up that Batman, I Perplexed Guardian’s speed to Charge him in a failed attempt (despite having Probability Control). Batman did not fail to Flurry Guardian for the game’s only KO, as time ran out just two minutes later.

In retrospect, then, Rushed Assault was a horrible choice with no way to counter its effects myself. Halfway through the game, I should have broken someone away to threaten Captain Gordon.

WIN/LOSS: 2-1. 4-1 total record.

This team looks like a hot mess on paper: only two team abilities, no wildcards to benefit. Only one character with greater than 6 range, and she can’t crack Invulnerability without help. The heavyweight starts with just a 9 Attack Value. Bulleteer is overcosted. At this point level, they seem plain outclassed.

What they do bring to the table is a pair of Perplexers and Probability Control to help out the low Attack Values. A few feats also bring out extra potential:

Opportunist on Frankenstein is superb…you have to hold him back early in the game, but once he starts, the Indomitable monster doesn’t have to stop and those built-up tokens make it hard for him to miss.

Horsewoman of this apocalypse.

Horsewoman of this apocalypse.

Shining Knight is MADE for Double-Time. While Frank’s biding his time, she can taxi either Guardian or Bulleteer in close to a target of opportunity, tying up the foe for a Charge next round. And with her Defense double-Perplexed by teammates, she might survive to push and Flurry (again, double-Perplexed) the next round to finish off or soften up whoever her fare Charges and hits.

Bulleteer + Unstoppable = a surprisingly capable attacker, either as a backup or frontliner. Twice in these games, the feat got her in position to make improbable hits. Invulnerability makes her short dial seem longer.

Loner makes the highly-mobile Perplexer Mr. Miracle nigh-untouchable. If he IS touched hard enough, he gets to take over PC duties from Zatanna.

As for the non-feated, they work out in the end, too. Klarion is a linchpin of the team; his Stealth and Mystic TA protect him from a lot of attacks while his Perplex makes the rest of the team work. He becomes a solid fighter down his dial.

Zatanna serves well to fly him around and help with Probability Control — as well as serving as bait for attacks. That worked out for me as she was able to make Frankenstein more dangerous with her Enhancement.

Freeze, POLICE!!!!

Freeze, POLICE!!!!

And Guardian truly shines on this team, as he’s the ultimate clean-up guy, Charging in after Frankenstein has softened everyone up. It’s when I failed to use him as clean-up that he fell.

And so a team I intended to play just for fun has turned out to be a true dark-horse winner. It’s not top-tier by any stretch — the final match showed that — but it’s better than you’d think!

Next post will either be a battle report on today’s “Zero-Range Brawl” — no ranged attacks allowed) or the first of a series of articles on how to build teams to play the controversial Event Dials first released in the Mutations and Monsters set of fall 2007. Keep an eye out for it!