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"You WILL obey me...!"

I recently got a Watchmen Collector’s Set in a great trade. And because I like to play all my pieces at least once, I decided to use this team of no-good criminals in a 200-point tournament recently:

Moloch the Mystic 79
Knot Top Leader 37
Larry & Mike 33
Knot Top 25
Knot Top 25
= 199 points.

Each character possesses the Underworld team ability, giving each member the Carry ability to ferry fellow members. In addition to that key bit of mobility, my main tactic and attacker is Moloch and his Mind Control. Finally, the Stealthy Knot Tops would be a decent close-ranged threat.

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FIRST ROUND

was vs. Josh’s Red Arrow, Green Arrow (DC 75th Anniversary), and E Green Arrow (Cosmic Justice).

TURNING POINTS

  • He won the initiative roll and chose the Crater map. That gave him a shooting gallery against my mostly low-range team.
  • Having missed my need-to-hit Mind Controls against enemy archers, I opted to make a retreat using the Underworld TA, making sure to move the Knot Top 10 squares away from the Green Arrow with 9 range perched in Stealth.

    But then.

    …I placed the Knot Top’s passenger, Moloch, exactly 9 squares away from Green Arrow…just within my enemy’s range…

    …despite the fact that Moloch has 10 RANGE. Terrible, terrible square miscount. A turn later, Moloch was KOed and so was my chance of an improbable win.

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SECOND ROUND

vs. Charlie’s Iron Widow, Doombot 5359, and Guardsman.

TURNING POINTS

  • Knot Top Leader managed to survive an early hit. He’d heal up with the Vine and return to contribute to the end-game by Underworld-carrying Moloch around.
  • Charlie rolled increasingly badly toward the end-game, giving my last two pieces not only a chance against the stronger Iron Widow but, eventually, a victory.

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THIRD ROUND

vs. Chris’s LE Clint Barton (Ultimates), U Nick Fury (Classics), V Black Widow (Classics).

TURNING POINTS

  • The Graveyard map was key for me, as the special squares kept key piece Moloch hidden even from the Ultimates. That gave Moloch the chance to Mind Control from relative safety.
  • Better still, his being able to MC enemy Ultimates gave my team a way to deal with the Stealth on Chris’s team. Thanks, Chris, for fielding that team. (Little did you know it was actually Moloch’s idea.)

After the first mega User Error’d round, I thought I was in for an 0-3 day. But I actually clawed out a 2-1 record. Good showing for the bad guys.

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I pulled this 297-point one-woman army in a sealed tournament this weekend. So I just had to play her.

Phoenix (Giant-Size X-Men) 297

= 297 points. My strategy: to simply Hypersonic hit-and-run until nothing’s left. Simple but hard to do when the opponent has at least 3 actions to my 1.

FIRST ROUND I faced Jay’s Skullbuster, Domino, and Caliban on his choice of the Bridge map. This map’s elevated terrain on the ends is my potentially insurmountable advantage; Jay’s two Stealthy characters and just as many with penetrating damage powers are his.

TURNING POINTS

  • I miss my first four attempts to hit Skullbuster, whose Penetrating/Psychic Blast can ruin my day in a hurry. The last miss leaves me completely exposed.
  • Skullbuster doesn’t miss. Without the ability to run to safety and still fight, Phoenix is eventually completely overwhelmed, especially when Regeneration rolls completely fail.

0-1. My mistake was attempting to hit and run on my last miss against Skullbuster, knowing I couldn’t get to safety. I should have moved in for a close-range hit and then remained in base contact to prevent the easy Running Shot Psychic Blast, instead forcing the breakaway attempt.

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SECOND ROUND was against Sammy, a very young player running SR Archangel, Wolverine and Skullbuster on the Tank map. He’s not nearly as good a player yet, and despite an opening-attack critical miss on my part, I cruise to an easy wipeout. 1-1.

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FINAL ROUND was on the School Ruins — my choice — against Paul’s Emma Frost, Stryfe and Beast.

TURNING POINTS

  • I picked this map for thematic reasons and for the walls. But Paul had picked this map in both matches, and knew how to play it perfectly, stationing the Stealthy Stryfe in position to TK Emma from hiding in a corner to wherever she needed to be to best Psychic Blast Phoenix off her game.  Plus, there was absolutely no way I could get to either enemy without being open to a massive counterattack.
  • I set up too close and got hit first, negating my hit & run ability and getting attacked 3 times for every one time I could hit back.
  • And unfortunately, about 75% of my attacks weren’t hits. I did more damage to Beast with Poison and his own pushing than anything.
  • Though I managed to escape a couple of times with Regeneration rolls and her own self-reviving ability, a final terribly-timed critical miss stranded me in the middle of a HSS attack without damage reducers, enabling even the near-dead Emma to take Phoenix out. Unbelievable…and not comic-accurate at all.

Then again, as I quipped in my loss: "Phoenix always dies."

I think it’s a guarantee…tentpole forces lose if they miss more than three times before taking out any opponents. But there was nearly as much user error as poor dice rolling. My biggest mistake in this match was playing my opponent’s game instead of changing the game. I should have HSS-shot out the wall Emma was hiding behind…that would have left me with enough spare movement to get to a defensible position that would still grant attack opportunites.

This has me hot to try her out again, to redeem my losses! PHOENIX WILL RISE AGAIN!!!

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A buddy of mine and I periodically have what we call “grudge matches.” These are pre-determined battles (usually high-point) between one of his favorite theme-y builds and one of mine.

For example, the first one we tried was this: Asgard vs. Asgard’s Enemies. This time, it was Hulk vs. Iron Man!

This is how these matches usually end in the comics.

His team:

Green Scar 230 + Fortitude 25 + Contingency Plan 12 + Unstoppable 5
Red She-Hulk 139
Rampaging Hulk 128 + Fortitude 25
Hulk (2099) 123
Jennifer Walters, Esq. 107
+ Kinetic Accelerator
+ Meteorite

= 794 points.

My team:


Iron Man (Web of Spider-Man) 202
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188
Hulkbuster 165 + Unstoppable 5
Iron Man (Mutations and Monsters) 100
War Machine (Hammer of Thor) 137 + Not So Special 3
+ Eleha’al Vine
+ Dynamostat
+ Kinetic Accelerator
= 800 points. My strategy ?  To leverage my massive range advantage to soften the Hulks up before they ever get to me.

My plan was immediately frustrated by losing the map roll. He picked the Prison. I was ready for this.

Lenny set up slowly and carefully, using Ramp.Hulk as his lead man hidden safely behind a wall. But he failed to see my secret weapon in Hulkbuster equipped with Unstoppable, leading to the first of many…

TURNING POINTS

  • The feat allowed Hulkbuster to destroy the wall, pick up the Dynamostat I’d used to lull Lenny into a false sense of security, and then light into Ramp.Hulk with multiple Running Shots.
  • Frustrated by my inability to miss those opening attacks, Lenny moved a bit too recklessly his next turn. I couldn’t believe he forgot to hide the giant 2099 Hulk behind one of the remaining walls, at least. I got at least two too many shots at the big guy.
  • In an effort to take out WS Iron Man, Lenny’d plugged up the narrow corridor and prevented Green Scar from getting to him with the deadly Meteorite. That gave me an opportunity to shoot Scar off his Super Strength and Leadership with SI Iron Man, making it even more unlikely for Lenny to hit me with his poor die rolls. It cost me those 188 points, though, as he was KO’d in short order.
  • No matter. Once free of Jennifer, Hulkbuster Charged in, picked up Lenny’s lost Meteorite, and destroyed Scar with it, along with Lenny’s hopes for a comeback.

In the end, I took out the whole team, losing only SI Tony.

MVPs

  • Hulkbuster, definitely. Not only did he land the deciding blow, but his use of Unstoppable to break walls for free instantly negated the terrain advantage against my range-conscious team.
  • But some praise must be given to WS Iron Man, too. Being Indomitable helped him to keep the offensive pressure on, giving the Hulks no chance to avoid fire.
  • Finally, it’s got to be said: in all but one of the eight or so of these matches Lenny and I have played, his die rolls have gone ice cold while mine ranged from average to, in this case, blazing like repulsor rays.

So far, Lenny has gotten 2nd place in all our non-tournament Heroclix duels. I don’t know how much more of this he can take.

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When I first heard of the 50-points-and-below requirement for this tournament, I aimed to field the 43-point Molly Hayes and a few other favorites.
But then I had the mother of all dice-rolling meltdowns. I decided my next team shouldn’t miss so much and opted for high attacks over anything else.
Warlord 50
The Holiday Killer 43
Spider-Man (Secret Invasion) 50
Peter Parker (Web of Spider-Man) 50
Harbinger 50
Impulse (DC 75th Anniversary) 49
 = 292 points.
THE STRAT
With two wildcards, this team centers around Batman Enemy Holiday Killer to leech his high AV. The fact that he’s stealthy and a Willpower’d Outwitter with 8 range also helps. Harbinger ferries him around to position while Parker pushes to Perplex. Then, and only then, do my chief fighters Warlord and Spidey get into the fray, with Impulse making hit-and-runs as opportunity presents. As needed, Harbinger would shoot or use her swap-places SP to get the others into or out of trouble zones.
FIRST ROUND was a truncated one, as I’d been delayed about half the match. No KOs were made and I won the roll-off. But I was well on my way to clobber the team, so I think it was a deserved win.
SECOND ROUND was against a Soldier theme of Captain Metropolis (Watchmen) leading a pair Thunderers of Qward and Easy Company Soldiers (DC 75th Anniversary) on the Graveyard. Holiday Killer  blocked LOF and took opportunistic shots to stop the Thunderers, leaving the rest of the team little threat to me.
FINAL ROUND saw me stuck on the Web of Spider-Man Bridge against a bunch of shooting X-Men. In an effort to get some offense going, I used Harbinger to taxi Holiday Killer close enough to bring it. But she was improbably KOed in just two attacks (thanks Cyclops from Danger Room) and HK critcally missed past his key 2nd click. That left Spidey, Parker and Warlord easy, easy kills for Vet Havok and I was down to just Impulse against Havok, Rookie Nightcrawler, Rookie Jean Grey, Vet Psylocke (X-Plosion), and Exp. Pyro.
Impulse proceeded to last nearly the remaining game, KOing Havok, Cyclops and Pyro before finally getting beaten. I must’ve made 9 of 10 Shape Change rolls, keeping my assailants tied down and blocking each other’s LOF.

It was pretty much this cover, except featuring X-Men instead of high-schoolers.

A lot of people will think of Johnny Quick (DC75th Anniversary) when considering speedsters 50 points or less. Me? I’ll always look to Impulse first. :)

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Every time a scenario is announced, the first thing I do is try to fit an Aquaman to it. Thus, I built and played three different Atlantis/Aqua team builds for three different scenarios.

SCENARIO ONE: 600 point Modern Age DC only

BD Aquaman 105
AN Aquaman 106
AN Mera 85
Ocean Master 65
Tempest 116
Starro Aquaman 70
Aqualad 40
= 587 points.

I faced a Titans team of Red Arrow, White Lantern Superboy, Bart Allen, Liberty Belle, Beast Boy, Donna Troy and Miss Martian on the constricted Sciencells map. Despite some early failure to roll that cost Starro Aquaman his life and the utter difficulty in mobility this map presents for non-flyers,the turning point saw the remaining Aquamen double-teaming Superboy for the big KO of the game. Lost Tempest, StarroAqua and Aqualad but wiped the enemy. FAIL moment(s): Thoroughly forgetting to use BD Aquaman’s Undead Sea trait to punish enemies.

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SCENARIO TWO: Six Degrees of (Keyword) Separation. Each character must have a keyword, and share that keyword with one other character, who must share a different keyword with a different keyword…and so on until both six characters and 600 points are reached.

BD Aquaman 105
Tempest 116
Zauriel 117
AN Aquaman 106
Starro Aquaman 70
AN Mera 85
=599 points. Atlantis to Mystical to JLA to Justice League of America to Ruler.

Narrowly beat a team led by AV Iron Man and WS Deadpool (KOing the former along with WS Wolverine and M+M Archangel) but got absolutely SKUNKED by a team led by Skrulluminati, CL Nick Fury and HoT Cap.

Both games I tried to TK Zauriel out to Pulse Wave, failed, and got him KOed less than a turn later. In the second, not only did I have a total range and mobility disadvantage, no objects (due to the Damage Control feat), but, worst of all, I had a very poor plan of addressing these issues that vitally depended on me hitting my rolls and my opponent missing his.

Ninety percent of my attack attempts (either by Skrull roll, or, more often, ice-cold rolls) failed and nearly that proportion of his attempts succeeded. So…so much for that. Lesson Learned: Move to minimize the opponent’s advantages instead of making it easier for him!

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SCENARIO THREE: No Fly Zone: No fliers allowed. Transporters OK.

This is my home venue, and these guys can’t stand it when I play Atlantis or Aquaman. But…they allowed transporters, and I wanted to try out the new Atlantis ATA.

AN Aquaman 106
BD Aquaman 105
V Icons Aquaman 71
JL Starro Aquaman 70
JL Aquaman 68
E Icons Aquaman 56
V HT Aquaman 41
R Icons Aquaman 39
R HT Aquaman 27
+ Atlantis ATA 16
=599 points.

But I was under the impression that feats and BFCs were banned this tournament. Upon learning they weren’t, I dropped the ATA and added Submerged to E Icons Aquaman and Armor Piercing to the Brightest Day version for an actual final cost of 598 points.

I chose the Aruna Temple map, which is about 60% water. My opponent’s largely ranged team of WS Bullseye, AN Green Arrow, AN Deadshot, Barry Allen, Lt. Marcus Stone and about a half-dozen PD generics stayed way on the other side, forcing my wide-open Aquamen to take fire on the way there.

No problem; my cheaper Aquamen had deep enough dials to make it to them, tying up the Sharpshooters long enough for the heavier-hitting fishmen to score KOs. Additionally, my fodder took so many attacks to put down that the Undead Sea trait racked up a fair amount of damage, too. I took out Green Arrow, Bullseye, Deadshot and a couple of cops, losing only my HT Rookie and Vet.

Next, I got stuck on the Graveyard against HoT Cap, Green Scar, Gamora, WS Nightcrawler and V Psylocke (Armor Wars) but washed it out with Atlantis Rising. Took a lot more damage in this game and handed out a lot more via the Undead Sea as well, knocking Nightcrawler off his kidnapping clicks.

Keeping Scar and Gamora tied up with HT Vet gave me a shot, but an ill-timed double-target critical hit on E Icons and R HT Aquaman by Cap knocked me out of position, possibly costing me an improbable victory as I was forced to waste bigger attackers on Nightcrawler instead of being able to focus on Green Scar.

It didn’t help that all those attackers couldn’t hit Nighty’s simple 17 DV in five straight attacks.

A final positioning FAIL allowed the otherwise tied-up Gamora to Outwit BD Aquaman just in time for a last-second KO by Green Scar. Also lost Starro, E Icons, R Icons, AN Aquaman for a crushing defeat, only KOing Psylocke. Lesson Learned: Don’t let frustrating dice failures shake me out of decent tactics…such as staying out of Outwitters’ sight!

Final round was on the Bridge map against the new Ares, Warlord and BN Flash times TWO. I perched JL Aquaman on the tower to Perplex everyone, kept my crew in the water so no one could reach them, and did hit & run attacks until I’d wiped them all out. Lost Starro, and R HT.

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With that game, I’ve been pretty much done with Atlantis/Aquaman-centric teams, having run just about every iteration possible. I even got a shot at using the Atlantis ATA. So it appears that my Aqua-holism is cured!

(Until I reacquire one of the Fantastic Forces Sub-Mariner pieces to use the ATA on. …ugh…starting to get the shakes…!)

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Formerly called “Wednesday Battle Reports,” the name change represents a shift in how I do these. They just take way too long to read and write. So instead of a play-by-play description of the games, I’m going to follow this basic format:

  • The inspiration of the team
  • The actual build
  • My basic strategy
  • And, per round:
  1. Highlights
  2. Turning Point(s)
  3. MVPs

Hopefully, I can handle this format a bit more easily and you’ll find it smoother reading. Let me know what you think?

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Superfriends

This cartoon, in retrospect, was terribly lame. Heck, Aquaman, now my favorite hero, is still fighting the bad rep he gained from this show nearly FORTY YEARS LATER.
But because he’s my favorite character, when a venue held a scenario requiring that all characters had to appear in an animated series, the original Superfriends line-up was the first to come to mind:

Come on, I don’t care how lame you thought Aquaman was, that sound effect for his power rocked.

Anyway, here’s the team (in order of appearance in the clip):

Man of Steel (Collateral Damage) 200 + Alias 3
Wonder Woman (DC 75th Anniversary) 127
Batman & Robin 138 + Lunge 5
Aquaman (DC 75th Anniversary) + Contingency Plan 12
Marvin & Wendy 9
+ Opened Hydrant
+ Eleha’al Vine
+ Generator
= 600 points.

Far from being just mere flavor for the team, the pog Marvin & Wendy were a crucial blocker thanks to two characters with 18 Defend. Their Energy Shield/Deflection then gave them a staggering 20-21 DV at range, protecting my very soft-shelled fighters until they could get into the fight.

First Round I faced young Zach’s Teen Titans: Bart Allen (DC 75th Anniversary), Superboy (DC 75th Anniversary), Donna Troy (DC 75th Anniversary), Beast Boy (DC 75th Anniversary), Robin (Arkham Asylum) and Red Arrow.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Nearly lost the game when I shot Robin instead of punching him with Man of Steel because A) I easily could’ve punched for a one-hit-KO and run back to where I was and B) I should’ve moved him further back so Superboy couldn’t Charge him for 6 clicks, neutering him quite handily.
  • I rolled pretty poorly, and Donna Troy’s PC made it worse. The first 40 minutes of the game I barely hit anything. Fortunately, Wonder Woman’s 18 Defend (and my opponent’s insistence on battling Man of Steel instead of her) kept Man of Steel alive long enough to for my rolls to turn just enough for a comeback.

TURNING POINTS

Hitting Superboy — at LAST! — for enough damage to send him running to Bart Allen for Titans TA healing. That freed Wonder Woman to Charge Donna Troy out of the game. Superboy came back to fight Man of Steel, but that only allowed me to double-team him into KO to seal the win.

MVP

  • Wonder Woman. 18 Defend. Also, her Lasso SP got the penetrating damage on Donna Troy right when I finally needed it.
  • Opened Hydrant. Though I never got to use Aquaman’s “Rise From the Deep” SP with the Hydrant’s water zone (got blasted off those clicks by Starfire), the water kept Red Arrow from making a last-second Running Shot to threaten Man of Steel.

Second Round: Bill ran Doomsday (DC 75th Anniversary), LOSH Cosmic Boy, Phantom Girl, V Batman (Legacy), Mr. Mind and Jason Blood.

HIGHLIGHT

I won map roll and got the BPRD water map. From then on, I proceeded to roll at least one less than what I needed to land any given hit.

TURNING POINT

  • After a failed Hypersonic Speed run, I again failed to move Man of Steel far enough away. Doomsday, having been flown by Cosmic Boy, got a line of fire on Man of Steel to counter my HSS, then tied him down with Phantom Girl — who destroyed both the Generator I was holding and the Vine next to me for good measure.
  • I thought my 200-point character was safe from Doomsday, since Cosmic Boy had no line of fire to TK the monster. I was unaware that Doomsday was feated with Lunge, giving him a free shot after that TK which I would have certainly thwarted by blocking Cos’s line of fire.
  • In the end, I’d lost my whole team, only KOing Batman.

MVP

No one. Wonder Woman missed Jason Blood’s 16 DV with her 11 AV. That’s how bad it was. Not even Contingency Plan helped.
Third Round: James had Batman (Arkham Asylum chase #99), SR Batman(DC 75th Anniversary), Darkseid (Crisis), Ultron (Hammer of Thor) + Nova Blast.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • I made sure that Nova Blast would NOT occur, pushing to Outwit Ultron with Batman & Robin, then beating him with Aquaman’s RFTD. The evil robot never recovered.
  • Also one-shot Watchtower Batman with Man of Steel (having learned from the first round not to waste the chance) and ran him and Marvin & Wendy (who’d survived Bats’ Flurry thanks to Man of Steel’s Defend) to the far end of the map.

TURNING POINT

Darkseid phased in, then pushed to hit Man of Steel hard. To save Supes from a relatively easy KO, I used Aquaman to water-warp and smash blocking terrain to open Batman & Robin’s line of fire to Outwit Darkseid’s Impervious. Marvin & Wendy Flurried Darkseid for 1 (knocking him off Impervious), then Wonder Woman Charged to knock him onto his 16 DV click. That left Darkseid easy pickings for a KO, and my opponent thoroughly conceded at this point.

MVP

Everyone. Seriously, like a good comic book (or Superfriends episode), EVERYBODY got their moments.

FINAL RECORD: 2-1. A very fun team that’s surprisingly effective.

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MY "kooky quartet" of Avengers.

Captain America (Hammer of Thor) 72
SR Hawkeye (Avengers) 56
SR Wasp (Avengers) 37
SR Scarlet Witch (Avengers) 35
+ Eleha’al Vine 0
+ Kinetic Accelerator 0
+ Dynamostat 0
=200 points.

FIRST MATCH: Charlie answered the question: “Who Watches the Watchmen?” by running Rorschach, Nite Owl, and the 83-point Comedian. I got to pick the Monument map, which is very good for Cap. Despite getting the first shots off, I made a crucial error by choosing to attack The Comedian with Scarlet Witch instead of running her away. The misogynist took her right out before taking down Hawkeye and Wasp. Cap was too much for Nite Owl to pin down, though, and he finished the rest of Charlie’s team. 1-0.

SECOND MATCH: Jessica attempted to blind me with Scientists Dr. Octopus (Secret Invasion), Beast (Mutations & Monsters) and Goliath (Secret Invasion). She’s a solid player but still a fairly recent one; she’d never seen Captain America in action before. Once Doc Ock was knocked off his Outwit, I had an easy time of it, losing only Hawkeye for the win. 2-0.

FINAL MATCH: Vic played an unofficial Black Lantern Corps theme of Nekron and Black Hand (Justice League). Vic decided to tie up only Cap instead of my whole team with Nekron, enabling Scarlet Witch to easily spirit Cap away. Clutch breakaway rolls in subsequent rounds also helped seal a victory as I whittled away at the dark villain.

UNDEFEATED! At 200 points, this Avengers team is very solid for a number of reasons. A) The Avengers team ability gives them an unparalleled action and positioning advantage, especially because B) two of them are dedicated taxis. C) Cap’s power enables the team to maintain great offensive pressure even when Hawkeye is hampered. But that doesn’t mean Hawkeye is useless, as D) he represents a 2nd source of 3 damage to deal with Invulnerability/Impervious. E) Wasp makes a good tie-up piece, too, and F) Cap’s Leadership allows that 3rd attack to really maintain the offensive or land a KO blow.

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Truth be told, I almost skipped this week. I played zero games last weekend, which is unusual for me. But I had this one in the vault (played back last spring or sometime) and decided to stick to my schedule.

I love playing Atlas even though they’re tough to win with.

Venus
HoT Jimmy Woo
Gorilla-Man
Namora
M-11
AV Thug
AV Thug
AV Thug
AV Thug  
=395 points.

FIRST match was against Lenny and his sharp cheddar cheese team of SI Dr. Strange, OOTS Batman, Gamora, and HoT Captain America on my choice of the Armor Wars Lab map. Ugh! Two pieces with nearly unlimited Line of Fire powers and two ultra-effective cheap fighters — all with an effective 18 or better defense!

This was a real chessmatch at first. Lenny quietly bided his time while I largely refused to attack. If I dared attempt a Charge with Namora, no matter how I positioned her she’d be counterattacked by all four of Lenny’s fighters (thanks to Cap and the Doc’s unique line of fire abilities) and have nearly zero chance to survive. So I made him burn actions with convenient Thugs as targets so I could make a safer approach by tying up Cap and bringing Venus in close to multi-Incap targets (careful to block Batman’s line of fire). Eventually KO’d Cap but lost Gorilla Man and 3 Thugs for the loss. 0-1 (which felt like a win against all that cheese, though).

SECOND was a match against Lenny’s teenage friend Tony: Odin, HoT Spider-Man and Asgardian Warrior. His inexperience won this for me — he refused to push Odin most rounds despite the character’s ability to do so without cost via the Power Cosmic team ability. That allowed my sorely wounded Namora and Venus to escape while Thug after Thug tied up Odin long enough to preserve my 96-28 victory. 1-1.

FINALLY I went vs. Conrad: HoT Cap, Kurse, M+M Wolverine and Spider-Thor, once more on the Armor Wars map. The teenager remains a somewhat reckless player, but this time his tactics were pretty solid as he smashed my cover behind walls, my Accelerator, and constantly stole my reusable Generator to use against me.

Fortunately, Namora was able to land her initial attack, getting Wolverine out for an insurmountable lead. Venus was also invaluable against the Impervious Kurse, Incapacitating him over and over. Lost G-Man and all Thugs but wiped all but Cap for the win.

FINAL: 2-1. This was the first time I’ve really gotten Venus into the thick of things, and she worked out all right with her Incap-everybody SP. I wasn’t afraid sometimes to not use her Mastermind to gain her Perplex. Similarly, as Thugs dwindled and my need for extra actions waned, I opted to push Woo to his Perplex clicks as well, usually using his SHIELD TA to do it.

Namora continued to disappoint. If she misses that initial Charge, she’s kinda done. But when she works, she works oh so well, as in the last match. Gorilla-Man was close to being MVP with his KO of Batman and taking tons of damage for Venus and tying up foes and landing a crit hit on Odin and whatnot.

But the element most key were the Thugs. These pogs, representing the faceless minions of Atlas, served many roles such as blocking LOF, tying up, MM fodder and even the occasional attack. This Modern Age team doesn’t work half as well without them.

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I was headed to a 200-point Modern Age tournament and wracking my brain trying to decide between three different builds. Suddenly I considered my most-recent clix acquisition, and a perfect force came to mind:

“Who, me?!?”

Bullseye (Web of Spider-Man) 117
Norman Osborn  (Web of Spider-Man) 66
+ Thunderbolts ATA 16
+ AE Green Goblin and AE Iron Patriot
+ Kinetic Accelerator 0
+ Eleha’al Vine 0
+ Dynamostat 0
=199 points.

Oh yeah. Highly effective AND comic-accurate, with the fun random factor of whether Norman will be Unbalanced or not. Bullseye is one of the game’s ultimate ranged figures, and Norm’s SHIELD TA works well with that.

FIRST MATCH was against John’s furious females including the also-Thunderbolted Moonstone (Hammer of Thor), Elektra (Secret Invasion human) and X-23 (M+M). I picked the Prison map and Ultimates as my T-bolts TA, while John chose Mystics.

I forced him to push Moonstone when I telegraphed my intent to Running Shoot her with the Sharpshooting Bullseye right past the Stealthy Elektra he was hiding behind. That worked against me, though, as my later shot on Moonstone landed her squarely on her late-game Phasing/Outwit combo.

Elektra moved in an scored a pair of great Flurry hits to threaten and eventually KO Bullseye. He’d worn down her and X-23 enough for Osborn to finish them off.  So it came down to Norm on my Vine alternately healing from Moonstone’s hits and vainly shooting back until she KO’d him with a knockback into the wall. Perhaps I should have used the Alter Ego power instead of healing one of those times. Still a great game and fairly appropriate ending. 0-1.

SECOND MATCH: Brian’s HoT Ultron and hot Megan Fox.

Er, I mean Lilah from the Jonah Sex set.

I mean Jonah Hex sex.

I mean SET. Jonah Hex SET.

Anyway.

I picked the new Monument map from Brightest Day and chose Mystics as my TA. Immediately, Ultron threatened to Charge one of my pieces and I considered pushing to pre-emptively strike. But it was too high risk for too little reward, so I let Brian make his move to successfully pound Bullseye for 4 clicks.

Had him just where I wanted him, now.

Osborn easily moved to Outwit Ultron’s defense and Bullseye easily hit back for 4 clicks of his own. A turn later, he pushed to hit Ultron for 4 more, dealing knockback this time.

(It’s at this point that I remember I forgot to call for the big bad robot to take his Mystics damage from his first strike. CRAP.)

Ultron takes a shot that finishes Bullseye, but the resultant Mystics feedback takes him down for a double KO. That leaves Norman free to choke Lilah like he did that other poor brunette in The Pulse. 1-1.

FINAL MATCH was against Vic, a player from my home venue who’d traveled with me to this one. He had a detective theme of Martian Manhunter (Brightest Day) and Question (Arkham Asylum). He picked the Secret Invasion Crash Site map.

He jumped right out at me, basing Bullseye with both characters before I could get rid of his Yellow Lantern object. It was the right move; for while I made short work of Question (forcing it with a themed-team Probability Control), Manhunter knocked Bullseye right out of his best clicks and out of adjacency, allowing him to one-shot Norman, who’d had to push to use the theme PC. Darn near made me regret loaning the Question to him. :)

FINAL WIN/LOSS: 1-2. Good team, but I think I could have done a little better in my losses by switching to Iron Patriot in the first and maintaining my range advantage as long as possible in the other.

I love 200-point games. They’re very focused and quick to play when compared with the slog that larger-point games can become.

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One of the things players like most about HeroClix is the ability to play out scenarios starring their favorite characters. For me, that sometimes manifests as a desire to play a team consisting only of several versions of a favorite character. (For example, back in late spring I played a 1000-point team consisting of enough Batman figures to place a different one in my starting area every time the ladies sing his name in the old theme song.)

Despite that, I’ve almost never run an all-Aquaman team for a couple of reasons:

  • They just weren’t very good. They have almost no range ability, the best attackers have no defenses, and the thick-skinned ones almost never get any sort of attack advantage (such as Charge).
  • Using all available Aquamen means losing the Atlantis theme bonus, as the Justice League common lacks the keyword. But his Special Power, Perplex for all swimmers (except himself) is so good that he kinda HAS to be included on the team…especially because he’s one of the few Aquamen with Charge. On the other hand, losing the theme team means I don’t get the special Probability Control, the battlefield condition-cancel ability and, most importantly, the better chance of choosing a watery map.

Consequently, running all-Aquaman teams has kinda been like asking to go 0-3 in the average tournament. But as I stated in my far-too-long-for-a-single-post Atlantis breakdown a few weeks back, the Brightest Day Aquaman really changes things, as you’ll see after the break.

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I got to the venue late and was surprised to see that, for once, the guys actually got started on time! Good for them! Informed of the 500-point Golden Age format, I used my bye-round time to build my Aqua-team :

Aquaman (Brightest Day) 105 + Armor Piercing 10 + Lunge 5 + Alias 3
Veteran Aquaman (Icons) 71
LE Aquaman (Justice League) 70
common Aquaman (Justice League) 68
Experienced Aquaman (Icons) 56 + Submerged 5
Veteran Aquaman (Hypertime) 41
Rookie Aquaman (Icons) 39
Rookie Aquaman (Hypertime) 27
+ Opened Hydrant 0
+ Com Dish 0
+ Eleha’al Vine 0

= 500 points. Lots of Leadership and JLA team ability would boost my Aqua-swarm’s action advantage.  Submerged feat on the sole ranged character offered a little security and board control. But above all, Armor Piercing ensured BD Aquaman’s “Undead Sea” trait would ping even the thickest-skinned assailants.

FIRST game was against Derrick, aka “Legendkilla,” a long-absent player making his return to the game. He was rolling with The Flashes, The Flash & Green Lantern, and X-23 (Web of Spider-Man). Unfortunately for him, I won map roll and picked the mostly-water Aruna Temple from BPRD set. I also used the Debris battlefield condition to give the Aquamen plenty of extra objects to wield.

With The Flashes slowed to half their speed, I was free to concentrate on the other duo figure and X-23. Alternating between HSS attack with BD Aquaman, range shots with E Icons and punches from whomever BD carried the previous turn, I took them both out and lost only the Icons Rookie for an easy win. 1-0.

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NOW it came down to the championship match against Vic’s Skrull squad: Super-Skrull: Illuminati, Skrull Emperor (both In Contact With Oracle), Skrull Warrior (Supernova) and two Skrull Infiltrators. He picked the Lab map. I forgot to use either of my remaining battlefield conditions (Ordinary Day or, of course, Atlantis Rising). But this map’s indoor nature was fine, as it gave me a great spot to hide my Opened Hydrant to ensure water for my Aquamen.

Things almost went immediately south for me, though. Although I’d parked my Brightest Day Aquaman behind the Submerged Experienced Icons version, I’d inadvertently left a narrow path where Skrulluminati could potentially Running Shoot him. I wasn’t worried, since Aquaman’s Invulnerability would absorb the blow and land him on his range powers. But I didn’t anticipate:

  • Skrull Emperor Perplexing Skrull Warrior’s damage to 3.
  • Said Warrior shooting out the wall.
  • The Emperor, even at half-speed, thus being able to reach a spot to Outwit that Invulnerability I was so counting on.
  • Skrulluminati using In Contact With Oracle to boost his damage to 5 and his AV to 12 with his own SP as he Running Shot next to the Emperor’s Enhancement for a potential 6-click one-shot KO of my Aquaman!

And on top of it all, I completely forgot to use my Alias feat! :(

Fortunately, he rolled 5, one short of what he needed. :)

That utter disaster averted by dumb luck, we went about the business of actually fighting. Which, thanks to the Skrull team ability and Shape Change and Skrulluminati’s sky-high DV, meant a lot of missing opportunities on my part.

My opponent, for his part, had to tread carefully lest he trigger the “Undead Sea.” It was a close, tightly contested (and congested) game; in the end, I only lost my Icons and Hypertime Rookies while taking out all three Skrull generics.

FINAL: 2-0 (3-0 with the bye).

OK, so this game could have gone very, very poorly if not for that miss. But considering that that attack of opportunity wouldn’t have been possible at all if not for the In Contact With Oracle feat (which I hate with a passionate hatred) and my own not-quite-paranoid enough positioning, the Aqua-squad performed well, winning me the tournament!

As alluded to earlier, Brightest Day Aquaman was the key, providing not only a deterrent via his trait, but a super-capable, mobile attacker and taxi in and of himself. JL Aquaman helped a lot by pumping BD’s AV during his hit & runs. The Lunge feat gave BD a way to offset the Carry penalty so he could bring a friend to base his target, hit or miss. The Toughness-laden Icons Rookie proved the best for that role. The Hypertimes stunned opponents with their nigh-endless-for-the-cost dials and occasionally got the odd attack through (no one expects the thrown objects).

I’d love to try the team out again, swapping out Armor Piercing and Alias for Contingency Plan on one of the four pieces with Leadership. And although it’s a bit riskier if I face enemy Super Strength, I think I’ll swap out the Com Dish for the longer-lasting Generator.

Brightest Day Atlantis attacks bear an undefeated record of  4-0 up to this point. Will the winning waves continue? Or will the tide recede? Stay tuned to future installments of the Wednesday Battle Reports to find out! :)